Posted on 07/02/2020 9:22:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The lake is home to at least one crannóg -- an artificial island used as dwellings and defense mechanisms in prehistoric Ireland. Crannóg's are the oldest dwellings in prehistoric Ireland.
There are additionally at least seven ringforts surrounding the town of Lisacul.
Eileen McDonagh, Cathal's mother, told the Irish Independent that he was supposed to be doing his homework when he made the discovery.
She said that her son became bored with his schoolwork and went for a walk down to the lake, where he paddled up to his ankles in a pair of wellington boots.
It was there that he tripped over the long piece of ancient wood and made the fascinating discovery.
Cathal's father Peter and his two elder siblings Aonghus and Róisin were summoned to help him retrieve the vessel from the lake and the family then reported the find to the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Experts said that the vessel could date back to Ireland's Neolithic era but that it also could be from the medieval period. The experts advised the McDonagh family to place the vessel back in the water in order to preserve it.
(Excerpt) Read more at irishcentral.com ...
JFTR, in the name “Cathal”, the “t” is silent, so it’s pronounced “Cahal” (also the letter “a” has the short-vowel sound). Alternate transliteration is “Cahill”.
Crannogs (though not called by that name) feature in one of my favorite pieces of fiction, Gene Wolfe’s Solar Cycle. In one of the books, the hero encounters a society where half of the population lives on crannogs in a lake and half lives on the shore. The shore people kidnap and enslave the island people, and the island people retaliate by attacking the shore people when they go out on their fishing boats.
Is this one of those “round” boats?
The round boat is called a coracle.
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