Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/216

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PREHISTORIC BRITAIN

spear-heads, armlets, pins, a razor, and one of those large riveted caldrons of the Hallstatt type—all of bronze. In addition to the above there were many other relics, proving that the hoard belonged to the latest phase of the Bronze Age.

Beehive Huts.—The beehive hut consists of a circular or oval building of dry stones, so constructed that each layer of stones overlaps the one beneath it, till the opening of the apex becomes so small as to be closed by one stone. Such buildings, when constructed in the open, are on architectural principles necessarily limited in their dimensions, being only a few feet in diameter; but when surrounded by an accumulation of stones or earth they are capable of attaining a considerable size, as may be seen in the tombs of Mycenæ, Orchomenos and other sites in Greece. Among these Grecian structures that known as the "Treasury of Atreus" measures 48 feet in ground diameter and 48 feet in height.

The invention of the beehive principle dates to the Neolithic period, but, on the introduction of Christianity into Britain, this type of building was found to be so well adapted to the simple wants of the early Christians that it was utilized as a monastic cell. The most perfect example of the primitive Christian Cashel now to be seen is on Skellig Michel, on the south-west coast of Ireland, which contains a church, oratory and several beehive houses—the latter being