hich was formerly in the possession of the Earl of Charleville,
were figured in "Vetusta Monumenta." Vallancey states that another was
found in the County Longford. A few disks have also been found which may
have been portions of these gorgets. The neck-portion of the gorgets is
arranged in three rows of raised ridges, and these are ornamented with
rows of small bosses, the depressions of the ridges being occupied with
a narrow rope-shaped fillet. In some cases the ridges are left plain.
The small disks at the terminals of the collar are remarkable; they
measure about 2-7/8 or 3 inches in diameter, and are decorated with a
centre and side bosses, surrounded with concentric circles. They much
resemble in miniature the round shields or bucklers of the late Bronze
Age, but they also show some resemblance to the so-called sun-disks
which have been found in Ireland, and which will be described later
on. Unfortunately the gorgets have in no case been found with any
accompanying objects which would assist in dating them, and in fact in
only two cases have details as to their finding been preserved, one
found at Ardcroney, near Nenagh, County Tipperary, the other at Tony
Hill, Croom, County Limerick. Their ornamentation, however, would seem
to place them in the Hallstatt period, first Iron Age, which may be
dated at about 700-600 B.C. Their form and ornamentation may be compared
with that of the splendid gold collar from Cintra, Lisbon, now in the
British Museum,[19] and also with the triple bronze collars common in
Scandinavia and north Germany, all of which are referred to the
Hallstatt period. This period is at present not well represented in
Ireland or the British Isles; and it is doubtful whether iron came into
general use in Ireland till about the third century B.C.

[19] "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," p. 148.

One point of much interest must be noticed. In one of the gorgets
shown in Plate II, where the disk is attached to the gorget, above
the line where the end of the plate passes into the boss, three
perpendicular and two cross-stitches can be seen. Some of these
sewings are made by means of slight square wire, but in others the
fastenings are composed of fine woollen thread, round which is twisted
spirally a thin, flat strip of gold. These strips are one of the
oldest specimens of woollen cordage now in existence in Ireland.

GOLD SUN-DISKS

We have already referred to the flat disks of gold, a number of wh