. This valuable remain was discovered in the cutting of a railway,
in a small stone chamber, at Knockneconra, near Bagnalstown, county
Carlow. Burned bones of an infant, or very young child, were found in
it, and it was inclosed in a much larger and ruder urn, containing the
bones of an adult.

Possibly, suggests Sir W. Wilde, they may have been the remains of
mother and child.[166]

[Illustration: GOLD HEAD-DRESS, R.I.A.]

The collection of antiquities in the Royal Irish Academy, furnishes
abundant evidence that the pagan Irish were well skilled in the higher
arts of working in metals. If the arbitrary division of the ages of
stone, bronze, and iron, can be made to hold good, we must either
suppose that the Irish Celt was possessed of extraordinary mental
powers, by which he developed the mechanical arts gradually, or that,
with successive immigrations, he obtained an increase of knowledge from
exterior sources. The bardic annals indicate the latter theory. We have
already given several illustrations of the ruder weapons. The
illustration appended here may give some idea of the skill obtained by
our pagan ancestors in working gold. This ornament, which is quite
complete, though fractured in two places, stands 11-1/2 inches high. It
weighs 16 oz. 10 dwts. 13 grs. The gold of which it is formed is very
red. It was procured with the Sirr Collection, and is said to have been
found in the county Clare.[167] Our readers are indebted to the kindness
of the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, for the permission to depict
these and the other rare articles from the collection which are inserted
in our pages.

The amount of gold ornaments which have been found in Ireland at various
times, has occasioned much conjecture as to whether the material was
found in Ireland or imported. It is probable that auriferous veins
existed, which were worked out, or that some may even now exist which
are at present unknown. The discovery of gold ornaments is one of the
many remarkable confirmations of the glowing accounts given by our
bardic annalists of Erinn's ancient glories. O'Hartigan thus describes
the wealth and splendour of the plate possessed by the ancient monarchs
who held court at Tara:--

"Three hundred cupbearers distributed
Three times fifty choice goblets
Before each party of great numbers,
Which were of pure strong carbuncle,[168]
Or gold or of silver all."

Dr. Petrie observes that this statement is