218 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGENCE. south. This they did, and at a depth of six and a half feet below the sur- face of the mound, to the north of the centre, discovered a deposit of wood ashes, but no indication of any thing further. However, after digging a few feet south of the centre of the barrow at the depth of six feet, one of my workmen struck his spade against something hard, which rang to the stroke, and carefully removing the super-incumbent soil we exposed to view what appeared to be a massive sheet of iron, flat and round, about six feet in diameter, but so much deformed by rust and age that it was impossible to tell correctly its original shape and use, though fi-om the lumps of iron, resembling bosses, which rose from the centre of the sheet, it might not improbably have been composed of shields. On attempting to remove it it fell into pieces, so much was it decayed. Night unfortunately coming on, we were forced to discontinue our operations, and refill the trench, but if, as is most likely, we should continue our researches on the spot at some future period, I will communicate the result." We are indebted to Mr. Edward Hoare, of Cork, for representations of two specimens of the gold "ring-money" of the ancient inhabitants of Ireland. One of the two rings, now in Mr. Hoare's collection, was found in July, 1846, in the bog of Allen, celebrated for the frequent discoveries of ancient relics, a few miles to the north of Cashel, (" the city of the kings,") county Tipperary. It is of the purest gold, weight 5 dwts. 10 grs. The second is a very small speci- men, weighing 30 grs., and was dug out of a bog near Ballinasloe, county Galway, in August, 1843. The an- nexed woodcuts give the precise dimensions of these rings. No specimen of these rings has been found, as it is believed, in England. They have been discovered in considerable num- bers in Ireland, and have been supposed by Irish antiquaries to be the earliest form of currency. " Sir William Betham (as Mr. Hoare observes) was, I believe, the first who started the idea that these relics were fabricated and used as a medium of exchange as money, and thence denominated them ' ring-money.' His supposition has been pretty generally received as the truth, as also, that all the ancient jewel-omaments were formed for the double purpose of ornament, and as a medium of exchange. This conclusion has been drawn, in consequence of a large number of these relics, of various forms, having been weighed, and the fact ascertained that their weights are for the most part multiples of a certain amount, according to a gradually ascending scale. Whenever a variation has been found, which has seldom occurred, it has been only of a grain or two, easily to be accounted for, by the wear and injuries of time which the object exhibited. The smallest of the specimens in my possession, resembling a bit of Avire, I cannot conceive intended for any use, except as money, unless the rings served as beads ; it weighs only 30 grs. I have had a notice sent to me of one weighing 24 grs. I have seen another weighing 18 grs., and, in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, there is one of 12 grs. If formed for beads or ornaments only,
