The Later Bronze Age c.900 bc - 600 bc

The Dowris hoard was found in either 1825 or 1833 by two men trenching potatoes in Whigsborough townland, Co. Offaly, at a place called Dowris.  It included more than 200 items of which roughly 190 are extant, 111 in the National Museum of Ireland and 79 in the British Museum.  Forty four spearheads were found, forty-three axes, twenty-four trumpets, and forty-four crotals (a kind of bell or chime instrument, unique to Ireland).  A bronze bucket was also found, it was constructed of sheets of bronze riveted together, this item is considered to be an imported item, two other buckets were also found and these are presumed to be native copies.  John Coles argued that the Dowris objects were deposited at the site as a votive offering.  He postulated this theory because of the different type of bronze trumpets which were found there class 1 and class 2, which are usually mutually exclusive.

According to Coles this could have occured by different people depositing different items at different times, and from varying regions. The find included five swords, most of them similar in design to weapons in the south of England of that time.  The spearheads had a leaf shaped design which was an earlier design, there was one exception which had a lunate opening in it's blade.
	An example of the type of horn found

  The axe-heads were socketed for easier attachment and are typical of this time period.  Further tools were found including gouges, chisels and knives which would have been used by woodworkers.  The 'crotals' have caused a bit of controversy as it is not known whether they were used as tradesmen's weights, or musical instruments, or even as has been suggested by John Coles, representations of a bull's scrotum, and thus part of a fertility cult associated with bulls, the musical horns also are similar in appearance to bull's horns and would have made a deep bellowing sound when played.