Sketches over Christmas

Mount Gabriel Shovel, Co. Cork

Sketches done over the Christmas break, both items can be found at the Cork city museum in Fitzgeralds park. The first is an alder shovel from the Copper mine in Mount Gabriel in west Cork, which I believe is one of the oldest mines in Europe, and dates to the Bronze Age. As it says in the museum it was probably used to collect debris during the mining and finally was used as fire wood after it had served its purpose and so it is shown partially charred in the museum. The other is a cordoned urn from Knockadea, near Ballylanders, in Limerick, these urns were used to hold cremated remains of people in the Bronze age, and this particular one had cremated bones in it when found in a Cist.