THE ANCIENT
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS,
WEAPONS, AND ORNAMENTS,
OP
GEEAT BEITAIN AND IEELAND.
'
THE ANCIENT
0
PHY 717
EMENTS
WEAPONS, AND ORNAMENTS,
OF
GREAT BRITAIN
AND
IRELAND.
BY
JOHN EVANS, D.C.L., LL.D., F.E.S.,
F.S.A., F.G.S., Pres. Num. Soc, &c
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO.
1881.
{All rights reserved.)
LONDON
PRINTED BIT VIRTUK AND CO., LIMITED
CITY ROAD.
PEEFACE.
The work which is now presented to the public has unfortunately
been many years in progress, as owing to various occupations, both
private and public, the leisure at my command has been but
small, and it has been only from time to time, often at long
intervals, that I have been able to devote a few hours to its
advancement. During this slow progress the literature of the
subject, especially on the Continent, has increased in an unprece-
dentedly rapid manner, and I have had great difficulty in at all
keeping pace with it.
I have, however, done my best, both by reading and travel, to
keep myself acquainted with the discoveries that were being made
and the theories that were being broached with regard to bronze
antiquities, whether abroad or at home, and I hope that so far as
facts are concerned, and so far as relates to the present state of
information on the subject, I shall not be found materially
wanting.
Of course in a work which treats more especially of the bronze
antiquities of the British Islands, I have not felt bound to enlarge
more than was necessary for the sake of comparison on the cor-
responding antiquities of other countries. I have, however, in all
cases pointed out such analogies in form and character as seemed
to me of importance as possibly helping to throw light on the
source whence our British bronze civilisation was derived.
It may by some be thought that a vast amount of useless
trouble has been bestowed in figuring and describing so many
varieties of what were after all in most cases the ordinary tools of
the artificer, or the common arms of the warrior or huntsman, which
differed from each other only in apparently unimportant particulars.
But as in biological studies minute anatomy often affords the
most trustworthy evidence as to the descent of any given organism
VI VREFACE.
from some earlier form of life, so these minor details in the form
and character of ordinary implements, which to the cursory
observer appear devoid of meaning, may, to a skilful archaeologist,
afford valuable clues by which the march of the bronze civilisation
over Europe may be traced to its original starting-place.
I am far from saying that this has as yet been satisfactorily
accomplished, and to my mind it will only be by accumulating a
far larger mass of facts than we at present possess that compara-
tive archaeology will be able to triumph over the difficulties with
which its path is still beset.
Much is, however, being done, and I trust that so far as the
British Isles are concerned, the facts which I have here collected
and the figures which I have caused to be engraved will at all
events form a solid foundation on which others may be able to
build.
So long ago as 1870 I was able to present to the foreign
archaeologists assembled at Buda-Pest for the International Con-
gress of Prehistoric Archaeology and Anthropology, a short abstract
of this work in the shape of my Petit Album de Vage du Bronze
de la Grande, Bretagne, which I have reason to believe has been
found of some service. At that time my friend the late Sir
William Wilde was still alive, and as the bronze antiquities of
Ireland appeared to be especially under his charge, I had not regarded
them as falling within the scope of my book. After his lamented
death there was, however, no possibility of interfering with his
labours, by my including the bronze antiquities of the sister country
with those of England, Wales, and Scotland in the present work,
and I accordingly enlarged my original plan.
In carrying out my undertaking I have followed the same
method as in my work on the "Ancient Stone Implements, &c, of
Great Britain ; " and it will be found that what I may term the
dictionary and index of bronze antiquities is printed in smaller
type than the more general descriptive and historical part of the
book. I have in fact offered those who take an ordinary interest
in archaeological inquiry without wishing to be burdened with
minute details a broad hint as to what they may advantageously
skip. To the specialist and the local antiquary the portion
printed in smaller type will be found of use, if only as giving
references to other works in which the more detailed accounts of
local discoveries are given. These references, thanks to members
of my own family, have been carefully checked, and the accuracy
PREFACE, Vll
of all the original figures for this work, engraved for me with
conscientious care by Mr. Swain, of Bouverie Street, may, I think,
be relied on.
To the councils of several of our learned societies, and especially
to those of the Societies of Antiquaries of London and Edinburgh,
the Royal Irish Academy, the Royal Archaeological Institute, and
the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, I
am much indebted for the loan of Avoodcuts and for other assist-
ance. I have also to thank the trustees and curators of many
local museums, as well as the owners of various private collections,
for allowing me to figure specimens, and for valuable information
supplied.
My Avarmest thanks are, however, due to Mr. Augustus W.
Franks, F.R.S., and Canon Green well, F.R.S., not only for assist-
ance in the matter of illustrations, but for most kindly under-
taking the task of reading my proofs. I must also thank Mr.
Joseph Anderson, the accomplished keeper of the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh, and Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., of Cork, for
having revised those portions of the work Avhich relate to Scotland
and Ireland.
The Index has been carefully compiled by my sister, Mrs.
Hubbard. As Avas the case with those of my " Ancient Stone Im-
plements," and "Ancient British Coins," it is divided into tAvo parts;
the one referring generally to the subject matter of the book, and
the other purely topographical. The advantages of such a division
in a book of this character are obvious.
In conclusion, I venture to prefer the request that any dis-
coveries of new types of instruments or of deposits of bronze
antiquities may be communicated to me.
John Evans.
Nash Mills, Hemel Hempsted,
March, 1881.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
l
The Succession of the Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages — A Copper Age in America —
Scriptural Notices of Bronze — Bronze preceded Iron in ancient Egypt — Bronze
in ancient Greece — The Metals mentioned by Homer — Iron in ancient Greece
— Bronzes among other ancient Nations — Use of Iron in Gaul and Italy —
Disputes as to the three Periods — The Succession of Iron to Bronze — The Pre-
servation of ancient Iron
CHAPTER II.
CELTS.
Origin of the word Celt — Views of early Antiquaries — Conjectures as to the Use of
Celts— Opinions of modern Writers . . . 27
CHAPTER III.
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
Flat Celts from Cyprus and Hissarlik — Discoveries of Flat Celts in Barrows — Those
ornamented on the Faces — Flanged Celts — Those from Arreton Down — And
from Barrows — Decorated Flanged Celts — Flat Celts found in Scotland — Deco-
rated Scottish Specimens — Flat Celts found in Ireland — Decorated Irish Speci-
mens— Character of their Decorations — Flat Celts with Lateral Stops . . 30
CHAPTER IV.
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
Origin of the term Palstave — Celts with a Stop-ridge — Varieties of Winged Celts
— Transitional Forms — Palstaves with Ornaments on Face — With Central Bib
on the Blade — Shortened by Wear — With a Transverse Edge — Looped Pal-
staves—With Ribs on Blade — With Shield-like Ornaments— With Vertical
Ribs on Blade — With semi-circular Side-wings hammered over — Iron Palstaves
imitated from Bronze — Palstaves with two Loops — Scottish Palstaves — Irish
Palstaves — Looped Irish Palstaves — Irish Palstaves with Transverse Edge —
Comparison with Continental Forms 70
CHAPTER V.
SOCKETED CELTS.
Terms, "the Recipient" and "the Received" — Evolution from Palstaves — With
"Flanches," or curved Lines, on the Faces — Plain, with a Beading round the
CONTENTS.
PAGB
Mouth — Of a Gaulish type — With vertical Ribs on the Faces — With Ribs end-
ing in Pellets — "With Ribs and Pellets on the Faces— AVith Ribs and King
Ornaments— Variously ornamented — Of octagonal Section — With the Loop on
one Face — Without Loops — Of diminutive Size — Found in Scotland — Found
in Ireland — Comparison with Foreign Forms — Mainly of Native Manufacture
in Britain — Those formed of Iron 107
CHAPTER VI.
METHODS OP HAFTING CELTS.
The perforated Axes of Bronze — Celts in Club-like Handles — Their Hafts, as seen
in Barrows — Hafting after the manner of Axes — Socketed Celts used as
Hatchets — Hafted Celt found at Chiusi — Hafts, as seen at Hallstatt — Celts in
some instances mounted as Adzes — No perforated Axe-heads in Britain —
Hafting Celts as Chisels 116
CHAPTER VII.
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS.
Simple form of Chisel rare — Tanged Chisels — Chisels with Lugs at sides — Socketed
Chisels — Tanged Gouges — Socketed Gouges — Socketed Hammers — Irish Ham-
mers— Method of Hafting Hammers — French Anvils — Saws and Files almost
unknown in Britain — Tongs and Punches — The latter used in Orna-
menting— Awls, Drills, or Prickers frequently found in Barrows — Awls used
in Sewing — Tweezers — Needles — Fish-hooks ....... 165
CHAPTER VIII.
SICKLES.
Method of Hafting — Sickles with Projecting Knobs— With Sockets— Sickles found
in Scotland and Ireland — Found on the Continent 1 94
CHAPTER IX.
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
The Socketed Form — Scottish and Irish Knives — Curved Knives — Knives with
broad Tangs — With Lanceolate Blades — Of peculiar Types— Double-edged
Razors — Scottish and Irish Razors— Continental Forms . . . . . 204
CHAPTER X.
DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES.
Tanged Knives or Daggers — Knife-Daggers with three Rivets— Method of Hafting
1 I iggers — Bono Pommels— Amber Hilt inlaid withGold — Hilts withnumerous
Rivets — Inlaid and Ivory Hilts — Hilts of Bronze — Knife-Daggers with live or
six Rivets Knife-Daggers from Scotland— Krom Ireland —Daggers with
Ornamented Blades— With Mid-ribs— With Ogiral I >utline— Rapier-shaped
Blades — Rapiers with Notches ;it Hie Base — "With Ribs on the Faces — Rapiers
with Ox-hom and Bronze Hilts— Bayonet-like Blades 222
CHAPTEB XI.
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS OK Kl'KAR-IIEADS, HALBERDS, AND MACES.
Arreton Down type of Spear-heads— With Tangs and with Socket — Scandinavian
and German Halberds — The Chinese form — Irish Halberds — Copper Blades
less brittle than Bronze Broad Irish Form -Scottish Halberds — English and
Welsh Halberds— The Form known in Spain— Maces, probably Mediaeval . 257
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER XII.
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS.
PAGE
Their Occurrence in British Barrows not authenticated — Occur with Interments in
Scandinavia — The Roman Sword — British Swords — Disputes as to their Age —
Hilts proportional to Blades — Swords with Central Slots in Hilt-plate — With
many Rivet-holes — "With Central Rih on Blade — Representation of Sword on
Italian Coin — Those with Hilts of Bronze — Localities where found — Comparison
with Continental Types — Swords found in Scotland — In Ireland — In France —
Swords with Hilts of Bone — Decorated with Gold — Continental Types — Early
Iron Swords 273
CHAPTER XIII.
SCABBARDS AND CHAPES.
Sheaths with Bronze Ends — Wooden Sheaths — Bronze Sheaths — Ends of Sword-
Sheaths or Scabbard Ends — Chapes from England and Ireland — Spiked
Chapes — Mouth-pieces for Sheaths — Ferrules on Sword-Hilts . . . .301
CHAPTER XIV.
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
Different Types — Leaf-shaped— With a Fillet along the Midrib — Ornamented on
the Sockets — With Loops at the Sides — From Ireland — Decorated on the
Blade — With Loops at the Bas'> of the Blade — Of Cruciform Section near the
Point — With Openings in the Blade — -With Flanges at the Side of the OjDenings
— With Lunate Openings in the Blade — Barbed at the Base — Ferrules for
Spear-shafts — African Spear Ferrules — Continental Types — Early Iron Spear-
heads 310
CHAPTER XV.
SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS.
Shields with numerous raised Bosses — With Concentric Ribs — With Concentric
Rings of Knobs — Shields found in Scotland — In England and Wales — Wooden
Bucklers — The Date of Circular Bucklers — Bronze Helmets — Their Date . 343
CHAPTER XVI.
TRUMPETS AND BELLS.
Trumpets found in Ireland — Trumpets with Lateral Openings — The Dowris Hoard
— Riveted Trumpets— The Caprington Horn — Trumpets found in England —
Bells found in Ireland 3J7
CHAPTER XVII.
PINS.
Tins with Flat Heads — With Crutched Heads — With Annular Heads — Those of
large Size — With Spheroidal Heads — With Ornamental Expanded Heads —
From Scotland — From Denmark — Their Date difficult to determino . . 36o
CHAPTER XVIII.
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
The Gaulish Torque — Gold Torques — Funicular Torques — Ribbon Torques — Those
of the Late Celtic Period — Penannular Torques and Brardets— Bracelets on-
graved with Patterns — Beaded and Fluted — Looped, with Cup-shaped Knds —
Late Celtic Bracelets — Rings — Ring3 with others cast on them — Coiled Rings
found with Torques — Finger-rings — Kar-rings — Those of Gold — Beads of Tin
— Of Glass — Rarity of Personal Ornaments in r.riliiu .... .",71
^11 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIX.
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, AND MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
PAGE
Difficulty in Determining the Use of some Objects — Looped Sockets and Tubes —
Possibly Clasps — Perforated Rings forming a kind of Brooch — Rings used in
Harness — Brooches — Late Celtic — Buttons — Circular Plates and Broad Hoops —
Perforated Discs — Slides for Straps — Jingling Ornaments — Objects of Uncertain
"Use — Rod, with Figures of Birds upon it — Figures of Animals . . . 396
CHAPTER XX.
VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
Fictile Vessels — Gold Cup — Bronze Vessels not found in Barrows — Caldrons found
in Scotland — In Ireland — Some of an Etruscan Form — The Skill exhibited in
their Manufacture 407
CHAPTER XXI.
METAL, MOULDS, AND THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.
Composition of Bronze — Lead absent in early Bronze — Sources of Tin and Copper
— Analyses of Bronze Antiquities — Cakes of Copper and Lumps of Metal — Tin
discovered in Hoards of Bronze — Ingots of Tin — Methods of Casting — Moulds
of Stone for Celts, Palstaves, Daggers, Swords, and Spear-heads — Moulds of
Bronze for Palstaves and Celts — The Harty Hoard — Bronze Mould for Gouges
— Moulds found in other Countries — Moulds formed of Burnt Clay — Jets or
Runners — The Processes for Preparing Bronze Instruments for Use — Rubbers
and Whetstones — Decoration — Hammering out and Sharpening the Edges . 415
CHAPTER XXII.
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE.
Inferences from number of Types — Division of Period into Stages— The Evidence
of Hoards — Their different Kinds — Personal, Merchants', and Founders'—
Lists of Principal Hoards — Inferences from them — The Transition from Bronze
to Iron — Its probable Date — Duration of Bronze Age — Burial Customs of the
Period — Different Views as to the Sources of Bronze Civilisation— Suggested
Provinces of Bronze — The Britannic Province — Comparison of British and
Continental Types — Foreign Influences in Britain — Its Commercial Relations
— Imported Ornaments — Condition of Britain during the Bronze Age — General
Summary 4,5o
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
The references are to the original sources of such cuts as have not been engraved
expressly for this book.
CHAPTER III.
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
via. PAGE
1. Cyprus 40
2. Butterwick 41
3. Moot Low 44
Llew. Jewitt, F.S.A., "Grave Mounds,"
fig. 187.
4. Yorkshire 45
5. Weymouth 46
6. Read 47
7. Suffolk 48
8. Arreton Down 49
Archceologia, vol. xxxvi. p. 329.
9. Plymstock 50
10. „ 50
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 346.
11. Thames 52
12. Norfolk 52
13. Dorsetshire 53
14. Lewes 53
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 167.
15. Ely 53
16. Barrow 54
17. Liss 54
18. Rhosnesney 55
19. Drumlanrig 56
20. Lawhead 57
Troc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 105.
21. Nairn 58
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. N.S.
22. Falkland 59
23. Greenlees 59
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 601.
24. Perth 60
25. Applegarth 60
26. Dams 61
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 120.
27. Ballinamallard Gl
28. North of Ireland 62
29. Ireland 62
30. Tipperary 62
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 410.
31. Ireland 63
FIG. PAGE
32. Connor 64
33. Clontarf 65
34. Ireland 65
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 248.
35. Ireland 66
36. Trim 66
37. Ireland 66
38.
66
39. Punched patterns 67
» n 67
„ ,, 67
» » 67
» » 67
40.
41.
42.
43.
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," figs. 286
to 290.
44. Armoy 68
45. Ireland 68
46. „ 69
47. „ 69
CHAPTER IV.
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
48. Icelandic Palstave 71
49- » jj 71
Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p. 74.
50. Wigton 73
51. ChoUerford Bridge 74
52. Chatham 74
53. Burwell Fen 75
54. Bucknell 75
55. Culham 75
56. Reeth 76
57. Dorchester 76
58. Colwick 77
59. Barrington 78
60. Harston 78
61. Shippey 79
62. Severn 80
63. Sunningwell 80
64. Weymouth 82
65. Burwell Fen 82
66. East Harnham 83
67. Burwell Fen 83
XIV
WOODCUT ILLUSTKATIONS.
FIO. PAGE
68. Thames 84
69. Stibbard 84
70. Irthington So
71. North Owersby 85
72. Bonn 85
73. Dorchester 87
74. WaHingford 88
75. Stanton Harcourt S8
76. Brassington 80
77. Bath 89
78. Oldhmy HiU 90
79. Boss 91
80. Honington 91
81. Ely 92
82. Bottisham 92
83. Nettleham 93
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
84. Cambridge 93
85. Carlton Rode 94
86. Penvores 96
87. West Buckland 96
Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107.
88. Bryn Crug 96
89. Andalusia 97
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 69.
90. Burreldale Moss 98
91. Balcarry 98
92. Pettycur 99
Arch. Journ. , vol. vi. p. 377.
93. Ireland 10C
94. „ 100
95. „ 101
96. North of Ireland 101
97. Lanesborough 101
98. Trillick 102
99. Ireland 102
100. „ 102
101. „ 102
102. „ 103
103. „ 103
11)1. „ 103
105. Miltowu 104
106. Ireland 105
107. , 105
108. , 105
109. Ballymena 105
CHAPTER V.
SOCKETED CELTS.
110. High Roding 109
111. Dorchester, Oxon 109
112. Wilts 110
113. llarty 110
114. „ Ill
115. I lorchi ster, Oxon Ill
lie. Reach Fen 112
117. „ , 112
118. Canterbury 114
119. Usk 114
120. Ali'iiston 115
VIC l'AGE
121. Cambridge Fens 116
122. High Roding 116
123. Chrishall 117
124. Reach Fen 117
125. Barrington 117
126. Mynydd-y-Glas 119
127. Stogursey 120
128. Guildford 120
129. Frettenham 120
130. Ely 121
131. Caston 121
132. Carlton Rode 122
133. Fornham 122
134. Fen Ditton 123
135. Bottisham 123
136. Winwick 123
137. Kingston 124
138. Cayton Carr 124
139. La'kenheath 125
140. Thames 125
141. Kingston 125
142. „ 126
143. Thames 127
144. Givendale 127
145. Cambridge 127
146. Blandford 127
147. Ireland (?) 128
148. Barrington 128
149. Houns'low 128
150. Wallingford 128
151. Newham 129
152. Westow 130
153. Wandsworth 130
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 378.
154. Whittlesea 130
155. Nettleham 132
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
156. Croker Collection 132
157. Nettleham 132
Arch. Journ. vol. xviii. p. 160.
158. Ullcskelf 132
159. Reach Fen 133
160. Carlton Rode 133
161. Arras 134
162. Bell's Mills 135
"Catal. Ant. Mus. Ed."
163. North Knapdale 136
164. Bell's Mills 136
165. „ „ 136
"Catal. Ant. Mus. Ed."
166. LeswaH 137
Ayr <nid Wigton Coll., vol. ii. p. 11.
107. Ireland 138
168. „ 138
169. Belfast 139
170. [reland 139
171. „ 139
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 280.
172. Athboy 140
173. Meath 140
174. [reland 140
175. Newtown. Crommolin .... 141
176. North of Ireland 141
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
XV
no. PAGE
177. Ireland 141
178. „ 142
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. E. I. A.," fig. 275.
179. Kertch 142
Arch. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 91.
CHAPTER VI.
METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS.
180. Stone Axe of Montezuma II
181. Aymara Stone Hatchet .
182. Modern African Axe of Iron
183. Stone Axe, Robcnhausen .
] 84. Bronze Axe, Hallein . .
185. Raron, Brigue ....
186. Edenderry
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," i
187. Chiusi
188. Winwick
189. Everley
148
148
149
150
152
154
155
!57.
156
158
163
CHAPTER VII.
CHISELS, GOUGES, AND OTHER TOOLS.
190. Plymstock 166
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 346.
191. Heathery Burn 166
192. Glenluce 166
192* Carlton Rode 167
Wallingford 168
Reach Fen 168
Thixendale 168
Yattendon 169
Broxton 169
Scotland 170
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 613.
199. Ireland 170
Carlton Rode 171
Westow 172
Heathery Burn Cave . . . .172
Carlton Rode 173
Thorndon 174
Harty 174
Undley 175
Carlton Rode 175
Tay 175
193.
194.
195.
196.
197.
198.
20U.
201.
202.
203.
204.
205.
206.
207.
208.
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 127.
209. Ireland 176
210. Thorndon 178
211. Harty 178
212. „ 178
213. Carlton Rode 178
214. Taunton 178
215. Ireland 179
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 66.
216. Dowris 179
Proc. Soc. sbit., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 65.
217. Fresnc la Mere 182
218. „ „ 182
219. Heathery Burn Cave .... 185
224.
2 'J 5.
226.
227.
228.
via. r-AGE
220. Harty 186
221. Reach Fen 186
222. Ebnall 186
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 66.
223. Upton Lovel 189
Archtseologia, vol. xliii. p. 466.
Thorndon 189
Butterwick 189
Bulford 190
Archccoloyia, vol. xliii. p. 465.
Winterhourn Stoke . . . .190
Wiltshire 191
Arcliceologia, vol. xliii. p. 467.
229. Llangwyllog 192
230. Ireland 192
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 403.
CHAPTER VIII.
SICKLES.
231. Mcerigen 196
Arch. Journ., vol. xxx. p. 192.
232. Edington Burtle 197
233. „ , 197
234. Thames 198
235. Near Bray 199
236. Near Errol, Perthshire . . .200
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 378.
237. Garvagh, Derry 200
238. Athlone 201
CHAPTER IX.
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
239. WickenFen 204
240. Thorndon 205
241. Reach Fen 205
242. Heathery Burn Cave . . . .206
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132.
243. Kilgraston, Perthshire. . . .206
244. Kells 207
245. Ireland 208
246. Moira 209
247. Fresnc la Mere 209
248. Skye 209
Wilson's " Prch. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i.
p. 400.
249. Wester Ord 209
Proc. Soc. An/. Scot., vol. viii. p. 310.
250. KeachFen 210
251. „ „ 210
252. Heathery Burn Cave .... 212
253. Harty 212
254. Ireland 212
255. Ballyelarc 213
256. Reach Fen 213
257. Ballycastle 213
258. Ireland 213
259. Wigginton 214
260. Isle of Harty 211
XVI
AVnoncUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
ma. page
261. Allhallows, Hoo 214
262. Cottle 215
Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 301.
263. Reach Fen 216
264. Lady Low 216
265. Winterslow 216
266. Priddy 216
267. Balblair 217
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 476.
268. Rogart 217
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. x. p. 431.
269. "Wallingford 218
270. Heathery Burn Cave . . . .218
271. Dunbar 219
272. „ 219
273. „ 219
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. x. p. 440.
274. Ireland 219
Wilde's " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 433.
275. Kinleith 220
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 87.
276. Nidau 221
Froc. Soc. -bit. Scot., vol. v. p. 91.
CHAPTER X.
DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-
SHAPED BLADES.
277. Roundway 223
278. Driffield 224
279. Butterwick 225
280. Helperthorpe 227
281. , 227
282. Garton 228
Archccologia, vol. xliii. p. 441.
283. Wilmslow 228
284. Hammeldon Down .... 229
285. Reach Fen 230
286. Allhallows, Hoo 230
287. Brigmilston 231
288. Leicester 231
289. Normanton 232
290. RokeDown 233
291. Ireland 235
292. Belleek 235
Journ. 11. II. ami A. As*,,,-, of Ireland,
4th S., vol. ii. p. 196.
293. Ireland 235
294. Woody ates 236
-i\u. Iloinmgton 237
296. Idmiston 237
297. Dow Low 239
298. Cleigh 239
Proc. Soc. Ant. Soc, vol. x. p. 84.
299. Collessio 239
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 440.
300. Musdin 240
301. Plymstock . . . . . . .240
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 346.
302. Wintcrbourn Stoke . . . .210
303. Camerton 213
304. Cambridge 243
PIG. PAG]
305. Magherafelt 245
Journ. R. II. mid A. Assoc, of Ireland,
2nd S., vol. i. p. 286.
306. Arreton Down 245
307. Kinghorn 245
308. Colloony 246
309. Ireland 246
Wilde's " Catal. Mus. R. I. A." fig. 347.
310. Kilrea 247
311. Thames 247
312. Thatcham 247
313. Coveney 249
314. Thames 249
315. Chatteris 251
316. Thetford 251
317. Londonderry 251
318. Lissane 252
Wilde's " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 314.
319. Galbally 253
Journ. E. H. and A. Assoc, of Inland,
4th H., vol. ii. p. 197.
320. Tipperary 254
321. Ely 255
322. North of Ireland 255
323. Raphoe 255
CHAPTER XL
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, OR
SPEAR-HEADS, HALBERDS AND MACES.
324. Arreton Down 258
325. Stratford le Bow 258
326. Matlock 259
327. Plymstock ....... 259
Arch. Journ.,yo\. xxvi. p. 349.
328. Arreton Down 260
329. A°rup 261
Montelius, " Sver. Forntid," fig. 131.
330. China 262
331. Ireland 264
332. Cavan 266
333. Newtown Limavady .... 267
334. Ballygawley 2G7
335. Falkland 268
336. Stranraer 268
Froc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 423.
337. llarbvrnrigge 269
338. Shropshire 269
339. Lidgate 271
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 181.
340. Great Bcdwin 271
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 411.
341. Ireland 271
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 301.
CHAPTER XII.
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS.
342. Battersea 278
343. Barrow . 279
344. Newcastle 281
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
XV11
FIO. ,AGE
345. Wetheringsett 283
346. Tiverton 284
347. Kingston 284
348. Ely 286
349. River Cherwell 286
350. Lincoln 287
Proc. Sue. Ant., vol. ii. p. 199.
351. Whittingham 288
352. Brechin 288
353. Edinburgh 290
354. Newtown Limavady .... 292
355. Ireland 292
356. „ 292
357. „ 292
358. Muekno 294
359. „ 294
Journ. P. II. § A. Assoc, of Ireland,
3rd S., vol. i. p. 23.
360. Muckno 295
361. Mullylagan 295
Journ. R. II. § A. Assoc, of Ireland,
4th S., vol. ii. p. 257.
362. Mullvlagan 295
363. Ireland 296
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," 6g. 322.
CHAPTER XIII.
SCABBARDS AND CHAPES.
364. Isle-worth 302
365. Guilsfield 303
366. River Isis, near Dorchester . . 303
367. Ireland 303
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. j\.,:" fig. 335.
368. Stogursey, Somerset .... 304
369. Brechin 304
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 81.
370. Pant-y-Maen 304
371. Beach Fen 305
372. Cloonmore 305
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 336.
373. Stoke Ferry 305
374. Keclogue Ford, Ireland . . . 306
375. Mildenhall 306
376. Thames 307
377. IsloofHartv 308
CHAPTEE XIV.
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
378. Thames, London 312
379. Lough Gur 312
380. „ „ 312
381. Heathery Burn Caw .... 312
382. Nettleham 314
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 159.
383. Achtcrtyro 315
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ix. p. 435.
384. North of Ireland 316
385. Newark 317
FIG.
386. Beach Fen 317
387. Ireland 317
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. B. I. A.," fig. 367.
388. North of Ireland 319
389. Ireland 319
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 368.
390. Beach Fen 319
391. Thorndon 319
392. Culham 320
393. Athenry 320
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. B.I. A.," fig. 382.
394. Thetford 321
395. Lakenheath 323
396. Near Cambridge 323
397. North of Ireland 323
398. Ireland 324
399. Thames 324
400. Ireland 324
401. Near Ballvmena 325
402. Ireland. ' 326
403. „ 326
404. „ 326
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. B. I. A.," figs.
385, 386, 378.
405. Elford 327
406. Isleham Fen 328
407. Stibbard 329
108. Ireland 329
409. Lakenhuath F. n 329
410. Nettleham 330
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
111. Knockans 331
•112. Lurgan 332
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 65.
4 13. Ireland 332
414. Antrim 332
415. Thames 333
416. Naworth Castle 333
417. Blakehope 334
418. Whittingham 334
419. Winmarleigh 335
420. Burwell Fen 336
121. Denhead 337
"Catal. Ant. Mus. Ed.," p. i
422. Speen 337
423. Nettleham 339
Arch. Journ., vol. ..\iii. p. 100.
424. Guilsfield 339
425. Glancych 341
126. Fulbourn nil
427. Hereford 341
CHAPTER XV.
SHIELDSj BUCKLERS, AND ill I.MKTS.
128. Little Wittenham 314
Messrs. James Parker & < !o.
129. Harlech 345
430. Covem \
431.
432. Bcitli
133. ..
346
317
: 17
:;is
xvm
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIO. PAOK
434. Beith 349
Aijr and Wigton Coll., vol. i. p. 66.
435. Yetholm ' 350
436. „ 350
437. „ 350
Proc. Sac. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 165.
CHAPTER XVI.
TRUMPETS AND BELLS.
438. Limerick 357
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 360.
439. Tralee 358
440. , 359
441. „ 359
Journ. R. H. and A. Assoc, of Ireland,
1th S., vol. iii. p. 422.
442. Africa 359
443. Dorrvnanc 360
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 529.
444. Portglenone 361
Journ. E. H. and A. Assoc, of Ireland,
4th S., vol. iii. p. 422.
415. The Caprington Horn . . . .362
Ayr and Wigton Coll., vol. i. p. 74.
446. Dowris 364
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 523.
CHAPTER XVII.
PINS.
447. Heathery Burn Cave .... 365
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 130.
448. Brigmilston 366
449. Evcrley 366
150. Bryn Criig 367
Arch. Journ., vol. xxv. p. 246.
451. Taunton 367
452. Chilton Bustle 367
Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 106.
453. Ireland 368
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 452.
464. River Wandle 368
Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 8.
455. Scratchhury 369
456. Camerton 369
Both from Archccologia, vol. xliii. p. 468.
457. Ireland 370
458. „ 370
459. Cambridge 370
460. Ireland 370
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. K. I. A.," fig. 447.
461. North of Ireland 370
462. Keelogur Ford 371
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 449.
463. Ireland 371
Wilde, "fatal. Mus. R. I. A." fig. 448.
464. Edinburgh 372
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., Now S., vol. i.
p. 322.
465. Ireland 372
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 450.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS,
AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
FIO. PAGE
166. Wedmore 375
467. „ 376
468. West Buckland 377
Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107-
469. Wedmore 378
470. Yarnton 379
471. Montgomeryshire 380
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 467.
472. Achtertyre 382
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ix. p. 435.
473. Redhill 382
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 138.
474. Scilly 383
475. Liss 383
476. Stoke Prior 384
Arch. Journ., vol. xx. p. 200.
477. Stobo Castle 384
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 277.
478. Guernsey 385
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 344.
479. Cornwall 385
480. Normanton 385
ArchcBologia, vol. xliii. p. 469.
481. West Buckland 386
Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107.
482. Ham Cross 386
483. Heathery Burn Cave .... 386
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 131.
484. County Cavan 387
485. Cowlam 387
486. „ 388
487. Ireland 389
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 480.
488. Woolmer Forest 390
Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. ii. p. 83.
489. Dumbarton 390
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 24.
490. Cowlam 392
491. Goodmanham 392
Greenwell's "British Barrows," p. 324.
492. Orton 392
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. viii. p. 30.
CHAPTER XIX.
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, AND
MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
493. Reach Fen 397
494. „ , 397
495. Broadward 397
Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 351.
496. Trillick 398
Journ. 11. II. mid A. Assoc, of Ireland,
3rd S., vol. i. p. 164.
497. Ireland 399
Wild.-. "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 494.
498. Cowlam 400
499. Reach Fen 400
WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.
XIX
no. PAGE
500. Edinburgh 401
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot.. New S., vol. i.
p. 322.
.501. Heathery Burn Cave .... 402
502. „ „ .... 402
Both from Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. iii. p. 236.
503. Harty 403
504. Dreuil, Amiens 404
505. Abergele 404
50G. , 404
507. „ 404
508. Dreuil, Amiens 405
CHAPTER XX.
VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
509. Golden Cup, Billaton .... 408
Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 189.
510. Kincardine Moss 410
Wilson, "Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i.
p. 409.
511. Ireland 411
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 407.
512. Ireland 412
Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 409.
513. Capecastle Bog 413
CHAPTER XXI.
METAL, MOULDS, AND THE METHOD OF
MANUFACTURE.
514. Falmouth 426
Arch. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 39.
wo. PAGE
515. Ballymenu 42'j
516. Ireland 431
517. „ 431
518. Ballymonoy 43a
519. Broughshanc 433
520. Knighton 434
521. „ 434
522. Maghera, Co. Deny . . . .435
523. Lough Gur . 436
Arch. Journ., vol. xx. p. 170.
524. Campbelton 437
525. „ 437
526. „ 437
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vi. p. 48.
527. HothamCarr 439
528. Wiltshire 440
529. „ ........ 440
Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iii. p. 158.
530. Harty 441
531. ., 442
532. „ 446
533. Heathery Burn Cave . . . .448
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii.
p. 132.
534. Stogursey 450
535. „ 450
536. „ 450
537. Heathery Burn Cave . . . .451
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132.
538. Kirby Moorside 452
539. Hove 452
Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. be. p. 120.
540. Harty 453
ERRATA.
Page 117, under fig. 123, for « Crishall " read " Chrishall."
„ 143, line 15, for " Spain " read " Portugal."
,. 207, „ 34, /m- "St. Genoulph" read "St. Genouph."
„ 215, .. 16, for "St. Julien Chateuil" read "St. Jullien, Chapteuil.
„ 314, „ 3 from bottom, for " Staffordshire " read " Shropshire."
„ 322, „ 4, for "Suffolk" read" Sussex."
„ 336, „ 20, for "Staffordshire" read" Shropshire."
„ 452, „ 4 from bottom, for " Staffordshire " read " Shropshire."
CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY.
Having already in a former work attempted the arrangement and
description of the Ancient Stone Implements and Ornaments of
Great Britain, I am induced to undertake a similar task in con-
nection with those Bronze Antiquities which belong to the period
when Stone was gradually falling into disuse for cutting purposes,
and Iron was either practically unknown in this country, or had
been but partially adopted for tools and weapons.
The duration and chronological position of this bronze-using
period will have to be discussed hereafter, but I must at the outset
reiterate what I said some eight or ten years ago, that in this
country, at all events, it is impossible to fix any hard and fast
limits for the close of the Stone Period, or for the beginning or
end of the Bronze Period, or for the commencement of that of
Iron. Though the succession of these three stages of civilisation
may here be regarded as certain, the transition from one to the
other in a country of such an extent as Britain — occupied, more-
over, as it probably was, by several tribes of different descent,
manners, and customs — must have required a long course of years
to become general ; and even in any particular district the change
cannot have been sudden.
There must of necessity have been a time when in each district
the new phase of civilisation was being introduced, and the old
conditions had not been entirely changed. So that, as 1 have else-
where pointed out, the three stages of progress represented by the
Stone, Bronze, and Iron Periods, like the three principal colours of
the rainbow, overlap, intermingle, and shade off the one into the
other, though their succession, so far as Britain and Western
Europe are concerned, appears to be equally well defined with thai
of the prismatic colours.
u
I
2 INTllODUCTOllY. [CHAP. I.
In thus speaking of a bronze-using period I by no means wish
to exclude the possible use of copper unalloyed with tin. There
is indeed every ground for believing that in some parts of the world
the use of native copper must have continued for a lengthened
period before it was discovered that the addition of a small pro-
portion of tin not only rendered it more readily fusible, but added
to its elasticity and hardness, and thus made it more serviceable
for tools and weapons. Even after the advantages of the alloy
over the purer metal were known, the local scarcity of tin may at
times have caused so small a quantity of that metal to be employed,
that the resulting mixture can hardly be regarded as bronze ; or
at times this dearth may have necessitated the use of copper alone,
either native or as smelted from the ore.
Of this Copper Age, however, there are in Europe but extremely
feeble traces, if indeed any can be said to exist. It appears not
unlikely that the views which are held by many archaeologists as
to the Asiatic origin of bronze may prove to be well founded, and
that Avhen the use of copper was introduced into Europe, the dis-
covery had already long been made that it was more serviceable
when alloyed with tin than when pure. In connection with this
it may be observed that the most important discovery of instru-
ments of copper as yet recorded in the Old World is that which was
made at Gungeria in Central India.* They consisted of flat celts of
what has been regarded as the most primitive type ; but with them
were found some ornaments of silver, a circumstance which seems
to militate against their extreme antiquity, as the production
silver involves a considerable amount of metallurgical skill, and
probably an acquaintance with lead and other metals. However
this may be, there; are reasons for supposing that if a Copper Age
existed in the Old World its home was in Asia or the most
eastern part of Europe, and not in any western country.
The most instructive instance of a Copper Age, as distinct from
one of Bronze, is that afforded by certain districts of North
America, in which we find good evidence of a period when, in
addition to stone as a material from which tools and weapons were
made, copper also was employed, and used in its pure native con-
dition without the addition of any alloy.
The State of Wisconsin! alone has furnished upwards of a
hundred axis, Bpear-heads, and knives formed of copper; and, to
judge from sonic extracts from the writings of the early travellers
* Sec posit a, p. 40. f Bullcr, "PrehiBt. Wisconsin."
A COPPER AGE IN AMERICA. ',)
given by the Rev. E. F. Slafter,* that part of America would seem
to have entered on its Copper Age long before it was first brought
into contact with European civilisation, towards the middle of the
sixteenth century. It has been thought by several American
antiquaries that some at least of these tools and weapons were
produced by the process of casting, though the preponderance of
opinion seems to be in favour of all of them being shaped by the
hammer and not cast. Among others I may mention my friend
the Hon. Colonel C. C. Jones, who has examined this question for
me, and has been unable to discover any instance of one of these
copper tools or weapons having been indisputably cast.
That they were originally wrought, and not cast, is a priori in
the highest degree probable. On some parts of the shores of
Lake Superior native copper occurs in great abundance, and
would no doubt attract the attention of the early occupants of
the country. Accustomed to the use of stone, they would at first
regard the metal as merely a stone of peculiarly heavy nature,
and on attempting to chip it or work it into shape would at once
discover that it yielded to a blow instead of breaking, and that in
fact it was a malleable stone. Of this ductile property the
North American savage availed himself largely, and was able to
produce spear-heads with sockets adapted for the reception of their
shafts by merely hammering out the base of the spear-head and
turning it over to form the socket, in the same manner as is so
often employed in the making of iron tools. But though the
great majority of the instruments hitherto found, if not all, have
been hammered and not cast, it would appear that the process of
melting copper was not entirely unknown. Squier and Davis
have observed,! " that the metal appears to have been worked in
all cases in a cold state. This is somewhat remarkable, as the fires
upon the altars were sufficiently strong in some instances to melt
down the copper implements and ornaments deposited upon them,
and the fact that the metal is fusible could hardly have escaped
notice." That it did not altogether escape observation is shown by
the evidence of De Champlain,+ the founder of the city of Quebec.
In 1610 he was joining a party of Algonquins, one of whom met
him on his barque, and after conversation " tira d'un sac une
piece de cuivre do la longueur d'un pied qu'il me donna, le quel
* "Troli. Copper Ln.pl.," Boston, 1879.
t "Anc. Mon. of the Mississ. Valley," )>■ 202.
X " Les Voyages du Sicur de Champiain," Paris, 1613, pp. 246— 7, cited by Slafter,
op. cit., p. 13.
4 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
estoit fort beau et bien franc, rne dormant a entendre qu'il en avoit
en quantite la ou il l'avoit pris, qui estoit sur le bort d'une riviere
proche d'un grand lac et qu'ils le prenoient par morceaux, et le
faisant fondre le mettoient en lames, et avec des pierres le ren-
doient uny."
We have here, then, evidence of a Copper Age,* in comparatively
modern times, during most of which period the process of fusing
the metal was unknown. In course of time, however, this art was
discovered, and had not European influences been brought to bear
upon the country this discovery might, as in other parts of the
world, have led to the knowledge of other fusible metals, and
eventually to the art of manufacturing bronze — an alloy already
known in Mexico and Peru.t
So far as regards the Old "World there are some who have sup-
posed that, owing to iron being a simple and not a compound
metal like bronze, and OAving to the readiness with which it may
be produced in the metallic condition from some of its ores, iron
must have been in use before copper. Without denying the
abstract possibility of this having been the case in some part of our
globe, I think it will be found that among the nations occupying
the shores of the eastern half of the Mediterranean — a part of the
world which may be regarded as the cradle of European civilisation
—not only are all archaeological discoveries in favour of the suc-
cession of iron to bronze, but even historical evidence supports
their testimony.
In the Introductory Chapter of my book on Ancient Stone
Implements I have already touched upon this question, on which,
however, it will here be desirable farther to enlarge.
The light thrown upon the subject by the Hebrew Scriptures is
but small Then; is, however, in them frequent mention of most
of the metals now in ordinary use. But the Avord ntr'm, which in
our version is translated brass — a compound of copper and zinc —
would be more properly translated copper, as indeed it is in one
instance, though there it would seem erroneously, when two A'essels
of fine copper, precious as gold, are mentioned. J In some passages,
however, it would appear as if the word would be more correctly
1 For notices of American copper instruments see, in addition to the works already
quoted, Wilson, " Prehist. Man," vol. i. ]>. 205, &c; Lubbock, " Trch. Times," p. 'i.j.s,
&c. See also an interesting article by Dr. Emil Schmidt, in Archw.fiir Anth., vol. xi.
p. 65.
t A Peruvian chisel analyzed by Vauquehn gave -!'l of copper and -0G of tin (Mooru's
"Anc Mineralogy," p. 12).
% Ezra, ch, viii. v. Ii7.
SCRIPTURAL NOTICES OF BRONZE. 5
rendered bronze than copper, as, for instance, where Moses* is
commanded to cast five sockets of brass for the pillars to carry the
hangings at the door of the tabernacle, which could hardly have been
done from a metal so difficult to cast as unalloyed copper. Indeed
if tin were known, and there appears little doubt that the word
Vh2 represents that metal, its use as an alloy for copper can hardly
have been unknown. It may, then, be regarded as an accepted
fact that at the time when the earliest books of the Hebrew Scrip-
tures were reduced to writing, gold,f silver, iron, tin, lead, and brass,
or more probably bronze, were known. To Avhat date this reduc-
tion to writing is to be assigned is a question into which it would
be somewhat out of place here to enter. The results, however, of
modern criticism tend to prove that it can hardly be so remote as
the fourteenth century before our era.
In the Book of Job, as to the date of which also there is some
diversity of opinion, we find evidence of a considerable acquaint-
ance with the metals : " Surely there is a vein for the silver, and
a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is taken out of the
earth, and brass is molten out of the stone."* Lead is also men-
tioned, but not tin.
Before quitting this part of the subject I ought perhaps to
allude to the passage respecting Tubal-Cain, § the seventh in descent
from Adam, who is mentioned as " an instructer of every artificer in
brass and iron," or a furbisherll of every cutting instrument in those
metals. This must, however, be regarded as a tradition incor-
porated in the narrative at the time it was Avritten, and probabh
with some accessory colouring in connection with the name which
Gesenius has suggested may mean scoriarum faber, a maker of
dross, and which others have connected with that of Vulcan.
Sir Gardner Wilkinsonlf has remarked on this subject that what-
ever may have been the case in earlier times, " no direct mention
is made of iron arms or tools till after the Exodus," and that
" some are even inclined to doubt the barzel (bra), of the Hebrews
being really that metal," iron.
Movers** has observed that in the whole Pentateuch iron is
mentioned only thirteen times, while bronze appears no less than
forty-four, which he considers to be in favour of the later intro
duction of iron; as also the fact that bronze, and not iron,
* Exod., ch. xxvi. v. 37. t Numbers, ch. xxxi. v. 22.
% Ch. xxviii. v. 1, 2. § Genesis, ch. iv. v. '22.
|| Smith's " Diet, of the Bible," s, v. If " Anc. Egyptians," vol. iii. ]>.
** " Phonicier," ii. 3.
6 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. T.
was associated with gold and silver in the fittings for the
Tabernacle.
For other passages in Scripture relative to the employment of
brass or bronze, and iron, among the Jews, the reader may consult
an excellent article by the Rev. John Hodgson in the first volume
of the Archceologia JEliana (181G), "An Inquiry into the Era
when Brass was used in purposes to which Iron is now applied."
From this paper I have largely borrowed in subsequent pages.
As to the succession of the two metals, bronze and iron, among
the ancient Egyptians, there is a considerable diversity of opinion
among those who have studied the subject. Sir Gardner "Wilkin-
son,* judging mainly from pictorial representations, thinks that the
Egyptians of an early Pharaonic age were acquainted with the use
of iron, and accounts for the extreme rarity of actual examples by
the rapid decomposition of the metal in the nitrous soil of Egypt.
M. Chabas,f the author of a valuable and interesting work upon
primitive history, mainly as exhibited by Egyptian monuments,
believes that the people of Egypt were acquainted with the use of
iron from the dawn of their historic period, and upwards of 3000
years B.C. made use of it for all the purposes to which we now
apply it, and even prescribed its oxide as a medicinal preparation.
M. Mariette,+ on the contrary, whose personal explorations entitle
his opinion to great weight, is of opinion that the early Egyptians
never really made use of iron, and seems to think that from some
mythological cause that metal was regarded as the bones of Typhon,
and was the object of a certain repugnance. M. Chabas himself is,
indeed, of opinion that iron was used with extreme reserve, and, so
to speak, only in exceptional cases. This he considers to have been
partly due to religious motives, and partly to the greater abundance
of bronze, which the Egyptians well knew how to mix so as to
give it a fine temper. From whatever cause, the discovery of iron
or steel instruments among Egyptian antiquities is of extremely
rare occurrence ; and there are hardly any to which a date can be
assigned with any approach to certainty. The most ancient
appears to be a curved scimitar-like blade discovered by Belzoni
beneath one of the Sphinxes of Karnak, and now in the British
* " Anc. Egyptians," vol. iii. pp. 246, 217. Sec also "Tho Egyptians in the Time of
the Pharaohs," p. 99.
t " Etudes sur F Antiquity Eistorique d'aprds les sources Egyptiennes," &c, 1872,
p. G9.
J "Catalogue do Boulaq," pp. 217, 218; Chahas, p. 54. See also Emil Soldi,
"L'Art Egyptian," 1879, p. 41.
BRONZE IN ANCIENT EGYPT. 7
Museum.* Its date is stated to be about 600 B.c.f A wedsre of
O
iron appears, however, to have been found in a joint between the
stones of the Great Pyramid. +
Without in any way disputing the occasional use of iron amono-
the ancient Egyptians, nor the interpretation of the colours red
and blue on the tomb of Barneses III. as being intended to repre-
sent blades of bronze and iron or steel respectively, I may venture
to suggest that the round blue barj against which butchers are
represented as sharpening their knives in some of the pictures in the
sepulchres of Thebes, may have been too hastily regarded as a steel
instead of as a whetstone of a blue colour. The existence of a
steel for the purpose of sharpening seems to imply not only the
knowledge of the preparation of the metal and its subsequent
hardening, but also of files or of other tools to produce the peculiar
striated surface to which the sharpening property of a steel is due.
Had such tools been known, it seems almost impossible that no
trace of them should have come down to our times. Moreover, if
used for sharpening bronze knives, a steel such as at present
used would sooner become clogged and unfit for use than if em-
ployed for sharpening steel knives.
Lepsius II has observed that the pictures of the old Empire do
not afford an example of arms painted in blue, the metal of
weapons being always painted in red or bright brown. Iron was
but little used under the old Empire ; copper was employed in its
stead where the hardness of iron was not indispensable.
However this may be, it seems admitted on all hands that the
use of iron in Egypt in early times was much restricted, probably
from some religious motive. May not this have arisen from the
first iron there known having been, as it appears to have been in
some other countries, of meteoric origin ? The Coptic name for
iron, B€Nine, which has been interpreted by Professor LauthH as
"the Stone of Heaven," strongly favours such a view. The
resemblance of this term to BAA- N- 116, the baa of heaven, or
celestial iron, has also been pointed out by M. (Jhabas,** who, how
ever, is inclined to consider that steel was so called on account of
its reflecting the colour of the sky. If the iron in use among the
* Catal., No. 5410. t Day, " Preh. Use of Iron and Steel," page 11.
X Day, op. vit., p. 32. § Wilkinson, op. cit., vol. iii. p. 217.
|| " Les Metaux dans los Inscrip. Egypt.," 1877, p. 57.
11 "Zeitsch. f. -2Egypt. Sprache," &c, 1870, p. 111.
** Op. cit., p. 67. Dr. Birch translates hn <>u /,<■ " heavenly wood" or "stone" (J
vol. xxxviii. p. 377 ; Merog. Did.). See also a paper by tho Rev. Basil Cooper in
Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. ii. p. 380, and Day, " Preh. lTse of Iron and Steel," p. 41.
S INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
early Egyptians were meteoric, and its celestial origin acknow-
ledged, both its rarity and its restricted use "would be accounted
tor. The term " bone of Typhon," as applied to iron, is given by
Plutarch on the authority of Manetho, who wrote in the days of
the first Ptolemy. It appears to be used only in contrast to the
name " bone of Horns," which, according to the same author, was
applied to the loadstone, and it seems difficult to admit any great
antiquity for the appellation, or to connect it with a period when
iron was at all rare, or its use restricted.
Although the use of iron in Egypt was at an early period com-
paratively unknown, that of bronze was most extensive. The
weapons of war,* the tools for various trades, including those of the
engraver and sculptor, were all made of that metal, which in its
crude form served also as a kind of circulating medium. It
appears to have been mainly imported from Asia, some of the
principal sources of copper being in the peninsula of Sinai. One
of the chief mines was situated at Sarbout-el-Khadem, where
both turquoises and copper ore were extracted, and the latter
smelted at Wady-Nash. The copper mines of Wady-Magarah are
thought to have been worked as early as the second dynasty,
upwards of 3000 years B.C. ; and in connection with ancient
Egyptian mining, it is worth while again to cite Agatharchides,f
whose testimony I have already adduced in my " Ancient Stone
Implements," and who relates that in his time, circa B.C. 100,
there were found buried in some ancient gold-mines in Upper
Egypt the bronze chisels or wedges (\a-rop8e? yaK/cai) of the old
miners, and who accounts for their being of that metal by the fact
that when those mines were wrought, men were in no way acquainted
with the use of iron.
In the seventh century B.C., however, iron must have been in
general use in Egypt, for on the landing of the Carians and Ionians,J
who were armed with bronze, an Egyptian, who had never before
seen men armed with that metal, ran to Psammetichus to inform
him that brazen men had risen from the sea and were wasting the
country. As Psammetichus himself is described as wearing a
brazen helmet, the arms mentioned would seem to have been
offensive rather than defensive.
The source whence the tin, which formed a constituent part of
* Chabas, op, cit., p. -17. Lepsius, op. cit.t p. 57.
t "Photii Bibliotheca," ed. L653, col. 1343.
X "Herod.," lib. ii. c. 152.
h
BRONZE PRECEDED IRON IX EGYPT. 9
the bronze, was derived, is much more uncertain. Indeed, to judge
from M. Chabas' silence, its name and hieroglyphic are unknown.
though from some of the uses to which the metal designated by
0°0 Avas applied, it seems possible that it may have been tin.
On the whole, to judge from documentary evidence alone,
the question as to the successive use of the different metals
in Egypt seems to be excessively obscure, some of them being
almost impossible to identify by name or representative sign.
If, however, we turn to the actual relics of the past, we find
bronze tools and Aveapons in abundance, while those of iron are
extremely scarce, and are either of late date or at best of uncer-
tain age. So strong, indeed, is the material evidence, that the
late Mr. Crawfurd,* while disputing any general and universal
sequence of iron to bronze, confesses that Ancient Egypt seems to
offer a case in which a Bronze Age clearly preceded an Iron one,
or at least in which cutting instruments of bronze preceded those
of iron.
Among the Assyrians iron seems to have been in considerable
use at an early date, and to have been exported from that country
to Egypt, but knives and long chisels or hatchets of bronze were
among the objects found at Tel Sifr, in Southern Babylonia, The
earliest bronze image to which a date can be assigned appears to
be that on which M. Oppert has read the name of Koudourmaponk,
King of the Soumirs and Accads,f who, according to M. Lenormant,
lived about 2100 B.C. Dr. S. Birch reads the name as Kudur-
mabug (about 2200 B.C.). Others in the British Museum are
referred to Gudea, who reigned about 1700 B.C.
The mythology and literature of ancient Greece and Rome arc so
intimately connected, that in discussing the evidence afforded by
classical writers it will be needless to separate them, but the
testimony of both Greek and Latin authors may be taken indis-
criminately, though, of course, the former afford the more ancient
evidence. I have already cited much of this evidence in the
Introductory Chapter of my book on Ancient Stone Implements,
mainly with the view of showing the succession of bronze to stone;
on the present occasion I have to re-adduce it, together with what
corroborative testimony I am able to procure, in order (o show
that, along the northern shores of the Mediterranean, philology and
history agree as to the priority of the use of bronze for cutting
instruments to that of iron.
* Trans. Ethnol. Soc, vol. iv. p. 5. t Soldi, "L'Art Egypt.," p. 25.
10 INTRODUCTORY. [ciIAI". I.
The Greek language itself bears witness to this fact, for the
words significant of working in iron are not derived from the name
of that metal, but from that of bronze, and the old forms of ^aXK-ev^
and yciXicebeiv remained in use in connection with the smith and
his work long after the blacksmith had to a great extent super-
seded the bronze-founder and the copper-smith in the fabrication
of arms and cutlery.* An analogous transition in the meaning of
words has been pointed out by Professor Max Miiller. " The
Mexicans called their own copper or bronze tepuztli, which is said
to have meant originally hatchet. The same word is now used for
iron, with which the Mexicans first became acquainted through
their intercourse with the Spaniards. Tepuztli then became a
general name for metal, and when copper had to be distinguished
from iron, the former was called red, the latter black tepuztli." t I
am not certain whether Professor Max Miiller still retains the views
which he expressed in 1864. He then pointed out* that "what
makes it likely that iron was not known previous to the separation
of the Aryan nations is the fact that its names var}T in every one
of their languages." But there is a " name for copper, which is
shared in common by Latin and the Teutonic languages, ces, mrin,
Gothic ais, Old High German er, Modern German Er-z, Anglo-
Saxon ur, English ore. Like chalkos, which originally meant
copper, but came to mean metal in general, bronze or brass, the
Latin ms, too, changed from the former to the latter meaning ; and
we can watch the same transition in the corresponding words of
the Teutonic languages It is all the more curious, there-
fore, that the Sanskrit ayas, which is the same word as aes and
aiz, should in Sanskrit have assumed the almost exclusive mean-
ing of iron. I suspect, however, that in Sanskrit, too, ayas meant
originally the metal, i.e. copper, and that as iron took the place of
copper, the meaning of ayas was changed and specified
In German, too, the name for iron was derived from the older
name of copper. The Gothic eisarn, iron, is considered by Grimm
as a derivative form of aiz, and the same scholar concludes from
this that 'in Germany bronze must have been in use before iron."
1 Sut to return to Greece. It is, of course, somewhat doubtful how
far the word ^aX/ros, as used by the earliest Greek authors, was
* XoXkevuv Si icai to (TtCqptvttv iXtyov, ical x«^k*«C, Tore ruv aidi)aov spya£o/i£vouc
(Julius Pollux, " Onomasticon," lib. vii. cap. 24).
t " Lectures on the Science of Language," 2nd 8., 1864, p. 229; Tvlor's " Anahuac,"
1861, p. 140.
J " Lectures on the Science of Language," 2nd S., p. 231.
BRONZE IN ANCIENT GREECE. 11
intended to apply to unalloyed copper, or to that mixture of
copper and tin which we now know as bronze. Mr. Gladstone,*
who on all questions relating to Homer ought to be one of the
best living authorities, regards the word as meaning copper :
firstly, because it is always spoken of by Homer as a pure metal
along with other pure metals; secondly, on account of the
epithets cpvOpo?, i)vo^r, and vthpo^, which mean red, bright, and
gleaming, being applied to it, and which Mr. Gladstone considers
to be inapplicable to bronze ; and thirdly, because Homer does not
appear to have known anything at all of the fusion or alloying of
metals. The second reason he considers further strengthened by
the probability that Homer would not represent the walls of the
palace of Alcinous as plated with bronze, nor introduce a heaven
of bronze among the imposing imagery of battle (II, xvii. 424).
On the whole he concludes that ^ci\ko^ was copper hardened by
some method, as some think by the agency of water, or else and
more probably according to a very simple process, by cooling
slowly in the air.f
I regret to say that these conclusions appear to me to be founded
to some extent on false premises and on more than one misconcep-
tion. The process of heating copper and then dipping it in water or
allowing it slowly to cool, so far from being adapted for hardening
that metal, is that which is usually adopted for annealing or
softening it. While the plunging into cold water of steel at a red
heat has the effect of rendering that metal intensely hard, on
copper the reverse is the result ; and, as Dr. Percy has observed,*
it is immaterial whether the cooling after annealing — or restoring
its malleability by means of heat — takes place slowly or rapidly.
Indeed, one alloy of copper and tin is rendered most malleable
by rapid cooling.
It has been stated § that bronze of the ancient composition may
by cooling it slowly be rendered as hard as steel, and at the same
time less brittle, but this statement seems to require confirmation.
According to some II the impossibility of hardening bronze like
steel by dipping it into water had passed into a proverb so early
as the days of JEschylus, but "•yclKkov fiacpac " has by others been
* " Studios on Homer and the Homeric Age," vol. iii. pp. 108, 499.
t The reference is to Millin, " Mineralogie Homerique," pp. 126, 132.
X "Metallurgy — Fuel, Fireclays, Copper," &c, p. 6.
§ Moore, "Anc. Mineralogy," p. 57.
|| Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. iv. p. 97 ; iKseh. Agamcm., v. G12. Professor EtoUestoo
is inclined to refer the expression to the "tendering" of bronze (Trans. Brist. and
Ghuc. Arch. Soc, 1878).
12 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
regarded as referring to the impossibility of dyeing metal.* Some
of the commentators on Hesiod and Homer speak, however, dis-
tinctly as to a process of hardening bronze by a dipping or (3a(pi),
and Virgil t represents the Cyclopes as dipping the hissing bronze
in water —
" Alii stridentia tingunt
TRra lacu " —
but the idea of bronze being hardened or tempered by this process
appears to me to have been based on a false analogy between this
metal and steel, or even iron. The French chemist, Geoffroy,
thought he had succeeded in imitating the temper of an ancient
bronze sword, but no details are given as to whether he added
more than the usual proportion of tin to his copper, or whether
he hardened the edge with a hammer.
With, regard to the other reasons adduced by Mr. Gladstone,
it is no doubt true that ^aX/to? is occasionally spoken of by Homer
as a pure metal, mainly, however, it may be argued, in conse-
quence of the same name being applied to both copper and bronze,
if not, indeed, like the Latin " res," to copper, bronze, and brass.
We find, moreover, that tin, for thus we must translate h-cKjairepoK,
is mentioned by Homer ; and as this metal appears in ancient
times to have been mainly, though not exclusively, employed for
the purpose of alloying copper, Ave must from this fact infer thai
the use of bronze was not unknown. In the celebrated descrip-
tion of the fashioning of the shield of Achilles by Vulcan — which
may for the moment be assumed to be of the same age as the
rest of the Iliad — we find the copper and tin mentioned in juxta-
position with each other ; and if it had been intended to represent
Hephaistos as engaged in mixing and melting bronze, the descrip-
tion could not have been more complete.*
XoiAkov SVi' TTVftl fiaWev aTCipia, Kaa-crtTipov tc.
Even the term indomitable may refer to the difficulty of melting
copper in its unalloyed condition.
But tin was also used in the pure condition. In the breast-
plate of Agamemnon § there were ten bands of black kvclvos,
twelve of gold, and twenty of tin. In his shield || were twenty
bosses of tin. The cows^j on the shield of Achilles were
* Rossignol, " Lcs Metaux dans l'Ant.," p. 238. t " Mn.," viii. 450.
+ "Iliad," xviii. 474. J xi. 24. || xi. 34. 11 xviii. 674.
METALS MENTIONED BY HOMER. 13
made of both gold and tin, and his greaves* of soft tin, and
the border of the breast-plate of Asteropaeus t was formed of
glittering tin.
This collocation of various metals, or inlaying them by way of
ornament, calls to mind some of the pottery and bronze pins of
the Swiss Lake dwellings, which are decorated with inlaid tin,
and the remarkable bronze bracelet found at Mcerigen,+ which is
inlaid with iron and a yehW brass by way of ornament.
With regard to the epithets red, bright, and gleaming, they are
perfectly applicable to bronze in its polished condition, though
they ill assort with the popular idea of bronze, which usually
assigns to that metal the brown or greenish hues it acquires by
oxidation and exposure to atmospheric influences. As a matter of
fact, the red colour § of copper, though certainly rendered more
yellow, is not greatly impaired by an admixture of tin within the
proportions now used by engineers, viz. up to about two and a
half ounces to the pound, or about 15 per cent. As to the bright
and shining properties of the metal, Virgil, when no doubt speak-
ing of bronze swords and shields, makes special mention of their
glitter
-^Erataxjue uiicant peltrc, micat sereus ensis."
Indeed, the mere fact of the swords of Homer being made of
\a\/i-o<r is in favour of that metal being bronze, as pure copper
would be singularly inapplicable to such a purpose, and certainly
no copper sword would break into three or four pieces at a blow
instead of being merely bent. If
The bending of the points of the spear-heads against the shields
of the adversaries is, however, in favour of these weapons having
been of copper rather than of bronze.**
As to Homer having been unacquainted with the fusion or
alloying of metals, it may fairly be urged that without such know-
ledge it would have been impossible to work so freely as he has
described, in gold, silver, and tin ; and that the only reason for
which Vulcan could have thrown the latter metal into the fibre
must have been in order to melt it.
* "II.," xviii. 612.
t xxiii. 561. For these and other instances see Prof . Phillip in the Arch. Journ.,
vol. xvi. p. 10.
t Desor et Favre,"Bel Age du Bronze," p. 10.
§ Holtzapffel, "Turning and Mechanical Manipulation," vol. i. )>. 271.
|| "JEncid," vii. 743. ' IT " Iliad," iii. 363.
**"IL," iii. 348, vii. '259.
14 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
Whether steel was designated by the term Kvavos is a matter of
considerable doubt, and certainly in later times that word was
ajmlied to a substance occasionally used as a blue pigment, not
improbably a dark blue carbonate of copper. Assuming the word
to mean a metal, the difficulty in regarding it as significant of steel
appears in a great measure due to the colour implied by the
adjective form Kvuveos, being a dark blue.* If, however, it were the
custom even in those days to colour steel blue by exposing it,
after it had been polished, to a certain degree of heat — as is usually
done with watch and clock springs at the present day — the deep
blue colour of the sky or sea might well receive such an epithet.
That steel of some kind Avas known in Homeric days is abundantly
evident from the process of hardening an axe by dipping it in
cold water while heated, which is so graphically described in the
Odyssey.
If Kvavos be really steel, we can also understand the epithet
black f being occasionally applied to it, even though the adjective
derived from it had the signification of blue.
According to the Arundelian Marbles, iron was discovered B.C.
1432,+ or 248 years before the taking of Troy, but though we
have occasional mention of this metal and of steel in the Homeric
poems, yet weapons and tools of bronze are far more commonly
mentioned and described. Trees, for instance, are cut down and
wood carved with tools of bronze ; and the battle-axe of Mcnelaus^
is of excellent bronze with an olive-wood handle, long and well
polished.
Before noticing further the early use of iron in Greece, it will be
well to see what other authors than Homer say as to the origin
and ancient use of bronze in that country.
The name of the principal metal of which it is composed, cop}>er,
bears witness to one of the chief sources of its supply having been
the island of Cyprus. It would appear that Tamassus in this
island was in ancient times a noted mart for this metal, as it is
according to Nitzsch and other critics the Temese || mentioned in
Homer as being resorted to in order to exchange iron for vaX/ros,
which in this as well as some other passages seems to stand for
copper and not bronze.
The advantage arising from mixing a proportion of tin with the
* M. Ch. Houssel in Rev. .In-/,., N.S., vol. iv. p. 98. t " II.," xi. 21.
% Arch, fir Anthrop., vol. viii. p. 295; Midler, "Eragm. Hist. Grsec," vol. i.
p. 549.
5 "II.," xiii. 612. || "OdyB8.," i. v. 184.
1K0X IK ANCIENT GREECE. 15
copper, and thus rendering it tit tlie same time more fusible and
harder, must have been known before the dawn of Grecian history.
The accounts given by early Greek writers as to the first
discoverer of the art of making bronze by an admixture of copper
and tin vary considerably, and thus prove that even in the days
when these notices were written the art was of ancient date.
Theophrastus makes Delas, a Phrygian, whom Aristotle * regards
as a Lydian, to have been the inventor of bronze. Pausanias f
ascribes the honour of first casting statues in bronze to Rhcecus
and Theodoras the Samians, who appear to have lived about
640 B.C. They are also said to have improved the accuracy of
casting, but no doubt the process on a smaller scale was practised
long before their time. PJicecus and his colleague are also
reported to have discovered the art of casting iron, J but no really
ancient objects of cast iron have as yet been discovered.
The invention of the metals gold, silver, and copper is also
ascribed to the Idaean Dactyli,§ or the Telchines, who made the
sickle of (Jhronos II and the trident of Poseidon.^]
Though, as has already been observed, iron and even steel were
not unknown in the days of Homer, both seem to have been of
considerable rarity, and it is by no means improbable that, ;is
appears to have been the case with the Egyptians, the first iron
used by the Greeks was of meteoric origin. I have elsewhere**
called attention to the possible connection of the Greek name
for iron (nlcijpo^) with dart'/p, often applied to a shooting-star or
meteor, and with the Latin Sidera and the English Star, though
it is unsafe to insist too much on mere verbal similarity. In an
interesting article on the use of meteoric iron by Dr. L. Beck, ft of
Biebrich on the Rhine, the suggestion is made that the final >/^ov
of ouiipos is a form of the Aryan ais (conf. cbs, arts). Dr. Be ck,
however, inclines to the opinion that the recognition of certain
meteorites as iron was first made at a time subsequent to the dis-
covery of the means of smelting iron from its ore.
The self-fused mass or disc of iron,++ goXov abroypiiavov, which
formed one of the prizes at the funeral games of Patroclus, may
possibly have been meteoric, but this is very doubtful, as the
forging of iron, and the trouble and care it involved, were well
* Plin. "Hist. Nat.," lib. vii. c. lvi. G. t Lib. viii. c. 14, § 5.
% Op. cit., lib. iii. c. 12, § 8. $ Diodorus Siculus, lib. v. c. 64.
I! Strabo, "Geog.," lib. xiv. p. 935, ed. 1807.
if Callimacbus, " Hymn, in Del.," 1. 31. "Anc. Stone Dnp.," p. 5.
tt Archie fio- Anthrop., 1680, vol. xii. p. 2Vd. %% " Iliad," lib. .wiii. v. 826.
16 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
known in those days, as is evident from the epithet ttoXvic/jliito? so
often bestowed upon that metal.
For a considerable time after the Homeric period bronze re-
mained in use for offensive weapons, especially for those intended
for piercing rather than cutting, such as spears, lances, and arrows,
as well as for those which were merely defensive, such as shields,
cuirasses, helmets, and greaves. Even swords were also some-
times of bronze, or at all events the tradition of their use was pre-
served by the poets. Thus we find Euripides * speaking of the
bronze-speared Trojans, ^aXKey^ecoi^ Tpwcov, and Virgil t describ-
ing the glitter of the bronze swords of some of the host of
Turn us.
Probably, however, the use of the word ^aA/ros- was not restricted
to copper or bronze, but also came in time to mean metal in
general, and thus extended to iron, a worker in which metal was,
as we have already seen, termed a %ii\Kev?.
The succession of iron to bronze is fully recognised by both
Greek and Latin authors. The passage in Hesiod, £ where he
speaks of the third generation of men who had arms of bronze
and houses of bronze, Avho ploughed with bronze, for the black iron
did not exist, is already hackneyed ; nor is the record of Lucre-
tius § less well known : —
" Anna antiqua, manus, ungues, dentesque fuerant,
Et lapides, ct item sylvarum fragmina rami, . . .
Posterius ferri vis est, ;erisque reperta,
Sed prior a3ris erat quam ferri cognitus usus ; . . .
Inde mimitatim processit ferreus ensis,
Arersaque in opprobrium species est falcis alienee,
Et ferro ecepere solum proscindere terra)."
The difference between the age of Homer and Hesiod in
respect to the use of metals is well described by Mr. Gladstone.
The former II " lived at a time when the use of iron (in Greece)
was just commencing, when the commodity was rare, and when
its value was very great;'3 but in the days of Hesiod "iron, as
compared with copper, had come to be the inferior, that, is to say
the cheaper metal," and the poet "looks back from his iron age
with an admiring envy on the heroic period."
i "Troad.," 143. t "Ma..," lib. \ii. 713.
\ "Op. ot D-," i. 150. 'Voir r>' >'/i' \d\Kia ftkv rivxta x"Xk(oi Si ft oIkoi
XrtXicip v" Unya^ovTo, fiiXat; 5' ovk tax1 fiCrjDOQ.
$ Lib. v. 1282, et seqq. || " Juv. Mundi," 1869, p. 2(3.
BRONZE AMONG OTHER NATIONS. 17
Hesiod gives to Hercules* a helmet of steel and a sword of
iron, and to Saturn f a steel reaping-hook. His remark that at
the feast of the gods the withered + part of a five-fingered branch
should never be cut from the green part by black iron, shows that
this metal was in common use, and that for religious ceremonies
the older metal bronze retained its place.
Bronze was, however, a favourite metal with the poet, if not
indeed in actual use long after iron was known,§ for Pindar, about
B.C. 470, still frequently cites spears and axes made of bronze.
By the time of Herodotus, who wrote before 400 B.C., the use
of iron and steel was universal among the Greeks. He instances,
as a fact worth recording, that the Massagetre,|| a powerful tribe
which occupied the steppes on the east of the Caspian, made no
use of iron or silver, but had an abundance of ^a\A-o9 and gold,
pointing their spears and arrows and forming the heads of their
battle-axes with the former metal. Among the ^Ethiopians' on
the contrary, he states that bronze was rarer and more precious
than gold ; nor was it in use among the Scythians.** The Sagartii ft
in the army of Xerxes are mentioned as not carrying arms either
of bronze or iron except daggers, as if bronze were still of not
unfrequent use.
Strabo,++ at a much later date, thinks it worth while to record
that among the Lusitanians the spears were tipped with bronze.
But certainly some centuries before the time of Herodotus, and
probably as early as that of Homer, the Chalybes on the shores of
the Euxine practised the manufacture of iron on a considerable scale,
and from them came the Greek name for steel, ^aXvylrM Daimachus,
in the fourth century B.C., records that different sorts of steel are
produced among the Chalybes in Sinope, Lydia, and Laconia. That
of Sinope was used for smiths' and carpenters' tools ; that of Laconia
for files, drills for iron, stamps, and masons' tools ; and the Lydian
kind for files, swords, razors, and knives. In Laconia iron is said
to have formed the only currency in the days of Lycurgus.
Taking all the evidence into consideration, there can be n<>
doubt that iron must have been known in Greece some ten or
twelve centuries before our era, though, as already observed, it
Avas at that time an extremely rare metal. It also appears that as
* "Scut. Hercul.," v. 122—138. t " Theogon.,'* v. 161.
X " Op. ct D.," v. 711. § « Olymp.," od. i. 123 ; " Norn.," od. x. 113, &c.
|| Lib. i. c. 215. if Lib. iii. c. 23.
** Lib. iv. c. 71. tt Lib. vii. c. 85. XX Lib- »'■ V- -,)8> ed- 170'-
§§ Bochart's "Phaleg.," p. 208, cited in Arch. JEliana, vol. i. p. ■'>-.
C
18 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
early as B.C. 500, or even 600, iron or steel was in common use,
though bronze had not been altogether superseded for offensive
arms such as spear-heads and battle-axes.
The tradition of the earlier use of bronze still, however, remained
even in later times, and the preference shown for its employment
in religious rites, which I have mentioned elsewhere,* is a strong-
witness of this earlier use. It seems needless again to do more
than mention the bronze ploughshare used at the foundation of
Tuscan cities, the bronze knives and shears of the Sabine arid
Roman priests, and the bronze sickles of Medea and Elissa. I
must, however, again bring forward the sacculations of an intel-
ligent Greek traveller, who wrote in the latter half of the second
century of our era, as to the existence of what Ave should now
term a Bronze Age in Greece.
Pausanias f relates how Lichas the Lacedaemonian, in the fifth
century B.C., discovered the bones of Orestes, which his country-
men had been commanded by an oracle to seek. The Pythia +
had described the place as one where two strong winds met, where
form was opposed to form, and one evil lay upon another. These
Lichas recognised in the two bellows of the smith, the hammer
opposed to the anvil, and the iron lying on it. Pausanias on this
observes that at that time they had already begun to use iron in
war, and that if it had been in the days of the heroes it would
have been bronze and not iron designated by the oracle as the
evil, for in their days all arms were of bronze. For this he cites
Homer as his authority, who speaks of the bronze axe of Pisander,
and the arrow of Meriones. A further argument he derives from
the spear of Achilles, laid up in the temple of Minerva at Phaselis,
and the sword of Memnon in that of ^Esculapius at Nicomedia,
which is entirely of bronze, while the ferrule and point of his
spear are also of that metal.
The spear-head which lay with the bones of Theseus § in the
Isle of Scyros was also of bronze, and probably the sword like-
wise. There arc no works of Latin authors of a date nearly so
remote as that of the earlier Greek writers, and long before the
days of Ennius, iron was in general use in Italy. If the Articles
of Peace which " Porsena, King of the Tuscans, tendered unto the
people of Rome" were as Pliny II represents them, the Romans
* " Ano. Rtono Imp.," p. 4. t " Laoon.," lib. iii. cap. iii.
+ Herod., lib. i. c. 07. § Plutarch, "Thes.," p. 17, c Ed. 1C24.
!| "X it. Hist..." Ii1». xxxiv. cap. 14.
USE OF IKON IN GAUL AND ITALY. 1 9
must even in those early days have had iron weapons, for they
were forbidden the use of that metal except for tilling the ground.
In b.c. 224 the Isumbrian Gauls who fought with Flaminius
were already in possession of iron swords, the softness and flexi-
bility of which led to the discomfiture of their owners. The
Romans themselves seem but to have been badly armed so far as
swords were concerned until the time of the Second Punic War,
about b.c. 200, when they adopted the Spanish sword, and learnt
the method of preparing it. Whether the modern Toledo and
Bilbao blades are legitimate descendants of these old weapons we
need not stop to inquire. In whatever manner the metal was pre-
pared, so thoroughly was iron identified with the sword in classical
times that fevrum and gladius were almost synonyms.
Pliny mentions that the best steel used in Rome was imported
from China, a country in which copper or bronze swords are said
to have been in use in the days of Ki,* the son of Yu, B.C. 2197 — 48,
and those of iron under Kung-Kia, B.C. 1897 — 48, so that there
also history points to a Bronze Age. But this by the way.
Looking at the fact that iron and steel were in such general
use at Rome during the period of her wars in Western Europe,
we may wTell believe that had any of the tribes with which the
Roman forces came in contact been armed with bronze, such an
unusual circumstance could hardly have escaped record. In the
Augustan age the iron swords of Noricum were in great repute, and
farther north in Germany, though iron did not abound, it Avas, ac-
cording to Tacitus, used for spears and swords. The Catti had the
metal in abundance, but among the Aestii, on the right coast of the
Baltic, it was scarce. The Cimbrians in the first century B.C. had,
according to Plutarch,! iron breast-plates, javelins, and large swords.
The Gauls of the North of France had in the time of Julius
Caesar + large iron mines which they worked by tunnelling ; the
bolts of their ships were made of that metal, and they had even
chain cables of iron. The Britons of the South of England who
were in such close communication with the opposite coast of Gaul
must have had an equal acquaintance with iron. Caesar mentions
ingots or rings of iron as being used for money, and observes
that iron is obtained on the sea-coast, but in small quantities, and
adds that bronze was imported. $ Strabo includes iron, as well as
gold, silver, and corn, among the products of Britain. In Spain,
* See Zeitseh. fur Eth.," vol. ii., 1870, p. 131. t " Vit. Caii Marii," 420, b
% "Bell. Gall.," iii. 13 ; vii. 22. § Lib. v. VI.
c 2
20 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. T.
as already mentioned, iron had long been known, so that from the
concurrent testimony of several historians we may safely infer that
in the time of Julius Csesar, when this country was first exposed
to Roman influences, it had already, like the neighbouring coun-
tries to the south, passed from the Bronze into the Iron Age.
Notwithstanding all this historical testimony in favour of the
prior use of bronze to that of iron, there have been not a few
authors who have maintained that the idea of a succession of
• stone, bronze, and iron is delusive when applied to Western Europe.
Among these was the late Mr. Thomas Wright, who has gone so
far as to express * "a firm conviction that not a bit of bronze
which lias been found in the British Islands belongs to an older
date than that at which Csesar wrote that the Britons obtained
their bronze from abroad, meaning of course from Gaul." "In
fact these objects in bronze were Roman in character and in their
primary origin." As in the same page he goes on to show that
two hundred years before Christ the swords of the Gauls were
made of iron, and as his contentions have already been met by Sir
John Lubbock,t and will, I think, be effectually disposed of by
the facts subsequently to be mentioned in this volume, it seems
needless to dwell on Mr. Wright's opinions. I ma}^, however,
mention that,+ Avhile denying the antiquity of British, German,
and Scandinavian weapons and tools of bronze, he admits that in
Greece and Italy that metal was for a long period the only one em-
ployed for cutting instruments, as iron was not known in Greece
until a comparatively late date.
About one hundred and thirty years ago,§ in 1751, a discussion
as to the date of bronze weapons took place among the members
of the Academic des Inscriptions ct ] belles Lettres of Taris, on the
occasion of some bronze swords, a spear-head, and other objects
being found near Gannat, in the Bourbonnais. Some antiquaries
regarded them as weapons made for use ; others as merely made for
show. The Count de Caylus considered that the swords were
Roman, though maintaining that copper or bronze must have
been in earlier use than iron. Levesque de la Ravaliere main-
tained, on the contrary, that neither the Greeks, Romans, Gauls,
nor Franks had ever made use of copper or bronze in their swords.
The Abbe Barthe'lcmy showed from ancient authors that the
* Tram. Ethnol. Soc, vol. iv. p. 190. See also Anthrop. "Rev., vol. iv. p. 70.
+ Trans. Eth. Soc, vol. v. p. 105; "Prch. Times," Ith ed., p. 18.
% Arch. Assoc. Jonrn., vol. xxii. p. 73.
$ .See Possignol, " Les Mctaux dans 1'Ant.," p. 205.
DISPUTES AS TO THE THEEE PERIODS. 21
earliest arms of the Greeks were of bronze ; that iron was only
introduced about the time of the siege of Troy ; and that in later
times anions the Romans there was no mention of bronze having
been used for weapons of offence, and therefore that these swords
were not Roman. Strangely enough, he went on to argue that
they Avere Frankish, and of the time of Childeric. Had he been
present at the opening of the tomb of that monarch in 1G53 he
would, however, have seen that he had an iron sword.*
A still warmer discussion than any which has taken place in
England or France, one, in fact, almost amounting to an inter-
national war of words, has in more recent times arisen between
some of the German antiquaries and those of the Scandinavian
kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden.
So early as 1860 t my friend Dr. Ludwig Lindenschmit, of
Mainz, had commenced his attack on " the so-called Bronze
Period," and shown a disposition to regard all bronze antiquities
of northern countries as of Italian origin, or, if made in the coun-
tries where found, as mere homely imitations of imported articles.
Not content with this, he in 1875 + again mustered his forces and
renewed the campaign in even a more formal manner. He found
a formidable ally in Dr. Hostmann, whose comments on Dr. Hans
Hildebrand's " Heathen Period in Sweden " are well worth the
reading, and contain a vast amount of interesting information.
Dr. Hostmann's method of dealing with Dr. Hans Hildebrand
brought Dr. Sophus Miiller § to the rescue, with whom Dr. Linden-
schmit II at once grappled. Shortly after Dr. Hostmann % again
appears upon the scene, and before engaging with Dr. Sophus
Miiller goes so far as to argue that while Greek swords of iron
are known to belong to the eighth century B.C., no bronze sword
of that country can with safety be assigned to an earlier date than
the sixth century, and, indeed, these may have been only weapons
of parade, or possibly funereal offerings in lieu of efficient swords.
Rector Genthe** also engages in the fight upon the same side.
These three antagonists bring Sophus Miiller ft again to the
front, and as one great argument of his opponents was that bronze
objects could not be produced with the finish and orna-
mentation which is found upon them without the use of iron and
* Cochet, "Le Tombcau dc Childeric," i. p. 17.
t " Sammltiiig zu Sigmaringen," p. 153.
X Archiv. fur Anthropoid vol. viii. \>. 161.
$ Archiv., vol. ix. p. 127- || Op. cit., p. 141. H Op. at., p. 186.
Irch. fur Anthrop., vol. ix. p. 181. tt A. f. -'■> vol. x. p. 27.
22 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
steel tools, he brings forward an official document signed by four
authorities in the museum at Copenhagen, and stating that pre-
cisely similar ornamentation to the spirals, zigzags, and punched
lines which occur on Scandinavian bronze antiquities had been
produced in their presence by a workman using bronze tools only
on a plate of bronze. Both plate and tools were of the same
alloy, viz. 9 of copper to 1 of tin.
On this a final charge is made by Professor Hostmann '"" am I
Dr. Lindenschmit, the former of whom produces a kind of affidavit
from the late director of the Polytechnic School at Hanover and the
court medallist of the same town, to the effect that certain kinds
of punched work cannot be produced with bronze punches, and
the editors of the Archiv think it best to close the discussion
after Dr. Lindenschmit's final retort.
I have not thought it worth while to enter into all the details
of this controversy, as even to summarise them would occupy
more room than I could spare. It seems to me, however, that a
considerable amount of misconception must have existed in the
minds of some of the disputants, both as to the accepted meaning
of the term Bronze Age, as applied not chronologically, but to a
certain stage of civilisation, and as to the limitation of the objects
which can with propriety be referred to that age. No antiquary
of experience will deny that many bronze ornaments, and even
some bronze weapons, remained in use long after iron and even
steel were known, any more than he would deny that the use of
stone for certain purposes continued not only after bronze was
known, but even after iron and steel were in general use, and, in
fact, up to the present time, not only in barbarian but in civilised
countries. Our flint strike-a-lights and our burnishers are still
of much the same character as they were some thousands of
years ago, and afford convincing instances of this persistent use.
The real question at issue is not whether any bronze weapons
co-existed with those of iron and steel in Western Europe, but
whether any of them were there in use at a period when iron and
steel were unknown. Moreover, it is not a question as to Avhence
the knowledge of bronze was derived, nor whether at the time
the Scandinavians or Britons were using bronze for their tools and
Aveapons, the inhabitants of Greece and Italy were already ac-
quainted with iron and steel ; but it is a question whether in each
individual country there arrived a time when bronze came into
* Arch.f. Antkrop., vol. x. pp. 41, G3.
THE SUCCESSION OF IRON TO BRONZE. 23
use and for certain purposes superseded stone, while iron and
steel were practically unknown.
This is a question to be solved by evidence, though in the
nature of things that evidence must to some extent be of a ncg;i-
tive character. When barrow after barrow is opened, and weapons
of bronze and stone only are found accompanying the interments,
and not a trace of iron or steel ; when hoards of rough metal
and broken bronze, together with the moulds of the bronze-
founder and some of his stock-in-trade, are disinterred, and there
is no trace of an iron tool among them — the presumption is strong
that at the time when these men and these hoards were buried
iron was not in use. When, moreover, by a careful examination
of the forms of bronze instruments we can trace a certain amount
of development which is in keeping with the peculiar properties
of bronze and not with those of iron, and we can thus to some
extent fix a kind of chronological succession in these forms, the
inference is that this evolution of form, which must have required
a considerable amount of time, took place without its course being
affected by any introduction of a fresh and qualifying influence in
the shape of iron tools and weapons.
When, however, in various countries Ave find interments and
even cemeteries in which bronze and iron weapons and instruments
are intermingled, and the forms of those in bronze are what we
have learnt from other sources to regard as the latest, while the
forms in iron are not those for which that metal is best adapted,
but are almost servile copies of the bronze instruments found with
them, the proof of the one having succeeded the other is almost
absolutely conclusive.
The lessons taught by such cemeteries as that at Hallstatt, in
Austria, and by our own Late Celtic interments, such as those at
Arras, in Yorkshire, are of the highest importance in this question.
It is not, however, to be supposed that even in countries by no
means geographically remote from each other the introduction either
of iron or bronze must of necessity have taken place at one and the
same chronological period. Near the shores of the Mediterranean
the use of each metal no doubt prevailed far earlier than in any
of the northern countries of Europe ; and though the knowledge
of metals probably spread from certain centres, its progress can
have been but slow, for in each part of Europe there appears to
have been some special development, particularly in the forms of
bronze instruments, and there is no absolute uniformity in their
24 INTBODUCTORY. [CHAP. 1.
types extending over any large area. In each country the process
of manufacture was carried on, and though some commerce in tools
and arms of bronze no doubt took place between neighbouring
tribes, yet as a rule there are local peculiarities characteristic of
special districts.
So marked are these that a practised archaeologist can in almost
all cases, on inspection of a group of bronze antiquities, fix with
some degree of confidence the country in which they were found.
To this rule Britain offers no exception, and though some forms of
instruments were no doubt imported, yet, as will subsequently be
seen, our types are for the most part indigenous.
As to the ornamentation of bronze by bronze tools, I have seen
none in this country on objects which I should refer to the Bronze
Age but what could have been effected by means of bronze
punches, of which indeed examples have been discovered in bronze-
founders' hoards in France,* and what are probably such also in
Britain. Such ornamentation is, however, simple compared with
that on many of the Danish forms, and yet I have seen the com-
plicated Scandinavian ornaments accurately and sharply repro-
duced by Dr. Otto Tischler, by means of bronze tools only, on
bronze of the ordinary ancient alloy.
But even supposing that iron and steel were known during some
part of the so-called Bronze Age, I do not see in what manner it
would affect the main features of the case or the interest attaching to
the bronze objects which I am about to describe. " De non apparen-
tibus et non existentibus eadem est ratio " is a maxim of some
Aveight in archaeology as well as in law ; and in the absence of iron
and all trace of its influence, it matters but little whether it was
known or not, 'except in so far as a neglect of its use would argue some
want of intelligence on the part of those who did not avail them-
selves of so useful a metal. It will be seen hereafter that some of
the objects described in these pages actually do belong to an Iron
Period, and nothing could better illustrate the transition of one
Period into another, or the overlapping of the Bronze Age upon
that of Iron, than the fact that in these pages devoted to the
Bronze Period I must of necessity describe many objects which
were still in use when iron and steel were superseding bronze, in
the same manner as in my "Ancient Stone Implements" I was forced
to describe many forms, such as battle-axes, arrow-heads, and
bracers, which avowedly belonged to the Hronze Period.
* Mortillct, "Fondurie de Larnaud," 32, 33.
THE PRESERVATION OF ANCIENT IKON. 25
A point which is usually raised by those who maintain the
priority of the use of iron to that of bronze is, that inasmuch as
it is more readily oxidized and dissolved by acids naturally present
in the soil, iron may have disappeared, and indeed lias done so,
while bronze has been left ; so that the absence of iron as an
accompaniment to all early interments counts for nothing'. Pro-
fessor Rolleston,* in a paper on the three periods known as the
Iron, the Bronze, and the Stone Ages, has well dealt with this
point 5 and observes that in some graves of the Bronze Period the
objects contained are incrusted with carbonate of lime, which
would have protected any iron instrument of the Bronze Period as
Avell as it has done those of Saxon times. Not only are the iron
Aveapons discovered in Saxon cemeteries often in almost perfect
preservation, but on the sites of Roman occupation whole hoards
of iron tools have been found but little injured by rust. The fact
that at Hallstatt and other places in which graves have been
examined belonging to the transitional period, when both iron
and bronze were in use together, the weapons and tools of iron,
though oxidized, still retain their form and character as com-
pletely as those in bronze, also affords strong ground for believing
that had iron been present with bronze in other early interments
it would also have been preserved. The importance attaching to
the reputed occurrence of bronze swords with Roman coins as late
as the time of Magnentius cannot be better illustrated than by a
discovery of my own in the ancient cemetery of Hallstatt. In
company with Sir John Lubbock I was engaged in opening a
grave in which we had come to an interment of the Early
Iron Age, accompanied by a socketed celt and spear-heads of
iron, when amidst the bones I caught sight of a thin metallic
disc of a yellowish colour which looked like a coin. Up to
that time no coin had ever been found in any one of the
many hundred graves which had been examined, and .1 eagerly
picked up this disc. It proved to be a " sechser," or six-kreutzer
piece, with the date 1826, which by some means had worked its
way down among the crevices in the stony ground, and which
from its appearance had evidently been buried some years. Ead
this coin been of Roman date it might have afforded an argument
for bringing down the date of the Hallstatt cemetery some cen-
turies in the chronological scale. As it is, it affords a wholesome
caution against drawing important inferences from the mere collo-
' Trans. Brid. and Qhuc. Arch. Hoc, 1S7S.
26 INTRODUCTORY. [CHAP. I.
cation of objects when there is any possibility of the apparent
association being only due to accident.
In further illustration of the succession of the three Ages of
Stone, Bronze, and Iron in Western Europe, I might go on to
cite cases of the actual superposition of the objects of one age
over those of another, such as has been observed in several barrows
and in the well-known instance of the cone of La Tiniere, in the
Lake of Geneva, recorded by Morlot.
It will, however, be thought that enough, if not more than
enough, has already been said on the general question of a Bronze
Age in a book particularly devoted to the weapons and instru-
ments of bronze found in the British Isles. It is now time to
proceed with the examination and description of their various
forms ; and in doing this I propose to treat separately, so far as
possible, the different classes of instruments intended each for some
special purpose, and at the same time to point out their analogies
with instruments of the same character found in other parts of
Europe. Their chronological sequence so far as it can be ascer-
tained, the position in time of the Bronze Period of Britain and
Ireland, and the sources from which our bronze civilisation was
derived, will be discussed in a concluding chapter.
I begin with the instrument of the most common occurrence,
the so-called celt.
CHAPTER II.
CELTS.
Of all the forms of bronze instruments the hatchet or axe, to
which the name of celt has been applied, is perhaps the most
common and the best known. It is also probably among the
earliest of the instruments fabricated from metal, though in
this country it is possible that some of the cutting instruments,
such as the knife-daggers, which required a less amount of metal
for their formation, are of equal or greater antiquity.
These tools or weapons — for, like the American tomahawk, they
seem to have been in use for peaceful as well as warlike purposes —
may be divided into several classes. Celts ma)" be described as
flat ; flanged, or having ribs along the sides ; winged, or having
the side flanges extended so as almost to form a socket for the
handle on either side of the blade, to which variety the name of
palstave has been given ; and socketed. Of most of these classes
there are several varieties, as will be seen farther on.
The name of celt which has been aiven to these instruments is
derived from the doubtful Latin Avord " celtis " or " celtes," a chisel,
which is in its turn said to be derived a codando (from carving),
and to be the equivalent of ccelum.
The only author in whose works the word is found is St. Jerome,
and it is employed both in his Vulgate translation of the Book of
Job'" and in a quotation from that book in his Epistle to Pain-
machius. The word also occurs in an inscription recorded by
Gruter and Aldus, f but as this inscription is a modern forgery,
it does not add to the authority of the word " celtis."
Mr. Knight Watson, See. S. A., in ;m interesting paper com-
municated to the Society of Antiquaries of London,:}: has given
* Cap. xix. v. 24.
t P. 329,1.23. NEQVE HIC ATRAMENTYM. VEL PAPYRVS, A \ rT MEM-
BRANA VLLA ADIIVC, SED MALLEOLI) KT CHI/I'M UTKUATVS 8ILEX.
This inscription is said to have Leon found at Pola, in [stria.
X JProe. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. vii. p. 3%.
28 CELTS. [CHAF. IT.
several details as to the origin and use of this word, which he con-
siders to have been founded on a misreading of the word certe, and
the derivation of which from coelo he regards as impossible. There
can be no doubt, as Beger pointed out two centuries ago, that a
number of MSS. of the Vulgate read certe instead of celte in the
passage in Job already mentioned, and that in all probability these
are the most ancient and the best. But this only adds to the dif-
ficulty of understanding how a recently invented and an unknown
word, such as celte is presumed to be, can have ever supplanted a
well-known word like certe ; and so far as the Burial Service of the
Roman Catholic Church is concerned can have maintained its ground
for centuries. Nor is this difficulty diminished when we consider
that the ordinary and proper translation of the Hebrew -^^ is
either "in seternum" or " in testimonium," according as the word
is pointed ivb or "TI)b, and that, so far as I am aware, there is no
other instance of its being translated "certe." On the other hand, a
nearly similar word, 12372 " with a stylus," or, as it is translated, " a
pen," occurs in the same passage ; and assuming that this was by
some accident read for "T2/b by St. Jerome, he would have thought
that the word for stylus was used twice over, and have inserted
some word to designate a graving tool, by way of a synonym. The
probability of such an error would be increased if his MS. had
the lines arranged in couplets in accordance with its poetical
character, the passage standing thus when un-pointed : —
main bm &yn
tTDxrrvYisn "n?b
Very possibly the word used by St. Jerome may not have been
celte but coelo, and the corruption into celte in order to make a
distinction between heaven and a chisel would then at all events
have been possible.
The other contention involves two extreme improbabilities — the
one, that St. Jerome, having in his second revision of the Bible
translated the passage as " in testimonium in petris sculpantur,"
should in the Vulgate have given the inaccurate rendering " certe
sculpantur in silice ;" the other and the more extreme of the two,
that the well-known word certe should have been ousted by a
word like celte had it been utterly new-fangled.
Under any view of the case there are considerable diffieulties,
but as the word celt has now obtained a firm hold in our language,
it will be convenient to retain it, whatever its origin or derivation.
ORIGIX OF THE WORD CELT.
It has been the fashion among some Avho are fond of novelties
to call these instruments " kelts," possibly from some mental
association of the instruments with a Celtic or Keltic population.
From some such cause also some of the French antiquaries must
have coined the new plural to the word, Geltm. Even in this
country it has been said * with regard to " the ancient weapon
denominated the celt," " Our antiquarians have commonly as-
cribed them to the ancient Celtoe, and hence have given them this
unmeaning appellation." If any one prefers pronouncing celt as
" kelt," or celestial as "kelestial," let him do so ; but at all events
let us adhere to the old spelling. How the Romans of the time
of St. Jerome would have pronounced the word caelum or celtis
may be inferred from the punning line of Ausonius with regard
to Venus, t
" Orta salo, suscepta solo, patre edita coelo."
The first author of modern times Avhose use of the word in con-
nection with Celts I can trace is Beger, Avho, in his " Thesaurus
Brandenburgicus " + (1G96), gives an engraving of a celt of the
palstave form, under the title Celtes, together Avith the following
dialogue : —
" Et nomen et instrumentum mihi obscurum est, infit Ar-
CHiEOPHiLUS ; Instrumentum Statuariorum est, respondit Dulo-
dorus, qui simulacra ex Cera, Alabastro, aliisque lapidum
generibus csedunt et poliunt. Grascis dicitur 'E<yA:o7reiW, qua voce
Lucianus usus est in Somnio, ubi cum lusum non insuavem
dixisset, Deos sculpere, et parva qusedam simulacra adornare, addit
tyK07rea yap two. /jlol covs, scilicet avunculus, id quod Joh. Bonc-
dictus vertit, Celte data. Celte ? excepit Arcbleophilus ; at nisi
fallor hasc vox Latinis incognita est ? Habetur, inquit DuLO-
dorus, in versione vulgata Libri Hiob c. 19 quamvis alii non
Celte, sed Certe ibi legant, quod tamen minus quadrat. Quicquid
sit, instrumentum Statuariorum hoc esse, ex forma patct, figuris
incidendis aptissima ; neque enim opinio Molineti videtur admit-
tenda, qui Securim appellat, cum nullus aptandi manubrii locus
huic faveat, Metallum reposuit Archveophilus, minus videtur
convenire. Instrumentum hoc ex oere est, quod duritiem Lapidum
nescio an superare potuerit ? XJti lapides diversi sunt, rege
Dulodorus, ita diversa fuisse etiam metalla instrumentorum Lis
* Rev. John Dow in Archceol. Scot., vol. ii. p. 109. See also IV:vs;v in (ho Arch.,
vol. ix. p. 88, and Whitaker's " Tlist. of Manchester," vol. i. p. 24.
t Epig\ xxxiii. 1.1. % Vol. iii. p. 418.
30 CELTS. [CHAP. II.
csedendis destinatorum, facile cesserim. Vet. Gloss. Celtem
instrument mn ferreum dicit proculdubio quod durioribus lapidibus
ferreum chalvbe munitum servient. Hoe autem non obstat, ut
sereum vel ceris, vel terris, vel lapidibus mollioribus fuerit adhibi-
tum. Si tamen res Tibi minus probetur, me non contradicento,
molliori vocabulo yXvcpe'iov ccelum poteris et appellare et credere.
VAvcpeta etiam Statuariorum instrumenta fuisse, ex allegato mode-
Luciano planum est. ubi Humanitas, si me relinquis, inquit, ayj]fia
(ov\o7Tpe7res avaKi'j^r)], ical /j.oy\ia, ical yXvcpcia, ical KOTreas, ical
Ko\a7TTi/paK tu Ttuv %epoiv e£e/9, hafoitum servilem assumes, Yectes,
COELA, CELTES, Scalpra prce manibus iMbebis."
The idea of a bronze celt being a statuary's chisel for carving in
wax, alabaster, and the softer kinds of stone will seem the less
absurd if we remember that, at the time when Beger wrote, the
manner in which such instruments were hafted was unknown, and
that all antiquities of bronze were generally regarded as being of
Roman or Greek origin.
Dr. Olaf Worm, a Danish antiquary of the seventeenth century,
was more enlightened than Beger, for in his " Museum Wormia-
num,"* published in 1G55, he states his belief that bronze weapons
had formerly been in use in Denmark, and cites two flat or
flanged celts, or cunei, as he calls them, found in Jutland, which
he regards as hand weapons for close encounters. He also ^vas,
nevertheless, at a loss to know how they were hafted, for he adds
that had they but been provided with shaft -holes he should have
considered them to have been axes.
In a work treating of the bronze antiquities of Britain Ave must,
however, first consider the opinion of British antiquaries, by whom
the word celt had been completely adopted as the name for bronze
hatchets and axes by the middle of the last century. Borlase,!
in his " Antiquities of Cornwall," 1754, speaking of some "spear-
heads " of copper mentioned by Leland, says that by the spear-
heads he certainly meant those which we (from Begerus) now
call Gelts. Leland' s words are as follows : J — " There was found of
late Yeres syns Spere Heddes, Axis for Warre, and Swercles of
coper wrapped up in lynid scant perished nere the Mount in S.
Eilaries Paroch in Tynne Works;'1 so that it by no means
follows but that he was right in speaking of spear-heads, for if
there were any celts among the objects discovered they were pro-
bably termed battle-axes by Leland.
i P. 3 ,34. f P. 2G5. $ " Ttin.," vol. iii. p. 7.
VIEWS OF EARLY ANTIQUARIES. 31
Camden makes mention of the same find : * "At the foote of
this mountains (St. Michael's Mount), within the memorie of our
Fathers, whiles men were digging up of tin, they found Spear-
heads, axes, and swordes of brasse wrapped.in linnen, such as were
sometimes found within the forrest of Hercinia in Germanic, and
not long since in our Wales. For evident it is by the monuments
of ancient Writers that the ({reeks, the Cimbrians, and the
Britans used brazen weapons, although the wounds given with
brasse bee lesse hurtfull, as in which mettall there is a medicinable
vertueto heale, according as Macrdbvus reporteth out of Aristotle.
But happily that age was not so cunning in devising meanes to
mischiefe and murthers as ours is."
Hearne, the editor of Leland's " Itinerary," took a less philoso-
phical view of these instruments. Writing to Thoresby t in
1709, he maintains that some old instruments of bronze found
near Bramham Moor, Yorkshire, are not the heads of British
spears ; on the contrary, they are Roman, not axes used in their
sacrifices, nor the heads of spears and javelins, but chisels which
were used to cut and polish the stones in their tents. Such
instruments were also used in making the Roman highways and in
draining their fens.
Plot % also, at a somewhat earlier date, asserted a Roman origin
for bronze celts, which he regarded as the heads of bolts, founding
his opinion mainly on two, which are engraved in the Museum
Moscardi. These, which are reproduced in the Avchcuolo<ji<<,
vol. v. PI. VIII. 18 and 19, are of the palstave form, and were
regarded by Moscardo § as the heads of great darts to be thrown
from a catapult, A flat celt found in Staffordshire, II Plot takes to
be the head of a Roman securis with which the Popw slew their
sacrifices.
RoAvland,i[ in his " Mona Antiqua Restaurata," 172:>, suggested
that looped palstaves fastened by a thong to a staff might be used
as war flails.
The imaginative Dr. Stukeley, in the year 1724, communicated
to the Society of Antiquaries a discourse on the use of oils,
which is to be found in the Minute Book of the Society. An
abstract of it is given by Mr. Lort ** in his paper subsequent ly men-
* " Britannia," cd. 1G37, p. 188.
t " Thoresby's Correspondence," vol. ii. p. 211.
J " Nat. I fist, of Staffordshire," 168G, p. 403.
I " Mus. Lud. Moscard." Padua, 1G.5G, fol. 30.5, lib. iii. c. 171.
|| "Nat. Hist, of Staff.," p. 403. f P. 86. U ■" ... vol. v. p. 110.
82 CELTS. [chap. n.
tioned. Dr. Stukeley undertook to sliow that celts were British
and appertaining to the Druids, who, when not using them to cut
off" the boughs of oak and mistletoe, put them in their pouches,
or hung them to their girdles by the little ring or loop at the
side. In a more sensible manner he divided them into two
classes, the recipient and the received ; that is to say, the socketed,
in which the handle was received, and the flat and palstave forms,
which entered into a notch in the handle.
Borlase,"" notwithstanding that he was under the impression
that a number of socketed celts found at Karnbre in 1744 were
accompanied by Roman coins, one of them at least as late as
the time of Constantius I., did " not take them to be purely
Eoman, foreign, or of Italian invention and workmanship."
He argues that the Romans of Italy Avould not have made such
instruments of brass after Julius Caesar's time, when the superior
hardness of iron was so well understood, and that metal was so
easily to be procured. Farther, that no representations of such
Aveapons occur on the Trajan or Antonine Columns, that few
specimens exist in the cabinets of the curious in Italy, where they
are regarded as Transalpine antiquities, and that none have
been found among the ruins of Herculaneum ; f nor are any pub-
lished in the Museum Romanum or the Museum Kircherianum.
He concludes that they were made and used in Britain, but that
though they were originally of British invention and fabric, they
were for the most part made when the Britons had improved their
arts under their Roman masters, as most of them seem too correct
and shapely for the Britons before the Julian conquest.
As to the uses of celts, Borlase cites the various opinions of the
learned, and observes that if they had not been advanced by men
of learning it would be scarce excusable to mention some of them,
much less to refute them. They had been taken for heads of
walking staffs, for chisels to cut stone withal (as such instruments
must have been absolutely necessary in making the great Roman
roads), as tools with which to engrave letters and inscriptions, as
the sickles with which the Druids cut the sacred mistletoe, and as
rests to support the Utuus of the Roman augurs. After all, how-
ever, Borlase himself comes to the somewhat lame conclusion that
they formed the head or arming of the spear, the javelin, or the
* "Ants, of Cornwall," p. 2G3.
t Count de Caylus has, however, engraved two which are said to have heen found at
Herculaneum. He thought that they were chisels (lice. d'A»t., vol. ii. pi. xciii.
fig. 2; xciv. fig. 1).
CONJECTURES AS TO THE USE OF CELTS. 33
arrow, and thinks that Mr. Rowland comes the nearest to the truth
of any author he has read, when he says that they might be used
with a string to draw them back, and something like a feather to
guide them in flying towards the enemy, and calls them sling-
hatchets. He concedes, however, that for such weighty heads
there was no occasion for feathers, and as for slinging of hatchets
against an enemy, he does not remember any instance, ancient
or modern. Some of the celts, moreover, are too light to do any
execution if thrown from the hand.
The Rev. Mr. Lort,""" who communicated some observations on
celts to the Society of Antiquaries in 1776, differed from Dr.
Borlase, and regarded a large flat celt found in the Lower
Furness as manifestly designed to be held in the hand only, and
much better adapted to the chipping of stone than to any other
use which has hitherto been found out for it. He will not, how-
ever, take upon himself to assert that some socketed celts, which
he also describes, were designed for the same purpose. Appended
to the paper by Mr. Lort are notices of several bronze celts, which
at different times had been brought under the notice of the
Society of Antiquaries. Some which had been exhibited in 1735
were regarded by Mr. Benjamin Cooke and Mr. Collinson as
Gaulish weapons used by the Roman auxiliaries at the time of
Claudius. Mr. Cooke, however, took them to be axes, and
mounted one of them on a shaft, citing Homer as his authority
for doing so, and speaking of the a^iv^v evyaKnov.
The Rev. Samuel Pegge in 1787 makes some pertinent remarks
respecting celts in a letter to Mr. Lort, which is published in the
Archceologia.^ He points out that from some of them having
been found in barrows associated with spear-heads of flint, it is
probable that some at least were military weapons. He also
maintains that though the use of bronze originally preceded that
of iron, yet that regard must be had to the circumstances of each
country, so that it would not follow that a bronze celt found in
Ireland Avas prior in age to the invention of iron. All that could
be said was that it was older than the introduction of iron into
Ireland, and when that was, no one could pretend to say Mr.
Pegge did not approve of the derivation of the name of celt from
celtis or ccelare, but thought it derived from the name of the
Celtic people who used the instruments. In his opinion the
instruments were not Roman, especially as they were frequent in
* Arch., vol. v. p. 106. t Vol. ix. p. 84.
D
34 CELTS. [chap. II.
Ireland and in places where the Romans never were settled. The
specimen on which he comments is of the palstave form, and,
though it might be mounted as a tool, he thinks it could never have
served as an axe, but it might have tipped a dart or javelin.
Douglas* was of opinion that the bronze arms found in this
country were not Roman, but that it was more reasonable to refer
them to the early inhabitants, of probably not less than two
centuries B.C.
Mr. C. J. Harford, F.S.A.,t writing in 1801, expressed his
opinion that a clue as to the uses of celts might be obtained from
a consideration of similar instruments which had been brought
from the South Sea Islands. " Our rude forefathers doubtless
rttached the celt by thongs to the handle, in the same manner as
modern savages do ; and, like them, formed a most useful implement
or destructive weapon from these simple materials." He thought
that the metal celts might have been fabricated abroad and ex-
ported to this country, just as we have sent to the South Sea
Islands an imitation in iron of the stone hatchet there in use.
Coming down to later times, we find Sir Richard Colt Hoare,+
who discovered a few flat and flanged celts in the Wiltshire barrows,
regarding them as for domestic, and not for military, architectural,
or religious purposes. He thought that the flat form must be the
most ancient, from which the pattern of that with the socket for the
insertion of a handle was taken ; for among the numerous speci-
mens described by Mr. Lort in the Archceologia, not one of the
latter pattern is mentioned as having been discovered in a barrow.
As many were found in Gaul, he rather supposed that they were
imported from the Continent ; or, perhaps, the art of making
them might have been introduced from Gaul. From the method
of halting of one of those he found (see Fig. 189), he seems to
have regarded the whole of them as chisels rather than hatchets.
Sir Joseph Banks,§ in some observations communicated to the
Society of Antiquaries in 1818, on an ancient celt found near
Boston, Lincolnshire, pointed out the manner in which looped pal-
staves could be hafted so as to serve either as axes, adzes, or chisels.
He thought that they were ill adapted for any warlike purposes,
and regarded them ;is tools such as might be used in hollowing
out the trunks of trees to form canoes, and suggested that they
were secured to their handles by strings tied round them in the
* "Nfflnia Britannica" (1793), p. 153. t Arch., vol. xiv. p. 98.
; "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. 1812, p. 203. $ Arch., vol. xix. p. 102.
THE PRESUMED USES OF CELTS. 35
same manner as the stone axes used in the South Sea Islands were
fastened to theirs.
About the year 1816 the Rev. John Dow,"" in some remarks
on the ancient weapon denominated the celt, advocated the opinion
that it was an axe, and probably a weapon of war. He also
traces its connection with the stone celt, from which he considered
it to have been developed.
About the same year the Rev. John Hodgson, secretary of the
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne, communicated to
that society a valuable memoir in the shape of f"An Enquiry into
the iEra when Brass was used in purposes to which Iron is now
applied," of which mention has already been made in the Intro-
ductory Chapter. He thought that celts were tools which were
well adapted for use as wedges for splitting wood, or that with
wooden hafts they might be used as chisels for hollowing canoes
and for similar purposes, some instruments found with them being
undoubtedly gouges. As to their date, he thought that bronze
began to give way to iron in Britain nearly as soon as it did in
Greece, and that consequently the celts, &c, found in this island
belonged to an era 500, or at least 400 years, B.C.
In 1839 Mr. Rickman J communicated to the Society of
Antiquaries a paper on the Antiquity of Abury and Stonehenge,
in the notes to which he propounds the theory that the socketed
celts were used merely as chisels, with hafts of wood inserted in
the socket. They could be then either held in the hand or by
means of a withe, like a blacksmith's chisel, while they were
struck with a stone hammer.
Among writers of comparatively modern times, the first whom I
have to mention is the late Mr. G. V. Du Noyer,§ who in 1847 com-
municated to the Archaeological Institute two papers on the classi-
fication of bronze celts, which are still of great value and interest.
He traces the gradual development in form from the bronze celt
shaped like a wedge to that which is socketed, and shows that an
important element in the transition from one form to the other
has been the method of hafting. He also enters into the subjects
of the casting and ornamentation of celts ; and as in subsequenl
pages I shall have to refer to these as well as to the methods of
hafting, I content myself here with citing Mr. Du Noyer's papers
as being worthy of all credit.
* ArcluBol. Scot., vol. ii. p. 199. f Arch<rcil. JEliana, vol. i. p. 17.
I Arch., vol. xxviii. p. 418. J Arch. Journ., vol. iv. pp. 1 and 327.
n 2
36 CELTS. [chap. II.
In 1849 Mr. James Yates communicated a paper to the Archaeo-
logical Institute of a far more speculative kind than those of Mr.
Du IS oyer, his object being to prove that among the various uses
of bronze celts one of the most important was the application of
them in destroying fortifications and entrenchments, in making
roads and earthworks, and in similar military operations. He
confines his inquiry, however, to those which were adapted to be
fitted to straight wooden handles. Following in the steps of some
of the older antiquaries, he appears to regard them as of Roman
origin, and identifies them with the Roman dolabra, an instrument
which he thinks was used as a chisel or a crowbar. In fact, he was
persuaded that the celt was commonly used not as a hatchet, but
as a spud or a crowbar. Had he but been acquainted with the
ancient handles, such as have been discovered in the Austrian
salt-mines and elsewhere, he would probably have come round to
another opinion as to the ordinary method of hafting, though it is
of course possible that in some instances these instruments may
have been mounted and used as spuds. Had he practically tried
mounting them and using them as crowbars, he would have found
that with but slight strain the shafts would break or the celts
become loosened upon them. And had he been better versed in
archaeology, he would have known that whatever was the form of
the Roman dolabra, or whatever the uses for which it served, it
can hardly have differed from their other implements in being
made of bronze and not of iron ; and he would have thought twice
before engraving bronze celts from Cornwall and Furness as illus-
trations of the Roman dolabra in Smith's " Dictionary of Greek
and Roman Antiquities."
The ring or loop, which so often is found on the side of celts of
the palstave and socketed forms, was thought by Mr. Yates to have
been principally of use to assist in carrying them, a dozen or
twenty perhaps being strung together, or a much smaller number
tied to the soldier's belt or girdle. He also thought that they
might serve for the attachment of a thong or chain to draw the
instrument out of a wall, should it become wedged among the stones
in the process of destruction.
The next essay on celts and their classification which I must
adduce was written by the late Rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A.,* who
followed much the same system as Mr. Du Noyer, so far as the
development of the socketed celt was concerned, though he differed
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., 1853, vol. ix. p. 63.
OPINIONS OF MODERN -WRITERS. 37
from him with regard to the method of hafting, as he was persuaded
that, in general, celts were mounted with a straight shaft, like spuds.
He considered that the loop was not used for securing the celt to
its haft, but for hanging it up at home when not in use, or for
suspending it from the soldier's girdle whilst on the march.
Mr. Hugo's paper was followed by some supplementary remarks
from Mr. Syer Cuming, who suggests that a thong may have
passed through the loop by which the weapon might be propelled,
and contends that socketed celts are neither chisels nor axe-blades,
but the ferrules of spear- shafts, which might be fixed in the
ground, or even used at times as offensive weapons.
The name of the late Mr. Thomas Wright* has already been
mentioned. In his various works and papers he claims a Roman
origin for bronze celts and swords, though admitting that they may
occasionally have been made in the countries in which they are
found.
Among other modern Avriters who have touched upon the sub-
ject of celts, I may mention that accomplished antiquary, the late
Mr. Albert Way, F.S.A., whose remarks in connection with an
exhibition of bronze antiquities at a meeting of the Archaeological
Institute in 186 If are well worth reading. I may also refer to the
late Sir W. R. Wilde, in his "Catalogue of the Copper and Bronze
Antiquities in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy," published
in the same year; to Mr. Franks, in the "Horse Ferales ;" to Sir
John Lubbock, in his " Prehistoric Times ; " and to General A.
Lane Fox (now Pitt-Rivers), in his excellent lecture on Primitive
Warfare, section iii.+
Canon Greenwell, in his "British Barrows," § has also devoted
a few pages to the consideration of bronze celts and axe-heads,
more especially in connection with interments in sepulchral
mounds.
Foreign writers I need hardly cite, but 1 may mention a re-
markable idea that has been promulgated by Professor Stefano de
Rossi || as to celts having served as money, which has, however, been
shown by Count (lozzadini to be unfounded.
In conclusion, I may also venture to refer to an address^ which
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxii. \>. fit.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 148, et seq.
% Jour. Roy. Un. Service Inst., vol. xiii., 1869.
§ P. 43, et seqq. 188.
|| See Revue de lit A/tuns. Beige, 5th Ser., vol. vi. p. 290
%Proc. Soc. Aut., 2ud S., vol. v. p. 392.
38 CELTS. [chap. II.
I delivered to the Society of Antiquaries on the occasion of an exhi-
bition of bronze antiquities in their apartments in January, 1873.
In treating of the different forms of celts on the present occa-
sion, I shall divide them into the following classes : —
Flat celts.
Flanged celts.
Winged celts and palstaves, with and without loops.
Socketed celts.
What are known as tanged celts may perhaps be more properly
included under the head of chisels, to which class of tools it is not
unlikely that some of the narrow celts of the other forms should
be referred.
It is difficult to draw a hard and fast line between the flat
celts and the flanged, and between these latter and the so-called
palstaves. I propose, therefore, to include the flanged celts, which
are not provided with a stop-ridge to prevent their being driven
into their haft, in the same chapter with the flat celts, and to treat
of those which have a stop-ridge in the same chapter as the pal-
staves, with and without a loop. In a subsequent chapter I shall
speak as to the manner in which these instruments were probably
hafted.
CHAPTER III.
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
Flat celts, or those of simple form with the faces somewhat
convex, and approximating in shape to the polished stone celts of
the Neolithic Period, have been regarded by several antiquaries
as being probably the earliest bronze implements or weapons.
Such a view has much to commend it, but, as already observed,
it may be doubted whether in the earliest times, when metal was
scarce, it would be so readily applied to purposes for which much
of the precious material was required, as to the manufacture of
weapons or tools of a lighter kind, such as daggers or knives.
Among celts, however, the simple form, and that most nearly
approaching in character to the stone hatchet, was probably the
earliest, though it may have been continued in use after the
introduction of the side flanges, the stop-ridge, and even the
socket. Some celts of the simplest form found in Ireland are of
copper, and have been thought to belong to the period when the
use of stone for cutting purposes was dying out and that of metal
coming in ; but the mere fact of their being of copper is by no
means conclusive on this point.
A copper celt of the precise shape of an ordinary stone celt,
6 inches long and 2| inches wide, which was found in an Etruscan
tomb, and is preserved in the Museum at Berlin, appears to have
been cast in a mould formed upon a stone implement of the same
class. It has been figured and described by Sir William Wilde.*
I have not seen the implement, nor am I aware of the exact
circumstances of the finding. Celts may, however, like the flint
arrow-heads inserted in Etruscan t necklaces of gold, liaw been
regarded with superstitious reverence, and it does not appear to
me quite certain that this specimen Avas ever in actual use as an
* "Catal. Mus. R.I. A.," pp. 367, 395 (Etruscan Coll., Berlin, No. 3244).
t "Horse Ferales," p. 130 ; Arch. Jomn., vol. xi. p. 169,
40
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
implement, and was not placed in the grave as a substitute for a
stone hatchet or Ceraunius.
However this may be, some of the earliest bronze or, possibly,
copper celts with which we are acquainted, those from the excavations
of General di Cesnola in Cyprus, and of Dr. Schliemann at His-
sarlik, are of the simple flat form, and justify Sir W. Wilde'" in his
supposition that the first makers of these instruments, having
once obtained a better material than stone, repeated the form
with which they were best acquainted, though they economized
the metal and lessened the bulk by
flattening the sides. The annexed
cut, Fig. 1, shows a celt from Cyprus
in my own collection, which in form
might be matched by celts of flint,
though it must be acknowledged that
the type in stone is rather that of
Scandinavia than of Eastern Europe
or the Levant. A slight ridge in
the oxide upon it seems to mark the
distance that the narrow end pene-
trated the handle. Numerous tools
or weapons of the same form were
found by Dr. Schliemann f in his
excavations in search of Troy. They
were at first thought to be of copper,
but subsequently proved to have a
small per-centage of tin in them. A
number of flat celts, some short and
broad, and others long and narrow,
were found at Gungeria,^ in the Mhow
Talook, about forty miles north of Boorha, in Central India, many
of which are now in the British Museum. On analysis Dr. Percy
found them to be of pure copper. The same form was found at Tel
Sifr, in Southern Babylonia. Some from that place, and from the
island of ThermiaJ in the Greek Archipelago, are also in the British
Museum. Nearly similar instruments, said to Ik; mnde of copper,
have been found in Anstria,|| Denmark,5f Sweden,** Hungary, ft
* " Catal. M. R.I.A.," p. 366. f " Troy and its Kemains," p. :VS0, &c.
J "Cong, preh.," Stockholm vol. i. p. 34G. I'rvc As. Soc. Bengal, May, 1870.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 437. || Kenner, "Arch. Funde,"" 1867, p. 29.
H Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," fig. 178. ** "Cong. prch.," Hologna vol. p. 292.
ft "Cong, preh.," Buda Pest vol. i. p. 227.
Fig. 1.— Cyprus.
DISCOVERIES IN BARROWS.
41
France,* and Italy. f I have one 3f inches long, from lloyat, Puy de
Dome. A large and thicker specimen is in the Museum at Toulouse.
They have usually a small per-centage, 015 to 2 08 of tin in them.+
I have already, in the Introductory Chapter, made some remarks
on the probability of a copper age having, in some part of the
world, preceded that of bronze, and need here only repeat that the
occurrence of implements in copper, of the forms usually occurring
in bronze, does not of necessity imply a want of acquaintance with
the tin necessary to mix with copper to form bronze, but may
only be significant of a temporary or local scarcity of the former
metal. I may also add that without actual analysis, it is unsafe,
from appearance only, to judge whether copper is pure, or whether
it has not an appreciable per-centage of tin in it,
In treating of the different forms and characters of bronze celts,
and of the places and circumstances of finding, I think it will be
best first to take those from England and Wales, then those from
Scotland, and lastly those from Ireland. I begin with those which
have been found in barrows in England.
Fig. 2 represents a flat celt found in a barrow in the parish of Butter-
wick, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, by the Rev. Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S., F.S.A.§ It lay at the hips of
the body of a young man, at whose right
hand the knife-dagger (Fig. 279) and the
bronze drill or pricker (Fig. 225) were
found, accompanied by a flint knife
formed from a broad external flake. In
front of the chest were six buttons, five
of jet and one of sandstone, two of which
are figured in my " Ancient Stone Imple-
ments." || The handle of the celt or axc-
head could be plainly traced by means of
a dark line of decayed wood, and to all
appearance the weapon had been worn
slung from the waist. " The blade is of
the simplest form, modelled on the pat-
tern of the stone axe, and may, it is
probable, be regarded as the earliest
type of bronze axe antecedently to the
appearance of either flanges or socket.
It is 4 inches long, 2f inches wide at the
cutting edge, and 1 £ inches at the smaller
end. It had evidently been fixed into a solid handle to a diplli of 2 inches
* Bull. Soc. de Borda, Dax, 1878, p. 57.
f "Cong, prch.," Copenhagen vol. p. IS I.
% Morlot, Mem. Soc. Ant. du Nor*/, 1 866— 71, p
§ " British Barrows," p. 188. Tin ml is I i
|| Figs. 3G9 and 370, p. 407.
r i
Fig. 2.— Butterwiok. J
42 FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS. [CHAP. 111.
A very similar discovery to that at Butterwick was made by the late
Mr. Thomas Bateman in a barrow upon Parwich Moor, Derbyshire,*
called Shuttlestone, opened by him in June, 1848. In this case a man of
fine proportions and in the prime of life had been interred, surrounded by
fern-leaves and enveloped in a hide with the hair inwards. Close to the
head were a small flat bead of jet and a circular flint (probably a
"scraper"). In contact with the left arm lay a bronze dagger, much like
Fig. 279, with two rivets for the attachment of the handle, which had
been of horn. About the middle of the left thigh was a bronze celt of the
plainest axe-shaped type. The cutting edge was turned towards the
upper part of the person, and the instrument itself had been inserted into
a wooden shaft for about 2 inches at the narrow end. The celt and
dagger are engraved in the Archaeological Association Journal,] and the
former in the ArchBohgia.% It is about 5h inches long, and in form much
like Fig. 19.
In a small barrow named Borther Low,§ about two miles south of
Middleton by Youlgrave, Mr. William Bateman discovered a skeleton
with the remains of a plain coarse urn on the left side, a flint arrow-head
much burnt, a pair of canine teeth of either a fox, or a dog of the same
size, and a diminutive bronze celt. In the catalogue of the Bateman
Museum || this is described as "of the most primitive type, closely
resembling the stone celts in form," and 2 inches only in length. It is
there stated to have been found with a flint spear, but this seems to be a
mistake for an arrow-head.^]
Dr. Samuel Pegge,** in his letter to Mr. Lort already cited, mentions that
' ' Mr. Adam Wolsey the younger, of Matlock in Derbyshire, has a celt
found near the same place a.d. 1787, at Blakelow in the parish of
Ashover, with a spear-head of flint, a military weapon also." Not
improbably this was an axe-head of the same class.
A celt of much the same character as Fig. 2, but in outline more
nearly resembling Fig. 19, 4f inches long and 2f broad at the cutting
edge, was found in company with two diadems or lunettes of gold such
as the Irish antiquaries call "Minds," at Harlyn, in the parish of
Merryn, near Padstow, Cornwall, and is engraved in the Archceological
Journal.]] The objects were found at a depth of about six feet from the
surface, and with them was another bronze article, which was unfortu-
nately thrown away. This was described by the man at work on the spot
as "like a bit of a buckle." The discovery was quite accidental, and no
notice seems to have been taken as to whether there were any traces of an
interment at the spot, though the earth in contact with the articles is
described as having been " of an artificial character."
It is a celt of this kind which is engraved by Plot \ \ as found near
St. Bertram's Well, Ham, Staffordshire. He describes it as "somewhat
like, only larger than, a lath -hammer at the edge end, but not so on the
other," and regards it as a Roman sacrificial axe.
One (4£ inches) was found on Bevere Island, AVorcostershire.§§
♦"Ten Years' Diggings," p. 3L "Catalogue," p. 75. Arch. Assoc. Journ.,
vol. vii. p. 217. t Vol. vii. p. 217, pi. xix.
t Vol xliii p 445. k " Vest, of the Ants, of Derb.," p. 48.
|| P. 74, No. 11. H See " Catal.," p. 32, No. 29.
** Arch., vol. ix. p. 85. +t Vol. xxii. p. T,l .
XX "Nat. Hist, of Staffordshire," tab. xxiii. p. 403
§J Allies, p. 151, pi. iv. 11.
DISCOVERIES OF FLAT CELTS. 43
Others of the same kind have been found near Duxford, Cambs,* near
Grappenhall, Cheshire ; f the Beacon Hill, Charnwood Forest, Leicester-
shire ; J and, near Battlefield, Shrewsbury, § in company with a palstave
without loop, some sickle-like objects, and other articles. One, 9 inches
long and 5 inches broad at the cutting edge, found in the ruins of Gleas-
ton Castle, Lower Furness, Lancashire, is engraved in the Archaohgia.\
The celts found on Baddow Hall Common, ^[ near Danbury, Essex, one
of which was 6 inches long and 3A- inches broad at the edge, seem to have
been of this character.
I have seen specimens of the same type from Taxley Fen, Hunting-
donshire (4J inches long), in the collection of Mr. S. Sharp, F.S.A. ; and
from Eaisthorp, near Fimber, Yorkshire, in that of Messrs. Mortimer.
In Canon Greenwell's collection are three (about 4f inches) found at
Newbiggin, Northumberland, and others (about 5 J inches) from Alnwick
and Wallsend. A specimen in the same collection (5£ inches), found at
Knapton, Yorkshire (E. E.), has a slight ridge along the centre of the
sides, which, as well as the angles between the faces and the sides, is
indented with a series of slight hammer marks at regular intervals.
Mr. Wallace of Distington, Whitehaven, has one (6£ inches) from
Hango Hill, Castleton, Isle of Man.
I have myself oelts of the same class from the Cambridge Fens
(4 1 inches) ; Sherburn Carr, Yorkshire (5f inches), found with another
nearly similar ; Swansea (4 J inches, much decayed); and near Pont Caradog,
Brithder, Glamorganshire (6£ inches), found with three others, and given
to me by Canon Greenwell, F.E.S., in whose collection the others are
preserved.
A few of these flat plain celts have been found in France. Some from
the/lepaiiments of Doubs and Jura are engraved by Chantre.**'1 One from
Normandy, ff figured by the Abbe Cochet, seems to show some trace of a
transverse ridge. One from the Seine is engraved in the " Dictionnaire
Archeologique de la Gaule." Another was found in Finistere.^ Others
are in the Museum at Narbonne§§ and elsewhere. The form is also
found in Spain, both in bronze and what is apparently copper. I have
specimens from the Ciudad Eeal district.
The plain flat form like Fig. 2 is also occasionally found in Germany.
One from Ackenbach, near Homberg, is figured by Schreiber. || |
With nearly straight sides like Fig. 27, the form is not uncommon in
Hungary. Some of these are very thin.
Others of nearly the same form, but thicker, have been found on the
other side of the Atlantic in Mexico, and many of the copper celts of
North America are also of the plain flat type with an oblong section.
This circumstance to my mind rather proves that the form is the simplest,
and therefore that most naturally adopted for hatchets, than that there
was of necessity any intercourse betweon the countries in which it has
prevailed.
Many of the flat celts are ornamented in a more or loss artistic
* Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p. 179. t Op. cit., vol. xviii. p. 158.
X Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 44. f P. S. A., 2nd S., toI. ii. p. 251.
II Vol. v. pi. vii. i. p. 106. IT Arch., vol. ix. p. 378.
** PI. ii. 1, 2, 3. tt " La Seine Inf.," ]». 552.
XX " Materiaux," vol. iv. p. 525. §$ "MatSriaux," vol. v. 1,1. ii. 2, ",.
Illl "Dieehernen Streitkeile " (1842), Taf. i. 1.
44
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS
[CHAP. III.
manner on the faces, or the sides, or on both ; but before pro-
ceeding to notice any of them, it will be well to mention another
variety of the plain celt, in which the faces, instead of being nearly
flat or uniformly convex, slope towards either end from a trans-
verse ridge near the middle of the blade. This ridge is never very
strongly defined, as the total thickness of the blade from ridge to
ridge is rarely more than half an inch. The plain variety is some-
what rare in Britain, but one ornamented on both faces will be
described, under Fig. 5, and an Irish example is shoAvn in Fig. 35.
A large doubly tapering celt (8 inches) was found at East Surby,
Rushen/" Isle of Man. Some of those already mentioned partake
of this character. In Hoare's ■ great work a specimen from the
Bush Barrow, Normanton,f is engraved as being of this plain
doubly tapering type ; but from the more accurate engraving
given by Dr. Thurnam + it appears that this instrument has flanges
at the side, like Fig. 8, and must therefore be spoken of later on.
I now proceed to consider some of the flat celts ornamented
with patterns probably produced by punches, as will subsequently
be mentioned. The first which I ad-
duce was found with an interment, and
the ornamentation is so slight that it
is a question whether the celt ought
not to rank among those of the plain
kind.
The late Mr. Thomas Bateman in 1845
found what he described as " a fine bronze
celt of novel form " and " of elegant out-
line " near the head of a contracted skele-
ton in a barrow caUed Moot Low,§ about
half-way between Alsop Moor and Dove-
dale, Derbyshire. "It was placed in a
line with the body, with its edge up-
wards." By the kindness of Mr. Llewel-
lynn Jewitt, F.S.A.J I am enabled to
give a figure of this instrument in Fig. 3.
As will be seen, it has slight flanges
along the sides, and the upper part is
ornamented with, short vertical lines
punched in.
Unit shown in Fig. 4 was found in Yorkshire, and is now in the
British Museum. The patina upon it has been somewhat injured, but
, 3. — Moot ] .ow
* "First Rep. Arch. Comm. T. of Man," pi. iv. 2.
t " Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 202, pi. xxvi.
§ " Vest. Ant. Dorb.," p. 68. " Catal.," p. 75, No.
|| "Grave-mounds," fig. 187.
X Arch., vol. xliii p, 444.
18.
1'KNAMKXTKD ON THE FACES.
45
the ornamentation upon the faces is in places very well preserved. It
consists of numerous parallel lines, each made up of short diagonal
indentations in the metal, and together forming the pattern which will he
hetter understood from the figure than from any description. The side-
are ornamented hy having two low pyramidal hosses drawn out upon
them, leaving a long concave hexagonal space in the middle hetween
1
Fig. 4. — Yorkshire. i
them. This celt has already heen figured, but on a much smaller scale, in
the " Horse Ferales." *
This style of ornamentation on the sides is more common on Irish than
on English or Scottish celts. One, however, 5£ inches long, of tho doubly
tapering form with lunate edge, having the central portion of the Made
ornamented with a series of lines in a chevron pattern, and bavin*;- tin-
sides worked into three facets of a pointed oval form, was found at
WTiittington,f Gloucestershire, and was presented by Mr. W. L. Law
rence, F.S.A., to the Society of Antiquaries. The ornamentation is much
* PI. iv. No. 4.
f Proc. Soc. A»t., 2nd S., vol. i. i 2-50.
46
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS
[CHAP. III.
like that on Fig. 7, but between the ornamented portion of the blade
and the edge there is a curved hollow facet, the ridge below which runs
nearly parallel with the edge.
The celt shown in Fig. 5 might perhaps be more properly placed among
the flanged celts, as, without having well-
developed flanges along the sides, there is
a projecting ridge running along either
margin of the faces, in consequence of the
sides having been somewhat chamfered, or
having had their angles beaten down by
hammering. It was found on Preston
Down, near "Weymouth, Dorsetshire ; but
I do not know under what circumstances.
It has become thickly coated with a dark
sage-green patina, which has in places
been unfortunately knocked off. The
beautiful original ornamentation of the
5. — Weymouth.
celt has been admirably preserved by the
patina. The greater part of the surface
has been figured with a sort of grained
pattern like morocco leather, probably by
means of a punch in form like a narrow
blunt chisel. The faces of the blade are
not flat, but taper in both directions from
a ridge rather more than half-way up the
blade. Along the lower side of this some-
what curved ridge, and again about an
inch above the cutting edge, a belt of
chevrons has been punched in, having the
appearance of a plaited band. Below the
lower band the surface has been left
smooth and unornamented, so that grind-
ing the edge would not in any way injure the pattern. The upper part of
the blade has at the present time exactly the appearance of dark green
morocco with " blind-tooling " upon it. No doubt many blades which
were originally ornamented after the same fashion as this specimen have
now, through oxidation or the accidental destruction of the patina, lost
all traces of their original decoration. On this, where the patina has
been destroyed, nothing can be seen of the graining.
I have a flat celt from Mildenhall, Suffolk (6 inches), in form like Fig.
6, the greater part of the surface of which has been grained in a similar
manner, though the graining is now ahnost obliterated.
In the collection of the Duke of Northumberland* is a large celt which
appears to be of the flat kind, with the side edges " slightly recurved,"
and with the surface "elaborately worked with chevrony linos and orna-
ments which may have been partly produced by hammering." It was
found in Northumberland.
Another belonging to James Kendrick, Esq., M.D., found at Risdon,f
near "Warrington, is described as being "ornamented with punched lines
in a very unusual manner." Another, of which a bad representation
from one of Dr. Stukeley's drawings is given in the Arcfaeologia, is said
Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 363.
f Arch. Joum., vol. xviii. p. loO.
OUXAMENTED ON THE FACES.
i:
to have been found in the long barrow at Stonehenge.* One 4h inches
long, the faces ornamented with a number of longitudinal cuts, was found
near Sidmouth.f
In some instances the faces of the celts have been wrought into a series
of slightly hollowed facets. One such from Read, Lancashire, is in the
British Museum, and is engraved as Fig. 6. The central space between
the two series of ridges and also the margins of the faces are ornamented
with shallow chevrons punched in. The sides have been hammered into
Fig. G.— Read. |
three facets, and this has produced slight flanges at the margins of the
faces. These facets are ornamented with diagonal linos. This cell was
found with two others, apparently of the same kind, and is described and
engraved in Whitaker's " History of the Original Parish of Whalley."
The author says that these instruments were from 9 to 12 inches Long, and
had a broad and narrow end, but had neither Loops, grooves, nor any
other contrivance by which they could bo fixed in a shaft, or indeed
applied to any known use. That in the British Museum was obtained
* Arch., vol. v. j). 13.3, pi. viii. 14. f Trans. Devon Assoc, vol. v. p. 82
J 3rd edit., Ito, 18 is, pi. ii.
48
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
by the lato Mr. Charles TWneley. The two others were formerly in
the collections of the Kev. Dr. Milles, P.S.A., and of Dr. Whitaker.
I now come to the flanged celts, or those which have projecting
ledges along the greater part of each side of the faces, produced
either by hammering the metal at the sides of the blades, or
in the original casting. As has already been observed, some of
the celts Avhich have been described as belonging to the flat
variety might, with almost equal propriety, have been classed as
flanged celts, as the mere hammering of the sides with a view to
render them smooth or to produce an ornament upon them
" upsets " the metal, and produces a thickening along the margin
which almost amounts to a flange.
In the celt shown in Fig. 7 the flanges are very slight, and are in all
probability merely due to the hammering necessary to produce the kind
of cable pattern or spiral fluting which is
seen in the side view. The faces taper
in each direction from a transverse
ridge, and the blade for some distance
below this is ornamented with an incuse
chevron pattern. The blade towards
the edge and above the ridge is left
plain. This specimen was found in
Suffolk, but I do not know the exact
locality. It is in my own collection.
Among nineteen bronze celts dis-
covered about the year 1845 on the pro-
perty of Mr. Samuel Ware, F.S.A., at
Postlingford Hall,* near Clare, Suffolk,
were several of this class, two of which
(6£ and 5| inches), now in the British
J\ Museum, are figured in the Arclmo-
jj^ logia. One of them is ornamented with
a chevron pattern, covering the part of
the blade usually decorated, and having
vertical lines running through the
centres of the chevrons, and through
the junction of their bases. The other
is ornamented with a series of curved parallel lines running across the
blade, as on Fig. 16. They have a slight projection or ridge at the
thickest part of the blade, as have also two that are not ornamented,
which likewise were presented by Mr. Ware to the British Museum.
Another celt of this kind (4f inches) w;is found witha bronze spear-head
having loops at the lower part of the blade in the Kilcot Wood.f ucar
Newent, Gloucestershire. The faces are ornamented wifh parallel rows
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 1st S., vol. i. p. 83; Arch., vol. xxxi. p. 496; Troc. Bury and
West .s'"//'. Arch. Inst., vol. i. p. 26.
t Troc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 369.
FLANGED CELTS FROM ARRETON DOWX.
49
of short diagonal Hues, bounded at the lower end by a double series of
dots, and a transverse row of diagonal lines.
In the remarkable hoard of bronze instruments discovered on Arreton
Down, in the Isle of Wight, about the year 1735, were, besides the spear-
heads and dagger blades, of which mention will be made in subsequent
chapters, four of these flanged celts. Of these one (6|- inches) was orna-
mented both on the face and sides, but is at present only known froni a
drawing in an album belonging to the Society of Antiquaries.
lilfi
Fig. 8. — Arreton Down. $
The others were plain, and of one of them a woodcut is given in the
ArchcBologia, * which by the permission of the Council of the Society of
Antiquaries is here reproduced as Fig. 8. It is 8 inches in length, and is
one of the largest of its class in the British Museum. As will 1hv srcn, tin-
blade itself is of the doubly tapering kind. The others are_4J ami I;
inches long. They are said to have been found arranged in regular
order,f and, as Mr. Franks has suggested, may possibly have been the
store deposited by some ancient founder, which he was unable to reel ami
from its hiding-place.
Vol. xxxvi. p. 329.
f Arch., vol. v. p. 113.
E
50
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
In Figs. 9 and 10* are shown two more of these doubly tapering
flanged celts, which were found in the parish of Plymstock, f Devonshire,
about a mile east of Preston. They lay beneath a flat stone at a depth of
about two feet below the surface, together with fourteen other celts, three
daggers, one of which is given as Fig. 301, a spear-head or dagger,
shown in Fig. 327, and a narrow chisel (Fig. 190). All the sixteen
IhHp
in
'ill II1 i " IBfl
win
f Dll I ii..'!.,!'!..-' I ill I !,.„
II
IliHSMrf','
Fig. 9.— Plymstock.
Fig. 10.— Plymstock.
celts are of the same general typo, but vary in length from 3i' inches to
6| inches. The extent of the flanges or wings also varies, and in some
they project considerably, and are brought with great precision to a sharp
edge. At the narrow or butt end, the late Mr. Albert Way, who described
the hoard, noticed a peculiar slight groove extending only as far as the
* For the loan of these cuts I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S.
t Arch.Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 346. Thescaloof the cuts is there erroneously stated to be \.
FLANGED CELTS FOUND IN BARROW 'S. 51
commencement of the lateral flanges. The character of the groove is
shown in the portion of the side view given with each figure. Mr. Way
and Mr. Franks thought that the narrow end of the celt, when produced
from the mould, had been slightly bifid, and that the little cleft had been
closed by the hammer. My own impression is that these marks are
merely the result of " drawing down " the narrow ends with the hammer
after their sides had been somewhat "upset" or expanded by hammering
out the side flanges.
The sides of some of these celts have been hammered so as to present
three longitudinal facets ; others have the sides simply rounded. One of
the most interesting features of this discovery is its analogy with that
already mentioned as having been made at Arreton Down. The greater
number of the objects found at Plymstock were given by the Duke of
Bedford to the British Museum, and the remainder to the Exeter Museum.
Four or five celts with slight side flanges were found in the Wiltshire
barrows by Sir R. Colt Hoare. The largest of these (6 J inches long and
2£ inches broad) was found in 1808, in a tumulus known as the Bush
Barrow, near Norraanton.* The following are the particulars of this
discovery: — On the floor of the barrow was the skeleton of a tall man
lying from south to north. Near his shoulders lay the celt, which owes
its great preservation to having been inserted in a handle of wood. About
eighteen inches south of the head were several bronze rivets, intermixed
with wood and thin pieces of bronze, which were regarded as the remains
of a shield. Near the right arm were a large dagger of bronze and a
spear-head of the same metal, fully 13 inches long. The handle of this
dagger, marvellously inlaid with pins of gold, will be described in a
subsequent chapter. On the breast of the skeleton was a large lozenge-
shaped plate of gold, ornamented with zigzag and other patterns, and
near it were some other gold ornaments, some bone rings, and an oval
perforated stone mace, the representation of which I have reproduced in
my "Ancient Stone Implements."
We have here an instance of bronze weapons occurring associated
with those of stone and with gold ornaments. Sir R. Colt Hoare has
recorded some other cases. In a bell-shaped barrow near Wilsford,f at
the feet of the skeleton of a tall man, he found a massive hammer of a
dark-coloured stone, some objects of bone, a whetstone with a groove in
the centre, and a bronze celt with small lateral flanges 3} inches long.
These were accompanied by a very curious object of twisted bronze,
apparently a ring about 4± inches in diameter, having a tang pierced with
four rivet holes for fixing in a handle. In the ring itself, opposite
the tang, is a long oval hole, through which passes one of three circular
links forming a short chain.
In a barrow on Overton Hill,:]: Sir R. Colt Hoare found a contracted
skeleton buried either in the trunk of a tree or on a plank of wood. Near
tho head were a small celt of this kind, an awl with a handle (Fig. 227),
and a small dagger, or, as he terms it, a "lance-head."
The occurrence of celts of this character is not limited to interments by
inhumation. In another barrow of the Wilsford group Sir K. C lloaro
found, in a cist 2 feet deep, a pile of burnt bones, an ivory (V I pin, a rude
* "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 202, pi. xxvi ; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 4 I 1.
t "Anc. Wilts," vol.i. p. 209, pi. xxix.
X "Anc. Wilts," vol. ii. 90 ; Oran. Brit., xi. 7, where these objects are figured.
i: -2
52
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. 111.
ring of bone, and a small bronze celt, also with side flanges, and only
2£ inches long.
Among other specimens of this form of celt may be cited one found on
Plumpton Plain,* near Lewes, Sussex, now in the British Museum ; one
(4 inches) found near Dover in 1856; and one (6| inches) from Wye
Down, Kent, both in the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Canon Green-
well, F.R.S., has one (3| inches) from March, Cambridgeshire.
Flanged celts much Kke Fig. 9 have been found in France. Some
from Haute-Saone,f Rhone, and Compiegne J (Oise) have been figured. I
have specimens from Evreux (Eure), Amiens (Somme), and Lyons.
The type also occurs in Italy § in some abundance ; it is found more rarely
in Germany. || Examples from Denmark are figured by Schreiber,^|
Segested,** and Madsen.ff The form also occurs in Sweden. J|
A peculiar form of flanged celt is shown in Fig. 11. The flanges
extend as usual nearly to the edge, but at the upper part of the blade are
Fig. 11.— Thames.
Fig, 12.— Norfolk.
set down so as to project still farther over the faces, though at a lower
level. The original was found in the Thames, §§ and is the property of
Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.
A small example, ornamented with a fluted pattern on the sides and with
the blade slightly tapering in each direction from a central ridge, is shown
in Fig. 12. The original was found in Norfolk, and is in the collection of
Mr. R. Fitch, F.S.A.
Another, decorated with a fluted chevron pattern on the sides, and witli
indented herring-bone and chevron patterns on the faces, is given in
Fig. 13. This example was found in Dorsetshire, and is now in the
British Museum. In the same collection is a beautiful celt with side
* Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ii. p. 268.
t Chantre, "Album," pi. iv. 2, 3. " Cong, preh.," Bologna vol. p. 3;V2.
% Diet. Arch, de la Gaule. Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xiii. PI. i. fig. Ii.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xxi. 100. Lubbock's "Preh. Times," p. 28, fig. 17.
|| Lisch, " Fred. Francisc," tab. xiii. 7. IT Die ehernen Streitkeile, Taf. i. 5.
** " Oldsag. fra Broholm," pi. xxiii. 6. ft " Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. xxi. 6.
XX Montelius, " La Suede preh.," fig. 42. " Cong, preh.," Bologna vol. p. 292.
§§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd >S., vol. v. p. 428, pi. i. fig. 1.
DECORATED FLANGED CELTS.
53
flanges found near Brough, "Westmoreland (6f inches), which has the
Fig. 13. — Dorsetshire
portion of the blade below the thickest part ornamented with a lozengy
matted pattern much like that on
Fig. 51, but with the alternate
lozenges plain and hatched. The
hatching on some of the lozenges
is from left to right, on others the
reverse.
A flanged celt of unusual type,
the sides curiously wrought and
engraved or punched, and the
faces exhibiting a pattern of che-
vrony lines, is shown in Fig. 14.
It was found near Lewes,* Sussex.
and is the property of Sir II .
Shiffner, Bart.
An example of nearly the same
kind is shown in Fig. 15, from a
celt found in the Fens near Ely,
and now in the museum of Mr.
Marshall Fisher, of that city. Both
faces are ornamented below the
thickest part with broad indented
lines, vertical and transverse, as
will be best seen in the figure.
Fig. i
* Arch. Jonm., vol. xviii. p. 167. Chichester vol. of Arch Inst., p. 62, whence this
cut is taken.
54
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
The sides are hammered into three facets, each having a series of diagonal
grooves wrought in them. The two left-hand facets on each side have
the grooves running upwards from left to right ; on the third facet they
run downwards, but at a much less inclination. The punch with which
the grooves and ornaments were produced has also been employed along
the inner angle of the flanges.
A pretty little celt, ornamented with transverse ridges in the lower part,
is shown in Fig. 16. The original was found at Barrow, Suffolk.
The Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses one (4f inches) found at
Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the faces of which are decorated in a nearly
Fig. 16. — Barrow.
Fig-. 17.— Liss.
similar manner ; but the sides show a cable pattern, and there is a slight
central ridge on the faces.
A much larger specimen (6 J inches), found near the Menai Bridge,*
Anglesea, has also cabled sides, but the grooves on the faces are straighter
and wider apart.
A Danish celt, ornamented in a similar manner, is engraved by
Madsen.f
The celt shown in Fig. 17 is of somewhat the same character, but the
transverse lines are closer and not continuous. They have evidently been
produced by means of a small blunt punch, with the aid of a hammer.
The original was found at Liss, J near Petersfield, Hants, and is now in
the British Museum.
Flanged celts decorated on the faces are of rare occurrence in France.
One of narrow proportions, and ornamented with lozenges and zigzags,
was found at Mareuil-sur-Ourcq § (Oise).
* Arch. Comb., 4th S., vol. viii. p. 207.
X Arch. Jouni., vol. xii. p. 278, iviii. p. 167.
t " Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. xxi. 2.
§ Diet. Arch, de la Gaalc.
CASTINGS FOR FLANGED CELTS.
55
The only instance known to me in which the rough castings
destined to be wrought into this form of celt have been found in
Britain is one recorded in the Archceologia Ca/rnhn nsis * by the
Eev. E. L. Barnwell. At the meeting of the Cambrian Archaeo-
logical Association at Wrexham, Sir R. A. Cunliffe, Bart., exhibited
what had evidently been the stock in trade
of an ancient bronze -founder or merchant.
It had been found at Rhosnesney, near Wrex-
ham, and consisted of six palstaves, all from
the same mould, another somewhat slighter
and broken in two, the blade of a small
dagger, three castings for flanged celts, and
the shank of a fourth — all of them rousdi as
they came from the mould. The cut given
of one of the last-mentioned castings is here
reproduced on a smaller scale as Fig. 18. It
will be seen that a broad runner is left at the
butt end, which was probably destined to be
broken off ; the sides would also be ham-
mered, so as to increase the prominence of the
flanges ; and the whole would be planished by
hammering and grinding. All the specimens
have the appearance of having been washed
over with tin, but this deposit of tin upon
the surface may, I think, be due to some chemical action which
has gone on since the bronze was buried in the ground, and may
not have been intentionally produced.
A casting for a longer flanged celt found at Vienne (Isere) has
been figured by Chantre.f
Turning now to the flat and flanged celts discovered in Scotland,
I may remark that the instruments of the flat form appear to be
comparatively more abundant in that country than in England
and Wales.
In Fig. 19 is shown a remarkably well-preserved specimen in my own
collection, which is said to have been found near Drumlanrig, Dumt'vicN-
shire. The sides present two longitudinal facets at a low angle to each
other. In hammering these the margin of the faces has been somewhat
raised ; they are otherwise smooth and devoid of ornament. Other speci-
mens have three facets on the sides. Instruments of nincli the stuun
character have been found near BiggarJ (6^ inches), Culter§ (5^ inches),
Fig. IS.— Rhosnesney. \
* 4th S., vol. vi. p. 70. Cat. p. 1.
X Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 20.
t "Album," pi. iii. 1.
§ Ibid.
56
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS
[CHAP. III.
both in Lanarkshire ; on the farm of Colleonard,* near Banff (found with
three which were ornamented) ; at Sluie on the Findhorn,f Morayshire
(two, 6 inches) ; near
Abernethy,| Perth-
shire (4 inches across
face) ; near Ardgour
House, § Inverness-
shire (5f inches) ;
the Hill of Fortrie
of Balnoon,|| Inver-
keithney, Banffshire
(5| inches long); Ra-
velston,^[ near Edin-
burgh (7 inches) ;
Cobbinshaw, Mid-
calder, Edinburgh
(4f inches), in my
own collection. One
found in the Moss
of Cree,*'* near Wig-
ton in Galloway, has
been mentioned by
Wilson, and is en-
graved in the Ayr
and Wigton Collec-
tions.]] Others from
Inch and Leswalt,
Wigtonshire, have
also been figured.^
Some of these
blades, and not-
ably the celts from
Sluie, the Hill of Fortrie of Balnoon, and Ravelston, have been
thought to be tinned. An interesting paper on the subject lias
been written by Dr. J. Alexander Smith and Dr. Stevenson
Macadam. §§ Their conclusion is rather in favour of the celts
having been intentionally tinned, so as to protect them from
oxidation and the influence of the weather. I think, how-
ever, that the tinned appearance of the castings for celts from
Rhosnesney affords a strung argument against this feature being
the result of intentional tinning ; for, if so, that metal would
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 245. f P. 8. A. S., vol. iv. p. 187, and ix. p. 431.
% P. S. A. S., vol. iv. p. 380. § P. S. A. S., vol. ix. p. 182.
|| P. S. A. S., vol. ix. i>. 430.
II Arch. Scot., vol. iii. App. II. p. 32; P. S. A. S., vol. ix. p. 431.
** " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 381.
ft Vol. ii. p. 6. XX Op. cii., p. 7.
§$ P. S. A. S., vol. ix. p. 428.
Fig. 19. — Drumlaurig.
FOUND IN SCOTLAND.
r,7
have been applied to the blades after they had been wrought and
ground into shape, and not to the rough eastings, from the surface
of which the tin would be certainly removed in the process of
finishing the blades. A bronze hammer from France in my col-
lection has all the appearance of having been intentionally tinned,
even partly within the socket ; but in this case the bronze appears
unusually rich in tin, which was probably added in order to
increase the hardness of the metal, and some considerable altera-
tion of structure has taken place within the body of the metal, as
the surface is fissured in all directions, something like "crackle
china."
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are other flat celts, some of
them with slight flanges at the edge, from Eildon, Roxburghshire ; Inch-
nadamff , Sutherlandshire ;
Dunino, Fif eshire ; Vogrie
and Ratho, Midlothian ;
Kintore and Tarland,
Aberdeenshire ; and other
places.
Some celts of this form,
but with slight side
flanges, have been found
in the South of France.*
A celt of this class, also
the Museum at Edin-
m
burgh, is probably the
largest ever found in the
United Kingdom. It is 1 3§
inches in length, 9 inches
in its greatest breadth, but
only If inch at the nar-
row end. Its thickness is
about § inch in the middle
of the blade, and its weight
is 5 lbs. 7 ozs. It is shown
on a scale of rather more
than one-fourth in Fig. 20,
for the use of the woodcut
of which I am indebted to
the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland. It was found
in digging a drain on the
farm of Lawhead,f on the
south side of the Pentland
Hills, near Edinburgh.
Some of the Scottish celts, both flat and doubly tapering, are ornamented
on the faces. One with four raised longitudinal ribs, and two with a
&
-.»> -y. «
Fig. 20. — La win: ill.
* " Materiaux," vol. v. pi. ii. 6, 7.
f Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 105.
58
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
series of short incised or punched lines upon their faces, were among
those found on the farm of Colleonard,* Banff; another has shallow
flutings on the blade ; another, E 22, in the Catalogue of the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh, is also ornamented with incised lines. One of
those from Sluie,f Morayshire, is cited by Wilson.
i
Fig. 21.— Nairn. \
The tastefully ornamented celt shown in Fig. 21 was found near
Nairn, and is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of
* P. S. A. S.. vol. iii. p. 245.
t "Preh. Ann.," 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 381.
DECORATED SCOTTISH SPECIMENS.
59
Scotland, to the Council of which. I am indebted for the use of the cut.
The wreathed lines appear to have been produced by a chisel-like punch.
The ornamentation of both faces is almost exactly similar.
I have two flat celts, both said to have been found near Falkland, Fife-
shire, one of which (6f inches) has had grooves about half an inch apart
worked in the faces parallel to the sides, so as to form very pointed
chevrons down the centre of the blade. The other (5 inches long) has
had broad shallow dents about -h inch long and £ inch apart made in its
faces, so as to form a herring-bone pattern.
The doubly tapering celt shown in Fig. 22 is also said to have been
found near Falkland. Below the ridge the face has been ornamented
■■Ml
Fig-. 22.— Falkland.
Fig. 23.— Greenlees. }
with parallel belts of short, narrow indentations arranged longitudinally
for about half the length of the lower face, but nearer the edge trans-
versely. The sides are worked into three longitudinal facets.
Of Scottish flanged celts resembling Fig. 9, the following may be
mentioned. One found in Peeblesshire* (5| inches long, witli a circular
depression on one face); one from Longman, f Macduff, Banffshire (3|
inches long).
Another of the same class, having a round hole at the upper pari of the
blade, is said to have been found in Scotland, and is engraved hy (ierdon.J
* Engraved in Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. pi. vi. 1. p. 21.
t P- 8. A. S., vol. vi. p. 41. X "Itin. Septent.," p. 116, pi. 1. No. 1.
60
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS
[chap
III.
A celt with but slightly raised flanges and peculiar ornamentation is
shown in Fig. 23. It was found at Greenlees,* near Spottiswoode,
Berwickshire, and is in the collection of Lady John Scott. There is a
faintly marked stop-ridge, above which the blade has been ornamented by
thickly set parallel hammer or punch marks. The sides are fluted in a
cable pattern. Parallel to the cutting edge are three slight fluted hollows,
and on the blade above are segments of concentric hollows of the same
kind, forming what heralds would term ' ' flanches ' ' on the blade. Whether
in this ornament we are to see a representation of the "flanches" of the
winged palstave like Fig. 85, such as is so common on socketed celts, or
whether it is of independent origin, I will not attempt to determine.
Fig. 24— Perth.
Fig. 2.r).— Api-ilegarih. J
A flanged celt with a slight stop-ridge, having the sides ornamented
with a cable pattern and the faces with rows of triangles alternately
hatched and plain, is shown in Fig. 24. The original was found near
Perth,f and is in the collection of the Rev. James Beck, F.S.A. A celt
with five hatched bands surmounted by triangles, and with the sides cable
moulded, though found in Denmark,]: much resembles this Scottish speci-
men and some of those from Ireland. Another with similar sides, but
with the lower part of the faces ornamented with narrow vertical grooves,
was found at Applegarth,§ Dumfriesshire, and is now in the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh. It is represented in Fig. 25.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scotf> vol. xii. p. 601. I am indebted to the Council for the use of
this cut.
t Troc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. viii. p. 5.
X Madsen, " Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. xxi. 7. See also "Ant. Tidsk.," 18G1--3, p. 24.
\ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 602.
FOUND IN IRELAND.
Gl
Another decorated celt of the same character, though with different
ornamentation, is shown in Fig. 26. The curved bands on the faces are
formed of Hues with dots between, and the sides have a kind of fern-leaf
pattern upon them, like that on the winged celt from Trillick, Fig. 98.
The original was found at Dams, Balbirnie,* Fifeshire.
A very large number of flat celts of the simplest form have been
found in Ireland. So numerous are they that it would only
encumber these pages were I to attempt to give a detailed account
of all the varieties, and of all the localities at which they have been
found. Sir William Wilde, in his most valuable " Catalogue of the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy," has placed on record a
<y
Fig. 26.— Dams.
Fig. 27.— Ballinamallard. J
large amount of information upon this subject, from which some
of the facts hereafter mentioned are borrowed, and to which the
reader is referred for farther information. Some of those of the
rudest manufacture are formed "of red, almost unalloyed copper."f
These vary in length from about 2| inches to 6| inches, and are
never ornamented.
In Fig. 27 is shown a small example of a celt apparently of pure
copper, which was found at Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh, and was
kindly added to my collection by the Earl of Enniskillen. I have another,
more like Fig. 28, from Ballybawn, Co. Cork, presented to mo by ]\1 r.
Eobert Day, F.S.A.
A small celt of this character, from King's County, now in the British
Museum, is only 2£ inches in length.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 120.
of this cut.
1 am indebted to the Council for the loan
t Wilde, p. 361.
62
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. Ill
Fig. 28 shows a very common form of Irish celt, in this instance made
of bronze. The instruments of this type are in general nearly flat, and
/)' '■ • \
Fig. 28.— North of Ireland. *
Fig. 29.— Ireland. i
without any marked central ridge, such as is to be observed more
mmmm
Fig. 30— Tipperary. J
frequently on the longer and narrower form, of which a remarkably small
specimen from the collection of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., is shown in Fig. 29. In
DECORATED IRISH SPECIMENS.
G3
tills case it will be seen that the blade tapers both ways from a low
central ridge. Others of these flat celts are in outline more like Fig. 20.
One such, in the museum, of the Royal Irish Academy, is 12 J inches long
by 8£ inches broad, and weighs nearly 5 lbs. One in the British Museum,
which, unfortunately, is somewhat imperfect, must have been of nearly
the same size. The usual length of the celts like Fig. 28 is from
4 to 6 inches. One from Greenmount, Castle Bellinghani, Co. Louth, is
engraved in the Arclwological Journal*
Occasionally the flat surface is ornamented. An example of this kind
(7£ inches) is given in Fig. 30, from a specimen found in the county of
Tipperary,t and now in the British Museum. The surface has the patterns
punched in, and the angles between the faces and the sides are slightly
serrated. Some few Irish celts are slightly fluted on the face, like the
English specimen, Fig. 6.
Another ornamented celt of this class, from my own collection, is shown
in Fig. 31. On this the roughly worked pattern has been produced
WSmmmmmU
Fig. 31.— Ireland.
i
by means of a long blunt punch, or possibly by the pane or narrow end
of a hammer ; but it is far more probable that the former tool was
used than the latter. The two faces are nearly alike, and the sides have
been hammered so as to produce a central ridge along them.
A large and highly ornamented flat celt in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., is shown in Fig. 32. The ornamentation on each
face is the same, and the sides have been hammered so as to produce a
succession of flat lozenges upon them. It was found near Connor, Co.
Antrim, with two others of nearly the same size, one of which was
* "Vol. xxvii. p. 308.
f Arch. Joum., vol. vi.
Franks, F.R.S.
p. 410. For the use of this cut I am indebted to Mr. A. W.
64
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS.
[CHAP. III.
scraped by the finder. The other is ornamented with a cross-hatched
border along the margins, and three narrow bands across the blade, one
cross-hatched, one of triangles alternately hatched and plain, and one with
vertical lines. Parallel with the cutting edge, which, however, has been
broken off in old times, is a curved band of alternate triangles, like that
across the centre of the blade. Much of the surface is grained by vertical
indentations, and the sides are ornamented like those of Fig. 4.
1
Fig. 32.— Connor. \
In the celts tapering in both directions from a slight transverse ridge,
the sides have often been "upset" by hammering, so as to produce a
thickening of the blade at the margins almost amounting to a flange.
Not unfrequently a pattern is produced upon the sides, as in Fig. 33,
where it will be seen that the median ridge along the sides is interrupted
at intervals by a series of flat lozenges. The faces of this instrument
below the ridge have been neatly hammered, so as to produce a kind of
grained surface not unlike that of French morocco leather. This speci-
DECORATED IRISH SPECIMENS.
05
men, which is unusually large, was found near Clontarf, Co. Dublin.
The same kind of decoration occurs on the sides of many specimens in the
museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy .*
The decoration of the faces often extends over the upper part of the
blade, though, when hafted, much of this was probably hidden. In
Fig. 34, borrowed from Wilde (Fig. 248), this peculiarity is well ex-
hibited. The sides have the long lozenges upon them, like those on the
celt last described.
Fig. 88.— Clontarf. {
Fig. 34.— Ireland.
The beautiful specimen shown in Fig. 35 was presented to mo 1>\- Mr.
Robert Day, F.S.A. The sides have in this case a kind of cable pattern
worked upon them. The ornamentation of the faces is remarkable ;i
having so many curved lines brought into it. The lower part of the blade
has two shallow flutings upon it, approximately parallel to the edge.
In the case of a celt of much tho same form and size (7| inches . « bich
belonged to the late Rev.' Thomas Hugo, F.S.A., and was at one time
* See Wilde, Fig. 249. 26fi.
F
66 FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS. [CHAP. III.
thought to have been found in the Thames,* it is the upper part of the
Fig. 35. — Ireland. %
Fig. 36.— Trim. h
blade that is decorated, and not the lower, which is left smooth. There
is no central ridge, but the upper part has a coarse lozenge pattern
WHP
Fig. 37.— Ireland. J Fig. 38.— Ireland. i
hammered upon it, the centres of the lozenges being roughly hatched with
* Arch. Jouni., vol. xi. p. 295.
CHARACTER OF THEIR DECORATIONS. 67
transverse lines. Possibly this roughening may have assisted to keep the
blade fast in the handle, though in producing it some artistic feeling was
brought to bear. There is little doubt of this instrument being of Irish
origin.
Other celts, bike Fig. 36, have the upper part of the blade plain and
the lower ornamented. This specimen was found at Trim, Co. Meath, and
is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. It will be observed that
even the cabled fluting of the sides ceases opposite the transverse ridge.
In Figs. 37 and 38 are shown two more of these slightly flanged
ornamented celts. The first is in the museuni of the Royal Irish Academy,
and has already been figured by Wilde (Fig. 298). The lower part of the
blade is fluted transversely with chevron patterns punched in along the
curved ridges. In the second, which was presented to me by Dr. Aquilla
Smith, M.R.I. A., there is a fairly well defined though but slightly pro-
jecting curved stop-ridge, and the blade is decorated by boldly punched
lines, forming a pattern which a herald might describe as "per saltire
argent and azure." The cable fluting on the sides is beautifully regidar.
The Rev. G. W. Brackenridge, of Clevedon, possesses a longer specimen
(5| inches), found at Tullygowan,'near Gracehill, Co. Antrim, the faces of
which are ornamented with a nearly similar design. Canon Greenwell
has another example found at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.
The patterns punched upon the celts of this type show a great
variety of form, and not a little fertility of design in the ancient
artificers."" Various combinations of chevron patterns are the most
frequent, though grained surfaces and straight lines like those on
Fig. 17 also frequently occur. Sir William Wilde describes them
as hammered, punched, engraved, or cast. Most of the patterns
were, however, produced by means of punches, though it is possible
that in some instances the other processes may have been used.
Figs. 39 to 43, borrowed from Wilde (Figs. 28G to 290), show
some of the patterns full size. The punch most commonly
fH Pf ill isi &
i Mi III ms />
noodoDOOooa "o °o
0°oO ooooo o o Sg
Fig. 39. Fig. 40. Fig. 41. Fig. 42. Fig 43.
o
employed must have resembled a narrow and blunt chisel ; but a
kind of centre-punch, producing a shallow round indentation, was
also employed, and possibly a somewhat curved punch like a blunl
gouge. In some cases the lines between the punched marks are,
according to Wilde, engraved. It is, however, a question whether
even the finest lines might not have been produced by a chisel used
after the manner of a punch. What were probably punches for
* See Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 389 et seq. ; " Vallancey," vol. iv. pi. x. 9.
F 2
68
FLAT AND FLANGED CELTS
[chap.
1IT.
producing such patterns have been found in some English hoards,
as will subsequently be mentioned ; and in the Fonderie de Lar-
naud, Jura,* was a punch with an engrailed end for producing a
kind of " milled " mark, either in the mould or on the casting.
Another, with concentric circles, seems best adapted for impressing
the loam of the mould.
Some few of the Irish ornamented celts have well-defined stop-
ridges like the English example, Fig. 51 ; but these will be more
in their place in the following chapter. One or two other forms
may, however, be here mentioned, though they approximate closely
to the chisels described in subsequent pages.
One of these is shown in Fig. 44, the upper part of the blade of which
is, as will he seen, so narrow, and the instrument itself so small and light,
Fig. 44. — Armoy.
Fig. 45. — Ireland.
that it is a question whether it should not he regarded as a chisel or paring-
tool rather than as a hatchet. The blade tapers both ways, and the inci-
pient flange is more fully developed above the ridge than below. The
original was found at Armoy, Co. Antrim. It is much broader at the
cutting edge than the blade from Culham, Fig. 55, to which it is some-
what allied.
Another Irish form of celt, or possibly chisel, tapers in both directions
from a central transverse ridge, near which there arc lateral projections
on the blade, as if to prevent its being driven into the handle. An
example of this kind, from the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is
given in Fig. 45. There are nine or ten in that collection, and they vary
in length from about 3|- to 8 inches. Others are in the British Museum,
one of which is more distinctly tanged than the figure, and the stops are
formed by the gradual widening out of the blade, which again contracts
with a similar curve, and once more widens out at the edge. This type
is also known in France. Other varieties of this form are described in
Chapter VII.
' ( hantre, " Album," pi. 1. 0, 10.
Willi LATERAL STOPS.
69
A doubly tapering blade in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
showu in Fig. 46, has a slight stop-ridge on the face, and also expands
at the sides, though not to the same extent as the plain specimens just
mentioned. It is ornamented with straight and curved bands formed of
chevron patterns.
A double-edged instrument, also in the museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, has a stop-ridge on one of the faces only, as shown in Fig. 47.
An instrument of the same form, but with stops at the sides instead of
on the face, 4f inches long, f inch broad at the edges, and about J inch
thick, was found at Farley Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British
Museum.
A Danish instrument of the same kind is figured by Worsaae.*
W0M
Fig. 40. — Ireland.
Fig. 47.— Ireland.
Flat celts of iron with lateral stops have been found in the cemetery at
Hallstatt, Austria, as well as winged palstaves and socketed celts of the
same metal.
Some of the thin votive hatchets found at Dodonat are of the same form,
and are significant of such blades having been in actual use in Greece.
In the next chapter are described the celts in which the side
flanges have become more fully developed, so as to form wings to
embrace and steady the handle, and the central ridge lias grown
into a well-marked shoulder against which the end of the hat'i
could rest.
* Nbrd. Ohteager, No. 176. t ( ' " ipanos, " I' id ." pi. liv. 7
CHAPTER IT.
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
To any one who has examined an extensive collection of the
bronze instruments found in this country it will at once be
apparent that in the class of celts designed to be fixed in some
sort of haft, and not themselves socketed for the reception of a
handle, there is a wide range of form. Any attempt, however, to
divide them into well-marked classes is soon seen to be futile, as
there is found to be a gradual transition from what at first sight
appears to be a well-marked form into some other which presents
different characteristics. If, for instance, we take the side flanges
as a criterion, we find them ranging from a mere thickening on the
margins of the flat celts to well-developed flanges, extending along
nearly the whole blade ; we then find them confined to the upper
part of the instrument, and in some cases of great lateral extent,
so as to be capable of being hammered over to form a kind of
semicircular socket on each side of the blade. In other cases we
find that the flanges have some part of their apparent projection
due to a diminution in the thickness of the portion of the blade
which lies between them. If we take as a criterion the stop-
ridge, as it has been termed, a jjrojecting ridge for the purpose of
preventing the blade being driven too far into its wooden handle,
we find the ridge in a rudimentary form in the blades which taper
both ways ; next as a slightly raised ridge or bead running across
the blade ; then as a better-defined ridge, to which, at last, greater
development is given by a reduction in the thickness of the blade
above it. The presence or absence of a loop at the side is, no
doubt, a good differentiation, but as this is a mere minor accessory,
and two celts may be identical in other respects with the excep-
tion of one being provided with a loop and the other being
without it, it does not materially assist in the classification of this
group of instruments, although for convenience' sake it is best to
ORIGIN OF Till-. TERM PALSTAVE.
71
treat of the two varieties of form separately. An additional
reason for this may be found in the possibility that the loop was
a comparatively late invention, so that the palstaves provided
with it may be in some cases of later
date than those without it, though f\
the identity in the ornamentation of
some of the instruments of the two
classes, and the fact of their being
occasionally found together, are al-
most conclusive as to their contem-
poraneity.
In the present chapter I propose
to treat of the celts with a stop-
ridge, of the winged celts, and of
those of the palstave form.
The winged celts may be generally
described as those in which the
flanges are short and have a great
amount of lateral extension. When
these wings are hammered over so as
to form a kind of socket on each side
of the blade, one of the varieties
of the palstave form is the result.
The other and more common variety
of the palstave form has the portion
of the blade which lies between the
wings or side flanges and above the
stop-ridge cast thinner than the rest
of the blade, thus leaving a recess or
groove on each side into which the
handle fitted.
I have already made frequent use
of the term palstave, and it will be
well here to make a few remarks
as to the origin and meaning of the
word. The term palstave, or more
properly paalstab, comes to us from
the Scandinavian antiquaries. Their
reason for adopting the term was that there is still in use in
Iceland a kind of narrow spade or spud, which is known by the
name of paalstab, and which somewhal resembles these bronze
Fig. 48. Pig. 49.
!, mdlc " Palsl n
72 WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES. [CHAP. IT.
instruments. Woodcuts of two of these Icelandic palstaves are
given in the Archceological Journal* from drawings communi-
cated to Mr. Yates by Councillor Thomsen, of Copenhagen. They
are here by permission reproduced. The derivation of the term
suggested in a note to the Journal is that paal comes from the
Icelandic verb pula, or pala, to labour, so that the word means the
" labouring staff." But this appears to me erroneous. Pul, indeed,
signifies hard, laborious work ; but pcdi (at pcela) means to dig, and
pall (conf. Latin pala and French pelle) means a kind of spade or
shovel. The word, indeed, survives in the English language as peel,
the name of a kind of wooden shovel used by bakers for placing
loaves in the oven. The meaning of the term would appear,
then, to be rather "spade staff" than "labouring staff," unless
the word labouring be used in the sense of the French labourer.
Mr. Thorns, in a note to his " Translation of Worsaae's Primeval
Antiquities of Denmark,""]* says that the "term Paalstab was
formerly applied in Scandinavia and Iceland to a weapon used
for battering the shields of the enemy, as is shewn by passages in
the Sagas. Although not strictly applicable to the (bronze)
instruments in question, this designation is now so generally used
by the antiquaries of Scandinavia and Germany, that it seems
desirable, with the view of securing a fixed terminology, that it
should be introduced into the archaeology of England." The term
had already been used in 1848 in the "Guide to Northern
Archaeology," + edited by the Earl of Ellesmere, and has now, like
celt, become adopted into the English language.
I have not been able to refer to the passage in the Sagas men-
tioned as above by Mr. Thorns, but whatever may be the original
meaning of the word palstave, it is applied by northern anti-
quaries to all the forms of celts with the exception of those of the
socketed type.§
Among English antiquaries it has, I think, been used in a more
restricted sense. Professor Daniel Wilson II defines palstaves as
" wedges, more or less axe-shaped, having a groove on each side
terminating in a stop-ridge, and with lateral flanges destined to
secure a hold on the handle. The typical example, however,
which he engraves has neither groove nor stop-ridge, but is what
I should term a winged celt, like Fig. 56.
* Vol. vii. p. 74. f London, 1849, p. 25. J P. 59.
$ See Nilsson, " Skandinavisku Nordens Ur-Invanare," p. 92.
|j "Preh. Ann.," 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 382.
CELTS WITH A STOP-RIDGE.
73
Iii the present work I propose confining the term palstave to
the two varieties of form already mentioned ; viz. the winged celts
which have their wings hammered over so as to form what may be
termed external sockets to the blade ; and those with the portion
of the blade which lies between the side flanges and above the stop
thinner than that which is below.
The first form, however, of which I have to treat is that of the
celts provided with a stop -ridge on each face. These are almost
always flanged celts.
A fine specimen, with the stop-ridge consisting of a straight narrow
raised band across each face, and with a second curved band at some dis-
tance below, is shown in Fig. 50. It was found at Wigton, Cumberland,
Fig. 00.— Wigton. $
and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.B.S. The face between
the two bands has a grained appearance given it by hammering. The
wings or side flanges are also faceted by the same process. In the same
collection is another blade (5f inches) of this form, with a small stop-ridge,
and having the lower part ornamented with vertical punched lines. The
sides have three facets, that in the centre ornamented in a similar manner.
This celt was found at Eougham, Norfolk. I have a sketch of another
(6£ inches) found near Longtown, Cumberland, in 1860.
I have a nearly similar specimen, but only 4J inches long, from Stanton,
Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire. Another (5| inches) with only a slight
stop-ridge was found at Aynhoo,* Northamptonshire, and is is the collec-
* Baker's "Hist, of North.," p. 668
74
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap. IV.
tion of Sir Henry Dryden. Fig. 51 shows a beautifully wrought and
highly decorated flanged celt, provided with a somewhat curved stop-ridge
connecting the two flanges. The two faces of the celt are ornamented
with an interlaced pattern produced by narrow dents, with a border of
chevrons along each margin punched into the metal. The flanges are
worked into three facets ornamented with diagonal grooves, and the
lower side of the stop-ridge has a moulding worked on it. This fine
example of an ornamented celt was found near Chollerford Bridge,
Northumberland, and is in the collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S.
A somewhat similar but unornamented variety of instrument, partaking
more of the palstave character, is shown in Fig. 52. The original was
Fig. 51.— Chollerford Bridge.
Fig. 52.— Chatham. $
found in excavations at Chatham Dockyard, and is now in the British
Museum. As will be seen, the recess for the haft ends in a semicircular
stop-ridge.
In Fig. 53 is shown a winged celt without stop-ridge found in Burwell
Fen, Cambridgeshire, and now in my own collection. The side flanges
or wings have been hammered into three facets, and are well developed.
The form of the blade is otherwise that of a flat celt, except that there is
a slight irregularity in the sweep of the sides, which results from the
hammering of the flanges. The form occurs occasionally in Ireland, and
one (4] inches) is figured by Wilde.-'' Winged celts of nearly the same
form, but provided with a stop-ridge, are occasionally found. One of
these in the British Museum, found at Bucknell, Herefordshire, is shown
in Fig. 54. The blade below the stop-ridge is ,",; inch thick; above it
* "Catal. Mm R. I. A.," p, 373, fig. 258.
VARIETIES OF WINGED CELTS.
75
only f inch. A celt of much the same character (7 J inches), found at
Wolvey, Warwickshire, is in the collection of Mr. M. H. Bloxam, F.S.A.
■lllilP
Ml!,
1
IHNUlr
''"''iiiiP^
Fig. 53.— Burwell Fen. %
Fig. 54. — Bucknell.
The double curvature of the sides may be noticed in the narrow chisel-
like celt shown in Fig. 55. The blade in this instance tapers both ways
from a line just below the wings, but without there being
any actual stop-ridge ; a third slope is produced by the
lower part of the blade having been drawn down by
hammering to form the edge. The original was found
at Culham, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, and is in my
own collection.
I have another specimen, 4J inches long, and half
as wide again as the Culliam chisel, which was found
near Dorchester, Oxon. The blade at the lower end
of the wings is an inch wide, but in the straight part
between that point and the edge only a little more
than f inch wide.
Although these instruments are so narrow thai llioy
may be regarded as chisels rather than axes, yet from
t heir general character so closely resembling that of
Fig. 53, I have thought it best to insert them here.
A Scotch example will lie subsequently cited.
Another form of winged celt without stop-ridge is shown to Fig. 56.
In this the blade is flat, and the wings, which form triangular project ions,
i ulham. i
76
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap. IV.
stand at right angles to it. Had they been hammered over to form
semicircular receptacles on each side of the blade the instrument would
have been more properly described as a palstave. It was found with
others near Reeth, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, and is in the collec-
tion of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., where are also other specimens of this
type from Linden, Northumberland (5£ inches) ; Brompton, N.R., York-
shire (5J inches) ; and Wolsingham, Durham (of inches).
Fig. 56.— Eeeth.
Fig. 57.— Dorchester.
Fig. 57 shows a winged celt with a broad low stop-ridge. The part of
the blade above this is about £ inch thinner than the part below, so that
though transitional in character it belongs to one of the classes to which
I would wish to restrict the term palstave. This specimen was found
near Dorchester, Oxfordshire, and is in my own collection.
I have a nearly similar palstave (6 inches long) found in Wicken Fen,
Cambridgeshire. In this the blade below the stop-ridge is .V inch thick,
and above it & inch. In this as well as in that from Dorchester the stop-
ridge is well below the level of the side flanges. In one found on
Hollingbury Hill,* near Brighton, and now in the British Museum, the
stop-ridge is nearly on tho same level as (lie side ilanges. It was found
in the year 1825, together with four looped armilho, a torque, and three
spiral rings, which are said to have been arranged in a symmetrical
manner in a depression dug in tho chalk. Both the torque and the
* Arch. Joitrn., vol. v. p. 324.
TRANSITIONAL FORMS.
77
palstave were broken ; and it is thought that this was done intentionally,
at the time of the interment.
A similar discovery is recorded as having been made in 1794 on the
Quantock Hills, when two large torques were found, within each of which
was placed a palstave. In this case, however, these instruments were of
the looped kind.
Winged celts of the type of Fig. 57 are of not unfrequent occurrence
in Ireland, though the stop-ridge is usually less fully developed.
They also occur in France. One from Jonquieres* (Oise) has been
figured. I have a good specimen (6£ inches) from the Seine at Paris.
The wings are rather wider and the
stop-ridge better defined than in the
figure. One from Grasny is in the
Museum at Evreux.
There are several in the Gottingen
Museum, from a hoard found in that
neighbourhood.
Usually the stop-ridge is nearly on
the same level as the part of the side
flanges on which it abuts, as will be
seen in Fig. 58. This specimen was
found in the gravel of the Trent at
Colwick, near Nottingham, and is in
my own collection. The blade imme-
diately below the stop is fluted, and
the bottom of this fluting tapers some-
what in the contrary direction to the
tapering of the blade. The junction
of the fluting and the face produces
an elliptic ridge of elegant outline.
The blade is f inch thick at this ridge,
but above the stop-ridge barely f inch.
It is rather thinner near the stop-
ridge than somewhat higher up, so
that the blade would be as it were
dovetailed into the handle, if tightly
tied to it. I have specimens of much
the same type from Attleborough, Nor-
folk (6jJ inches), Newbury, Berks (6 J inches), and Hay, Brecknockshire
(7^ inches). A curious variety of this type found at Monach-ty-gwyn,-]
near Aberdovey, has on the bottom of one of the recesses for the handle
a number of sunk diagonal lines crossing each other so as to form a kind
of lattice pattern. It seems to me that though this cross-hatching occurs
on' only one face of the palstave, it was intended rather as a moans of
giving it a grip on the handle than as an ornament, for when halted this
part of the instrument must have been concealed by the wood. Mr.
Barnwell, however, regards it in the light of an ornament.
Plain palstaves of this character are of not unfrequent occurrence m
the North of France. I have one from a hoard found at Bernay, near
Abbeville. With it were palstaves of different varieties, but none of
them provided with loops. The form also occurs occasionally in Holland.
HiilllllP111
Fig. 5S.— Colwick.
* Diet Arch, de la Gaule.
t Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. ii. p. 21.
78
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV.
In the palstave engraved as Fig. 59, the half-oval ornament below the
stop-ridge is preserved, but there is a raised bead round it. There is also
a slight median ridge running down the blade. The joint of the two
moidds in which it was cast can be traced upon the sides of the instru-
ment, and it appears as if one of the moulds had been somewhat deeper
than the other. The original was found at Barrington, near Cambridge,
and is in my own collection. I have other specimens of the same type,
and of nearly the same size, from Swaffham Fen, Cambridge ; and from
Dorchester, Oxfordshire. The semi-elliptical ridge on the latter is larger
and flatter than in that figured. The same is the case in a large speci-
men (6^- inches long) from Weston, near Ross, also in my own collection.
I have seen others from the Fens, near Ely (6^- inches), and from Milden-
hall (6 J inches), in the collections of Mr. Marshall Fisher, of Ely, and the
Rev. S. Banks, of Cottenham, near Cambridge. Another (5J inches)
from the Carlton Bode find is in the Museum at Norwich.
Fig. 59. — Barring-ton
Fig. 60. — Ilarston.
One from North Wales* (7$ inches), in an unfinished state, is in the
British Museum. Another (6§ inches) from Llanfyllin,t Montgomeryshire,
is also of nearly this type. One from North Tyne (f>.\ inches), in the
Newcastle Museum, has two of the looped ridges one below the other on
each face. In this type and in that subsequently described the ridge at
the sides of the semi-elliptical ornament sometimes dies into the upper
part of the blade. The variety like Fig. 59 is also abundant in the North
of France. There were two or three in the hoard from Bernay, near
Abbeville, and I have one from the neighbourhood of Lille.
In Fig. 60 the same general type is preserved, but there is a vertical
" Hone Ferales," pi. iv. 25.
t Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. viii. p. 209.
PALSTAVES WITH ORNAMENTS ON FACE.
70
rib running clown the middle of the semi-elliptical ornament below the
stop ; and the median ridge along the upper part of the blade is more fully
developed. In this specimen, which is in my own collection, and was
found at Harston, near Cambridge, there is an attempt at ornamentation
along the sides, the angles of the blade having been hammered in such
a manner as to produce a series of small pointed oval facets along them.
I have other specimens of the same type, but without the ornamenta-
tion on the sides, from Burwell, Quy, and Eeach Fens, near Cambridge,
6 inches, 5| inches, and 6 J inches long respectively. In that from Bur-
well there is no median ridge below the ornament. Canon Gfreenwell has
one which was found with three others, one of them with a loop, near
"Wantage, Berks.
A rather peculiar variety of this type (6f inches), found in Anglesea,*
has been figured, as well as another
from Pendinas HilLf near Aberyst-
with.
In palstaves of this class there
is often a slight projection on each
of the sides a little below the level
of the stop-ridge. Below this pro-
jection the sides are usually more
carefully hammered and planished
than above it.
In a narrow palstave of this class,
found at Freeland, near "Witney,
Oxfordshire, there are three short
ridges at the bottom of each of the
recesses for the handle, like those
in a palstave from Newbury, sub-
sequently described. These were
probably designed to assist in
steadying the handle.
A palstave (7 \ inches) from Cy-
nwyd,J Merionethshire, appears to
be of this type.
An instrument of this type from
Les Andelys § (Eure) has been
figured. Another, with the vertical
rib in the shield, from a hoard
found in Normandy, has been engraved by the Abbe Cochet.|| Some
from the Bernay hoard have a similar ornament.
On some palstaves of this class there is a series of vertical ribs within
the semi-elliptical loop, as will be seen in Fig. 61. This is taken from a
specimen found at Shippey, near Ely, which is in the collection of Mr.
Marshall Fisher of Ely, who has kindly allowed me to engrave it. I Lave
one from Bottisliam, near Cambridge (6| indies), on which there is ;i
smaller vertical ridge, on each side of the central ridge, within th na-
ment. One from Snettisham, Norfolk (6£ inches), like that from Shippey,
* Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. v. p. 13.
t Meyrick's " Cardigansh." and "Ancient Arm.," by Skolton, pi. xlvii. 1.
% Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxxiii. p. 118. § Diet. Arch, de la Oaule.
|| "La Seine Inf.," p. 272.
Fig. Gl.— Shippey.
80
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap.
IV.
is in the Norwich Museum. Auother from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5 J
inches), is in the collection of Mr. James Carter of Cambridge.
A palstave with this ornament is in the Museum at Soissons.
The type is also found in Northern Germany.*
In some cases these vertical lines below the stop-ridge are not enclosed
in any loop. In Fig. 62 is shown an example of the kind from a speci-
men in my own collection found in the Severn, near Wainlodes Hill,
Gloucester. It has a slight rib down the middle of the blade. One of
the same class (6 J inches), with four vertical stripes, found on Chryton
Hill, Sussex, is in the collection of Mrs. Dickinson of Hurstpierpoint ;
ill si
■H^^l
Fig. 62.— Severn.
Fig. 63.— Sunningwell.
four others (about 6£ inches long), with five short vertical ridges, were
found with two of the type of Fig. 63 in making the railway near
Bognor, and are now in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury.
Another, apparently of the same type, found near Brighton, is en-
graved in the Sussex Archceological Collections.]
Another variety, having nearly the same general form, but no elliptical
ridge below the stop, is shown in Fig. 63, engraved from a specimen in
my own collection, found at Sunningwell, near Abingdon. The end of
the recess for the handle is somewhat rounded, and there is a well-marked
central rib running clown the blade. At the upper part, near the stop
* Lindenschmit, "Alt. una. heidn. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft. i. Taf. iv. 43.
f Vol. ii. p. 268, No. 1 1 .
PALSTAVES WITH A CENTRAL RIB ON THE BLADE. 81
ridge, there are also slight side flanges. The metal in the recess for the
handle is thinnest near the stop, so as to be somewhat dovetailing.
This is markedly the case in a fine example of the same type (6£ inches)
with the provenance of which I am unacquainted. In another, also in my
own collection, found &t Newbury, Berks, the side flanges of the blade
are continued almost down to the edge, and the bottom as well as the end
of the recess for the handle is rounded. Near the end of the recess are
some slight longitudinal ribs, one on one face and two on the other,
perhaps designed to assist in steadying the handle. The mouldings
along the sides of the blade are often much more fully developed, like
those on Fig. 77.
Palstaves of this type have been obtained from the following localities :
from South Cerney,* near Cirencester ; from the mouth of the Eiver
"Wan die, f in Surrey, now preserved in the British Museum; from Bucks]:
(6 inches long), also in the British Museum; from Chichester; § Astley, ||
Worcestershire ; Llangwyllog,^" Anglesea (6 J inches) ; from near Bognor,**
Billingshurst,ff and fiord, J J Sussex; and Lovehayne,§§ near Broad Down,
Devon (5£ inches) ; where several appear to have been found in the rough
state in which they came from the mould. I have an example from the
neighbourhood of Penzance.
One (6f inches) found near Ashford, Kent, is in the Mayer Collection
at Liverpool. One of the same kind was found with a hammer, a tanged
chisel, broken spear-heads, and rough metal, in Burgesses' Meadow,
Oxford. The hoard is now in the Ashmolean Museum. In three
palstaves of this kind found in the parishes of Llandrinio, || || and Caersws,
Montgomeryshire, and St. Harmon, Radnorshire, there is a hole in the
metal between the two recesses for the handle just above the stop-ridge.
It has been thought by Professor "Westwood that these holes were con-
nected with the manner of fastening the instrument to its haft, but it
appears to me much more likely that they arise from accidental defects
in casting. This is certainly the case with two specimens of my own,
which also have holes through the same part of the instrument, where the
metal is thin.
One (5 inches), rather narrower in the blade than the figure, found near
Longford, Ireland, is in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury.
Palstaves with a central and two lateral ribs on the blade are of not
unfrequent occurrence on the Continent, especially in the North of France.
I have examples much like the figure found in the hoard at Bernay, near
Abbeville. Others, much narrower in the blade, have been discovered in
large numbers in the North-west of France.
German examples have been figured by Lindenschmit.^f^j
In another variety the blade is nearly flat, having only a broad pro-
tuberant ridge extending along the upper part to the stop. A palstave of
this kind, found near Winfrith, Weymouth, Dorset, is shown in Fig. 64.
In this, the metal between the side flanges tapers towards the top of the
* Arch., vol. x. pi. x. 2, p. 132. f Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 8.
X "Horaa Ferales," pi. iv. 26. § Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 38.
|| Allies, "Wore," p. 112, pi. iv. 4.
IT Arch. Journ., vol. xxvii. pi. x. No. 3, p. 163.
** Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xvii. p. 255. ft Siws. Arch. Coll., vol. xxvii. p. 183.
XX S. A. C, vol. xxix. p. 134. §§ Trans. Lev. Assoc, vol. ii. p. 647.
Illl "Montgom. Collections," vol. iii. p. 435.
1F1T " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft i. Taf. iv.
G
82
WINGED CELTS AND FALSTAVES
[CHAP. IV.
instrument, instead of being of nearly even thickness, as is often the case,
or thinnest near the stop-ridge, as it is sometimes. Close to the stop the
metal is ^ inch thick, while at the top of the recess it comes to a nearly
sharp edge. A palstave of this character was found on Kingston Hill,*
Surrey, near Caesar's Camp.
In a specimen found at Winwick,f Lancashire, the blade below the stop-
ridge appears to be nearly flat. A broad flat ring of bronze, If inch in
diameter (Fig. 188), was found at the same time. It has been thought
that this was attached to the shaft to prevent its splitting. A palstave
much like that from Winwick was found at Chagford, Devon, and is in
Fig. 64.— Weymouth.
Fig. 65. — Burwcll Fen.
the possession of Mr. G. W. Ormerod, F.Gr.S. Another (6£ inches), from
Ashford, Kent, is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another of these
plain palstaves, found near Llanidan,| Anglesea, with one of the looped
kind somewhat like Fig. 76, is engraved in the Archceologia Cambrensis.
I have a palstave of nearly the same form, but with a more
clearly defined semi-conical bracket below the stop, which was
found at Masseyck, on the frontiers of Belgium and Holland.
A short and thick form of palstave is shown in Fig. 65, engraved
from a specimen found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge. On one of its faces
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 82.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. pi. ixv. p. 236 ; vol. xiv. p. 269.
% 3rd Series, vol. xiii. p. 283.
.SHORTENED BY WEAR.
83
it has the semi- elliptical ornament, with one vertical rib in it, below the
stop-ridge. On the other there are five ribs instead of one within the
ornament.
I have another from Bottisham Fen (4f inches), not quite so heavy in
its make, and perfectly flat below the stop-ridge. The ends of the recess
for the handle are somewhat undercut, so as to keep the wood close to the
blade when a blow was struck.
The shortened proportions of these instruments are probably due to
wear. In this instance it is not improbable that the cutting end of the
original palstave has been broken off, and the blunt end that was left has
been again drawn to an edge by hammering.
A form of palstave without any ornament below the stop-ridge is shown
in Fig. 66. This specimen was found in 1846 at East Harnham, near
t.
Fiir. G6.— East Harnham
^aaasE
Fig. 07.— Burwell Fen.
Salisbury, and is now in my own collection. The thickness of the blade
below the stop is nearly ^ inch, above it but little more than £ inch. The
sides are remarkably flat.
One, only 2t] inches long, merely recessed for the handle, found at
Chatham Hill, Kent, is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool.
This plain form with a square stop-ridge is found in France and in
Western Germany.
A long chisel-like form of palstave is shown in Fig. 67, engraved
from a specimen in my own collection found in Burwell Fen, ( lambridge.
It is ornamented with a semi-elliptical projecting ridge below the stop.
The flanges at the sides of the recess have some notches running diagonally
into them, so as to form a kind of barb, such as would prevenl the blade
from being drawn away from the handlo when bound to it by a cord.
I have another nearly similar tool, also from the < "ambridge Fens, but
without any barbs. In a third, from the neighbourhood of Dorchester,
g 2
84
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap.
IV.
Oxon, there are neither barbs at
the sides nor any ornament below the
stop-ridge. I have seen another of the
same character (4^ inches) which was
found at Wolsonbury, Sussex, and is
the collection of Mrs. Dickinson.
m
Fig. 68.— Thames.
Fig. 09.— Stibbard. i
f Proc. Soc. Ant., N.S., vol. iv
i Arch.
Another (4 J- inches), found in the
Thames at Kingston, Surrey, is in the
Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.
I have seen another (6-| inches), found
at Sutton, near Woodbridge, Suffolk,
in which there was a tongue-shaped
groove below the stop-ridge, like that
on the socketed celt, Fig. 148, but
single instead of double.
The Eev. James Beck, F.S.A.,* has
a palstave of this kind 6 inches long
and 1J inch wide at the edge, with a
projecting rib below the stop-ridge
and also in the recess above. It was
found at Westburton Hill, near Big-
nor, Sussex. There are depressions
on each side of the rib below the
stop, forming an ornament like that
on Fig. 81.
A narrow palstave, apparently of the
same character, found at Windsor,!
is engraved by Stukeley.
A very beautiful narrow palstave,
found in the Thames, and now in the
collection of General A. Pitt Rivers,
F.R.S., is shown in Fig. 68. As will
be seen, the angles are ornamented
' with a kind of milling, and the sides
are also decorated with zigzag and
chevron patterns.
In Fig. 69 is shown an unfinished casting for a
palstave of unusually small size, which formed
part of the great hoard found at Stibbard, J Norfolk.
About seventy such castings were found, and about
ten castings for spear-heads (see Fig. 407).
The form of palstave with the side wings or
flanges hammered over so as to form a kind of
semi-circular socket on either side of the blade, is
of rare occurrence in Britain, and is usually pro-
vided with a loop. In Canon Greenwell's collection
is one (7 inches) without any ornament below the
square stop-ridge, with the side wings slightly
hammered over. It was found with others (with.
and without loops), together with a mould for
p; 1 1 staves (Fig. 527), at Hotham Carr, York-
shire, E. R.
'Itin. Cur." Cent., ii. pi. xcvi.
p. xx vi.
p. 442. f
Inst., Norwich vol.
PALSTAVES WITH A TRANSVERSE EDGE.
85
In a hoard of about sixty bronze objects found at Westow,* about
twelve miles from York on the Scarborough Road, was one palstave of
this kind, like Fig. 85, but without a loop, and about thirty socketed celts,
six gouges, a socketed chisel, two tanged chisels, and
numerous fragments of metal, including some jets or
runners broken off castings.
The type is of common occurrence in Austria, South Ger-
many, and the South of France.
Palstaves of the adze form, or having the blade at right
angles to the septum between the flanges, are but very
seldom found in Britain. A small specimen from the
collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., is shown in Fig. 70.
It was found at Irthington, Cumberland.
Another, from North Owersby, Lincolnshire, in the same
collection, is shown in Fig. 71. It has a remarkably narrow
chisel-like blade.
Irish examples will be subsequently cited.
I have, in Fig. 72, engraved for comparison a larger
specimen in my own collection, which came from the Valley
of the Rhine, near Bonn. One from Baden f is figured by Lindenschmit.
Others have been found near Landshut, j Bavaria, and in the Rhine
district. § One with a loop, from Hesse, |j is engraved by Lindenschmit.
Fig. 70.
Irthington.
I
w ;
".'('
Fig. 71.— North Owersby.
Fig. 72.— Bonn. i
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 58 ; Arch. Joarn., vol. vi. p. 381.
t " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft i. Taf. iv. 48.
X Von Braunmiihl, "Alt. Deutschon Grabmaler " (1826), pi. i. 3; Schreiber, "Die
ebern. Streitkeile," Taf. i. 13, Taf. ii. 14. $ Did. Arch, de hi Oaule.
|| " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft i. Taf. iv. 49.
86 WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES. [CHAP. IV.
A long and narrow example of this type * was found at Villeder, near
Ploerniel, Morbihan, and has been figured by Shnonin. There are speci-
mens in the museums at Rouen and Tours. Some have a loop on one
face. A specimen from Escoville is in the museum at Caen. Several with
and without loops have been found in the Swiss lake-dwellings, f the
type being termed the Hache Troyon by Desor.J
A beautiful palstave of the same character is preserved in the Antiken
Cabinet at Vienna. Its sides are ornamented with four small sets of con-
centric circles and a pattern of dotted fines, punched in after the instru-
ment was fashioned. The form has also been found in Italy. §
Palstaves without loops, but of which no detailed description is given,
are recorded to have been found at the following places : — The Thames, ||
near Kingston ; Drewsteignton,^[ Devonshire; Cundall Manor,** North
Riding, Yorkshire; Aspatria,ff Cumberland; Ackers Common,^ near
Warrington, Lancashire ; Bushbury, §§ Brewood, Handsworth, and a
barrow on Morridge, Staffordshire ; nearLlanvair Station, |||1 Rhos-y-gad,
Anglesea.
Palstaves of which it is not specified whether they were provided with
a loop or no, have been found in the Thames, ^|^[ near London ; the old
River, Sleaford,*** Lincolnshire ; Canada Wharf, ff f Rotherhithe ; Wol-
vey,^| Warwickshire ; and near Corbridge, §§§ Glamorganshire (?)
Plain palstaves without loops have frequently occurred with other forms
of instruments in hoards of bronze objects. The following instances may
be cited. Several were found with unfinished socketed celts, fragments of
swords and spears, a socketed chisel, and lumps of metal, at Romford, |||
Essex. At Nettleliam,^f^f^f near Lincoln, one was found with looped pal-
staves, socketed celts, spear-heads, and a tube, most of which will be men-
tioned in subsequent pages. In the hoard at Battlefield,**** near Shrews-
bury, a palstave without loop, a flat wedge-shaped celt, and three curious
curved objects were found together. Other instances are given in
Chapter XXII.
The palstaves which are provided with a loop on one side
present as many varieties as those without the loop. The same
character of ornamentation occurs on the instruments of both
classes. Indeed, for some length of time both forms appear to
have been contemporaneous and in use together.
Some of them are, however, entirely devoid of ornament, as will be
seen from Pig. 73. This represents a palstave in my own collection
found near Dorchester, Oxfordshire. The loop has unfortunately been
broken off. At the stop the metal is 1£ inch thick, but the diaphragm
* "La Vie Souterraine," " Materiaux," vol. iii. p. 100.
(• Keller, 6ter Bericht, Taf. vii. 30; 7ter Ber., Taf. ix. 30.
% " L</S l'ulillitlrs," fig. -l().
§ Bull, di Palet. Ital., vol. i. p. 10, Tav. I. 9.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 327. 11 Arch. Journ., vol. xxix. p. 90.
** Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 3-1G. ft Arch. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 164.
XX Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 158. ; : I "lot's" Nat. Hist, of St.m'ordsh.," p. 403.
Illl Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 85. H11 Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 03.
*** Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 73. fft I'roc. Soc. Aid., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 412.
XXX f''-»c.[Snr. Jul., 2nd 8., vol. iii. p. 129.
§§$ Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 2 IS. ;||||| Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 302.
HHf Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 159. **** I'roc. Hoc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 251.
LOOPED PALSTAVES.
87
between the two recesses for the haft is only § inch thick. This specimen
is shorter than usual in the blade, which not improbably has been con-
siderably worn away by use.
A somewhat larger instrument, but of precisely the same type, found
at Eamsbury,* Wilts, is engraved in the Salisbury volume of the Archaeo-
logical Institute. The Eev. James Beck, F.S.A., has one (6J inches) of
narrower proportions, found at Pulborough, f Sussex. I have seen
another from near Wallingford, Berks.
Stukeley has engraved a somewhat simi-
lar palstave found near "Windsor. |
In some the bottom of the recesses,
instead of being square, is rounded more
or less like Pig. 52, and there is a pro-
jecting bead round its margin. I have
a narrow specimen of this kind 5f inches
long and 1£ inch broad at the edge,
found in the neighbourhood of Dor-
chester, Oxon.
A number of palstaves of this kind
were discovered in 1861 at Wilmington, §
Sussex, in company with socketed celts,
fragments of two daggers, and a moidd
for socketed celts. The whole of these
are now in the Lewes Museum.
In the hoard found near Gruilsfield, ||
Montgomeryshire, were some instru-
ments of this kind, associated with
socketed celts, gouges, swords, scab-
bards, spear-heads, &c. Others from Stretton,^[ Staffordshire (5J inches),
and Lancashire ** (5 k inches) are engraved, though badly, in the Archceo-
logia. Two others of this character (5 inches) were found on Hangleton
Down, ff near Brighton, and another at Glangwnny, \\ near Caernarvon.
I have seen others found at Sutton, near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
A larger example of the same type, found near Wallingford, and com-
municated to me by Mr. H. A. Davy, is shown in Fig. 74. In this the
blade is flat and without ornament. The short specimen shown in Fig. 73
may originally have resembled this ; as such instruments must have
been liable to break, and would then have been drawn out and sharpened
in a curtailed condition ; or if not broken would become eventually
" stumped up " by wear. In the British Museum and elsewhere are
many palstaves and celts which have been worn almost to the stump by
re-sharpening.
Nearly thirty palstaves, mostly, I believe, of this typo, were found with
about twelve socketed celts, like Fig. 116, and lumps of rough metal,
near Worthing, in 1877. The whole had been packed in an urn, of
coarse earthenware.
* V. 112, fig. 37. t rroc. Soc. Ant., N.S., vol. iv. i». 1 12.
X "It. Cur." Cent., ii. pi. xcvi.
§ Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xiv. p. 171 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xx. p. 192.
II Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 251; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 214;
" Montgom. (.'oil.," vol. iii. p. 437.
II Vol. v. p. 113. ** Ibid.
tt Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. viii. p. 2G8. JJ Arch., vol. vii. p. 117-
3. — Dorchester.
88
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap.
TV.
Looped palstaves of the type of Fig. 74 are occasionally found in
Ireland. One with a small bead running down the centre of the blade
found in West Meath is engraved in the Archceologia*
One from Grenoble, f Isere, is engraved by Chantre.
Some palstaves of much the same general character have a median
ridge, occasionally almost amounting to a rib, running down the blade
below the stop. One of this kind from Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, is
shown in Fig. 75. On the face of the recess there are some slightly
raised ribs running down to the stop, which are not shown in the cut.
illllliflllliillliB
Pig. 74.— Wallhigford.
Pig. 75.— Stanton Harcourt.
Two (6| inches) were found near Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, one of which
is in Canon Greenwell's collection; and the other in the British Museum.
Mr. John Brent, F.S.A., has an example of nearly the same t}rpe from
Blean, near Canterbury. Another from Buckland, near Dover (6J inches),
is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. One from Ombersley, \ Worcester-
shire, appears to be of the same kind. I have also a large specimen
(6 f- inches) from Bottisham, Cambridge.
In the palstave engraved as Fig. 76, the central rib down the blade is
much more fully developed. It was found at Brassington, near Wirks-
worth, Derbyshire, and is in my own collection. It is considerably under-
cut at the stop, so as to keep the handle pressed against the central
diaphragm of metal.
* Vol. ix. p. 84, pi. iii. 1. t " Album," pi. ix. 4. | Allies, p. 108, pi. iv. 3.
LOOPED PALSTAVES WITH RIBS ON BLADE.
89
A palstave of the same character from Llanidan,* Anglesea, lias been
figured. It is said to have been found with another without a loop.
Another from Boston, j\ Lincolnshire, is engraved in the Archaologia.
Others with the ribs very distinct were found in a hoard at W aldington,
Northumberland, and are in the possession of Sir Charles Trevelyan.
I have seen others of the same general character which were found at
Downton, near Salisbury (5f inches), and at Aston le Walls, Northamp-
tonshire.
One with a narrower and more distinct midrib, found at Nymegen,
Guelderland, Holland, is in the museum at Leyden.
In Fig. 77 is shown another variety which has two beads running down
the sides of the blade, in addition to the central rib. I bought this specimen
Fig. 7C. — Brassington. £
Fig. 77.— Bath. i
at Bath, but I do not know where it was discovered. It is much like one
which was found on the Quantock Hills, J in Somersetshire, and is engraved
in the Archceologia. The side flanges are, however, in that case more
lozenge shaped, and project to obtuse points about half an inch above
the stop. Two palstaves and two torques were on that occasion f omul
buried together, as has already been mentioned. One of the same type
(5| inches) from Elsham, Lincolnshire, is in the British Museum.
One of narrower form (6£ inches) but of the same character, found
with socketed celts (some of them octagonal at the neck) at Haxey, Lin-
colnshire, is in the collection of Canon Grreenwell, F.E.S.
Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. xiii. p. 283.
% Arch., vol. xiv. p. 94.
| Vol. \ix. pi, viii. p, 102
90
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV
I have another of the same type, but imperfect, -which was found with
a plain bronze bracelet, and what from the description must have been a
small ribbon-like gold torque, at Winterhay Green, near Ilminster. I
have a smaller specimen (5 inches) from the Cambridge Fens.
The unfinished casting for a palstave of the type Fig. 77 (5£ inches)
was found with four looped palstaves, and one without a loop, and a
spear-head like Fig. 409 at Sherford,* near Taunton, in 1879. Some of
the palstaves have a raised inverted chevron below the stop-ridge by
way of ornament.
Palstaves of the same character, but without the loop, have already
been described under Fig. 63. The looped type, like Fig. 77, occurs also
in Ireland. f
In the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London is a heavy
narrow looped palstave (8 inches by 2 inches) with this ornamentation,
found in Spain.
The central rib running down the blade is in many cases connected with
some ornament below the stop-ridge. The ornament consists usually of
raised ribs, either straight and converg-
ing, as on Fig. 78, or curved so as to
form a semi-elliptical or shield-shaped
loop, as on Fig. 79.
The original of Fig. 78 was found on
Oldbury Hill, Much Marele, Hereford-
shire, and is in my own collection. I
have a smaller example of the same type
(of inches) found at Hammerton, Hun-
tingdonshire, as web1 as one from the
Cambridge Fens (6 inches).
One (6f inches) found at Danesfield,];
near Bangor, has been figured. I have
seen one found near Chelmsford (6f
inches) with much the same ornament.
One (6 J inches) in the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries, found in North-
amptonshire, has the middle rib large,
and the converging ribs much slighter.
There are some which have only a slight
central ridge on the blade, and are orna-
mented with an indented chevron below
the stop-ridge. I have one such from
the Cambridge Fens, and I have seen
one (C>\ inches) which was found at
Fig. 78.— Oldbury Hill.
Broomswell, near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
A palstave of this character 6 inches long, found near the Upper
Woodhouse Farm, Knighton, Radnorshire, is engraved in the Archceo/o(//(t
('<finhrr>tf<is.§ The loop, owing to a defect in casting, is filled with metal.
Six others (6 inches long), apparently of the same character, were found
with some rough castings of flanged celts at Bhosnesney,|| near Wrexham.
Two others (6 inches) were found with a chisel and a spear-head, like
* Pring, "The Brit, and Rom. on the site of Taunton," p. 7G, pi. iii.
t Wilde, "Catal. Mus. It. I. A.," p. 381, fig. 273.
X Arch. Cumb., 3rd S., vol. ii. p. 130. § 4th Ser., vol. vi. p. 20. || Ibid., p. 71.
PALSTAVES WITH SHIELD-UKE ORNAMENTS.
91
Fig. 407, at Broxton, Cheshire, and are in the collection of Sir P. de
M. Grey Egerton, Bart.
The type is found upon the continent. One from Normandy- has been
engraved by the Abbe Cochet. I have an examine from the neighbour-
hood of Abbeville. .
One from near Giessen, in the museum at Darmstadt, is figured by
Lindenschmit.f
That with the shield-shaped ornament below the stop-ridge, shown m
Fig. 79, is in my own collection, and was found near Eoss. The central
rib runs onlv part of the way up the shield. In a specimen from the
Fig. 79.— Eoss.
~Fis. 80. — Iloninffton.
!
Cambridge Fens (5f inches) it stops short on joining the ridge forming the
shield.
In others it forms a heraldic pale running through the shield, as in five
found at Waldron,^: Sussex.
A smaller variety, in which the vertical rib does not extend into the
shield, is shown in Fig. 80. This specimen was found at Honington,
Suffolk.
In some the shield-shaped ornament consists of merely two triangular
depressions. A palstave of this class, rather narrow at the stop-rid^v. and
with almost triangular blade, is shown in Fig. 8t. The original, which
is of more yellow metal than ordinary, was found in the neighbourhood of
Ely, and is in the collection of Mr. Marshall Fisher, who has kindly
allowed me to figure it. In one such from Downton, near Salisbury, in
the Blackmore Museum, the faces of the diaphragm between the recesses
for the handle have raised ridges or ribs running ah mil;' nearly the whoh
* "La Seine Inf.," p. 14. t " A. u. h. V.," vol. i. Eeft i. Taf. iv. 1 1
% Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ix. p. oUO.
92
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV.
length, five on one face and six on the other. These are longer than in
the Nottingham specimen shortly to be mentioned.
In one found at Hotham Carr (5f inches), Yorkshire, and now in
Canon Greenwell's collection, there is a bead running down the blade
between the two depressions.
This shield-shaped ornament below the stop-ridge is well shown in a
palstave from Bottisham Lode, Cambridge, engraved as Fig. 82. What
may be called the field of the shield is on one face nearly flat ; on the
other there are indentations on either side of the central ridge. As will
be seen, the extremities of the cutting edge are recurved, both in this and
the specimen from Ross shown in Fig. 79. It does not, however, appear that
the instruments were originally cast in this form, but the wide segmental
Fig. 81— Ely.
Fig. S2.— Bottisham.
edge, together with the recurved ends, seem to be the result of a constant
hammering out of the blade, in order to renew or harden the edge.
Though the hammer was thus freely used, the whetstone was employed
both to polish the sides of the blade and to perfect the cutting edge.
I have a French palstave found near Abbeville, almost identical with
this in size and form. The shield ornament is, however, replaced by two
triangular depressions with a rib left between them, like that on Fig. 81.
In some specimens the ornamentation consists of a greater or less
number of parallel ribs below the stop-ridge, as in that from Nettleham,-'"
Lincolnshire, shown in Fig. 83. With this were found two others and
* Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 1G0, whence this cut is reproduced.
PALSTAVES WITH VERTICAL HIBS ON BLADE.
93
a fourth -without loop, two peculiar socketed celts, two spear-heads, and a
ferrule, which will be subsequently mentioned. They are now in the
British Museum.
A nearly similar discovery was made in 1860 near Nottingham/'-' where
a palstave was found similarly ornamented, but also having three ribs on
the diaphragm above the stop-ridge. It was accompanied by sixteen
socketed celts, four spear-heads, a tanged knife, fragments of swords, a
ferrule, &c.
In Mr. Brackstone's collection was a palstave of the same type, found
near Ulleskelf,! Yorkshire, in 1849, with two socketed celts, one of them
of the peculiar type shown in Fig. 158.
I have a palstave found near Dorchester, Oxfordshire, of the same kind
as Fig. 83, with three ribs below the stop-ridge. There are also side
Nettleham.
Kg. 84. — Cambridge. }
flanges at that part of the blade of the same length and character as the
ribs in the middle of the blade, so as virtually to make five ribs.
Canon Greenwell has specimens of this type (6£- inches) from Llandysilio,
Denbighshire, and (6 inches) from Ubbeston, Suffolk. One (6 j inches)
from Keswick, Cumberland, in the same collection has the ribs 1 ; inches
long. Another (6-j inches) was found at Vronheulog, ;]; Merionethshire
I have a very fine and perfect specimen (6| inches) from the < lambridge
Fens, on which the three ribs stand out in high relief and converge so as
to form a triangle below the stop-ridge something like thai on Fig. 7s.
* Troc. Soc. Ant., 2nd. S., vol. i. p. 332.
f Arch. Journ., vol. viii. p. 99, and Private Plate.
X Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. viii. p. 209.
94
WTXGED CELTS AND TALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV.
A palstave, having a series of ribs upon the diaphragm as well as
below the stop-ridge, is shown in Fig. 84. In this instance the upper
series of ribs extends nearly to the top of the instrument. It was probably
thought that they assisted in making the haft firm to the blade. This
specimen, which has been much cleaned, is in the British Museum, and
as it formed part of the late Mr. Lichfield's collection it was probably
found in the neighbourhood of Cambridge.
The form of palstave, so common in France and Germany, with-
out stop-ridge, and with the side wings hammered over so as to
form a kind of semi-cylindrical socket
on either side of the blade, is rare in
England. A specimen from the great
find of Carlton Eode,* Norfolk, is shown
in Fig. 85. There is usually at the top
of the blade a sort of dovetailed notch,
which may possibly have been made of
service in hafting the tool. It originates,
however, in there having been two run-
ners by which the metal was conducted
into the mould, which when broken off
left two projections at the top of the
blade. These being hammered so as to
round the external angles and flatten the
ends have come over towards each other,
and made what was a notch with parallel
sides into one which is dovetailed.
In this hoard were found numerous socketed celts, gouges, chisels,
hammers, pieces of metal, &c. It seems to have been the stock in
trade of a bronze-founder. Some other specimens from the same
hoard will subsequently be described.
Another palstave of the same character was found, with many socketed
celts, fragments of swords and daggers, and rough metal, at Cumberlow,f
near Baldock, Herts.
Three others were found in 1806, with two socketed celts, a fragment of
a sword, three lumps of raw copper, and four gold armlets, on the beach
near Eastbourne,^: immediately under Beachy Head. They passed with
the Payne Knight collection into the British Museum.
Thai found " in an old wall, in Purbeck," § with the socket " double or
Avoided />>/ a partition," as described by Mr. Hutchins in a letter to
Bishop Lyttelton in 1768, must probably have been of this kind.
A good specimen of the same character but bent (5| inches), as well
Fig. 85— Carlton Rode.
* Arch., vol. xxxi. p. 494; Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 80; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
p. 51 ; Smith's " Coll. Ant,," vol. i. p. 105 ; " Catal. Norwich Mus.," No. 9.
f Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. vi. p. 195. i Arch., vol. xvi. p. 363, pi. lxviii.
§ Arch., vol. v. p. 117- Sec Borlase, "Ant. of Cornw.," pi. xx. 6.
i.
IRON PALSTAVES IMITATED FROM BRONZE. 05
as part of another, was found at Wickham Park, Croydon, together with
several socketed celts. They are now in the British Musemm
The upper part of a palstave of this character was found with socketed
celts, gouges, &c, in the Hundred of Hoo,* Kent. It has been thought
that this was cast hollow to receive a centralprong, but the cavity is pro-
bably due to defective casting. A broken instrument of this kind was
found with socketed celts and metal on Kenidjack Cliff, | Cornwall.
Palstaves of this type, both with and without loops, are much more
abundant on the Continent than in Britain. Numerous examples have
been found in Prance, in Ehenish Prussia, and in the Lake habitations
of Savoy and Switzerland.
A Danish example is engraved by Worsaae, J and several from Germany §
by Lindenschmit.
Iron palstaves with and without loops, some of them closely-
approximating to the form of Fig. 85, but others more like the
ordinary Italian form of palstave, with a broad chisel-like blade,
have been found in the cemetery of Hallstatt. II In a specimen in
my own collection the side flanges are ornamented with transverse
ribs, precisely like those on some of the bronze palstaves from the
same locality. In one instance the upper part with the flanges is
of bronze, and the lower part of the blade of iron or steel.
Tins form of instrument, with a section in the form of the letter
H above, though easily cast, must have been extremely difficult to
forge ; and though we can readily trace its evolution in cast
bronze, it so ill accorded with the necessary conditions for the
profitable working of malleable iron that it seems soon to have
disappeared when iron came into general use. The fact of the
form occurring at all in iron shows that the iron instruments were
made in imitation of those in bronze, and not the bronze in
imitation of the iron. The same observation holds good with the
iron socketed celts, spear-heads, and swords from the same
cemetery.
Looped palstaves, without sufficient details being given of 1lu ir types.
are recorded to have been found in Harewood Square, London,^] Oxford,**
Devonshire,!! and with socketed celts, near Kidwelly, {J Caermarthen.
A looped palstave rather like Pig. 75 is said to have been found in a
barrow near St. Austell,§§ Cornwall, in 1791, but no details are given.
Palstaves provided with a loop on either side are of rare occurren< e in
the British Islands.
A specimen found in 1871 at Penvores,|||| near Mawgan-in-Meneage,
* Arch. Cant., vol. xi. p. 123. t Journ. Moi/. Inst, of Cornto., No. 21.
X Oldsager, fig. 184. § "Alt. u. h. V.," vol. i. Eefl i. Taf. iv.
|| Von Sacken, "Das. Grab. v. Hallst.," Taf. vii.
II Arch. Joum., vol. vi. p. 188. ** Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. be. p. 186.
ft Arch. Joum., vol. xiii. p. 85. H Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xii. p. 96.
§§ Borlase, "Nan. Corn.," p. 188. |||| Proc. Soc. Ant,, 2nd S.. vol. v. p.
96
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[chap. IV,
Cornwall, is engraved as Fig. 86. In character it closely resembles that
from Brassington, Fig. 76, the main difference consisting in its second
Fig. 86. — Penvores.
Fig. S7.— West Buckland.
loop. This specimen, with another from Cornwall and two from Ireland,
was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1873, and is now in the
British Museum. In the same collection is another, 6£ inches
long, somewhat lighter below the stop-ridge, and having the
central rib less fully developed on the blade. It was found in
Somersetshire in 1868, in making the Cheddar Valley line of
railway. Another found in 1 842, near South Petherton, * in the
same county, is in the possession of Mr. Norris at that place.
Another example, shown in Fig. 87 was found at West
Buckland,f Somersetshire, and is in the collection of Mr.
W. A. Sanford. With it were discovered a torque (Fig. 468,)
and a bracelet, (Fig. 481,) and also some charcoal and burnt
bones, but there was no sign of any tumulus. Irish speci-
mens will be subsequently mentioned.
Another two-looped instrument of a different character was
found at Bryn Crug, j near Carnarvon, in company with a
tanged knife and a pin with three holes through its flat head
(Fig. 450). It is shown in Fig. 88, copied on a reduced
scale from the Archceological Journal. It resembles a flanged
* Arch. Journ., vol. Lx. p. 387 ; vol. x. p. 247 ; vol. xxvii. p. 230.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107. For the use of this cut I am indebted to the
Council of the Royal Archaeological Institute. % Arch. Journ., vol. xxv. p. 246.
Fig. 88.
Bryn Crug.
PALSTAVES WITH TWO LOOT'S.
97
celt except in having that part of the blade which lies between the side
loops raised to the level of the flanges.
In France these double-looped palstaves are of rare occurrence, but I
have seen one much like Fig. 86 which was found in the Department oi
Haute Ariege, and is now in the Toulouse Museum. One from Tarbes*
was in the Exposition des Sciences Anthropologiques,
at Paris in 1878. Another was found at Langoiran
(Gironde).
The form is much more abundant in Spain, but in
most cases both the blade and the tang are long and
narrow in their proportions. An engraving of one from
Andalusia is given in the Archaeological Journal,] and is
here by permission reproduced as Fig. 89. I have one
like it from a mine in the Asturias. One rather broader
from the Sierra de Baza, % Andalusia, has also been
figured. A broken and unfinished double-looped pal-
stave from Oviedo, now in the British Museum, has a
cup-shaped projection at the butt end which has been
filled with lead, possibly in old times, but for what
purpose it is impossible to say. An engraving of one
much like it has been published. § There are several
such in the Museums at Madrid , with the head of metal
left on the castings.
The forms of celts and palstaves treated of in
this chapter are found also in Scotland, though
perhaps less frequently than those of the flat and
flanged forms described in the previous chapter.
Many so closely resemble English specimens
that it is needless to give representations of them,
as a reference to the figures in the preceding pages
will sufficiently indicate their character.
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh is a winged celt 4A inches
long much like Fig. 56, which was found on the top of a hill called Lord
Arthur's Cairn, in the parish of Tullynessle, || Aberdeenshire. Another,
6 inches long, with the wings somewhat curved inwards, was found at
Kerswell,^f in the parish of Carnwath, Lanarkshire. Another winged
celt, 4 inches long, was ploughed up on the estate of Barcaldine,** Argyle-
shire.
In the same Museum are also winged celts (5 inches) from Birrens-
wark, Dumfriesshire, and from the neighbourhood of Peebles, much like
that from Eeeth (Fig. 56).
A chisel-shaped celt, in character much like Fig. 55, but h.n ingfi slight
stop-ridge, was found in Burreldale Moss,ff Keith Hall, Aberdeenshire.
Fig. 89
Andalusia.
* "Materiaux," vol. xiv. p. 192. f Vol. vi. p. 69, 369
| Gongoray Martinez, "Ant. preh. dc Andal.," p. 110. Arch. Joum
$ Arch. Journ., vol. xxvii. p. 230.
w\ ii. p. 'J:'. 7
„ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 30 ; Wilson's " Prch. Ann.," fig. 58.
II Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 21. ** Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vi. p. 203.
ft Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xi. p. 153.
H
98
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV
and has been engraved by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, to
whom I am indebted for the use of Fig. 90.
In a palstave (6J- inches) from Kilnotrie,* Crossmichael, Kircudbright,
the lateral flanges are continued below the stop-ridge, and there is a
median ridge down the blade.
In some palstaves in the British Museum, found between Balcarry and
Kilfillan, Wigtonshire, the stop-ridges instead of being at right angles to
the face of the blade shelve outwards. One of them is engraved as Fig.
91. The sides are hammered into V-shaped depressions forming a kind
of fern-leaf pattern along them.
Two of these palstaves are figured on a larger scale in the Ayr and
Wigton Collections.]
Another palstave from Winclshiel, near Dunse, in the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh, has also the flanges somewhat hammered over.
Fig. 90. — Burreldale Moss.
E'ig. 'J 1.— Balcarry.
A palstave without loop, and which from the engraving appears to have
a well-marked stop-ridge and to have the side flanges much hammered
over, is said to have been found near Tintot-top, £ in Clydesd;ilc The
description, however, says that it has no stop, otherwise the figure would
almost justify an attribution of the instrument to Southern Germany
rather than to Scotland. Another of much the same character, but with-
out any stop-ridge, has been figured from Baron Clerk's § collection as
having been found in Scotland.
Palstaves with a side loop have been said |J to be common in Scotland;
* Wilson's "Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 382, fig. 56; "Cat. Ant. Mus. Ed.," E.
48. t V<»1- ii- pp- 8 and 9.
% Arch., vol. v. p. 113, pi. viii. No. 2 ; Gough'a "Camden," vol. i. p. ccvi.
§ Gordon's " Itin. Septent.," p. 110, pi. 1. 6.
|| Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 21 ; Wilson, " Preh. Ann. of S< ot.," vol. i. p. 383.
si ( )TTISH PALSTAVES.
99
but this can hardly be the case, as in the Museum of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland there are no authenticated examples.
One from Aikbrae,* Lanarkshire (6| inches), like Fig. 77, has been
figured. Wilson gives another example like Fig. 78, but does not
say where it was found. The "spade" he gives as his Fig. 59 is in all
probability Italian.
A palstave rather like that from Balcarry, Fig. 91, but with a loop, is
figured by Gordon t as having been found in Scotland.
What may be classed as a celt with two side loops,
or possibly as a chisel, is said to have been found
in the year 1810 in a barrow near Pettycur,^: Fife-
shire. It is described as very strong, and the bend
in the upper part, as seen in Fig. 92, is thought to
be accidental. Wilson describes it as a crowbar or
lever, but as its total length is only 7^ inches it can
hardly be classed among such instruments.
A somewhat similar tool, but without holes in 4he
side stops (7 1 inches), is in the Museum of the Eoyal
Irish Academy. §
Turning now to the instruments of this class
discovered in Ireland, I may observe that it is
so difficult to draw the line between the flanged
celts, tapering both ways from a central ridge,
and those which have a slight projecting stop-
ridge upon them, that some Irish instruments
of the latter class have already been mentioned
in the preceding chapter, to which the reader
is referred for the more highly ornamented
varieties. Other Irish types have also been in-
cidentally cited.
Some of the Irish palstaves much resemble
English and Scottish types, but generally speak-
ing there are sufficient peculiarities in their forms
to enable a practised observer to recognise their
origin. For several other varieties of form, besides those men-
tioned in the following pages, the reader is referred to Wilde's
Catalogue.
Winged celts without a stop-ridge, like Fig. 53, have occa-
sionally been found in Ireland, and one is figured by Wilde. |) I
have one (54 inches) from Armoy, Co. Antrim. The wide-spreading
celt with a slight stop-ridge and segmental band upon the blade,
Fig. 92.— Pettycur.
* Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xvii. p. 21. t " I tin. Srptent.," ]>. 110, pi. 1. 1.
X Arch. Jown., vol. vi. p. 377 ; " Cat. Mus. Arch. Inst. Ed.," p. 27; Wilson, " Preh.
Ann. Scot.," vol. i. p. 386.
$ "Catal.," p. 521, fig. 394. || " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. i
ii 2
100
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[('HAP. IV.
like Fig. 50, also occurs. A remarkably fine specimen from West-
meath with punctured ornaments on the wings and at the lower
margin of the band has been engraved by Wilde.* Some are
without the segmental band.
The type of Fig. 54 has also been found. I have a specimen
(6 inches) from Ballinamallard, near Enniskillen.
Palstaves without a stop-ridge, and with broad lozenge-shaped wings,
like Fig. 56, are of rare occurrence. One of nearly the same type, but
having a low projecting ridge between the wings, is shown in Fig. 93.
Fijj. 93 — Ireland
I have another f roin Armoy, Co. Antrim (6 inches), with a still slighter
transverse ridge, which forms the upper boundary to a shield-shaped pro-
jection on the blade, on which is a central vertical ridge with two others
on each side less definitely marked. The base of the shield is pointed.
A not uncommon type has a very high stop-ridge coming up to the
level of the side wings, the blade above the stop-ridge being somewhat
thinner than it is below. An example is shown in Fig. 94.
I have another from County Antrim, in which the lower part of the
blade has a slight median vertical ridge.
In a palstave in the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy,! with ellip-
tical wings, a long fusiform boss has been cast in the centre of the blade.
* " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 373, fig. 262.
t Op. cit., p. 373, fig. 259.
IRISH PAFSTAVI-
101
In another instrument in the same collection the whole blade is
thickened out so as to form the stop-ridge, as will be seen in Fig. 95.
In other cases the ridge of the wings is
continued as a moulding on the face of the
blade, so as to enclose a space below the stop-
ridge. From the base of this there sometimes
proceeds a vertical rib, as seen in Fig. 96.
Inverted chevrons by way of ornament
below the stop-ridge are not uncommon,
sometimes with a vertical rib in addition.
Such compartments are often seen on the
winged celts, with only a slight stop-ridge.
Fig. 97 shows an example from Lanes-
borough, Co. Longford, now in the collection
of Canon Green well, F.E.S. The compart-
ment is ornamented with vertical punch
marks. The outside of the wings is faceted
after a fashion not unusual in Ireland, but
there is here a slight shoulder at the base
of the central facet which may have assisted
in securing the blade to the handle. On a
specimen at Dublin there are on the other-
wise flat sides elevated transverse ridges, which, as Sir W. Wilde*
has pointed out, may have served "to keep the tying in its place."
Fig. 95. — Ireland.
/
r
■P
III
Kill i
Tig. 96.-North of Ireland. J Fig-. 97.— Lanesborough.
* "Catal. Mus. K. I. A.," p. "7;;, Bg 260
»1
"' Ml
i; i
m
102
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV
The sides of other specimens of much the same type are otherwise
fashioned and ornamented. In Fig. 98 is shown a celt from Trilliek, Co.
Tyrone, on the sides of which a kind of
fern-leaf pattern has been hammered,
or rather punched, not unlike the carv-
ing on one of the stones in the great
chambered tumulus of New Grange.
The shield plate has two vertical hol-
lows worked on it.
The side of a celt ornamented in the
same manner is engraved by Wilde.*
A small palstave, with two vertical
grooves in the blade, is shown in Fig. 99.
Another form of winged celt, with a
low stop-ridge and with a vertical rib
passing through an inverted chevron
on the blade, is shown in Fig. 100.
The original is in the collection of Mr.
Robert Day, F.S.A.
The same style of ornament occurs
on palstaves of other forms. f
In some instances, there is in the
centre of the stop-ridge a kind of bracket on the blade, and the side wings
are hammered over so as to form an imperfect socket. A small example
Fig. 9S— Trilliek
Fig. 99.— Ireland.
Fig. 100.— Ireland.
Fig. 101.— In] mil.
of the kind is shown in Fig. 101. I have a larger specimen (4£ inches)
from Trilliek, Co. Tyrone. VallanceyJ engraves a palstave of this type.
* "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p 379, fig. 270. f Vallancey, vol. iv. pi. x. 7.
+ Vol. iv. pi. x. 2.
LOOPED IRISH PALSTAVES.
103
Others -with flat blades and no brackets have the side flanges hammered
over in the same manner.
A fine example, in which the conical bracket dies into the stop-ridge and
side flanges, is in the British Museum.
Palstaves with a loop at the side are not of such frequent occurrence in
Ireland as those without. Wilde * has engraved a specimen (6f inches) like
Fig. 77 as well as that f which I have here shown on a larger scale as
Fig. 102. This latter has the wings well hammered over at the base, so
as to form a kind of socket on each side of the blade. It differs, however,
from the English and foreign specimens like Fig. 85 in having a well-
marked shoulder or stop on the blade between the wings.
Palstaves of nearly the same character, but without the loop, have
already been mentioned as found both in Ireland and Scotland. Others,
i ■. 102.— Ireland.
Fig. 103.— Ireland.
Fig. 101.— Ireland. $
with loops like Fig. 103, have a bracket on the blade between the
flanges.
A remarkable form with slight side flanges and no stop-ridge, from the
Dublin Museum, is shown in Fig. 104. It is No. G30 in Wilde's Cata-
logue. The sides have deep diagonal note] les upon them and the tipper
part of each face is chequered, perhaps in order to assist in steadying
the blade in its handle.
Another noteworthy palstave, found at Miltown, Co. Dublin, is shown
in Fig. 105. In this the side wings are not hammered over, and the stop is
supported by a conical bracket. The shoulders, instead of being nearly
square to the midrib, are inclined upwards at an angle of nearly 45°, so as to
form receptacles in which the wedge-shaped ends of the split handle would
be held tight against the Made. These inclined stops have hceii observed
in other palstaves of different forms, and Sir W. Wilde | has called atten-
tion to them in connection with a palstave much like thai qow under
consideration, but without any projection or loop on the side The most
remarkable feature in the Miltown example is a projecting, slightly
* P. 381, fig. 273. A P. 37'-», Jig. 265. + " Catal. Mas. R. 1. A.," p. 377, fig. 263.
104
WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES.
[CHAP. IV.
curved spike or neb placed near the top of the blade rather above the
position usually occupied by the loop. At first sight it looks like an
imperfect loop, but, on examination, it is evident that the casting is per-
fect ; and, on consideration, it seems clear that this projection would serve
quite as well as a loop for receiving a cord to hold the blade back upon
its haft, while for the actual tying it would be more convenient, as the cord
would have merely to be passed over a hook, and not to be threaded
through a loop. In a somewhat similar palstave (3f inches) in the Museum
of the Eoyal Irish Academy*- there is also a projecting neb, but more
semicircular in outline. I am not
sure that it was intended for the
same purpose. A looped palstave
of this type, but with the bottom of
the side socket more circidar, is en-
graved by Vallancey.f
Some of the socketed celts from
the Bologna hoard have curved nebs
on each side instead of rings. In-
struments of the same character,
also from Italy, have been engraved
by De Bonstetten,J Schreiber,§ and
Caylus.||
Double-looped palstaves, with a
loop on either side, and in character
like Fig. -86, are almost or quite as
rare in Ireland as in England. The
only specimen engraved by Wilde ^f
is in the collection of Lord Talbot
de Malahide. It is 6J inches long,
with the loops not quite symmetrical.
It was supposed to be unique. I
have, however, another specimen of
this type (6f inches) found at Bal-
lincollig,** Co. Cork, in 1854, which
was formerly in the collection of the
Rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A. It so closely resembles Fig. 86 that it is not
worth while to engrave it.
Another remarkable and indeed unique instrument, in the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy, jf is shown in Fig. 106. It is like a flat celt,
but has grooves and stops at the side like a palstave with a transverse
edge. Below the stops are two loops. The sides below the stops are
ornamented with transverse lines, and on the face here shown there is a
dotted kind of cartouche below the stops, and a square compartment
chequered in lozenges above them. This latter is wanting on the other
fiice, but the corresponding cartouche below is divided into small lozenges
alternately hatched and plain.
* " Catal.," p. 433, No. 641. f Vol. iv. pi. x. 1.
| " Etecuei] d'Antiq. Suisses," pi. ii. G. See alao Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 377; vol.
xxi. p. 100.
$ "Dieeher. Streitkeile," Taf. ii. 8. || " Recueil d'Ant.," pi. xciv. 1.
IF "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 382, fig. 271 ; Arch. Journ., vol. is. p. 194.
** Proc. ISor. Ant., vol. iii. p. 222.
tt "Catal.," p. 521, fig. 393; Arch. Journ. , vol. viii. p. 91. pi. No. 1.
Fig. 105.— Miltown.
HUSH PALSTAVES WITH TRANSYEKSK EDGE.
105
Another Irish instrument of nearly the same form, but without the
grooves and stops at the sides, is in the Bell Collection in the Antiquarian
Fit;-. IOC— Ireland.
Fig. 107.— Ireland.
Museum at Edinburgh ; but its exact place of finding is uncertain. It is
shown in Fig. 107, and, like
that last described, has each of
its faces ornamented in a dif-
ferent manner.
The palstaves with a trans-
verse edge are of more common
occurrence in Ireland than in
England, but are even there
very rare. That engraved as
Fig. 108 was formerly in the
collection of the Rev. Thomas
Hugo, F.S.A.* A similar tool
is figured by Yallancey.f
The smaller specimen shown
in Fig. 109 was found near
Ballymena, Co. Antrim, and is
in the collection of Mr. Robert
I >ay, F.S.A. I have one from
the North of Ireland (4 inches)
with the stops less distinct.
Another Irish specimen (3
inches) is in the British Museum. In the Museum of (lie K'hvmI Irish
Academy are several varying in length from 2| inches to o\| inches
They are classed by Wilde j among the chisels.
* Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iii. p. 156. t Vol. iv pi s 6
I "Catal. Mus. R. I. A , p 521, tiy 19'
Fig. ma.— Ireland.
Fig. 109 ' llymena. J
106 WINGED CELTS AND PALSTAVES. [cHAP. IV.
Tn describing the various forms illustrated by the figures, I have
from time to time called attention to the analogies which they
present with other European forms, and it is hardly necessary to
make any broad comparison of British palstaves and winged celts
Avith those of other European countries. It would indeed be a
difficult task to attempt, as in each country, if not in several dis-
tricts in each country, the instruments of this kind are characterised
by some local peculiarity.
Perhaps it will be more instructive to mention certain conti-
nental forms which are conspicuous by their absence in Britain.
We have not, for instance, the southern French form with a
kind of contracted waist and broad side flanges or rounded wings
in the middle of the blade ; nor, again, the long narrow form
almost resembling a marrow spoon ; nor that with the almost
circular blade, much like an ancient mirror. Nor have we the
German form, with the V-shaped stop-ridge, nor that in which the
stop-ridge forms a circular collar above a blade with headings
along the sides. Nor have we the common Italian form, with the
blade like a long spud ; nor, again, the narrow Scandinavian form,
which is often highly decorated.
And yet, in comparing the instruments described in the present
chapter with those of neighbouring countries, and especially of
France, it will at once be remarked that, as might have been
reasonably expected, the closest analogies are to bo observed
between some of those of England and France, while in the more
peculiarly Scottish and Irish types the resemblances are more
remote. It must, however, be borne in mind that there is good
evidence in the shape of moulds and bronze-founders' hoards, such
as will subsequently be mentioned, to prove that these instruments
were east in various parts of this country ; so that, though some
palstaves may be of foreign origin, yet, as a rule, it was the
fashion of the objects rather than the objects themselves for which
the inhabitants of Britain were indebted to foreign intercourse.
Even in the area now embraced by France there does not appear
to have been any single centre of manufacture, hut, taken as a
group, the palstaves of the South, the North, and the North-west
of France present some distinguishing characteristics. The same
is the case with the socketed celts of that country, the English
representatives of which will be discussed in the next chapter.
CHAPTER V.
SOCKETED CELTS,
The class of celts cast in such a manner as to have a socket lor
receiving the haft is numerously represented in the British Isles.
In this form of instrument the haft was actually imbedded in the
blade, whereas in the case of the flat and flanged celts, and of the
so-called palstaves, the blade was imbedded in the handle, so that
the terms, " the recipient " and " the received," originally given
to the two classes by Dr. Stukeley, are founded on a well-marked
distinction, and are worthy of being rescued from oblivion.
That the recipient class is of later introduction than the received
is evident from several considerations. In the first place, a Hat
blade not only approaches most nearly in form to the stone
hatchets or celts which it was destined to supersede, but it also
requires much less skill in casting than the blade provided with a
socket. For casting the flat celts there was, indeed, no need of a
mould formed of two pieces ; a simple recess of the proper form
cut in a stone, or formed in loam, being sufficient to give the shape
to a flat blade of metal, which could be afterwards wrought into
the finished form by hammering. And secondly, as will subse-
quently be seen, a gradual development can be traced from the flal
celt, through those with flanges and wings, to the palstave form,
with the wings hammered over so as to constitute two semi-cir
cular sockets, one on each side of the blade ; while on certain of the
socketed celts flanges precisely similar to (hose of the palstaves lm\ e
been cast by way of ornament on the sides, and whal was thus
originally a necessity in construction has survived as a superfluous
decoration. There is at least one instance known of the inter
mediate form between a palstave will) pocket-like recesses on
each side of a central plate and :i cell with a single socket. In
tin; museum at Trent* there is an instrument in which the socket
* "Materiaux," vol. iii. p. 3
108 SOCKETED CELTS. [CHAP. V.
is divided throughout its entire length into two compartments
Avith a plate between, and, as Professor Strobel says, resembling a
palstave with the wings on each side united so as to form a
socket on each side. The evolution of the one type from the
other is thus doubly apparent, and it is not a little remarkable that
though palstaves with the wings bent over are, as has already been
stated, of rare occurrence in the British Islands, yet socketed celts,
having on their faces the curved wings in a more or less rudimentary
condition, are by no means unfrequently found. The inference
which may be drawn from this circumstance is that the discovery
of the method of casting socketed celts was not made in Britain but
in some other country, where the palstaves with the converging
wings were abundant and in general use, and that the first socketed
celts employed in this country, or those which served as patterns
for the native bronze-founders, were imported from abroad.
Although socketed celts, with distinct curved wings upon their
faces, are probably the earliest of their class, yet it is impossible to
say to how late a period the curved lines, which eventually became
the representatives of the wings, may not have come down. This
form of ornamentation was certainly in use at the same time as
other forms, as we know from the hoards in which socketed celts
of different patterns have been found together. As has already
been recorded, the socketed form has also been frequently found
associated with palstaves, especially with those of the looped
variety.
The form of the tapering socket varies considerably, the section
being in some instances round or oval, and in other cases present-
ing every variety of form between these and the square or rect-
angular. There is usually some form of moulding or beading
round the mouth of the celt, below which the body before expand-
ing to form the edge is usually round, oval, square, rectangular,
or more or less regularly hexagonal or octagonal. The decora-
tions generally consist of lines, pellets, and circles, cast in relief
upon the faces, and much more rarely on the sides. Not unfre-
quently there is no attempt at decoration beyond the moulding at
the top. The socketed celts are, almost without exception, devoid
of ornaments produced by punches or hammer marks, such as are
so common on the solid celts and palstaves. This may be due to
their being more liable to injury from blows owing to the thinness
of the metal and to their being hollow. They are nearly always
provided with a loop at one side, though some few have been
THKIK INVOLUTION FROM TALSTAVES.
L09
three longi-
were
cast without loops. These are usually of small size, and were
probably used as chisels rather than as hatchets. A very few hav<
a loop on each side.
The types are so various that it is hard to make any proper
classification of them. I shall, therefore, take them to a certain
extent at hazard, keeping those, however, together which most nearly
approximate to each other. I begin with a specimen showing in a
very complete manner the raised wings already mentioned.
This instrument formed part of a hoard of celts and fragments of metal
found at High Eoding, Essex, and
now in the British Museum, and is
represented in Fig. 110. With it
was one with two raised pellets
beneath the moulding round the
mouth, and one with
tudinal ribs. The others
plain.
Another (4 inches), with a treble
moidding at the top, from Water-
ingbury, Kent, was in the Douce
and Meyrick Collections, and is
now also in the British Museum.
I have a German celt of this
type, but without the pellets,
found in Thuringia. Others are
engraved by Lindenschmit,*' Mon-
telius,f and Chantre.j I have a
good example from Lutz (Eure
et Loir).
On many French celts the wings
are shown by depressed lines or
grooves on the faces. I have spe-
cimens from a hoard found at
Drouil, near Amiens, and from
Lusancy, near Rheims. Others
with the curved lines more or less
distinct have been found
rious parts of France.
There is an example from Maulin in the Museum at Namur, and a
Dutch example is in the Museum at Assen.
In Fig. Ill is shown a larger celt in my own collection, found in the
neighbourhood of Dorchester, Oxon. The wing ornament no longer con-
sists of a solid plate, but the outlines of the wings of 1 h< • palstave are
shown by two bold projecting beads wlii el i extend over the sides of thr
celt as well as the faces. The socket is circular at the mouth, but tie'
neck of the instrument below the moulding is subquadrate in section. 1 n
the socket are two small projecting longitudinal ribs, probably intended
m va-
. 110— High
Koding. a.
Oxon.
* " Alt. u. h. V.," vol. i. Heft ii. Taf. ii. 5.
t "Cong, preh.," Bologna vol. p. 293.
" Age du Br.," ptie. i p. 59.
110
SOCKETED CELTS
[chat.
to aid in steadying the haft. Such projections are not very uncommon,
and are sometimes more than two in number.
A celt ornamented in a similar manner, but with two raised bands near
the mouth, was found with several other socketed celts and some pal-
staves with the wings bent over at Cuniberlow,* near Baldock, Hei'ts.
Some of these are in the British Museum.
Another with two small pellets between the curved lines was found
in a hoard at Beddington,f Surrey.
Fig. 1 12 represents another celt of much the same character, but with a
bolder moulding at top, and a slight projecting bead all round the instru-
ment just below the two curved lines representing the palstave wings,
which on these celts have just the appearance of heraldic "flanches."
On the face not shown there is
a triangular projection at the
top like a "pile in chief " be-
tween the flanches. Inside the
socket there are two longitudinal
projections as in the last. The
original of this figure, which has
been broken and repaired with
the edge of another celt, is in
the Blackmore Museum at Salis-
bury, and was probably found
in Wilts.
In the British Museum is an
example of this type (4 inches)
which has on one face only a
pellet in the upper part of the
compartment between the two
"flanches." It was found at
Hounslow.
Another (4 inches) from the
Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, is
now in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S. I have one
with the pattern less distinct from
a hoard found in the Barking
Marshes, Essex, in 1862. A celt
much of the same pattern, but
w it limit the transverse line below the flanches, was found on Plumpton
Plain, | near Lewes.
The same type occurs in France. I have examples from a hoard found
at Dreuil, near Amiens. The same ornament is often seen on Hungarian
celts, though usually without the lower band.
In Fig. 1 13 is shown one of the celts from the hoard discovered in the
Tsle of 11 arty, § Kent, to which I shall have to make frequent reference,
liesides eight more or less perfect unomamented socketed celts, various
dr
Fig. US
wiii-
rig. 113.— Hartj
* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. vi. p. 195.
f "Surrey Arch. Soc. Coll.," vol. vi. ; Anderson's "Croydon Prch. and Rom.," p. 11,
pi. ii. 1.
% Suss. A r<li. Coll., vol. ii. p. 268, fig. 8.
J Proo. Soc. Ant., ->n& S., vol. v. p. 408 ; " Cong. Treh." Stockholm vol., 1874, p. 444.
WITH CURVED LINKS ON THE FAC]
111
hammers, tools, and moulds, five celts of this type were found. Although
so closely resembling each other that they were probably cast in the same
mould, in fact in that which was found at the same time, there is a con-
siderable difference observable among them, especially in the upper part
above the loop. In the one shown in the figure there are three distinct
beaded mouldings above the loop, and above these again is a plain, some-
what expanding tube. In one of the others, however, there are only the
two lowest of the beaded mouldings, and the upper half-inch of the celt
first mentioned is absolutely wanting. The three others show very little
of the plain part above the upper moulding. As will subsequently be
explained, the variation in length appears to be connected with the
method of casting, and to have arisen from a greater part of the mould
having been "stopped off" in
one case than another. It will
be noticed that the " flaneh.es "
on these celts are placed below
the loop and not close under the
cap-moulding. The beads which
form them are continued across
the sides. Running part of the
way down inside the socket are
two longitudinal ridges which are
in the same line as the runners
by which the metal found its way
into the mould. The vertical
ridge above the topmost moulding
shows where there is a channel in
the moidcl for the metal to pass
by. If the celts had been skil-
fully cast so that their top was
level with the upper moulding,
no traces of this would have been
visible.
In Tig. 114 is shown one of
the plain socketed celts from the
same hoard. The mould in which
it was cast was found at the same
time, as well as the half of a
mould for one of smaller size.
The five other plain celts from
the same hoard were all rather less than the
appear to have been cast in three different moidds, as the
round the top varies in character, and in some is double and not single
The two projections within the socket are in these but short, though
strongly marked.
In the British Museum is a celt of tin's hind, •> inches long, found at
Newton, Cambridgeshire, which on its left face, as seen with the Loop
towards the spectator, has a small projecting boss 1 \ inch below the u>\>.
Five socketed celts of this plain character (2^ inches to 3| inches were
found together at Lodge Hill, AVaddesdon, Hacks, in IN.Vj, and were
lithographed on a private plate by J\Ir. Edward Stone.
The outline and general character of the celt shown in Fig. I 15 ma\ be
11 11
' UffllMMIIlMlllillI
Fig. 111. -Hurl y. J Fig. 115
( >.V>]|.
one which is figured,
and
beading
112
SOCKETED CELTS.
[chap. V,
taken as representative of one of the most common forms of English
socketed celt. This particular specimen differs, however, from the ordi-
nary form in having a ridge or ill-defined rib on each face which adds
materially to the weight and somewhat to the strength of the instru-
ment. It was found near Dorchester, Oxon.
A nearly similar celt found in Mecklenburg has been figured by Lisch.*
A larger celt of the same general character, found with a hoard
of bronze objects in Reach Fen, Burwell Fen, Cambridge, is shown
in Fig. 116. This may also be regarded as a characteristic specimen
of the socketed celts usually
found in England, though the
second moulding is often ab-
sent, and there is a consi-
derable range in size and in
the proportion of the width
to the length. No doubt
much of this range is due to
some instruments having been
more shortened by use and
wear than others. The edge
of a bronze tool must have
been constantly liable to be-
come blunted, jagged, or bent,
and when thus injured was
doubtless, to some extent, re-
stored to its original shape
by being hammered out, and
then re-ground and sharpened.
The repetition of this process
would, in the course of time,
materially diminish the length of the blade, until eventually it
would be worn out, or the solid part be broken away from the
socketed portion.
Celts of this general character, plain with the exception of a single or
double beading at the top, occur of various sizes, and have been found in
considerable numbers. In my own collection are specimens (3 inches)
from Westwick Row, near Gorhambury, Herts, found with lumps of
rough metal ; from Burwell Fen, Cambridge (3^ inches), found also with
metal, a spear-head like Fig. 381 and a hollow ring; from Bottisham,
Cambridge (3 inches), and other places.
In the Reach Fen hoard already mentioned were some other celts of
mS0
Fig. 116.— Reach
Fen. $
Fig. 117— Beach
Fen. i
" Pfahlbauten, in M.," 1865, p. 78.
PLAIN WITH A HEADING BOUND THE MOUTH. 113
this type. They were associated with gouges, chisels, knives, hammers,
and other articles, and also with two socketed celts, one like Fig. 133, and
two like Fig. 124, as well as with two of the type shown in Fig. 117,
with a small head at some little distance helow the principal moulding
round the mouth. One of them has a slightly projecting rib running
down each corner of the blade, a peculiarity I have noticed in other speci-
mens. The socket is round rather than scpiare.
I have other examples of this t}rpe from a hoard of about sixty celts
found on the Manor Farm, Wymington, Bedfordshire (3| inches) ; from
Burwell Fen, Cambridge (4 inches) ; and from the hoard found at Carlton
Eode, Norfolk (4 inches). This last has the slightly projecting beads
down the angles.
Socketed celts partaking of the character of the three types last described,
and from 2 inches to 4 inches in length, are of common occurrence in
England. Some with both the single and double moiddings were found
in company with others having vertical beads on the face like Fig. 124,
and a part of a bronze blade at West Halton,* Lincolnshire. I have seen
others both with the single and double moulding which were found with
some of the ribbed and octagonal varieties, a socketed knife, parts of a
sword and of a gouge, and lumps of metal, at Martlesham, Suffolk.
These are in the possession of Captain Brooke, of Ufford Hall,
near Woodbridge. Another, apparently with the double moulding,
was found with others (some of a different type), seven spear-heads, and
portions of a sword, near Bilton,f Yorkshire. These are now in the
Bateman Collection. Another with the single moulding was found near
Windsor .J Others with the double moulding, to the number of forty, were
found with twenty swords and sixteen spear-heads of different patterns,
about the year 1726, near Alnwick Castle, § Northumberland. Some also
occurred in the deposit of nearly a hundred celts which was found with a
quantity of cinders and lumps of rough metal on Earsley Common, || about
12 miles N.W. of York, in the year 1735. A socketed celt with the single
moulding was found with spear-heads, part of a dagger, and some small
whetstones, near Little Wenlock,^| Shropshire. Four socketed celts of this
class with the double moulding were found, with a socketed gouge and
about 30 pounds weight of copper in lumps, at Sittingbourne,** Kent, in
1828. They are, I believe, now in the Dover Museum. One (4£- inches),
obtained at Honiton,tt Devonshire, has a treble moulding at the top, that
in the middle being larger than the other two. The socket is square.
A plain socketed celt, 2 J inches long, was found in digging gravel
nearCresar's Camp, J J Coombe Wood, Surrey. It is now in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries. In the collection of Messrs. Mortimer, at
Fimber, is a celt with the double moulding (3 inches long), found at
Frodingham, near Driffield, which has four small ribs, one in the centre
of each side running down the socket. Another, with the double mi >ulding
(4 inches), and with a nearly round mouth to the socket, was found at Tun
* Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 69.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. v. p. 349 ; Bateman, Catal. M. 60, p, 76.
X Stukeley, "It. Cur.," pi. xcvi. 2nd. § Arch., vol. v. p. 113.
|| Arch., vol. v. p. 114.
If Hartshorne's " Salopia Antiqua," 1841, p. 96, No. 9.
** Smith's "Coll. Ant.," vol. i. p. 101.
ft Engraved in Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 343.
XX Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. i. p. 67 ; 2nd S., vol. i. p. 83.
I
114
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
Hill, near Devizes, and is in the Blackmore Museum, where is also one
found near Bath (3f inches) with the mouldings more uniform in size.
A socketed celt without any moulding- at the top, which is hollowed and
slopes away from the side on which is the loop, is said to have heen found
in a tumulus near the King Barrow on Stowborough Heath, ••' near
Wareham, Dorset.
Socketed celts of this character occur throughout the whole of Prance,
but are most abundant in the northern parts. They are of rare occur-
rence in Germany.
The same form is found among the Lake habitations of Switzerland.
Dr. Gross has specimens from Auvernier and Moerigen,f which closely
resemble English examples.
A celt of the same general character as Fig. 114, but of peculiar form,
narrowing to a central waist, is shown in Fig. 118. The original was
found at Canterbury, and was
kindly presented to me by Mr.
John Brent, F.S.A.
Broad socketed celts nearly
circular or but slightly oval at
the neck, and closely resembling
the common Irish type (Fig. 1 67)
in form and character, are occa-
sionally found in England. That
shown in Fig. 119 is stated to
have been discovered at the
Castle Hill, Usk, Monmouth-
shire.
I have seen another (3|
inches) in the collection of Mr.
E. Fitch, F.S.A., which was
found at Hanworth, near Holt,
Norfolk.
Among those found at Guils-
field,j Montgomeryshire, was
one of somewhat the same cha-
racter, but having a double
Fig. US,— Canterbury.
moulding at the top. Another, § with a nearly square socket, has above
a double moulding, a cable moulding round the mouth, like that on
Fig. 172. In the same hoard were looped palstaves, gouges, spears,
swords, scabbards, &c.
Another, that, to judge from a bad engraving, had no moulding at
the top, which was oval, is said to have been found under a supposed
Druid's altar near Keven Hirr Vynicld,|| on the borders of Brecknockshire.
Another variety, with a nearly square socket and long narrow
blade is shown in Fig. 120, the original of which was found at
Alfriston, Sussex. The loop is imperfect, owing to defective cast-
* "The Barrow Diggers," p. 74.
t Gross, "Deux Stations, &c," pi. i. 15, 18.
X Arch. Camb., 3rd 8., vol. x. p. 214, No. 4 ; " Montg. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 437.
j Arch. Camb., xbi sup. No. 3. || Arch., vol. iv. p. 24, pi. i. 6.
OF A GAULISH T1TE.
115
ing.
The socket is very deep, and extends to within an inch of
the edge. Instruments of this type are principally, if not solely,
found in our southern counties. The type is indeed Gaulish
rather than British, and is very abundant in the north-western
part of France. It appears probable that not only was the type
originally introduced into this country from France, but that there
was a regular export of such celts to Britain. For I have in my
collection a celt of this type, 4 J inches long, that was found under
the pebble beach at Portland, and in which
the core over which it was cast still fills the
socket, the clay having by the heat of the
metal been converted into a brick-like terra-
cotta. It could, therefore, never have been
in use, as no haft could have been inserted.
It is waterworn and corroded by the action
of the sea, the loop having been almost eaten
and worn away, so that it is impossible to
say whether the surface and edge were left
as they came from the mould. In the large
hoard, however, of bronze celts of this type
which was found at Moussaye, near PldneV
Jugon, in the Cotes du Nord, the bulk were
left in this condition, and with the burnt
clay cores still in the sockets.
I have another celt of the same size and
form as that from the Portland beach, which
was found near Wareham, Dorset, and ap-
pears to have been in use.
Two found with many others in the New
Forest* (3 and 5 inches long) are engraved in
the Archccologia. The larger has a rib 3 inches
long running down the face and terminating in Fig. 120.— Alfriston.
an annulet.
Others of the same type have been found at Hollinghury TTill, | and
near the church at Brighton, |" Sussex.
Among the celts found at Kara Bre, Cornwall, in 1744, were some of
this character, but expanding more at the cutting <»lge. Others were
more like Fig. 124, though longer in proportion, with them are said to
have been found several Roman coins, some as late as the time of
Constantius Chlorus. Others (5 inches long) seeni to have formed pari
* Arch., vol. v. p. 114, pi. viii. 9, 10 ; Gough's " Camden," vol. i. p. zc\ i
t Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ii. p. 26S, fig. 7.
t Ibid., fig. 12.
i2
116
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
of the hoard found at Mawgan,* Cornwall, in which there was also
a fine rapier. Another, from Bath,f is in the Duke of Northumberland's
museum at Alnwick. Another has been cited from Cornwall.^:
Celts of this form are of rare occurrence in the North of England,
but one, said to have been disinterred with Roman remains at Chester-
le-Street,§ Durham, is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Celts like Fig. 120 are of very frequent occurrence in Northern France;
large hoards, consisting almost entirely of this type, have been found.
A deposit of sixty was discovered near Lamballe || (Cotes du Nord), and
one of more than two hundred at Moussaye, near Plenee-Jugon, in the
same department. Most of the
celts in both these hoards had
never been used, and in a large
number the core of burnt clay was
still in the socket. A hoard of
about fifty is said to have been
found near Bevay,^} Belgium.
Plain socketed celts nearly square
at the mouth have occasionally
been found in Germany. One from
Pomerania** is much like Fig. 120
in outline.
The form of narrow celt, which I
regard as of Gaulish derivation, is
not nearly so elegant as that of a
more purely English type of which
an example is shown in Fig. 121.
The original was found in the Cam-
bridge Fens, and is in my own col-
lection. Within the socket on the
centre of each side is a raised nar-
row rib running down 2 inches
from the mouth, or to within J inch
of the bottom of the socket.
The type is rare ; but a specimen
(5 inches) of nearly the same form as
the figure was found, with palstaves,
sickles, &c, near Taunton, Somer-
set.ff There is also a resemblance
to the Barrington celt, Fig. 148.
I have already mentioned a celt with a moulded top, which, on one of
its faces, is ornamented with a small projecting boss. In Fig. 122
is shown an example with two pellets beneath the upper moulding. It
was found with others at High Reeling, Essex, and is now in the British
Museum. Another with three such knobs on each face, placed near the
t Arch. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 75.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 75.
|| "Materiaux," vol. i. p. 539.
U Lindenschmit, " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft ii. Taf. ii. 4.
** "Zeitsch. fur Eth.," vol. vii. Taf. ix. 2.
ft Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 94. Pring, " Brit, and Rom. on Site of Taunton,"
pi. i. 1.
Fig. 121.
Cambridge Fens.
I
Fig. 122.
High Roding.
* Arch., vol. xvii. p. 337.
X Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. vii. p. 172.
WITH VERTICAL RIBS ON THE FACES.
117
top of the instrument, is shown in Fig. 123. The original is in the
British Museum, and was found at Chrishall,* Essex, where also several
plain celts with single or double mouldings at the top, some spear-heads,
and a portion of a socketed knife were dug up.
A large brass coin of Hadrian, much defaced, is said to have been
found at the same time. As in other instances, the evidence on this
point is unsatisfactory, and if it could be sifted, would probably carry
the case no farther than to prove that the Roman coins and the bronze
celts were found near the same spot, and possibly by the same man, on
the same day. In illustration of this collection of objects of different
dates, I may mention that I lately purchased a fifteenth-century jeton
as having been found with Merovingian gold ornaments.
Fig. 123— Crishall.
Fig. 124.— Reach Fen.
Fig. 125— Barrington. i
Some of the Breton celts, in form like Fig. 120, have two or three
knobs on a level with the loop.
Another and common kind of ornament on the faces of socketed
celts consists of vertical lines, or ribs, extending from the moulding
round the mouth some distance down the faces of the blade. They
vary in number, but are rarely less than three. In some instances
the ribs are so slight as to be almost imperceptible, a circumstance
which suggests the probability of celts in actual use having served
as the models or patterns from which the moulds for casting others
were made, as in each successive moulding and casting any promi-
nences such as these ribs would be reduced or softened down. On any
* Neville's " Sepulchra Exposita," p. 3.
118 SOCKETED CELTS [CHAI\ V.
other supposition it is difficult to conceive how an ornamentation
so indistinct as almost to escape observation could have originated.
There are some celts which on one face are quite smooth and plain,
while on the other some traces of the ribs may just be detected.
The same is the case with some of the celts which have the slightest
possible traces of the " flanches," such as seen on Fig. 111. The
smearing of metal moulds with clay, to prevent the adhesion of
the castings, would tend to obliterate such ornaments.
A celt with the vertical ribs from the hoard of Reach Fen, Cambridge,
is shown in Fig. 124. There are slight projecting beads running down
the angles. The three ribs die into the face of the blade. Another of
nearly the same type, but with coarse ribs somewhat curved, is shown in
Fig. 125. It has not the beads at the angles. This specimen was found
in company with a celt dike Fig. 116, and with a gouge like Fig. 204, at
Barrington, Cambridge,' and is in my own collection.
Celts of wider proportions, and having the three ribs farther apart,
have been frequently found in the Northern English counties. I have
one (3J inches) from Middleton, on the Yorkshire Wolds, which was
given me by Mr. H. S. Harland ; and Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has
several from Yorkshire. The celt which was found near Tadcaster,* in
that county, and which has been so- often cited, from the fact of its having
a large bronze ring passing through the loop, on which is a jet bead,
is also of this type. There can be little doubt that the ring and bead,
which not improbably were found at the same time as the celt, were
attached to it subsequently by the finder, in the manner in which they
may now be seen in the British Museum. A celt with three ribs, from
the hoard found at Westow,f in the North Biding, has been figured, as
has been one from Cuerdale,| near Freston, Lancashire, and one (4£
inches) from Bockbourn Down,§ Wilts, now in the British Museum.
One (3f inches long) was found near HullJ in Yorkshire; and five others
at Winmarley,^] near Garstang, Lancashire, together with two spears,
one of them having crescent-shaped openings in the blade (Fig. 419).
Another was found, with other bronze objects, at Stanhope,** Durham.
The celts found with spear-heads and discs near Newark, and now
in Canon Greenwell' s collection, are of this type, but of different sizes.
That found at Cann,ffnear Shaftesbury, with, it is said, a human skeleton
and two ancient British silver coins, had three ribs on its face.
Several others were found in the hoard at West IIalton,|J Lincoln-
shire, already mentioned. Others were discovered in company with a
looped palstave, some spear-heads, ferrules, fragments of swords, and a
tanged knife, near Nottingham, §§ in 18G0. Seven or eight such celts,
and the half of a bronze mould in which to cast them, were found with a
socketed knife, spear-heads, and numerous other objects, in the Heathery
* Arch., vol. xvi. p. 362, pi. Hv. ; Arch. Journ., vol. iv. p. C.
f Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xx. p. 107, pi. vii. 6 ; see also vol. iii. p. 58.
X Op. cit., vol. viii. p. 332, pi. xxxvii. 1 ; Proc. 'Sue. Ant., vol. ii. p. 304.
9 "Horao Fcralcs," pi. v. 7. |j Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. ix. p. 185.
It Op. cit., vol. xv. p. 236. ** Arch. Mliana, vol. i. p. 13, pi. ii. 8.
ft Evans' " Anc. Brit. Coins," p. 102. \% Arch. Journ., vol. x. pp. 69, 70.
\\ Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 332.
WITH VERTICM, RIBS ON TIIK FACES
110
Burn Cave,* near Stanhope, Durham, of which further mention will
subsequently be made. Many bave also been found in Yorkshire and
Northumberland.
The type is not confined to the Northern Counties, for specimens
occurred in the great find at Carlton Rode,f near Attleborough, Norfolk.
I have seen another, 4 inches long, which was found with many other
socketed celts and other articles at Martlesham, Suffolk, in the hoard
already mentioned (p. 113). I have one (8§ inches) from Llandysilio,
Denbighshire. Another, with traces of the three ribs, was found at Pul-
borough,! Sussex. This specimen is in outline more like Fig. 130. A
socketed celt of this kind (5 inches long), with three parallel ribs on the flat
surface, was found near Launceston,§ Cornwall.
Some long celts of the same kind were found
at Karn Bre, in the same county, as already
mentioned.
In some celts with the three ribs on their
faces, found in Wales, the moulding at the top
is large and heavy, and forms a sort of cornice
round the celt, the upper surface of which is
flat. That engraved as Fig. 126 was found at
Mynydd-y-Grlas, near Hensol, Glamorganshire,
and is now in the British Museum. In the
same collection is another of much the same
character, but of ruder fabric, 4f inches long,
with a square socket, found in 1849 with others
similar, in making the South Wales Railway,
in Great Wood,|| St. Fagan's, Glamorganshire.
The loop is badly cast, being filled up with
metal.
Canon Greenwell has a celt of this type (4
inches), found at Llandysilio, Denbighshire,
with two others having three somewhat con-
verging ribs (3f inches and 3^ inches), a socketed
knife, and part of a spear-head.
Two others (5|- inches and 4f inches) were
found with part of a looped palstave ^[ and a
waste piece from a casting, and lumps of metal,
on Kenidjack Cliff, Cornwall. Another (1
inches) from Cornwall is in the British Mu-
seum. One from Sedgemoor, Somersetshire, is
in the Taunton Museum.
The three-ribbed type occurs occasionally in Franco. Examples are in
the Museums of Amiens, Toulouse, Clermont Ferrand, Poitiers, and other
towns. Three vertical ribs are of common occurrence on celts from Hun-
gary and Styria.
In some rare examples the three ribs converge as they go down the
blade. One such is shown in Fig. 127. The original is in the possession
of Sir A. A. Hood, Bart., and was found with twenty-seven other socketed
Fig. 126.— Mynydd-y-( ilas. J
* Proe. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132.
% Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ix. p. 118, fig. 7.
|| " Ilorao Ferales," pi. v. G.
f Arch. Assoc. Jottrn., vol. i. p. 59.
5 Proe. 'Sm'. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 31.
H Journ. Roy. Inst. Corn., No. 'Jim;.
120
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
celts, some of oval and some of square section, two palstaves, two gouges,
two daggers, twelve spear-heads, and numerous fragments of celts and
leaf-shaped swords, as well as rough metal and the refuse jets from cast-
ings. The whole lay together about two feet below the surface at Wick
Park,* Stogursey, Somerset.
In other rare instances there is a transverse bead running across the
blade below the three vertical ribs. The celt shown in Fig. 128 was found
near Guildford, Surrey, and is in the collection of Mr. E. Fitch, F.S.A.
On other celts the vertical ribs are more or less than three in number.
Fig. 12
Fig. 128.— Guildford
Fig. 129.— Frettenham
A specimen with four ribs, also in Mr. Fitch's collection, is engraved as
Fig. 129. It was found at Frettenham, Norfolk.
Others with four ribs occurred in the find at West Halton,t Lincoln-
shire, already mentioned. One was also found at the Castle Hill, J
Worcester, and another at Uroust in Andreas, § Isle of Man. Examples
with three and four ribs from Kirk-patrick and Kirk-bride, Isle of Man,
are in the collection of Mr. J. R. Wallace of Distington, Whitehaven.
One (4J inches) with five ribs was found in tho hoard at Martlesham,
Suffolk, also already mentioned.
One (3£ inches) with six small vertical ribs on the faces, found at
Downton, near Salisbury, is in the Blackmore Museum. In a celt with
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 427, pi. i. 3. t Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 69.
% Allies, " Wore," p. 18, pi. i. 1. ^ " 1st Rep. Arch. Coram. I. of M.," pi. iv. 1.
WITH RIBS ENDING IN PELLETS.
121
square socket from the Carlton Rode find there arc traces of six ribs on
one of the faces only. This specimen, in my own collection, is in good
condition, and the probability is in favour of this almost complete oblite-
ration of the pattern being due to a succession of moulds having been
formed, each rather more indistinct than the one before it, in which the
model that served for the mould was cast.
Celts closely resembling Fig. 129 are in the museums at Nantes and
Narbonne.*
As an instance of a celt having only two of these vertical ribs upon it,
I may mention a large one in my own collection (4f inches) found in the
Fig. 130— Ely. £ Kg. 131.— Caston. £
Isle of Portland. The mouth of the socket is oval, but the external faces
are flat, the sides being rounded. The ribs run about 2i inches down the
faces, but the metal is too much oxidised to see whether they end in
pellets or no.
It is not unfrequently the case that the ribs thus terminate in roundels
or pellets. That from the Fens, near Ely, which has been kindly lent me
by Mr. Marshall Fisher, and is shown in Fig. 130, is of this kind, though
the pellets are so indistinct as to have escaped the eye of the engraver.
This celt is remarkable for the unusually broad and heavy moulding
at the top. The notches in the edge, which the engraver has reproduced,
are of modern origin.
Tho celt from Caston, Norfolk, shown in Fig. 131, has also the three
* "^Iatc'riaux," vol. v. pi. ii. 11.
122
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap.
longer
ribs ending in pellets, but there are short diagonal lines branching in
each direction from the central rib near the top.
I have another of the same kind, but longer, and without the diagonal
lines, from Thetford, Suffolk.
A celt of this type is in the Stockholm Museum.
In Figs. 132 and 133 are shown two celts of this class, one with five short
ribs ending in pellets, from the Carlton Eode find, and the other with five
ribs ending in larger roundels, from Fornham, near Bury St.
Edmunds. The latter was
bequeathed to me by my
valued friend, the late Mr.
J. AV. Flower, F.G.S.
It will be observed that
in the Fornham celt the
first and last ribs form
headings at the angles of
the square shaft. In the
other none of the beads
to the edge of the
I have a celt like
133, but shorter (4
inches), from the hoard
found in Reach Fen, al-
ready mentioned. Another
(4£ inches), in all respects
like Fig. 133, except that
the outer ribs are not at the
angles, was found at
Brough,* near Castleton,
Derbyshire, and is in the
Bateraan Collection, where
is also another (4J inches)
from the Peak Forest, Der-
byshire. Canon Greeiiwoll,
F.E.S., has one (4J inches)
from Broughton, near Mil-
ton, on one face of which
there are only four ribs,
and in the place where
ornament. The other face of
intervals, ending in pellets.
come
face.
Fig.
Carlton Rode. J Fig. 133. — Fornham.
ring
the central rib would terminato, a
the celt has only four ribs at regular
Another, similar (5 inches), was found in the Thames, near Frith.,
have seen another rather more hexagonal in section, which was found
in the Cambridge Fens.
Celts with vertical ribs ending in pellets are occasionally found in
France. One from Lutz (Euro et Loir) is in the museum at < hateaudun ;
others are in that of Toulouse. Another with four ribs, found at
Cascastel, is in the museum at Narbonne. Canon Greenwell has one
from l'Orient, Brittany.
I have a small one like Fig. 120 in form, but barely 3 inches long,
* Bateman's " Catalogue," p. 74; Marriott's " Ant. of Lyme" (1810), p. 303.
ireh. Journ., vol. x\ iii. p. L57.
WITH RIBS AND PELLETS ON TIIF l'\( I -.
]■!■•
found near Saumur (Maine et Loire). It has five ribs, arranged as on
Fig. 133.
An example with a far larger array of vertical ribs than usual is shown
in Fig. 134. The ribs are arranged in groups of three, and each termi-
nates in a small pellet. The outer Hues are so close to the angles of the
celt as almost to merge in them. This instrument was found at Fen
Ditton, Cambridge, and is now in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S.
On some celts there is, besides the row of roundels or pellets at the end
of the ribs, a second row a little higher up, as is shown in Fig. 135,
which represents a specimen in the British Museum, from Bottisham
lllllli
Jl III
till Hill
-H«i
Pig. 134.— Fen Dittun. J
I'i''. mr>.— JJoii isiiuu.
Fig. 136.— "Warwick. i
Lode, Cambridge. The sides of this celt are not flat, but somewhal
ridged, so that in its upper part it presents an irregular hexagon in
section. There are ribs running down the angles, with indications oi
terminal pellets.
In the Warrington Museum is a curious variety of the cell with the
three vertical ribs ending in pellets, which by the kindness of the trustees
of the museum I have engraved as Fig. 136. It will be seen thai in
addition to the vertical ribs there is a double series of chevrons over the
upper part of the blade. The metal is somewhal oxidised, and the pattern
is made rather moro distinct in the engraving than it is in Hie original.
124
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap.
V.
This celt has already been figured on a smaller scale, and was found at
Winwick,* near Warrington, Lancashire.
An ornamentation of nearly the same character, but without pellets at
the end of the ribs, occurs on a socketed celt from Kiew,f Russia.
The vertical ribs or lines occasionally end in ring ornaments or
circles with a central pellet, like the astronomical symbol for the
sun 0. Next to the cross this ornament is, perhaps, the simplest
and most easily made, for a notched flint could be used as a pair
of compasses to produce a
circle with a well-marked
centre on almost any ma-
terial, however hard. We
find these ring ornaments
in relief on many of the
coins of the Ancient Bri-
tons, and in intaglio on
numerous articles formed
of bone and metal, which
belong to the Koman and
Saxon periods. On Ita-
lian palstaves they are
the commonest orna-
ments. But though so
frequent on metallic anti-
quities of the latter part
of the Bronze Age, it is
remarkable that the orna-
ment is of very rare oc-
currence on any of the
pottery which is known to
Fig. 138— cayton Carr. j belong to that period.
A good example from Kingston, Surrey, of a celt with ring ornaments
at the end of the ribs is in the British Museum, and is shown in Fig. 137.
Canon Green well possesses a nearly similar celt (5 inches) from Seanier
Carr, Yorkshire, the angles of which are ribbed or beaded. A socketed
celt with the same ornamentation, but with pellets having a central boss
instead of the ring ornaments, is in the museum at Nantes. £ It was
found in Brittany.
Some of the l.riltany celts like Fig. 120 have one ring-ornament on each
face, composed of two concentric circles and a central pellet.
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. pi. xxiv. 7, p. 23G ; Arch. Joitrn., toI. xv. p. 158.
t Chantre, "Age du Bronze," 2me partie, p. 284, fig. 81 ; Mem. des Ant. du Kord,
1872-7, p. 115.
X Chantre, " Ago du Bronze," 2me partie, p. 292, fig. 138.
Fig. 137.— Kingston. \
WITH RIBS AND RING ORNAMENTS.
125
On a celt found at Cayton Carr, Yorkshire, and in the collection of
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., there is a double row of ring ornaments at the
end of the three ribs. Below the principal nioidding at the top of the celt
is a band of four raised beads hj way of additional ornament. It is
shown in Fig. 138. A nearly similar specimen is in the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In a very remarkable specimen from Lakenheath,* Suffolk, preserved
in the British Museum and engraved as Fig. 139, there are three lines
formed of rather oval pellets, terminating in ring ornaments, and alter-
nating with them two plain beaded ribs ending in small pellets. There
are traces of a cable moulding round the neck above.
HI ,
# .IP
HUPP""*
Fig. 139.— Lakenheath. J
Fig 140— Thames.
| Fig. Ml.— Kingston
In another variety, also in the British Museum, and shown in Fig. 140,
the three ribs ending in ring ornaments spring from a transverse bead,
between which and the moulding round the mouth are two other vertical
beads, about midway of the spaces between the lower ribs. It is probable
that this celt was found in the Thames.
Another of remarkably analogous character was certainly found in the
Thames near Kingston,! and is now in the Museum of the Society of
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 106.
f Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. ii. p. 101 ; 2nd S., vol. i. p. 83. See also Arch., vol. xxx.
p. 491; and Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. i. p. 21.
126
SOCKETED CELTS
[ CHAP. V.
Antiquaries. It is shown in Fig. 141. On it are only two descending
ribs, ending in ring ornaments, the pellets in the centre of which are
almost invisible; but above the transverse bead are three ascending ribs,
which alternate with those that descend. All these ribs are double
instead of single.
In some rare instances there are ring ornaments both at the top and at
the bottom of the vertical lines, as is seen on one of the faces of the
curious celt shown in Fig. 142, where the usual ribs are replaced by rows
of two or three slightly raised Hues. On the other face it will be seen
that the ornamentation is of a different character, with one ring orna-
ment at top and three below, the two outer of which are connected with
ribs diverging from two curved lines above. The original was found,
will) 1luve others less ornamented, at Kingston,* Surrey, and is in tin-
British Museum.
A nearly similar celt from Scotland is described at page 1.37.
In another very rare specimen the vertical lines are replaced by two
double chevrons of pellets, (he upper one reversed. There is still a ring
ornament at the liase, ,in<l lines of pellets running down the margins of
the blade. This specimen, shown in Fig. 1 i;>, was found in the Thames, f
and is in the collection of Mr. T. Layton, F.S.A.
* Engraved also in " Horse Feralcs," pi. v. 5. f Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., v. p. 428.
VARIOUSLY ORNAMENTED.
127
In another equally rare form there is a treble ring ornament at the
bottom of a single central beaded rib, and at the top two " flanch.es,"
represented by double hnes, as shown in Fig. 144. The neck of this celt
is in section a flattened hexagon. It was found at Givendale, near
Pocklington, Yorkshire, E. E., and is now in the British Museum.
In the celt shown in Fig. 145 the central rib terminates in a pellet,
and there are three curved ribs on either side. In this case the section of
the neck of the blade is nearly circular. The specimen is in the British
Museum, and was probably found near Cambridge, as it formed part of
the late Mr. Lichfield's collection. A celt ornamented in the same manner,
but without the central rib, was found near Mildenhall, Suffolk, and is
in the collection of Mr. H. Prigg.
Another (4 inches), also in the British Museum, has two ribs on each
Fig. 143. — Thames
margin, parallel to the sides, as seen in Fig. 146. It was found near
Blandford, Dorsetshire, in company with until ashed gouges, and is
remarkable on account of its having been cast so thin that it sen
incapable of standing any hard work.
It seems probable that the instruments from Blandford, now in the
British Museum, formed part of a large hoard, for in the collection of the
late Mr. Medhurst, of Weymouth, were a dozen or more of much the same
outline and character. The seetion at the neck is a flattened hexagon.
Some have a straight rib on each of the sloping sides, as will as two
curved lines on the flat face. Others have three lines, one straighl ami
two curved, on the flat face, each ending in a pellet; and others again
have merely a central line on the flat face.
A celt of nearly the same outline as Fig. Mf>M] inches), found at
Gembling, Yorkshire, E. B., has Bliglrl llntings down the angles for
128
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
about two-thirds of its length. It is in the collection of Canon Green-
well, F.E.S.
Another of these instruments, ornamented in the same manner, hut
having a curved edge, is shown in Fig. 147, from an original in the
British Museum. It formed part of the Cooke Collection from Parsons-
town, King's County, but I doubt its being really Irish.
A rare form of socketed celt is shown in Fig. 148. The original was
found in the Fens, near Barrington, Cambridge, and is in my own col-
lection. It has at the top of the blade, below the moulding, a shield-
shaped ornament, of much the sa»me character as that on the palstaves,
like Fig. 60, but in this case formed by indented lines cast in the
metal.
Fig. 147.
Ireland? $
Fig. 148.
Barrington. £
Fig. 149.
Hounslow- £
Pig. 160.
Wallingford. J
Another, of unusually narrow form, found at Thames Ditton,* is in
the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.
A broader celt, ornamented with a reversed chevron, formed of three
raised ribs, and with short single ribs on each side, is shown in Fig. 149.
It was found at Hounslow, with a flat celt, a palstave, and a socketed
celt like Fig. 112, and is now in the British Museum.
A more common form has a circular socket and moulded top, below
which the neck of the blade is an almost regular octagon. That shown
in Fig. 150 is in my own collection, and was found at Wallingford, f
Berks, in company with a socketed gouge, a tanged chisel (Fig. 193), a
socketed knife, and a two-edged cutting tool or razor (Fig. 269).
* Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. 398.
f This is possibly the specimen mentioned in Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. 303.
OF OCTAGONAL SECTION.
129
One nearly similar, supposed to have been found in Yorkshire,
together with the mould in which it was cast, is engraved in the Archeeo-
logia.* The mould was regarded as a case in which the instrument was
kept. Another of the same kind seems to have been found, with other
celts and fragments of swords and spears, at Bilton,f Yorkshire. I have
seen another, 4 inches long, from the hoard found at Martlesham, Suffolk,
already mentioned. A broken specimen, found with a socketed gouge
and an article like Fig. 493, at Roseberry Topping, J in Cleveland,
Yorkshire, appears to be of this kind. Another (5 inches long), found
at Minster, Kent, is in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. I have also
one from the Cambridge Fens.
In the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S., are three socketed celts
with octagonal necks, which were found with
others, both plain and having three ribs on the
face, together with a looped palstave, at Haxey,
Lincolnshire. Two of these are of the usual type,
but the third (3 J inches) is shorter and broader,
resembbng in outline the common Irish form,
Fig. 167. A celt apparently of the type of Fig. 150,
but with a double bead round the top, was found
in the Severn, at Holt,§ Worcestershire. In the
Faussett Collection, now at Liverpool, is a celt of
this kind, with the angles engrailed or "milled."
This was probably found in Kent.
A celt of this type, found at Orgelet, Jura, is
figured by Chantre, || as well as one from the Lac
du Bourget.^[ They have also been found in the
Department of La Manche.** I have one from the
hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens, the neck of
which is decagonal.
Nearly the same form has been found in Swe-
dcn.ft
Another example, more trumpet-mouthed, is
shown in Fig. 151, from the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S. It was found in 1868 in drain-
ing at Newham, Northumberland. I have another
of nearly the same form (4f inches), from Coveney,
in the Isle of Ely. Another, found at Stanhope, \ \
Durham, without loop, and with two holes near
the top, was regarded as an instrument for sharpen-
ing spear-heads.
Occasionally the neck of the blade is hexagonal instead of octagonal.
In one found at Ty-Mawr,§§ on Holyhead Mountain, Anglesea, the hexa-
gonal character is continued to the mouth. The socket is of an irregularly
square form. It was found with a socketed knife, a tanged chisel, spear-
* Vol. v. 109, pi. vii. 5.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol: v. p. 349 ; Batoman's Catal., p. 76, No. (i0.
% Arch. Scot., vol. iv. 55 ; Arch. AZliana, vol. ii. p. 213.
[ Allies, p. 149, pi. iv. 6. || " Album," pi. x. 4
Pig. 151.— Newliiim
IF Op. cit., pi. Iv. 8. ** MJm. Soc
tt " Cong, preh.," Bologna vol. p. 293.
tl Arch. JEliana, vol. i. p. 13, pi. ii. 7.
\\ Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. 2.3-5, pi. fig. 3
K
Ant. Norm., 1827— 8, pi. xvi. 1.
130
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
heads, &c, which are now in the British Museum. This form occurs more
frequently in Ireland. A nearly similar celt has been found in the Lake
of Geneva.*
Another celt, with the neck irregularly octagonal, but with a series of
mouldings round the mouth of the socket, is shown in Fig. 152. The
original is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, and formed part of the
hoard found at Westow, in the East Biding of Yorkshire, already men-
tioned at p. 118.
In Fig. 153 is shown, not on my usual scale of one-half, but of nearly
the actual size, a very remarkable celt, which was found in the bed of the
Fig. 152.— Westow. i
Fig. 153.— Wandsworth.
Fig. 154.— Whittlesea.
Thames f near Wandsworth, and was presented to the Archaeological
Institute. The original is, unfortunately, no longer forthcoming. It was
4f inches long, and, besides its general singularity of form, presented the
peculiar f eature of having the hole of the loop in the same direction as the
socket of the celt, instead of its being as usual at right angles to the blade.
Socketed celts with a loop on the face instead of on the side are of ex-
ceedingly rare occurrence either in Britain or elsewhere. That shown in
* Chantre, "Agedu Br.," Ire ptie. p. 59; Desor, " Les Palafittes," fig. 39.
t Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 378, whence this cut is borrowed.
WITH THE LOOP ON ONE FACE. 131
Fig. 154 is in the Museum at "Wisbech, and was found in company with
three socketed celts, two gouges, a hammer, and a leaf-shaped spear-
head at Whittlesea. The socket shows within it four vertical ribs at equal
distances, with diagonal branches from them. These latter may have
been intended to facilitate the escape of air from the mould. I am
indebted to the managers of the Museum for the loan of the specimen for
engraving.
The type has occasionally been found in the Lake-dwellings of Savoy.
In the Museum of Chambery * there are three examples from the Lac du
Bourget, and I possess another specimen from the same locality. Another
(about 4 inches), from la Balme,f Isere, is in the Museum at Lyons ;
it is more spud-shaped than the English example. Another, of different
form, was in the Larnaud hoard, | Jura. One has also been found at
Auvernier,§ in the Lake of Neuchatel. Another (4 inches), in the late
M. Troyon's collection, was found at Echallens, Canton Vaud.
One with curved plates on the sides, like Fig. 155, but having the loop
on one face, was found near Avignon, and is now in the British Museum.
It has a round neck with a square socket. A smaller one, of neai'ly the
same form, was found in a hoard at Pontpoint, near the River Oise.
Another, with curved indentations on the sides, from the department of
Jura, || is in the museum at Toulouse. Socketed celts with a loop on the
face have been found in Siberia.^
In some socketed celts the reminiscence of the "flanches" or wings upon
the palstaves, of which I have spoken in an earlier part of this chapter,
has survived in a peculiar manner, there being somewhat hollowed oval
projections upon each side of the blade, that give the appearance of the
"flanches" on the face, but at the same time produce indentations in the
external outline of the instrument.
This will be seen in Fig. 155, which was found with the palstave
(Fig. 83), the socketed celt (Fig. 157), and other objects at Nettleham,'""
near Lincoln, as already described (page 93). Another of the same class is
said to have been found in a tumulus on Frettenham Common, f f Norfolk.
Another, shown in Fig. 156, was in the Crofton Crokor Collection. All
these are now in the British Museum. The second celt from Nettleham
(Fig. 157) shows only the indented outline without any representation
of the oval plates. The nearest approach in form to these celts which I
have met with is to be seen in some from the South of France. These
are, however, generally without loops. I have two from the departments of
Haute Loire and Isere. One from Bibiers, in the department of the Hautes
Alpes, is in the museum at St. Omer. Another is in the museum at Mel /.
A socketed celt, found at Aninger, and now in the Antiken Cabinet at
Vienna, has large oval plates on each of its sides, which nearly meet
upon the faces.
In the collection of the late Mr. Brackstone was a remarkable celt, exhi-
biting a modification of this form. It i^said to have been found with a
large socketed celt with three mouldings round the mouth, and a looped
* Pen-in, " Et. preh. de la Sav.," pi. x. 4, 5 ; "Exp. Arch, de la Sav.," 1878, pi. vi.
210; Chantro, " Album," pi. lv. 3.
t Chantre, "Album," pi. x. 2. + Op. cit., pi. xl. bis. 3.
§ Gross, " Deux Stations," pi. i. 17.
|| "Materiaux," vol. xiv. pi. ix. 10. f " Materiaux," vol. i. p. 463.
** Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160, whence this and fig. 157 are borrowed.
if Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iv. 153 ; Arch. Inst., Norwich vol. p. xxvi.
K 2
132 SOCKETED CELTS [CHAP. V.
palstave with three ribs below the stop- ridge, near Ulleskelf , Yorkshire.
Kg. 155.— Nettlekam.
Fig. 156.— Croker Collection.
Fig. 157.— Nettleham.
Mr. Braekstone printed a lithographic plate of the three, from which and
from an engraving in the Archaeological
Journal* Fig. 158 is taken. It will be
observed that this celt is elaborately or-
namented, even on the ring, either by-
engraving or punching. The original
is now in the Blackmore Museum at
Salisbury.
A celt of closely allied character, with
the lower part of the blade and the
C-shaped flanches similar to that from
Ulleskelf, with the exception of the
chevron ornament, is said to have been
also found in Yorkshire. A woodcut,
from a drawing by M. Du No}rer, will
be found in the Archaeological Journal.]
The upper part is rectangular and
plain, without any moulding round
the top, and there is no loop. The
original is 6 inches long. In general
appearance and character this celt ap-
proaches those of Etruscan and Italian
origin ; but I see no reason why it may
* Vol. viii. p. 91. Tho length is erroneously stated to be about 4 inches in a sub-
sequent volume (vol. xviii. p. 1G4).
r Vol. viii. 91.
! i' I J
1
mm
I in J
Bill In lli
Fig. 158.— Ulleskelf.
WITHOUT LOOPS.
133
not have been found, as stated, in Britain, though, so far as I know, it is
unique of its kind.
The next class of socketed celts which has to be noticed consists
of those in which the loop is absent. No doubt, in some cases,
this absence arises either from defective casting, or from the loop
having been accidentally broken off, and all traces of it removed ;
but in many instances it is evident that the tools were cast pur-
posely without a loop. It seems probable that many of them
were intended for use as chisels, and not like the looped kinds as
axes or hatchets. The similarity between the looped and the
loopless varieties is so great that I have thought it best to de-
scribe some of the instruments which may be regarded as un-
doubtedly chisels in this place rather than in the chapter devoted
to chisels, in which, however,
such of the socketed kinds as are
narrow at the edge, and do not
expand like the common forms
of celt, will be found described.
The small tool shown in Fig. 159
may safely he regarded as a chisel.
It does not show the slightest trace
of ever having been intended to have
a loop, and is indeed too light for a
hatchet. It was found with a tanged
chisel, a hammer, numerous socketed
celts, and other articles, in the hoard
from Reach Fen, Cambridge, already
mentioned at p. 112. I have seen
another, 2£ inches long, with a
somewhat oval socket and no loop, which was found in Mildenhall Fen,
and was in the collection of the Eev. S. Banks, of Cottenham.
A longer celt of the same character is engraved by Dr. Plot.*" It was
sent to him by Charles Cotton, Esq., and according to Plot " seems to
have been the head of a Roman rest used to support the lituus, the
trombe-torte, crooked trumpet, or home pipe used in the Roman armies."
Another of nearly the same form was found on MeonHill,t near Camden,
Gloucestershire.
A celt or chisel of this character found at Diiren, in North Brabant, is
in the museum at Leyden.
Another was found at Zaborowo,^ in Posen, in a sepulchral urn.
A celt of the octagonal form of section and without a loop is shown in
Fig. 160. It formed part of the great hoard found at Carlton Rode, near
Attleborough, Norfolk, of which some particulars have already been
given, 'flie joint marks of the moulds are still very distind upon the
* " Nat. Hist. Staff.," p. 104, pi. xxxiii. 7. t Arch., vol. v. pi. viii. 23, p. 113.
% "Zeitsch. Kir Eth.," vol. vii. Taf. viii. 4.
I illlill
■ill
" ■ 11
Fig. 159.
Eeach Fen.
Fig. 160.
Carlton Roile. i
134 SOCKETED CELTS [CHAP. V.
sides. This specimen is in the Norwich Museum, and was kindly lent by
the trustees for me to have it engraved. A nearly similar Scottish celt is
shown in Fig. 1 65. A celt from the hoard of Cumberlow, near Baldock,* has
been figured as having no loop, but I believe that this has arisen from an
error of the engraver, as in a drawing which I have seen the loop is present.
One of hexagonal section and socket from a hoard found on Earsley
Common,! Yorkshire, in 1735, is engraved as having no loop.
Celts without loops are not uncommon in France, and are often found
of small size in Denmark. ;[
Socketed celts have rarely if ever been found with interments in
barrows in Britain. Sir R. Colt Hoare mentions " a little celt " as
having been found with a small lance, and a long pin with a handle,
all of bronze, near the head of a skeleton, in a barrow on Overton
Hill,§ near Abury, Wilts. The body had been buried in the con-
tracted attitude, and had, as was thought, been enclosed within the
trunk of a tree. It appears, however, from Dr. Thurnam's
account, || that this was a flat and not a socketed celt. It was a
celt like Fig. 116, 3j inches long, which is reported to have been
discovered by the late Rev. R. Kirwan in a barrow on Broad Down,
Farway, Devonshire. IT It is said to have lain in the midst of an
abundant deposit of charcoal which was thought to be the remains
of a funeral pyre. Mr. Kirwan informed Dr. Thurnam that there
was every reason to believe that the celt was deposited where found
at the time of the original interment. No bones, however, were
actually with the celt, which lay 1 8 inches from the central cist.
A socketed celt with three vertical ribs, like Fig. 125, is also
said to have been found with a human skeleton, and two
uninscribed ancient British coins of silver, at Cann,** near
Shaftesbury, in 1849. The celt and coins are now in the
collection of Mr. Durden, of Blandford. In neither case
are the circumstances of the discovery absolutely certain.
A curious instance of the survival of the bronze celt
as an ornament or amulet is afforded by that which was
found in a barrow at Arras, or Hessleskew,tt near Market
IItos61' Weighton, Yorkshire. It is only an inch in length,
and is shown full-size in Fig. 161. With it was a pin
which connected it with a small light-blue glass bead. It accom-
panied the contracted body of a woman laid in a grave, and
* Journ. Anth. Inst., vol. vi. p. 195. f Arch., vol. v. pi. viii. 7, p. 114.
X Segested, " Oldsag. fra Broholin," pi. xxiii. 8.
§ " Anc. Wilts," vol. ii. p. 90. || Arch., vol. xliii. 443.
II Trans. Dev. Assoc, vol. iv. p. 300, pi. ii. 1.
** Evans, " Anc. British Coins," p. 102.
ft Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 156; Arch. Inst., York vol. Catal., p. 27.
OF DIMINUTIVE SIZE. 135
having with it a necklace of glass beads, a large amber bead, and
a brooch, bracelets, ring, tweezers, and pin, apparently of bronze,
some of them ornamented with a kind of paste or enamel. The
majority of the objects found in the group of barrows at Arras,
of which this was one, seem to belong to what Mr. Franks has
termed the "Late-Celtic" period, or approximately to the time
of the Roman invasion of this country.
Socketed celts not more than f of an inch in length have been
found in Ireland, but with sockets large enough for serviceable
handles, so that they might possibly have been used as chisels.
The diminutive celts, about 2 inches in length, which have been
found in large numbers in Brittany, and have been regarded by
French antiquaries as votive offerings, might also by some possi-
bility have served as tools ; but this can hardly have been the
case with the Arras specimen. A golden celt
found in Cornwall is said to have been in the
possession of the Earl of Falmouth,* but nothing
is known of it by the present Viscount Fal-
mouth, and the statement in the "Barrow Dig-
gers" is probably erroneous.
It will be well to postpone the account of the
different hoards of bronze objects, in which
socketed celts have been found with other tools
and weapons, until I come to treat of such an-
cient deposits, though some of them have al-
ready been mentioned. BeS'Mms. j
Turning now to the socketed celts which have
been discovered in Scotland, we find them to present a considerable
variety of types, though hardly so great as that exhibited by those
from England, and the recorded instances of their finding are
comparatively few in number.
In Fig. 1 62 is shown a socketed celt of the plain kind which was found at
Bell's Mills,f on the Water of Leith, Edinburgh, in company with those
given as Figs. 164 and 165.
A celt found in a bog between Stranraer and Portpatrick, Wigton-
shire,J like Fig. 162, hut with a bead at the level of the top of the loop,
has been figured.
The nearly square-necked celt shown in Fig. 163 is of a broader type
than usual, and was found at North Knapdale,§ Argyleshire.
* " Barrow Diggers," 1839, p. 72.
t For the use of these cuts I am indebted to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
+ "Ayr and Wigton Coll.," vol. ii. p. 10.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. vii. p. 196.
136
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap.
Socketed celts with oval necks, and resembling the common Irish type,
Fig. 167, in form, have occasionally been found in Scotland. One (3 J
inches), with a double moulding round the mouth, was found on Arthur's
Seat, Edinburgh. Another (3 inches) was found with several other socketed
celts and a spear-head near the Loch of Forfar. One of these, like Fig.
150, has a round socket and a twelve-sided neck.
A celt with a long socket and narrow blade was found, with spear-heads,
bronze armlets, and some pieces of tin, at Achtertyre,* Morayshire.
Another type, which appears to be more especially Scottish, has the
ornamented moidding placed on the neck of the blade in such a manner
as to run through the loop. One of this character, dug up near Samson's
Bibs,f Arthur's Seat, Edinburgh, has been figured by Professor Daniel
Wilson. A second (2f inches), with three raised bands passing through
the loop, was found in the Forest of Birse, j Aberdeenshire.
Fig. 163.— North Knapdale. J
Fig. 164.— Bell's Mills. $ Fig. 166— Bell's Mills. *
A type which is also common to England is shown in Fig. 1 64 from
another of the Bell's Mills specimens.
Others with raised lines on the sides are preserved in the museum at
Edinburgh. One of these was found near the citadel at Leith.§
One (.'5.V inches), ornamented with four longitudinal lines on each face,
was found in the parish of Southend, || Cantire. Another (4£ inches), •
with traces of five ribs, three down the middle and two at the margins of
each face, was found at Hangingshaw,^f in Culter parish, Lanarkshire.
A third celt from Bell's Mills is shown in Fig. 1 65. This is of the variety
without the loop, and closely resembles that from the Carlton Rode
hoard, Fig. 160, the main difference being that the neck is of decagonal
instead of octagonal section.
Moulds for celts of other patterns have also been found in Scotland.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ix. p. 435,
; /'. S. A. S., vol. ii. p. 153.
|| P. S. A. S., vol. iv. p. 390.
11 Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. pi, \\. .">, p. Ml
f- " rich. Ann. Scot.,-' vol. i. pp. 351, 384.
§ /'. S. A. 3., vol. xii. p. 209.
FOUND IN SCOTLAND.
L37
as will subsequently be seen. A modern cast from some moulds found
at Rosskeen, Ross-shire, has been engraved by Professor D. "Wilson.* It
is of hexagonal section, and is ornamented on each face by two diverging
ribs starting from an annulet close below the moulding round the mouth,
and endiug in two annidets about two-thirds of the way down the blade,
which expands considerably, and has a nearly flat edge.
For the use of Fig. 166 I am indebted to the Council f of the Ayrshire
and Wigtonshire Archaeological Association. The original was found
in a peat-moss near the farm-house of Knock and Maize, in Leswalt
parish, Wigtonshire, and is now in the cabinet of the Earl of Stair. Its
Fig. 1GC— Leswalt !.
analogies with that found at Kingston, Surrey (Fig. 142), are very
striking, while at the same time it closely resembles the type exhibited by
the mould from Koss-shire already mentioned. The occurrence of instru-
ments of so rare a form at such a distance apart is very remarkable; bul
if, as appears probable, the celts of this type are among the latest which
were manufactured, and may possibly belong even to the Late Celtic
period, their wide dissemination is the less wonderful.
Socketed celts have been found in very large numbers in Ireland,
upwards of two hundred being preserved in the Museum of th<
* " Preh. Aim. Scot.," vol. i. p. 384, fig. 61. t " Collections," vol. ii. p. 11.
138
SOCKETED CELTS
[CHAP. V.
Royal Irish Academy ; and numerous specimens are to be seen in
other collections, both public and private. Mr. Ii. Day, F.S.A., of
Cork, has upwards of forty in his own cabinet. The Irish celts
vary much in size, the largest being a little over 5 inches long,
and the smallest less than an inch. The most common form is
oval at the neck, and expands into a broad cutting edge. There
is usually some kind of moulding round the mouth, giving the end
of the instrument a trumpet-like appearance. The effect of the
Fig. 107. — Ireland.
Fig. 168.— Ireland.
moulding is not unfrequently exaggerated by a hollow fluting
round the neck, as in Fig. 167.
Celts of this and some of the following types have been figured by
Vallancey.*"
In that shown as Fig. 168 there is a slight shoulder below the trumpet-
shaped part of the mouth, and the loop, instead of springing straight
out from the neck, has its ends extended into four ridges, running over
the neck of the celt like half-buried roots.
An example of a celt with the loop attached in a similar manner has
been engraved by Wilde. f Another (3f inches) is in the collection of
Mr. E. Day, F.S.A.
Vol. iv. pi. ix. 3, 4, 6.
f " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 392, fig. 306.
FOUND IN IRELAND.
139
Fig. 169 shows a finely patinated celt, with a triple moulding
below the expanding mouth, which was found near Belfast. With
it are said to have been found a set of three gold clasps, or so-called
fibulas, with discs at each end of a slug-like half-ring (see Wilde,
Figs. 594 — 598). Curiously enough, I have another set of three
of these ornaments, also found together at Craighilly, near Eally-
mena, Co. Antrim. Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A.,has a specimen which
also is one of three found together in the Co. Down. It seems,
169.— Belfast
Fig. 170.— Ireland.
i
Fig. 171.— Ireland. %
therefore, probable that, like our modern shirt-studs, these orna-
ments were worn in sets of three.
A celt with four hands (3£ inches) has heen engraved by Wilde.* The
middle member of the triple band is often much the largest.
A small example of the same type, hut with a single band at the
mouth, is shown in Fig. 170. One from Co. Antrim, 1| inch long and 1]
inch broad at the edge, is in the British Museum.
These oval-necked celts are occasionally, but rarely, decorated with
patterns cast in relief upon them. One of them, in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy,! is shown in Fig. 171.
Inside the sockets of most of tho instruments of this class there are near
the bottom, where the two sides converge, one, two, or more vertical
ridges, probably destined to aid in steadying the haft.
In some instances the upper member of the moulding round the mouth
* P. 385, fig. 279.
f Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 385, fig. 280. This cut is kindly lent by the
Council.
140
SOCKETED CELTS
[chap. V.
is cast iii a cable pattern. Fig. 172 shows an example of this kind from
Athboy, Co. Meath, in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.K.S. Others
are in the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy.
Socketed celts, with vertical ribs on the faces, are of rare occurrence in
Ireland. A specimen from Co. Meath, in Canon Grreenwell's collection,
is engraved as Fig. 173.
One (2§ inches) found near Cork, and now in Mr. Eobert Day's collec-
tion, has six vertical ribs on each face, three on either margin. They
are placed close together, and vary in length, the outer one being about
twice as long as that in the middle, which is, however, nearly three times
as long as the innermost of the three ribs.
I have an example of the same kind(2| inches), from Trillick, Co. Tyrone,*
Fig. 172.— Athboy.
Fig. 173. -Meath.
Fig. 174. — Ireland.
in which there are five equidistant vertical ribs on each face. The edge
has been much hammered, so as to be considerably recurved at the ends.
Wilde f has figured a much larger specimen (41 inches), with three vertical
ribs, which cross a ring, level with the top of the loop, and run up to the
lip moulding. Another, J with rectangular socket, has the ribs arranged
in the usual manner. In a few instances the ribs end in pellets, and in
one instance Wilde § describes them as " ending in arrow points."
A short but broad socketed celt in the IVtrie ( Collection lias on each face
six vertical ribs terminating at each end in annulets.
The socketed celts with an almost square socket and neck are not so
common in Ireland as those of the broad type with an oval neck, but are
• Engraved in Journ. Hoy. Hist, ami Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 1th Ser. vol. v. p. 259.
t Fig. 282. X Fig. 284. J P. 429.
FOUND IN 1RELAM).
141
yet not absolutely rare. Fig. 174 shows a good specimen of this typ<
I have another (3£ inches), from the neighbourhood of Belfast, rather
wider at the edge, and with three flat vertical ribs below the neck
moulding.
Fig. 175 shows a short variety of the same type, from Newtown < 'rom-
molin, Co. Antrim. One from Trillick, Co. Tyrone (2£ inches), though
nearly rectangular at the neck, has an oval socket.
Mr. "Robert Day has an example (3£ inches), from Dunshaughlin, Co.
Meath, with two beads round it, the lower one at the level of the bottom
of the loop. This celt is rectangular at the neck, though the socket is
oval.
Some few have grooves running down the angles. One from London-
derry (4| inches) is in Mr. Day's collection.
The long narrow celt with a rib ending in an annulet on the face,
engraved by Wilde as Fig. 283, appears to me to belong to Brittany
rather than to Ireland.
■11
■111!
Fig. 175.
Newtown Ciommolin.
Fig. 170.
i North of Ireland, i
Fig. 177.
Ireland. £
An elegant type of socketed celt of not uncommon occurrence in Ireland
is shown in Fig. 176. The neck is octagonal below the rounded fcrumpel
mouth, which is ornamented with a series of small parallel beads, between
which anumber of minute conical depressions have been punched, making
the beads appear to be corded. Around the loop is an oval of similar
punch marks. A nearly similar specimen has been engraved by Wilde
(Catal., Fig. 276), who also gives one of the same general type, bul
with two plain broad beads, alternating with three narrow ones, round
the mouth (Catal., Fig. 277). It has a hexagonal neck. A celt (4J inch
from Ballina, Co. Mayo, in the collection of Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A.,
has an octagonal neck, and five grooved lines round its circular mouth.
Canon Greenwell has one of the type of Fig. 176 (3? inches), with
hexagonal neck and five equal beads round the mouth, from Carlea, Co.
142
SOCKETED CELTS,
[chap. V.
lig. Uft. — Ireland.
Longford, and another (3f inches), with ten small beads round a some-
what oval mouth, from Arboe, Co. Tyrone. The neck of this latter is
nearly rectangular. I have a celt of this type from Balbriggan, Co.
Dublin (3£ inches), with a hexagonal neck and a plain mouth. The
loop has root-like excrescences from it, as already described.
There is one more Irish type of looped socketed celts which it will be well
to figure, and to which Wilde has given the name of the axe-shaped socketed
celt. As will be seen, the blade is expanded considerably below the
socketed part, and assumes a form not uncommon among iron or steel
axes. I have copied Fig. 177 from Wilde's cut, No.
281, on an enlarged scale.
A socketed celt expanding into a broad axe-like
edge is in the Pesth Museum.
An analogous but narrower form is found in France.
I have seen the drawing of one found at Pontpoint,
Oise (?).
Socketed celts without loops have not unfrequently
been found in Ireland. One of this type has been
figured by Wilde,* whose cut is, by the kindness of
the Council of the Royal Irish Academy, here repro-
duced as Fig. 178. There are two others in the same
collection. Another of the same length (2-1i6- inches), but wider at the
edge, was found in the Shannon,! at Keelogue Ford. A longer and
narrower instrument (3f inches) of the same kind has also been engraved
by Wilde. $ Another has been engraved by Vallancey.§ Others (2 and
2£ inches) from Lisburn and Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, are in the British
Museum. The former has a small bead on a
level with the base of the socket. The latter
is oval at the neck, but oblong at the mouth.
A bronze instrument of this form, but
wider at the edge, was in common use among
the ancient Egyptians, and has been re-
garded as a hoe.
A socketed celt without loop, but with two
projections on one side, from the Sanda Val-
ley, || Yunan, China, has been figured by
Dr. Anderson. The edge is very oblique.
An example brought from Yunan by the
same expedition is in the Christy Collection.
One from Cambodia, ^f without loop, but in
form like Fig. 119, has been figured by Dr.
Noulet.
A very remarkable socketed celt without
loop from Java is in the Cabinet of Coins at
Stuttgart. It expands widely at the edge
and has three facets on one side of the neck, while the other is curved,
so that it was probably mounted as an adze. The surface of the socket
is not flat, but there is a V-shaped depression across it.
* P. 384, fig. 275. t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xi. p. 170.
t P. 521, fig. 398. § Vol. iv. pi. ix. 7.
|| Report on " Expedit. to Western Yunan," Calcutta, 1871, p. 414.
U "Arch, du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. do Toulouse," vol. i. pi. vi. 6.
Fig. 179.— Kertch
MAINLY OF NATIVE MANUFACTURE. 143
Socketed celts with two loops have not as yet been recorded as found
within the United Kingdom, though a stone moidd for celts of this form
was found at Bulford Water, Salisbury. In Eastern Europe the form is
more common. The specimen shown as Fig. 179 was found in the neigh-
bourhood of Kertch,* and^is now in the British Museum. I have seen
others ornamented on the faces, brought from Asiatic Siberia by Mr. H.
Seebohm. Others from Siberia f have been figured. One of these is
without loops, and has chevron ornaments in relief below a double
moulding.
A socketed celt with two loops, and apparently hexagonal at the neck,
found at Ell, near Benfeld, Alsace, is figured by Schneider.]:
I have elsewhere described a two-looped socketed celt from Portugal §
(6£ inches). It is like Fig. 120, but has a second loop. Another, of
gigantic dimensions, 9J inches long and 3i inches wide, was found in
Estremadura, Spain. ||
A two-looped celt with square socket and the loops at the junction with
the flattened blade wras in the great hoard found at Bologna. Only one
of the loops, however, is perforated.
In the museum at Stockholm are also some socketed celts with two loops.
In looking over these pages, it will have been observed, that
though socketed celts occur in numbers throughout the British Isles,
yet that those found in England for the most part differ in form
from those found in Ireland, and that some few types appear to
be peculiar to Scotland. Traces of continental influence are, as
might have been expected, most evident in the forms found in the
southern counties of England, and are barely, if at all, perceptible
in those from Ireland and Scotland. Some few of the socketed celts
from both England and Scotland are of the type Fig. 1 6 7 — a type
so common in Ireland as to be characteristic of it — and these
appear for the most part, though by no means exclusively, to
have been found in western counties. Although, therefore, the first
socketed celts in Britain were doubtless of foreign origin, there
was no regular importation of them for use over the whole country ;
but the fashion of making them spread through local foundries,
and different varieties of pattern originated in various centres,
and were adopted over larger or smaller areas as they happened
to commend themselves to the taste of the bronze-using public.
The use of socketed celts would, from their abundance, seem
to have extended over a considerable period; and from their
having apparently been found with objects belonging to the Lat<
* Arch. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 91. For the use of this cut I am indebted to Mr.
A. W. Franks, F.R.S.
f Proe. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 13 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xxxi. p. 262; Man. de»
Ant. du Nord, 1872—7, p. 116, &c.
j "Die ehern. Streitkeile," Taf. ii. 12. $ Trans. Elhn. Soc, N. S., vol. vii. p. 45
|| "Cong, preh." Copenhagen vol. p. 352.
144 SOCKETED CELTS [(HAT. V.
Celtic Period they must have been among the last of the bronze
tools or weapons to be superseded by those of iron. A socketed
celt, somewhat like Fig. 116 but more trumpet-mouthed, is stated
to have been found in company with a looped spear-head, two
pins like Figs. 453 and 458, a bronze bridle-bit, and some por-
tions of buckles of a late Celtic character on Hagbourne Hill,
Berks. These objects are now in the British Museum, and there
seems reason to believe the account of their discovery given in
the Archwologia* Some coins of gold and silver are said to have
been found with them, but these are not forthcoming. Socketed
celts have also been found associated with clasps like Figs. 504
and 505 at Dreuil, near Amiens, while at Abergele such clasps
accompanied buckles almost, if not quite, late Celtic in character.
No doubt the final disuse of socketed celts Avas not contempo-
raneous throughout the whole of the country, and their employ-
ment probably survived in the north and west of Britain and in
Ireland to a considerably later date than in the districts more
accessible to Gaulish influences. The chronology of our Bronze
Period will, however, have to be considered in a subsequent
chapter. The transition from bronze to iron cannot so readily
be traced in this country as on the Continent ; but socketed
celts, &c. formed of iron, and made in imitation of those in bronze,
have occasionally been found in Britain. One (4 inches) with a
side loop, and a part of its wooden handle, was found in Merioneth-
shire, and is now in the British Museum. It has been figured
in the Archgeologia Cambrensis.t Another of the same type was
found in North Wales. +
I have one (5^ inches) with a rounded socket and no loop, found
at Gray's Thurrock, Essex.
I have another (4 inches) with a square socket, from Pfaffen-
burg in the Hartz ; and others of longer proportions with round
sockets from Hallstatt. The metal has been carefully welded
together to form the sockets, in which there is no slit like those
commonly to be seen in more modern socketed tools of iron.
There are ornaments round the mouth of some of the Hallstatt §
socketed celts, and both they and the iron palstaves are frequently
provided with a side loop, in exact accordance with those on their
analogues in bronze. Some of the socketed celts in iron from
* Vol. xvi. p. 348. t 3rd S., vol. i. p. 250.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 518.
§ Von Sackcn, " Grabf . v. Hallst.," Taf. vii.
FORMED OF IRON. 145
the cemetery of Watsch,* in Carniola, are also provided with a
loop.
As an illustration of the view that similar wants, with similar
means at command with which to supply them, lead to the produc-
tion of similar forms of tools and weapons in countries widely
remote from each other, I may mention a socketed celt (10|
inches) found in an ancient grave near Copiapo, Chili, t In general
form it is almost identical with some of the Italian bronze celts,
but it is of copper, and not bronze ; and is not cast, but wrought with
the hammer. The socket has, therefore, been formed in the same
manner as those of the early iron celts from Hallstatt, with which
it also closely corresponds in outline. The surface, however, has
been ornamented by engraving ; and among the patterns Ave find
bands of chevrons, alternately plain and hatched, closely allied to
the common ornament of the European Bronze Age. What is,
perhaps, more striking still is that the Greek fret also occurs as an
ornament on the faces.
The method in which socketed and other celts were hafted
will be discussed in the next chapter.
* Deschmann und Hochstetter, "Frah. Ansiod. u. Begr. statt. in Krain.," 1879,
Taf. xvi.
t Rev. Arch., vol. xxiii. p. 257, pi. via.
I.
CHAPTER VI.
METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS.
Any account of the various forms of celts and palstaves which
have been discovered in this country, such as that attempted in
the preceding chapters, would be incomplete without some observa-
tions as to the manner in which they were probably hafted or
mounted for use, and some account of the discoveries which throw
light upon that subject.
In a previous chapter I have cited numerous opinions of the
older school of antiquaries as to the nature of these instruments
or weapons, and the uses which they were intended to serve.
Many of these opinions are so palpably absurd that it is needless
again to refer to them. Others which regard the instruments as
having been mounted in such a manner as to serve for axes or
adzes, for chisels, or for spud-like tools or weapons, have an
evident foundation in the necessities of the case. There can, in
the first place, be no doubt that celts and palstaves were cutting
tools or weapons. There can, in the second place, be but little
doubt that they were not destined for direct use in the hand
without the addition of any shaft or handle. In fact, with the
palstave and socketed forms, it is evident that special provisions are
made for a haft of some kind. In the third place, this haft,
whether long or short, must either have been straight or crooked.
If straight, a kind of chisel or spud must have resulted ; if
crooked or L-shaped, an axe, hatchet, or adze.
It is possible that the same form of bronze instruments may
have been mounted both with straight and with L-shaped handles;
but, as will subsequently be seen, the probability, judging from
what few ancient handles have been discovered, is that the great
majority were mounted with elbowed handles as axes. At the
same time, from the form and small size of some celts, especially
of some of those of the socketed variety, it is probable that they
AXES OF BRONZE. 147
were used as chisels. Indeed, judging from the analogy of some
other forms, and from the discovery at Everley, mentioned at
p. 163, this may be regarded as certain.
As the discoveries of the original hafts of bronze celts have
principally been made upon the Continent, I shall, in treating
of this part of my subject, be compelled to have recourse to foreign
rather than British illustrations. It will also, in speaking of the
method of hafting, be desirable to make an attempt to trace the
successive stages of development of the socketed celts ; and, in con-
nection with this part of the subject also, foreign examples will
become of service.
And first, in illustration of the use of bronze blades as axes,
rather than as spuds, or chisels of any kind, I may mention an
instrument not uncommon in Hungary, and occasionally occurring
in other parts of Southern Europe, which is perforated and
similar in general form to our modern axe-heads of iron and
steel. In Scandinavia also other varieties of these perforated
axe-heads have been found. The common axe-like type has also
been discovered among Assyrian antiquities. Another and distinct
form which has been found in Egypt mounted as an axe or
hatchet, with a wooden handle, is a flat blade not unlike the
ordinary flat celt, except that instead of tapering at the butt-end
it expands so as to have two more or less projecting horns, by
which it was bound against the haft in a shallow socket provided
for it. Egyptian axes mounted in this manner may be seen in
many museums, and have been frequently figured in works on
Egyptian antiquities.* The blade of an axe of this kind, formerly
in the collection of the Rev. Sparrow Simpson, D.D., F.S.A.,t
and by him presented to the British Museum, bears an inscrip-
tion in hieroglyphics upon it, with cartouches probably containing
the name of a shepherd king of the sixteenth or seventeenth
dynasty. In my own collection is another bronze blade of the
same shape and size, and with the same inscription, except that
the names in the cartouches are different, Unfortunately this
part of the blade is corroded, but Dr. S. Birch thinks that the
cartouches contain the name either of Ramses I. or of a subordinate
Ramses of the eighteenth dynasty. The hieroglyphics are the
same on both faces of the blade, but on one run from right- to Left,
and on the other from left to right. A hatchet of the same form,
* See "Materinux," vol. v. p. 376.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxiii. p. '293, pi. xv.
L 2
148
METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS
[CHAF. VI.
still bound to its haft, was found in the tomb of Queen Aah-Hotep,*
of the eighteenth dynasty.
Some of the stone hatchets from Ecuador, in South America,
are also provided with projecting ears, and were tied against their
helves in the same manner.
The stone axe, said to be that of Montezuma II., preserved in
the Ambras Museum at Vienna, and shown in Fig. 180, may also
be of this kind. Copper or bronze blades of this crescent or
cheese-cutter form, with two projecting lugs at the top of the
narrow part of the blade, have been found in Peru.
Fig. 180.— Stone Axe of Montezuma II.
Broad blades of bronze, in form more like the ordinary flat
celts, but with the projections at the top, have been found in the
same country. I have one about 5 inches long and 3 inches
wide, with strong lugs at the top 2 inches long. It came from
Eastern Peru.
Some blades of this form were hafted in a rather different
manner, as will be seen by means of Fig. 181.
Fig. 181.— Aymara Indian Hatchet
This represents an iron hatchet used by the Aymara Indians, of
the province of La Paz, Bolivia, which was brought from that
country and presented to me by my friend, the late Mr. David
Forbes, F.R.S. In this form the handle is split, and the blade is
secured by a leather thong, two turns of which pass under the two
lugs of the blade, and thus prevent it from coming forward ; two
* " Materiaux," vol. v. p. 379, pi. xix. 7.
IN CLUB-LIKE HANDLES.
149
other turns pass over the butt-end, and thus prevent it from being
driven backwards by any blow ; while all the coils of the thong hold
the cleft stick firmly against the two faces of the blade. Although
no celts with the T-shaped butt-end have been found in Britain,
or, indeed, in Western Europe, I have thought it worth while to
engrave this curious example of the method of mounting such
blades, especially as the central projections of the Irish form of
celt, like Fig. 45, may have been secured by thongs in a somewhat
analogous manner.
Turning now to the other British forms of celts, of which, as
already observed, the flat and doubly tapering blades, like Fig. 2,
Fig. 182.— Modern Afrioan Axe of Iron. \
seem to be the most ancient, it is probable that these were hafted
by the butt-end being merely driven into a club or handle of
wood, in the same manner as many stone celts appear to have
been mounted. The modern iron hatchet, from Western Africa,
shown in Fig. 182, will give a good idea of the manner in which
the bronze celts that are so much like it in form were probably
hafted. Another modern African axe has been engraved by Sir
John Lubbock.* It is, of course, possible that some of the ancient
fiat celts were mounted after the manner of spuds, as is, by several
German and Danish antiquaries, held to have been the case with
those of the palstave form. It must, however, be borne in mind
* "Pi-rli. Times," p. 29. For other examples see Klemm. " Allgem. Culturwiss.,"
vol. i. p. 100.
150 METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS [CHAP. VI.
that as a rule the stone celts, which the earliest of those in bronze
must in all probability have supplanted, were mounted after the
manner of hatchets. Moreover, the few stone celts, the axis of the
straight handle of which was in the same direction as the blade,
appear to have been hafted with short handles as chisels, and not
with lono* shafts as spuds. Among those found still attached to
their hafts in the Swiss lake dwellings, some few were mounted in
short stag's-horn handles as chisels, but the majority were fitted for
use as hatchets, with a club-like handle, in which a short stag's-horn
socket was mortised as affording a receptacle for the stone, harder
and less liable to split than those of wood. In some cases, however,
the handles were made from a bough of a tree with a short pro-
jecting branch, which Avas cleft to receive the stone. One of
Fig. 183.— Stone Axe, Eobenhausen.
these, from Robenhausen, is shown in Fig. 183, which is copied
from Dr. Keller's work.*
In Britain the traces of the original handles of bronze celts have
been not unfrequently found, though the actual wood had perished.
In a barrow in the parish of Butter wick, f Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S., found what he describes as " an axe-blade of bronze,"
engraved as Fig. 2, which lay with a skeleton, and " the handle,
which had been under two feet in length, could be plainly traced
by means of a dark line of decayed wood extending from the hips
towards the heels ; moreover, from the presence of decayed wood
on the sides of the blade, it would seem as if the axe had been
protected by a wooden sheath. To all appearance the weapon
had been worn sluncr from the waist." In this case the blade
had been fixed, apparently after the manner of Fig. 182, into
a solid handle to the depth of two inches, as is evident from the
surface of the metal being oxidized on that part of the blade
differently from what it is elsewhere.
* "Luke Dwellings," Eng. ed., p. 110, pi. x. 1G. See also xi. 2, and xxviii. 24; and
Lindcnschinit, " Ilohunz. Samml.," Taf. xxix. 4. t "British Barrows," j>. 1S8.
AS SEEN IN BARROWS. 151
In a barrow at Shuttlestone,* near Parwich, Derbyshire, Mr. Bate-
man found about the middle of the left thigh of a skeleton a bronze
celt, of " the plainest axe-shaped type. The cutting edge was
turned upwards towards the upper part of the person, and the
instrument itself has been inserted vertically into a wooden handle
by being driven in for about two inches at the narrow end — at
least, the grain of the wood runs in the same direction as the
longest dimension of the celt." "A fact," adds Mr. Bateman, "not
unworthy of the notice of any inclined to explain the precise
manner of mounting these curious implements." It may be re-
marked, however, that no part of the handle itself, beyond this
grain upon the bronze, was preserved, and that this direction of
the grain of the wood would be quite consistent with the blade
having been mounted in a side branch from the shaft, after the
manner of the Swiss stone celt shown in Fig. 183.
It appears to me possible that in other cases where the marks
of the grain of the wood, or even the traces of the wood itself,
have been found upon celts, running along and not across the blade,
the somewhat hasty conclusion has been drawn that they were
attached to the end of straight shafts instead of into side branches ;
and that possibly this opinion, when once accepted, may have
affected insensibly the reports of the position of the blade of the
celts with regard to the bodies with which they were found, and
to the traces of their shafts.
The opinion first enounced by J. A. Fabricius that the celt was
the ancient German framea or spear mentioned by Tacitus, seems
also insensibly to have affected observers.
There is an account given by Thorlaciusf of the discovery in a
tumulus near Store-Hedinge, in Denmark, of a palstave with the
wooden shaft an ell and a quarter long, into which the blade was
inserted ; the wood, as might have been expected, running down
between the side wings ; at the other end of the shaft there was a
leather strap wound round for about a quarter of an ell. The
whole was so decayed that not the least part of it could bo taken
out of the ground. Although nothing appears to be said with
regard to the position of the palstave with respect to the shaft,
this has been cited by Lisch+ and others in evidence of this form of
instrument having been mounted spud-fashion, as a kind of chisel -
* " Ten Years' Diggings," p. 35.
t Cited in Schreiber's " Die .herncn Streitkeile," Freiburg, 18-12, p. 4.
I See Lisch, " Frcderico-Francisceum," p. 38.
152
METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS
[CHAP. VI.
ended spear. A more conclusive instance is that adduced by Westen-
dorp,* who has figured a socketed celt without a loop, found in a
fen in the province of Groningen, Holland, mounted in this manner
on a straight shaft. I have, however, already remarked that
some of the socketed celts of this character were probably used as
chisels.
Whatever reliance may be placed upon the older discoveries, all
those of more recent times are in favour of the instruments of the
palstave form having been mounted as axes, hatchets, or adzes.
In the museum at Salzburg, Austria, there are at least four crooked
handles for this kind of blade, found in the salt-mines of Hallein,
one of which is shown in the annexed cut. I am not, however,
Fig. 181.— Bronze Axe, Ilallem.
sure whether the blade was actually found with the haft in which it
is now placed, nor, if so, whether it was originally in its present posi-
tion with the loop outwards. It looks much more like an Italian
than a German specimen, which has been added to the haft in recent
times, and it has not the appearance of having been exposed for cen-
turies to the action of salt. It seems more probable that the salt,
which has fortunately had the power of preserving the wood, would
in course of years have dissolved the whole of the metal, assuming
that at the time when the haft was lost, or left in the mine, a
blade Avas still attached to it, than that it should have left the
metal, as here, almost uninjured. In this instance, moreover, the
haft is perfect, and not, as in some of the other cases, broken,
so as to raise an inference of their having been thrown away.
* " Antiquiteiten," iii. Stuck, p. 285.
AFTER THE MANNER 0E AXES. 1 0 -3
The position of the blade with the loop outwards is also sus-
picious.
A broken example of the same kind of haft, also from the salt-
mines of Hallein, has been figured by Klemm,* and is to be seen
in the British Museum. There are others in the museum at Linz.
Handles of the same kind, intended for palstaves, have been
found in the Italian lake dwellings. In some discovered in the
"palafitta" of Castione,t the notch is in the transverse direction
to the shaft, as if the blade had been mounted as an adze, and not
as an axe. In others the notch is longitudinal, and not trans-
verse. In one instance the side branch has no notch, but there
is a shoulder on it, as if it had served for a socketed celt.
A looped palstave, mounted in a similar branched handle, has
been found at the lake dwelling of Mo3rigen,J on the Lac de
Bienne. In this case also the loop is on the farther side of the
shaft.
That the flanged and winged celts and palstaves were, as a rule,
destined to be mounted in the manner of hatchets or adzes, and
not as spuds or spear-heads, is to some extent witnessed by the
development of their form ; the progressive increase in the size of the
wings and flanges, more especially about the middle of the blade,
appearing to be intended as a precaution against lateral strains,
such as the blade of an axe undergoes, rather than against a mere
thrust, such as that to which the head of a spear or lance is
subject. Of course the stop-ridge is a preservative against the
blade being driven back into its handle, in whatever way it is
mounted. But the flanges, at first slight, then expanding at the
middle of the blade, then becoming projecting wings, and finally
being bent over, so as to form side sockets on each side of tin'
blade, seem rather the result of successive endeavours to steady the
blade against a sideways strain.
This development can best be traced in the series of flat colts,
flanged and winged celts, and palstaves, discovered in the South of
France.
Even the long narrow palstaves, which have so much the
appearance of chisels, seem to have been mounted on crooked
shafts. There is a long German 8 form with a narrow butt above
the stop-ridge, and with but slight side flanges, which are eon-
* " Allgemeine Culturwissenschaft," pi. i. fig. 186, p. 105.
t Strobel in Bull, di Paht. Ital., Anno i. (1875), p. 7, Tav. i. ; Anno 4to (1878), p. 46
Tav. ii. X Keller, " 7ter Bericht," Taf. xxiv. 17.
§ See Lindensehmit, "A. u. h. V.," vol. i., Heft. i. Taf. iv. 32.
154
METHODS OF HAFTIXG CELTS.
[CHAP. VI.
tinned down along the sides of the Made below the ridge, that
seems much more like a chisel than a hatchet. The usual
length of this form is about G inches, and the width at the edge
about 11 inches, that of the butt-end, including the side
flanches, being about f inch. But that palstaves of this kind
were mounted as hatchets will be evident from an inspection of
Fig. 185, which represents a specimen in my own collection,
found in the district of Karon,
near Brigue, Valais, Switzerland.
It is, as will be seen, in fact, a
socketed celt, but with the
socket at right angles to the
axis of the blade. The reason
why it should have been cast
in this manner is probably to
be found in the fact that boughs
of trees with a smaller branch
at right angles to them are not
easily met with, though such
boughs are best adapted for con-
version into the helves of this
kind of hatchet. Some ingeni-
ous bronze-founder of old times
conceived the idea of producing
a hatchet which did not require
a crooked helve, but for hafting
which any ordinary straight
stick would serve ; and we have
here his new form of axe-head.
In practice, however, it was pro-
bably found both to balance
badly, and to be expensive in
metal, and the design appears
not to have spread, as up to
the present time this specimen seems to be unique. The most
remarkable features in it have still to be noticed. The pattern
from which it was cast seems to have been a palstave already
mounted on its haft, and we have here the smooth and rounded
end of the bough, with the smaller side branch running off at
right angles, reproduced in bronze. Even the band by which the
blade was secured in the cleft part of the handle is reproduced as
Fig. 185.— Raron, Brig-ue.
SOCKETED CELTS USED AS HATCHETS. 155
a spiral moulding. The banding which extends to the mouth
of the socket is also spiral, and probably represents a binding
round the original wooden handle at the part where, from expe-
rience, it was found most liable to break. The straight haft of
this hatchet was secured in its place by a bronze rivet passing
through the socket from side to side, which is still in its place,
though all trace of the wood has disappeared.
With this singular celt was found a small dagger, G| inches
long, which had been secured to its hilt by four rivets, and a
penannular bracelet decorated with ring ornaments. It is remark-
aide how well the discovery of this form of celt bears out the
theoretical suggestions of Sir Joseph Banks,* Sir Samuel Meyrick,f
Mr. Dunoyer,J and others, including Sir W. Wilde. § Indeed,
Dr. Richard Richardson || many years ago advanced the same
opinion as to the manner in which such celts were hafted.
With regard to the usual manner of mounting those of the
socketed form there can be but little doubt, as in some few
instances the original handles have been preserved with them.
Fig. 186.— Edenderry
One such, found in the bed of the river Boyne, near Eden-
derry, King's County, has been figured by Wilde,U whose cut, by
the kind permission of the Royal Irish Academy, is here repro-
duced as Fig. 186. The helve is only 13f inches long, but
seems well adapted to the size of the blade. So far as I know
this is the only instance of such a discovery within the United
Kingdom.
In Fig. 187, however, is shown an Italian socketed celt of
a common form, with the original handle still attached. This
specimen is in my own collection, and was found about the year
1872 in the neighbourhood of Chiusi, Tuscany. With it were
another, also retaining its handle, a large fibula of silver, a scara-
bams, and many small square plates of bronze, each having a fylfot
* Arch., vol. xix. p. 102, pi. viii. G.
t "Ancient Armour," by Skolton, vol. i. pi. xlvii.
X Arch. Jmirn., vol. iv. p. 4. § " Catal. Mas. R. I. A.," p. 3C7.
|| Leland's Itin., Ueamu's ed., vol. i. p. 145. H P. 370, Bg. 2;37-
156
MKTHODS OF HAFTING CELTS
[chap. VI.
cross upon it, probably the ornaments of a girdle. All these
objects had been buried in an urn, which was covered by a slab of
stone, and most of them are to be seen in the Etruscan Museum at
Florence. With the exception of a fracture not far from the angle,
the handle of my specimen is perfect. The preservation is due to
its having been entirely coated with thin plates of bronze, the sides
of which overlap, and have been secured round the handle by
tin
■is
■huh
iHHHA
Fig. 187.— Chiu.,i. J
HII
round-headed nails about f inch apart. This plating is turned
over square at the end of the handle, where there is a little pro-
jecting bronze eye, through which a ring may have passed, so as to
serve for its suspension. At the sides above the celt there are
some larger round-headed nails, or possibly rivets; and the end of
the branch which goes into the socket appears to be secured by a
rivet, which passes through from face to face. At the end of the
handle itself, above the celt, is a nearly circular flat bronze plate,
AS SEEN AT HALLSTATT. 157
with a round-headed nail in the middle to attach it to the wood.
The fracture exposes the wood inside the plates, which has been
preserved by the salts, or oxide, of copper. It has been thought
to be oak. On the blade of the celt are some flakes of oxide of
iron, as if it had lain in contact with some articles made of that
metal. Indeed, from the form, as well as from the objects found
with it, the presumption is that this instrument belongs to quite
the end of the Bronze Age of Italy, or to the transitional period
between bronze and iron.
It may be well here to mention that celts of iron of the flat
form, with projections at the sides like Fig. 45 ; of the palstave
kind, with the semicircular side sockets ; and of the socketed form,
have been found in the cemetery at Hallstatt, in Austria, the
researches in which of Herr Ramsauer have been described by
Baron Von Sacken.* These discoveries seem to show that all three
varieties were still in use at the close of the Bronze Period. In
the same cemetery celts of the two last-mentioned forms were
found in bronze, and jmlstaves occurred with the wings formed of
bronze and the blade of iron.
In 1866 I exhumed from this cemetery with my own hands,
when in company with Sir John Lubbock, a socketed celt of iron,
with a portion of the haft still in it. The celt is attached to a
branch of the main handle, which projects at an angle of about
80°. This has been split off from the handle, only a small part
of which remains attached ; and it is this portion only of the
wood which has been preserved by the infiltration of some salts
of iron, Avhile the rest, which was detached from contact with
metal, has disappeared. The wood of which the handle was
made appears to be fir. On an iron palstave from the same spot
it seems to be oak. On two bronze palstaves from France in
my own collection, one from Amiens and the other from the
Seine, at Paris, the portions of wood which still remain attached
to the blades appear also to be oak.
In the Hallstatt specimen the inclination of the blade seems to
have been towards the hand, and the part of the handle beyond
the branch which enters the socket presents some appearance <>t
having been bound with an iron ferrule, probably with the view of
preventing it from splitting. The projection is somewhat longer
proportionally than that in Fig. 185, and the end appears to have
been truncated, and not rounded.
* "Grabfeld von Hallst.," p. 38.
158 METHODS OF HAFT1NG CELTS [CHAP. VI.
There have been in this country a few instances of the dis-
covery of bronze rings in company with palstaves and socketed celts,
and these rings may possibly have served a similar purpose, though
it must be confessed that such an use is purely conjectural. That
shown in Fig. 188 was found in company with a bronze palstave
without a loop, but much like Fig. 74, at Winwick,* near Warring-
ton, Lancashire, and was kindly lent me by Dr.
James Kendrick, who in 1858 t suggested that
it was a " sort of ferrule to put round the
handle of the palstave to prevent the wood from
splitting when the instrument was struck."
The ornament on the ring, somewhat like the
" broad arrow " of modern times, is of much the
Fig. 188— Winwick. \ , , , . . .
same character as the shield-like pattern below
the stop-ridge of some palstaves. In the British Museum is a
stone mould from Northumberland for flat rings, 3 inches in dia-
meter, and for flat celts ; but such rings probably served some
other purpose.
Another bronze ring, 1§ inches in diameter, was found with a
socketed celt in the Thames, + opposite Somerset House, but here
the actual association of the two is doubtful.
I have already expressed a doubt whether the celt from Tadcaster,
Yorkshire, and now in the British Museum, had, when found, the
bronze ring with a jet bead upon it passing through the loop.
The ring itself is made not of one continuous piece of metal,
but of stout wire, with the ends abutting against each other,
and nothing would be easier for the workman who found the
three objects than to pass the ring through the loop of the
celt and the hole of the bead. I have myself received from
Hungary two socketed celts, each having imperfect penannular
bracelets passed through the loop in the same manner, though thov
certainly had no original connection with the celts. It is, how-
ever, but right to mention that in the British .Museum is the
upper part of a celt with an octagonal neck, found with other
objects near Kensington, on the loop of which is a small ring, barely
large enough to encircle the loop. Of what service this could
have been it is difficult to imagine.
vOJ
If the association of the larger rings and the celts must be
er
given up, it is needless to cite the opinions which have been held
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. pi. xxv. p. 236 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 159.
t A. A. J., vol. xiv. p. 269. j Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 161.
IN SOME INSTANCES AS ADZES. 159
as to the use of the one in connection with the other. Some
references are given in the note.*
The early Iron Age of Denmark is no doubt considerably later
in date than that of Hallstatt, but in several of the discoveries of
objects of that period in Denmark socketed celts of iron have
been found still attached to their helves. In the Nydam find,
described by Mr. Conrad Engelhardt, the majority of the axes were
of the ordinary form, with eyes for the shafts ; but there were
some also of the form of the socketed celt, though without any
loops. These were mounted as axes, and not as adzes, on crooked
handles about 1 7 inches long. The helves of axes of the ordinary
form were from 23 to 32 inches in length. In the Vimose find +
there were several of these iron celts, one of which was thought
to have been mounted on a crooked handle, but the others appear
to have been mounted as chisels.
The palstaves with the edges transverse to the septum between
the side flanges seem to have been mounted in precisely the same
manner as those of the ordinary form, except that when attached
to their handles they formed adzes, and not axes. It has been
suggested § that the palstaves of the ordinary form may also have
been mounted as adzes, and probably this was so in some excep-
tional cases. Mention has already been made of some Italian
helves with transverse notches for the reception of the blade.
Some of the flat celts may have also been mounted as adzes by
binding them against the shorter end of an |_-shaped handle, in
the same manner as the Egyptians fixed their adze blades.
In some palstaves, but more especially in those of the South
of Europe, there is at the butt-end of the blade a kind of dove-
tailed notch, which appears to have been formed by hammering
over a part of the jets or runners of the original castings, which
were left projecting a short distance instead of being broken off
short at the blade. Whether the hammering over was for the
purpose of rounding the angles or for that of forming this dove-
tailed notch is somewhat uncertain; it is, however, possible that
one or more pins or rivets may have been driven through the
handle, so as to catch the dovetails and retain the blade in its
place. It is not often the case that this portion of the blade is so
* Arch., vol. xvi. p. 362; Arch. Joitni., vol. iv. p. 6: Klemm. "All-. Kull. gesch.,"
p. 107. *
t " Nydam Mosefund," 1859—1863. Copenhagen, 1865.
t " Vimose Fundet" af C. Engelhardt, 1869, p. 29.
$ Wcstropp in Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 335.
1 GO METHODS OF HAFTING CELTS. [CHAT. VI.
Ion? that it would have gone through the handle and have allowed
of a pin beyond it, as suggested by Mr. Dunoyer * in the case of
a long palstave, with a rivet-hole near the butt-end of the blade.
A palstave, found in a tomb in the department of Loir et Cher,f
by my friend the late Abbe Bourgeois, is provided with a rivet-
hole near the top, countersunk on either side so as to guide a
pin into the place intended for it ; and it seems probable, as the
Abbe' suggests, that this was connected with the securing of the
blade, which is destitute of a loop, to the helve. Of six thin flat
bronze celts, 7 or 8 inches long, from the Island of Thermia,+ or
Cythnos, in the Greek Archipelago, which are now in the British
Museum, three that are broad are provided with square or
lozenge-shaped holes towards the upper end of the blade, and
three that are narrower are without. A flanged celt from Italy, §
6 inches long, has a circular hole in the same position, which
may have received a pin. Some contrivance for keeping blades
of smooth bronze fast in their handles must have been neces-
sary or desirable from the earliest times. With stone celts we
often find that the butt-end destined to be let into the wooden
or horn socket was purposely roughened. With bronze, how-
ever, such a process does not seem to have been adopted to
any extent ; and probably with blades of bronze, so much less
tapering than those of stone, the difficulty of keeping them in
place was surmounted by attaching them with some sort of
resinous or pitchy cement. A safe remedy against slipping out
was no doubt found in the addition of the ring or loop to the
side, which there can be but little doubt served for a cord to pass
through, so as to hold the blade back to the handle. In a socketed
celt, 5 1 inches long, found in the Seine, at Paris, and now in my
own collection, not only is the wood preserved in the socket by
saturation with some salt of copper, but within the upper part of
the loop there are distinct traces of a cord which was apparently
formed of vegetable fibre. The Irish palstave, Fig. 105, with the
curved projection instead of the usual loop, seems to show that it was
only against the upper part of the loop that the strain came. No
doubt, however, there was more strength in the loop attached to
the blade at both ends than in the mere neb or projection. Some
Italian socketed celts have similar projecting nebs, one on either
side. In the case of the palstaves and celts with two loops, it
* Arch. Jo>tr»., vol. iv. p. 4, fi£. B. f Revue Arch., vol. xxix. p. 73, pi. iii. 2.
\ Proe. Hoc. A»t., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 436. § Arch. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 100.
NO PERFORATED BRONZE AXE-HEADS IN BRITAIN. 1G1
seems probable that the handle must have been somewhat pro-
longed beyond the side branch, which received the palstave or
went into the socket of the celt.
It has been stated that some of the Spanish palstaves* with two
loops were, when first discovered, attached to a straight handle of
wood. But this opinion may have been formed from the grain of
the wood impressed on the upper part of the blade running along
and not across it. In the first account f given of the discovery,
these palstaves were regarded as having been used for picking out
the strata of coal, and one of them is said to have been firmly
attached to a wooden handle by means of thongs interlaced and
held by notches in the wood. This handle was described as
having been straight, so that the instrument was fitted to be
used as a crowbar and not as a hatchet. But inasmuch as the
groove for the handle is only 2^ inches long and i- inch wide,
while the length of the blade projecting beyond the handle is
nearly 5 inches, it is almost impossible for it to have served in
this manner.
Axe-heads of bronze of the modern form with an eye through
them to receive a straight helve have not been found in this
country, though, as already observed, they are not uncommon in
Hungary, Southern Germany, and Italy. That the form was already
known in Greece in the Homeric Age is evident from the feat of
skill in shooting an arrow through the shaft holes of a number of
axe-heads, arranged in a row, recorded in the Odyssey. + I have
in my collection a line double-edged axe, or 7re'Ae/a>9, from Greece,
8i- inches in length, with a round shaft-hole £ inch in diameter.
I have also two from Salamis.
Looking at the widespread distribution of perforated stone im-
plements, especially battle-axes, throughout Europe, it seems
strange that so few bronze weapons of the same class should be
found. Possibly, however, these stone weapons may have re-
mained in use even until the latter part of the Bronze Period, as
they certainly did through the earlier part of it. In this country
it seems doubtful whether any of the perforated battle-axes of stone
belong to a time when bronze was absolutely unknown, as bronze
knife-daggers, like Fig. 279, have so often been found asso-
ciated with them in interments. Hungary is the country in
which the perforated bronze battle-axes seem to have arrived at
* Arch. Joum., vol. vi. p. 369. t Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 69.
X Lib. xix. v. 573. See also Lib. v. v. 235.
M
1G2 MKTHODS OF HAFTING CELTS [CHAP. VI.
tlieir fullest development, many of them being of graceful form
and beautiful workmanship. The perforated copper implements
of that country were probably used for agricultural purposes, and
I see no reason for assigning them to so early a date as the com-
mencement of the Bronze Period of Hungary. They may, indeed,
belong to a much later period. It is hard to account for this
absence of perforated axes of bronze in Britain, but various causes
seem to have conduced to render their introduction difficult.
When first bronze came into use it must have been extremely
scarce and valuable ; and to cast an axe-head in bronze, like one
of the perforated axe-hammers of stone, would have required not
only a considerably greater amount of the then precious metal than
was required for a flat hatchet-head, but would also have involved
a far higher skill in the art of casting. Moreover, the flat form of
these simple blades rendered them well adapted for being readily
drawn out to a sharp cutting edge, and when once they had come
into general use they would not have been readily superseded by those
of another form, hafted in a different method, even were that method
more simple. If the bronze celts were mainly in use for peaceful
industries, while the warlike battle-axes were made of stone, the
progressive modifications in the shape of the former would be less
likely to be affected by the characteristics of the latter. It must
also be remembered that in France,* which then as now set the
fashion to Britain, perforated axe-heads of stone were very seldom
used, and those of bronze were in the north of the country
unknown.
But, to return to the celts of the British Islands, there can, I
think, be but little doubt that the loop is, as already described,
connected with the method of mounting these instruments on
their hafts ; and is not intended for the attachment of a cord, by
which they might be withdrawn and recovered after they had
been thrown at the enemy. Like the American tomahawks, they
may, no doubt, have occasionally been used as "missile hatchets,"
the "missiles secures" of Sidonius ; t but the days of young
Sigimer, whoso followers were provided with these weapons, are
many centuries more recent than those to which the bronze colts
must be referred.
In the same manner, any idea of the loops having merely served
* While speaking of French cells, I may refer to a short Taper on the method in
which they were hafted, written by the late M. Penguilly-l'llaridou. — Rev. Arch.,
2nd S. vol. iv. p. 329.
t Ep. 20, lib. 4. See Arch., vol. xxx. p. 492.
AS CHISELS.
163
for hanging these instruments at the girdle may be at once dis-
card^!. For such a purpose the projection which we find sub-
stituted for the loop would be useless, and the presence of two
loops would be superfluous.
On the whole, we may conclude that the majority of these
instruments were mounted for use, somewhat in the manner
described, so as to serve as axes or adzes. A smaller proportion
of them may, however, not improbably have
been provided with short straight handles, to
serve as chisels, especially the socketed celts
of small size and without loops. This is the
more probable as several socketed instruments
closely resembling them in character cannot be
regarded as other than chisels and gouges. No
example, however, of a socketed celt provided
with a handle of this kind has as yet been
found. The little instrument of brass fixed
into a handle made of stag's horn, which
was found in a cist in a barrow at Everley,*
Wilts, by Sir R. Colt Hoare, has more the
appearance of being a tanged chisel, such as
will subsequently be described, than a flat celt.
It is shown full size in Fig. 189, which I have
copied from Sir R. C. Hoare's plate. There
were no bones or ashes found in the cist, but
several pointed instruments, and what appears
to be a kind of long, flat bead of bone, as well
as two whetstones of freestone, and a hone of
a blueish colour had been deposited with it.
Professor Worsaae t has published an en-
graving of a narrow Danish palstave, which
was found in a hill in Jutland fastened to its
handlo by three rings of leather. This handle
was straight, but unlike that from Store Hedin-
age, which was an ell and a quarter long, was
not more than about 8 inches in length. In
some other instances, he says, the blade has
been fastened to the handle by nails or rivets.
I have already mentioned that some of the socketed celts of
iron belonging to the early Iron Age of Denmark have been found
* " Ane. Wilts," vol. i. p. 182, pi. xxi. t " Prim. Ant. of Denmark," p. 26.
M 2
K
Tig. IS:).— lived' y.
164 METHODS OF HAFTIXG CELTS. [CHAP. VI.
mounted as chisels. A good example of one thus hafted has
been figured by Engelhardt.* The part of the handle which goes
into the socket is tapered to fit it. Above this the handle ex-
pands with a shoulder projecting somewhat beyond the outside of
the celt. It continues of this size for about lj inches, and is
then asrain reduced to the same size as the mouth of the celt.
O
The whole of the handle beyond the metal is about 4 inches
in length.
Having said thus much with regard to the early iron chisels, it
will, however, now be well to proceed to the consideration of
those formed of bronze, and of the other bronze tools found in
this country.
* " Vimose Mosefundet," p. 28.
CHAPTER VII.
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMEES, AND OTHER TOOLS.
Although, doubtless, many if not most of the instruments of
different forms, described in the preceding chapters, were used as
tools, and not as weapons, yet in some cases, especially where they
have been found in graves, it is more probable that they formed
part of the equipment of a warrior than of an artificer. With
regard to the various forms of which I intend to treat in the pre-
sent chapter, there can hardly exist a doubt that they should be
regarded as tools, and not as weapons. Already in the Neolithic
Period we find many of these forms of tools, such as chisels and
gouges, developed ; and so far as hammers are concerned, it seems
probable that for many purposes a stone held in the hand may
have served during the Bronze Period as a hammer or mallet, just
as it often does now in the age of steel and steam. I have else-
where* mentioned a fact communicated to me by the late Mr. David
Forbes, F.R.S., that in Peru and Bolivia the masons, skilful in
working hard stone with steel chisels, make use of no other mallet
or hammer than a stone pebble held in the hand.
The simplest form of chisel is of course a short bar of metal
brought to an edge at one end and left blunt at the other where
it receives the blows of the hammer or mallet. Such at the
present day are the ordinary chisels of the stone-mason, and the
" cold chisel " of the engineer.
Most of the Scandinavian chisels of flint are of nearly the same
form as the simplest metal chisels, being square in section in the
upper part and gradually tapering to an edge at the lower end.
Bronze chisels of this form are, however, but rarely met with in
any part of Europe. One such, however, was found at Plymstock,t
* "Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 207.
t See Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 346. I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Franks, F.K.S.
for the use of this cut.
166
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
near Oreston, Devonshire, in company with sixteen flanged celts
like Figs. 9 and 10, three daggers, and a tanged spear-head, en-
graved as Fig. 327. It is shown in Fig. 190. Its length is 4
inches, and the cutting edge is rather more than | inch in width.
The late Mr. Albert Way, who describes this specimen in the
Archaeological Journal, regarded it as unique in England ; and the
form, so far as I am aware, has not again been found in this
country. It is now in the British Museum.
I have a large chisel of the same type, hut apparently formed of copper,
which was found in the neighbourhood of Pressburg, Hungary. It is
7^ inches long, about f inch
square in the middle, and
expands in width at the edge,
which is lunate. Others of
the same form, 4J inches and
5f inches long, also from
Hungary, are in the Zurich
Museum. Such chisels have
also been found in the Swiss
Lake-dwellings.
A long chisel, formed from
a plain square bar drawn to
an edge, was found by Dr.
Schhemann* in his excava-
tions at Hissarlik.
Bronze chisels of the same
form were also in use among
the ancient Egyptians.
A smaller chisel, conical at
the butt end and possibly
intended for insertion into a
handle, is shown in Fig. 191.
The original is in the coUec-
$ tion of Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S., and was found with
numerous other bronze antiquities in the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham,
already so often mentioned. One rather larger, about 3 inches long and
i inch broad, probably found in one of the barrows at Lakef or Durn-
ford, is in the collection of the Eev. E. Duke, of Lake House, near Salis-
bury. It may possibly have been a large awl.
An Aztec \ chisel of nearly the same form as Fig. 191, and about 4£
inches long, contains 97-87 copper and 2*13 of tin. Another from Lima
contains 94 copper and 6 of tin.
The small bronze chisel from Scotland, shown in Fig. 192, exhibits a
somewhat different type ; the blade tapering evenly away from the edge.
The point which was intended to go into the handle appears to have been
" drawn down" a little by hammering, which has produced slight flanges
* "Troy and its Remains," p. 332. f Arch., vol. xliii. p. 467.
t " Analcs del Musco de Mexico," vol. i. p. 117.
Fig. 190.
Plymstock.
Fig. 191.
Heathery Bum.
Fig. 192.
Glenluce.
TANGED CHISELS.
167
at the sides. The edge has also been hammered. The original was kindly
lent me by the Rev. George Wilson, of Grlenluce, Wigtonshire, and was
found, with a conical button and a flat plate of cannel-coal or jet, on the
Sandhills of Low Torrs, near Glenluce. Numerous arrow-heads and
flakes of flint have also been found among the sands at the same place.
A flat chisel (4^ inches) like Fig. 192, but rather broader at the edge,
which is somewhat oblitpie, was found with two flat sickles on Sparkford
Hill,* Somersetshire.
There were some small chisels of this class in the Larnaud hoard f
(Jura).
Others have been found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.;}:
Two shorter edged tools, found at Ebnall, § Salop, which have been
described as chisels or hammers, seem rather to have been punches, and
will be mentioned subsequently.
As chisels were probably used in ancient times, as at present, not
only in conjunction with a mallet, but also in the hand alone with
pressure as paring-tools, it would have been found
convenient to attach them to wooden or horn
handles. Accordingly we find them both provided
with a tang or shank for driving into a wooden
handle, like the majority of modern chisels, and
also, though more rarely, with a socket for the
reception of a handle, like the heavy mortising
chisels of the present day. Chisels of the tanged
variety vary considerably in size and strength, and
in the relative width of the blade to the length.
That shown in Fig. 192* is from the great hoard
discovered at Carlton Eode,|| Norfolk, already men-
tioned, and is preserved in the Norwich Museum. The
marks of the joint of the mould are still visible on the
tang. It was found with numerous celts and gouges,
a hammer, and at least one socketed chisel. Another
tanged chisel of nearly the same form and dimensions is
also in the Norwich Museum. It formed part of the Woodward Collec-
tion, and was probably found in Norfolk.
A chisel much more expanded at the edge, and also of lighter make,
was found at Wallingford, Berks, in company with a double-edged knife
or razor, and a socketed celt, gouge, and knife, of which n<>i ices are given
in other parts of this book. It is engraved as Fig. 193, and is in my own
collection, as is also the original of Fig. 194. This formed partof the hoard
discovered in Eoach Fen, Cambridge, and was the only one of the kind
there found. A socketed chisel-like celt from the same hoard has been
already described and figured at page 133, Fig. 159.
* Somerset Arch, and Nat. Hist. Troc, 1856 — 7, vol. vii. p. 27.
t Chantre, "Album," pi. xliii. | Keller, 7ter lierieM, Taf. ix. 31, 35.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 167 ; Troc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. Hi. p. 66.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 80 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. i. p. 59.
Pig. 192*.
Carlton Rode. $
168
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
Tanged chisels have also occurred in various other hoards of bronze
antiquities. Some were found with numerous celts and other tools at
Westow,* on the Derwent, Yorkshire, which from their curved edges and
general character the late Mr. James Yates regarded as the a/xtka ^apro-
t6[io<;, or chisel for cutting paper, mentioned by Philoxenus, and as the
currier's chisel, cncrroToVos, mentioned by Julius Pollux. If I were to offer
an opinion it would be that any cutting tool of the Bronze Period in
Britain was more likely to have been used for cutting leather than paper,
the latter commodity being, to say the least of it, scarce in Britain at that
time ; and, moreover, that chisels are generally used for cutting wood and
not leather.
In the collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S., are two of these tanged
chisels from Westow, about 4 J inches long and 1£ inch broad at the edge. A
small part of the blade below the round collar is cylindrical. In the British
Museum is a small specimen of this kind (3^ inches) from the Thames.
"111111
Fig. 193.— Wallingford. \
Fig. 194. -Bench Fen.
Fig. 195.— Thixendale. $
In the Mayer Collection at Liverpool is a specimen, 4 inches long and
£ inch broad at the edge, found near Canterbury in 1761. The collar is
flat above and almost hemispherical below. Another, with part of the
tang broken off, and the blade 1\ inches long and 1^ inch wide, was
found in the Kirkhead Cave, Ulverstone, Lancashire, and was described
to me by Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith.
Another, rather like Pig. 199, but broken at the angles, was found
with spear-heads and a socketed celt at Ty Mawr,t Anglesea. What
appears to be a chisel of this kind (4£- inches long) was found near
Biggen Grange,j Derbyshire, and is in the Bateman Collection. Another
was found at Porkington,§ Shropshire.
A fragment of a tanged chisel was found with a large hoard of broad
spear-heads, &c, at Broadward, Shropshire.
A remarkably small specimen from Thixendale, in the East Biding
of Yorkshire, is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, who has kindly
allowed me to engrave it as Pig. 195. The stop, instead of being as usual
* Arch. Jo-urn., vol. vi. p. 381, 408; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 58.
f Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 2.53.
% Bateman's "Catalogue," p. 74, No. 8; "Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 8.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p. 195.
CHISELS WITH LUGS AT THE SIDES.
169
a circular collar, consists of a bead on each face, so that in the side view
it appears as if an oval pin traversed the blade.
Nearly similar side-stops are to be observed in the chisel represented
in Fig. 196, which was found with two others (3| inches and 4i inches)
in a hoard of bronze antiquities at Yattendon,* Berks, of which I have
given an account elsewhere. With the chisels were instruments of the
following forms, some in a fragmentary condition : flat celts, palstaves,
socketed celts, gouges, socketed and tanged knives, swords, scabbard
dim
II, 'I ■ '
■■'■■■/
I
»'«„::
'
1
Fig. 196.— Yattendon.
Fig. 197. — Broxton. \
ends, spear-heads, and flat, conical, and annular pieces of bronze. The
other two chisels from this hoard were more like Fig. 194.
A very large example of a chisel of this kind is shown in Fig. 197, the
original of which was kindly lent me by Sir Philip de M. Grey Egerton,
F.K.S. It was found in company with two looped palstaves and a spear-
head near Broxton, Cheshire, about twelve miles south of ( "Hester.
An instrument of somewhat the same character, from Farley Heath,
has already been described at p. 69.
A tanged chisel, 5 inches long, and without any stops or collar, was
found with other objects at Burgesses' Meadow, Oxford, in 1830, and is
now in the Ashmolean Museum.
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. vii. p. 480.
170
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [.CHAP. VII.
This form of instrument occurs but rarely in Scotland ; but
what appears to be a chisel of this kind is engraved by Wilson.*
His figure is, however, a mere diagram, without any scale attached,
and the instrument is described as an axe blade with a cross limb,
or as a "spiked axe." Whatever its character, the original of the
figure is said to have been found with other bronze relics at
Strachur, Argylesbire.
An example of a chisel of elongated form is in the Antiquarian
Museum f at Edinburgh, but it is uncertain in what part of Scotland it
was found. By the kindness of the Council of the Society of Antiqua-
ries of Scotland it is shown as Fig. 198.
Fig. 198.— Scotland. |
<MI|P"« Wilt
' '■ 'in
Fig. 199.— Ireland.
In Ireland they are much more common. There are thirteen
specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, as cata-
logued by the late Sir William Wilde,* varying in length from
2 2 to 6j inches. Some of these Irish chisels, which approximate to
flat colts in character, have already been described in Chapter III.
That which Wilde has given as his Fig. 395 is almost identical in
form with the chisel from Ireland in my own collection which is here
engraved as Fig. 199, though considerably longer altogether, and some-
what longer proportionally in the tang.
I have another example from Belaghey, County Antrim, which is 6f
inches long, and much stouter in the tang and in the neck of the blade
than that here figured. It is only If inches wide at the edge.
* "Troli. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 381, fig. 54.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. G13. X " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 520.
SOCKETED CHISELS.
171
Among those in the museum at Dublin is one which is decorated
with knobs round the collar. Two others are figured in " Horse Ferales.'' *
In the British Museum, is one (4| inches) with a well-marked collar.
Another, with the square tang broken off, has a loop at the side of the
round part of the blade, which is 2-£ inches long. This curious specimen
was found near Burrisokane, county Tipperary.
Another chisel (4 J inches) in the same collection has side-projections
only, like Fig. 195.
Another (3£ inches), with a well-developed collar, is engraved in the
Archaeological Joimud.j The form shades off into that of the flat celts
having projections at the sides.
Others in the collection of Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., resemble Fig. 196
(4i inches) and Fig. 197 (G inches). The latter was found at Kanturk,
Co". Cork.
Tanged chisels have been found, though not abundantly, in
France. One from Beauvais is in the museum at St. Germain.
The socketed form of chisel is by no means common in this
country ; but some instruments, probably intended for use as
chisels, have already been described among the
socketed celts not provided with loops. These
are all comparatively broad at the cutting edge ;
but there is another variety, with a narrow end,
formed much like the modern engineer's " cross-
cut chisel," some specimens of which will be now
described.
That shown in Fig. 200 is from the great find
of Carlton Rode, X Norfolk (1844), from which
several specimens, including a tanged chisel (Fig.
192*) and a socketed celt without loop (Fig. 160),
have already been described ; and some other
forms, such as gouges and hammers, have yet to be
mentioned. The edge is only Tilths of an inch in
width, and the tool seems well adapted for cutting
mortises. The idea of a mortise and tenon must be of very early
date, as a mere stake driven into the ground supplies it in ;i
rudimentary form ; and tools let into sockets, or having sockets fco
receive handles, afford instances of connections of the same kind.
In our modern mortising chisels the cutting edge, instead of being
in the middle of the blade, so as to have a V-shaped section, is
usually at the side, and presents an outline like the upper part oi ;i
K, V . I have not met with this bevelled edge among bronze clusels.
* PL v. 43, 44. t Vol. viii. p. 91.
% Arch. Joan/., vol. ii. p. 80 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. i. pp. •">:. 59; Smith's "Coll.
Ant.," vol. i. p. 105 ; Arch., vol. xxxi. p. 494 ; " Hora; Ferales," pi. v. 40.
Fig. '3 »i.
Carlton liiule.
172 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
be seen the
The socket,
On the side of this Carlton Rode chisel may
mark of the joint of the mould in which it was cast,
as usual with these tools, is circular.
A bronze chisel of the same form, 3f inches long, was found at Bom-
ford,* Essex, in company with socketed celts, palstaves, fragments of
swords, a broken spear-head, and lumps of metal. It has already been
figured.
In the hoard found at Westow, Yorkshire, already mentioned, were
two or three socketed chisels. One of them, 2\ inches long, is engraved
in the Archceological Journal.] That which I have here engraved as
Fig. 201 is probably the same specimen. It is now in the collection of
Canon Greenwell, F.B.S. Tanged chisels, gouges, and socketed celts
were found at the same time.
In the same collection is a somewhat smaller chisel, the socket of which
is square instead of circular. This was found in the Heathery Burn Cave,
Durham, together with a number of
objects, belonging to the Bronze
Feriod, of which further mention
will be made hereafter. Another,
found at Boseberry Topping, York-
shire, is now in the Bateman Collec-
tion, at Sheffield. A small narrow-
edged chisel was found in a hoard at
Meldreth, Cambridgeshire.
I am not aware of any socketed
chisels of the narrow form having
been found in Scotland.
In Ireland they are rare, but in
the collection of Mr. B. Day, F.S.A.,
are a few specimens of undoubtedly chisel-like character. The broad
celt-like form has been described in a previous chajiter.
In France they are also far from common. There are, however,
two in the museum at Tours, found at the Chatellier d'Amboise.
There is also one in the museum at Narbonne.]: They have been
found in Savoy, § Doubs,|| and Jnra.^f
Several have been found in the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland.** One
with a treble moulding round the mouth and a polygonal neck from
Mcerigenff exhibits much taste in its manufacture.
A number of chisels both of the tanged and the socketed forms were
present in the great hoard of bronze objects discovered at Bologna.
Socketed examples from Italy are in the museum at Copenhagen,^ and
in the British Museum.
* Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 303.
t Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 3S2. See also Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 58, fig. 4.
I "Materiaux," vol. v. pi. ii. 12.
§ Exp. Arch, de Savoie, 1878, pi. xxi. No. 3; pi. vi. 215, 216 ; Perrin, " Et. Preh. de
la Sav.," pi. x. 8.
|| Chantre, " Album," pi. x. 7. H Ibid. No. 5.
** Keller, 6ter Bericht, Taf. ix. 38; 7ter Ber., Taf. vii. 2, 3, 5, &c. ; Desor, "Les
Falafittes," fig. 46.
ft Desor and Favre, " Le Bel Age du Br.," pi. i. 7.
Fig. 201.
Westow.
Fig. 202.
Heathery Burn.
++ <i
++
Cong. Preh.," Copenhagen vol. p. 485.
TANGED GOUGES.
173
I have some from Maearsca, Dalmatia, of which the sockets have been
formed by hammering out the metal and turning it over, instead of being
produced as usual, by means of a core in the casting.
Socketed chisels from Emmen and Deurne, Holland, are in the
museum* at Leyden.
From North Germany I may cite one (6£ inches) from Schlieben,f
which is in the Berlin Museum.
Others are engraved by Lindenschmit,] Schreiber,§ andLisch.||
One from Kempten, Bavaria, is in the Sigmaringen Collection.^
Gouges.
Closely allied to chisels are gouges, in which the edge, instead
of being straight, is curved or hollowed, so that it is adapted for
working out rounded or oval holes. In some languages, indeed,
the name by which these tools are known is that
of " hollow chisels." It is an early form of instrument,
and a few specimens made of flint have been found
in this country, though they are here extremely rare,
while, on the contrary, they are very abundant in
Denmark and the South of Sweden. In the Scandi-
navian countries, however, bronze gouges are never
found ; and though gouges of stone were not unknown
in this country during its Stone Period, their suc-
cessors in bronze do not appear to belong to the early
part of the Bronze Period, but, on the contrary, seem
to be characteristic of its later phases.
Of bronze gouges there are the same two varieties
as of the ordinary chisel, viz. the tanged and the
socketed, of which the former is far rarer than the
latter. Indeed the only tanged gouge from Britain
with which I am acquainted is that from the Carlton
Rode** hoard, already so often mentioned, which is
shown in Fig. 203. The original is in the Norwich Carlton
O ° Rode, i
Museum, the trustees of which kindly allowed me to
engrave it. As will be seen, it is of remarkably narrow form,
especially as contrasted with the socketed gouge from the same
hoard shown in Fig. 207. There was a broken tanged gouge in
the great hoard of bronze objects found at Bologna.
* Jannsen's " Catal.," No. 21.
t Schreiber, "Die ehern. Streitkeile," Taf. ii. 11.
t " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft v. Taf. iii. § Taf. ii. 10.
|| "Freder. Francisc," Tab. xxxiii. y. II Lindenschmit, Taf. xlii. 7.
** Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 80 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ.,Yo\. i. i>. 61,50 ; " lUn-.v I'Vi-ales,"
pi. v. 42.
174 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [dlAP. VII.
Of English socketed gouges the most common form is that shown in
Fig. 204, from an original in the British Museum, which was found with
a spear-head (Fig. 391), socketed knife (Fig. 240), hammer (Fig. 210),
aw 1 (Fig. 224), and two socketed celts, at Thorndon,* in Suffolk. There
were six gouges of the same character, but of different sizes, in the hoard
found at Westow,f Yorkshire, some of which have been figured. Another
(3 A inches) found with socketed celts and some curious ornaments under
a large stone at Boseberry Topping, J in Cleveland, has also been figured.
Another was found with socketed celts and spear-heads at Exning, § in
Suffolk. The cutting end of another was associated with socketed celts
in the hoard discovered at Martlesham in the same county. Part of
another was discovered, with a socketed celt, fragments of blades, and
rough copper, at Melbourn, || Cambridgeshire. Another was found,
with socketed celts, spear-heads, and an armlet, within the encampment
on Beacon Hill,^] Charnwoocl Forest, Leicestershire. Another, with
socketed celts, spear-heads, &c, at Ebnall,**
near Oswestry ; and another (2£ inches), with
socketed celts, fragments of knives, a button or
stud, and lumps of metal, at Kensington. ff This
hoard is in the British Museum. A gouge was
found with four socketed celts and about 30 lbs.
of rough copper in an urn at Sittingbourne, J J
Kent. A plain gouge formed part of the hoard
found at Stanhope, §§ Durham. A remarkably
fine gouge, 4 J inches long and nearly 14; inch
wide at the edge, was found, with spear-heads,
socketed celts, part of a celt mould, and lumps
of metal, at Beddington,|||| Surrey. At Porking-
ton,^|^f Shropshire, a gouge accompanied the
tanged chisel lately mentioned. In the hoard
found at Guilsfield,*** Montgomeryshire, there
were two gouges in company with looped pal-
staves, socketed celts, &c. In my own collection
are three socketed gouges, about 3h inches long, which form part of
the hoard from Peach Fen, Cambridgeshire, in which were socketed
celts, socketed and tanged knives, and numerous other objects. In
some of the instances cited, as at Guilsfield and Ebnall, the upper part of
the socket is beaded instead of plain. One of this kind from the Ilarty
hoard already mentioned is shown in Fig. 205. There were two such in
the hoard, which comprised numerous socketed celts and the moulds for
them, and various tools of the bronze-founder. There were also the two
halves of a bronze mould for such gouges which will subsequently be
described. In the Museum of tho Cambridge Antiquarian Society is a
* Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3 ; " Horse. Fer.," pi. v. 36.
f- Arc}*. Journ., vol. vi. p. 381, 408 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 58.
Ireh. Scot., vol. iv. p.j|55, pi. vii. 5; Arch. 2EM<ma, vol. ii. p. 213, pi. iv. c.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 294.
Fig. 204.
Thorndon.
Pig. '205.
Harty.
+
+
§ Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3.
1! 1'roc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 323.
** Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 1C7;
tt /'roc. Soc. Aid., 2nd >S., vol. iii.
>■ P
L UUUU1 O VUU. Allt.
§§ Arch. .K/i/nui, vol. i
'Surrey Aivli. Sop. Coll.," vol.
*** Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p.
vol.
p. 13, pi.
" Hun- I'Yralcs," pi-
p. 232.
v. 35.
101
ii. 12,
vi.
214;
Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 81.
HIT Arch. Journ., vol.
Coll.," vol. iii.
; Montgom
vii. p. 195.
p. 137.
SOCKETED GOUGES.
175
gouge from Bottishani Lode (3 inches) with a slight shoulder about i inch
from the top of the blade, the upper part of the neck being larger than
the lower. One of three found iu the Heathery Burn Cave (2| inches) is
also shouldered. Of the other two (3 J inches and 3|- inches) one is very
slightly shouldered. They are in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S.,
as is also a plain example (3f inches) from Scothorn, Lincolnshire.
In the British Museum are the unfinished castings for two gouges, one
2£ inches long and fully -|- inch wide, and the other 3 inches long and
f inch wide at the edge, which in both is but slightly hollowed. They
were found with a socketed celt (Fig. 146) near Blandford, Dorset. The
longer one is of very white and hard
bronze.
Two gouges, one 3J inches and the
other broader, but only 2 inches
long, found with various other ob-
jects at Hounslow; as well as one
from the Thames at Battersea (4
inches), are in the same collection.
Two gouges (3J inches and 5
inches) were found, with a hammer,
a spear-head, and a socketed celt
with a loop on the face (Fig. 154),
near Whittlesea. The whole are in
the museum at Wisbech.
Two from Derbyshire are in the
Blackmore Museum at Salisbury.
A socketed gouge of unusually
long proportions is shown in Fig.
206. It was found at Undley, near
Lakenheath, Suffolk, and is in my
own collection. In the Carlton Rode
hoard were also two long gouges
with the hollow extending more
nearly to the socket end. They are
both rather trumpet-mouthed. One
of them is 4£ inches long and &
inch wide at the edge, the other
4£ inches long and f inch wide. I have not seen the originals, but
describe them from a lithographed plate.
The broad short gouge shown in Fig. 207 is also from Carlton Rode.
It is broken at the mouth of the socket, but I have, in the figure, restored
the part that is wanting. The original was lent me by the trustees of
the Norwich Museum. Another'" from the same hoard, about 3 | Inches
long, has the groove, which is wide and rather fiat, extending only an inch
upwards from the edge.
Socketed gouges have been found, thoughvery rarely, in Scotland.
That shown in Fig. 208, the cut of which has been kindly lent to
nit! by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, was dredged up in the
river Tay.f This appears to be almost the only Scottish specimen
* "Hone Perales," pi. v. 39. I Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 127.
I I
Fig. 206.
I udley.
Fig. 207.
Carlton Rode.
176 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
at present known. Professor Daniel Wilson'" terms it " one of the
rarest of the implements of bronze hitherto found in Scotland ;"
but he adds that other specimens have been met with in the Tay.
In Ireland they are considerably more abundant, there being
at least twenty specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy, one of them as much as 4 J inches long.
One, much like Fig. 208, has been engraved by "Wilde as Fig. 399.
Others are figured in the Archceological Journal] and " Horse Ferales." \
In one of these, 2£ inches long, the hollow is carried up to the collar
round the mouth as a square-ended recess. One gouge
appears to have been originally tanged. Several
socketed gouges from Ireland are in the British Mu-
seum. Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., has examples from Mul-
lingar and Derry, the latter with a collar at the top.
They occurred also in the Dowris hoard. A gouge §
only 2h inches long and unusually broad has a small
loop at the upper end of the concave part. It is here
engraved as Fig. 209, from the original in the Museiun
of the Royal Irish Academy. This may be the specimen
figured by Vallancey.|| I have a specimen like Fig 208.
Rg. 209.— Ireland. $ Socketed gouges are occasionally found in France.
One, 4£ inches long, with two mouldings round the top,
ornamented with faint diagonal lines, was found with socketed celts and
other implements in the Commune de Pont-point^f (Oise), near the river
Oise, and is in the Hotel Cluny, Paris. Others from the Hautes Alpes**
and from the Fonderie de Larnaud have been figured in Mr. Ernest
Chantre's magnificent Album.
There are three with moulded tops, from the hoard of Notre Dame d'Or,
in the Poitiers Museum.
A fine gouge (about 5^ inches) with a moulded top is in the museum
at Clermont F errand (Puy de Dome). A very fine French gouge of this
character is in the British Museum.
I have a specimen much like Fig. 208 found in the Seine at Paris.
Others were in the hoard at Dreuil, near Amiens, and in a second hoard
also found near that town.
Large gouges with moulded tops, from the Stations of Auvernier,ff in
the Lake of Neuchatel, and Mcerigen, in the Lake of Bienne, are in
Dr. Victor Cross's collection.
There was at least one socketed gouge in the great Bologna hoard.
In Germany they are very rare, but one from the museum at Sig-
maringen, with a somewhat decorated socket, is engi'aved by Lindenschmit.
It was found at Kempten, Bavaria.JJ Others, from Diiren and Deurne,
North Brabant, Holland, are in the museum at Leyden.
* "Preh. Ann. Scot.," vol. i. p. 338. t Vol. iv. p. 335, pi. iii. 1, 2, 3, 4.
+ Pi. v. 37, 38, 41. § " Horse Ferales," pi. v. 38.
|| Arol. iv. pi. ix. 5.
H " Horse Ferales," pi. v. 34 ; .Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xiii. pi. ii. x.
** PI. x. 6, and xl. 5. See also Mem. Soc. Ant. Norm., 1828—9, pi. xvi. 16.
tf "Deux Stations Lacustrns," pi. iv. 34. Keller, 7tcr Bericht, Taf. vii. 4; Desor
and Favre, " Le Bel Age du Br.," pi. i. 5.
%% " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," Heft. v. Taf. iii. 9, 10 ; " Hohcnzoll. Samml.," pi. xlii. 7.
SOCKETED HAMMERS. 177
A socketed gouge, with the edge turned to a sweep of about 1 inch radius,
is in the museum at Agram, Croatia.
One from Siberia * has been figured by \Vorsaae.
Hammers and Anvils.
Another form of tool constructed with a socket to receive the
handle in precisely the same manner as the socketed celts and gouges
is the hammer. It is worthy of notice that, though perforated ham-
mers formed of stone are comparatively abundant in this country,
yet that instruments of the same kind in bronze are unknown. It is
true that what looks like a perforated hammer, said to be of bronze,
was found in Newport, Lincoln, and is engraved in the Archceo-
logical Journal, f but there is no evidence of its belonging to the
same period as the ordinary tools formed of bronze ; and the
suggestion that it may have been the extremity of a bell-clapper
is, I think, not far from the truth. It is very probable that many
of the perforated stone hammers belong to the Bronze Period of this
country, as do doubtless most of the perforated stone battle-axes or
axe-hammers ; for in the early part of the Bronze Period it is likely
that metal was far too valuable to be used for heavy tools and
weapons, and even towards the close of the period it seems as if
it was only the lighter kind of hammers which were formed of
bronze. The heaviest I possess weighs only five ounces, and the
lightest less than half that weight. As will subsequently be seen,
it is possible that some of these instruments were of the nature of
anvils rather than of hammers, but for the present it will be most
convenient to speak of them under the latter name.
The most common form of hammer is that which is shown in
Fig. 210, from an original in the British Museum found at
Thorndon,+ Suffolk, in company with a spear-head, socketed gouge,
socketed knife, and two socketed celts. The two hammer-like
instruments engraved as Figs. 211 and 212 were found, with a
number of socketed celts, moulds, &c. — in fact the whole stock-in-
trade of an ancient bronze-founder — in the Isle of Harty, Sheppey,
and are in my own collection. The larger of the two shows a
considerable amount of wear at the end, which is somewhat
" upset " by constant use. The smaller is more oxidized, so that
the marks of use are less easily recognised. The metal of which
* Mem. Soc. Ant. du Nord, 1872—7, p. 118. f Vol. xxvii. p. 142.
X Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., -2nd S., vol. iii. p. 66, where it is en-
graved full size ; " Horse Ferales," pi. v. 33.
N
178 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
they are formed seems to contain a larger admixture of tin than is
usual with the cutting tools ; and I have noticed the same appear-
ance in some other instances, so that even in early times the
Fig. 210.— Thorndon. $ Fig. 211.— Harty. §
Fig. 212.— Harty. * Fig. 213— Carlton Rode. £
singular fact must have been known that by adding to copper
the softer metal, tin, in a larger proportion than the one-tenth
usually employed for bronze, a much harder metal resulted. At
the present time the extremely hard alloy used
for the specula of reflecting telescopes is formed
by an admixture of about two parts of copper
and one part of tin, the two soft metals mixed
in these proportions forming an alloy almost
as hard as hardened steel.
In the Carlton Rode find, of which mention has
already been frequently made, was a hammer of
much longer proportions than those from the Isle
of Harty. By the kindness of the trustees of the
Norwich Museum I have been able to engrave it as
Fig. 213. It expands considerably at the mouth.
As will be seen, the end is " upset " by use. What
appears to be a hammer of much the same kind,
but with the face still smaller, was found with a
hoard of bronze objects, including palstaves, spear-
heads, flat sickles, a torque, &c, at Taunton.* It
is shown in Fig. 214.
A hammer somewhat larger in its dimensions than Fig. 211, but in
type more resembling Fig. 212, having no shoulder upon its body, was
found at Eoseberry Topping, f in Cleveland, with a socketed celt, a gouge,
Fig. 214.— Taunton, i
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 94 ; Pring, ".Brit, and Roman Taunton," pi. i. 2.
f Arch. Scot., vol. iv. p. 55, pi. vii. 4 ; Arch. JEliana, vol. ii. p. 213, pi. iv. b.
IRISH HAMMERS.
179
and other objects. Another broken hammer was found, with a hoard
of bronze objects, at Stanhope,* Durham.
A small hammer (2£ inches), found with gouges and other objects near
Whittlesea, is in the Wisbech Museum.
Another with a circular socket was in the hoard found in Burgesses'
Meadow, Oxford.
A small one was found at Eugby,f and is in the possession of Mr.
M. H. Bloxam, F.S.A. I have one (3 inches) found near Cambridge.
I am not aware of any examples having as yet been found in
Scotland.
In Ireland they are rare, but four "round-faced socketed
punches," varying from 2 to 4 inches in length, are mentioned in
Wilde's Catalogue. These are probably hammers.
In the British Museum are also several Irish hammers, one of which is
shown full size in Fig. 215, for the use of which I am indebted to the
Fig. 215.— Ireland
Fig. 216.— Dowris.
Council of the Society of Antiquaries.^ It is cylindrical in form, with
two rings of projecting knobs around it. The end is circidar and slightly
convex, and has a ridge across it, due to constant use. Another, found,
with trumpets, spear-heads, and numerous other bronze relics, at Down's,^
King's County, is shown in Fig. 216, also lent me by the same Council.
It is of a different type from any of the others, expanding beyond the
socket into a large flat blade. It appears never to have been in use.
Two other small Irish specimens, one with a long oval face, are in the
British Museum. I have a hammer (2£ inches) much like Fig. 210, but
* Arch, A^liana, vol. i. p. 13, pi. ii. 13.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 129 ; " Hor® Fer.," pi. v. 32.
% Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 66. § Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 6o.
N 2
180 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
with the shoulder nearer the top, found with a socketed celt and some
perforated and other rings, near Trillick, Co. Tyrone. I have also an
imperfect specimen with the end expanded, but not to the same extent
as Fig. 216. This was found with a broken sword, spear-heads, and a
socketed knife, on Bo Island, Enniskillen, and was kindly procured for
me by the Earl of Enniskillen.
Socketed hammers have been found in several European countries.
I have two from France. One of them (3-£- inches),' like Fig. 212 in
form, was found, with a spear-head, a double-edged knife, some curved
cutting tools, and an anvil of bronze (Fig. 217), together with a large
torque and a plain bracelet of gold, at Fresne la Mere, near Falaise,
Calvados. The other (2 inches), stouter in its proportions and more
like Fig. 210, was found near Angerville, Seine et Oise. A short thick
hammer was found at Briatexte, Tarn.*
An instrument in the British Museum, in form much like Fig. 216,
found at Vienne (Isere ?), has only a small square hole in the socket, and
may have served as an anvil rather than as a hammer. A hammer also
with expanded end was found near Chalon,+ and another in the Valley of
the Somme.j
A cylindrical hammer or anvil was found in the hoard of the Jardin des
Plantes at Nantes. §
Cylindrical hammers have been found among the Lake-dwellings of
the Lac du Bourget,|| Savoy, one of them provided with a loop.
M. Rabut, of Chambery, has a stone mould from the same lake for
casting such hammers. Another hammer-mould of stone was found at
the Station of Eaux Vives, near Geneva.
In my own collection is one of these looped socketed hammers, nearly
square in section, from Auvernier, in the Lake of Neuchatel. Others
from Swiss Lake-dwellings, both with and without loops, are engraved by
Keller. Professor Desor has a hammer expanding towards the end from
the Lake of Neuchatel. ^f A hammer found at Mcerigen** seems to have
been formed from a portion of a looped palstave. The Lake-dwellers
frequently utilized such broken instruments. Another hammer, from the
Lake of Bienne,ff is hexagonal in section, and ornamented with reversed
chevrons on its faces.
They are occasionally found in Hungary. I have seen one ornamented
with chevrons in relief upon the sides. One with saltires on the sides,
and some fragments of others, were in the Bologna hoard.
The object engraved by Madsen J J as possibly the ferrule of a lance may
be a hammer of this kind.
A solid bronze hammer (4£ inches), of oblong section, with two pro-
jecting lugs on each side for securing the handle, found near Przemysl,
Poland, was exhibited at the Prehistoric Congress at Pesth. It was
* "Materiaux," vol. xiv. pi. Lx. 6.
t Chantre, "Age du Br.," lere ptie. p. 38.
X "Materiaux," vol. v. p. 452.
§ Parenteau, " Le fondeur du Jard. des Plantes;" "Materiaux," vol. v. p. 190,
pi. viii. 10.
|| " Exp. Arch, de la Sav.," 1878, pi. v. ; Chantre, " Album," pi. v. 1. ; Perrin, " Et.
Preh. sur la Sav.," pi. x. 6, 7, xix. 17.
II Keller, 7ter Bericht, Taf. vii. 9.
** Desor et Favre, " Le Bel Age du Br.," pi. i. 9 ; Gross. " Deux Stations," pi. iii. 22.
tf Desor, "Les Palafittes," fig. 47. JJ " Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. 13, 15.
METHOD OF HAFTING HAMMERS. 181
found with a bronze spear-head, and is in the Museum of the Academy of
Sciences at Cracow.
As to the manner in which these socketed hammers were
mounted we have no direct evidence. It seems probable, however,
that many of them had crooked hafts of the same character as
those of the socketed celts. It is worth notice that on some of
the coins of Cunobeline * there is a seated figure at work forging
a hemispherical vase, and holding in his hand a hammer which in
profile is just like a narrow axe, the head not projecting beyond
the upper side of the handle. A seated figure on a hitherto
unpublished silver coin of Dubnovellaunus, a British prince con-
temporary with Augustus, holds a similar hammer, or possibly a
hatchet, in his hand. But though when in use as hammers they
were mounted with crooked shafts, it is quite possible that some
of these instruments may have been fitted on to the end of straight
stakes and have served as anvils. The Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A.,
informs me that at the present day the peasants of Brittany make
use of iron-tipped stakes, which, when driven into the ground,
form convenient anvils on which to hammer out the edges of their
sickles, and which have the great advantage of being portable.
Though such anvils are not, so far as I am aware, any longer used
in this country, traces of their having been formerly employed
appear to be preserved in our language, for a small anvil to cut
and punch upon, and on which to hammer cold work, is still
termed a " stake."
It is worthy of remark that an implement of the same kind as
these so-called socketed hammers, and made in the same manner, of
a very hard greyish alloy, was found in the cemetery at Hallstatt,t
and was regarded by the Baron von Sacken as a small anvil. A
bronze file was found with it.
It is also to be observed that of the two hammer-like instruments
found together in the Harty hoard one is much larger than the
other, and may have formed the head of a stake or anvil, while
the other served as a hammer. Still, as a rule, a flat stone must
have served as the anvil in early times, as it does now among the
native iron-workers of Africa, and did till quite recently, for many
of the country blacksmiths and tinkers of Ireland. + Among
Danish antiquities some carefully made anvils of stone occur, but
* Evans, " Anc. Brit. Coins," pi. xii. 6.
t "Grabfeld von Hallstatt," pi. xix. 11, p. 89.
: Wilde, "Catal. Stone Ant. in R. I. A. Mus.," p. 81.
182
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
I am not certain as to the exact age to which they should be
assigned.
Bronze anvils of the form now in use are of extremely rare occur-
rence in any country. That figured by Sir William Wilde * appears
to me to be of more recent date than the Bronze Period, and I am not
aware of any other specimen having been found in the British Isles ;
but as it is a form of tool which may eventually be discovered, it
seems well to call attention to it by engraving a French example.
This anvil is shown in two views, in Figs. 217 and 218. As will be
seen, it is adapted for being used in two positions, according as one
or the other pointed end is driven into the workman's bench. In
one position it presents at the end two plane-surfaces, the one broad
Fig. 217.— Fresn^ la Mere.
Fig. 218.— Fresno la Mere.
and the other narrow, inclined to each other at an angle of about
120 degrees, so that their junction forms a ridge. This part of the
anvil has seen much service, as there is a thick burr all round it,
caused by the expansion of the metal under repeated blows.
On the projecting beak there are three slight grooves gradually
increasing in size, and apparently intended for swages in which to
draw out pins. In the other position the anvil presents no smooth
surface on which to hammer, but a succession of swages of different
forms — some half-round, some V-shaped, and some |/\| -shaped.
There are also some oval recesses, as if for the heads of pins. The
metal of which the anvil is made appears to contain more tin than
the ordinary bronze, and therefore to be somewhat harder. On
one face is the mark of the runner § inch in diameter, which
was broken off after the tool was cast.
» "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 401.
FRENCH ANVILS. 183
This interesting tool was found with the hammer already men-
tioned, a spear-head, a double-edged knife or razor, a knife with
the end bent round so as to present a gouge-like edge, and a large
curved cutting-tool of the same character (Fig. 247), all of bronze,
at Fresne la Mere, near Falaise, Calvados. With them was a
magnificent gold torque with recurved cylindrical ends, the twisted
part being of cruciform section ; and a plain penannular ring or
bracelet, formed from what was a cylindrical rod. The whole
find is now in my own collection. It is not by any means
improbable that this anvil was rather the tool of a goldsmith of
the Bronze Age than that of a mere bronze-worker.
I have another anvil of about the same size, but thinner, which was
found in the Seine at Paris. It also can be mounted two ways, but in
each position it presents a nearly flat but somewhat inclined face, and
there are no swages in the beaks, one of which is conical and the other
nearly rectangular.
M. Ernest Chantre has engraved two other specimens, somewhat
differing in form, but of much the same general character. They were
found near Chalon-sur-Saone and near Geneva.* The analysis of the
metal of one of them gives 1 6 parts of tin to 84 parts of copper.
Another bronze anvil is in the museum at Amiens, and a fifth, also
from France, is in the British Museum. This has a flat projecting ledge
at the top, and at right angles a slightly tapering beak. An anvil of the
same kind, but without the beak, was found with other objects near
Amiens, and is now in the museum of that town.
A small anvil without a beak, found at Auvernier,f in the Lake of
Neuchatel, is in the collection of Dr. Gross. A square flat anvil, some-
what dented on the face, formed part of the Bologna hoard.
In my own collection is what appears to have been a larger anvil of
bronze, which was found, with other instruments of the same metal, at
Macarsca, Dalmatia. In form it is not unlike an ordinary hammer-head
about 5 inches long ; but the eye through it appears to be too small for it
ever to have served to receive a haft of the ordinary kind, though it
probably held a handle by which to steady the tool when in use. One
end is nearly square and but slightly convex ; the other is obloug and
rounded the narrow way. Both ends are much worn. On one face and
one side are rounded notches or swages. This tool has been cast in an
open mould, as one face presents the rough surface of the molten metal,
which contains a large proportion of tin. The other face and the sides are
fairly smooth.
Saws and Files.
\\ hile speaking of bronze tools, which up to the present
time have not been noticed in Britain, but which may probably
be some day discovered — if, indeed, they have not already been
found — the saw must not be forgotten.
* "Agedu Br.," ptie. i. p. 39.
t Keller, Iter Bericht, Tuf. vii. 8 ; Gross, " Deux Stations," pi. iii. 28.
184 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
A fragment of what has been regarded as a rudely formed saw of
bronze was indeed found, with a sword and several celts, at Mawgan,*
Cornwall, and is now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries. It is
4 inches by f- inch, coarsely toothed, and the serrations appear to have
been cast. I am, however, rather doubtful whether it was really a saw.
Saws have been found both in Scandinavia and in France, in the latter
country in hoards apparently belonging to the later portion of the Bronze
Period. One from Kibiers,f Hautes ALpes, is about 5£ inches long and
f inch broad, slightly curved, and with a rivet-hole at one end for attach-
ment to the handle. Two from the "Fonderie de Larnaud," J Jura, are
nearly one-half smaller. There were five specimens in that hoard, and
M. Chantre enumerates sixteen altogether from various parts of France
and Switzerland. A fine specimen, with a rivet-hole for the handle, was
found at Mcerigen,§ in the Lake of Bienne.
The Scandinavian || type is of much the same character, though some
are more sickle-like in shape, with the teeth on the inner sweep.
A saw, found with celts, spear-heads, diadems, &c, at Lammersdorf,
near Prenzlau, is in the Berlin Museum. A short one, with a rivet-hole
for the handle, found at Stade, is in that at Hanover.
A saw of pure copper was found in some excavations of dwellings of
remote date at Santorin,^[ in the Grecian Archipelago, in company with
various instruments formed of obsidian. Some fragments of saws occurred
in the Bologna hoard. Part of one from Cyprus is in the British
Museum. A copper (?) saw from Niebla, Spain, 9 inches long, also in
the British Museum, has the teeth arranged to cut as it is drawn towards
the workman, and not when pushed away from him.
The file is another tool of exceedingly rare occurrence in bronze,
though not absolutely unknown in deposits belonging to the close
of the Bronze Period. Sir William Wilde ** mentions " a bronze
circular file, straight, like a modelling tool," as being in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, but I have not seen the
original and am not confident as to its age. A file ft was, however,
found in the great hoard of the Fonderie de Larnaud, and another
from the Lake-dwellings of the Lac du Bourget is in the museum
at Chambery.
The early form of file is indeed much the same as that of a
very broad saw, the toothing being coarse and running at right
angles across the blade. In the cemetery at Hallstatt, ++ in Upper
Austria, files of this character were found, several in bronze
and one in iron. The bronze files are from 5 to 10 inches long,
* "Catal. Mus. Soc. Ant.," p. 16; Arch., vol. xvii. p. 337-
t E. Chantre, "Album" pi. xxv. No. 5.
% Chantre, "Album," pi. xliii. § Keller, Tier Bericht, Taf. vii. 11.
|| Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," tigs. lo7, 158; "Cong, preh.," Stockholm vol., 1874, p.
494.
II " Comptes Rend, de l'Ac. des Sc.," 1871, vol. ii. p. 476.
** " Catal.," p. 697, No. 96.
ft E. Chantre, " Age du Bronze," lire ptie. p. 87.
++ Von Saeken, "Das Grabf. v. Hallst," pi, six. 12.
SAWS, FILES, AND TONGS.
185
and some which are flat for the greater part of their length are
drawn down, for about 2 inches at the end, into tapering round
files. In the Bologna hoard were several fragments of files, includ-
ing one of a " half-round" file.
o
Tongs and Punches.
From our greater acquaintance with the working of iron than
with that of bronze, there seems to us a sort of natural connection
between the anvil, hammer, and tongs. It must,
however, be borne in mind that bronze is a metal
which instead of being, like iron, tough and ductile,
becomes "short" and fragile when heated, so that
all the hammering to which the tools and weapons
of bronze were subjected in order to planish their
faces, or to draw out and harden their edges, was
probably administered to them when cold. At least
one pair of bronze tongs has, however, been found,
which is shown in Fig. 219. This instrument
was discovered, with numerous other antiquities,
in the cave at Heathery Burn,* near Stanhope
in Weardale, Durham, and is now in the collec-
tion of Canon Greenwell. As half of a mould
for socketed celts and some waste runners of bronze
were found, it is evident that the practice of casting-
bronze was carried on in the cave, and these tongs
were probably part of the founder's apparatus.
Whether they were used merely as fire-tongs, or
for the purpose of lifting the crucible or melting-
pot, is a question. They appear, however, much too
light to be of service for the latter purpose.
In the museum of the Louvre at Paris are some
Egyptian tongs of bronze, which are remarkably
similar to those from Durham. A workman seated
before a small fireplace, holding a blowpipe to his
mouth with one hand and with a pair of tongs in the other,
is shown in a painting at Tlidbes, published by Sir Gardner
Wilkinson, f
What 1 have ventured to regard as another of the tools of the
Fiff. 219.
Heathery Burn.
' Proe. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 127.
t "Anc. Egyptians," vol. iii. p. 224, fig. 37'">
186
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
bronze-founder is a kind of pointed punch or pricker, of which an
example is given in Fig. 220. This, as well as another which had
lost its point, was found, with socketed celts, gouges, moulds, &c,
forming the whole stock-in-trade of a bronze-founder, in the Isle of
Harty, Kent. It seems to have been furnished with a wooden
handle, into which the tang wras driven as far as the projecting
stop ; and its purpose appears to have been the extraction of the
cores of burnt clay from out of the sockets of the celts. That
these sockets were formed over a core of clay inserted into the
Fig. 220.— Harty. i Fig. 221.— Reach Fen. i
Fig. 222.— Ebnall.
mould is proved by numerous celts having been found with the
cores still in them. The heat of the melted metal wras sufficient
to convert the clay into terra-cotta or brick, and in this condition
the cores have been preserved. Some force was necessary to
extract such hardened cores, and this could be well effected by
driving in such a pointed instrument as that here figured. If the
two prickers from the Harty hoard were originally of the same
length, the broken one has lost a portion from its end exactly
corresponding in length with the depth of the socket of the largest
PUNCHES USED IN ORNAMENTING. 187
celts found with it ; as if it had been driven home through the
burnt clay quite to the bottom of the socket, and then had been
broken off short at the mouth of the celt in the vain endeavour to
extract it.
Some small punches, without any tang for insertion in a handle,
"were found with socketed celts and numerous other objects in the
hoard from Reach Fen, already mentioned. One of these is shown
in Fig. 221. No moulds were discovered in this case ; and though
the hoard has all the appearance of being the stock of an ancient
bronze -founder, it is possible that these shorter punches may here
have been used for some other purpose than that of extracting
cores. The end of one is sharp, that of the other presents a small
oblong face. It is possible that, like the instruments next to be
described, these may have been punches used in the decoration of
other articles of bronze. Mr. H. Prigg,* in his description of this
hoard, has suggested such an use. The large end of the punch
shown in the figure bears no mark of having been hammered ; it
may, however, have been struck with a wooden mallet. Punches,
more chisel-shaped at the point, appear to have been in use for
producing the incuse ornaments which occur on so many of the
liat and flanged celts. I am not aware of any tools which were
undoubtedly used for this purpose having been observed in Britain ;
but, as I have already remarked, there were found at Ebnall,f
Salop, two short-edged tools, which may possibly be punches, and
if so may have been applied to this use. One of these is shown
in Fig. 222, the block for which has been kindly lent me by the
Council of the Society of Antiquaries. The other is described as
of similar form but of rather longer proportions. They were found
in company with spear-heads, celts, gouges, and broad dagger-
blades ; but it does not appear that any of these were ornamented
with punch-marked patterns. The tools may, therefore, have been
merely some kind of strong chisels, possibly used for breaking oft*
the jets and superfluous metal from the castings. The thickness
of the tool is rather greater than the cut would lead one to imagine,
being ^ inch. These two tools have been regarded as ham-
mers, or possibly weights. I have now spoken of them as punches,
or possibly chisels, but it may be that after all it was the broad
end that was destined for use, in which case they might be regarded
as anvils.
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxxvi., p. 59.
t Proc. Hoc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. G6 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xxii p ll
188 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [CHAP. VII.
Whatever the purpose of these particular tools, there can be but
little doubt that punches were in use for the ornamentation of the
flat faces and the sides of celts ; and it will be well to be on the
look out for such tools when hoards belonging to the ancient
bronze-founders are examined. For the most part, however, these
seem to belong to a period posterior to that of the ornamented
flat celts, though decorated spear-heads occur in them.
Some of the punches from the Fonderie de Larnaud and from
the Lake-dwellings may have served for decorating other articles in
bronze.
Awls, Drills, or Prickers.
Allied to the pointed tools last described, but considerably
smaller, are the awls, drills, borers, or prickers of bronze which
have so frequently been found accompanying interments in barrows.
No doubt such instruments must have been in very extensive and
general use ; but it is only under favourable conditions that such
small pieces of metal would be preserved, and when preserved it
is only under conditions equally favourable that they would attract
the attention of an ordinary labourer. It is, therefore, mainly to
the barrow-digger that we are indebted for our knowledge of these
little instruments. Many belong to a very early part of the Bronze
Age, but the form continued in use through the whole period.
A somewhat detailed essay upon them has already appeared in
the Archceologia* in the late Dr. Thurnam's admirable and ex-
haustive paper on " Ancient British Barrows," from which I am
tempted largely to borrow. I am also, through the kindness of
the Council of the Society of Antiquaries, enabled to make use of
some of the woodcuts which illustrate Dr. Thurnam's paper.
He distinguishes three types of these instruments, which, as he
points out, correspond to some extent with as many types or
varieties of the bronze celt. They are as follows : —
I. That with a simply flattened end or tang for insertion into
its handle.
II. That with a well-marked shoulder, where the stem and tang
unite ; the object being to prevent its passing too far into the
handle.
III. That with a regular stop-ridge, or waist, almost as marked
as that in a carpenter's awl, as distinguished from that of a shoe-
maker
• Vol. xliii. p, [64
AWf.S OR PRICKERS.
189
One of the first type, from the Golden barrow at Upton Lovel, is engraved
by Hoare,* and is shown in Fig. 223. With it were two cups, a necklace
of amber beads, and a small bronze dagger. It is almost the longest of
those found by Sir E. Colt Hoare, which were upwards of thirty in
number. The only longer specimen was found in a barrow near Lake,f
and there also some beads and a bronze dagger accompanied the inter-
ment. It is considerably thicker than Fig. 223, and the tang for insertion
in the handle is broader and flatter. A smaller awl of the same character
was found in a barrow on Upton Lovel
Down, | opened by Mr. Cunnington. In this
instance there were two interments in the
same grave, and several flint celts and a
perforated stone battle-axe were found, as
well as numerous instruments of bone, and
a necklace of beads of jet or lignite.
An awl of this kind (3-iV inches) found,
with a spear-head, hammer, knife, and gouge
of bronze, at Thorn don, Suffolk, § most of
them already described, is now in the British
Museum, and is shown in Fig. 224.
Several such instruments, some of them
not more than an inch in length, were found
by Canon Grreenwell || in his exploration of
the Yorkshire barrows. In nine cases awls
or prickers accompanied interments of un-
burnt bodies, and in three cases they were
found among burnt bones. In most in-
stances instruments of flint were found with
them. An aged woman in a barrow on Lang-
ton Wold^f had three bronze awls or prickers,
as well as an assemblage of bono instru-
ments, animal teeth, marine shells, and
(it her miscellaneous property, buried with
her. Dr. Thurnam regarded these as drills
used with a bow, but I think such an use is
doubtful. Some of the awls from the York-
shire barrows, instead of being flattened at
one end, are drawn down to a point at both ends, leaving the middle of
larger diameter so as to form a kind of shoulder. These, I presume, are
included under Dr. Thurnam's Type TI. Sometimes this central part of
the blade is square and sometimes the tang is square, like that described
by Stukeley** from a barrow near Stonehenge as " a sharp bodkin round
at one end, square at the other where it went into a handle."
An awl, square at the centre, and round at each end in section, is shown
in Fig. 225. It was found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow at Buttei
wick, Yorkshire, in company with the celt (Fig. 2), and other objects.
The point has unfortunately been broken off.
A typical example of Dr. Thurnam's second class from a barrow at
Fig. 223. Fig. 224.
Upton Thorn-
Lovel. i don. $
C
I i 225.
Butter-
wick. |
' Vol. i. p. 99, pi. xi. The cut is from the Arch., vol. xliii. p. 466.
f PI. xxx. 3. | Arch., vol. xv. p. 122, pi. iv. 5.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3. || " British Barrows," passim.
I Op. cit., p. 138. -■ ■'Stonehenge." p. 45, pi. i
190 CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. [cHAP. VII.
Bulford,* Wilts, is shown in Fig. 226. Another was found at Beckhamp-
ton, and a small pricker of the same type was found with a burnt inter-
ment at Storrington,f Sussex. Like those found by Sir R. C. Hoare, this
was regarded as the pin for fastening the cloth in which the bones were
collected from the funeral pyre. The fact of several of them having been
found still inserted in their hafts, as will subsequently be seen, will
suffice to prove that this view is mistaken.
Several awls pointed at both ends were found by the late Mr. Bateman
during his researches in the Derbyshire barrows. In Waggon Low X at
the right shoulder of a contracted skeleton were three instruments of
flint, and a small bronze awl 1^ inches long, tapering each way from the
middle, which is square. Another, pointed at each
end, lay with a drinking cup and a rude spear- or
arrow-head of flint near the shoulder of a youthful
skeleton in a barrow near Minning Low.§ Another
of the same kind was found in a barrow on Ham
Moor, || Staffordshire. Another was found with cal-
cined bones in a barrow in Larks-Low, ^f Middleton.
In several instances there were traces of a wooden
handle, as was the case with one, upwards of 3
inches long, which was found with a flint spear-
head, a double-edged axe of basaltic stone, and
objects of bone, among the calcined bones in a
sepulchral urn from a barrow at Throwley.**
In a barrow at Haddon Field f f there was a small
drinking cup near the back of a contracted skeleton,
Fig. 22G. Tig. 227. and beneath this an arrow-head of flint, an instru-
ford. | "s^oke0"1? menf of stag's-horn like a netting mesh, and a bronze
awl showing traces of its wooden handle.
In another barrow near Grotam, Nottinghamshire,^ there lay near the
thigh of a contracted skeleton a neatly chipped spear-head of flint, and a
small bronze pin which had been inserted into a wooden handle.
In a barrow near Fimber,§§ Yorkshire, opened by Messrs. Mortimer,
there were found near the knee of a contracted female skeleton a knife-
like chipped flint and the point of a bronze pricker or awl. With
another female interment in the same barrow a bronze pricker was found
inserted in a short wooden haft. The Britoness in this instance wore a
necklace of jet discs with a triangular pendant of the same material.
A bronze pin, 1£ inches long, accompanied by a broken flint celt and
some arrow-heads and flakes of flint, together with calcined bones, was
found in an urn in Ravenshill barrow, |||| near Scarborough.
In some of the Wiltshire barrows more perfectly preserved handles
have been found. One of these, copied from Hoare's " Ancient Wilt-
shire,"^ is shown in Fig. 227. It was found in the King barrow with
what was probably a male skeleton buried in the hollowed trunk of an
* Arch., vol. xliii. p. 465, fig. 163. f Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. i. p. 55.
% "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 85. $ " Vest. Ant. of Derb.," p. 41.
|| "Vest. Ant. of Derb.," p. 82. U Smith's "Coll. Ant.," vol. i. p. 60, pi. xxi. 3.
** "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 155. ft Lib. cit., p. 106.
XX "Vest. Ant. of Derb.," p. 104.
§§ " Reliquary," vol. ix. p. 07.
Illl Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. vi. p. 3. HU Vol. i. p. 122, pi. xv. No. 3.
AWLS USED IN SEWING. 101
elm tree. With it was a curious urn of burnt clay and two bronze dagger,
one near the breast and the other near the thigh. The handle is
described as being of ivory, but I think Dr. Thurnam was right in regard-
ing it as of bone. The awl in this instance is of the third type, having a
well-marked collar round it. Another of the same character, but retain-
ing only a small part of the haft, so that the shoulder is better shown,
was found with burnt bones in an urn deposited in a barrow near Stone-
henge.* No mention is made as to the nature of the material of which
the haft was formed.
In the case of an awl of the first type, engraved by Dr. Thurnam, and
here reproduced as Fig. 228, the handle is of wood, but the kind of
wood is not mentioned.
One or two bronze or brass awls with square shoidders are in the
Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy.f Several awls with their original
wooden handles have been found in the Lake-dwellings of
Savoy, X and others in hafts of stag's-horn in the Swiss Lake-
dwellings.
Whether the twisted pins from the Wiltshire barrows
are of the nature of gimlets, as suggested by Dr.
Thurnam, is a difficult question. I shall, however,
prefer to treat of them as personal ornaments rather
than as tools. It is possible that they may to some
extent have combined the two functions. As to the
instruments which I have been describing being piercing
tools or awls, there seems to be little doubt ; and
Mr. Bateman can hardly have been far wrong in re-
garding them as intended to pierce skins or leather.
Though not curved like the cobbler's awl of the pre-
sent day, they arc probably early members of the same
family. In Scandinavia these instruments are of
frequent occurrence, sometimes being provided with ^Jdre. i
ornamental handles also made of bronze. § They are
in that part of Europe often found in company with tweezers and
small knives of bronze, and all were probably used together in
sewing, the hole being bored by the awl and the thread drawn
through by the tweezers and, when necessary, cut with the knife.
Possibly the use of bristles as substitutes for needles dates back to
very early times.
In one instance at least tweezers have been found in Britain in
company with objects apparently belonging to the Bronze Age,
though no doubt to a very late part of it. Those represented in
* " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 164, pi. xvii. t Wilde's " Catal.," p. 597.
t Chantre, « Alb.," pi. lxiii.
$ Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," figs. 274,276; Nilsson, " Nordcns Ur.-Invanare,"
55, 57.
192
CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS, [CHAP. VII.
Fig. 229 were discovered near Liang wyllog, * Anglesea, together
with a two-edged razor, a bracelet, buttons, rings, &c, which are
now in the British Museum.
A more highly ornamented pair of tweezers, with a broad end,
found with a bone comb, a quern, spindle- whorls, &c., in a Picts'
house near Kettleburn,t Caithness, belongs to a considerably later
period.
The needles of bronze found in the British Isles do not as a rule
appear to belong to the Bronze Period, though some of those found
on the Continent seem to date back to that age. Two are engraved
by Wilde, + and there are altogether eighteen such articles in the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. A
broken specimen (1| inch) from the sand-
hills near Glenluce,§ Wigtonshire, has been
figured.
Another useful article anciently formed
of bronze — though perhaps not, strictly
speaking, a tool — may as well be men-
tioned in this place ; I mean the fish-
hook, of which, however, I am able to cite
but one example as having been found in
the British Isles. This was found in Ireland,
and is shown in Fig. 230,11 kindly lent by
the Royal Irish Academy.
Fish-hooks of bronze have been found in
considerable abundance on the site of sevenil
of the Swiss Lake-dwellings ; and it is not
a little remarkable that in form many of
them are almost identical with the steel
fish-hooks of the present day. The barb, to prevent the fish
from struggling off the hook, is in most instances present,
and double hooks are occasionally found. The attachment to the
line was, even in the single hooks, frequently made by a loop or
eye, formed by flattening and turning back the upper part of the
shank of the hook. Fish-hooks were found in the Fonderie de
Larnaud (Jura), 11 and in the hoard of St. Pierre-en-Chatre (Oise).
Such are the principal forms of tools and instruments of bronze
found in these islands. Some of them, such as the socketed gouges,
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 74.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 266 ; Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 218.
X " Catal. Mus. E. I. A.,-' p. 547. § " Avr and Wilton Coll.," vol. ii. p. 14.
|| Wilde, " Catal. Mus. E. I. A.," fig. 403. H Chantre, " Age du Br.," lere ptie. p. 87-
Fig. 229.
Llangwyllog.
Fig. 230.
Ireland.
MOSTLY OF LATE DATE. L93
hummers, and chisels, can only belong to the latter part of the
Bronze Period, when the art of using cores in order to produce
sockets or other hollow recesses in castings was well known.
Others, like the simple awls so frequently found in company
with instruments of flint in our barrows, appear to extend from
the commencement of the Bronze Age to its close.
There still remains to be described a class of instruments in
use by the husbandman, and not by the warrior ; and as the
present chapter has extended to such a length, it will be well to
treat of these under a separate heading.
o
CHAPTER VIII.
SICKLES.
Sickles are tlie only undoubtedly agricultural implements in
bronze with which Ave are acquainted in this country. Already
in the Stone Period the cultivation of cereals for food appears to
have been practised, and I have elsewhere* pointed out a form of
flint instrument which may possibly have supplied the place of
sickles or reaping hooks in those early times. The rarity of
bronze sickles in this country, as compared with their abundance
in some parts of Southern Europe, is, however, somewhat striking,
and may, perhaps, point to a considerably less cultivation of grain
crops in Britain than in countries with a warmer climate, while
the inhabitants were otherwise in much the same stage of civilisa-
tion.
The traditions of the use of bronze sickles survived to a com-
paratively late period in Greece and Italy, and Medea is described
by Sophoclesf as cutting her magic herbs with such instruments
(XaAiceoKTiv rffxa cpe-navm? To^ua?), and by Ovid + as doing it
" curvamine falcis ahenaB." Elissa is by Virgil § represented as
using a bronze sickle for similar purposes —
" Falcibus et messae ad lunam quseruntur aenis
Pubentes herbse nigri cum lacte veneni."
When bronze sickles were used for reaping corn it seems to have
been a common custom merely to cut the ears of corn from off the
straw, after the manner of the Gaulish reaping machine described
by Pliny, [J and not to cut and carry away straw and ear together
from the field. This practice will probably account for the small
size, of the sickles which have come down to us, unless we are to
reverse the argument, and derive the custom of cutting off the
* " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 320. f Macrob. " Saturn.," v. c. 19.
+ " Met,," vii. 224. $ " Ma.." lib. iv. 513.
II "Nat. Hist.," xviii. o. 30.
METHOD OF HAFTTNG SICKLEir. 195
pars only from the diminutive size of the instruments employed
for reaping.
Bronze sickles were hafted in different ways, sometimes being
fastened to the handle by a pin, either attached to the stem of
the blade or passing through a hole in it, combined with some
system of binding ; and sometimes being provided with a socket
into which the haft was driven, and then secured by a transverse
pin or rivet.
The sickles with a socket to receive the handle appear to be
peculiar to Britain and the North of France. The other form
occurs over the greater part of Europe, including Scandinavia, and
the blades, as has been observed by Dr. Keller, are always
adapted for use in the right hand. Dr. Gross, of Neuveville, on
the Lake of Bienne, has been so fortunate as to discover at
Moerigen, the site of one of the ancient pile-villages on the lake,
two or three handles for sickles of this kind. A figure showing
three views of one of these handles has been published by the
Koyal Archaeological Institute,* and is here by permission repro-
duced as Fig. 231. This handle is formed of yew, curiously
carved so as to receive the thumb and fingers, and has a flat place
at the end against which the blade was fastened. In this place
there are two grooves to receive the slightly projecting ribs with
which the stem of the sickle-blade is usually strengthened. Dr.
Kellerf has suggested that the blade of the sickle was made fast
to the handle by means of a kind of ferrule which passed over it,
and was secured in its place by two pins or nails.
The end of the handle forms a ridge, through which are two
holes that would admit a small cord for the suspension of the
sickle, and thus prevent its being lost either on land or water.
We find this sailor-like habit prevailing among the Lake-dwellers
in the case of their flint knives also, the handles of which were
often perforated.
There is a remarkable resemblance in character between this
handle and some of those in use among the Esquimaux + for their
planes and knives, which are recessed in the same manner for the
reception of the fingers and the thumb.
Some iron sickles, of nearly the same form as those in bronze
with the flat stem, were present in the great Danish find of the
Early Iron Age at VimoseJ described by Mr. ('. Engelhardt. Tl
Arch. Joum., vol. xxx. p. 192. t Keller. 7ter Bericht, Taf \ii. l.
See Lubbock's "Preh. Times,'' p. 513. § " Vimose Fundi fc," 1869, p. 26.
o2
19(5
SICKLES
| (HAP. VIII.
chord of the curved blades is from 6 to 7 inches in length, and
one of the instruments still retained its original wooden handle.
This is between 9 and 10 inches long, and is curved at the part
intended to receive the hand. The end is conical, like the head
Fig. 231.— Three views of a handle for a sickle, Moorigen.
of a screw, and is evidently thus made in order to give a secure
hold to the reaper when drawing the sickle towards him. Sickles
with nearly similar handles were in use in Smaaland,* in the South
of Sweden, until recent days.
* "Aaxbogerfor Oldkynd.," 18G7, p. 250.
WITH PROJECTING KNOI5S.
197
Of sickles without a socket but few have been found in Britain, \
and those mostly in our Western Counties. In a remarkable hoard
found in a turbary at Edington Burtle,* near Glastonbury, Somer-
setshire, were four of these flat sickles. One of these had never
been finished, but had been left rough as it came from the mould,
into which the metal had been run through a channel near the
point of the sickle. A projection still marks the place where the
jet was broken off. As will be seen from Fig. 232, this blade is
Fig. 232.— Edington Burtle.
provided with two projecting pins for the purpose of attaching it
to the handle. In this respect it differs from the sickles of the
ordinary continental type, which, when of this character, have
usually but a single knob.
Another of the Edington sickles with a single projection is
Fig. 233.— Edington Burtle. *
shown in Fig. 233. This blade is more highly ornamented, and
lias a rib along the middle in addition to that along the back, no
doubt for the purpose of increasing stiffness while diminishing
weight. Of the other two sickles found at Edington, one is im-
perfect and the other much worn. Both are provided with the
two projecting pins.
Two other sickles found on Sparkford Hill,f also in Somerset-
shire, present the same peculiarity. One of these much resembles
Somerset Arch, and Nat. /lis/, /'roc, L854, vol. v. ]> 91.
t Op. cit., IHoG— 7, v"]. vii. p 27.
198
SICKLES
[chap. VIII.
Fig. 233, though nearly straight along the back. The other is
flat on both faces. Each has lost its point. A chisel-like tool was
found with them.
With the Edington sickles were found a broad fluted penannular
armlet and what may have been a finger-ring of the same pattern,
a plain j)enannular armlet of square section, part of a light funicular
torque like Fig. 467, part of a ribbon torque like Fig. 469, and
four penannular rings, some of them apparently made from frag-
ments of torques.
Two other sickles of the same character, each with two pro-
jecting pins, were found in Taunton * itself in association with
twelve palstaves, a socketed celt, a hammer (Fig. 214), a fragment
of a spear-head, a double-edged knife, a funicular torque (Fig.
468), a pin (Fig. 451), some fragments of other pins, and several
penannular rings of various sizes.
Fig. 234.— Thames.
All the objects found at Edington, Sparkford Hill, and Taunton
are now in the museum in Taunton Castle.
A thinner form of flat sickle, if such it be, has been found in
Kent. Among a number of bronze objects which were discovered
at Marden,f near Staplehurst, there is a slightly curved blade with
a rivet at one end, which appears to present a sickle-like character.
I have not seen the original, and as it is described as a knife-blade
it may prove to have been one, or possibly, what is of far rarer
occurrence, a saw.
Of socketed sickles a few have at different times been dredged
up from the Thames. One of these, found in 1859, is in my own
collection, and is shown in Fig. 234. The blade, which is almost
as sharp at the back as at the edge, is not quite central with the
* Arch. Journ., rol. xxxrii. p. 94. Pring, " Brit, and Roman Taunton," pi. i. 3.
t Arch. Assoc Tourn., vol. siv. p. 258, pi. 13, No. 1.
WITH SOCKETS.
199
socket, but so placed as to make the instrument better adapted for
use in the right hand than in the left The socket tapers con-
siderably, and is closed at the end.
In another sickle found in the Thames, near Bray, Berks* (Fig-. 235), the
socket dies into the blade instead of forming a distinct feature. A third,
found near AVindsor, and engraved in the Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries,] closely resembles Fig. 234, but the end of the socket, instead
of being closed, is open. The blade of this also is sharp on both edges.
One from Stretham Fen, in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian
Society (about 5i inches), is of the same character. It has two rivet-holes
in the socket. Another from Downham Fen (5f inches) is sharp on both
edges.
In the Norwich Museum is a sickle of somewhat the same character as
Fig. 235, but the socket instead of being oval is oblong, and is placed at a
less angle to the blade, which in this case also is double-edged. The
Fig. 235.— Near i
socket is \\ by -& inch, and has one rivet-hole through it. The curved
knife from AVicken Fen, to be described in the next chapter, much
resembles this Norwich example in outline. Another sickle from Nor-
folk J was exhibited to the Archaeological Institute in 1851. Mr. Franks
has shown me a sketch of another found at Dereham which has the
external edge of the blade extending across the end of the socket. Both
edges of the blade are sharp.
But few sickles have been found in Scotland. That shown in Fig. 236
was found in the Tay,§ near Enrol, Perthshire, in 1840, and has been
described by Dr. J. Alexander Smith. The block, which has been kindly
lt-iit me by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, is engraved on the
scale of two-thirds linear, instead of my usual scale of one-half. The
ma in difference between this specimen and mine from the Thames (Fig.
1 Proc. Soe. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p
% Arch. Joum., vol. viii. p. 191.
85. I 2nd S., vol. v. p. 95.
§ Proc. <S'oc. Ant s< '
vol. vii. p. 378.
200
SICKLES
[chap. VIII.
234) consists in the blade being fluted. Another more rudely made
sickle, found at Edengeraeh,* Premnay, Aberdeenshire, has also been
engraved. This has a single central rib along the blade and no rivet-
Perhaps it is an unfinished casting.
hole through the socket
Fig. 236.— Near Errol, Perthshire.
In Sinclair's " Statistical Account of Scotland"! it is stated that an
instrument of this class was found at Ledbeg, Sutherlandshire, and was
pronounced by the Earl of Bristol, then Bishop of Derry, to whom it
was presented, to be a Druidical pruning hook similar to several found
in England.
In Ireland these instruments are much more abundant. Eleven
specimens are mentioned by Wilde + as being in the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy, and there are three in the British
Museum, as well as one in that at Edinburgh.
That engraved as Fig. 237 is in the
collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S.,
and was found at Garvagh, county
Derry. The blade is fluted somewhat
like that of the Tay specimen. In
one of those engraved by Wilde (Fig.
405) it is more highly ornamented.
In another the socket is not closed
at the end, but resembles that of
the Windsor example already men-
tioned. Tins appears to be the one
engraved by Vallancey§ who ob-
serves that it was ' ' called by the
Irish a Searo," and that it was used
'to cut herbs, acorns, misletoe, &c." In another || the blade forms
Fig. 237.— Garvagh, Deny. \
f /'roc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 376.
t Vol. xvi. p. 206, eitf-il l,v Wilson, " Preh. Ann.,'* vol. i. p. 101.
j " Catal.," p. -527.
I "Coll. de Reb. Eib.," vol. iv. pi. x. 4, p. 60.
|| Fig. 406. Compare " Hone Keniles," pi. x. 19
FOUND IN IRELAND.
201
ii direct continuation of the socket as in Fig. 238, which is engraved
from a specimen in the British Museum, found near Athlone, county
Westmeath.
Vallancey, in his "Collectanea," has figured another. In the collection
of Mr. J. Holmes is another example of this type. Another sickle
of the same character as Fig. 237, found near Ballygawley,* Tyrone,
has also been figured. This specimen is among those in the British
Museum.
A socketed sickle, double-edged, and with a concavity on each side at
the angle between the blade and the socket so deep as to meet and form
a hole, was found in Alderney, and is engraved in the Archaeological
Association Journal.] With it were found socketed celts, spear-heads,
/:
Fig. 238.— Athlone. i.
and broken swords and daggers. This may be regarded as a French
rather than an English example.
In my own collection is another, from the Seine at Paris, about 7 inches
ii! 1 ''ii -tli along the outer edge of the Made, wliicli extends pas! the end
of the socket. This still contains a part of the wooden handle, w hich lias
been secured in its place by two rivets, apparently of bronze. In general
outline this sickle is much like Fig. 234, but the blade is narrower and
more curved and the .socket, more flattened. In the museum a! Amiens
* Arch. Journ., vol ii. p. isg Sue also Dublin Penny Journ., i. p.
Perales," pi. x. 18.
t Vol. iii. p. 9.
108
Horsa
202 sickles [chap. VIII.
is another sickle, in form closely resembling Fig. 234, but with a loop at
the back of the socket. M. Chantre in his magnificent work, ' ' L' Age
du Bronze," does not specify this socketed type, though he divides the
form without socket into five different varieties. The socketed form
appears to be quite unknown in the South of France, as it also is in
Switzerland.
These three are the only instances I can cite of socketed sickles
having been found outside the British Isles, so that this type of
instrument appears to be peculiarly our own. The existence of
a socket shows that the form does not belong to an early period
in the Bronze Age, and the same is to be inferred from the
character of the other bronze objects with which the Alderney
sickle was found associated.
Inasmuch as the continental forms are as a rule different
from the British, and as they are, moreover, well known, it will
suffice to indicate some few of the works in wdiich descriptions of
them will be found. Some from Camenz, in Saxony, have been
engraved in illustration of a paper by myself in the Proceedings
of the Society of Antiquaries*
Others from Germany, some of which are said to have Roman
numerals upon them, have been figured by Lindenschmit.t
Examples from Italy have been given by Strobel,+ Gastaldi, §
Lindenschmit,|| and others.
They have been found in great abundance in some of the settle-
ments on the lakes of Switzerland and Savoy. It has been thought
that the Lake-dwellers did not cut off merely the ears of their corn,1i
but " that the straw was taken with it, otherwise there would not
have been the seeds of so many weeds in the corn." Diodorus Siculus,
however, who wrote in the first century B.C., tells us distinctly
that the Britons gathered in their harvest by cutting off the ears
of corn and storing them in subterraneous repositories. From
these they picked the oldest day by day for their food. Whether
for threshing they made use of the tribulum** that " sharp
threshing instrument having teeth," before Roman times, is doubt-
ful ; but that so primitive an instrument, armed with flakes of
flint or other stone, should have remained in use in some Mediter-
ranean countries until the present day, is a remarkable instance
2nd S., vol. iii. p. 333.
t "Samml. zu Sigmar.," Taf. xli. ; " Alt. u. li. Vorz.," vol. i. Eeft xii. Taf. ii.
: " Avanzi Prerom.," 1863, Tav. ii. 6, 7.
§ "Nuovi Cenni," 1862, Tav. iv. 17, 18. || " Samml. zu Sigmar ' Taf. xli.
H Stevens, " Flint chips," p. 1.57.
: See Evans, " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 256
FOUND ON THE CONTINENT. 203
of the power of survival of ancient customs. Such an instance
of persistence in a primitive form much reduces the extreme im-
probability of the use of bronze sickles in Germany having lasted
until a time when Roman numerals might appear upon them.
If every St. Andrew's cross and every straight line found upon
ancient instruments is to be regarded as a Roman numeral, and
the objects bearing them are to be referred to Roman times as
their earliest possible date, the range of Roman antiquities will
be much enlarged, and will be found to contain, among other
objects, a large number of the bronze knives from the Swiss
Lake-dwellings ; for one of the most common ornaments on
the backs of these knives consists of a repetition of the pattern
XIIIIIXIIIMXIMII
Even were it proved that in some part of Europe the use of
bronze sickles survived to so late a date as supposed by Dr. Lin-
denschmit, their great scarcity in the British Isles affords a conclu-
sive argument against their being assigned to the period of the
Roman occupation, of which other remains have come down to us
in such abundance.
CHAPTER IX.
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
It is a question whether, if in this work strict regard had been paid
to the development of different forms of cutting implements, the
knife ought not to have occupied the first place, rather than the
hatchet or celt ; for when bronze was first employed for cutting
purposes it was no doubt extremely scarce, and would therefore
hardly have been available for any but the smaller kinds of tools
and weapons.
Both hatchets and knives, or rather knife-daggers, have been
found with interments in barrows ; but it seems better to include
the majority of the latter class of instruments, which appear to
occupy an intermediate place between tools and weapons, in the
next chapter, which treats of daggers; rather than in this, which will
Fig. 239.— Wicken Fen. £
be devoted to what appear to be forms of tools and implements.
Some of these, however, like the celt or hatchet, may have been
equally available both for peaceful and warlike uses ; and though
I have to some extent tried to keep tools and weapons under
different headings, it appears impossible completely to carry out
any such system of arrangement. Nor in treating of what I have
regarded as knives does it seem convenient first to describe what
appear to be the simpler and older forms, inasmuch as there are
other forms which in all respects except the shape of the blade so
closely resemble some of the socketed sickles described in the last
chapter, thai they seem nlmost n\' neeessiu to follow immediately
SOCKETED KNIVES.
205
in order. The first instrument which I shall cite has sometimes
indeed been regarded as a sickle, though it is more properly-
speaking a curved knife.
It was found in Wick en Fen, and is now in the Museum of the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society, the Council of which has
kindly permitted me to engrave it as Kg. 239.
It has already been figured, but not quite accu-
rately, in the Archaeological Journal,* the rib at
the back of the blade being omitted. I am not
aware of any other example of this form of
knife having been found in the United Kingdom,
but a double-edged socketed knife with a curved
blade, found in Ireland, is in the Bateman Col-
lection.
The ordinary form of socketed knife has
a straight double-edged blade, extending
from an oval or oblong socket, pierced by
one or two holes, through which rivets or
pins could pass to secure the haft. These
holes are usually at right angles to the axis
of the blade, but sometimes in the same
plane with it.
Fig. 240 shows a knife with two rivet-holes,
which was found at Thorndon, Suffolk, together
with socketed celts, a spear-head, hammer,
gouge, and an awl, several of which have been
figured in preceding pages. Another (9 inches
long), much like Fig. 240, but with the sides of
the socket flat, and the blade more fluted, was
found in the Thames, and is engraved in the
Archceological Journal.^ Another, of much the
same size and general character, formed part of
a hoard of bronze objects found in Reach Fen,
near Burwell, of which mention has already fre-
quently been made. It is in my own collection,
and is shown in Fig. 241. I have another,
(U inches long, found in Edmonton Marsh.
A fine blade of this kind, with two rivet-holes
in the hilt (14£ inches), was found in the New Forest, Glamorganshire,
and was formerly in the Meyrick Collection.]: It is now in tho British
Museum. The blade has shallow flutings parallel with the edp's.
A socketed knife of this kind (4i inches) was found by General A.
Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., in a pit at the foot of the interior slope of the rampart
of Highdown Camp,§ near Worthing, Sussex. It may possibly have
accompanied a funereal deposit.
Vol. vii. p. 302. t Vol. xxxiv. p. 301.
X "Anc. Armour," pi. xlvii. 11. § Arch., vol. xlii. p. 75, pi. viii. 22.
! as
Pig. 240.— Fig. 241.—
Thorndon. -J- Beach Fen. J
_>l)l.
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
[(HAP. IX.
In some Instances the two rivet-holes run lengthways of the oval of the
socket. One such, discovered with other objects at Lanant, Cornwall
(8J inches), is engraved in the Archeeologia.* It is now in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries. One like it was found on Holyhead Moun-
tain,! Anglesea, and is now in the British Museum.
A fragment of a knife of this kind is in the museum at Amiens, and
formed part of a hoard found near that town. It has a beading at the
mouth of the socket, and also one about
midway between the rivet-holes.
Commonly there is but a single
hole through the socket, especially in
the smaller specimens. That shown
in Fig. 242 is of this kind, but pre-
sents the remarkable feature of hav-
ing upon each face of the socket six
small projecting bosses simulating
rivet-heads. It was found in the
Heathery Burn Cave,+ Durham, with
socketed celts, spear-heads, and nu-
merous other articles. Another from
the same cave (5| inches) with a
plain and rather larger socket is in
the collection of Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S.
Of other specimens, but without the
small bosses, the following may be men-
tioned : — One (6£ inches long) found with
socketed celts, part of a sword blade,
and a gouge, at Martlesham, Suffolk,
and in the possession of Captain Brooke,
of Ufford Hall. Two found in the
Thames near Wallingford.§ Another (5f
inches), from the same source, in my
own collection. This was found with a
socketed celt, gouge, chisel, and razor
(Fig. 269). One from Llandysilio, Den-
bighshire, found with socketed celts and
a spear-head, is in Canon Greenwell' s
collection. A knife of this kind was
among the relics found above the stalag-
mite in Kent's Cavern, near Torquay.
I have a knife of this character ' \'\ inches), but with the rivet-hole in ;i
line with the edges of the blade, found in Dors^ I ;
Vol. xv. p. lis, pi. ii.; "Catal. Mus. Soc. Ant..'- p. 10.
t Arch. Jonrn., vol. xxiv. p. 254.
; Pmc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132; 4, ! . Journ., vol. six. p. 3o9. This cut is
I by the Society. • Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 303.
I-'i
2 12.
E( at hery Fig. 243.— Kilgras-
ton, l'ertiislm
Burn Cave. £
SCOTTISH AM) i K I S 1 1 KNIVES.
207
In Scotland the socketed form of knife is very ran
That shown in Fig. 243 was found at Kilgraston, Perthshire, and is in
the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.K..S. It has a central rib along the
blade and two shorter lateral ribs, and in some respects bus more the
appearance of being a spear-head than a knife.
Another, with the rivet-hole in the same plane as the blade, was found
near Campbelton, Argyleshire, and has been engraved as a spear-head by
Professor Daniel Wilson.* The discovery of a blade having its original
handle, as subsequently mentioned, proves, however, that some of these
are rightly regarded as knives, though another form (Fig. 328) has more
the appearance of being a spear-head. The curved knife with a socket,
figured by the same author,! can hardly, I think, be Scottish.
In Ireland the socketed form of knife is more abundant than in
either England or Scotland. No less than thirty- three such knives+
are recorded by Sir W. Wilde, as preserved in
the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, of five
of which he gives figures. Many specimens also
exist in private collections.
That shown in Fig. 244 is in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., and was found at Kells, Co.
Meath. As will be observed, the blade is at the base
somewhat wider than the socket. The indented Knes
upon it appear to have been produced in the cast-
ing, and not added by any subsequent process. A
knife of the same kind, found in the Bog of Augh-
rane, near Athleague, Co. Galway, is still attached
to the original handle, which, like many of those of
the flint knives found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings,
is formed of yew. It has been several times figured. §
I have a specimen of the same character, but in
outline more like Fig. 240, 6 inches long, from the
North of Ireland.
A knife of this kind, found in a hoard at St. Ge-
noulph, is in the Tours Museum.
In some instances the junction between the blade and the socket
is made to resemble that between the hilt and blade of some of the
bronze swords and daggers, such as Figs. 291 and 34!>.
The example shown in Fig. 245 is in my own collection. I do not,
however, know in what part of Ireland it was found. The rivet-hole is
at the side, and not on the face, in which, however, there is a slight Haw,
which assumes the appearance of a hole in the figure. In Canon Green-
up IPs collection is ;i nearly similar specimen (10-J- inches), found al Balte-
ragh, Co. Deny, with two rivet-holes at the side and the socket some
what ornamented by parallel grooves at the mouth and at the juncti
witl i the blade.
* " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 390. f Op. eit., p. 402. J"Catal.,; p
§ "Catal. Mns. R. I. A.," fig. 35 h., vol. xxxvi. p. 330; Feral |
:i. Kells.
208
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
[chap. IX.
Ono of the socketed knives in the Academy Museum at Dublin has two
rivet-holes on the face. Of the others, about
two-thirds have a single rivet-hole on the face,
and the other third one on the side.
A long blade, somewhat differing in its details
from Fig. 245, was found between Lurgan and
Moira, Co. Down, and, it is stated, in company
with the bronze hilt or pommel shown in Fig.
246. These objects formed part of the Wilshe
Collection, and are now in the Museum of the
Eoyal Irish Academy. Two objects, somewhat
similar to Fig. 246, found with spear-heads in
Cambridgeshire, will subsequently be mentioned.
A piece of bronze of much the same form, found
with a hoard of bronze objects at Marden,* in
Kent, seems to be a jet or waste piece from a
casting. It has, however, been regarded as part
of a fibula.
The socketed form of lmife is hardly known
upon the Continent, though, as will have been
observed, it has occasionally been found in the
North of France. Among the fragments of
metal forming part of the deposit of an ancient
bronze-founder, and discovered at Dreuil, near
Amiens, I have the fragments of two such
knives. I have also a fine and entire specimen,
9J inches long, from the bed of the Seine at
Charenton, near Paris. There is a transverse
rib at each end and in the middle of the socket,
through the face of which are two rivet-holes.
A portion of the original wooden handle is still
in the socket, secured in its place by two pins,
also apparently of wood, which pass through the
rivet-holes. Another knife (6f inches), like
Fig. 241, but with only one rivet-hole, was also
found in the Seine at Paris, and is now in my
collection.
Several socketed knives with curved blades
have been found in the Swiss Lake- dwellings,
and one such, found with the sickle already
mentioned, is in the Amiens Museum.
There is another form of socketed knife
which it will be well here to mention. The
blade is sharp on both sides, but instead
of beim; flat it is curved into a semicircle.
For a typical example I am obliged to have
recourse to a French specimen.
That shown in Fig. 247 is in my own collection, and was found with a
* Arch. Assoc. Jon,)!., vol. xiv. p. 258.
Fig. 245.— Ireland. $
CURVED KNIVES.
209
gold torque and bracelet, a bronze anvil (Fig. 217), and other objects, at
Fresno la Mere, near Falaise, Calvados. It seems well adapted for
working out hollows in wood. With it was found a small, tanged, single-
edged knife, the end of which is bent to a smaller curve.
An instrument of much the same character (4 inches) was found,
with a bronze sword, spear-heads, &c, in the Island of Skye, and is now
h
'ins. — Moira.
Fiff. 247.— Fresne la Mere.
in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. As Professor Daniel Wilson*
observes, " in general appearance it resembles a bent spear-head, but it
has a raised central ridge on the inside, while it is nearly plain and
smooth on the outer side. — The most probable use for which it has been
designed would seem to be for scraping out the interior of canoes and
show ii
other large vessels made from the trunk of the oak.
It
is
U.S
Kig. 248. Another instrument of the same kind (4.V inches), found at
Wester Orel, Invergordon, Boss-shire, is engraved in the Proceedings of the
- B— Skye. *
Fig. 249.— "YVcstor Old.
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland,^ and is here by their permission repro-
duced as Fig. 249.
It seems by no means improbablo that such instruments may have l>< < M
* "Proh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 400; Vroc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. viii. p. 310. The cut U
here reproduced by permission of Messrs. Macinillun.
t Vol. viii. p. 310.
'.
KM\I\ R\ OKS. 1 l>
i 11 VI' l\.
tuisttlkou for bent spear lu\wls, ami that thov are OOtquitOSO vaiv &s would
at present ftmv
l'w o '■ > -nous of the socketed form ha\ P boon found in the I .ako Settle
mont of t ho l\iw\ Vive*, near I \.i. ami an' u>>\\ in the uuimmiiii oi
that town Another, with « tam;-. is in the collection oi M Forel, of
Mo w found among tin* j>ilo dwellings near that j>la>
\ jmont of what «pp< k> one of these ourved knives,
hut with a sv>livl handle, aiul not R Socket, was found with gouges and
\ ........ lloun-
sk>w . and is now in the
1;- it -'•. Museum,
w hat seems to be I
tanged curved knife of this
kind formed part of the
.a\l.
Another form of
knife, which appears to
be intermediate between
those with sockets and
those v -.: h merely a thu
tan . - shown in 1
>0 h\ this there are
\ tiding .-
the b\
which would \ e the
ends ■ he two ]
wood or horn destined
to form t ho handle, so
that a sing rivet s
d to bind them and
the blade bt thorn
tirmh :,v;- tli
and
in ' •■ v
u in
OXI D I oll<
■
v \ r s kind The
\ trith a ■ i or s
A- - ■
V
U \l\ I.S Willi RRO \ l> I \ M.S. ! I |
cases provided with rivets li\ which ii could be fastened to o
handle, in others without rivets, as il it had been simply driven
iiiio ;i handle,
The blade shown in Fig*. 251 was found in the samo hoard ai thai
engraved as Fig, 241. The rivets are fast attached to the blade, and
the handle through whioh they passed was probably of some porishablo
material, suoh as wood, horn, or bone
Another blade (6 j inches), with a broad tang and two rivet-holes, wai
found In the Thamoi
In the British Museum is a knife much Like the figuro, n inches Long,
and showing three facets on the blade, found in the Thames al Kingston.
The knife-blades with broad tangs, which were not riveted to
their bandies, were in some instanoes provided with a central
ridge upon the tang, which served to steady then] in their handles,
and in ol hers the Bte r tang was left plain.
One of the former olass, from the Heatherj Bum Gave, is shown in
Fig. 252. II is in the collection of Oanon Greenwoll, F.E.S.
An imperfeot knife of the same kind, found in Yorkshire, is in the
Scarborough M useum.
Another, with the edges more ogival, Like Fig. 241, was round in the
neighbourhood of Nottingham.,-) with sooketed oelts and numerous other
objeots in bronze.
Another, broader al the base and more like n dnggor in character, was
found wiili various other articles al Marden,J Kent.
Mon< leaf-shaped and sharply pointed f ■ I - • ■ I < ■ ol llu.i kind, probably
daggers rather than Knives, Im.vo been often found '" treland. One
in.1, inohes) has been figured l»y Wilde. Another was in the Dowris
hoard.
In ilnt Isle of Harty hoard, already more (nan nine oited, was a knife
with a plain tang, shown in Fig. 253, li has rather the appearance of
having been made from the point of a broken sword, as the edges of the
tang have been "upset" by hammering. The blade itself is now
narrower than the tang, the result probably ol* muoh w©ar and use.
The end of a broken sword in Hie Dowris hoard has been oonverted
into 8 knife in n. similar manner. In 1 1 1 < ■ collection ol 1 1 1 ■ late Lord
Braybrooke is what appears to be part of a tanged knife, sharpened al
i lie broken end so as to form ;i ohisel.
In the Reach Fen hoard was a knife | I', inohes) of much the samo
character, but nol so broad in the tang.
A llni. blade with a tang for insertion in a hafl must have been a verj
early form of metal tool. Among the Assyrian relies from Tel 8ifr, in
South Babylonia, suoh blades were found, of which there are examples in
the British Museum.
Oanon Greenwell, F.R.S., has two leaf-shaped blades of copper, with
tangs set in handles of bone rather longer than the blades, which wen
lately in use among the Esquimaux. In form they resemble Fig. 257.
• /■>■,„■. $oo. /int., 2nd 8., rol, ii, p. 229 I Proc 8oo. Ant., 2nd 8., vol. i p. 83
| Arch, dstoo. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 268. j "Catal.," p. 187, fig 3615
i. 0
212
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
[chap. IX.
It will now be well to mention some of the other -Irish speci-
mens of this class.
The knives with the projecting rib upon the tang are by no means
uncommon, and there are several in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy and elsewhere. Canon Greenwell has one (6§ inches) from
A
I
i
Fig. 252. — Ileathery Burn Cave.
Kg. 253.— Harty.
Fig. 264. — Ireland.
Ballynascreen, Co. Tyrone, much like that from tho Heathery Burn Cave
(Fig. 252).
The knife or dagger with a plain tang and an ornamented blade
engraved as Fig. 254 is in the Museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy.
Another, simply ridged and with a single rivot-hole in the tang, found at
Craigs,* Co. Antrim, is in the collection of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A. It is less
round-ended than the Made with a central rib along it and one rivet-hole
in the tang, shown in Fig. 255. This is in my own collection, and was
found at Ballyclare, Co. Antrim.
* Froc. Soc. An/,., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 269 (woodcut),
KNIVES "WITH LANCEOLATE BLADES.
213
A mould for blades of this character will subsequently be mentioned.
Another form of knife, unless possibly it was intended for a lance-
head, is shown in Fig. 256. This specimen is also from the Reach Fen
hoard, but is of 3-ellower metal and differently patinated from the objects
found with it. Canon Greenwell has a knife of the same form (4f inches),
found at Seamer Carr, Yorkshire. Another, smaller (3f inches), is in
the British Museum, but its place of finding is not known. A nearly
similar blade, found near Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, is shown in Fig. 257.
Another example of this form (5£ inches) is in the British Museum.
Sir W. Wilde * has figured some other examples of the same kind, from
3 to 4 inches long, which he regarded as arrow-heads. They appear to
me, however, too large for such a purpose.
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy is yet another variety, with
the blade pierced in the centre (Fig. 258).
Fig. 255.— Ballyelare. J Fig. 25G. -Reach Fen. ^ Fig. 257.— Bally castle. * Fig. 258.— Ireland. I
Before proceeding to describe some other symmetrical double-
edged blades, it will be well to notice such few examples as have
been found of single-edged blades, like the ordinary knives of the
present day. Abundant as these are, not only in the Lake-dwell-
ings of Switzerland, but in France and other continental countries,
they are of extremely rare occurrence in the British Isles.
259 I have engraved a small instrument of this kind, found at
Bar Tring, Herts, the bundle of which terminates in the
Wiffginton, ne
Head <>1 an animal. It was therefore not intended for insertion into a
halt of some other material
• " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 503, figs. 387, 388, 389.
214
KNIVES, KAZORS, ETC.
[CHAP. IX.
I have another bronze knife, rather longer and narrower, and with a
pointed tang-, which is said to have been found in London ; but of this I
am by no means certain.
The rude knife found with the Isle of Harty hoard, and shown full size
Fig. 259.— Wigginton.
as Fig. 260, is the only other English specimen with which I am ac-
quainted, but no doubt more exist.
The only specimen mentioned in the Catalogue of the Museum of the
Society of Antiquaries of Scotland is in all 14 inches long, with a thick
back and notched tang, and of this the place of finding is unknown.
Fig. 260.— Isle of Harty. J
Professor Daniel Wilson * speaks of it as having been found in Ayrshire,
and regards it as a reaping instrument. He also figures a socketed knife
of much the same size from the collection of Sir John Clerk at Peni-
cuick House, in which are also some tanged specimens. I cannot help
suspecting that these are of foreign origin.
In Ireland the form appears to be at present unknown.
In Fig. 2G1 is shown a knife of a form which is of extremely
rare occurrence in this country ;
though, as will be seen, it has
frequently been found in France.
The specimen here figured has
been kindly lent me by Mr. Hum-
phrey Wick ham, of Strood, and was
found with a hoard of bronze objects
at Allhallows, Hoo,f Kent. The
hoard contained socketed celts, gouges, a spear-head, fragments of
swords, and the object engraved as Fig. 286. One more crescent-like in
form was found with a hoard of bronze objects near Meldreth, Cam-
bridgeshire, and is in the British Museum.
Knives of this kind were associated with celts, gouges, &c, in the hoard
* "Preh. Ann. Scot.," vol. i. p. 402. t Arch. Cant., vol. xi. p. 125, pi. c. 14.
KNIVES OF PECULIAR TYPES. 215
of Notre-Dame d'Or, now in the museum at Poitiers. Two also were
present in the Alderney hoard found near the Pierre da Villain.*
Some knives of this character were found with a hoard of bronze tools
and weapons at Questembert, Brittany, and are now in the museum at
Yannes. A broken one was in the hoard of the Jardin des Plantes,
Nantes. f One from La Manche is engraved in the Memoirs of the Society
of Antiquaries of Normandy, 1827 — 8, pi. xvi. 20. A knife of this
character of rectangular form, each side being brought to an edge,
was found with other bronze relics at Ploneour, Brittany, and is en-
graved in the Archceologia Camhrensis.% In character this knife closely
resembles some of those in flint. § A kind of triangular knife of the
same character was found at Briatexte|| (Tarn). One from the station
of Eaux Vives, in the Lake of Geneva, has the face ornamented at the
blunt margin with a vandyke of hatched triangles. In some French
varieties there are rings at the top of the blade instead of holes through
it. In a curious specimen from St. Julien, Chateuil, in the collection of
M. Aymard, at Le Puy, the edge is nearly semicircular, and there are
eight round holes through the blade as well as two rings at the back.
Some of the razors from the Lake-dwellings of Savoy and Switzerland
are of much the same character as these knives. I have a knife of this
class with a rather large triangular opening in it and two circular loops,
found at Bernissart, Hainault. ^f Another somewhat different was found at
Lavene** (Tarn).
Fig. 262— Cottle.
A Danish ff knife of this character has five circular loops along the
hollowed back. A Mecklenburg H knife has three such loops and corded
festoons of bronze between.
The bronze knife or razor, shown full size in Pig. 262, was found at
Cottle, §§ near Abingdon, and is now in the British Museum. It is of a
pecidiar and distinct type, but somewhat resembles in character the
oblong bronze cutting instrument found at Ploneour, Brittany, already
mentioned. It is thinner and flatter than would appear from the figure.
A Mecklenburg || || knife or razor figured by Lisch is analogous in form.
I have a rough and imperfect blade of somewhat the same character ;is
that from Cottle, but thinner and more curved. It has no hole through
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 9. t Parcnfruu, " Mati'riaux," vol. v. pi. viii. \C>.
X 3rd S., vol. vi. p. 138. § " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 304, fig. 265.
|| "Materiaux," vol. xiv. pi. ix. 4.
If "Ann. ducerclo Arch, do Mons," 1857, pi. i- 6.
** "Materiaux," vol. xiv. p. 480. ft Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," fig. 1G0.
XX Lisch, "Fredcr. Francisc," tali. xvii. 10.
§§ /'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 301. For the use of this cut 1 am indebti d to
the Council of the Society.
Illl " Freder. Francisc," tah. xviii. 14.
216
KNIVES, RAZORS, KT< .
[chap. IX.
it, but thickens out at one end into a short boat-shaped projection about
^ inch long. It was found near Londonderry.
A diminutive pointed blade which appears to be too small to have been
in use as a dagger, and which from the rivet-hole through the tang can
hardly have served as an arrow or lance head, is shown in Fig. 263. This
specimen formed part of the Eeach Fen hoard. A very small example of
this kind of blade, from a barrow near Eobin Hood's Ball, Wilts, has
been figured by the late Dr. Thurnam, F.S.A., in his second exhaustive
paper on "Ancient British Barrows," published in the Arclmologia*
from which I have derived much useful information.
A small blade with the sides more curved is shown in Fig. 264, which I
have copied from Dr. Thurnam' s engraving. \ The original was found in
Lady Low, Staffordshire.
A smaller example, with a longer and imperforated tang, found in an
urn at Broughton,^ Lincolnshire, and now in the British Museum, has
been thought to be an arrow-head ; but I agree with Dr. Thurnam in
regarding both it and the small blades described by Hoare \
heads, as being more probably small double-edged knives.
as arrow-
Fig 263.
Fig. 264.
Fig. 265.
Fig. 266
teach Fen.
\
Lady Low. i
Winterslow.
A
9
1'iiddy.
Some remarks as to the almost if not absolutely entire absence
of bronze arrow-heads in this country will be found in a subsequent
page.
The larger specimens of these tanged blades of somewhat tri-
angular outline I have described as daggers, but I must confess
that the distinction between knives and daggers is in such cases
purely arbitrary. The more rounded forms which now follow seem
rather of the nature of tools or toilet instruments than weapons.
Fig. 265, copied from Dr. Thurnam's plate, || represents what has been
regarded as a razor blade. It was found in a barrow at Winterslow,
* Vol. xliii. p. 450, pi. xxxii. 5.
% Arch. Journ., vol. viii. p. 346.
II Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxxii. fig. 8.
f Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxxii. fig. 4.
$ " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. pp. 07, 17G, 238, pi. xxxii. 1.
i
Dorjil.E-KlH.l.l) I! \ZORS.
21:
Wilts, and is now in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Its resemblance
to the leaf of rib-wort (Plantago media) has been pointed out by Dr. Thur-
nam. who records that it was found in an urn with burnt bones and a set
of beautifid amber buttons or studs. He has also figured one of nearly
the same size, but with fewer ribs, from a barrow at Priddy, Somerset.
This also has been regarded as an arroAv-head, though it is 3 inches long
and 1^ inches broad. It has a small rivet-hole through the tang. The
original is now in the Bristol Museum, and its edge is described as sharp
enough to mend a pen.* I have reproduced it in Fig. 266. A blade of
much the same kind was found in an urn, with an axe-hammer of stone
and a whetstone, at Brought on-in-Craven,f in 1675.
c\
Fig. 2G7.— Balblair.
Fig. 2G8. — Bogart.
!
Canon Greenwell records the finding of an oval knife (2£ inches) \\ iili
burnt bones in an urn at Nether Swell, \ Gloucestershire.
Aflat blade, almost circular, with a somewhat longer tang than :m\'
here figured, formed part of the great Bologna hoard.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 152.
t Thoresfcy's " Catal.," in Whitaker's ed. of " Ducat. Leod.," p. 114.
X " British Barrows," p. 440.
218
KNIVES, KAZORS, ETC.
[CHAP. IX.
These instruments are occasionally found in Scotland. Some
of them are of rather lamer size, and ornamented in a different
manner upon the face.
A small plain oval blade, which has possibly lost its tang, was found
in a tumulus at Lieraboll,* Kildonan, Sutherland, and has been figured.
Two oval blades were found with burnt bones in urns near St. Andrews. f
Another, found in a large cinerary urn at Balblair,^ Sutherlandshire,
is shown full size in Fig. 267. The edges are very thin and sharp, and
the central rib shown in the section is ornamented with incised lines.
Another blade of the same character, but ornamented with a lozenge
pattern, and with the midrib less pronounced, is shown in Fig. 208, also
of the actual size. It was found in a tumulus at Rogart,§ Sutherland.
Fig. 269.— Wallingford.
Fig. 270.— Heathery Burn Cave.
Another, apparently more perfect, and with many more lozenges in the
pattern, is engraved in Gordon's " Itinerarium Septentrionale." He
describes it as "the end of a spear or Hasta Pura of old mixt brass,
finely chequered." It was in Baron Clerk's collection.
The only English example which I can adduce was found with some
sickles, a torque, and numerous other objects at Taunton. It is of nearly
the same size and shape as Fig. 267, but the centre plate is fluted with a
slight ridgo along the middle and one on either side, and is not orna-
mented. It is described as a lance-head in the Archceological Journal.^
I am not aware of any such blades having ever been found in Ireland,
in which country the plainer forms of oval razors also seem to be ex-
tremely rare.
In Canon Greenwell's Collection is an oval blade (4 inches) with a flat
central rib, tapering to a point, running along it. It has no tang, but
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. x. p. 434. f Grcnnwoll, " Brit. Barrows," p. 446.
% Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vii. p. 476. For the use of this cut, as well as figs. 268,
271, 272, and 273, I am indehted to the Society.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. x. p. 431. || P. 116, pi. 1. 8 (1726).
11 Vol. xxx vii. p. 95. See also Pring, "Brit, and Rom. Taunton," pi. i. 4.
SCOTCH AND IRISH RAZORS.
219
there is a rivet-hole through the broad end of the rib. It was found in
an urn with burnt bones at Killyless, Co. Antrim.
The form most commonly known under the name of razor is that
shown in Fig. 269, from a specimen in my own collection, found
in the Thames, with a socketed knife and other objects, near
Wallinsrford. One of almost identical character was found at
Llangwyllog,* Anglesea.
Fig. 271.— Dunbar. i
Fig. 272.— Dunbar.
Fig. 273.— Dunbar.
Fig. 274.— Ireland.
Another, without midrib, from the Heathery Burn Cave, is, by the
permission of Canon Grreenwell, F.E.S., shown as Fig. 270.
An example from Wdtshiref in the Stourhead Museum (now at
Devizes) is more barbed at the base and rounded at the top, in which
there is neither notch nor perforation.
It is difficult to assign a use for the small hole usually to be seen in
* Arch. Jottrn., vol. xxii. p. 71 ; Arch. Cumb., 3rd S., vol. xii. p. 97; Arch., vol. xliii.
pi. xxxii. 7.
t Areh.f vol. xliii. pi. xxxii. C
220
KNIVES, RAZORS, ETC.
[chap. IX.
these blades. It may possibly be by way of precaution against the
fissure in the blade extending too far, though in most cases the notch in
the end of the blade does not extend to the hole.
Razors of this character have been discovered in Scotland. Three
which are believed to have been found together in a tumulus at Bower-
houses, near Dunbar,* Haddingtonshire, about 1825, are shown in Figs.
271, 272, and 273. They are all in the Antiquarian Museum, at
Edinburgh, together with a socketed celt found with them.
Razors of the class last described have been found in Ireland, and
three are mentioned in Wilde's Catalogue f of the Museum of the Royal
Fig. 275.— Kiulcith.
Irish Academy, to the Council of which body I am indebted for the use of
Fig. 274. The midrib of the specimen hero shown is decorated with ring
ornaments formed of incised concentric circles, an ornament of frequent
use in early times, though but rarely occurring on objects of bronze in
Britain. There is a large razor of this kind in the Museum of Trinity
College, Dublin. Several unornamented blades of this character were
present in the Dowris hoard. Two which were found in a cranno^ej in
the county of Monaghan were regarded as bifid arrow-heads. One of
these (2g inches) is in the British Museum.
* Proe. Soe. Ant. Scot., vol. x. p. 410; "Catal.," p. 83, No. 182.
t P. G49, fig. 433. | Arch, Journ., vol. iii. p. 47.
CONTINENTAL FORMS.
221
A blade of this kind, but "with, a loop instead of a tang, and a hole at
the base of the blade as well as one near the bottom at the notch, was
found at Deurne,* Gruelderland, and is in the Leyden Museum.
The only remaining form of razor which has to be noticed is that of
which a representation is given of the actual size in Fig. 275.
This instrument was found at Kinleith, t near Currie, Edinburgh, and
has been described and commented on by Dr. John Alexander Smith.
The blade, besides being perforated in an artistic manner and having a
ring at the end of the handle, is of larger dimensions than usual with
instruments of this kind. The metal of which it is composed consists of
copper 92-97 per cent., tin 7-03 (with a trace
of lead).
It affords the only instance of a razor of
this shape having been found in the British
Isles. The form much more nearly ap-
proaches one of not uncommon occurrence on
the Continent than any other British ex-
ample, and Dr. Smith has illustrated this by
the accompanying figure of a razor from the
Steinberg, near Nidau,| on the Lake of
Bienne (Fig. 276). I have a razor of nearly
the same form from the Seine at Paris, and
others have been found in various parts of
France. §
The nearest in character to Fig. 275 is per-
haps one found in the hoard of Notre-Dame
d'Or, || and preserved in the museum at Poi-
tiers. Instead of the blade being a single
crescent, it consists of two penannular con-
centric blades with a plain midrib connecting
them, which has a ring at the external end.
An instrument with the blade formed of a single crescent was found at
the same time.
A German example is in the Museum of the Deutsche Gesellschaft, at
Leipzig.
In the next chapter I shall treat of those blades which appear to
be weapons rather than tools.
Fig. 276.— Nidau.
* Jannsen's " Catal.," No. 209.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 84 ; vol. x. p. 441.
for the use of this and the following cut.
% See Keller, 5ter Bericht, Taf. xvi.
\ See Chantre, "Age du Br.," lore partie, p. 76.
|| Mem. de la Soc. den Ant. de V Quest, 1844, pi. ix. 10.
I am indebted to the Society
CHAPTER X.
DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES.
Among all uncivilised, if not indeed among all civilised nations,
arms of offence take a far higher rank than mere tools and
implements ; and on the first introduction of the use of metal
into any country, there is great antecedent probability that the
primary service to which it was applied Avas for the manufac-
ture of weapons. So far as there are means of judging, a
small knife or knife-dagger appears to have been among the
earliest objects to which bronze was applied in Britain. Possibly,
like the Highland dirk, the early form may have served for both
peaceful and warlike purposes ; but there are other and appa-
rently later forms made for piercing rather than for cutting, and
which are unmistakably weapons. The distinction which can be
drawn between knives, such as some of those described in the
last chapter, and the daggers to be described in this, is no doubt
to a great extent arbitrary, and mainly dependent upon size. In
the same way the distinction between a large dagger and a small
sword, such as some of those to be described in the next chapter,
is one for which no hard and fast rule can be laid down.
Nor in treating of daggers can any trustworthy chronological
arrangement be adopted, though it is probable, as already observed,
that the thin flat blades are earliest in date. The late Dr. Thurnam,
in the paper already frequently cited, has pointed out that of
bronze blades without sockets there are two distinct types. These
are the tanged, which he regards as perhaps the more modern, and
those provided with rivet-holes in the base of the blade, which
seem to be the most ancient. I purpose mainly to follow this
classification ; and, inasmuch as the tanged blades are most closely
connected with the smaller examples of the same character,
described in the last chapter, I take them first in order, though
possibly they are not the earliest in date.
TANGED KNIVES OH DAGGERS.
223
But for its size, the blade shown in Fig-. 277 might have been regarded
as a knife for ordinary use. The original was found in a barrow at
Koundway,* Wilts, covered with a layer of black powder, probably the
remains of a wooden sheath and handle, the upper
outline of which latter is marked upon the blade.
It lay near the left hand of a contracted skeleton,
with its point towards the feet. Between the
bones of the left fore-arm was a bracer, f or arm-
guard, of chlorite slate, and part of the blade and
the tang of some small instrument, perhaps a
knife. Near the head was a barbed flint arrow-
head.
A smaller blade j (5A- inches), of nearly the
same shape and character, was found in one of
the barrows near Winterslow, Wilts, as well as
one more tapering in form.
Another, from Sutton Courtney, Berks (6 J
inches by If inches), is in the British Museum.
Another (5£ inches) was found by Mr. Fenton
in a barrow at Mere Down,§ Wilts. In this case
also there was a stone bracer near the left side
of the contracted skeleton. Another, imperfect,
and narrower in the tang, was found at Bryn
Crug,|[ Carnarvon, with interments. The double-
looped celt (Fig. 88) was found at the same
place.
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has what appears to
be a tanged dagger (6 inches) from Sherburn
Wold, Yorkshire.
A blade of this character (10 inches) was found
by M. Cazalis de Fondouce in the cave of
Bounias,^f near Fonvielle (Bouches du Ehone),
associated with instruments of flint.
Smaller tanged blades, of which it is hard to
say whether they are knives or daggers, are not
uncommon in France. Two are engraved in the
" Materiaux." ** I have specimens from Lyons,
and also from Brittany.
Another form, which appears to be a dagger
rather than a knife, has the tang nearly as wide
as the blade, and towards its base there is a
single rivet-hole. A dagger of this kind was
found with a contracted interment in a barrow
near Driffield, Yorkshire, and an engraving of it
Fig. 277.— Rounrlway. }
Mag
Arch., vol. xliii. p. 450, fig. 154, from which this cut is copied- "
.," vol. hi. p. 186; "Cran. Brit.," pi. 42, xxxii. p. 3.
Wilts. Arch.
t " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 381, fig. 355.
I Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxii. 2, 3, p. 449.
§ Hoare's "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. 44, pi. ii.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. xxv. p. 246.
IT Chantre, " Age du Br.," Ire partie, p. 91 ; Cazalis de Fondoun , - All- > rouv. de la
rrovence," pi. iv. 1.
** Vol. xiv. p. 491.
224 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
is given in the Arehaologia* from which Fig. 278 is reproduced. It had
a wooden sheath as well as the wooden handle, of which a part is shown.
On the arm of the skeleton was a stone bracer.
Another, rather narrower in the tang and abont 4J inches long, was
found, with a stone axe-hammer, and bones, in an urn within a barrow at
Winwick,t near "Warrington, Lancashire. One (2£ inches) with a rivet-
hole in its broad tang was found in an urn on Lancaster Moor .J
A dagger of nearly the same form but having two rivet-holes was
found by the late Rev. R. Ivirwan in a barrow at Upton Pyne,§ Devon.
One, only 3J inches long, and much like Fig. 278 in form, was found in
an urn with burnt bones in Moot Low, || near Middleton, Derbyshire.
Another was found with burnt bones in a barrow at
Lady Low,^| near Blore, Staffordshire. The end of
the handle in this instance was straight, and not hol-
lowed. One (5§ inches) with a broad tang, through
which passes a single rivet, was found in the Thames.**
It is now in the British Museum.
What Sir R. C. Hoare terms a lance-head (3 inches),
found with amber beads in the Golden Barrow, ft
Upton Lovel, appears to have been a knife-dagger of
this character.
A knife, 1 inch wide, which had been fastened to its
haft of ox-horn by a single rivet, was found by Canon
Greenwell in a barrow at Rudstone, Yorkshire, jj
With the same interment was an axe-hammer of stone
and a flint tool. A blade like Fig. 278 (3 inches),
from the sand-hills near Glenluce,§§ Wigtonshire,
has been figured.
Daggers, or possibly spear-heads, with a broad tang,
moulds in which they were cast, were discovered by Dr.
the presumed site of Troy. || ||
Kg. 2
Driffield. J
as well as the
Schliemaun on
The more ordinary form of instrument is that of which the blade
was secured to the handle by two or more rivets at its broad base.
These may be subdivided into knife-daggers with thin flat blades,
and daggers which as a rule have a thick midrib and more or less
ornamentation on the surface of the blade. The former variety
is now generally accepted as being the more ancient of the two,
and may probably have served as a cutting instrument for all
purposes, and not have been intended for a weapon.
Tig. 279, representing a knife-dagger from a barrow at Butterwick,^
Yorkshire, E.R., explored by Canon Greenwell, will give a good idea of
* Vol. xxxiv. pi. xx. 8, p. 255.
f Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 29.5, pi. xxv. 9.
j Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 160. § Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iv. p. 643.
|| "Vest. Ant. Perb.," p. .51 : Arch. Journ., vol. i. p. 217; Batcmau's " fatal. ," p. 4.
II "Ten fears' Digg.," p. 163; "Catal.," p. 19.
** Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. lii. p. 4.3. ft "Anc. Wills," vol. i. p. 99, pi. xi.
XX " British Barrows," p. 266. §§ "Ayr and Wigton Coll.," vol. ii. p. 12.
Jill " Troy and its Remains,'* p. 330. ilH " British Barrows," p. 186.
KKIFE-DAGGERS WITH THREE RIVETS.
225
the usual form, though those instruments are not unfrequently more
acutely pointed. Thia specimen was found with the body of a young
man. laid had been encase*! in a wooden sheath. The haft had been of
ox-horn, which has perished, though leaving marks of its texture on the
< ixidized blade. In the same grave were a flat bronze celt (Fig. 2 . a 1 >r< >nz< •
pricker or awl (Fig. 22o), a flint knife, and some jet buttons. Another
blade of the same character, but rather narrower in its proportions, was
found in a barrow at Eudstone* Yorkshire. The handle had in this
instance also been of ox-horn. In the same grave were a whetstone, a
ring and an ornamental button of jet, and a half-nodule of pyrites and
a flint lor striking a light. Of the shape of the handles I shall subse-
quently speak; I will only here remark that at their upper part, where
tiny clasped the blade, there was usually
a st 'mi-circular or horseshoe-shaped notch,
in some instances very wide and in others
but narrow. This notch is more rarely
somewhat Y-shaped in form.
A blade of nearly the same form as Fig.
279, but with only two rivet holes, found
in a barrow at LTewbury.f Berks, is pre-
served in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford.
Another, also with two rivets, was found
by the late Mr. Bateman in a barrow near
Minning Low,;]; Derbyshire. Its handle ap-
pears to have been of horn. . Its owner.
wrapped in a skin, had been buried enve-
loped in fern-leaves, and with him was also
a flat bronze celt, a flat bead of jet, and
a flint scraper. Dr. Thurnam mentions
eighteen^ other blades, varying from 2A-
inches I" 6| Laches in length, as having been
found during the Bateman excavations, as
v. ill as one 7| inches long and sharply pointed, found at Lett Low,|| near
Warslow, Staffordshire. Of these twenty, sixteen were found with
unburnt bodies and four with burnt. Some of these were, however,
of tlie tanged variety, and some fluted or ribbed. At Carder Low a
small axe-hammer of basalt, as well as a knife-dagger of this kind,
with the edges worn hollow by use, had been placed with the hotly.
Thf same was the case in a, barrow at Parcelly Hay, near Eartington,
I >erbyshire.
At End Low, near Hartiugton, there was a rudely formed "spear-
bead" of flint beside the knil'e-<lao-<;vr. and at Thorncliff,^ on CaltOE
Moor, Staffordshire, " a neat instrument of flint."
In some cases, though there were holes in the blade, there were no
rivets **rn them, which led Mr. Bateman to think that they were attached
H
Fig. '.'70.— ISuttenviek.
,: '• British Barrows," p. 264, fig. 125 ; "Aiic. Stone Imp.," p. 284.
Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 282; Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xvi. p. 24'J.
Bateman's " Catal.," p
: Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. vii. p. 21/
Dig.," p. 34.
§ •• Vest. Ant. Derb.," pp. 61, 63, 6G, GS, 90, 9G
15 ; " Ten Yi ai
"Ton Years- Dig.," pp. 21,24,34,
39, :>7, 91, 113, 115, 119, 118, 160, 1G3; "('ran. Brit.," pi. 13, xxii. 2.
" Ten Sears' Dig.," p. 245 : Arch. Assoc. Journ.. vol. xviii. p. 12.
11 "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 119. ' ■ (>, . cit., pp. 07. 113.
Q
2'2Q DAGGERS AX1) THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
to their handles by ligatures. In a barrow in Yorkshire,* Mr. Har-
land found, with remains of a burnt body, a small bronze knife which
still had adhering to it some portions of cord partly charred, apparently
the remains of what had formed the attachment to the handle. Pins of
wood, bone, or horn were no doubt frequently used instead of metal rivets.
Such pins seem to have been commonly employed for securing spear-
heads to their shafts. " An instrument of brass, f formed like a spear-
head, but flat and thin," was found in a barrow on Bincombe Down,
Dorsetshire. "It had been fixed to a shaft by means of three wooden
pegs, one of which remained in the perforation when found, but on
being exposed to the air fell immediately into dust." In certain dagger
blades with four or more rivet-holes some are devoid of rivets, while
there are metal rivets in the others.
A remarkably small blade, only 1-i1 inches long, with two rivet-holes,
was found in a tumulus in Dorsetshire. "| Another (4£ inches) lay with
burnt bones, in what was regarded as a cleft and hollowed trunk of a tree,
in a barrow near Yatesbury, § Wilts. Another, more triangular in shape,
aud also with two rivet-holes, was found in a barrow near !Stonehenge.||
Another (2J inches) of the same character was found with burnt bones,
a needle of wood, and a broken flint pebble, in an urn at Tomen-y-Mur,^[
near Pestiniog, Merionethshire.
Of knife-daggers with three rivet-holes found in our southern counties,
may be mentioned one (5£ inches) found with a thinking cup and a
perforated stone axe, accompanying an unburnt interment, in a barrow at
East Kennett,** Wilts. Another (4£ inches), also accompanied by a stone
axe-hammer, was found in a barrow called Jack's Castle,ff near tStourton.
The body had in this instance been burnt. Another knife-dagger, also
with burnt bones, in a barrow at Wilsford,|| was accompanied by two flint
arrow-heads, some whetstones, and some instruments of stag's-horn.
Another, protected by a wooden scabbard, was found in a barrow at
Brigmilston.§§
What appear to have been blades of the same kind were found with
burnt bones in the barrows near Priddy, || |j Somerset, and Ashey Down,^f^[
Isle of Wight (6 inches). The latter is tapering in form. One (7f inches)
which shows no rivets was found at Culter,*** Lanarkshire.
An unfinished blade without rivet-holes was also found, with castings
of palstaves and flanged celts, at Pdiosnesney,ftf near Wrexham.
Prom Derbyshire may be cited that from Carder Low,'|^ already de-
scribed, and one from Brier Low.§§§ Another from Lett Low,||| || Stafford-
lure, has already been mentioned, as have been others described by Bate-
niau.*'*;*] One from a barrow at Middleton ***# was regarded by Pegge
as a spear-head.
* Grccnwcll, " Brit. Barrows," p. 360, n.
f M.S. Minutes of Soc. Ants., 1784, p. 51, cited in Wame's "Celtic Tumuli of
Dorset," pt. iii. p. 7. % Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 323.
§ Arch. Inst., Salisb. vol. p. 97. || StrakeleyV'Stonehenge,"p.45,pl.xxxii.
■I Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 1G; Arch. Cmiib., 3rd S., vol. xiv. p. 241.
** Arch. Inst., Salisb. vol. p. 110 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 29.
ft Hoarc's " Ane. Wilts," vol. i. p. 39, pi. i. ; Archeeol., vol. xliii. p. 452.
XX "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 209. ${ "Ane. Wilts," vol. i. p. 185.
Illl Arch. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 148, 151. ^ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. x. p. 164.
*** Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 21. ttf Arch. (Jamb., 4th S., vol. vi. p. 71.
XXX Archeeol., vol. xliii. pi. xxxiii. fig. 4. \\{ Ibid., fig. 3. |||||| Ibid., fig. 5.
« « ■; » Ten Years' Dig.," pp. 21, 115, 119. **** Archeeol., vol. ix. p. 94, pi. iii.
METHOD OF HAFTING DAGGEKS.
227
From Yorkshire Mr. Bateman describes one (4^ inches) with a crescent-
shaped mark showing the form of the handle, found with an extended
skeleton at Cawthorn.* Another (6 or 7 inches), from a barrow near
Pickering,! had a V-shaped notch in the handle, to which had been
attached a small bone pommel. One from Bishop Wilton, j belonging to
Mr. Mortimer, has been engraved by Dr. Thurnam.
The mention of this pommel suggests that it is time to consider
the manner in which these blades were hafted, as to which the
discoveries of Sir Richard Colt Hoare in the
Wiltshire barrows, and of Canon Greenwell
in those of Yorkshire, leave no doubt. The
hafts appear in nearly all cases to have con-
sisted of ox-horn, bone, or wood, sometimes
in a single piece with a notch for receiving
the blade, and sometimes formed of a pair
of similar pieces riveted together, one on
each side of the blade. The lower end of
the haft was often inserted in a hollow
pommel usually of bone.
The nature of the arrangement of the haft
when formed of two pieces will be readily
understood on reference to Fig. 280, in
which the presumed outline of the original
ox-horn haft is shown by dotted lines, and
the rivets by which the two plates of horn
were bound together are in the position
they originally occupied along the centre of
the haft. The outline of the upper part of
this handle, where it was secured by two
rivets to the blade, is still visible, and is
shown by darker shading. The pommel at
the lower end Avas attached by pins of horn
or of wood, and not by metal rivets. A separate view and
section of the pommel is shown in
Fig. 281. The original was found by
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., with a con-
tracted interment in a barrow at
Helperthorpe, § Yorkshire, at the open-
ing of which I was present. As will be seen, the blade lias all
* "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 206. t Op. cit., p. 226. % Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxxiii. 6.
J •' British Barrows," p. 207. This specimen has since been presented, with tin1 rest
of the Greenwell Collection, to the British Museum.
Q 2
.
Fig. 280.— Helperthorpe. i
Fig. 281.— Helperthorpe. $
228 DAGGERS AND THEIB SILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
the appearance of having been much worn by use and repeated
whetting.
Bone pommels of the same kind have been frequently met with in
barrows, but their purpose was not known to some of the earlier explorers.
One from a barrow on Brassington Moor * is described by Mr. Bateman
as a bone stud perforated with six holes, and was thought to have been
intended for being sown on to some article of dress or ornament. Another
was found in a barrow at Narrow-dale Hill,f near Alstonefield, and is also
described as a bone button. In both these instances the dagger itself
seems to have entirely perished.
In a barrow subsequently opened by Mr. Ruddock near Pickering,! the
butt end of a dagger handle was recognised in one of these objects. In
this instance the pommel was made of three pieces of bone fastened
together by two bronze rivets, and having two holes for the pegs by
which it was secured to the handle.
Fig. 282.— Garton.
Is
>
Fig. 2S3.-Wilmslow.
Two others in solid bone from barrows at Garton § and Bishop Wilton,
Yorkshire, have been figured by Dr. Thurnam. The former is here by
permission reproduced. That from the well-known Gristhorpe tumulus, ||
near Scarborough, in which the body lay in the hollowed trunk of an
oak-tree, is more neatly made, being of oval outline with a projecting
bead round the base. It has holes for three pins.
Another pommel of an ornamental character was found with burnt
bones in an urn at Wilmslow, Cheshire, and is engraved in the Journal
of the British Archceological Association,^ from which Fig. 283 is here
reproduced. The receptacle is so small that the haft to which it was
attached probably consisted of but a single piece of ox-horn or wood.
It appears as if the mortise had been made by drilling three holes side
by side.
A very remarkable and beautiful hilt of a sword or dagger, formed of
amber of a rich red colour and inlaid with pins of gold, was found in a
barrow on Hammeldon Down,** Devonshire. By the kindness of the
Committee of the Plymouth Athenaeum I am enabled to give two views
* " Catal.," p. 1 ; " Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 39.
t "Catal.," p. 12; "Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 98.
% "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 226.
I| "Cran. Brit.," 62,4; "Reliquary," vol. vi. p. 4.
H Vol. xvi. pi. 25, fig. 5, p. 288.
** Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. v. p. 555, pi. ii.
$ Arch., vol. xliii. p. 441.
A.MBEK I1II.T INLAID WITH (,()! D.
•J J''
and a section of this unique object in Fig. 284. Instead of a socket or
mortise, there is in this instance a tenon, or projection, which entered into
a mortise or hole in the handle. On each side of this tenon is a small
mortise of the same length, and through the tenon have been drilled two
small holes, one from each side, for pins to attach the pommel to the
handle. A small part of the pommel which was broken off in old times
seems to have been united to the main body by a series of minute gold
rivets or clips, but this piece has again been severed, though the pins
round the margin of the fracture remain. This pommel seems dispropor-
tionately large for the slightly fluted blade, of which a fragment was found
in the same barrow.
/
Fig. 284.— Hammeldon Down. ;
A small object of amber, apparently the pommel of a diminutive dagger,
was found in a barrow at Winterbourn Stoke,* Wilts. A small knife or
scraper, mounted in a handle formed of two pieces of amber, secured by
two rivets and bound with four strips of gold, is also preserved at Stour-
head.f The blade is at the side like that of a hatchei .
Amber was used for inlaying some of the ivory hilts of iron swords at
ilallstatt.
The bronze object shown full size in Fig. 285 may not improbably be
the pommel of the hilt of a dagger or sword. The hole through the base
is irregular in form, and may be accidental. It was found in the board
at Reach Fen, Cambridge, in which were also tli e tip of a scabbard and
some fragments of swords, as well as two large double-edged knives.
* "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 124, unpub. pi. xv. B; Arch., vol. sliii. p. 608, fig. 196.
t "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 201, pi. xxv. ■! ; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 458.
230 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPLER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
A somewhat similar object is in the Musee de l'Oratoire, at Nantes.
Another, found at Gresine,* Savoy, has been regarded as the tip for a
scabbard. Another was found in the department of La Manche.f
What appears to be the hilt of either a sword or dagger was found in
a hoard of bronze objects at Allhallows, J Hoo, Kent. By the kindness of
Mr. Humphrey Wickham I am able to engrave it as Fig. 286. It con-
sisted originally of a rectangular socketed ferrule with a rivet-hole
through it, and attached to a semicircular end like the half of a grooved
pulley. The socket itself extends for some distance into this semi-
circular part. From portions of a sword having been found with it,
Mr. Wickham has regarded it as a kind of pommel. It may, however,
Fig. ^ o.~ Reach
Fen. i
Fig. 2S0. — Allkallows, Hoo.
have been the end of a scabbard or a chape, and, if so, should have been
described in Chapter XIII. The knife, Fig. 261, was found in the same
hoard.
To return, however, to undoubted examples. The most remark-
able of all dasfffer handles discovered in the British Isles are those
uu
obtained by Sir R. Colt Hoare from the barrows of Wiltshire.
One of these, from a barrow at Brigniilston,§ is here reproduced in
Fig. 287, taken from the engraving in "Ancient Wiltshire." It is thus
described by the late Dr. Thurnam: "It is of the thin broad-bladed
variety. The handle is of wood, held together by thirty rivets of bronze,
and strengthened at the end by an oblong bone pommel fastened with
two pegs. It is decorated by dots incised in the surface of the wood,
forming a border of double lines and circles between the heads of the
rivets." He goes on to say that a similar dagger of the broad variety,
having exactly the same number of rivets, was found in one of the Derby-
shire || barrows. Two buttons of polished shale accompanied this inter-
ment. Another, from Grarton,^} Yorkshire, in the collection of Mr.
Mortimer, has thirty-seven rivets and two strips of bronze at the sides
of the handle, in addition to the four rivets for securing the blade. The
bone pommel is shown in Fig. 282.
* " Exp. Arch, de la Sav.," 1878, pi. xii. 357.
t " Mem. Soc. Ant. Norm.," 1827—8, pi. xix. 4, 5.
% Arch. Cant., vol. xi. p. 125, pi. c, 18.
j "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 185, pi. xxiii. ; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 458, pi. xxxiv. 2.
|| Bateinan, " Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 68. 1i Arch., vol. xliii. p. 462, pi. xxxiv. 3.
HILTS AV1TH NUMEROUS RIVETS.
231
Another dagger, of somewhat the same character, was found at
Leicester, and is preserved in the museum of that town. For the sketch
from which Fig. 288 is engraved I am indebted to Mr. C. Read. In
this instance the pommel consists of two pieces of bone riveted on either
side of a bronze plate, which, however, does not appear to have been
continuous with the blade. From the length of the rivets remaining
^ -ss '-tfjsft ji§.\© ^ -A M-
,'. BrigTttilston.
Fif?. ■
iii tlie blade, the handle appears to have been somcwli.it thicker in the
middle than at the sides.
In the British Museum is a dagger from a barrow at: Standlow, Derby-
shire, with a bone pommel of nearly the same character as that froi i
Leicester.
Perhaps the most highly ornamented dagger handle ever discovered is
'•2:j2 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
thai which was found by Sir R. Colt Hoare in the Bush Barrow,* near
Normanton, the lower part of which, copied from the engraving in
"Ancient Wiltshire," is shown in Fig. 289. A drawing of the whole
dagger with its handle restored has been published by Dr. Thurnam.f
The blade is 10£ inches long and slightly fluted at the sides, so that it is
not, strictly speaking, a knife-dagger such as those hitherto described. It
appears, however, best to call attention to it in this place. It lay with a
skeleton placed north and south, with which were some rivets and thin
plates of bronze, supposed to be traces of a shield. At the shoulders was a
flanged bronze celt, like Fig. 9. Near the right arm was the dagger and
" a spear-head " of bronze. These were accompanied by a nearly square
plate of thin gold, with a projecting flat tongue or hook, which was
TwninHHfffuiifNfliuiiNim
Fig-. 'J89.— Normanlon.
thought to have decorated the sheath of the dagger. Over the breast lay
another lozenge-shaped plate of gold, 7 inches by 6 inches, the edges
lapped over a piece of wood. On the right side of the skeleton was a
stone hammer,| some articles of bone, many small rings of the same
material, and another gold lozenge much smaller than that on the breast.
As to the handle, I may repeat Sir Richard's words: "It exceeds any-
thing we have yet seen, both in design and execution, and could not be
surpassed (if, indeed, equalled) by the most able workman of modern
limes. By the annexed engraving you will immediately recognise the
British zig-zag or the modern Vandyke pattern, which was funned, with a
labour and exactness almost unaccountable, by thousands of gold rivets
smaller than the smallest pin. The head of the handle, though exhibiting
* "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 202, pi. xxvii. 2. t Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxxv. 1.
J " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 203, fig. l.'.l.
INLAID AND IVORY HII.'I
233
no variety o£ pattern, was also formed by
the same kind of studding. So very minute,
indeed, were these pins, .that our labourers
had thrown out thousands of them with their
shovels and scattered them in every direction
before, by the necessary aid of a magnifying
glass, we coidd discover what they were, but
fortunately enough remained attached to the
wood to enable us to develop the pattern."
Some of the pins are shown in the figure
below the hilt.
As Dr. Thurnam has pointed out, the
ornamentation on a thin piece of metal (said
to have been gilt), which apparently de-
corated the hilt of a bronze dagger, found in
a barrow in Dorsetshire,* is of the same
character, though produced in a different
manner. This dagger is said by Douglas to
have been " incisted " into wood. It is uncer-
tain whether this refers to the hilt or to the
sheath ; but in several instances remains of
sheaths have been found upon the blades of
daggers, some of which have been already
adduced, and others will hereafter be men-
tioned. Sir R. Colt Hoare, in a barrow near
Amesbury,f found an interment of burnt
bones, and with it a bronze dagger which had
been "secured by a sheath of wood lined
with linen cloth." A small lance-head, a pair
of ivory nippers, and an ivory pin accom-
panied the interment. In one instance the
wood of the sheath was "apparently willow. "J
I am unable to guarantee the accuracy
of the representation of a large dagger
with its handle given in Fig. 290, the ori-
ginal having unfortunately been destroyed
in a fire. I have, however, copied it from Dr.
Thurnam' s § engraving, wliich was taken
from a drawing by the late Mr. S. Solly,
K.S.A.|| It was found in 1845, in a barrow
on Koke 1 'own. near Blandford, I >orsetshire,
and is thus described by Mr. Shipp : ^f " The
blade is exquisitely finished, and the handle,
which is ivory, as perfect and as highly
polished as any of more recent date. It was
ion in I with two small bronze spear-heads at
(lie bottom of a cist cut in the chalk, and
* D ■ X. nia," p. 153, pi. xxxiii. fig. 3.
t "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 207.
% Op. cit., p. 194.
$ Arch., vol. xliii.pl. xxxiv. 1.
|| Proc. Soc. .In/., 1st S., vol. i. p. 75.
II Arch. Assoc. Jour it., vol. ii. p. 98; vol. xv. p. 228.
■I ' ma
'
'■ \V
U
i ke Doy a. |
231 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [cHAP. X.
covered with, burnt bones and ashes ; and over it was an inverted urn
of the coarsest make, unburnt and unornamented." In Mr. Shipp's
drawing- the handle expands gradually to the base like the mouth of a
trumpet. In a subsequent communication^ Mr. Shipp describes the two
spear-heads as of iron.
Mr. Solly f says that with it was a second small blade, also of bronze,
which may have been a knife, and makes no mention of iron spear-heads.
He also says that it lay beneath a stone more than a ton in weight.
Mr. 0. Warne, F.S.A., has informed me that the spear-heads — if, indeed,
such they were — were of bronze and not of iron. He has engraved the
dagger in his Plate X.,J not from the original, but from the figure in the
Journal of the Archaeological Association.
Hilts made of bronze, though of frequent occurrence in Scandinavia,
the South of Trance, and Italy, are rarely discovered in England or Scot-
land. That said to have been found at Bere Hill, near Andover, east in
one piece with the blade and with a raised rim round the margin, and
studs like rivet-heads in the middle, has been kindly submitted to me by
Mr. Samuel Shaw, its owner, and I believe it to be of Eastern and pro-
bably Chinese origin. Near Little Wenlock,§ however, a portion of a
dagger was found with part of the handle, in form like that of the sword
from Lincoln (Fig. 350), attached by four rivets. With it were a socketed
celt, some spear-heads, and whetstones.
A beautiful Egyptian || bronze dagger from Thebes is in the Berlin
Museum. It has a narrow rapier-like blade and a broad flat hilt of ivory.
Others of nearly the same character are in the British Museum. The
end of the hilt is often hollowed, like that of Fig. 277, and the attach-
ment to the blade is by means of three rivets.
In Ireland a few daggers have been found with bronze hilts
still attached.
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy is a fine example, which has
frequently been published, and which I have here reproduced as Eig. 291,
from the engraving given by Wilde, ^f but on the scale of one-half. Both
blade and handle are ' ' highly ornamented, both in casting and also by
the punch or graver."
A portion of a blade with a bronze hilt still attached was found near
Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, and has been engraved in the Proceedings of the
Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Inland** The cut is by
their kindness here reproduced as Fig. 292. The handle is hollow, and
the blade appears to have been originally attached by four pins or rivets,
of which but two now remain. Possibly the other two were of horn.
Another Irish form of hafted dagger has also been frequently pub-
lished, ft It is shown in Fig. 29.3. Vallancey describes this specimen as
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. ii. p. 100. f Arch., vol. xliii. p. 459.
% "Celtic Tumuli of Dorset," pi. ii. p. 17.
\ Hartshorne's " Salop. Ant.," p. 96, No. 7-
|| Bastian und A. Voss, "Die Bronze schwerter des K. Mus.," Tat', xvi. 151 ; Wilkin-
son's " Ancient Egyptians," vol. i. p. 320. Another dagger with a hilt is figured at
p. 23.
H "Catal. .Mus. R. I. A.," p. 4oS, fig. 331 ; " Hora- Ferules," pi. vii. 14.
** Proc, -llli 8., vol. ii. p. 196.
ft Vallancey, "Coll.," vol. iv. p. 61, pi. xi. 4 ; Grough's " < ainden," vol. iv. pi. xviii.
4; Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. HIT. tig. 354 ; " Horse Fer.," pi. vii. 13.
HII.TS OF BRONZE.
235
cast in one piece, the rivets being either ornamental or intended to stop
against the top of the scabbard. No doubt these imitation rivets are
I
:.'
Fig. 'JUl.— Ireland.
Fig. 292 -Iielleek.
Fig. 293. nd. i
mere "survivals" from those of the daggers, which were thus fastened
to their handles before it was found that it saved trouble to east the u bole
in one piece. The hole in the handle, the sides of which are left rough,
236
DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [(JHAP. X.
was probably filled by two sligbtly overlapping plates of wood or born
riveted together.
Another* (\4\ inches) was thought to have the " loop-fashioned "
handle for suspending the weapon to a thong or the belt. I think,
however, that when the daggers were in use the handles were to all
appearance solid. In one found in Dunshaugh-
lin f crannoge, Co. Meath, there is a second oval
hole at the end of the hilt, which may have
been used for suspension.
There is a good example of this type of dagger
in the Blackmore Museum at SaHsbury.
A small dagger (7| inches), found near Balli-
namore,]: Co. Leitrim, has an extension of the
blade in the form of a thin plate with a button
at the bottom so as to form the body of the
handle. In this part are two rivet holes for the
attachment of the plates of wood or horn to
form the handle.
Some handles of bronze knives found in Scan-
dinavia and Switzerland § are formed with similar
openings. Daggers with the blade and handle
cast in one piece have been found in the Italian
terramare.\\ I have a dagger of the same kind from
Hungary.
digression
liafting of daggers, to the
knife-daggers of which I
thin
was
I must now return, from this
as to the
blades or
speaking.
Of those with four rivets but few can be cited.
One of unusually large size is shown in Fig. 294.
The original was found by Sir R. C. Hoare in a
barrow at Woodyates.^j It was protected by a
wooden scabbard. A perforated ring and two
buttons of jet, four barbed flint arrow-heads, and
a bronze pin were found with the same skeleton.
This blade, like many others, is described as
] niving been gilt, but this can hardly have been
the case. Dr. Thurnam** has tested such bril-
liantly polished surfaces for gold, but found no
traces of that metal.
A blade of this form is engraved in the "Barrow Diggers,"ff but is
described as a stone celt split in two.
* Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 161.
t Wilde, "Catal. .Mas. R. I. A.," p. 466, fig. 3.33.
% Wild., "Catal. Mas. R. I. A.," p. 463, fig. 346.
§ "Cong. pivli.," Stockholm vol., 1874, p. 521; Keller's "Luke-dwell.," Eng. ed.,
pi. xli. 5.
|| Strobel, "Avanzi rreromani," 1863, Tav. ii. 3-5 ; Gastaldi, "Nuovi <Vimi," 186'.',
Tav. ii. 7.
If "An,. Wilts," vol. i. p. 239, pi. xxxiv.
** Arch., vol. xliii. p. 45.',. ft P. 74, pi. ii. fig. 3.
Pig. 294 — Woodyates. I
KMFK-DAGGERS WITH FIVE OR SIX RIV i
237
A. nearly similar1 blade from Oefeli* (Lac de Bienne is said to bi
copper.
In Fig. 295 is shown a blade with five rivets, from an interment al
Homington,t near Salisbury, which is now in the British Museum. ( >ne
side is still highly pohshed, with an ahnost mirror-like lustre. The mark
of the hilt is very distinct upon it.
One of more pointed form, and with a more V-shaped notch in the
hilt, was found with an unburnt body in a cairn at North Charlton,
Fig-. 295. — Homingl-oii.
» I
Fig. 296.— Idmiston.
Northumberland, and is in the Greenwell Collection in the British Museum.
The portion is broken off in which were the rivets.
Occasionally the surface of these thin blades is ornamented by engraved
or punched patterns. The decoration usually consists of converging bands
of parallel lines. The example given as Fig. 296 was found in a barrow
at Idmiston, near Salisbury, and is now preserved in the Blackmore
Museum. In one found in Dow Low, J Derbyshire, shown in Fig. 297,
there aro three parallel lines on either side which meet in chevron. This
blade has two rivets.
In a barrow near Maiden Castle, § Dorchester, opened by Mr. Syden-
ham, there lay in the midst of the ashes two bronze daggers. One
* Gross, " Deux Stations," pi. iv. 3.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 329; "Horas Ferales," p. 158, pi. vii. 21; Arch., vol.
xliii. pi. xxxiii. 1.
X "Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 96; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 461, fig. 161.
$ Arch., vol. xxx. p. 332, pi. xvii. 8; "Celtic Tumuli of Dorset," pt. iii. p. 46
pi. x. d, e.
238 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
(4 inches) has two lines engraved on it, forming a chevron parallel with
the edges; the other (oi inches) is described as "curiously wrought,
chased, and gilt." This latter, to judge from Mr. Warne's engraving,
has a slight projecting rib along the middle of the blade, between two
others converging to meet it near the point. The space on each side of
the central rib appears to be decorated by small circular indentations.
One from another barrow in Dorsetshire * has a treble chevron on the
blade and a straight transverse groove between two ridges just above the
hilt.
A small blade found in an urn at Wilmslow,f Cheshire, seems to have
a single chevron upon it.
A dagger from a tumulus at Hewelinghen (Pas de Calais), and now in
the museum at Boidogne, is of this character. It has double lines to the
chevron and four rivet-holes.
Another was found with an interment at Eame J (Hautes Alpes) in
company with other articles of bronze. It has six rivet-holes. A narrower
blade and more of the rapier shape, with four rivet-holes, was found in
the Marais de Donges § (Loire Inferieure).
A dagger much like Fig. 296, but with a double row of rivets, has
been found at Mcerigen,|[ in the Lac de Bienne.
A dagger with a pointed blade having two parallel grooves just within
each edge was found with other dagger blades, flat celts, flint arrow-
heads, &c, in the tumulus of Kerhue-Bras, Finistere.^f It has a plain
wooden handle, to which the blade is attached by six rivets. The character
of some of the other blades is peculiar.
A beautifully patinated dagger (7J inches) from the Seine at Paris,
now in my own collection, has six rivet-holes at the base, as in Fig. 296,
and is of nearly the same shape, though rather more sharply pointed.
One of the rivets which remains is f inch long. The blade has upon it a
small low rib on either side running parallel with the edge. On the
inner side of the rib there is a groove, on the outer side the blade is flat.
The edge itself is fluted.
I have a small thin blade (4f- inches), like Fig. 298, found in the
Palatinate, which has four rivet-holes at the base. There is a band of
five parallel lines running along each edge, and in the centre of the blade
a chevron with the sides slightly curved inwards formed of two similar
bands. The lines seem to have been punched in. The mark left by the
hilt is like that on Fig. 296.
What appear to be knife-daggers, some of them witli notches
at the side for the reception of rivets, have been found with inter-
ments in Spain, and have been described by Don Gongora y
Martinez** as lance-heads.
Knife-daggers of much the same character as the English have
occasionally been found in Scotland.
* Arch. Jni/n/., vol. v. p. 322.
t Arch. A.ssur. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 288, pi. 25, fig. G.
X " Materiaux," vol. xiii. p. 155.
§ Rev. Arch., vol. xxxiii. p. 231.
|| Gross, " Deux Stations," pi. iv. 4.
t " Matlriaux," vol. xv. p. 289.
•* "Ant. Preh, de Andalusia," pp. 97, 106.
KNIFE-DAGGERS FROM SCOTLAND.
239
That shown in Fig. 298 was found in a stone cist in a cairn at Cleiarh,*
Loch Nell, Argyleshire. Along the margin of the original handle is a
line of small indentations made with a pointed punch.
Another (4J inches) was found in a cairn at Linlathen.t Forfarshire,
together with a " drinking cup." Particulars of the finding of several
others, with interments in sepulchral cairns, have been given by
Fie. 297. — Dow Low.
Fig. 298.— Cleigh.
Fiff. 2! id. — Collessic.
Mr. Joseph Anderson £ in an interesting paper, to which the reader is
referred.
Three others, from Drumlanrick, § near Callander, Perth (4 A- inches,
two rivets), Crossmichael, Kirkcudbright-
shire, and Callachally, Island of Mull, are
in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh.
Another, apparently of the same type, was
found in a cairn at Collessie,|| Fife, the
handle of which appears to have been en-
r-irck'd by the gold fillet shown in Fig. 299.
The sheath seems to have been of wood covered with cow-hide, the hairs
on the outside.
In Ireland the thin flat blades arc of rare occurrence. Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., lias one from Co. Antrim (4| inches) with
three rivet-holes, and with a V-shaped notch in the mark of the
handle.
There is a form of blade which appears to be intermediate between the
flat knife-daggers and those to which the name of dagger may more
' /'roc. Soc. Ant. Scot.,\ol. x. pp. 84, 4.39. I am indebted to the Council <>f the Sen iet\
for the use of this and the following cut .
t J'roc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 41'.). j; Op. cii., vol. nh. p. 4:59.
* /'. S. A. S., vol. xii. p. 456. || Op. cit., vol. xii. p. 410.
240 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
properly bo applied, which are either considerably thicker at the centre
than towards the edges, or else have a certain number of strengthening
ribs running along the blade. This intermediate form has a single
narrow rounded rib running along the centre of the blade. That shown
in Fig. 300 is an example of the short and broad variety of this kind.
It was found in a barrow at Musdin,* Staffordshire, and has a splendid
Pig. 300.— Musdin. \
Pig. 801.— Plymstock. i Fig. 302.— Wiutcrboumc Stoke. J
patina, rivalling malachite in colour. The relation of the dagger to any
interment is uncertain.
A dagger of this class, but more pointed and with two paraLLel" lines
engraved on each side of the midrib, was found by Canon Greenwell,
K.h'.S., in one of the barrows called the Three Tremblers, f Yorkshire. It
showed traces of both its handle and sheath. With it was a beautifully
flaked large flint knife.
A more pointed blade, with the central rib much less pronounced, and
f Bateman's "Ten Years' Diggings," p. 148; engraved in Arch., vol. xliii. p. 461,
fig. 162, from which my cut is copied.
f " British Barrows," p. 359; Arch, fourn., vol. xxii. p. 243.
DAGGERS WITH ORNAMENTED BLADES. 241
the notch in the hilt more distinct, was found with a skeleton in a cist
near Cheswick,"" Northumberland, and is now in the Greenwell Collection
in the British Museiun. It has been carefully polished.
Another, with a small, well-defined central midrib and two rivets, was
found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow at Aldbourn, Wilts. It accom-
panied a burnt body.
Some of the Italian dagger blades are provided with similar midribs.
Of the English weapons just described some closely resemble in
character the much larger blades of which I shall subsequently have to
speak, and which not improbably were those of some form of halberd or
battle-axe.
A much longer and narrower form, in which the central rib is partly
the result of two long lateral grooves along the sides of the blade, is shown
in Fig. 301. This was found with two others at Plynistock,f Devon, in
company with flanged celts, a chisel, and a tanged spear-head or dagger,
Fig. 327, and is now in the British Museum.
1 have a much smaller blade, of somewhat the same character (4-g-
inches), but imperfect at the base, found in a barrow near Cirencester ;
and one smaller still (4^ inches), from a small barrow near Aldington,
Cirencester, Gloucestershire. This latter appears to have had two rivet-
holes.
A beautiful example of the form of dagger of which Sir "Richard C.
Hoare found numerous examples in the AViltshire barrows is shown in
Fig. 302. It lay with burnt bones in a wooden cist in a barrow near
Winterbourn Stoke. J With it was another, which was, however, broken,
an ivory pin and tweezers, and two small pieces of ivory with bronze
rivets, which were supposed to have appertained to the tips of a bow.
They may more probably have formed part of the hilt of the dagger.
The blade is ornamented with parallel lines as usual, but it also has a
series of fine dotted lines.
Two other blades (8£ and 8 inches), less highly ornamented, and one
of them straighter at the edges, were found with a skeleton buried in
the hollowed trunk of an elm-tree in the King Barrow, § Winterbourn
Stoke. With one of these at the breast of the skeleton were traces of a
wooden scabbard, with indentations which were thought to have been
gilt. The handle is described as having been of box-wood, and rounded
somewhat like that of a large knife. The other dagger was at the thigh.
On the breast was also a bronze awl with what is said to have been an
ivory handle (Fig. 227).
Dr. Thurnamll thinks it not improbable that one of the blades
may have been a spear-head for use in the chase. In writing of
these blades he observes, " Where two are found with the same
interment they are not exactly of one type, but one is light and
thin and of greater breadth, the other strengthened by a stout
midrib relatively heavier and of more pointed or leaf-like form ;
the rivets also are larger. In such cases the former may, perhaps,
* Raine, " North Durham," p. 235.
+ Arch. Jouni., vol. xxvi. p. 34fi ; Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. iv. p. 304. For the use
of this cut 1 am indehted to Mr. A. W. Franks, F.K.s.
% "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 122, pi. xiv. § Ihid., pi. xv. jl Arch., vol. xliii. p. 456.
R
242 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. — RAriER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
be supposed to be the dagger, the latter the spear." Sir Richard
Hoare in some cases discriminates between the spear and the
dagger when two blades were found ; and Mr. Cunnington
observed in a barrow at Roundway,* Wilts, that a pointed blade,
only 3 inches long with three rivets had a wooden shaft about
a foot in length, which, as Dr. Thurnam remarks, could not have
been the haft of a dagger.
The fact that many of these blades bore traces of having had a
sheath is in favour of their being daggers rather than spear-heads,
though it must not be forgotten that Homer f describes Achilles
as drawing the spear which had belonged to his father from its
sheath — / ,.. , ,
'Ek o apa crvpiyyo? irarpwiov lo-rrcuraT eyyos.
Though Sir Richard Colt Hoare at first regarded all these blades
as spear-heads, he observes, about two-thirds of the way through his
first volume,+ "daily experience convinces me that those implements
we supposed to be spear-heads, may more properly be denominated
daggers, or knives, worn by the side, or in a girdle, and not affixed
to long shafts like the modern lance." Further on, however, he
mentions a " spear-head " from a barrow near FovantJ having the
greater part of the wooden handle adhering to it, so that the mode
by which it Avas fastened was clearly seen. From the figure given
in the Archceologia, and in an unpublished plate of Hoare, this
seems, however, to have been a dagger rather than a spear.
Other blades of much the same character, found at Everley and Lake,
Wilts, and West Cranmore, Somerset, are figured by Dr. Thurnam. ||
This latter was found by my friend the late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.GKS.
It is straight at the bottom of the blade, which went only | inch
into the handle at the part where the usual semicircular notch was
formed. There was a single rivet on either side. The one preserved is
I inch long. Another, from Lake,^| is given by Hoare. It was found
with burnt bones and was accompanied by a a\ Ik i -lone.
Others have been found in a barrow at Aldington,** near Amesbury,
WTilts, and at Rowcroft,ff Yattendon, Berks (7.\ inches).
A fine blade of this character (!)j inches long), with three rivets, was
found near Leeds. The midrib ends ill a square base. It is not unlike
the blade of a halberd.
A hafted blade of the same kind,|J from Bere Regis, Dorsetshire, has
already been mentioned; as well as the decoration of the hilt of one of
the same form. One (9 inches) was found in a barrow at Came,§§ and
* Wilts Arch. Mag., vol. vi. p. 164. -f Diad, lib. xix. v. 387.
% P. 185. $ Op. cit., p. 242.
|1 Arch., vol. xliii. pi. xxxiv. fig. 4 ; xxxv. figs. 2, 1.
% "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 211, pi. xxviii. ** Arch. Jo/<r»., vol. x. p. 218.
tt Arch. Assoc. Jottrn., vol. xvii. p. 334. Jj Ante, p. 233.
§§ Arch. Jouri/., vol. v. p. 322.
DAGGERS WITH MIDRIBS.
'Ji:;
exhibited to the Archaeological Institute. Mr. AVarne,* however, records
the finding of two at that place. One seems to have the midrib dotted
over with small indentations.
That shown in Fig. 303 (which is copied from Dr. Thurnam's f engrav-
ing) is from Camerton, Somerset. It is remarkable as haying a kind of
second midrib beyond the parallel grooves which border the first. As
usual it has but two rivets.
A bronze dagger (5A- inches) of the Wiltshire type was found in the
well-known barrow at Hove, J near Brighton, in which the interment had
been made in an oak coffin.
An amber cup, a perforated
stone axe-hammer, and a
whetstone had also been de-
posited with the bod}\
In a blade of this class (7
inches), found with burnt
bones and drippings of flint
in a barrow at Teddington,§
the midrib appears to be
formed of three beads.
Another (9 inches) formed
part of the Arreton Down ||
find, of which more will here-
after be said. The blade
is ornamented with delicate
flutings and curves, and the
midrib ends in a crescent ed
hollow exactly opposite to the
usual notch in the handle.
This specimen is now in the
British Museum.
A bronze dagger (6| inches)
with three rivets, of which
the blade has much suffered
from decomposition, was
found with a lump of iron
pyrites within an urn in a
harrow at Angrowse Mul-
u>
Kg. 803.— Camerton. ± Fig, 304— Cambrid.
lion,^} Cornwall. A dagger blade of nearly the same kind, but with six
rivets, found in a barrow at Carnoel,** Finistere, is in the museum al
the Hotel Cluny, Paris.
I have a dagger (9 inches) much like Fig. 302, only somewhat mope
taper, found in the Seine at Paris. It has had three rivet-holes, and on
the blade are two bands of four lines parallel with the edge.
'I lie strengthening of the blade is sometimes effected by forming it
with three or more projecting ribs instead of a single midrib. In
Fig. 304 is shown a dagger blade in my own collection, found not far
* "Celtic Turn." pt. i. p. 3.5, pi. x. E. and G. f Arch., vol. xliii. p. 453, fig. 157.
% Arch. Join-)/., vol. xiii. p. 184 ; vol. xv. p. 90: Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ix. p. 120.
§ Surrey Arch. Soc. Trans., vol. i. ; Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 305.
II Arch., vol. xxxvi. p. 328, pi. xxv. fig. 6; "Horas Per.," pi. vii. 18
^ Borlase, "Nfflnia Corn.," p. 236.
** Lindenschmit, "Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. i. Heft xi. Taf. ii. 1.
R 2
244 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
from Cambridge. On either side of the central rib and along the outer
margin of the two other ribs are lines of minute punctures by way of
ornament.
A somewhat larger blade (8£- inches), from Little Cressingham,* Nor-
folk, has two deep furrows, one on each side of the broad central midrib,
and beyond these again two lateral ribs. This was secured to its hilt by
six rivets, three on each side. It was found with a contracted male
skeleton, accompanied by a necklace of amber beads and some articles
made of thin gold plate.
A dagger with a central rounded midrib, and apparently two lateral
ribs like those on Fig. 304, was found in a barrow near Torrington,f
Devon. It has three rivets, by which it was attached to a wooden handle,
and the blade showed traces of a wooden sheath, which like the handle
had perished.
A very small dagger or knife, with apparently a well-marked central
rib, found near Magherafelt, J Co. Londonderry, is shown in Fig. 305.
It has a haft of oak attached, which is thought to be original. Any
pins or rivets that may have existed are now lost, and possibly what were
used may have been formed of wood or horn. Some thin wedges of oak
appear to have been used for steadying the blade in the haft, the upper
part of which has somewhat suffered from fire.
One of the daggers from the great find at Arreton Down,§ Isle of
Wight (9 1 inches), has the blade strengthened by three raised ribs. It is
shown in Fig. 306. It was found with several tanged blades like
Fig. 324, some flanged celts, and other objects. In a blade (9 inches)
in Canon Greenwell's collection, and found at Ford, Northumberland,
there are two slight ribs about f inch from the edges and parallel to
them. There are punctures along the sides of the ribs.
Possibly some of these weapons may have been halberd blades, such
as those hereafter described.
Another form of dagger widens out considerably at the base, so as to
give the edges an ogival outline, and this form passes into what have
been termed rapier-like blades. As is the case with the leaf-shaped
blades, which will presently be described, some of these latter are so
long that it is hard to say whether they ought to be classed as swords or
as daggers.
The example engraved as Fig. 307 is from Scotland, and not England,
the original being in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It was
found in 1828 upon the farm of Kifrie, near Kinghorn, Fifeshire. The
blade, as is usually the case, shows a central ridge upon it, but is also
ornamented with parallel lines engraved on either side, which is a feature
of far less common occurrence.
A plain blade of the same character (7A- inches), but narrower in its
proportions, was found at Bracklesham,|| Sussex. It has as usual two
rivets only.
I have another (7i inches), showing four facets on the blade, from
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 456 ; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 454, fig. 158.
t Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. vii. p. 104.
X Journ. "Royal His/, ami Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 2nd S., vol. i. p. 286, whence this
cut luts lii't'ii kindly lint.
§ Arch., vol. xxxvi. p. 328, pi. xxv. 5, from which the cut is copied.
|| Dixon's "Geol. of Sussex," p. 12; Arch. Journ., vol. viii. p. 112; Suss. Arch.
Coll., vol. ii. p. 260.
DAGGERS WITH OGIVAL OUTLINE.
24 o
Soham Fen ; the two rivet-holes cut through the margin of the base, as in
Fig. 304.
I have seen others from the Cambridge Fens.
Another (13£ inches) with four rivets, and more nearly approaching
the rapier form, was found in the Thames at Ditton,* Surrey, and was
presented to the British Museum by the Earl of Lovelace. Another of the
Fig. 806.
Miigherafelt. J
Fig. 306.— Arreton Down. \
Fig. 307.— Kingliorn. J
same character (7 inches) was found in the Thames near Maidenhead,!
and another (8 inches) at Battersea.J
One (9f inches) with two rivets, and the base forming half a hexagon,
was found at New Bilton,§ near Rugby. I have another of nearly the
same form (7 J inches) from Waterbeach Fen, Cambridge.
* Fig. in Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 3G4.
\ A. A. J., vol. xiv. p. 329.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. i. p. 311.
§ J'roc. Hoc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 50.
246
DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
nig
In some the blade is ornamented by ribs cast in relief and by engrav-
A good example of tbe kind from tbe collection of Mr. Robert Day,
F.S.A., is shown in Fig. 308. It was found in the old castle of Colloony,^
Co. Sligo. One of much the same form as the Wiltshire dagger (Fig. 302),
found in the Thames,f near Richmond (7^%- inches), has at the base a
vandyke border and hatched diagonal bands. The blade is slightly ridged
but not otherwise ornamented. It is now in the British Museum. One
(oh inches), ornamented at the base in a similar manner, but with a short
Fig. 308.— Colloony. £
Fig. 309.— Ireland.
broad tang and one rivet-hole, was found on Helsington Peat Moss,|
Westmoreland.
A blade (7 inches) also ornamented at the base with a vandyke pattern
was found at Pitkaithly, Perthshire, and is now in the museum at
Edinburgh.
Many blades of daggers from Germany are ornamented. One of the
most beautiful that I have seen is that in the museum at Laibach,
Carniola. Another ( 1 1 .] inches), with the hilt complete, and the blade
and pommel-plate beautifully ornamented, was found near Vienna. § Von
Siickeu points out that from the shortness of the hilt it is probable that
these daggers were held in the same manner as among the Peruvians of
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 268.
+ Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 79; "Horse Forales," pi. vii. 19.
% Proc. Soc. Ant. , 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 370.
$ Von Racken, " "Die Punden an der Langen Wand bei Wiener Neustadt/' 1865, p. G.
RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES.
247
I
the present day, with the two first fingers not round the hilt, hut stretched
along the blade.
In the museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy* is a broad dagger blade
6f inches long, and engraved with a kind of vandyke pattern at the base.
The ornamented portion is shown full size in Fig. 309, kindly lent me by
the Academy. It is rather remarkable that the ornaments should extend
to so near the base, as they must have been intended to be free of the
liilt, in which, in consequence, it would appear that only a small part of
the blade can have been inserted. The sides of the socket in the hilt may,
however, have extended some
distance up the sloping part
of the base of the blade.
An ornamented blade of
more elongated form (16J-
inches) is engraved on the
scale of one-fourth in Fig. 310.
It was found at Kilrea, Co.
Sligo, and is in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S.
There is a vandyke pattern
near the base, which is not
shown in the cut.
I have a plain blade (14
inches) with merely, a central
ridge, and with two rivet-
holes, which is also from Ire-
land, and of much the same
form.
In a small English blade
(5 inches) of the same charac-
ter there are no rivet-holes at
the base.
A blade from the Thames f
of an ordinary rapier shape is
shown on the scale of one-
fourth in Fig. 311. It is pro-
vided with two rivets, and
there are notches at the side
of the base as if to allow of
two others being passed
through, the hilt to steady
the blade.
A blade of the same form
(10 inches), but with only two rivet-holes at the base, was found at the
foot of "the Castle Tump," Newchurch, J Eadnorshire.
Eapier-shaped blades from 8.1 inches to 12 \ inches long, found at
Auchtermuchty, Fife; at Fairholm, Dumfries-shire; and near Ardoch,
Eerthshire, are preserved in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh.
Fig. 312 represents a small blade of this character dredged up I'mm the
Kennet and Avon Canal, between Theale and Thatcham, Berks, and
1 Wilde, " Catal.," p. 465, fig. 347. t Proe. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 403, fig. 6.
X Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. vi. p. l'J.
Fig. 310.
Kilrea.
Fig. 311.
Thames.
1
Fi;*. 31 2.
Thatcham. i
248 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
given me by Mr. W. Whitaker, F.Cr.S. The two little notches at the
side of the base are peculiar.
A number of blades of this character, but without these small notches,
have been found in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Mr. Fisher, of Ely, has
four, varying in length from 8 inches to 9 inches, about 2 inches wide at
the base and 1 inch in the middle of the blade. They all have two rivet-
holes, in some of which are rivets f inch long.
Two blades found at South Kyme,* Lincolnshire, seem to have been of
this character. Another (13|- inches) was found at Corbridge,f Northum-
berland, in company with a leaf-shaped spear-head. One from Burwell
Fen, in my own collection, has three rivet-holes, in which are still two of
the rivets, of which one is formed from a nearly square piece of metal.
A long blade of this kind (16J inches), but with the blade tapering more
gradually from a rounded base, was dredged from the Thames | near
Vauxhall. Other rapier-shaped blades (18| inches and 14i-0- inches) have
been found in the Thames near Kingston. §
The base of these blades appears sometimes to be disproportionately
broad with regard to the blades themselves. An example from Coveney,
near Downham Hithe, Cambridgeshire, is in the collection of Mr. Fisher,
of Ely, and is shown in Fig. 313. This widening was no doubt intended
to aid in steadying the blade in its hilt.
I have a dagger of the same form (8 inches), but with a more tapering
blade, found in Waterbeach Fen, Cambridge. Another (11^- inches),
from Harlech, Merionethshire, is even narrower in the blade than the
Coveney example, but it has lost its edges by corrosion.
Some blades, from 12^ inches to 15 J inches long, and rapier-like in
character, from Maentwrog in the same county, are engraved in the Archceo-
logia, || and are now in the British Museum. The rivet arrangements vary.
A spear-head, with loops attached to the blade, was found with them.
One of them has notches at the sides of the base, as in Fig. 311.
One 14f inches long, and of much the same outline, but flat in the
centre instead of ridged, was found at Fisherton,^[ near Salisbury, and is
in the Blackmore Museum. Another of the same character, but broad
in the blade (16^ inches), was found in the Thames.**
Canon Greenwell has two rapier-like blades from the Thames, 17.V
inches and 15| inches long, from Sandford. With tho latter was found
a leaf-shaped blade (19 inches) with two rivet- holes in the base.
Such blades are almost long enough to bo regarded as swords.
A weapon of this form (16^ inches), with the blade reduced in thickness
towards the edges, and with two large rivets, one of them still in situ,
was found in the Thames, and is now in the British Museum. Another in
the same collection (12£ inches), from tho Thames at Kingston, is much
narrower at the base.
A blade of this character from Blair Drummond Moss was exhibited
in the museum at Edinburgh, and is preserved at Blair Drummond
House.
The type occurs in Franco. One found at Auxonne,+f Haute Saone, is
in the St. Germain Museum.
* Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 73. t Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 3G3.
X Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. CO. § I'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 83.
|| Vol. xvi. p. 365, pi. lxx. II Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
** Op. cit., p. 158. ft Chuntre, " Alb.," pi. xvi. 2.
RAPIERS WITH NOTCHES AT THE BASE.
249
Another, rather shorter and broader, with two rivets and two notches
in the sides of the base, was found in the bay of Penhouet* (Loire
Inferieure).
I have examples from
the Seine at Paris, and
also from the neighbour-
hood of Amiens.
In some cases the rivet-
holes cut through the mar-
gin of the metal as in Fig.
304.
Blades appear some-
times to have been cast
with deep rounded notches
in the base to receive the
rivets instead of having
holes drilled or cast in
them. That shown in Fig.
314 is of this character,
and was found in the
Thames at London. It
was given to me by Mr.
C. Eoach Smith, F.S.A.
Others of the same charac-
ter have also been found
in the Thames. One of
these (1G| inches), of
nearly the same type but
more rounded at the lower
part of the wings, is in the
British Museum.
Canon Greenwell has a
blade of this type (8f
inches), found near Meth-
wold, Norfolk.
A specimen of this form
(11 inches) from Edington
Burtle, Somerset, is in the
Museum at Taunton.
A blade from Inchigec-
la,t Co. Cork, figured in
the Archaeological Journal,
seems to be notched in a
similar manner. Another
of different form, but ap-
parently notched after the
Bame fashion, is engraved
by Vallancey.t
-*=^^£»—
i
Tig. 313.— Coveney. \
Fig. 311— Thames.
Some of the rapier-shaped blades, and especially those of larger si/,.
such as seem intermediate between swords and daggers, are ornamented
* Rev. Arch., vol. xxxiii. p. 231. f Vol. x. p. 73.
Collect.," vol. iv. pi. xi. 9.
t "•
250 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
as well as strengthened by a projecting midrib, while their weight is
diminished by Hutings along either side. A beautiful example of
this kind, found at the bottom of an old canoe, between the peat and
clay, near Chatteris, Cambs, is shown one-quarter size in Fig. 315.
I have another (14 inches) with the midrib not quite so prominent, and
with the rivet-holes cutting the margin of the base, found at Aston
Ingham, Herefordshire. A portion of another was found near Water-
beach, * Cambs.
A broader blade of the same character (12f inches), with two very large
rivets, was found in the Thames at Kingston, and is now in the British
Museum. A narrower blade (12 inches) with the rivet-holes cutting
through the base, was found at Caesar's Camp, Farnham, Surrey, and is
in the same collection.
A long blade of this character from the Thames (21 inches long and
2f inches wide at the base), with central ridge and slight flutings at the
edges, may more properly be regarded as a sword. It is in the British
Museum.
Six blades, all of the rapier character, but varying in details, and from
12 inches to 22 inches in length, were found at Talaton, Devonshire. j"
Some moulds of stone for blades of the same hind were found at Hennock
in the same county, and will subsequently be described. Another
blade (17 inches) was found at Winkleigh, J near Crediton, Devon.
A blade of the same character from Ireland is given by Vallancey.§
A fine specimen from the same country (18 inches) is in the British
Museum. || What ajrpears to be a part of a blade ^j of the same kind has
been regarded as a kind of " steel" for sharpening other blades.
A rapier-shaped blade (21 inches) with two rivet-holes was found, with
socketed celts and a palstave, at Mawgan,** Cornwall.
Blades of this character are also found in France. Two from the
departments of Aisne and Somme,ff have been figured. One (20 inches
long) is in the Museum at Nantes.
A rapier blade from the Chaussee Brunehault, and now in the Boulogne
Museum, is almost like a trefoil in outline at the hilt end.
A still longer blade of this character, which perhaps ought with greater
propriety to have been classed among swords, is shown in Fig. 316 on
the scale of one-fourth. It has unfortunately lost its point, but is still
I7f inches long. It would appear to have been originally about 20£
inches long, as shown in the figure. The blade in this case has three
projecting ribs between which and again towards the edges it is fluted.
It was found in the Fiver Ouse, near Thetford. The imperfect rivet-
holes at the base appear to have been oast in tho blade, and the means
of steadying it in its hilt must have been but inadequate. Such weapons,
however, can only have been intended for stabbing, and not for striking.
Another blade of similar form, but with perfect rivet-holes, was
found in the fino earthwork of Badbury, Dorsetshire, and is in the
collection of Mr. Durden, of Blandford. It is 23.\ inches long and 2ia8-
inches wide at the base above tho rivet-holes.
Blades of this kind are occasionally found in Ireland. In the British
* Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 193. t Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 110. % Op. eit., p. 113.
$ " Collect.," vol. iv. pi. xi. 10 ; Cough's " Camden," vol. iv. pi. xviii. 10.
|| " Hone Feralea," pi. vii. 23. II Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 1S6.
** Arch., vol. xvii. p. 337. tt Viet. Arch, dc la Gatik.
LONG RAPIER-SHAVED BLADES.
251
Museum is one (9 inches) with deep notches for the rivets, found in
Rathkemian Bog, Co. Tipperary.
Nearly all the rapier-shaped blades which have still to be noticed may
be regarded as probably those of swords rather than of daggers. That
Fig. 315— Chatteris. J
Fig. 310.— Thetford. }
Fig. 317. — Londondei rj
shown in Fig. 317 is in my own collection, and was found near London-
derry. The method of attachment to the hilt by two rivets fitting into
notches at the sides of the base of the blade is the same as in some of the
shorter weapons already mentioned.
Another (19 inches), found at Killeshandra,* Co. Cavan, lias e
* Wilde, "Catal.," p. 448, fig. 326.
siiiiii.tr
252 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [CHAP. X.
notches at the sides, hut the hase is somewhat differently shaped. Many
of these rapier-shaped blades have been found in Ireland, and
Canon Greenwell has one (27| inches) which was bought in
Scotland, and probably found in that country.
A blade (14 inches) found in the Loire, and now in the Nantes
Museum, has side notches of nearly the same character as those
in Fig. 317.
The finest example of the rapier kind ever found in Ireland
is that shown in Fig. 318, which by the kindness of the Royal
Irish Academy I here reproduce from Sir W. Wilde's Cata-
logue. It is no less than 30| inches long, and is only -| inch
in width at the centre of the blade, which has a strong midrib.
It was found in a bog at Lissane, Co. Derry. I have a blade,
found at Noailles, near Beauvais, Oise, France, identical in
form and character, but only 2 3 J inches long. Were it not
that the rivets are wanting, Fig. 318 might have been taken
from the French instead of the Irish specimen.
Another narrow blade, with a heavy rounded midrib (22|
inches long and If inch broad at the base), was found in a bog
at Galbally, Co. Tyrone, and had at the time of its discovery
the original hilt attached. There also appear to have been
some remains of a scabbard, but this is uncertain. The hilt
has been engraved in the Proceedings of the Royal Historical and
Archceological Society of Ireland* and is here by their kindness
reproduced as Fig. 319.
Mr. Wakeman, of Enniskillen, in his interesting ac-
count of the discovery, describes the material of which
the hilt is formed as bone, or rather whalebone. Both
blade and haft are, however, now in my own collection,
and I think there can be no doubt that the material of
the hilt is in reality a dark-coloured ox-horn. On some
Danish blades I have seen the fibrous texture of this
substance still shown by the oxide or salt of the metal,
forming as it were a cast of its surface, which has out-
lasted the horn against which it was originally formed.
There are no traces of the rivets in the Galbally hilt, so
that probably pins of hard wood served to secure it to
the blade.
Some Scandinavian daggers have been found with
their 1 Kindles of horn still attached. One from a barrow
in Hasslof,f South Halland, Sweden, had its leather
sheath with a long rectangular end of bronze still pre-
served. The length of the sheath is about twice that
Sie1.8" > of thc bkdo of the <HTger.
* 4tli Series, vol. ii. p. 197.
t " Hallands Fommiones-Forenings Aarskr.," 1869, p. 89.
RAPIER WITH OX-HORN HILT.
253
The bronze hilts for the long rapier-like blades are rare, but not
unknown.
One of these blades, found in the Co. Tipperary,* has its hilt still
Fig. 319.— Galbally. }
attached by metal rivets, as shown in Fig. 320. The hilt is hollow and is
* Wilde, " Catal.," p. 458, fig. 333, from which the fig. in the text is copied on a
somewhat larger scale; " Hone Ferales," pi. vii. 15,
2'">4 DAGGEES AM) THEIR HILTS. — RAPIER-SHAPED BLADES. [cHAP. X.
now open at the end, though probably, as Wilde suggests, originally closed
by a bone stud.
The hilt of a sword in the museum at Tours is joined to the blade in
much the same fashion, but has a mere indentation instead of the central
semicircular notch. The body of the hilt is engraved with bands of
triangles and circles.
A rapier-shaped blade, with a bronze hilt
of nearly the same form, but with six rivets,
is in the museum at Narbonne.* Another
nearly similar was found at Cheylounet,f
Haute Loire.
Some Egyptian bronze daggers have the
hilts formed in the same style.
In another form, the blade of which is
more leaf-shaped, like the ordinary bronze
sword, the means of attachment to the haft
are merely sHght notches at the sides. That
shown in Fig. 321 is only 11 inches long, but
the edge has been removed for about 1A- inch
from the base, showing the portion which
presumably was inserted in the hilt. The
original was found near Ely, and is in the
collection of Mr. M. Eisher, of that town.
I have a small specimen of the same kind
(6 J inches) from Fordham, Cambs.
A more leaf-shaped blade (14 inches), with
rivet notches at the side of the base, was
found, with leaf-shaped spear-heads, at
Worth, J Washfield, Devon. Fossibly this,
as suggested by Mr. Tucker, F.S.A., was
originally a sword from which the hilt was
broken.
A blade more like Fig. .321 (15]- inteh.es
long and 1 inch broad) was found in the Mardyke, near Grays Thur-
rock,§ Essex. Some of the weapons of this kind, like one from the
Thames at Kingston (11.V inches), appear to have been made from broken
sword or rapier-like blades.
A long-tanged form, of which it is sometimes difficult to say whether it
is a sword, a knife, or a dagger, is of not unfrequent occurrence in
Ireland. That shown in Fig. 322 is in my own collection.
I have another found near Armagh (cS.V inches), which is rati ler broader
in its proportions. It has a diagonal row of circular indentations across
each side of the blade just above the shoulders. Not improbably these
and other specimens originally existed in a somewhat different form, but
having been injured at their base were refitted with a tang for attach-
ment to the haft instead of being secured by rivets at the sides like those
last mentioned.
Some Danish daggers are provided with merely a slight tang like that
of a modern chisel.
Fig. 320. — Tii perai y.
* " Materiaux," vol. v. pi. ii. 1. f " Materiaux," vol. x. p. 370.
J Arch. Journ., vol, xxiv. p. 120.
§ Arch. Journ., vol, xxvi. p. L91 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 406.
BAYONET-LIKE BLADES.
255
Another form of blade is more of the nature of a bayonet than of a
I
r
Fig. 821.— Ely. Fig. 322.— North of Ireland. Fig. 323. Raphoe.
rapier, yet this would appear to be the proper place in which to notice it.
256 DAGGERS AND THEIR HILTS. RAPIER-SHAPF.D BLADES. [CHAP. X.
The example shown in Fig. 323 is in the collection of Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S., and was found at Raphoe, Co. Donegal.
The section of the blade is nearly square, and the faces are ornamented
with parallel engraved lines. It ends in a tang with a single hole
through it, and with it was found a f errule of bronze for receiving the end
of the handle.
In the Royal Irish Academy Museum is another blade of the same
character, 33 inches long and nearly square in section, but having the
faces fluted. With it was a ferrule, 3f inches long, having four ribs at
the base, with hollows between. It has one rivet-hole through it. This
specimen was found in a bog near Glenarm, Co. Antrim.
From the ferrules and general form of the blades it is probable that
they were lance or pike heads rather than of the nature of swords or
daggers. The " javelin with loop " found in Monaghan, and engraved
in the Arclwological Journal * seems to be somewhat of the same nature.
It may possibly be the case that some of the other blades
described in this chapter have served as the points of spear-like
weapons, though, from the hilts being discovered with so many
of them, there can be no doubt that the majority must be regarded
as having been the blades of daggers or rapiers. Among modern
weapons we have, however, some which, like the sword-bayonet,
are intended to serve a double purpose ; and though there can
be little doubt as to the true character of the knife-daggers, it is
hardly safe to assert that all the dagger-like blades were without
exception mounted with short hilts as poniards, and that none were
provided with straight shafts as pikes, or placed transversely on
a handle to serve as halberds or battle-axes.
The weapons described in this chapter probably range over the
whole of the Bronze Period of Britain. The knife-daggers, which
have almost exclusively been found in barrows, often associated
with other weapons formed of stone, may be regarded as among
the earliest of our bronze antiquities ; while the rapier-shaped
blades, though of rare occurrence in hoards, appear to belong to a
period when socketed celts were already in use. Of the dagger-like
blades, in whatever manner they were mounted, a considerable
number belong to an early period. The analogies of the different
forms with those found upon the Continent have already from time
to time been noted in the preceding pages.
* Vol. iii. p. 47.
CHAPTER XI.
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, OR SPEAR-HEADS, HALBERDS,
AND MACES.
Before passing to the leaf-shaped swords, which would seem
naturally to follow in order after the blades last described, it will
be well to notice two sets of weapons which, though in many
respects identical with daggers, may in the one case have served
as spear-heads, and in the other most probably as the blades of
battle-axes or halberds. To the first of these two classes the term
" Arreton Down type " has been conventionally applied, as it was
in the hoard found at that place that the largest proportion of such
weapons occurred ; and, indeed, until that discovery the type appears
to have been unknown.
The tanged blades are still rare, but have now been found in
several other places besides the Isle of Wight. The centre of the
blade is usually thick and strong, showing a central ridge and
having the sides more or less decorated with flutings or lines
where the metal is reduced in thickness. The tang, unlike that
of the daggers described at the beginning of the last chapter, is
long and narrow, and tapers away from the blade. At its end is a
hole for a rivet or pin. In one instance a ferrule was found upon
the blade, as will be seen in Fig. 324. This figure is copied from
that in the Archceologia* which is taken from a drawing made in
1737 by Sir Charles Frederick. Upon the ferrule are a number
of raised bosses in imitation of rivets, but there seems to be no
rivet-hole in the ferrule itself, though there is one in the end of
the tang of the blade with the rivet still in it.
Accounts of the discovery of this and other weapons at Arreton
Down, near Newport, in the Isle of Wight, were communicated to
the Society of Antiquaries in the years 1735 and 1737, and the
latter has been printed by Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S.f At least
* Vol. xxxvi. pi. xxv. 2. f Arch., vol. xxxvi. p. 326.
258
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [CHAP. XI.
sixteen articles were found in a marl-pit, and they are said to
have been arranged in a regular order. Of these, nine were of this
tanged type, but varying in details. One (Fig. 328) was provided
with a socket ; two were dagger
' oo
blades, already mentioned (one of
which is given in Fig. 306), and
four were flanged celts, like Fig. 8,
but varying in size. Six specimens
from this hoard are now in the
British Museum. Mr. Franks, in the
paper already mentioned, regards
these tanged weapons as spear-
heads, and is I think right in so
doing ; the blades, however, present
such close analogies with the daggers
O Oo
from the Wiltshire barrows, and the
socketed variety (Fig. 328) is so
dagger-like in character, that it is
hard to speak with any degree of
confidence upon this point.
In 1855 Mr. Franks observed
that the type was quite new to him,
but since that time several other
specimens have been found besides
those from Arreton Down. One of
these, discovered in the River Lea
at Stratford-le-Bow, Essex, is now
in the British Museum, and is shown
in Fig. 325. As will be seen, it
has a rounded midrib, with several
parallel grooves on each side of it
engraved or punched on the blade.
Fig. 324.— Arreton
Down. J
Fig. 325.— Stratford-
le-Bow. i
Some of the weapons from* Arreton
Down are of nearly the same descrip-
tion, but the midrib is more ridged,
and is ornamented with rows of engraved or punched dots. One has
a double crescent-shaped line of dots punched in at the base of the blade.
I have a blade (10 inches) of the same form and character, but without
any engraved dots upon it, from Burwell Fen, Cambridge. The parallel
flutings on the blade appear to have been produced in the casting, and
not by engraving or punching. The hole in the tang was also made in
• Arch., vol. xxxvi. pi. xxv. 1 ; "Horas Ferales," pi. vi. 24.
THE ARRETOX DOWN TYPE.
259
7'
11
1
III
ii|rli:i
I
S*!
J
1
I
1
■
the casting, being irregular in form. It is nowhere less than \ inch
in diameter. Another weapon (7£ inches) of the same character, but
apparently without any fluting, was found near Newbury,* Berks.
Such blades are of extremely rare occurrence in Ireland, but
one (9 inches) closely resembling Fig. 325 was found in the county
of AVest Meath, and is now
in the collection of Mr. Robert
Day, F.S.A, of Cork.
A slightly different variety of
blade is shown in Fig. 326. It
is ridged along the centre, and
has a groove on each side run-
ning parallel to the edge, such
as woidd afford facility for
sharpening the edge by ham-
mering it out. The end of the
tang has been broken off at the
hole. This specimen is said to
have been foimd near Matlock,
Derbyshire, and is in my own
collection.
One with much broader and
deeper grooves on each side of
the midrib (10 inches), found
in Swaffham Fen, is in the
Museum of the Cambridge An-
tiquarian Society.
A nearly similar blade, but
with four slight channels on
either side instead of one, is in
the museum at Copenhagen,
and is said to have been found
in Italy, f
Another of these blades, but
without any lateral flutings,
and in character similar to Fig.
324, was found near Preston, \
in the parish of Plymstock,
Devon, and is shown in Fig.
327. It is now in the British
Museum. In this instance, as
at Arreton Down, the accom-
panying articles Were flanged Fig. 326.— Matlock. \ Fig. 327.— Plymstock. %
celts like Fig. 9, of which there
were sixteen, and three dagger blades (see Fig. 301). There was also a
narrow chisel (Fig. 190).
m
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 322, pi. 26, No. 1.
t " Cong, preh.," Copenhagen vol., p. 483.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 349
A. W. Franks, F.R.S.
For the use of this cut I am indebted to Mr
s 2
260
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [CHAP. XT.
Two specimens from Suffolk (8 inches and 10£ inches), one of them
from Hintlesham,*" formed part of the collection of the late Mr. Whin-
copp, and are now in the British Museum.
One of the Arreton Down f specimens, without a ferrule, is also much of
this type.
In the Arreton Down hoard there was a single example of a
weapon of this kind which was provided with
a socket for the insertion of a handle or shaft,
instead of having a tang. Fig. 328 is copied
from the engraving published in the Archceo-
logia.% As will be observed, the socket part is
made to abut on the blade, much after the man-
ner of a dagger handle, and has cast upon it
two bosses in imitation of the heads of rivets
for securing the blade. A weapon (8j inches),
which there can hardly be a doubt is the original
from which Sir Charles Frederick made his draw-
ing for the Society of Antiquaries, is now in
Canon Greenwell's collection, and I know of no
other example. It differs from the socketed
knives in the character of the blade, which is
thicker and more highly ornamented, like some
of the daggers from the Wiltshire barrows. Whe-
ther it was itself intended to be a dagger, or
whether it was the head of a spear or lance, I
will not attempt to determine.
What has somewhat the appearance of being a
weapon of the same character was found in a moss
near Campbeltown, § Argyleshiro, together with a
bronze sword. It may, however, as already suggested,
be merely a socketed knife.
A very beautiful weapon of this kind is in the mu-
seum at Lausanne. The blade is ornamented some-
what in the same manner as that of Fig. 328. The
socket is shorter and ornamented with parallel rings
and bands of triangles, alternately hatched and plain.
There appear to be six rivets, and what may be
termed the hilt has a deep half-oval notch in it, like that which is com-
mon on swords and daggers. The margin of this notch is decorated with
punctured dots. It was, I believe, found near Sion, Valais, with por-
* Arch. Journ.y vol. xxvi. p. 349.
t Arch., xxxvi. pi. xxv. 3 ; " Horse Ferales," pi. vi. 25.
J Vol. xxxvi. p. 328, pi. xxv. 3.
§ Wilson's "Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 390; Catal. Mus. Arch. Inst., Edinb., p. 23.
Fig. 328.— Arreton
Down. %
SCANDINAVIAN AND GERMAN HALBERDS.
261
tions of what may have been the ornaments of a sheath, and also with
a long narrow celt, flanged at the upper part. The general resemblance
between the Swiss and the English specimens is very remarkable.
An Egyptian * blade, with the side edges slightly curved inwards, and
with the socket rather shorter than in Eig. 328, is in the museum at
Boulaq. It is attached to the socket by three rivets.
Fig. 329.— Arup. J
The second series of blades of which it is proposed to treat in
this chapter are usually from six to sixteen inches long, rather
broad at the base, and not unfrequently curved longitudinally. This
requently
* " Miiteriaux," vol. v. pi. xix. 11.
262
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [CHAP. XI.
latter circumstance, as well as their shape and weight, proves that
some of these broad blades were not intended for use as daggers ;
and this being admitted, it seems to follow that others, which
resemble the curved blades in all respects except their curvature,
must be regarded as belonging to the same class of weapons.
What these weapons were may I think be best shown by some
examples from Scandinavia and Northern Germany, which also
show the manner in which similar blades were attached to their
shafts so as to form a kind of halberd or battle-axe.
That which I have selected by way of illustration is one that is engraved
in Dr. Oscar Montelius' " Sveriges Forntid," '^who has kindly lent me the
block of Fig. 329. In this instance the scale adopted is one-third linear
measure. In a is given a view of the upper end, seen from above, and
in b a view from behind the blade, showing the great projection of the
Fig. :J30.— China.
rivet-like knobs. The0handle as well as the blade is in bronze. This
specimen was found at Arup, in Scania. Another is engraved in Lisch's
" Frederico-Francisceum." f It was found, with two others, at Blen-
gow, near Bucko w, Mecklenburg Schwerin, and is regarded by Lisch as
a kind of battle-axe, or possibly as a "commander's staff" or baton of
honour. Good examples of the same kind are in the museums atMalmoe
and Kiel, and others have been described by Klemm.J Two have been
found near Neu Euppin. Others are in the Schwerin Museum.
Another, with a separate socket, having three rivet-like bosses upon it.
is in the Berlin Museum. § There can be little doubt that this last-men-
tioned weapon is a representative of an earlier form, when the shaft was
merely of wood and the transverse blade was secured in it by means of
* Fig. l.'ll. f Taf. vii. 1 ; xxxiii. 1 ; " llura. Krrales." pi. x. 2.
X " Handb. der Germ. Alterth.," p. 208. See also Preusker, " Blicke," Taf. iii. 44 f. ;
Kltnmi, "Allg. Culturwiss," p. U2.
$ Bastian und A. Vuss, "Die Bronze Schwerter dea K. Mus.," Tat', vi. 0.
IRISH HALBERDS. 263
three rivets. An intermediate form, in which the blade fits into a kind of
open-work bronze socket for receiving a shaft, is preserved in the Berlin
Museum.*
An instance of the use of an analogous form of weapon in another part
of the world is afforded by some bronze blades from China, of which one
is represented in Fig. 330. For the loan of the original of this figure
I am indebted to Mr. A. W. Franks, F.E.S. As will be readily seen,
the blade is adapted for being attached at nearly a right angle to a
ehaft, into which the flat tang behind the stop-ridge would be inserted,
and the blade would then be secured in its position by laces or straps
passing through the slots at the base of the blade. The antiquity of
such weapons in China it is hard to ascertain, but they probably date back
to a period many centuries remote from the present day.
Several of them are engraved in a Chinese work on antiquities, "The
Golden Study," to which Mr. H. N. Moseley, F.E.S. , has kindly called
my attention. What appear to be bronze spear-heads and swords are
figured in the same work.
A bronze weapon of the same kind, but with a socket, which, like
the blade, is highly ornamented, was found on the Yenissei,f in Siberia.
There is the figure of a kind of antelorje projecting from the socket oppo-
site the blade. Another, from Viatka, in Russia, has the head of an
animal in the same position.
An iron weapon with a socket at right angles to the blade, from the
Inwa, X Perm, appears to be a halberd of much the same kind.
This form of weapon closely approximates to the Australian "malga" §
and to some other wooden weapons in use in New Caledonia.
As it is in Ireland and Scotland that the most characteristic of
the halberd blades have been discovered, it will be well to com-
mence with the examples from those countries rather than with
those from England.
In Fig. 331 is represented a fine specimen of a form not unusual in
Ireland, though the central rib is somewhat more ornamented than is
generaUy the case. The rivets, as usual, are three in number, and are
still preserved in the blade. In this case they are about § inch in
diameter and f inch between the heads, which are about | inch in
diameter and have been carefully hammered into an almost hemispherical
form. The midrib ends abruptly in a straight line where it abutted on
the shaft. The metal appears to have a considerably less proportion of
tin to copper than is usual with bronze weapons. It looks in fact almost
like pure copper.
This coppery appearance is by no means uncommon in these blades. I
have another specimen of the same forin(9£ inches), but without the bead
mi the midrib. It was found at Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. A specimen
much like Fig. 331 is termed by Vallancey,|| "the brass head of a Tuagh
• " Horse Ferales," pi. x. 3; Von Ledebur, " Konigl. Mus.," p. 15.
f " Materiaux," vol. viii. pi. xvi. 14 ; vol. xiii. p. 232 ; Chantre, " Age. du Br.,"
Jine partie, p. 283; Mem. des Ant. du Nord, 1872—7, p. 116.
I "Zeitsch. fur Ethnol.," vol. ix. 1877, Proc, p. 34, Taf. vi. 3.
5 Col. A. Lane Fox, "Prim. Warfare," lect. 2.
|| " Coll. Hib.," vol. iv. p. 62, pi. xi. 11.
264
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [CHAP. XI.
eatha, a general name for the war-
" The large rivets of this
Fig. 381.— Ireland. I
;ixe.
weapon show it was mounted on a
very strong shaft."
Sir W. Wilde has described,
under the two distinct headings
of "Broad scythe-shaped Swords,-'
and " Battle-axes," the weapons
which I have here classed toge-
ther. Of the former he mentions
forty-one specimens in the Mu-
seum of the Royal Irish Aca-
demy, of the latter but two or
three. The " swords " * he de-
scribes as thick, heavy, and round-
pointed, averaging about 12
inches in length by about 2 J
inches in breadth at the base ;
twenty-two of the blades being
curved. With the strong blades,
however, he classes some which
are quite thin and flat, and which
have more the appearance of
having been intended for daggers.
The curved shape is much against
their having been attached to
staves " spear-ways ;" so that
Wilde's other suggestion of the
CO
scythe-shaped swords having been
mounted like axes, or " affixed to
long handles like modern hal-
berds," seems much more rea-
sonable. As to the shorter and
broader blades, whether curved
or not, he appears to have had
no doubt of their being a kind of
battle-axes.
Wilde has inferred from the
large size of the rivets, some
being 14 inches in length and
"Catal. Mm K. I. A.," p. 449.
COPPER BLADES LESS BRITTLE THAN BRONZE. 265
nearly 1 inch across the burr or head, that they must have been
attached to massive metal handles, of which, however, no frag-
ments have been preserved. If this view had been correct, the
disappearance of the handles would be a remarkable circumstance ;
but the large rivets appear rather intended for securing the blades
to wooden shafts, the disappearance of which from ordinary decay
is exactly what might be expected. In one instance there are
large conical washers or broad rings of bronze 1 j inches in diameter
beneath the rivet-heads, and these in the case of a metal handle
would have been superfluous.
Wilde appears to me to have fallen into another error with
respect to the antiquity of this form of weapon.* Arguing from
the fact that many of the specimens are formed either of red bronze
or of pure copper, he thinks it probable that, like the celts of
that material, they are of immense antiquity. And in another
place he says that their antiquity may be gathered from the fact
of many being of copper, the use of which metal invariably pre-
ceded that of bronze. As I have already had occasion to observe,
it is perfectly true that many of these blades have the appearance
of being made of copper, but the absence of tin in their composi-
tion has not as yet been proved. Even were they of pure copper the
form and character of the blades show them to be derivatives from
the dagger, as the dagger itself sprang from the simpler knife ; and
the cause for using a less proportion of tin, or indeed none of that
metal in them, appears to me to have been the wish to make them
less brittle than if they had been of bronze. A weapon used as a
battle-axe would not be less deadly from having a somewhat duller
cutting edge than if formed of bronze, and should it get bent in
an encounter, the straightening of it might quickly be effected,
while the loss of a blade by its breaking would be irreparable.
I have elsewhere contended that the Hungarian perforated double-
ended axes (like pickaxes) of copper, with but little or no tin in
them, were made of this material, not because tin was unknown, but
because the ductile and malleable copper was found better adapted
for certain purposes than the more fragile bronze. In the same
manner copper rather than brass sets or punches are in use among
engineers at the present day, when an intermediate piece of metal
is required to convey the blows of a hammer to an iron key or
other object which would be injured by receiving the blows direct.
Sir William Wilde, in his Fig. 360, lias shown a hollow tube of
* P. 449.
266 ■ TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [cHAP. XI.
bronze as forming the handle of a wide halberd blade ; but this
juxtaposition of the two objects has been questioned. Not only
are the projecting spikes upon the tube somewhat inconsistent
Avith its use as a handle, but from a comparison with some similar
objects since discovered there can be no doubt of the presumed
halberd shaft being in reality a portion of a trumpet.
Fig. 332.— Cavan
The blade which is figured in connection with this handle was found
near Eoscrea, Co. Tipperary, and closely resembles Fig. 332 both in form
and size, being 7f inches long and 8f inches wide at the base, in which
are two rivet-holes and also two notches in the margin. It has a kind of
treble midrib. The blade shown in Fig. 332 has but a single midrib, but
near the edges and following the same curve is a minor ridge. A section
is given at the side of the figure. The original was found near Cavan,
and is in my own collection. From the absence of rivet-holes it seems
doubtful whether it was ever mounted on a shaft so as to form a complete
weapon, unless, indeed, the sharp base was merely driven into the wood.
The metal appears to have a larger admixture of tin in it than is usual
in the scythe-like blades. I am not aware of the existence of any other
specimens of this very broad form besides the two now mentioned.
A curved blade, of much the same section as Fig. 332, but 15£ inches
long and 3-} inches broad at the base, found at the foot of Slieve Kileta
Hill, Co. Wexford, is in the British Museum. It has three stout rivets.
IRISH HALBERDS.
267
The long and narrow blade shown in Fig. 333 seems also to belong
Fig. :!:«.— Newtown Limavady. *
i 884, -Ballygawley. *
268
TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [CHAP. XI.
to the category of halberds, though the rivet-holes are smaller than usual,
and the blade itself thinner. It is strengthened by a number of small
converging ribs formed in the casting, instead of by a broad midrib, and
is also straight and not curved. The original was found near Newtown
Limavady, Co. Derry, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S.
The shorter and much more massive blade shown in Fig. 334 is also in
Canon Greenwell's collection, and was found at Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone.
It has probably seen much service, as what appear to have been the
Fig. 335.— Falkland. I
Fig. 336.— Stranraer
original three rivet-holes have in two cases been partly closed by hammer-
ing, while in the third the base of the blade has broken away. In order
to make use of the weapon, three fresh holes have been drilled rather
farther from the base, in which the rivets are still preserved.
iSome of the Irish * blades are more rounded than this at the point, and
have been secured to the shafts by four rivets arranged as in Fig. 33G.
There is also occasionally a shoulder between the blade and the part let
into the handle, as in that from Stranraer.
* Conf. Wilde, op. eit., p. is'.), figs. 356 and 357 ; ami "Horae Fir.," pi. x. 6.
SCOTTISH AND ENGLISH HALBERDS.
269
In Fig. 335 is shown another blade much like that from Ballygawb-v,
Fig. 338.— Shropshire. 1
Syifriv-v-7W**
Fig. 337— Harbyrnrigge. }
but found near Falkland, Fifeshire. The metal appears to be nearly
270 TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC. [(HAP. XI.
pure copper, and it is doubtful whether it ever had more than one rivet-
hole, though there are notches for the reception of two besides the rivet
still left in the blade. It would, however, be fairly secured in its handle
by a second rivet in the notch on the left, while a third at the back of
the midrib would prevent the blade from being driven into its handle by
a blow.
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are several of these halberd-
like blades, some of them curved. One from Sluie,* Edinkillie, Elgin-
shire, is 11 by 3^ inches, and has four rivet-holes arranged in a semi-
circle. It was found with two flat celts. Three others, from 10 to 13£
inches by^3 inches, were found together at Kingarth,f Bute. They are
described as of reddish bronze.
The original of Fig. 336 was found near Stranraer,^ Wigtonshire, and
is now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. It is 12^ inches long
and -ik broad, and weighs nearly If lbs., so that if mounted as a halberd,
it must have been a formidable weapon. The rivets are an inch in
length.
In England and Wales the blades Avhich can with any degree of
confidence be regarded as those of halberds are by no means
common. I think, however, that the example from Harbyrnrigge,§
Crosby Ravens worth, Westmoreland, shown in Fig. 337, must be
looked upon as a halberd rather than as a dagger. It is in the
collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S.
Another blade of much the same character is shown on the scale of one-
fourth in Fig. 338. It was found in Shropshire, || but the exact locality
is not known. Another (11£ by 4 inches), bearing much resemblance to
that from Shropshire, was found near Manea,^[ Cambridgeshire. It is
provided with four rivets, and has a small rib running down the thickened
centre of the blade. It is now in the Museum of the Cambridge Anti-
quarian Society.
The late Mr. J. W. Flower, F.G.S., bequeathed to me a blade of this
character (9f by 3h inches) thickened out in the middle like Fig. 334, and
with three large rivet-holes in the base, which is somewhat of a trefoil
form. It was found with broken sword-blades and spear-heads at Stoke
Ferry, Norfolk, and appears to be formed of copper.
The only Welsh example which I have to mention was found in the
parish of Llansanffraid,** Cwm Deuddwr, Radnorshire. It is 9 inches
long and 4 inches wide, and weighs 15 oz. In form and character it closely
resembles the Irish and Scotch specimens (Figs. 334 and 335), having
a plain midrib, bevelled edges, and three rivet-holes.
A large blade, with a strong midrib and three rivets, found in
Zealand, and engraved by Madsen,ft may have belonged to a halberd of
this class.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iv. p. 187. t Ibid., vol. iv. p. 396.
X Ibid., vol. vii. p. 423. I am indebted to the Council for the use of this cut.
§ Proc. Soc.'Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 258.
|| Arch. Joum., vol. xi. p. 414 ; vol. xviii. p. 161 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 403.
II Arch. Joum., vol. xii. p. 193 ; " Horae Fer.," pi. x. 7.
** Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. vi. p. 20 (figured).
+t "Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. xi. 14.
MACES, PROBABLY MEDIJEVAL.
271
I have already mentioned the halberd blades from Scandinavia
and North Germany, and have seen but one example from any of
the western countries of Europe. This is from Spain, and was
found near Ciudad Real. It is about 8| inches long, and more
T-shaped at the base than any British specimen, the blade
suddenly expanding from 2 inches in width to 5. In this
expanded part are the usual three rivets, each about 1 inch in
length. The discovery of a weapon of this type in Spain seems
to lend support to those who maintain that there was some con-
nection between the Iberians and the early inhabitants of Ireland.
The curious similarity of some of the Portuguese forms of flint
arrow- and javelin-heads to those of Ireland is also worthy of notice.
Fig. 339.— Lidgate.
Fig. 340.— Great Bedwin. £
Fig. 341.— Ireland. J
Besides the battle-axe or halberd there is another form of
weapon for hand-to-hand encounters — the mace — of which it
will be well to say a few words ; for though I do not for a moment
believe that the bronze mace-heads so frequently found in this
and other European countries belong to the Bronze Age, yet by
many they have been classed among the antiquities of that period.
These weapons vary considerably in size and weight, but the cuts
will show the more common forms.
That shown in Fig. 339 is in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian
Society, and is stated to have been found at Lidgate,* Suffolk. In the
Meyrick f Collection is one precisely similar, which was brought from
Italy. The mace to which these dentated rings were attached is thought
to have been a kind of " morning star " or flail. Others from Lanark-
* Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 181.
f Skelton's Meyrick, vol. i. pi. xlv.
272 TANGED AND SOCKETED DAGGERS, ETC [CHAP. XT.
shire * are of similar character. Professor Daniel Wilson refers these to
the time of the Roman occupation.
I have three heavy rings with four long and eight short spikes each,
from Hungary.
Another form is provided with a socket, and is evidently intended for
mounting on a straight staff. That shown in Fig. 340 was found in a
well at Great Bedwin,f Wilts, and is now in the British Museum.
Another of the same class, with a longer socket, is in the Museum J of
the Cambridge Antiquarian Society; and two are in the collection of
Mr. M. Fisher, at Ely. Others have been found in London, § and at
Stroud, || Gloucestershire.
An Irish example from Wilde ^[ is shown in Fig.' 341. There are three
such in the Museum of the Academy, varying in length from 2 to 5 inches.
One from Tipperary ** (4 inches) is of the same kind.
I have specimens of this kind from Hungary, one (4f inches) with
three rows of four spikes, and one (4| inches) with five rows of five
spikes. I have another from the Seine at Paris (4f inches) with six
longitudinal ribs instead of spikes.
Lindenschmit f f has figured seven examples, from various parts of
Germany and Italy, some more or less similar to each of^the three figures
I have given. Some of these are decorated with spirals in relief. Lisch J J
has also engraved some specimens.
In the British Museum §§ are some foreign specimens decorated with
patterns of a decidedly mediaeval character.
An instrument of this kind, with eight lateral spikes and a long iron
spike coming out from the end, was found with numerous mediaeval relics
in the ruins of S6borg,|||| in North Zealand. Such a discovery seems to me
conclusive as to the date to be assigned to this class of weapons.
I must apologise to the reader for this digression, and now
proceed to the consideration of the leaf-shaped bronze swords,
which are far more closely allied to the arms described in
Chapter X. than to the objects which have been discussed in the
present chapter.
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 111. t Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. -111.
X Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p. 302.
§ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. i. p. 249, vol. iii. \). 60.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
If " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 493, fig. 361. I am indebted to the Council for this cut.
** Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 12.
ft "Alt. u. h. Vorzeit," vol. i. Heft viii. Taf. 2.
XX "Freder. Francisc," Taf. xxv. 13, 14. §§ Proc. Soc. Ant., ubi sup.
Illl Annalon for Nord. Oldkynd., 1851, Taf. v. 1.
CHAPTER XII.
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS.
Among ancient weapons of bronze, perhaps the most remarkable
both for elegance of form and for the skill displayed in their cast-
ing are the leaf-shaped swords, of which a considerable number
have come down to our times. The only other forms that can vie
Avith them in these respects are the spear-heads, of which many
are gracefully proportioned, while the coring of their sockets for
the reception of the shafts would do credit to the most skilful
modern founder. Neither the one nor the other belong to the
earliest period * when bronze first came into general use for weapons
and tools, the flat celts and knife-daggers characteristic of that
period being as a rule absent from the hoards in which fragments
of swords and spear-heads are present.
There is also this remarkable circumstance attaching to the
bronze swords, viz., that there is no well-authenticated instance t
of their occurrence with anv interments in barrows. It is true
that Professor Daniel Wilson + speaks of the frequent discovery of
broken swords with sepulchral deposits, and mentions one found
alongside of a cinerary urn in a tumulus at Memsie, Aberdeenshire,
and another which lay beside a human skeleton in a cist under
Carlochan Cairn, Carmichael, Calloway. But one of these dis-
coveries took place so long ago as 177C, and in both cases there may,
as Canon Greenwell has sn^ested, either have been some mistake
Oct *
as to the manner of finding, or the connection of the sword with the
interment may have been apparent rather than real. A portion of a
sword 6^ inches long, said to have been found in a cairn at Ballagan,§
Strathblane, Stirlingshire, in 1788, is in the Antiquarian Museum
at Edinburgh. A "sarcophagus with ashes" is said to have been
in the cairn. Another sword, broken in four pieces, is said to
* Conf. Greenwell, " British Barrows," p. 49. t Op. cit., p. 44.
% " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 394. § Arch. Scot., vol. iii. App. p. 67.
T
274 LEAF-SHAPED SWOKDS. [CHAP. XII.
have been found in a barrow in Breconshire.* Another, found at
Wetlieringsett, Suffolk, is said to have lain fourteen feet deep in clay,
with a great number of human bones, but no pottery or other
remains. In this case, however, there is no mention of a barrow.
The sword is elsewhere said to have been found in a sandpit. f
In Scandinavia, however, bronze swords have not unfrequently
been found with interments in barrows ; and inasmuch as the
owners of the bronze swords in Britain were, after death, in all
probability interred, either in a burnt or unburnt condition, there
appears no reason why in some instances their swords may not
have been buried with them, though as yet the evidence of these
weapons having been found in tumuli, is far from satisfactory.
Possibly at the time when the swords were in use the practice of
erecting mounds over graves had ceased, and there are now no
external marks upon the ground to indicate the graves of the
Avarriors who wielded the bronze swords, and who have thus
escaped disturbance in their " narrow cells " from the hands of
treasure-seekers and archaeologists ; or possibly the custom of
burying weapons with the dead may at that time have ceased.
But not only has there been a question, as to what was the method
of interment in vogue among the owners of the bronze swords,
but, as already mentioned in the Introductory Chapter, serious
dispute has arisen whether the swords themselves are not Roman,
or at all events of Roman date. The late Mr. Thomas Wright*
was the most ardent advocate of this latter view, and he has been to
some extent supported by Mr. C. Roach Smith. § The contrary
view, that the swords belong to a Bronze Age before the use of
that metal was superseded by that of iron, has been ably advocated
by the late Mr. A. Henry Rhind, F. S.A.Scot., II and Sir John
Lubbock. If It seems almost needless for me here to enter further
into this controversy, in which, to my mind, as already stated
in the Introductory Chapter, the whole weight of the argu-
ment is in favour of a pre-Roman origin for these swords in
Western and Northern Europe. There was no doubt a time when
bronze swords were in use in Greece and Italy, and the substitu-
tion of iron or steel for bronze, so far as we can judge from the
early iron swords found in the ancient cemetery at Hallstatt and
1 Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 60. t A. A. J., vol. xv. p. 230.
\ " On the True Assignation of thn P>ronz(> Weapons," &c, Trims. Ethn. Soc, N.S.,
TO'.. Lv. p. 176. The Celt, Roman and Saxon, 2nd Ed. p. 7, et seqq.
§ "Catal. Lond. Ant.," p. 80. || Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 72.
IT "Preh. Times," 4th Ed. p. 17; Trans. Ethn. Soc, N.S., vol. v. p. 105.
THE ROMAN SWORD. 275
elsewhere, involved little if any alteration in the form anil character
of the weapon, which was better adapted for thrusting than for
striking. Even here in Britain, by the time when the Roman
invasion took place, not only were swords made of iron in use, but
the form of what is known as the Late-Celtic* sword was no
longer leaf-shaped, but slightly tapering, with the edges nearly
straight almost as far as the point. Among the Romans it
would seem that more than one change was made hi the form
of their swords after the introduction of iron as the material
from which they were formed. As Mr. Rhind has pointed
out, Polybius speaks of the swords wielded by the soldiers of
yEmilius at the battle of Telamon, B.C. 225, as made not only to
thrust but to give a falling stroke with singular effect. " During
the Second Punic War, however, which immediately succeeded the
battle of Telamon, the Romans adopted the Spanish sword," the
material of which we have no difficulty in definitely ascertaining, as
"Diodorus Siculusf particularly mentions the process by which the
C'eltiberians prepared their iron for the purpose of manufacturing
swords so tempered that neither shield, helmet, nor bone could resist
them." How far their process of burying iron underground unti)
a part of it had rusted away would, in the case of charcoal iron,
leave the remaining portion more of the nature of steel, I am un-
able to say. Perhaps the amount of manipulation in charcoal
necessary to restore the rusted plates to a serviceable condition
may have produced this effect of converting the iron into mild steel.
The steel of the sabres made in Japan,* which will cut through an
iron nail without their edge being injured, is said to be prepared
in a similar manner from iron long buried underground.
Most of the bronze swTords are shorter than those of the present
day; but the Roman sword would, in the time of Julius, appear to
Inive been longer than ours. Otherwise Cicero's joke about his son-
in-law, Lentulus, would have but little point, however small in
person he may have been. Indeed, Macrobius§ expressly says that
it was a long sword that Lentulus was wearing when Cicero made
the inquiry, Who has tied my son-in-law to a sword ?
The swords in use among the Britons at a somewhat later period
appear to have been of great size, for Tacitus speaks of them as
;'ingentes" and "enormes." They were also bluntly pointed, or
"sine mucrono." Such a description is entirely inconsistent with
* See "Horse Ferales," ]>ls. xiv., xv., and xviii. t lib. v. c. 33.
X Beckman, "History of Inventions," vol. ii. p. 328. § "Saturn.," lib. ii. cap. 3.
T 2
276 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS. [CHAP. XII.
the form and size of our bronze swords, though it might well refer
to some of the iron blades of the Late-Celtic Period, which are 3 feet
in length. Others are, however, shorter.
Of the comparative rarity of bronze swords in Italy, and of their
abundance in Scandinavia and Ireland, countries never occupied
by the Romans, Sir John Lubbock* has already spoken ; and he
has also summarized the reasons which convince him, as they do
me, that our bronze weapons cannot be referred to Roman times.
I will only repeat one of the arguments, of which perhaps not
sufficient use has been made. It is that at the time when Julius
Caesar was invading Britain, and its inhabitants were thus for the
first time brought in contact with Roman weapons, iron had been
so long in use for swords in Italy that the term for the weapon
was " ferrum."
Another feature in bronze swords, which has been frequently
commented on by archaeological writers, is the comparatively small
size of the hilt. " The handles are always very small, a fact which
tends to prove that the men who used these swords were but of
moderate stature." t "The handles of the bronze swords are very
short and could not have been held comfortably by hands as large
as ours — a characteristic much relied on by those who attribute
the introduction of bronze into Europe to a people of Asiatic
origin. +
I must confess that I regard this view of the smallness of the
hilts as being somewhat exaggerated. My own hand is none of
the smallest, and yet where the bronze hilts of the Danish and
Hungarian swords have been preserved I have no difficulty in
finding room to clasp them. The part of the hilt where it expands
to embrace the base of the blade was, I think, probably intended
to be within the grasp of the hand, and not to be beyond it as a
guard. In the case of some of the short dagger-like weapons it
seems possible that the projecting rim, which forms a kind of
pommel at the end of the hilt, was intended to rest between the
fourth and the little finger, and thus to assist in its being grasped
firmly when in use as a stabbing weapon. When the plates of
horn or wood, which, as we shall subsequently see, once covered
the hilt portion of the sword, have perished, it is hard to realise
what was the exact form of the hilt ; but it is quite evident that
we must not assume that because the bare bronze does not fill the
* "Preh. Times," p. 22. t Worsaae's " Trim. Ant. of Denmark," p. 29.
t Lubbock, "Preh. Times," p. 32.
HILTS PROPORTION* AL TO BLADES. 277
hand so as to give it a good grip, the same was the case when it
had a plate of some other material on each face, which also possibly
projected beyond the sides.
There is, moreover, one peculiarity about the hilt-plates of these
swords which I have often pointed out by word of mouth, but
which I think has not as yet been noticed in print. It is that
there is generally, though not universally, a proportion between
the length of the blade and the length of the hilt-plate ; long sword
blades having as a rule long hilt-plates, and short sword blades
short hilt-plates. So closely is this kind of proportion preserved,
that the outline of a large sword on the scale of one-sixth would
in some cases almost absolutely correspond with that of one which
was two-thirds of its length, if drawn on the scale of one-fourth.
This relative proportion between the length and size of a blade
and its handle is by no means restricted to the swords of the
Bronze Period, but prevails also among various tools, such as the
saws and chisels of the present day. If, for instance, we were to
argue from the saw-handles in a carpenter's shop as to the size of
the hands of the carpenters, we should soon find ourselves in
difficulties. The handle of an ordinary hand-saw is sufficiently
large to admit the hand of any one short of a giant, while the
orifice in the handle of a small keyhole-saw will not admit more
than a couple of fingers, and the handles of saws of intermediate
size range between these two extremes. This fact suffices to incul-
cate caution in arguing from the hilt-plates of the bronze swords
as to the size of the hands of those who used them. It is a
question which will be more safely determined on osteological than
archaeological evidence ; but, owing to the remarkable absence of
bronze swords from the interments in our barrows, it may be some
time before a sword and the bones of the hand that wielded it
are found in juxtaposition.
Professor Rolleston* has well said, "I am not quite clear that
tli is bronze sword, leaf-shaped or other, has always a very small
hilt." "At any rate, there can be no doubt that in this country the
skeletons of the Bronze Period belonged to much larger and
stronger and taller men than did the skeletons of the Long Barrow
stone-using folk who preceded them. In some parts of England
the contrast in this matter of size between the men of the Bronze
and those of the Stone Age is as great as that now existing between
the Maori and the gentle Hindoo."
O
* Trans. Brist. and Glouc. Arch. Soc.
278
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS
[('HAP. XII.
The stature of several of the men interred in the Yorkshire
barrows, examined by Canon Greenwell, was not less
than five feet nine inches, and the bones of the hands
were proportional to those of the bodies ; but, unfor-
tunately, no bronze swords accompanied them, though
many of the interments were of the Bronze Age.
The usual form of sword to which the term " leaf-
shaped" has been applied is that shown in Fig. 342.
Their total length is generally about 24 inches, though
sometimes not more than 16 inches, but they are
occasionally as long as 30 inches, or even more.
The blades are in most cases uniformly rounded, but
with the part next the edge slightly drawn down so
as to form a shallow fluting. In some instances, how-
ever, there is a more or less bold rounded central rib,
or else projecting ridges running along the greater
part of the blade near the edges. They differ consi-
derably in the form of the plate for the hilt, and in
the number and arrangement of the rivets by which
the covering material was attached. This latter, as
will subsequently be seen, usually consisted of plates
of horn, bone, or wood, riveted on each side of the
hilt-plate. In rare instances the outer part of the
hilt was of bronze. Of the scabbards of such swords
and the chapes attached to them I shall subsequently
speak.
The sword shown in Fig1. 342 was found about the year
1864 in the Thames, near Battersea Bridge, and is now in
my own collection. Its length is 25£ inches, and the blade
is 2 £ inches broad in its broadest part, though at the top of
the hilt it is 2f inches in breadth. Just above this point
the edge of the blade has been removed so as to form two
broad notches, the object being probably to save the hand
of the warrior from being cut should the sword be drawn
back in his hand, there being apparently no transverse
guard. The hilt has been attached by rivets or pins pass-
ing through three longitudinal slots, which have been pro-
duced in the casting, and not subsequently drilled or made.
The hilt-plate expands into a kind of fish-tail termination,
which was probably enclosed in a pommel-like end formed
by the plates of horn, or other material, of which the hilt
was made.
I have another sword, about 21 inches in length, which
was found in the year 1851 near the circular encampment
WITH CENTRAL SLOTS IN HILT.
279
at Ilawridffe, on the south-eastern border of Buckingham-
's^
shire. The hilt-plate is of the same character as that of
Fig. 342, hut the lower slot is longer and the upper ones
shorter. In the latter were found the bronze rivets for
fastening on the hilt. This blade is figured on a small scale
in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries*
Another sword (22 inches) of the same character, with
three pointed oval slots for the rivets, was found at Wash-
ingborough,f Lincolnshire. Two other leaf-shaped swords
vrere found near the same spot. Another (24 inches), found
near Midsummer Norton, \ Somerset, has the central slot
nearly rectangular.
The central slot is sometimes accompanied by two or more
rivet-holes in the projectiug wings of the hilt-plate. A
sword (24 inches) with two rivets was found between Wood-
lands and Gussage St. Michael, § Dorset. Another, broken,
was found, with fragments of others, socketed celts, spear-
heads, a sickle, and other objects, near the Pierre du Villain,
Alderney . ||
One (24^ inches) from the Thames,^ at Battersea, and now
in the Bateman Collection, has a long rectangular slot and
four rivets. One of two (24 inches), found in broken condi-
tion, with a spear-head and two ferrules, on Fulbourn Com-
mon,** near Cambridge, was of this type. Another, from
Aldreth, Cambs. (23J inches), is in the Museum of the Cam-
bridge Antiquarian Society.
I have an example, originally 26 inches long, found with
a leaf-shaped spear-head near Weymouth.
The type occurs also in France. I have one (18f inches),
with a slot and four rivets, from Albert, near Amiens.
Another was found near Argenteuil,ff Seine et Oise. I
have seen a bronze sword from Spain, also with the three
slots.
In the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S., is a re-
markably fine sword (27A- inches) from Barrow, Suffolk, in
which the long slot in the hilt-plate is combined with ten
small rivet-holes. The central ridge on the blade is well
pronounced, as will be seen by Fig. 343. The blunted part
of the blade near the hilt is engraved or milled diagonally.
The number of rivets is here larger than usual ; but in a
sword (28.V inches) from the Thames, near Vauxhall,^ there
are five rivet-holes in the centre of the plate in lieu of the
slot, and four in each of the wings — thirteen in all. In
another (23i inches) from the same locality there are eleven,
* 1st S., vol. ii. p. 215.
t Arch. Assoc. Jonrn., vol. xi. p. 263 ; vol. xv. 230, pi. 23, 5.
| Somerset Arch, and N. II. Soc. Proc, vol. x xii. p. 70, pi. iii.
$ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. p. 220, pi. 23, 3.
|| Op. (it., vol. iii. p. 9.
IT Op. cit., vol. xiv. p. 328, pi. xxiv. •").
** Arch., vol. xix. p. 56, pi. iv.
ft A'"'. Arch., N.S., vol. v. pi. i\-. 1.
Xt Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 60.
IV. 348.
Barrow. ',
280 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS [CHAP. XII.
three in each wing and five in the centre. One (27 inches) from the
Thames, in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries, has ten rivets, of
which four are in the centre.
Another (28£ inches) with ten rivet-holes, four in the hilt-plate and
three in each wing, was found in the Thames* in 1856, and is in the
British Museum.
A sword from the Roach Smith Collection (20f inches) has a well-
marked midrib to the blade, which is somewhat hollowed on either side
of it. The hilt-plate has the central slot and four rivet-holes, in which
two rivets remain.
In the British Museum is another sword (27-f inches) of much the same
form at the hilt, but with ten rivet-holes, three in each wing and four in
the central plate, which is prolonged beyond the fishtail-bke expansion in
the form of a flat tang, 1 inch by f inch. It was found in the Lea.f near
London. The lower part of the hilt has been united to the blade by a
subsequent process of burning on, as will shortly be mentioned.
This prolongation of the hilt-plate is not singular. In the Rouen
Museum is a sword with thirteen rivets which exhibits this peculiarity.
The same exists in a Swiss Lake J sword, and is not uncommon in swords
found in Italy.
Another sword from the Thames (23 inches) has five holes in the hilt-
plate and four in each wing. The blade, which expands from 1 J inch
near the hilt to 2£ inches at two-thirds of its length, is ornamented with
a single engraved line skirting the edge.
In the British Museum is another remarkably fine sword from the
Thames, ornamented in a similar manner, but with a slot in the hilt-plate
and three rivet-holes in each wing. The blade is 24^ inches long and
from If inch to 2f inches wide.
Another, from Battle, Sussex (29|- inches), has eleven rivets, three in
the hilt-plate, which is in form much like that of Fig. 343. The blade is
drawn down towards the edges. The lower end shows where the runner
was broken off after it was cast, and is left quite rough, thus raising the
presumption that it was covered by some kind of pommel. Five rivets
are still preserved.
A sword from the Medway, at Upnor Reach, is 31 J inches long and
If inch wide at the broadest part. It has no less than fifteen rivet-holes
for the hilt, in three groups of five each.
One from the Thames (28 1 inches), with plain blade and thirteen rivet-
holes, has five small rivets still in situ.
More commonly the rivet-holes are fewer in number. One (24£ inches)
in Canon Greenwell's Collection, from Broadway Tower, Broadway,
Worcester, has nine rivet-holes, three in the tang and three in each wing.
One from the Thames at Battersea § (2G inches), and one from Ebberston,
Yorkshire, in the Bateman Collection, have the rivets arranged in the
same manner, as has one which was found near Whittingham, || Northum-
berland, with another sword subsequently to be described, and also with
three spear-heads.
* See "Horas For.," pi. ix. 2, p. 161.
f l'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 60 ; Arch. Jour».t vol. xix. p. 91.
X Keller, 8ter Bericht, Taf. iii. 1.
§ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 329; op. cit., vol. xxii. p. 244.
|| Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 429.
WITH MANY RIVET-HOLES.
281
I have one (19 inches) with eight rivet-holes, four in the
centre and two in each wing, found near Cambridge. The
holes appear to have been either made or enlarged by a
punch having been driven through them, the rough burr
being left on. On either side of the central ridge of the blade
there is a pair of engraved lines parallel to the edges and at
about J inch distant from them. The base of the blade next
the expansion for the hilt has been neatly serrated or en-
grailed, like that of the sword from Barrow, but in this
case transversely. Unfortunately this blade, which is beau-
tifully patinated, has been broken into three pieces.
French swords of this class, both with a central slot com-
bined with rivets and with rivets only, are by no means
uncommon. Specimens of each, from the department of
Seine et Oise, are figured in the " Dictionnaire Archeologique
de la Gaule." One with a slot and four rivets is in the
museum at Nantes. Two with seven rivet-holes were found
at St. Nazaire-sur-Loire * (Loire Inferieure).
Seven is, indeed, a more usual number for the rivet-holes
than any of these higher numbers. In Fig. 344 is shown a
fine example of a sword with seven rivet-holes, found in the
Tyne, near Newcastle, and now in the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S. It is 28 inches in length, and has a bead
or rib just within the edges, which is somewhat exaggerated
in the figure. The hilt-plate is provided with slight flanges
for retaining the horn or wood that formed the hilt, and has
a semicircular notch at the base, possibly for the reception of
a rivet. See Fig. 356.
A sword from the Thames near Battersea (28 f inches), in
the British Museum, is of nearly the same form as Fig. 344,
but the end of the hilt-plate has no notch, and there is no
midrib running down it. The hilt has been fastened by
seven rivets, which fit tightly in the holes and are nearly all
in position. Their ends have conical depressions in them,
as if a punch had been used as a riveting tool. In some the
rivets have been closed by a hollow punch, so as to leave a
small stud projecting in the middle of each surrounded by
a deep hollow ring. Some French swords present the same
peculiarity.
A sword of the same form (23J inches), but with a plain
blade and only five small rivet-holes, was found in the Med-
way at Chatham Reach, and is now in the same collection.
The hilt seems to have been burnt on.
A sword of this form (2o^ inches), with raised ridges
parallel to the edges, has a rounded end to the hilt-plate and
holes for six very small pins or rivets at the base and for one
large one. The hilt-plate has been much hammered. It was
found in the Thames. A second (24J inches), almost identical
in every respect, has retained five of its pins.
There are two swords in the Norwich Museum, each of
them with seven rivet-holes, both 21.\ indies long, but the
* Rev. Arch., vol. xxxiii. p. '_31.
344.— New-
castle, i
282 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS [CHAP. XII.
one found at Woolpit, Suffolk, and the other at Windsor. One of
the swords found at Fulbourn,'" Cambridge, had its rivets arranged
as in Fig. 344. The blade is somewhat fluted between the central
ridge and has smaller ridges running parallel to the edges. An-
other (23J inches), found in Glamorganshire,! is of the same character.
Another like this was found in the bed of the Lark,]: at Icklingham,
Suffolk.
I have two swords (about 23 inches) with seven rivet-holes, which were
found with spear-heads, a halberd, and other objects at Stoke Ferry,
Norfolk. They are unfortunately broken. One of them appears to have
been a defective casting, and to have wanted a portion of its hilt-plate.
This has been subsequently supplied by a second hilt-plate having been
cast over the broken end of the original plate, a hole in which has been
stopped with a rivet, which has been partly covered over by the metal of
the second casting. This is not an unique instance of mending by
burning on additional metal. I have a small leaf-shaped sword (17«
inches), for which I am indebted to the Earl of Enniskillen, found near
Thornhill, Killina, Co. Cavan, which has in old times had a new hilt-plate
cast on the original blade in this manner.
Other swords with seven rivet-holes arranged as in Fig. 344 have
been found near Alton Castle, || Staffordshire, aud at Billinghay, §
Lincoln.
A sword with six rivet-holes (23 inches) was found near Cranbourne,^f
Dorset. Another of the same length was dug up at Stifford,** near Gray's
Thurrock, Essex. Another (20^ inches) was found in the Severn jf at
Euildwas, Salop. The rivet-holes are two in the middle and two in each
wing.
A leaf-shaped sword, the hilt broken off, but the blade still 22-i- inches
long, was found with a bronze spear-head, a palstave, and a long pin, in
the Thames, |J near the mouth of the Wandle. It is now in the British
Museum.
A sword with the hilt-plate like that of Fig. 344 has been found in
Rhenish Hesse. §§
Another variety of the sword has a strong central rounded rib along
the blade, of which kind a good example is shown in Fig. 345. The
original is in the collection of Mr. Robert Fitch, F.S.A., who lias kindly
lent it to me for engraving. It was found at ~Wetheringsett,|||| Suffolk,
and is said to have had remains of a wooden hilt and scabbard attached
to it when found. Human bones are also reported to have been found
near it. It is 25£ inches long, with engraved lines on the hilt, and
has only two rivet-holes besides the central square-ended slot.
Mr. Fisher, of Ely, has a sword of the samo character (25 inches), but
with four rivets and a slot, found in the Fens near Ely.
A fragment of what appears to have been a sword of the same character,
* Arch., vol. xix. p. BG, pi. iv. ; Skclton's " Mcyrick's Anc. Armour," pi. xlvii. 14.
t Arch. Journ., vol. iii. p. 67; Arch., xliii. p. 480.
+ Bury and Wist Huff. 1'roc, i. p. 24. § " Reliquary," vol. iii. p. 219.
|| Arch., vol. xi. p. 431, pi. xix. 9.
II Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. p. 229, pi. xxiii. 2.
** Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 406; Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p. 191.
t^ "Horse Fer.," pi. ix. 5, p. 162. %\ Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 7.
§§ Lindenschmit, "A. u. h. V.," vol. i. Heft iii. Taf. iii. 5.
Illl Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 254; xv. p. 230, pi. xxiii. No. 4.
WITH CENTRAL RIB ON BLADE.
283
but with two rivet-holes instead of the central slot, was
found with socketed celts and spear-heads at Biltong'
Yorkshire.
I have a fragment of a blade of this kind in the Reach
Fen hoard. Another fragment, from Ghrishall, Essex, is
in the British Museum, as is also one found under
Beachy Head.f It has two rivet-holes in each wing,
and three considerably larger in the centre. They ap-
pear to be cast, and not drilled. With this fragment
were found palstaves, socketed celts, lumps of copper,
and gold armlets.
The type also occurs in France. I have a specimen
from the Seine at Paris, with the hilt and lower part
almost identical with Fig. 345, but the blade does not
expand in the same manner, and has two lines engraved
on each side of the central rib, the inner pair meeting
on the rib some little way from the point, the outer con-
tinued to nearly the end of the blade. I have fragments
of a sword of similar character from the hoard found at
Dreuil, near Amiens. The fragment from Beachy Head
already mentioned may possibly be of Gaulish origin.
On an Italian oblong bronze coin or quincussis,
6 1 inches by 3| inches, and weighing about 3 J lbs.,
is the representation of a leaf- shaped sword with a
raised rib along the centre of the blade, and in
general character much like Fig. 345. A specimen
of this coin is in the British Museum, + and bears
upon the reverse the figure of a scabbard with
parallel sides, and a nearly circular chape. Another
coin of the same type, engraved by Carelli,§ has a
nearly similar scabbard on the reverse, but the sword
on the obverse is either represented as being in its
scabbard or is not at all leaf-shaped, the sides of the
1)1 ade being parallel. The hilt is also curved, and
there is a cross-guard. In fact, upon the one coin,
the weapon has the appearance of a Roman sword
of iron, and on the other that of a leaf-shaped sword
of bronze. These pieces were no doubt cast in
Umbria, probably in the third century B.C., but their
attribution to Ariminum is at best doubtful. From
the two varieties of sword appearing on coins of the
same type, the inference may be drawn either that
p. 349.
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. v
t Arch., vol. xvi. p. 3G3.
| < latal. of Gr. Coins in Brit. Mas., Italy, p. 28.
§ "Numm. Yot. Ital. descript.," pi. xli.
Fig. 846.— Wei
ingM tt
II v-
v
284
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS,
[chap. XII.
A
A
at the time when they were cast, bronze swords were in Umbria
being superseded by those of iron ; or that the type originally
referred to some sacred weapon of bronze such as is represented
on the coin in the British Museum, but was subsequently made
more conventional so as to represent the sword in ordinary use
at the period.
The sword with a central rib was sometimes at-
tached to the hilt in a different manner from any
of the blades hitherto described, as will be seen
by Fig. 346, copied from the Archceological Asso-
ciation Journal* This sword was found at Tiver-
ton, near Bath, and it is provided with four
rivets, a pair on each side of the continuation of
the central rib along the hilt-plate. Human re-
mains and stag's-horns are said to have been
found near it.
In the British Museum is a blade of the same
kind (19f inches), with semicircular notches for
the four rivets. It was found in the Thames at
Kingston. Another from the Thames (21 inches)
has the two upper holes perfect.
Leaf-shaped swords of the ordinary type also
occasionally had their hilts attached in the same
manner. Fig. 347 shows a blade from the
Thames,f near Kingston (16£ inches) with the
rivet-holes thus arranged. I have another, from
the Hugo Collection (18 inches), found in the
Thames about a mile west from Barking Creek, %
which has had four rivet-holes arranged in the
same manner, though the margins are now broken
away, so that only traces of the holes remain.
Another apparently of this type was found in
Lincolnshire. §
In Canon Greenwell's Collection is a leaf-shaped
blade of the same character (15f inches), which,
however, has only two rivet-holes, one on each
side of the hilt-plate. It was found at Sand-
ford, || near Oxford, together with a rapier-shaped
blade.
Another variety has a narrower tang and rivet
holes in the median line. A blade of this kind,
which is in Mr. Layton's Collection, was found in the Thames at
Greenwich, and is engraved in the Archceological Journal.^
Before proceeding to the consideration of the swords with more perfect
hilts and pommels found in England, it will be well to give references to
\6m
Fig. 846.
Tiverton. I
Fig. 847.
Kingston.
* Vol. iv. p. 147 ; vol. iii. p. 334.
f Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 327; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 83, No. 14.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 44.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 91. || Arch. Journ., vol. xxxiv. p. 301.
If Anth. Inst. Journ., vol. iii. p. 230.
LOCALITIES WHERE FOUND. 285
some of the other instances of leaf-shaped swords found in this country
and in AVales. Several have been found in the Thames * besides those
already mentioned. Others have been discovered in the Isle of Portland ; f
at Brixworth,^ Northamptonshire; and in the sea-dike bank between
Fleet and G-edney,§ Lincolnshire. Two, one with the chape of the
scabbard, of which more hereafter, were found at Ebberston,|| Yorkshire.
Two were found at Ewart Park,^} near Wooler, Northumberland, one
of which is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-
Tyne.
Some fragments of swords, regarded as being of copper, were found,
with spear-heads, celts, and lumps of metal, at Lanant,** and also at St.
Hilary, Cornwall, about the year 1802.
There were also some fragments in the Broadward find, ff Shropshire,
which consisted principally of spear-heads and ferrules. Occasionally a
considerable number of swords are said to have been found together.
No less than twenty are reported to have been discovered about the year
1726 near Alnwick Castle, J J in company with forty-one socketed celts and
sixteen spear-heacls ; and two broad swords, one sharp-pointed sword, a
spear-point, and a socketed celt were found " in a bundle together '' at
Ambleside, Westmoreland, §§ about 1741.
Two swords, some spear-heads, celts, and other relics were discovered
at Shenstone, || || Staffordshire, in 1824. Near them are said to have been
some fragments of human bones. Some swords are reported to have
been found in a marsh on the Wrekin Tenement, ^f^f Shropshire, with a
celt and about one hundred and fifty fragments of spear-heads.
Two swords and a fragment of a third were found in the Heathery
Burn Cave, in company with numerous bronze and bone instruments and
a gold armlet and penannular hollow bead. Most of these objects are
now in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. Three swords were
found at Branton, Northumberland, and are now in the Alnwick Museum ;
where are also two which had pommels of lead, and were found with
two rings near Tosson, parish of Rothbury, in that county. Another,
which was also accompanied by two rings, were found near Medomsley,
Durham. These rings may in some manner have served to attach the
swords to a belt.
Most of the swords found in Wales appear to be in a fragmentary
condition. Engravings of some leaf-shaped swords are said to exist on a
rock between Barmouth*** and Dolgellau, North Wales.
A fragment of a sword was found, with a bronze sheath-end, looped pal-
staves, spear-heads, and a ferrule, near Ghiilsfield,tff Montgomeryshire.
Fragments of three swords were found, with lance-heads, ferrules, a chape,
and other objects, at Glancych,H;^ Cardiganshire. They appear to have
had six rivets.
* Arch. Jourtl., vol. xviii. p. 158 (24.V inches) ; Arch. Assoc. Jbttrtl., vol. wii. ]>. 243;
Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 482 (said to have had a hone or wooden hilt when found).
t Arch. Jourtt., vol. xxi. p. 90. J Arch. Assoc. Joitrti., vol. ii. p. 3.56.
§ Stukeley, "It. Cur.," vol. i. p. 14. || Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 321.
IT Arch. JEliana, vol. i. p. 11, pi. iv. 3. ** Arch., vol. xv. p. 118.
ft Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 353. %\ 4rch., vol. v. p. 113.
§§ Arch., vol. v. p. 115. |||| Arch., vol. xxi. p. 548.
if If A re h., vol. xxvi. p. 464. *** Arch. Journ., vol. be. p. 91.
ttt Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 250; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 214.
Xtt Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 221.
286
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS
[cHAr. XII.
Fig. 318.— Ely.
i
11
English swords, with the hilts, or pommels, or both, formed of
bronze, are not of common occurrence. The first which I have
selected for illustration has
the side edges so straight
that it hardly belongs to
the class usually known as
leaf-shaped. The hilt-plate
is peculiar in having well-
developed side flanges
which expand at the base
so as to form an oval
pommel. The hilt has as
usual been formed of two
plates of bone or wood,
which have been secured
to the hilt-plate by six
rivets. This sword, which
Avas found in the Fens,
near Ely, has unfortu-
nately lost its point, but
is still Id I inches long.
It was lent me for engrav-
ing (as Fig. 348) by Mr.
M. Fisher, of Ely. In
some Danish examples the
high flanges of the hilt-
plates are covered by thin
plates of gold, beyond
which, of course, the hilt
of bono, wood, or horn did
not project, and no doubt
in this instance also the
side flanges were left vi-
sible and not in any way
covered. They are up-
wards of 4 inches in
length, so that the hilt
would fit into a large
hand.
A small but very interesting sword with a perfect bronze hilt
and pommel is shown in Fig. 349. It was found in the River
Fig. 849.— River
Cherwell. i
•WITH HILTS OF BRONZE.
287
Cherwell,* and is now in the Museum at Oxford. It was kindly
lent me by Professor Rolleston for the purpose of engraving. The
total length of the weapon is 21 inches,, of which the pommel and
hilt, which is adapted for a decidedly large hand, occupy about .">
inches. The hilt has the appearance of having been cast upon
the blade, and seems to be formed of bronze of the same
character. There are no rivets visible by which the two
castings are attached the one to the other.
I am of opinion that the same process of attaching
the hilt to the blade by casting the one upon the other
was in use in Scandinavia and Germany. Some of the
bronze daggers from Italy seem also to have had their
hilts cast upon the blades in which the rivets were
already fixed.
In the British Museum is a sword blade with slight ribs
inside the edges, retaining1 a portion of the hilt, which is cast
in a separate piece and attached to the wings by two rivets.
It is said to have been found in the Thames. f The hilt has
had ribs round it at intervals of about half an inch apart.
On a fragment of a sword blade, ornamented on each side
with five parallel engraved lines, the upper margin of the hilt
is marked out by a raised and engrailed line of the same form
as the upper end of the hilt of Fig. 350. It was found in the
Fen, near Wicken, Cambs, with a part of a scabbard end,
spear-heads, and other objects now in the British Museum.
A remarkably fine sword, found in the Eiver Witham,^
below Lincoln, in 1826, is shown in Fig. 350, for the use of
which I am indebted to the Council of the Society of Antiqua-
ries. The original is in the museum of the Duke of Northum-
berland, at Alnwick. It presents the peculiarity of having
two spirals attached to the base of the hilt with a projecting
pin between them, the whole taking the place of the pom-
mel. The blade appears to be engraved with parallel lines
on either side of the midrib. These spirals are of far more
common occurrence on the Continent than in Britain, and this
sword, though found so far north as Lincoln, is not impro-
bably of foreign origin.
Several such have been found in France. One with the
spirals but a different form of hilt was found at Alios,
Cantal.§
A bronze sword found in the Rhone at Lyons, but now in
the museum at Kennes,|| Brittany, has a nearly similar hilt and pommel.
It has three raised bands on the hilt, but no pin between the spirals.
Some of the swords from the Swiss Lake-dwellings have similar hilts.
* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. Hi. p. 204. t " Hor.r Far.," pi. ix. !>, ]». 162.
X Proc. Son. Ant., veil. ii. p. L99. § Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xxiv. pi. xxv. 3.
|| Chantre, "Alb.," pi. xiv. bis, 3; Diet. Arch. dt la Gaule.
Kg. 880.
Lincoln.
288
LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS
[CHAP. XII.
Fig. 351— Whit-
tingham. J
Fig. 352.
Brechin. J
They have been found at Concise,* in the
Lake of Neuchatel, and in the Lac de
Luissel.t
Another of the same kind is in the
Johanneum at Gratz, Styria. The same
form was also found at Hallstatt.^: An-
other was found near Stettin. § Another
from Erxleben,|| Magdeburg, is in the
Brunswick Museum.
The hilt of a sword with spirals and
a central pin was found in the great Bo-
logna hoard. A perfect example is in the
Royal Armoury at Turing
There are several swords with this kind
of hilt in the Museum of Northern Anti-
cpiities at Copenhagen, ** some of which
are figured by Madsen.f f The spirals are
sometimes found detached. A highly inte-
resting paper by Dr. Oscar Montelius on
the different forms of hilts of bronze
swords and daggers is published in the
Stockholm volume of the Congress for
Prehistoric Archseology.JJ
The remarkable sword with a somewhat
analogous termination to the hilt, shown
in Fig. 351, was found at Thrunton Farm,§§
in the parish of Whittingham, Northum-
berland, and is in the collection of Lord
Eavensworth. With it was found another
sword already mentioned, a spear-head
with lunate openings in the blade (Fig.
418), and some smaller leaf-shaped spear-
heads. They are said to have been all
found sticking in a moss with the points
downwards, and arranged in a circle. The
pommel end of the hilt is in this instance
a distinct casting, and is very remarkable
on account of the two curved horns ex-
* Keller, 7ter Bericht, Taf. iii. 4 ; 3ter Bericht,
Taf. iii. 35 ; Desor and Favre, " Le Bel Age dn
Br.," pi. v. 10; Troyon, "Habit. Lacust.,"
pi. ix. 11.
t Keller, 7tcr B., Taf. xxiv. 9.
| Yon Sacken, " Grabf. v. Hallst.," pi. v. 10.
§ Lindenschmit, "A. u. h. V.," Heft i. Taf.
ii. 1.
|| "Zeitsch. fiir Ethn.," vol. vii. Taf. x. 2.
U "Bull, di Palet. Ital.," anno ii., p. 26.
** "Atlas for Nord. Oldk.," pi. B. iv., 40—42 ;
Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," figs. 135, 136.
ft " Afbild," vol. ii. pi. v. vi.
++ P. 882.
§§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 429 ; " Horse
Fer.," pi. ix. fig. 3, p. 161.
FOUND IN SCOTLAND. 289
tending from it, which are somewhat trumpet-mouthed, with a projecting
cone in the centre of each.
Id Scotland a number of bronze swords have been found which
bear, as might have been anticipated, a close resemblance to those
from England.
That shown in Fig. 352 was found in a moss at Leuchland, Brechin,
in Angus, and is now in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S. Its
length is 26^ inches, and the six rivets for attaching the hilt are still in
the hilt-plate, which is doubly hooked at the end. A rib from the thicker
part of the blade is prolonged part of the way down the hilt-plate as in
Fig. 344. Another sword, broken at the hilt, but still 26J inches long,
was found on the same farm. A find from Brechin is mentioned further on.
A sword with four rivet-holes, like those from Arthur's Seat, found on the
borders between England and Scotland, and engraved by Grose,* has the
same peculiar end to the hilt-plate, as has one with five rivets from
Methlick, Aberdeenshire, now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh.
Grose has also engraved two, each with six rivet-holes in the wings and
two or three in the hilt- plate, found in Duddingston Loch,f near Edin-
burgh, as well as the hilt-plate of another, found near Peebles, with slots
in the wings and a slot and rivet-hole in the tang.
Some fragments of swords from this loch are in the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh. Almost directly ahove Duddingston Loch, on
Arthur's Seat,! two other swords were found during the construction of the
Queen's Drive. They are 26 J inches and 24 £ inches long, in outline
like Fig. 342, with one rivet-hole in each wing and two in the centre of
the hilt-plate.
Two (23$ inches and 20J inches) of the usual character, with nine rivets
and hilts much like Fig. 354, have been found in Lanarkshire. §
In Gordon's ' ' Itinerarium Septentrionale" || a sword (24i inches) found
near Irvine, Argyleshire, is engraved, as is also one (26 inches) found in
Graham's Dyke near Carinn, which is said to be in the Advocates' Library
at Edinburgh. The figures do not seem accurate, but show seven rivets
in one and three in the other. Gordon makes no doiibt that these swords
are Roman.
Other specimens have been found at Forse,^[ Latheron, Caithness (25
inches), near the Point of Sleat,** Isle of Skye (22£ inches), with two
spear-heads and a pin. Another was found in Wigtonshire.ft
In the Antiquarian Museum are specimens from the following counties :
Aherdeen, Argyle, Ayr, Edinburgh, Fife, Forfar, Kincardine, and
Stirling.
In peat, atlochdar, JJ South Uist, were found two swords like Hail from
Arthur's Seat, the hilts of which are said to have been formed of wood.
A leather sheath is also reported to have been present.
A bronze scabbard tip, such as will subsequently he described, Mas
t Op. a?., pi. Ixi. 2, 3, I.
* ''Treatise on Anc. Armour," pi. Ixi. 1.
t Wilson's "Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 352, fig. 52.
{ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 210, pi. xx. 10. 11. || PI. li. 2, 3, p. 118.
H Vroc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 33. •• P. S. A. S., vol. iii. p. 102.
ft Ayr and Wigton Coll., vol. ii. p. 14. ;; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., ^o'. vi. p. 252
U
290
i I AF-SHAPED SWOB DS
[chat. XII.
found, with four bronze swords (about 24 inches) and a large spear-head,
near Brechin,*1 Forfarshire ; and in CorsbieMoss,f Legerwood, Berwick, a
bronze sword and spear-head were found, the former having, it is said, a
scabbard, apparently of metal, but so much corroded as to fall in pieces
on removal. This also may have been of leather stained by the metal.
A sword with a large pommel (24 inches), closely resembling Fig. 353,
was found, together with two other sword
blades (one 25 inches with slots), a scab-
bard end, and two bronze pins, with large
circular flat heads, at Tarves,J Aberdeen-
shire. Some of these were presented to the
British Museum by the Earl of Aberdeen.
There is a recess on the hilt-plate for the
reception of the horn or bone of the hilt,
which was fastened by three rivets still
.big. 353. — Edinburgh.
remaining.
Another sword, the blade 22 inches long,
the handle, including a round hollow pom-
mel, 5^ inches, was found in Skye, and is
engraved in " Pennant's Tour."§ It shows
four rivet-holes arranged like those in the
sword from Arthur's Seat, so that the hilt
was probably formed as usual of horn or
wood and not of bronze.
A few other swords with pommels to
their liilts have been found in Scotland.
That shown in Fig. 353 was found in
Edinburgh, II with, it is said, thirteen or
fourteen more, a pin, and ring, and a
kind of annular button, of bronze. It
is now in the Antiquarian Museum at
Edinburgh. The hilt appears to have
been added to the hilt-plate by a sub-
sequent process of casting. The pom-
mel has been cast over a core of clay,
which it still retains within it. An-
other of the swords (241 inches) has
the hilt-plate pierced for six rivets.
Two others which have been examined
arc imperfect.
Mr. Joseph Anderson, who has de-
scribed this find, points out that this hilt must have " been cast in
a matrix modelled from a sword which had the grip made up of
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. pp. 181, 224; Arrh. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 203.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iii. p. 121. % "Horse Fer.," pi. ix. 4, p. 161.
\ Vol. ii. p. 334, pi. xliv. || Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xiii. p. 321. ,
FOUMD IX [RELAND. 291
two convex plates attached on either side of the handle plate, and
their ends covered by a hollow pommel" — in fact, from such a sword
as that from Tarves, already mentioned. He also observes that the
holes in the hilt are not rivet-holes, and thinks that they may have
been caused by wooden pins used to hold the clay core in position,
for the handle as well as the pommel is hollow. I am rather
doubtful as to the accuracy of this theory, as such pins would,
I think, produce blow-holes in the metal in casting. There may,
however, have been clay projections from the inner core which
would leave holes such as these, into which studs of wood, bone,
or horn might afterwards be inserted by way of ornament and to
add firmness to the grip. For details of the finding of from
thirty to forty bronze swords in Scotland, the reader is referred
to Mr. Anderson's paper.
The bronze leaf-shaped swords from Ireland, of which nearly or
quite a hundred, either perfect or fragmentary, are preserved in
the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, have been treated of at
some length by the late Sir William Wilde,'" whose Catalogue
the reader may consult with advantage. In general appearance
they closely resemble the swords from the sister countries, and vary
in length from about eighteen to thirty inches. The blades are
usually rounded on the faces, or have a faintly marked median
ridge, and are slightly fluted along the edges. This fluting or
bevelling is sometimes bounded by a raised ridge. The form
with a rounded rib along the middle of the blade is almost un-
known. There is considerable variation in the form of the end
of the hilt-plate, in which occasionally there is a deep V-shaped
notch, or several smaller notches. The most common termination
is that like a fish-tail as seen in Fig. 3 5 4. The number of rivet-holes
is various, ranging from four to eleven. There are occasionally
slots t in the hilt-plate and in the wings at the base of the blade.
They have been found in most parts of the kingdom.
A common type of Irish sword is shown in Fig. 354 from a speci-
men found at Newtown Limavady, Co. Deny, in 1870. One
wing of the fish-tail termination is wanting and has been restored
in the sketch. The nine rivet-holes seem to have been cast
and not drilled, though they may have been slightly counter-sunk
subsequently to the casting. The hilt-plate is slightly fluted, per
haps with the view of steadying the hilt. In a fragment of a
sword found with spear-heads, a socketed dagger, and a fragment
* "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 439. t Op. cit., p. 4o4.
V 2
292 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS [CHAP. XIT.
of a hammer on Bo Island, Enniskillen, there are five deep flutings
Fig. 354.— New- Fig. 355— Ireland, i
town Limavady. {
Fig. :So6.— Ireland. 1 Fig. 357.— Ireland. \
FOUND IN IRELAND AND FRANCE. 293
on each side of the hilt-plate. As is the case with some of
the English examples already mentioned, this hilt-plate has been
joined to the blade by some process of burning on. One of the
four rivet-holes in it has been partially closed by the operation.
Sir William Wilde has noticed that several of the leaf-shaped
swords under his charge had been broken and subsequently
"welded" both by fusion and by the addition of a collar of the
metal which encircles the extremities of the fragments. The term
' welding " is, however, inappropriate to a metal of the character
of bronze.
In the British Museum is a sword of this type with nine rivet-holes
25J inches), found near Aghadoe,* Co. Kerry.
In the small Irish blade of much the same type (Fig. 355) there are only
three rivet-holes, which have been cast in the blade, a fourth having from
some cause been filled up with the metal, though a depression on each
face marks the spot where the hole was intended to be.
There were several swords, mostly broken, in the great Dowris hoard.
They had a rivet-hole in each" wing and two or three in the hilt-plate.
Some of the bronze swords found in Ireland attracted the attention of
antiquaries upwards of a century ago. Governor Pownall described two
found in a bog at Cullen, Tipperary, which are engraved in th.eArchceologia.\
They are 26^ inches and 27 inches long, and one of them is of the same
form as the Scotch sword, Fig. 352. VallanceyJ has also figured one
(22 inches) with eight rivets.
From among those in the Museum of the Poyal Irish Academy I have
selected two for engraving. The first, Fig. 356 (26£ inches), has had its
hilt attached by a number of very small pins instead of rivets of the usual
size. The second, Fig. 357, is a short blade about 19£ inches long, with
a central rib extending down the hilt-plate, in which there are four rivet-
holes, two on each side.
A bronze sword from Polignac, Haute Loire, now in the Museum at
Le Puy, Haute Loire, has its hilt-plate like that of Fig. 356, but has only
four rivets. Another with seven rivets was found in a dolmen at Miers, §
Lot. Another with six rivets from the Department of Jura || is in the
museum at St. Germain.
Another from near Besanqon,^ Doubs, has six small rivets. One found
at Alise Ste. Peine,** Cote d'Or, has four rivets only.
The type also occurred at Hallstatt,tf and in Germany. {J
At least two swords have been found in Ireland still retaining the
plates of bone which formed their hilts. By the kindness of Mr.
Robert Day, F.S.A., I am able to reproduce full-sized figures of
* "Horae Ferales," pi. ix. 7, p. 162. t Vol. iii. p. 355, pi. xix.
X Vol. iv. pi. vii. 1, p. 50.
\ De Bonstetten, " Essai sur les Dolm.," 1865, pi. ii. 2; Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xiii.
p. 183, pi. v. D.
|| Chantre, " Alb.," pi. xvi. 1. f Diet. Arch, de la GauU.
** Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. iv. pi. xiii. 23. tt Von Sacken, Taf. v. 2.
%X Lindenschmit, " A. ii. h. V." vol. i. Heft iii. Tuf. iii. 6.
294 LEAF-SHAPEU SWORDS [CHAP. XII.
both sides of one of the most perfect specimens, as Figs. 358 and
Tig. 858. — Muckno, i
mm
Fig. 350.— Muckno. \
359, which have already appeared in the Journal of the Royal
WITH HILTS OF BONK.
295
Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland* The sword
Fig-. 360.— Muckno.
Fig. 861.— Mullylagan. f
162.— Mully-
lagau ',
itself, shown on a small scale in Fig .'>G0, was found in Lisletrin
3rd 8., vol. i. p. 23; 2nd S vol. vi. p.. 72; " Reliquary," vol. x. p. 65
296 LEAF- SHAPED SWORDS. [CHAP. XII.
Bog, Muckno, Co. Monaghan. It is 24^ inches long, with a thick
midrib running along the blade. The plates of bone which are
still attached have been pronounced by Professor Owen to be
mammalian, and probably cetacean. It will be observed that at
the wings of the hilt-plate the bone projects somewhat beyond the
metal. The same peculiarity may be observed in the bone hilt
of a sword found at Mullylagan,* Co. Armagh, which has some-
what the appearance of having been carved at the end next the
blade into a pair of rude volutes. It is shown full-size in
Fig. 361. The sword itself, on a small scale, is shown in
Fig. 362. In this instance the bone projects beyond the sides
of the hilt-plate. I have not seen the specimen, which is pre-
served in the collection of Mr. A. Knight Young, of Monaghan. t
A bronze sword with six rivets, found near Kallundborg, Denmark,*
had the hilt formed of wood.
As is the case with several of the bronze swords discovered in
Scandinavia, some of those found in Ireland seem
to have been decorated with gold upon their hilts.
On one of the rivets of a sword found in a bog
near Cullen,§ Tipperary, was a thin piece of gold
weighing upwards of 12 dwts. Another sword, II
found near the same place in 1751, had a plate of
gold on one side which covered the hilt ; at the end
'land. was a small object like a pommel of a sword, with
three links of a chain hanging from it. The whole
weighed 3 ozs. 3 dwts. 1 1 grs. In this bog about twenty bronze
swords were found at intervals, besides about forty pieces of hilt-
plates in which the rivets stood. In one swordU there was a recess
near the blade, iX^-X^ inch, in which was "a piece of pewter
which just fitted it, with four channels cut in it, in each of which
was laid a thin bit of fine copper, so that they resembled four
figures of 1."
A fragment of a blade which Wilde ** considers to be that of a
sword, is decorated with raised lines and circles in relief, which
were cast with the blade. A portion of it is shown in Fig. 363.
As the whole fragment is only 44/ inches long, it may have formed
part of a socketed knife or some other instrument, and not of a
* Jour. Royal Hist. &; Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 4th S., vol. ii. p. 257. I am indebted
to the Council for the use of the cuts.
t Op. cit., 4th S., vol. i. p. 50.5. % " Aarbbger for Nord. Oldk.," 1871, p. 15.
§ Arch., vol. iii. p. 363. || lb., p. 364. H lb., p. 365.
** "Catal. Mub. R. I. A.," p. 446, fig. 322, here by permission reproduced.
CONTINENTAL TYPES. 297
sword. A part of a spear-head, with a series of ring ornaments
engraved on the blade, was in the hoard found at Haynes Hill,
Kent.*
There is considerable general resemblance between the bronze
swords found in the British Islands and those of the continental
countries of Europe. The similarities with those from France
have already been pointed out. Several with ornamented hilts
have been figured by Chantref and others. One has a hemi-
spherical pommel and a varied design on the hilt.
The bronze swords from the Swiss Lake-dwellings + have fre-
quently bronze hilts, like those of the swords from the South of
France. In some instances the hilt-plate has side flanges, with a
central slot or line of rivets, and rivets in the wings. In others
the broad tang forming the hilt has two or three rivet-holes. In
some hilts cast in bronze there is a recess for receiving a piece of
horn or wood. The blades have frequently delicate raised ribs,
sometimes six on each face, running along them.
The bronze swords of Italy § present several varieties not found
in Britain. The sides of the blades are more nearly parallel, and
many have a slender tang at the hilt, sometimes with two rivet-holes
forming loops at the side of the tang, sometimes with one rivet-
hole in its centre. In some the blade narrows somewhat for the
tang, in each side of which are two semicircular notches for the
rivets. In some Italian and French swords the blade is drawn out
to a long tapering point, so that its edges present a somewhat
ogival curve.
A fragment of a very remarkable Greek sword from Thera II has
a series of small broad-edged axes of gold, in shape like conven-
tional battle-axes, inlaid along the middle of the blade between
two slightly projecting ribs.
The double-edged bronze swords found by Dr. Schliemann^f at
Mycenae are tanged and often provided with pommels made of
alabaster. The hilts and scabbards are in some cases decorated
with gold. The blades are usually long and narrow, though some
widen considerably at the hilt-end, so as to form a broad shoulder
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxx. p. 282.
t "AgeduBr.," lere ptie. p. 105^ seq. : Alb., pi. xv. bis, 2; De Ferry, " Macon pivh..'
pi. xxxix.
I Keller, passim.
§ See Gastaldi, " Iconografia," 1869, Tav. viii. ; Pellegrini, " Sepolchreto Preromano,"
1878, Tav. iii., iv. Gozzadini, " Mors de Cheval et l'Epee de Rorzano," 1876.
|| " Aarbog. f. Nord. Oldk.," 1879, pi. i.
f "Mycense und Tiryns," 1878, pp. 281, 303, &e.
298 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS. [CHAP. XII.
to the tang. Swords appear to have heen much rarer on the pre-
sumed site of Troy.
There appear to be doubts whether the beautiful bronze sword
in the Berlin Museum,* reported to have been found at Pella, in
Macedonia, does not belong to the valley of the Rhine.
Bronze swords have but rarely been found in Egypt. In my own
collection, however, is one which was found at Great Kantara during
the construction of the Suez Canal. The blade, about 17 inches
long, is leaf-shaped, and much like that of Fig. 360, but more
uniform in width. Instead of having a hilt-plate it is drawn down
to a small tang about ~-6 inch square. This again expands into
an octagonal bar, about f inch in diameter, which has been drawn
down to a point, and then turned back to form a hook, probably
for suspending the sword at the belt. At the base of the blade
are two rivet-holes. The hilt must have been formed of two
pieces which clasped the tang. The total length of the sword
from the point to the top of the hook is 22-| inches. I have
never seen another similar example, but a bronze sword blade,
presumably from Lower Egypt, is in the museum at Berlin. It has
an engraved line down each side of the blade, and its sides are
more parallel than in mine from Kantara, already mentioned.
The hilt is broken off. A German sword from the Magdeburg
district, with a tang and two rivet-holes at the base of the blade,
closely resembles mine from Egypt, except that it has no hook to
the tang.
The bronze swords found in Denmark f and Northern Germany +
have often side flanges to the hilt-plate, like Fig. 348, occasion-
ally plated with gold ; but the blades are generally more uniform
in width, and have the edges straighter than those from the United
Kingdom. Some blades have a simple tang. On a very large
proportion the hilt formed of bronze (or of some more perishable
material alternating with bronze plates) has been preserved. The
pommels are usually formed of oval or rhomboidal plates with a
central boss, and are generally ornamented below.
Some of the swords found in Sweden and Denmark have been
regarded by Dr. Montelius§ and Mr. Worsaae || as of foreig'n
origin.
* Bastian und A. Voss, "Die Bronze Schwerter deB K. Mus. zn Berlin," 1878, p. 56.
t "Atlas for Nord. Oldk.," pi. P., ii., Iii., iv. ; Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," figs. 114
to 137.
t Lisch, " Fredi r. Francisc," Tab. xiv., xv.
i "Cong, preh.," Stockholm vol. i. p. 500. || " Cong, preh.," Buda Pest vol., p. 238.
EARLY IRON SWORDS.
299
A bronze sword from Finland with a flanged hilt-plate and
eight rivet-holes has been * figured.
In Germany f the bronze swords present types which more
nearly resemble those of France and Denmark than those of the
British Isles. Those with a flanged hilt-plate are found, however,
both in Northern and Southern Germany, as well as in Italy, Austria
and Hungary. Others have long and narrow tangs, but a large
proportion are provided with bronze hilts, usually with disc-like
pommels. These hilts conceal the form of the tangs. Some few have
spirals at the end of the hilt, as already mentioned, and one from
Brandenburg, in the Berlin Museum, has a spheroidal pommel. In
some of the bronze hilts there are recesses for the reception of
pieces of horn or wood, as on some of the French and Swiss swords.
Iron swords of the same general character as those of bronze
have been found in the ancient cemeterv at Hallstatt and else-
where. Those from Hallstatt + are identical in character with the
bronze swords from the same locality. In one instance the hilt
and pommel of an iron sword are in bronze ; in another the
pommel alone ; the hilt-plate of iron being flat, and provided with
rivets exactly like those of the bronze swords. In others the
pommel is wanting. I have a broken iron sword from this
cemeteiy , with the hilt-plate perfect, and having three bronze rivets
still in it, and the holes for two others at the pommel end. The
blade has a central rounded rib along it like Fig. 345, but with a
small bead on either side. I have a beautiful bronze sword from the
same locality, on the blade of which are two small raised beads on
either side of the central rib, and in the spaces between them a
threefold wavy line punched in or engraved. In this instance a
tang has passed through the hilt, that was formed of alternate
blocks of bronze and of some substance that has now perished,
possibly ivory. A magnificent iron sword from Hallstatt, now in
the Vienna Museum, has the hilt and pommel formed of ivory
inlaid with amber.
The late Celtic iron swords found in Britain have been described
by .Mr. A. W. Franks, F.R.S., in an exhaustive paper in the
Archceologia,§ in which also the reader will find many interesting
particulars of analogous swords found in continental countries.
Several iron swords have been found in France with tl.it hilt-
* "Cong, preh.," Copenhagen vol., p. 449.
f See Bastian und A. Voas, " Die Bronze Schwcrter des K. Mus. v.n Berlin," |s7s.
+ Von Sacken, " Grabf . v. Hallst.," Taf. v.; Lindenschmit, "Alt. u. h. Vorz.,"
vol. ii. Heft i. Taf. v. j Vol. xlv. p. 251.
300 LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS. [CHAP. XII.
plates and rivets exactly of the same character as those of the
bronze swords. Nine have been discovered in tumuli at Cosne,
Magny Lambert, and elsewhere in the department of Cote d'Or.
Others have been found at Cormoz, Ain ; and at Gedinne, in
Belgium. There can be but little doubt that M. Alexandre Bertrand *
is right in assigning the French examples to the fourth or fifth
century B.C., and in regarding them as direct descendants from
the bronze swords of ordinary type. He adduces, also, the remark-
able fragment of an iron sword with a bronze hilt found in the
Lac de Bienne, which is in exact imitation of a bronze sword with
ribs on the blade, as an additional proof that these early iron
swords are the reproductions, pure and simple, of those in bronze,
and fabricated from the metal then recently introduced into the
West. How far back in time the use of bronze swords in Gaul
may have extended it is difficult to say, but the varieties in their
types testify to a lengthened use before they began to be super-
seded by those of iron.
I must, however, now describe the sheaths by which these
blades were protected.
* Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xxvi. p. 321.
CHAPTER XIII
SCABBARDS AND CHAPES.
Although the sheaths which protected the daggers and swords
described in the preceding chapters consisted probably for the
most part of wood or leather, yet in many instances some portion
of the scabbard and its fittings was made of bronze ; and to the
description of these objects it seems desirable to devote a separate
chapter. It is rarely that the metallic portions of the sheaths
have been found in company with the blades ; but in one instance
at least a portion of a sword blade has been discovered within a
surrounding sheath of bronze ; which, however, does not extend
the full length of the blade, the upper part of the scabbard having
probably been formed of wood. This discovery proves that the
short bronze sheaths, which are usually from 8 to 12 inches long,
belonged to swords, and not, as at first sight might be inferred
from their size, to daggers.
In France some much longer bronze sheaths have been found
with the swords still in them. The most noteworthy is that from
the neighbourhood of Uze's,* Gard, now in the Musee d'Artillerie,
at Paris, which is decorated with transverse beaded lines alter-
nating with ornaments of concentric rings. This scabbard is longer
by some inches than the blade it contains. In fact, in no instance
does the point of the sword appear to have reached so far as the
end of the sheath. Another sheath found at Cormoz (Ain)t is in
the museum at Lyons.
In a few instances the wooden sheaths of bronze swords have
been found entire. The finest is that from the Kongshoi,+ Vam-
drup, Ribe, Denmark. It was found with a body in a tree-coffin
* "Horae Ferales," pi. viii. 7; Chnnhv, '' Age du Br.," lere ptie., p. 10S ; Linden-
schmit, " A. u. h. V.," vol. ii. Heft i. Taf. 3.
t Chantre, op. cit., p. 135.
X Madsen, " Afb.," vol. ii. pi. vii. ; Lindensehmit, " Alt. u. h. Vor/..," vol. ii. Hoft i.
Taf. iii. 1.
302
SCARHATins AND CHAPES.
[chap. nut.
m
of oak. This sheath is about a fifth longer than the blade of the
sword, and is carved on both faces, though more highly
decorated on what must have been the outer face, than
on the inner. There is no metal mounting at either
end. Another scabbard found in the Treenhoi* is
likewise of wood. Its chape also is formed of some
hard wood. It has been lined with skin, the hair to-
wards the blade of the sword. This sheath is about
an eighth longer than the blade of the sword.
No doubt many of the British sheaths were made
of wood alone. Others, though partly made of that
material, were tipped with bronze, the metal being
secured to the wood, or the leather, if that material
was used, by a small rivet which passed diagonally
through the metal. As Mr. Franks t has pointed out,
the presence of this rivet-hole would have been suffi-
cient to show that these objects are not dagger sheaths,
as some have thought, for the rivet leaves too small a
part of the bronze receptacle available for a blade even
as long as that of an ordinary dagger. The discovery
already mentioned places this question beyond doubt.
The bronze sheaths of the iron swords and daggers'
of the Late Celtic Period are of a different character
from those I am about to describe, and are made of
sheet bronze, and not cast in a single piece.
In Fig. 364 is shown a portion of a sword blade, with
the scabbard end still in position, which was found in the
Thames near Isleworth, and is in the collection of Mr.
T. Layton, F.S.A.^: This scabbard end lias a central rib
and two other slight ribs along each margin in order to give
it strength, and, as will be seen from the figure, probably
extends at least 6 inches beyond the end of the sword, thus
giving an opportunity of securing the metal end to the
wooden or leather scabbard at a place where the blade woidd
not interfere with the passage of a pin or rivet.
A scabbard end of much the same form (13£ inches)
is shown in Fig. 365. It was found with fifteen others, some
broken, near Guilsfield,§ Montgomeryshire, together with
looped palstaves, spear-heads, &c. It has a small rivet-hole
about half-way along it. Another, || somewhat straighter
* Madsen, op. cit., pi. v.
t "Horae Ferales," p. 159. See also Arch. Journ., vol. xxxiv. p. 301, fig. 3.
X Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 404.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 251; Arch. Camh., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 214;
" Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 437.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 259, whence this cut is taken, by permission of Mr. Franks.
Fig. 364.
Isleworth. i
ENDS OF SWORD-SHEATHS.
303
(12£ inches), found with a bronze buckler in the River Isis near Dor-
chester, Oxon,* is shown in Fig. 366. It is now in the British Museum.
There is a small rivet-hole passing transversely through it. Several f
other sheath ends of the same kind are preserved in the same collection.
One, imperfect, from the Thames atTeddington (10 inches), with ribs along
the middle and. edges, has a hole for a diagonal rivet, and retains a frag-
ment of wood inside, as does also another from the Thames at London,
which has a very slightly projecting midrib. A third, of the same
Fig. 365.— Guilsfield. \
Fig. 366.— River Isis,
near Dorchester. J
Fig. 367.— Ireland. \
character (lOf inches), from the Thames at Chelsea, has a small end plate
secured by a central rivet. This has traces of either leather or wood
inside. % In another, also from the Thames (7f inches), the end plate has
been cast with the sheath, and there is a wooden lining secured by a
diagonal rivet. The opening is nearly flat.
In some there is no rib down the middle, but merely a projecting ridgo,
and in others no rivet-holes are visible.
This straight form of scabbard end has been very rarely found in
Ireland. The only specimen mentioned by Wilde is by permission here
reproduced as Fig. 367. Another (o.l inches) was in the collection of
Mr. Wakeman, of Enniskillen.
* Proc. Soc. Ant., iii. p. 118 ; Arch., vol. xxvii. p. 298.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 201. See " Horse Ferales," pi. ix. No. 10 to 14, and C.
R. Smith, "Coll. Ant.," vol. iii. p. 72.
X Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iii. p. 118.
304
SCABBARDS AXD CHAPES.
[chap. xnr.
A scabbard end of much the same general character as that from
Guilsfield, but shorter and broader, is shown in Fig. 368. It was found
at Wick Park, Stogursey, Somerset,* with palstaves, socketed celts, gouges,
spear-heads, and fragments of swords, together with jets from castings
and rough metal.
Scabbard ends occur also in Scotland, for one nearly similar to these last
(5f inches) was found with four leaf-shaped swords and a large spear-
head, all of bronze, at Cauldhame, near Brechin, Forfarshire, f They
are now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. The scabbard is by
permission of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland here shown as Fig.
369. Another scabbard tip in the same museum is rather shorter. It
was found at Grogar Burn, near Edinburgh, together with a sword and a
Fig. 368.— Stogursey, Somerset. J Fig. 369.— Brechin. \
Fxg. a7u.— Pant-y-maen. \
penannular brooch of bronze and a small penannular ornament of gold.
A Scotch specimen from the farm of Ythsie, Tarves, Aberdeenshire, is
in the British Museum. It is like that from Brechin, and is 5| inches
long.
The straight form of scabbard end has been discovered, though rarely, in
Northern France. One from Caix, Somme, is engraved in the Dictionnaire
Archeologique de la Gaule. A fragment of another, more like Fig. 365,
has been found near Compiegne (Oise).
A still shorter form is shown in Fig. 370, the original of which was
found at Pant-y-maen, near Grlancych, Cardiganshire, \ together with
broken swords, spear-heads, and ferrules, as well as some small rings.
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 427.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 181 ; Arch. Jowrn., vol. xiii. p. 203; " Catal. Mus.
Arch. Inst. Ed.," p. 24.
X Arch. Cumh., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 221, whence the figure is copied.
CHAPES FROM ENGLAND AND IRELAND.
•305
A still more simple form, and one more nearly approaching the modern
chape, has occasionally been found. That shown as Fig. 371 formed part
of the hoard found in Reach Fen, Cambridgeshire, which comprised also
some fragments of swords. It is of especial interest, as the small bronze
nail which served to fasten it to the wooden scabbard was found with it.
This nail is shown above the chape in the figure.
Fig. 371.— Reach Fen. }
Another chape of the same kind, but more like Fig. 372 in form, was
found at Haines Hill, near Hythe, Kent,* with a perforated disc of bronze,
like Fig. 503, and some other objects.
Fig. 372, kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy, shows a chape found
at Cloonmore, near Templemore, Co. Tipperary.j- This form seems to be
of very rare occurrence in Ireland.
It has, however, been found in Savoy, t and in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
Fig. 372. — Cloonmore.
Fig. 373.— Stoke Ferry,
An English form, which is, I believe, as yet unique, is shown in Fig •
373. It was found, with several broken swords and spear- heads, at
Stoke Ferry, Norfolk. It is ornamented with a neat fluting, produced
apparently by means of punches. The rivet-holes are at the sides, instead
of being, as usual, on the face.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxx. p. 280. t Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 461, fig. 336.
Exp. Arch, de la Sav.," 1878, pi. xii. 354, 356.
+ (i
306
SCABBARDS AND CHAPES.
[chap. XIII.
A curious socketed object in bronze, found near Piltown,* in tbe
barony of Iverk, Co. Kilkenny, has been regarded as the haft of a
dagger. It is rectangular in section and expanding at the base which
is closed. But from its analogy with some of the scabbard ends lately
described it seems possible that it formed part of a sheath. The
objection to this view is that the breadth of the socket is much greater
than usual with these chapes. The zig-zag and other ornamentation upon
it is described as having been engraved with a fine point after the object
was cast. The lower face is not ornamented.
The form is not unlike that of the end of the scabbard of some modern
African leaf-shaped swords of iron, as to which Mr. Syer Cumingf has
remarked, that while the point of the blade is as sharp as a needle, the
base of its receptacle measures nearly 3 inches across. It is possible that
Fig. 374.— Keelogiie Ford, Ireland.
Fig. 375— Mildenhall.
the object engraved asFig. 286 maybe intended for the end of a scabbard,
and not for that of a hilt, but this can only be determined by future dis-
coveries.
Another Irish form is shown in Fig. 374, the original of which was
found at Keelogue Ford, in the Shannon, and is in the Eoyal Irish
Academy. In this instance the chape has assumed a kind of boat dike
form with pointed ends. As Sir W. Wilde| has observed, the indenta-
tions at the top mark the overlapping of the wooden portion of the
scabbard, which was fastened to the bronze by two slender rivets, so that
the ends projected about an inch on each side.
Fig. 375 shows an English scabbard tip of the same class, though
differing in details, which was found in the neighbourhood of Mildenhall,
Suffolk, and is in the collection of Mr. Simeon Fenton, of that town, to
whom I am indebted for permission to engrave it. The surface of this
chape is beautifully finished, and the raised rib round the semi-circular
notch is delicately engrailed or "milled." There is a single minute
hole for a pin or rivet on one face only. As will be seen, this English
example closely resembles that from Ireland shown in the previous
figure.
Such projections as those on the chapes of this form would
appear to be inconvenient ; but in another variety the projecting
* Journ. li. H. and A. As.ioo. of Ireland, 4th S., vol. iv. p. 186.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvi'i. p. 322. % " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 461.
SPIKED CHAPES.
30:
ends shoot out into regular spikes, the ends of which are tipped
by a small button. In some cases the length from point to point
is not less than 8 inches. There are several in the museum of
the Royal Irish Academy. Sir W. Wilde considered that the
bronze sword was suspended high up on the thigh and not allowed
to trail on the ground, so that these projections would be less in
the way of the wearer than might at first sight appear. The
lengthening of these points may have been the result of a kind
of prehistoric dandyism, analogous to that which led to the
lengthening of the points of boots and shoes in England at the
beginning of the fifteenth century.* Specimens of these still exist in
which the points extend G inches beyond the foot, and it has been
Fig. 376.— Thames. i
asserted that they had to be chained to the knees of the wearers
to give them a chance of walking with freedom.
Though chiefly found in Ireland, this elongated form of soabbard has
occasionally been discovered in England. Fig. 376 represents a specimen
from the Thames, now preserved in the British Museum.
Another example, but slightly more curved, was found with a bronze
sword at Ebberston, Yorkshire, and is in the Bateman Collection. f It has
been figured. The rivets for attaching it to the wooden scabbard are still
in position.
This type of scabbard end has also been found in France. In the
Museum of Bourges is an example about 5£ inches long, much like Fig.
376. but rather more V-shaped. Another, more like the figure, was found
with a bronze sword, near MarsanneJ (Drome), and a third in the tumulus
of Baresia § (Jura). Another was found at the end of an iron sword
in a tumulus at Mons || (Auvergne).
* Fairholt's " Costume in England," p. 382.
t Arch. 4.880C. Jonm., vol. xvii. p. 321, pi. 30, fig. 2.
t Chantre, " Ago du Br.," lero ptie. p. 136. Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xxxix. p. 306.
§ Dirt. Arch, de la (iitule.
|| "Materiaux," vol. xiii. p. 64. See also a paper by M. Alex. Bcrtrand, in the Bull.
Soc. Ant. de Franco, 1873, p. 56. " Mater.," vol. xv" p. 162.
x 2
308 SCABBARDS AND CHAPES. [CHAP. XIII.
It is to be observed tbat the ends of some of the knife sheaths of the
Early Iron Period * expand in somewhat the same manner, so as to
assume an anchor-like appearance.
A bronze bonterolle or scabbard tip of a very peculiar type, the sides
being elongated and flattened out so as to form two sickle-shaped wings
curving upwards, was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries in 1867 f as
having been found in Britain. A figure of it was to have appeared in
the Archceologia, but has not yet been published. Perhaps there was
room to doubt its English origin. Certainly the description, with the
exception of the sickle-shaped wings curving upwards, agrees with a form
of which several examples have been found in Germany and in France. ;[
Some of these are sharp at the end bke a socketed celt, with two ex-
panding sickle-Uke wings, but their purpose as chapes has not always
been recognised. One from Hallstatt is described by Von Sacken § as a
cutting tool to be attached to a thin shaft. There are two in the Museum
at Prague, found at Korno and Brasy.
One from Oberwald-behrungen is in the Museum at "YVurzburg.
Another is at Hanover.
The fact that traces of wooden sheaths to daggers have been found in
the Wiltshire and other barrows has already been mentioned, but no
Fig. 377.— Isle of Harty. \
bronze fittings have been found with them. There are, however, some
objects which may have served either as the mouth-pieces of sheaths for
daggers or small knives, or as ferrules for their hilts.
One of these from the Harty hoard is shown full size in Fig. 377.
Another of identically the same character, but rather shorter, was
found, with a bronze knife or dagger and numerous other articles, at
Marden, || Kent. It was regarded by Mr. Beale Poste as the mounting
of the top of a dagger sheath formed of leather.
Another was found with various other relics near Abergele, ^[ Denbigh-
shire.
Some elongated loops formed of jet are of a shape that would have
served for the mouth-pieces of sword scabbards, but whether so fragile a
substance was used for such a purpose may well be questioned. They
may have been merely ornamental. One about 3 inches long, found in
Scotland,** has been regarded as a clasp for a belt. Possibly these objects
in bronze may, after all, be of the nature of slides or clasps.
Another loop, more rounded at the ends, found in the peat at Newbury, \\
* De Bonstetten, "Rec. d'Ant. Suisses," Supp., pi. xxi. 1 ; Von Sacken, "Grabf. v.
Hallstatt," Taf. vi. 11.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 518. % Rev- Arch., N.S., vol. xxxix. p. 305.
§ "Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt," p. 155, pi. xix. fi»;. 10.
II Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 257, pi. xiii. 6 ; Wilson, " Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 441,
fig. 82.
II Arch. Scot., vol. i. p. 393. ** Arch., vol. xliii. p. 556, pi. xxxvii. 3.
tt Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 323, pi. xxvi. 5 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv.
p. 521.
FERRULES ON SWORD-HILTS. 309
Berks, has been described as a slider for securing some portion of the
dress, or for passing over a belt. Not improbably this is their true inter-
pretation. Some other slides are described at p. 404.
Some bronze objects of nearly similar form, but about 3 inches in
length, found with late Celtic remains, have been regarded as the cross-
guards * of daggers or knives.
In my own collection is a fine bronze sword from Denmark with broad
side flanges to the hilt plate, on the blade of which is a bronze loop about
£ inch wide, rebated for the reception of wood, but without any rivet-
holes. Each face presents four parallel headings. For some time, in
common with some Danish antiquaries, I regarded this loop as the mouth-
piece of a scabbard, for which it appears well adapted ; but I now find that
such a view is erroneous, and that this loop is the ferrule for receiving
the ends of the plates of wood or horn which formed the hilt. For in
the barrow of Lydshoi,| near Blidstrup, Frederiksborg, was a bronze
sword with a similar ferrule upon it, and the remains of the plates of
horn beneath it still in position. One of these Danish ferrules is of gold.^:
A sheath § from a barrow at Hvidegaard, made of birch wood with an outer
and inner casing of leather, has a leather band for the mouthpiece, and
a leather eye for receiving the belt. Some small sheaths for bronze knives
and for a flint dagger found at the same time are simply of leather.
* Arch. Inst., York vol. p. 33 ; Arch., vol. xiv. pi. xx. 6.
t " Atlas for Nord. Oldk.," pi. B ii. 2; Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," fig. 115 ; Madsen,
"Afbild.," vol. ii. pi. xi. 1.
% Boye, "Oplys. Fortegnelse over det K. M.," p. 31.
§"Annalen for Oldk.," 1848, p. 336; "Atlas for Nord. Oldk." pi. B. ii. 7 ;
Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," fig. 119; Madsen, "Afbild.," vol. ii. p. 9. pi. iv. 8.
CHAPTER XIV.
Spear-heads, Lance-heads, etc.
There can be but little doubt that one of the weapons of offence
in earliest use among mankind must have been of the nature of a
spear — a straight stick or staff, probably pointed and to a certain
extent hardened in the fire. The idea of giving to such a staff a
still harder and sharper point by attaching to it a head of bone or
of stone, such as is still commonly in use among many savage
tribes, would come next. And, lastly, these heads or points
would be formed of metal, when its use for cutting tools and
weapons had become general, and means had been discovered for
rendering it available for this particular purpose. In the earlier
part of the Bronze Age, when bronze was already in use for
knife-daggers and even for daggers, it would appear that the spears
and darts, if any such were in use, were in this country still tipped
with flint. How long this practice continued it is impossible to
say, and it is even doubtful whether any bronze spear-heads were
in use before the time when the founders had discovered the art
of making sockets by means of cores placed within the moulds.
It is, however, not impossible that some of the blades found in the
Wiltshire barrows, and the tanged weapons which have already
been described in Chapter XL, may have been the heads of spears
rather than the blades of daggers ; but even at the period to
which they belong the art of making cores must have been known,
as the ferrule found at Arreton Down, and shown in Fig. 324, will
testify, as well as the hollow socket of Fig. 328.
In the South-east of Europe and in Western Asia, as in Cyprus
and atHissarlik, tanged and not socketed spear- heads have been found
in considerable numbers ; but such a form is of very rare occur-
rence in Europe, and is unknown in Britain, unless possibly some
of the blades already described as knives or daggers, such as
Fig. 277, were attached to long rather than short handles, and
DIFFERENT TYPES OF SPEAR-HEADS. 311
should, therefore, have been treated of in this chapter rather than
in that in which I have placed them. If spears were deposited in
the graves with the dead, the shafts must in all probability have been
broken, for as a rule the graves for bodies buried in the contracted
position are not long enough to receive a spear of ordinary length.
In the case of some few ancient socketed tools of bronze, the
socket has not been formed by casting over a core, but a Avide
plate of metal has been hammered over a conical mandril so as to
form a socket like that of many chisels of the present day, and of
the iron spear-heads of earlier times. I am not aware of any
bronze instruments with the sockets formed in this manner ever
having been found in this country. In all cases the sockets have
been produced by cores in the casting, and in man}'- spear-heads
the adjustment of the core has been effected with such nicety that
a conical hollow extends almost to the tip, with the metal around
it of uniform substance, and often very thin in proportion to the
size of the weapon.
The heads of arrows, bolts, darts, javelins, lances, and spears so
nearly resemble one another in character, that it is impossible
to draw any absolute line of distinction between them. The
larger varieties must, however, have served for weapons retained
in the hand as spears, while those of small and moderate size may
have been for weapons thrown as lances, or possibly discharged as
bolts or arrows. In length these instruments vary from about
2 inches to as much as 36 inches.
Sir "VV. Wilde * has divided the Irish spear-heads into four
varieties, as follows: —
1. The simple leaf-shaped, either long and narrow, or broad,
with holes in the socket through which to pass the rivets to fix
them to the shaft.
2. The looped, with eyes on each side of the socket below and
on the same plane with the blade. These are generally of the
long, narrow, straight-edged kind.
»3. Those with loops in the angles between the edge of the
blade and the socket.
4. Those with side apertures and perforations through the blade.
To these four classes may be added —
5. Those in which the base of each side of the blade projects at
right angles to the socket, or is prolonged downwards so as to
form barbs.
*';Catal. Mus. It. I. A.," p. -195.
312
SPEAR-HEADS, LAMCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV.
A remarkably fine specimen of a broad leaf-shaped spear-head of
the first class is shown in Fig. 378. The original was found in the
Fig. 37:).— Lough
Gur. J
Fig. 378.— Thames, London, i Fig. 380.— Lough Our. J Fig. 381.— Heathery Burn Cave, i
Thames at London, and still contains a portion of the wooden shaft
smoothly and carefully pointed. The wood is, I think, ash ;
LEAF-SHAPED SPEAR-HEADS. 313
and my opinion is supported by that of Mr. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S.,
who has kindly examined the shaft for me. There are no traces
of the pin or rivet, which in the spear-heads of this character
appears to have been formed of wood, horn, or bone, rather than
of metal, probably with the view of the head being more readily
detached from the shaft, in case the latter was broken. I have,
however, a leaf-shaped bronze spear-head of this class, found in
the Seine at Paris, in which a metallic rivet is still present. It is
formed of a square rod of bronze, which at each end has been
hammered into a spheroidal button, of at least twice the diameter
of the hole through which the rivet passes. Portions of the
wooden shaft are still adhering to the rivet. The wood in this
instance also appears to be ash.
I have a rather narrower spear-head of the same type as Pig. 378 (lOf
inches), found with a bronze sword near Weymouth ; and another identical
in type with that from the Thames, hut only 9 inches long, found in the
county of Dublin.
Others of nearly the same form (12f inches and 8f inches) were found
with a bronze sword in an ancient entrenchment at Worth,* in the parish
of Washfield, Devon.
Another spear-head of this type from the Thames f (13£ inches) is in
the British Museum, as are others (13 inches and 10 inches long).
A remarkably fine bronze spear-head, found in Lough Grur, Co. Lime-
rick, with the lower part of the socket ornamented with gold, is of much
the same form as Fig. 378, and is shown on the scale of one-fourth in
Fig. 379. The ornamented part is shown on the scale of one-half in
Fig. 380. It is in the collection of General A. Pitt Eivers, F.E.S., who
has thus described the socket.;}: Around it, " at top and bottom, are two
ferrules of very thin gold, each § inch in width. Each ferrule is ornamented
with three bands scored with from four to seven transverse lines, and
separated from each other by two bands scored with incised longitudinal
lines. The two ferrules are separated by a band about W inch in width,
in which longitudinal hues of gold have been let into grooves in the bronze,
leaving an intervening line between each of the gold lines." Most of
these gold strips have, however, now disappeared. The shaft of this spear
is of bog oak 4 feet 8h inches long, but though its authenticity has been
accepted by many good judges, I must confess that I do not regard it
as the original. Some other spear-heads ornamented with engraved lines,
but not with inlaid gold, will be mentioned further on. I may incidentally
recall the fact that the gold ring or ferrule around the spear-bead of
Hector is more than once mentioned by Homer. §
irdpoiOe oe Xd/jLTrero Sovpos
Aiyjxr) YaAKei77 Trepl 8e xpucreos See iropKr]';.
Another fine specimen of a spear-head with a long oval leaf-shaped
blade in Canon (ireenwelTs Collection is shown in Fig. 381. It was
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 120. t "Horse Fer.," pi. vi. 29.
J Journ. Ethnol. Hoc, 1868, N.S., vol. i. p. 30. § Iliad, vi. v. 319 ; viii. v. 494.
314
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[chap. XIV.
;,i
to
found with several others varying in length from 6§ inches to 11 J inches,
and numerous other articles of bronze and bone, in the Heathery Burn
Cave,* Durham. As will be seen, the blade is continued as a slight
narrow projection along the socket as far as the rivet-hole. The edges
are somewhat fluted.
A spear-head of nearly the same form (10^ inches)
was found in a peat moss near the Camp Graves,}
Bewcastle, Cumberland. Another was found in a
hoard at Bilton, Yorkshire, t
A very fine example (about 15 inches), as well as
a smaller one of the same type (about 8 inches), and
one with lunate openings in the blade (Fig. 418),
were found with two swords (see Fig. 351) near
Whittingham, § Northumberland.
I have others (9 inches to 11 inches) found with
broken swords at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, and from
the Beach Fen hoard. The same form occurs in Ire-
land. I have a fine specimen (8| inches) from
Athlone. Another (13 J inches) is engraved by Wilde
as his Fig. 362. A very narrow spear-head, 14f inches
long, and only If inch wide, said to have been found
in a barrow near Headford, Co. Galway, is in the
British Museum.
A spear-head of this character from the Thames
(16f inches), not fluted at the edges and quite plain,
is in the British Museum. The blade is only 2|
inches wide.
One from Stan wick, Yorkshire (8 inches), is in the
j'fy British Museum, as is one (11 inches) from Bannock-
burn, Scotland. An Irish specimen (10 inches) is
devoid of rivet-holes.
Another spear-hdad of nearly the same type, but of
smaller dimensions, is given in Fig. 382. It was
found, with some other spear-heads (Fig. 410),
socketed celts (Figs. 155 and 157), palstaves (Fig 83),
and a ferrule, to be subsequently mentioned, at Net-
tleham,|| near Lincoln, in 1860. They are now in the
British Museum.
Others of the same type have been found at
Winmarleigh^[ and Cuerdale,** Lancashire, at Ward-
low, ff Derbyshire, Little Wenlock,^; Staffordshire
(8 inches), near Windsor §§ (7 inches), at Bottisham,|||| Cambridge, and
in Herts.^ff
* Dawkins, " Cave Hunting," p. 143, fig. 34.
t Arch. Joum., vol. xi. p. 231.
% Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. v. p. 349.
§ Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 429, pi. iv.
|| Arch. Jouru., vol. xviii. p. 159. lam indebted to Mr. Franks for jbe use of this
block.
H Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xv. p. 235, pi. xxiv. 3.
Op. cit., vol. viii. p. 332. tt Op. cit., vol. xv. p. 235, pi. xxiv. 4
!'!',;?.';
"Jll/VCCR.
Fig. 882.
Nettlcham.
i
X Ilartshorne's " Salop. Ant.," p
96.
Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xiv. p. 351.
"il'll Skelton's " Meyrick's Anc. Arm.," pi. xlvii. 1U
§§ Stukeley's "It. Cur.," pi. 96, vol. ii.
"WITH A FILLET ALONG THE MIDKII5.
315
4
I have one from the River Lea* at St. Margaret's, Herts, and others
from Reach Fen, Cambridge.
Others were in the Guilsfield hoard,f and in that of Pant-y-maen,+ or
the Glancych hoard. One from the latter hoard is about 1 1 inches long.
Another, more like Fig. 386, about 4 inches. With them were found
fragments of swords, a scabbard tip, some rings and ferrules. Others
(9 inches and 5 inches) were found, with a socketed
celt and knife, a tanged chisel, and other objects, at
Ty Mawr,§ on Holyhead Mountain.
Five were found in the hoard near Stanhope, || Durham,
with socketed celts, a gouge, &c.
Of Scottish specimens the following may be noticed :
one from Lanark ^f (5f- inches), which has been figured;
two (7f inches) rather long in the socket, found with
a bronze sword and a long pin on the Point of Sleat,**
Isle of Skye ; one (6 inches) from Balmaclellan,f-|- New
Galloway. One (5£ inches) from Duddingston Loch,
Edinburgh, is in the British Museum.
Leaf-shaped spear-heads such as Fig. 382 are of
frequent occurrence in various parts of France. A
number were found at Atise Ste. Reine|| (Cote d'Or),
several of them ornamented with rings round the
sockets.
They also are found in the Lake-dwellings of Switzer-
land §| and Savoy. Many of them have parallel rings
round the mouth of the socket by way of ornament.
They also occur in Germany |||| and Denmark.^ One
from Northern Germany, still containing a part of its
wooden shaft, has been engraved by Von Estorff.*'**
Those from Italy and Greece have very fre-
quently facets running along the midrib which
contains the socket.
In Fig. 383 is shown a variety (1H inches) with a
projecting fillet running down to the rivet-holes as in
Fig. 381, which, however, in this case forms the termi-
nation of small beads running along the sides of the
central rib. There is also a beading running along the midrib. The
original was found, with another spear-head, plain, a socketed celt, some
bronze rings, and fragments of tin, at Achtertyre,fj-f Morayshire. Mr. It.
Day, F.S.A., has a nearly similar spear-head (5 inches), found in Dublin.
* Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 279.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 251 ; "Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 437.
X Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 221. <j Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 254.
|| Arch. JEliana, vol. i. p. 13, pi. i. If Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. ]>.
** Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 102. ft Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iv. p
XX Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. iv. pi. xiii. 2 — 14.
\\ Keller, passim.
|| Von Braunmuhl, " Alt Deutschen Grabmiiler ; " Schreiber, " Die ehern.
keile," Taf. ii. 19; Liseh, "Fred. Francisc," Taf. viii.
HH Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," fig. 190. *** "Heidnisch. Alterth.," Taf. viii. Ii
ttt P- S. A. S., vol. ix. p. 435. The cut has been kindly Lent by the Society.
Fig. 383.
Achtertyre.
110.
117.
Streit-
316
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV.
ill i
Ml*
I II
Fig. 384— North of
Irelaud. £
A more elongated form, with the projecting part
of the socket considerably shorter, is shown in
Fig. 384, from a specimen found in the North of
Ireland. A spear-head (20 inches) of the same
form of outline, but with a slight ridge running
the whole length of the socket from its mouth to
the point, was found at Ditton,* Surrey. It is now
in the British Museum, having been presented by
the Earl of Lovelace.
Another (14f inches) in the same collection, found
in the River Thames, f near the mouth of the
Wandle, retains a portion of the original wood in
its socket. It was found in company with a bronze
sword, a palstave, and a long pin (Fig. 454).
One of much the same form as the figure (11 inches)
was found at Teigngrace,^: Devon. It has a delicate
bead running down each side of the midrib, and
continued as a square projection below the blade.
Canon Greenwell has a long spear-head (14A-
rach.es) from Quy Fen, with grooves running up the
blade at the side of the socket. The ends of the
blade are truncated so as to leave projections on
the sides of the socket above the rivet-hole. These
are slightly ornamented.
I have seen another spear-head (1U inches) with
the base of the blade slightly truncated in a similar
manner. It was found near Eastbourne.
This elongated form is of common occurrence in
Denmark and Northern Germany, § the necks being
usually ornamented by delicate punch-marking or
possibly engraving.
A broader variety, with the socket considerably
enlarged in the part extending below the blade,
is shown in Fig. 385. The original was found in
company with other spear-heads like Fig. 382 from
5-§ inches to 10| inches long, two socketed celts with
three vertical lines on the face like Fig. 125, and
two somewhat conical plates with central holes, near
Newark, and is in the collection of Canon Green-
well, F.E.S.
A spear-head (Gh inches) not quite so broad in its
proportions, said to have been found in a tumulus,
near Lewes, || Sussex, is in the British Museum, as
is another (6A inches) found near Bakewell, Derby-
shire.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 364.
t A. J., vol. ix. p. 8. It is there erroneously stated to be
26 inches long.
X Trans. Devon. Assoc, vol. vii. p. 199 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd
S., vol. vii. p. 40.
§ Worsaae, "Nord. Olds.," figs. 185, 186 ; " Atlas for Nord.
Oldk.," pi. B 1, 16.
|| "Horaj Fer.," pi. vi. 28.
VARIETIES OF LEAF-SHAPED SPEAR-HEADS.
31 \
A spear-head of the same general outline as Fig. 385, but with the sides
of the socket straighter, was found with others, as well as with 1 6 socketed
celts, a knife, fragments of swords and of a quadrangular tube (qy. a
scabbard ?) and a long ferrule, near Nottingham.*
It is often the case that the sides of the upper part of the blade are
nearly straight, and the socket itself appears large in proportion to the
width of the blade. Such a spear- or lance-head from the Eeach Fen
hoard is shown in Fig. 386. I have several others from the Fen districts,
as well as one of a shorter and broader form (5 inches) with a large
Fig. 385.— Newark.
Fig. 3S6.— Reach Fen. $ Fig. 3S7.— Ireland. J
socket extending only an inch below the blade, found at Walthamstow,
Essex.
A spear-head from Unter-Uhldingenf exhibits the same narrowness of
blade in proportion to the size of the socket.
In some cases the blade and socket are of nearly equal length.
Fig. 387 is here by permission reproduced from Wilde's Catalogue, Fig.
367. It is only 3£ inchos long, and may have boen the head of a dart or
javelin rather than of a spoar. I have an example of nearly the same
form and size from Co. Dublin. One in the British Museum is only
2 inches long, though the mouth of the socket is J inch in diameter.
* Troc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 332.
t Keller, 6terBericht, Taf. ix. 34.
318 SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC., [CHAP. XIV.
Some of these very small weapons may possibly have served to point
arrows. In the Norwich Museum is a head like Fig. 387, hut with the
blade shorter in proportion and narrower, the total length of which is
only 1\ } inch. The blade is ^ inch wide, and the socket is only § inch
in external diameter. A bronze arrow-head is said to have been found in
the Isle of Portland,* but particulars are not given. Another small point,
in form rather like Fig. 386, and only 3£ inches long, was found at Llan-
y-mvnech Hill,f Montgomeryshire. Another, 3^ inches, was found near
Pyecombe,| Sussex.
One 4 inches long is said to have been found in Yorkshire. §
Some double-pointed arrow-heads of bronze are mentioned as having
been found in Ireland, || but in point of fact these were "razors" like
Fig. 274.
In this country ,H however, and not improbably in others, during
the period when bronze was in use for cutting tools and the larger
weapons, flint still served as the material from which arrow-heads
were usually made. Such a method of taking the census as that
devised by the Scythian king Ariantas would in Britain have
produced but small results ; at all events, but few of the inhabit-
ants would have been able each to contribute his bronze arrow-
head. Many of the bronze arrow-heads found on the Continent
appear to belong to the Early Iron Age, but it is mainly in
southern countries that they have been found.
In Egypt** and Arabia they have occurred of the leaf-shaped as
well as of the three-edged form, which latter is common in
Greece.
Some spear-heads appear to have had the form of their point somewhat
modified by grinding, as if from time to time they became blunted by use
and required to be re-sharpened. A kind of ogival outline such as is
shown in Fig. 388 appears, however, to have been intentional. The
oi iginal was found in the North of Ireland.
This ogival outline is of frequent occurrence among the bronze spear-
heads from Hungary.
The lance-head shown in Fig. 389, also from "Wilde (Fig. 368), has the
blade of a trapezoid rather than of a leaf-shaped form, and in general
character more nearly approaches the looped variety, Fig. 397, than those
now under consideration. The socket also appears to be quadrangular
rather than round.
It will now be well to speak of some of the spear-heads of this
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 00.
t " Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 433; vol. xi. p. 205.
% Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. viii. p. 269,
\ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xx. p. 107.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. iii. p. 47. There is an article by Mr. Du Noyer on the classifica-
tion of bronze arrow-heads in vol. vii. p. 281.
•: See " Ann. Stone Imp.," p. 328.
** Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. pp. 20, 27; vol. xxii. p. 68; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v.
p. 187 ; Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 222.
ORNAMENTED ON THE SOCKETS.
319
class which have either their sockets or their blades ornamented
by engraving or punching.
In Fig. 390 is shown a spear-head from the Reach Fen hoard, the
nature of the ornamentation on which -will be seen from the cut.
The five bands, each of four parallel lines around the socket, have
the appearance of being engraved ; but I think that this is not actually
the case, but that the lines have been punched in with a chisel-like punch.
Fig. 388.
North of Ireland.
Fig. 389.
Ireland. &
Fig. 300.
Eeach Fen.
«WJ
Fig. 391.
Thorndon. %
The short transverse dotted lines have probably been made with a serrated
punch.
Another spear-head, with ornamentation of a nearly similar character, is
shown in Fig. 391. This example was found at Thorndon. Suffolk,* in
company with a hammer (Fig. 210), a knife (Fig. 240), a gouge (Fig.
204), and an awl (Fig. 224), the whole of which are now in the British
Museum. Another in the same collection from Thames Ditton (6£ inches
has three sets of three rings each, with short vertical lines above the
upper ring.
A small lance-head of this type (4-i inches), found at Ingham. Norfolk,
with socketed celts, has one band of four parallel lines round the sockel .
It is now in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another from the Broad-
ward hoard ( Shropshire)! has two bands of four, and one of two rings,
* Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3; " Hor. For.," pi. vi. 27.
t Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 351.
320
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC., [CHAP. XIV.
the latter close to the mouth of the socket. A second in the same hoard
shows eight rings near the mouth of the socket, and a line running down
each side of the midrib prolonged below the blade as far as the rivet-hole
which it encloses. A spear-head from the hoard found at Beddington,
near Croydon,* is ornamented in nearly the same manner. It was found
with a gouge, socketed celts, a portion of celt mould, &c. That from
Culham, near Abingdon, shown in Fig. 392, has three sets of four rings
and one of two, as well as some vertical dotted lines above the upper ring.
In this case the bands seem to have been punched in with a serrated
punch which produced four short Lines at each stroke, and by skilful
manipulation these short Lines were made to join so as to form a continuous
ring.
I have a spear-head from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5| inches), with a
small raised band cast on the socket just below the rivet-hole.
A spear-head (6^ inches) in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh,
found near Forfar, is ornamented with
two bands of three parallel lines round
the socket.
The sockets of some Irish spear-heads
are highly decorated. That of a long leaf-
shaped specimen from Athenry, Co. Gal-
way, is shown in Fig. 393, kindly lent me
by the Royal Irish Academy. It is Fig.
382 in "Wilde's Catalogue, in which also
some other examples are engraved. The
chevron ornament and the alternate direc-
tion of the hatching are highly charac-
teristic of the style of the Bronze Period.
A similar decoration is found on English
specimens. One found at Bilton, York-
shire,! with other spear-heads, fragments
of swords, and socketed celts, has round
the socket three bands of triangles alternately hatched and plain, and
the blade is ornamented with a single row of the same kind on each
side of the central rib. One from Edington Burtle, Somerset (4.1 inches),
in the Taunton Museum, has a band of hatched triangles above three
bands of parallel lines with transverse lines between.
A broken spear-head from the Liroadward J find has the blade orna-
mented in the same way. A row of plain triangles is left on each side
of the midrib, while the rest of the blade is hatched, the set of parallel
lines in each point between the plain triangles being alternately to the
right and to the left.
A fragment of a blade from the ILoynes Hill hoard, § Kent, has ring
ornaments engraved along each side of the midrib.
As has already been observed, the edges of this class of spear-heads
are not unfrequcntly tinted, but it occasionally happens that the whole
blade is ornamented by minute ribs and flutings. The spear-head
( 1 0£ inches) found with two swords and two ferrules at Fulbourn, Cam-
bridge, || affords an example of this kind. On each side of the central rib
* Anderson's " Croydon Preh. and Rom.," p. 11, pi. iii. 4.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. v. p. 349. X Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 351.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xxx. p. 282. || Arch., vol. xix. p. 56, pi. iv. 5.
Fig-. 392.
Culham. i
Fig. 393.
Athenry.
WITH LOOPS AT THE SIDES.
321
containing the socket are two sharp ridges one below the other, nexi
comes a hollow fluting, then a ridge, and then the fluting which tonus
the edge. To judge from the engraving, another found at (fringley,
Nottinghamshire,* must also have been fluted in a somewhat similar
manner.
The discovery of other leaf-shaped spear-heads with rivet-holes through
the sockets is recorded to have been made at the following places, and
many others might no doubt be added to the list : the Thames, near
Batterseaf (16f inches); near Wallingford J (7J inches); and Kingston §
(6£ and 7-/0 inches) ; two (7f inches and 6 inches) were found near Tod-
dington, Beds ; || at Beacon Hill, Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire,^ two
(7£ inches and 6J inches) were found with a socketed celt and gouge.
Others were discovered near Yarlet, Stafford-
shire ; ** near Alnwick Castle ft (sixteen with
celts and swords) ; Vronheulog, Merioneth-
shire;^ and Longy Common, Alderney §§ (one
with blade ornamented).
The spear-heads of the second of the
classes into which they are here divided
are those with loops at the side of the
projecting socket. These loops are usually
more elongated than those on socketed
celts and palstaves, though they probably
served a similar purpose, that of securing
the metallic head to the wooden handle.
The metal of which the loops are formed
has frequently been flattened by hammer-
ing, so as to reduce the projection of the
loops beyond the socket ; the flattened
part is often wrought into a lozenge form.
The strings which passed through these
loops were probably secured to some stop
or collar on the shaft, and may have been
arranged in some chevron-like pattern with which these lozenges
coincided. There are usually no rivet-holes in the spear-heads of
this class.
A specimen exhibiting these lozenges, and with the blade of nearly
the same form as those of the spear-heads of the first class, is shown in
Fig. 394. The upper part of the midrib containing the socket is ridged,
so that the section near the point is almost square. The socket is slightly
fluted round the mouth. The original was found at Thotford. Suffolk.
A spear-head of the same type, but with only a single large loop, found
Fig. 304.— Thotford. £
* Arch., vol. xvi. p. 3G1, pi. lxiv. 1
% P. S. A., 2nd 8., vol. iv. p. 280.
|| Arch., vol. xxvii. p. 10-5.
** Plot's " Stafford.," p. 404, pi. xxxiii. 8.
XX Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. viii. p. 210.
f Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 2 I I
§ /'. S. A., 2nd S., vol. i. p. S3.
HP.S.i., vol. iv. p. 323.
ft Arch., vol. v. p. 1 13.
j§ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. p. 9.
322 SPEAR-HEADS, LA2SCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV.
in Glen Kenns, Galloway, is engraved in the Archceologia* but it seems
probable that the figure is somewhat inaccurate.
Another (5^- inches) with two loops was found at Hangleton Down,
Suffolk.f Another (5 \ inches), rather more elongated than Fig. 394, was
found at Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire. \ Another from Shirewood
Forest is engraved in the Archceologia.§ It has a slightly ogival outline
on each side, a peculiarity I have noticed in other specimens. An example
given in the same plate seems to have lost the flat part of the blade.
I have one (6 \ inches) from Fyfield, near Abingdon.
Mr. M. Fisher has a specimen from the Fens at Ely (5f inches), with
the midrib ridged like Fig. 396.
One from Hagbourn Hill, near Chiltern, Berks, || is reported to have
been found with a socketed celt, a pin like Fig. 458, and another like
Fig. 453, together with a bronze bridle-bit, and some portions of buckles
like those of the late Celtic Period. These are now in the British Museum.
A few coins of gold and silver are said to have been found at the same
time.
One (6 inches) was found at Chartham, near Canterbury.^}
One, 5 inches long, from the Thames, is in the British Museum. It has
a small ridge or bead along the mid-feather. The loops have a diamond
engraved or punched upon them.
In one from Beckhampton, Wilts** (4f inches), the side loops do not
appear to be flattened.
The form is of not unfrequent occurrence in Ireland, though perhaps
that with the raised ribs on the blade, like Fig. 397, is more common.
In one instance (13£ inches) tf the loops upon the socket are not opposite
each other, though, as usual, in the same plane as the blade.
A small specimen (5 \ inches) from Fairholme, Lockerbie, Dumfries-
shire, is in the British Museum.
A small example of this type (about 3£ inches) is in the collection
formed by Sir R. Colt Hoare at Stourhead, and now at Devizes, and in the
same case with the dagger blades. It has been figured by the late Dr.
Thurnam j % in his valuable memoir in the Archceologia, and is thought by
him to have been found in a grave with burnt bones in one of the "Wilsford
barrows near Stonehenge.
There is a diminutive variety of this class of weapon with two loops, in
which the blade is extremely narrow, like that from Lakenheath shown
in Fig. 395. I have another, 4| inches, with even a smaller and shorter
blade, from Cumberland.
Canon Green well has one only 3 inches long, found near Nottingham.
It has three parallel grooves round the socket mouth. One, 4£ inches, from
Ashdown, Berks, is in the British Museum.
A fragment of another of very small dimensions was found at Furl 1 1 y
Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British Museum.
A lance-head with a more leaf-shaped blade (G| inches) is said to have
been found in a tumulus at Craigton, near Kinross. §§
* Vol. x. p. 480, pi. xl. 5. t Sussex Arch. Coll., vol. viii. p. 269.
% " Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 432, and vol. xii. p. 25.
§ Vol. ix. p. 94, pi. iii. || Arch., vol. xvi. p. 348, pi. 1.
IT Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 334. ** Arch. Inst., Salisb. vol., p. 110.
tt Wilde, "Catal. R. I. A.," p. 496, fig. 363; " Hor. Fer.," pi. vi. 15.
+ + Arch., vol. xliii. p. 447 ; " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 208.
$§ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xi. p. 168.
WITH LOOPS, FROM IRELAND.
323
An Irish example, 2| inches long, and comparatively broad in propor-
tion to its length, has been regarded as an arrow-head. It was found al
Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.* It has probably been broken and repointed.
An example much like Fig. 395 is engraved by Wilde as his Fig. 379.
In some cases there is a ridge running along the whole or a great part
of the midrib on the blade so as to make the section near the point almost
cruciform. An example of this kind from the neighbourhood of Cam-
bridge is shown in Fig. 396. In this case the side loops are unusually
r 1
Fig. 895.
Lakenheath. i
Fig. 396.
Near Cambridge ■ . '
Fig. 397.
North of Ire] m<l.
near the mouth of the socket, the cavity of which extends aboul half-way
along the blade. Canon Greenwell has an example of this type (<>.l indies),
from Langton, Lincolnshire, with a longer socket, and the loops ;il>out
half-way along it.
This ribbing along the midrib is of frequent occurrence on Trish spear-
heads, and was probably intended to strengthen as well as to decorate
the blade. The projecting ribs on the flat part of the blade were also
probably added for the same purpose. Fig. 397 shows a spear-head with
these ridges, found in the North of Ireland. The blade is carried down
Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p. 282, and xviii. p. 167.
Y 2
324
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[chap. XIV.
as a slight projection
along the socket until it
meets the side loops, the
outer faces of which are
expanded into lozenges.
I have a shorter ex-
ample (5£ inches) from
Old Kilpatrick, Dum-
bartonshire, Scotland ;
one from Termon, Co.
Tyrone, is engraved in
the Archaeological Jour-
nal*
In some the blade is
] iroportionally wider and
shorter. I have one
from near Enniskillen
(7£ inches), in which the
blade between the socket
and the ribs is so thin
that two long holes have
been eaten or worn
through it, giving it the
appearance of belonging
to the perforated class
to be subsecpaently de-
scribed.
An Irish specimen
much like Fig. 397 is
engraved in " Horse
Ferales." f
A small broad-bladed
form is of very common
occurrence in Ireland.
An example is given in
Fig. 398. Another is
engraved by Wilde ( Fig.
369). Some have two
diagonal ribs on each
side of the blade instead
of only one. A rather
more pointed form is
given by Vallancey.j
There are others figured
in the " Horse Fe-
rales." §
This type is of rare
* Vol. ii. p. 187.
t PL vi. 17.
X "Coll. Hib.," vol. iv.
pi. xi. v.
$ PI. vi. 12, 13.
Tip. 899.— Thames
DECORATED ON THE BLADE.
325
occurrence in England, but one (4£ inches?) much like Fig. 398 was
ploughed up at Heage,* in the parish of Duifield, Derbyshire, and
another (4| inches) was found near Lincoln, f
A gracefully shaped spear-head, with parallel headings upon the blade,
and having very flat loops with pointed oval faces on the socket, was found
in the Thames, and formed part of the Eoach Smith Collection, now in the
British Museum. It is shown in Fig. 399, and appears to be unique of
its kind. A plain spear-head (7 inches) of much the same form, and
another of the same length, but wider and flatter, were found at Edington
Burtle, Somerset, and are now in the
Museum at Taunton.
A very remarkable specimen in the Eoyal
Irish Academy is engraved as Fig. 400.
It has already been figured on a small scale
by Wilde, who thus describes it : J "A long
narrow spear with concave or recurved
sides, and. long lozenge-shaped loops on
each side of the socket, where the circular
form of that portion of the weapon becomes
angular. Narrow lateral ridges connect
these loops with the base of the blade,
which has hollow bevelled edges, and is as
sharp as the day it came from the mould.
The socket margin is decorated with a fillet
of five elevations, and a double linear en-
graved or punched ornament forming a
triangular pattern like that seen in some
until pie gold ornaments. A sharp ridge
extends along the middle of the socket from
the Loops to the point, on each side of which,
as well as in the angles between the blade
and the socket, there are lines of small oval
punched indentations apparently effected by
the hand."
In one of the looped forms both the
blade and the socket are often highly orna-
mented. The socket part is made to appear
somewhat like a haft to the blade, as in
the Arreton Down specimen (Fig. 328), and
the blade itself has ridges running nearly
parallel to the edges, the midrib being
almost scpiare in section. An example of this kind from Ballymena
is, by the kindness of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., shown in Fig. 401. As will
be seen, the socket, blade, and external faces of the loops arc all orna-
mented with engraved and punctured lines. A beautiful example from
Ireland (t<\ Inches), the socket engraved with a double ring of chevrons
near the middle, and a single ring near the base, and also ornamented
with dotted circles and lines extending down the blade, is in the
British Museum. It has two knol>s mi each side of the soukel simulating
rivets.
' Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. ii. p. 280; " Vest. Ant. Drrl>.," \>. '.»
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. p. 286. + " Catal. Mu*. li. I. A.," \ . I
— V
! i 101.— Near Ballymena.
326
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[CHAP. XIV.
Other varieties with the midrib more rounded are given by Wilde,*
and two of his figures are, by the kindness of the Council of the Royal
Irish Academy, here reproduced as Figs. 402 and 403. f The original of
Fig. 402 is 5 inches long. It has "a central circular stud opposite the
base of the blade, beneath which there are a series of minute continuous
lines margined on both sides by a row of elevated dots." The socket and
the outer surface of the loops are also highly decorated.
Fig. 403 is 7 J inches long, and is also artistically ornamented.
Fig. 402.— Ireland.
Fig. 403.— Ireland. $
Fig. 404.— Ireland.
An example of this kind is given in " Horse Ferales." j
One (5£ inches) from the Dean Water, Forfarshire, is in the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh. The blade is ornamented by incised lines and
punctulations.
Fig. 404, also kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy (Wilde, Fig. 378),
shows a smaller and a plainer type.
An unornamented lance-head of this type (5 inches) was found at Peel,||
in tin; Isle of Man. Another, 5| inches, with three bands of parallel
lines round the socket, was obtained at Douglas, Lanarkshire. §
* "Catal. Mus. R. r. A.," pp. 498, 501.
J PL vi. in.
;■ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 111. pi. \i. i.
t [bid., Figs. 385 and 386, p. 502.
l| Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 187.
WITH LOOPS AT THE BASE OF THE BLADE.
327
The spear-heads of this class with loops at the side of the sockets are
almost unknown out of the British Islands. In my own collection, how-
ever, is one from the Seine at Paris (6} inches), almost identical in
form with Tig. 394, but with the lozenge-shaped plates forming the
loops somewhat wider.
A highly ornamented spear-head from Hungary,* preserved in the
Museum at Buda-Pest, has small semicircular loops
at the sides of the socket.
The third class of spear-heads consists of
those with loops at the base of the blade con-
necting it with the socket. There are many
varieties of this class, which includes some
of the most elegant forms of these ancient
weapons. The reason for adopting this par-
ticular kind of loop appears to be that they
were, when thus attached to the blade, less
liable to be broken off or damaged than when
they formed isolated projections from the
socket. The spear-heads were also more readily
polished and furbished when the socket was
left as a plain tube.
The loops are very frequently formed by the
continuation of two ribs along the margin of
the blade, which are curved inwards from the
base of the blade until they join the socket.
A good example of this formation of the loop is
shown in Fig. 405. The original was found at
Elford, Northumberland, and is in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.E.S.
Another of nearly the same form, but without
the ribs on the blade, was found near Lowthorpe,
Yorkshire, E.R., and is in the possession of Mr.
T. Boynton, of Ulrome Grange.
The very graceful spear-head shown in Pig. 406
was found at Isleham Pen, Cambridge, in 1803,
and is a remarkably fine casting, the cavity for the
reception of the shaft being no less than 12} inches
in length, and perfectly central in the blade.
I have another spear-head of the same type (18 inches), probably from
the Thames, almost as well cast, but rather heavier in proportion to its size.
There are traces of wood in the socket, as is also the case in another of tho
same form(14i inches) dredged from the Thames at Battersea, | and aow
in the Bateman Collection. The wood has been thought to be ash
Another similar, but originally about 20 inches long, was found in the
* Lindenschmit, " Alt. u. h. Vorz.," vol. ii. Heft iv. Taf. i. 9.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 329, pi. xxiv. tiyj. 3.
Fig. •105.— Elford. £
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[chap. XIV.
Thames near Runnymode; * and another in the col-
lection of General A. Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., 17 inches
long, was found at Hampton Court.
Another (13 J inches) from the Thames at Thames
Litton is in the British Museum.
One (15 J inches) from Bottisham Lode, Cam-
bridge, is in the British Museum ; as is another (14}
inches) from the New River Works, Pentonville.
I have seen others from Coveney Fen (16f inches,
Mr. Fisher), and from Woolpit, near Bury St.
Edmunds (8£ inches). The blade of one (llf inches)
without the socket was found at Stanwick, York-
shire, and is now in the British Museum.
One (13^ inches) was found with three rapier-
shaped blades near Maentwrog, Merionethshire, and
is in the same collection. f
Another, broken, in the Museum at Taunton, is
said to have been found in the Roman villa at
Wadsford, Combe St. Nicholas, near Chard. Its
original length must have been about 18 inches.
In the specimen from Stibbard, Norfolk, j shown
in Fig. 407, the ribs upon the blade are less distinct,
and the loops are widened out so as to show a
lozenge form when the edge of the blade is seen.
This spear-head was found with nine others and
about seventy palstaves about 1806, and is in the
state in which it left the mould, having never been
finished by hammering and grinding, though the
core has been extracted. I have seen a specimen in
the collection of Mr. J. Holmes, found at Morle}',
near Leeds, in which the hammering process had
been applied to a part only of the blade, which
had evidently broken in the operation. The partly
iinished base and the unfinished point were found
together.
An Irish example of this form lias been engraved
by Vallancey.§
This type is rare in France, but a specimen is in
the Museum at Carcassonne (Aude), and another in
that at St. Germain.
In some spear-heads of nearly the same form
there is a raised bead running down the midrib as in
Fig. 408. This beautifully finished weapon was
bought in Lublin, but I cannot say in what part of
In land it was found.
A smaller and broader specimen (7 inches) in my
collection was found at Clough, near Antrim.
" Arch. Assoc. Jour., vol. xvi. p. 322.
I Arch., vol. xvi. p. 30.3, pi. lxx. 3.
lust.
} Arch, inst., r
tins hoard is in the Brit
Norwich vol., p. xxvi. Another from
Mus., " Hor. Fer.," pi. vi. 22. Mr.
Franks thinks that the mould was in four pieces hesides the
core, but on this point I am rather doubtful.
j Vol. iv. pi. xi. 6.
Fiar. 406.— Tsi.ii ,», p™.
OF CRUCIFORM SECTION KEAK THE F01M.
329
I have another (10J inches) from the north of Ireland in which the
midrib half-way along the blade expands to form an edge almost as sharp
as that at the sides. Near the point the section is cruciform, as in
Fig. 39G.
Fig. 107.— Stibbard. i
n
n
:
.Fig. 408.— IreLn.il.
I '
Fig. 409.— Lakenheath Fen ;
A spear-head found near Hay, on the river Wye, and nmv in the .Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries of London, presents the same pi i uliarity as
Fig. 408.
Some ancient bronze spear-heads from China* arc provided with
* Arch. Jowrn., vol. xi. p. 415.
330
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[CHAP. XIV.
central ridges of tlie same kind on the blades. They have but one loop,
and that is on the face, and there is a deep notch at the mouth of the
socket.
The long blades are often more leaf-shaped and less truncated at the
base than that shown in Fig. 406. A very large specimen of this kind
from Lakenheath Fen is shown on the scale of J inch in Fig. 409. The
point is unfortunately lost, but is restored in the engraving. The midrib
containing the socket is ridged, and the outer faces of the loops expand
into the diamond form.
One of nearly the same character (22| inches), found
in the Thames at Datchet, forms part of the Roach Smith
Collection,* now in the British Museum. Another (11 J
inches) was found with palstaves at Sherford,f near
Taunton.
A specimen in the British Museum (15f inches) has
an ornament of hatched chevrons round the base of the
socket, and the lozenge-shaped flanges are also orna-
mented with hatched open mascles.
A spear-head of the same form (15£ inches) from
Ireland J has the ridge decorated with lines of dots, and
the socket with bands and a chevron pattern. A
plain specimen, no less than 26f inches long, found at
Maghera, Co. Londonderry, § has been figured by
Wilde.
In others the midrib is conical, and the blade nearly
flat, or with only a shallow channel along the sides of
the midrib. One such from the find at Nettleham, Lin-
colnshire, || now in the British Museum, is, by the kind-
ness of Mr. Franks, shown in Fig. 410. I have one
nearly similar (9£ inches) from Edmonton Marsh. One
(7£ inches) from the Thames at Lambeth is in the
British Museum, as are others from the same river
varying in length from 9 to 15f inches.
One from Speen, Berks ^f (7 inches), is of the same
character, as is one (8£ inches) from Crawford, Lanark-
shire.** Another (9 inches) from Horsey, near Peter-
borough, Hunts, has been engraved by Artis.ff
Another (10A- inches) from the Severn at Kempsey,
Worcestershire, J| appears to have been of this type.
I have seen others from the Cambridge Fens. One (Si-
inches) from Edington Burtle, Somerset, is in the Taun-
ton Museum.
A spear-head of this character (10£ inches), with the faces of the loops
lozenge-shaped, was found with two looped palstaves and a chisel
I
Fig. 410.
Nettleham.
* '• Catal. Mus. Lond. Ant.," p. 83, No. 1)70.
t Pring, " Brit, and Rom. Taunton," pi. iii.
; " florae Fer.," pi. vi. 20.
§ "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," fig. 366, p. 496; " Hor. Fer.," pi. vi. 18.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 160.
If Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvi. p. 3'22, pi, xxvi. 3.
** Op. tit., vol. xvii. p. 110, pi. xi. 3.
ft " Durobrivse," p. lvi. 4.
X\ Arch. Joiini., vol. iii. 3.31 : Allies, •• Worcester.," p. 60.
WITH OPENINGS IN THE BLADE.
331
(Fig. 197) at Broxton, about
twelve miles south of Chester.
It is now in the collection of Sir
P. de M. G-. Egerton, Bart., who
has kindly shown it to me.
Spear-heads of this character
are occasionally found in Scot-
land. Two from Wigtonshire *
have been figured.
The form is common in Ireland.
I have one 12 inches long from
one of the northern counties.
A spear-head (6£ inches) with
small projecting loops at each
side of the blade was found near
Hawick, Roxburghshire.!
In Fig. 4 1 1 is shown a remark-
ably fine spear-head in the collec-
tion of Canon Grreenwell, F.E.S.,
which exhibits the peculiarity of
having the loops formed by the
prolongation of small ribs on each
side of the midrib, and of having,
in addition, a rivet-hole through
the socket. It was found at
Knockans, Co. Antrim.
An I?:ish spear-head ( 14f inches)
with loops at the lower end of
the blade, and the socket pierced
for a rivet, was exhibited to the
Archaeological Institute in 1856.J
The fourth class of spear-
heads, those with openings in
the blade, may again be sub-
divided into those in which
the openings appear to have
served as loops for attaching
the blade to the shaft, and
those in which these apertures
seem to have been mainly
intended for ornament, or pos-
sibly for diminishing weierht
Of the former kind appear
to be those which have merely
two small slits in the lower
* x\yr and Wlgton Coll., vol. ii. p. 13,
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 214.
X Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. '290.
l'lnr- 411. — IVLlockaUS. i
332
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[chap. XIV
part of the blade, such as would seem adapted for the insertion
of a cord. These holes are usually protected by-
projections rising from the blade on the outer side
of the holes.
A fine spear-head in my own collection thus per-
forated, found near Lnrgan, Co. Armagh,* is shown in
Fig. 412. It is 24 inches in length, and 3 J inches in
extreme breadth.
The openings are about 17 inches from the point.
An Irish friend lias suggested that they were for the
reception of poison, but after the blade had penetrated
seventeen inches into the human body such an use of
poison would probably be superfluous.
A spear-head of the same form (19^ inches) was
found on the hill of Rosele, Duffus, Morayshire,! and
Fig. 412.— Lurgan. \
Fig. 418.— Ireland. \
Fig. 114. — Antrim. \
* Proc. Hoc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 65. I am indebted to the Council for the use of
tins block.
+ Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 413 ; " Hor. Fer.," pi. vi. 21.
WITH FLANGES AT THE SIDE OF THE 01' KM
333
is now in the Elgin Museum. Another, broken, hut still 10| inches long,
was found with a rapier-shaped blade at Corbridge, Northumberland *
A broken specimen was found in the Isle of Portland.!
A spear-head (10 inches) with small openings in the blade was found,
with palstaves, socketed celts, rapiers, bracelets, and a ferrule, at
AVallington, Northumber-
land, and is in the pos-
session of Sir Charles
Trevelyan.
An "eyed" spear-head
22 inches long was found
in the Thames near
Datchet,^ but whether it
was of this or some other
type I cannot say. One
(9 inches) with two holes
at the base of the leaf
above the ferrule was
found near Speen, Berks. §
A broader form (13^
inches) from Ireland is
engraved by Wilde (Fig.
365), and another broader
still is shown in my Fig.
413. This has a rivet-hole
on the front of the socket,
as well as the holes in the
blade This is also in the
Dublin Museum.
In some instances the
blade is very much shorter
in proportion to the
length of the socket, as
will be seen in Fig. 414,
the original of which was
found in the county of
Antrim, and is now in
Canon Grcenw ell's collec-
tion.
A remarkably fine Eng-
lish example of the same
class is shown in Fig. 415.
This specimen was found
in the Thames, and is now
in the British Museum. The small projecting flanges at the side of the
holes in the blade are very strongly marked, and form circular discs
w hen seen with the edge of the spear-head towards the spoctator.
The simplest of the forms, in which the holes in the blade appear to be
ii 1
I
\
■ '
Fig. 415.— Thames. $ Fig. 416.— Naworth Castle
;; Arch. Jonrn., vol. xix. p. 363.
t Ibid., vol. xxv. p. 49.
j Arch, sissor. Journ., vol. v. p. R'J.
{ Ibid., vol. xvi. p. 250.
334
SrEAK-HKADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC
[chap. XIV
for ornament rather than nse, is that in which there are two circular or
oval holes through the blade, one on either side of the midrib containing
the socket. The spear-head shown in Fig. 416 was found near Naworth
Castle, Cumberland, in 1870, and is in the collection of Canon Green-
Fig. 417.— Blakehope. J
Fig. 418.— Whittingham. »
well. In general form it resembles the type, Fig. 381. It is provided
with a rivet-hole through the socket.
Some Italian spear-heads have two circular holes in the blade, but
nearer the base.
In the spear-head shown in Fig. 417 there is no trace of a rivet-hole
in the socket, the end of which, however, is broken, and the two oval
orifices in the blade are placed one somewhat below the other. This
WITH LUNATE OPENINGS IN THE BLADE.
335
specimen is in Canon Greenwell's collection, and was found at Blakehope,
Northumberland.
The more truly characteristic spear-heads of this class have two
crescent-shaped or lunate openings, one on each side of the mid-
rib containing the socket, which thus is
made, as it were, to reappear in the
middle of the blade. There is usually
a rivet-hole in the projecting part of the
socket below the blade, so that these
openings must be regarded as ornamental,
or else as intended to diminish the weight
of the weapon.
The original of Fig. 418 was found about
1847, near Whittingham, Northumberland,*
in company with some other spear-heads and
two swords, and is now in the possession of
Lord Ravensworth. The surface of the blade
is ornamented by being worked into steps or
terraces, and the socket by bands of parallel
lines.
A rather longer specimen was found, to-
gether with a plain leaf-shaped spear-head
and five socketed celts, at Winmarleigh, near
Garstang, Lancashire.! By the kindness of
the curators of the Warrington Museum I am
enabled to give it as Fig. 419. It is 19^
inches long. There are small ridges by the
side of the midrib and round the margin of
the openings.
Another like it, but only 15 J inches long,
was found with a socketed celt near Middle-
ham, Yorkshire.
Some fragments of spear-heads of this cha-
racter were found with other bronze anti-
quities in Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh, j
The same form has occurred in Ireland. §
A fine example (14 inches) from a hoard at
Dowris, King's County, || is in the British
Museum.
A spear-head of this type, about 8 inches
long, is in the Boucher de Perthes Collection
at Abbeville.
A spear-head smaller than Fig. 419, but of the same general character, is
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 429.
t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. p. 234; Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 158.
% Grose's "Treat, on Anc. Armour," 1786, pi. lxi. 5.
§ Vallancey, " Coll. Hib.," vol. iv. pi. xi. 7.
|| "Horae Fer.," pi. vi. 16.
336
SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
[ ciivr. \iv.
Fig. 420.— Burwell Fen. \
shown in Fig. 420. It was found in Bur-
well Feu, ('ambridge, about 1869. There
is a double bead along each side of the
midrib, and the blade is in two steps
or terraces. Around the crescent-
shaped opening the beading is grained
or milled transversely. A projection
is carried down along the socket from
the blade, so as to allow the rivet-hole
to be made in it. The socket extends
to within 1 J inches of the point.
A spear-head of nearly the same
size, with the openings somewhat
smaller, but ornamented in a similar
manner, was found with celts, pal-
staves, gouges, swords, scabbards, &c,
at Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire,* in
1862. Another, broken, was found at
the same time. Another was in the
hoard at Little "Wenlock, Stafford-
shire,! but does not appear to have
been ornamented. There was a frag-
ment of another, plain, in the Broad-
ward I find.
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edin-
btirgh are some spear-heads of this
character, With the openings on the
blade rather longer in proportion.
One was found in the bottom of
a cairn at Highfield, Urray, near
Dingwall, Boss-shire. § Others woo
found in Roxburghshire and Stirling-
shire.
Some of the spear-heads of this type
which have been found in Ireland are
highly ornamented. A very fine speci-
men given by Wilde (Fig. 37-1) has
several moiddings with a kind of cable
pattern upon them. Others have cir-
cular perforations in addition to the
lunate openings ; and in one instance
the socket is decorated with bands and
vertical lines (Wilde, Fig. 372).
A small lance-head from Jelabugy,
Russia, || with comparatively large
crescent-shaped openings in the blade,
has been figured by Worsaae.
The cut for Fig. 421 is kindly lent
me by the Society of Antiquaries of
- Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 217, fig. 8; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2ti<1 S., vol. ii. p. 251.
f Hartshorne'e "Salop. Ant.," p. !)fi. { Arch. Camb., ltli S., vol. iii. p. 352.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 154.
Mem. desAnt.du Nord, 1872 — 7, p. 115.
BARBED AT THE BASE.
337
Scotland. The original, 1 9 inches long, was found with a bronze sword
at Denhead, Cupar-Angus, Forfarshire,* and has unfortunately been
somewhat broken. As
will be seen, there are
ten circular holes, be-
sides two long cres-
cents. The socket is
said by Professor
Daniel Wilson to con-
tain a thin rod or core
of iron, which was
inserted in the mould
to strengthen this un-
usually large weapon ;
but what seemed to
Dr. Wilson to be an
iron rod is really a
piece of wood that
has been recently in-
serted when the spear-
head was mended.
In the last class
into which these
weapons are here
divided, are placed
those which are
barbed at the base
of the blade, or in
very rare instances
are square at that
part.
A good typical ex-
ample (10-iV inches)
is shown in Fig:. 422,
from an original found
at Speen, Berks. f It
is very heavy, weigh-
ing llf ozs. troy, or
more than £ lb. avoir-
dupois.
Another of the same size, but lighter(8 ozs.), was found in the Severn,
near Worcester.^:
* Wilson's "Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 391; " Horae Fer. ," pi. vi. 23 ; " Catal. Mus.
Arch. Inst. Ed.," p. 23.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 404, pi. iii. 11; Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xvi.
p. 322, pi. xxvi. 4.
X Arch. Joum., vol. ii. p. 187; vol. iii. p. 354; " Horse Fer.," pi. vi. 26 ; Allies,
- Wore," p. 30; "Arch. Inst.," York vol., pi. v. 4.
Oj
Fig. 421.— Denhead. i
Bpeen.
338 SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV.
Another (lOf inches), found in the Plaistow Marshes, Essex, and now
in the British Museum, has a rivet of bronze 2f inches in length still in
the rivet-hole. Curiously enough this long rivet appears to be a speciality
of this class of weapons. Some of this type, together with some fragments
twisted and adhering together as if partially molten, were found in the
Thames at Kingston,* and in one of them was the bronze rivet. These
are now in the British Museum. Some broken barbed spear-heads of
larger size (about 14 inches), also with the rivets still in position, were
found with bronze ferrules at a spot called " Bloody Pool," South Brent,
Devon, f
Another (7 inches), found at Pendoylan, near Cardiff, Glamorganshire,^:
has an oval socket pierced on one side for a rivet, which, however, is
wanting.
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses an example much like that from
Speen (lOf inches) found in Yorkshire, near the river Humber.
In the Broadward find § (Shropshire) were several spear-heads of this
type, mostly retaining their bronze rivets. One of them, about 6 inches
long and 3 inches broad, has the base of the blade at right angles to the
socket, and not sloping downwards. Several bronze ferrules were included
in the hoard. "What appears to have been a discovery of nearly the same
character took place in a bog on a farm called the Wrekin Tenement, ||
also in Shropshire, where a celt, a small number of swords, and about
one hundred and fifty fragments of spear-heads were found. They are
described as being for the most part about 8 inches in length, and having
rivets of bronze through the sockets. I have not met with the type in
Scotland or Ireland.
It lias been suggested that these weapons were fishing spears, and
certainly their barbed form, so distinct from that of the more
common spear-heads, raises a presumption that they were intended
for some special purpose. It appears to me, however, as it already
has done to others, that such weapons are too clumsy to have been
used for the capture of fish of any ordinary size, and would have
made sad havoc even of a forty-pound salmon. If they were used
for the chase at all, it is more probable that they were intended for
attacking large four-footed game, such as wild oxen, either by
thrusting or darting, and that the weapons were left in the wound,
the shafts encumbering the animal in its flight. If, as would
probably be the case, these got broken by the animal, the long
rivets were well adapted for being removed so as to allow of the
broken shaft being taken out, and would again serve to retain a
new one.
Mention has already been made of ferrules having been frequently
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 125.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 84 ; vol. xviii. p. 160.
X Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 357; vol. xviii. p. 161.
§ Arch. Comb., 4th S., vol. iii. pp. 339, 347.
|| Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 464.
FEltUULKS FOll SPEAR-SHAFTS.
339
*>%
discovered in company with ordinary spear-heads ; and from this
fact, and the size and character of the ferrules, the inference lias,
with much probability, been drawn that they served to tip the lower
ends of the shafts of spears and lances.
The illustrations given in Figs. 423 and 424 will serve to show
the usual character of these objects. They vary in length from
about 16 inches down to 8 inches, and are
about § inch or less in diameter. They are
not made from a flat piece of metal turned
over, but are cast in one piece, having been
very carefully " cored." The metal, espe-
cially near the mouth, is very thin, and there
is usually a small hole nearer this end than
the other to allow of a pin or rivet being
inserted to keep the ferrule on the shaft.
The original of Fig. 423 (8\- inches) was
found with spear-heads and other articles at
Nettleham, near Lincoln, and is now in the
British Museum.*
One 14 inches long, bluntly pointed at the
base, was found in the Thames, near London,
and is now in the British Museum. It has a
portion of the wooden shaft inside, which ap-
pears to be of beech. The hole for the pin is
still visible in the wood, but the pin has
perished. It may have been made of horn.
Fig. 424 is on the scale of one-fourth, the
original being 14 inches long. It was found
with eleven others, varying in length from 10
to 16 inches, and with spear-heads and other
articles, at Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire. f
Another ferrule (9£ inches) was found, with
spear-heads, socketed celts, &c, near Notting-
ham.]:
Four such (about 7 inches) were found, with
spear- heads, &c, at Bloody Pool, South Brent,
Devon. §
Canon Greenwell has a specimen from Antrim
(9i inches), the end of which is worn oblicpiely, as if by trailing on the
ground. It has a single rivet-hole.
A very long ferrule of this kind (14.1 inches), but with a small disc at
the base, is in the Museum at Nantes. It was found in the bed of the
Loire.
IF
Tip. 128.
Nettleham.
I i ■. 124.
i Gufisfleld.
* Arch. Jotirn., vol. xviii. p. lf>0.
cut.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 250
p. 211 ; "Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 437
X Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 332.
I am indebted to Mr. Franks for the use of this
vol. v. p. 422; Arch. Cainb., 3rd S., vol. x.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 84.
z 2
340 SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV.
A shorter form, somewhat expanding towards the base, is shown in
Fig. 425. This, together with three others, none more than 4| inches
long, was found, with spear-heads, &c., at Pant-y-maen, near Glancych.*
In the Broadward find f were six tubes, varying in length from 6 to
2 inches, of which one only was of this type. Some were so small that
the diameter did not exceed J inch.
A small ferrule of this kind was in the hoard found at Beddington,
near Croydon, ;£ and part of one in that of Wickham Park. The latter is
now in the British Museum.
What appears to be a ferrule of this kind, but more widely expanded
at the end, like Fig. 425, is described in Gordon's " Itinerariuni Septen-
trionale " § as "a Roman tuba, or trumpet."
Another of these expanded ferrules is in the Museum of the Cambridge
Anticpiarian Society. ||
In the Fulbourn find ^f there were two ferrules expanding at the base
to about 2 inches in diameter, which were regarded by Dr. Clarke as
having been the feet of two spears. He points out that similar feet for
spears may be seen represented on Greek vases.** The oupt'ayos or
a-avpoiTtjp of Homer ff appears to have been more susceptible of being
driven into the ground. This point at the base was sometimes used for
fighting when the spear-head proper was broken.
Among the African tribes on the shores of the Gambia, the spears, as
Mr. Syer Cuming \l has pointed out, have a chisel- or celt-like ferrule at
the base of their shafts ; and this fashion extends all across Africa to
Madagascar, §§ and recurs in Borneo.
Some Danish ferrules |||| present the same peculiarity of being chisel-
like at the base.
Another form, more spherical at the base, is shown in Fig. 427, copied
from the Archaeological Journal. ^^ The original, with several others, was
found at St. Margaret's Park, Hereford. The socket tapers to a point
1|- inches from the extremity.
A nearly similar ferrule, but with a slight cylindrical projection beyond the
spherical part, was found with other bronze objects at Lanant, Cornwall.***
A kind of pointed ferrule of a nearly square section, with the faces
hollowed, which was found near Windsor, fff and is now in the British
Museum, not improbably belongs to a later date than the Bronze Period.
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy are several ferrules,
apparently for the end of spear shafts, some of which are said to have been
found with spear-heads. Many of these have ornaments of a late Celtic XXX
character upon them. Others §§§ appear to have been made from plates
turned over and soldered, and not to have been cast hollow. Both of these
kinds are of more recent date than the Bronze Age.
* Arch. Comb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 221. t Ibid., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 3.53.
X Anderson's " Croydon Preh. and Kom.," p. 11, pi. iii. 5.
§ P. 116, pi. 1. 7. || Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 96.
* Arch., vol. xix. p. 56, pi. iv. 10, 11; Skelton's " Meyrick's Anc. Arm.," pi. xlvii. 12.
** Arch, ubi sup., " Millin, Pointures de Vases," tome ii. p. 25.
ft " Iliad.," lib. x. 153 ; lib. xiii. 443, &c.
XX Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xv. p. 235. §§ " I'reli. Cong.," Norwich vol., p. 77.
Illl Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," fig. 191 ; "Atlas for Nord. Old.," pi. B 1, 22, 23.
1IH Vol. xi. p. 55. *** Arch., vol. xv. p. 118.
ttt Arch., vol. v. pi. viii. 15.
Hi Wilde, '• Catal. Mas. R. I. A.," figs. 390, 391. $J§ Ov. cit., p. 517.
CONTINENTAL TYPES.
341
Tapering ferrules of bronze occur in Italy, and a pointed iron ferrule,
probably belonging- to a barbed javelin of Roman age, was found in
the river Witham, near Lincoln.*
A ferrule, about 3 inches long, with parallel lines engraved round it, is
in the Museum at Clermont F errand. Another, more conical, is in tbat
of Narbonne.f Some with expanded button-like ends have been found
in tbe Lake-dwellings of Savoy. Several ferrules, some of them very
short, weir found with bronze spear-heads at Alise Ste. Heine (Cote d'Or).J
Fig. 425.— Glancych. £ Fig. 426. — Fulboorn. h
Fig. 427.— Hereford. |
Others, some of them ornamented, formed part of the great Bologna
hoard.
A ferrule was found with a bronze spear-head, between 23 and 24
inches long, in the Alban Necropolis, and is figured in the Archeeologia.%
Padre Garrucci regards this spear as neither Greek, nor Etruscan, nor
Latin, but Celtic.
Although the simple leaf-shaped spear-heads from the British Isles
present close analogies with those from the other parts of Europe,
yel for the most part those of the other types, with loops to the
sockets, with openings in the blade, or of \\\c barbed class last
described, present peculiarities of their own. Several of these
types appear, indeed, to have been evolved in Britain or in
[reland, and the differences they exhibit from the ordinary conti-
nental types are more marked than in any other class of bronze
: Proe. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p, 211.
J ltcv. Arch., N.S., vol. iv. pi. xiii.
t " Mat6riaux," vol. v. pi. ii. -i:>.
. Vol. xlv. p. 383.
342 SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC. [CHAP. XIV
weapons. Though loops are such a common adjunct to the socketed
celts of other countries, yet looped palstaves are comparatively
rare abroad. At the same time, as will have been seen, hardly any
examples of looped spear-heads from foreign countries can be cited,
while in Britain, and more especially in Ireland, they are very
abundant. Tins fact, in whatever way it is to be accounted for,
affords a most conclusive argument against assigning a Roman
origin for our bronze weapons ; a looped spear-head, so far as I
am aware, never having been discovered in Italy, and but very
rarely even in Gaul. The spear-heads with the small apertures
in the blade appear also to be of an indigenous type.
Some of the iron spear-heads from Hallstatt and elsewhere have
been made in imitation of those in bronze, and have been welded
along the whole length of their sockets in a manner which dis-
plays the highest skill in the smiths. But, unlike the iron
palstaves and socketed celts, none of the spear-heads are provided
with a loop. In later times the sockets of the iron spear-heads
were left with an open slit along them, a method of manufacture
which produced an equally serviceable weapon, and involved far
less trouble.
As to the position in time which spear-heads occupy in the
Bronze Age, it is probable that it is towards the close rather than
the beginning of that period. Not only are spear-heads almost, if
not quite, absent from our barrows, but the skill involved in
producing implements so thin and so truly cored could only have
been acquired after long practice in casting. The objects to be
considered in the next chapter are also of comparatively late
date.
CHAPTER XV.
SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS.
Having now described the various weapons of offence of which
in early times bronze formed the material, it will be well to
examine the arms of defence fabricated from the same metal, and
presumably of the same or nearly the same age.
The shields first in use in Britain were probably formed of
perishable materials, such as wicker-work, wood, or hide, like those
of many savage tribes of the present day ; and it can only have
been after a long acquaintance Avith the use of bronze that plates
could have been produced of such size as those with which some
of the ancient shields and bucklers found in this country were
covered. They would appear, therefore, to belong to quite the
close of the Bronze Age, if not to the transitional period when iron
was coming into use. There are, indeed, several bronze coverings
of shields of elongated form, such as those from the river Witharn*
and from the Thames, f with decorations upon them, in which red
enamel plays a part, that have been found associated with the
iron swords of what Mr. Franks has termed the Late Celtic Period.
Those, however, which appear to have a better claim to a place in
these pages are of a circular form.
That which I have shown in Fig. 428 is now in the British
Museum, and has already been figured in the Archceologia,+ and
described by Mr. Gage. It was dredged up from what appears to
have been the ancient bed of the river Isis, near Little Witten-
ham, Berks, not far from the Dyke Hills, near Dorchester, Oxon.
It is about 13| inches diameter, not quite circular in form, though
* "Horae Fer.," pi. xiv. ; Arch., vol. xxiii. p. 97; Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. 144 ;
Skelton's "Meyrick'a Anc. Arm.," pi. xlvii. 7.
t "Horse Fer.," pi. xv. ; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 330.
±yol.xxvii.pl. xxii. p. 298; "The Banow Diggers," pi. ii. 1, p. 7:'.; Worsaae,
" Prim. Ant. of Denm.," Eng. ed., p. 32. I am indebted to Messrs. .lames Parker & Co.
for the use of this bloek.
344
SHIELDS, BUCKLER?, AND HELMETS.
[CHAP. XV.
probably intended so to be. The raised bosses have all been
"wrought in the metal with the exception of four, two of which
form the rivets for the handle across the umbo, and two others
serve as the rivets or pivots for two small straps or buttons of
bronze on the inner side of the buckler. Such buttons occur on
several other examples, but it is difficult to determine the exact
purpose which they served. From the pains taken in this instance
to conceal the heads of these pivots on the outside, by making
them take the form and place of bosses, it would appear that they
were necessary adjuncts of the shield, and possibly in some Avay
connected with a lining for it. Such a lining can hardly have
/ . Feet
Fig. 428.— Little Witteuham.
been of wood, or many rivet or pin holes would have been necessary
for securing the metal to it. It may be that a lining of hide was
moulded while wet to the form of the shield, and that these
buttons served to keep it in place when dry. In one case* it is
said that some fibrous particles resembling leather still remain
attached to the inside of the shield. In general the metal is so
thin that without some lining these bucklers would have afforded
but a poor defence against the stroke of a sword, spear, or arrow.
In this Little Wittenham example, and possibly in some others, it
is probable that the shield itself was larger than the bronze plate.
Another view is that these buttons fastened a strap for carrying
the shield when either in or out of use.
* Journ. 11. II. and A. Assoc, of Ireland, 4th S., vol. iv. p. 488.
SHIELDS WITH CONCENTRIC RIBS.
315
Another buckler, in Lord Londesborough's collection, 14 inches in
diameter, with two circles of small bosses divided by a raised hand,
is stated to have been found with a large bronze spear-head at Athenry,*
Co. Galway. Two of the bosses of the inner circle are the heads of
rivets for securing the handle. A much smaller buckler, or centre of
a buckler, only 94; inches in diameter (also with two rings of bosses),
presumably found in the Isis,f near Eynsham Bridge, is in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries. It has a slightly conical boss, surrounded
by a circle of smaller bosses between two raised ribs. There is also a
raised rib round the margin formed by turning over the metal towards
the outer face. In the outer ring of bosses two are missing at the places
w here, no doubt, were formerly the rivets of the buttons or loop^.
A shield in the British Museum (21 inches), found in the Thames, has
four rows of bosses, about an inch in diameter, and the same number of
Fig. 429.— Harlech.
raised rings. The inner set of bosses abuts on the umbo. There is a
marginal riin about an inch beyond the outer ring. This shield appears
to have had two buttons, which as usual are nearly in a line with one
of the rivets which fasten the handle. One of these loops remains secured
by a large-headed rivet matching the bosses. There is at least one hole
through the shield which may have resulted from a spear thrust.
The rivets which secure the handle have heads made in imitation of
bosses.
In some the decoration consists of a series of concentric ribs or 1m 'ads.
as in that found in a peat moss near I Iarlech, j a\ hieh is shown in Fig.
429. Its diameter is 22 inches. The heads of the four rivets Eor
* "Horse Fer.," p. 167, pi. xi. 1 ; Arch. Joan/., vol. xiii. p. 187.
t Op. cit., p. 167, pi. xi. 3 ; " Catal. of Ants., &c, of the Soc. Ant .," p. 17.
vol. vii. p. 77, whence the cut La copied ; " 1 [or. Fer.," p. I67i
J Arih. Journ
pi. xi. 4.
346
SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AXD HELMETS.
[chap. XV,
holding the handle and the two buttons are in this case visible in the
spaces between the ribs.
Another of the same pattern was discovered in company with that
shown in Fig. 430, in Coveney Fen,* near Ely, and is now in the Museum
of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. The metal of which it is formed
has been found on analysis to contain —
Copper ..... 87-55
Tin 11-72
Nickel 0-40
99-67
The presence of the nickel is probably due to impurities in the ore from
which the copper was extracted.
Fig. 430.— Coveney. J
The second Coveney shield is shown in Fig. 430.f The ornament in
this instance is of a very peculiar character, and appears to represent
two snakes, one long and the other short, twisted about into a symmetrical
pattern. They are of the amphisbama kind, with a head at each end. The
two outermost ribs, one of them at the margin, are continuous. The
rivets for holding the handle are visible, as are also three on either side
connected with the inner buttons, that in this case have been regarded as
* " Hor. For.," p. 167; Trans. Camb. Ant. Soc, vol. ii. p. 12.
t Copied from 1'ubt. Camb. Ant. Soc, vol. ii. Misc. pi. 3.
SHIELDS WITH CONCENTRIC RINGS OF KNOBS.
347
loops by which the shield was suspended. The buttons have a small
hole through them, as will be seen by Fig.
431. In front of each is a pair of small coni-
cal studs, of which the purpose can now
hardly be determined. Mr. Goodwin thought
that they might be intended to prevent a
thong which passed beneath the buttons from
slipping away from them.
The type of shield, of which the largest
number has been found in the British Isles,
Fig. 431.— Covene
is that hav
mg a
Fig. 432.— BHtli. }
348
SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS.
[('HAP. XV.
series of concentric rings, from about twelve to thirty in number,
and between them circles of small studs.
A very fine example of this kind of shield is preserved in the Museum.
of the Society of Antiquaries of London,* and is shown on the scale of
one-sixth, together with some of its details on a larger scale, in Figs. 432,
Fig. 433.-Bcith.
433, and 434. for the use of which I am indebted to the Council of the Ayr-
shire anil Wigtonshire Archaeological Association.-!
A figure of the shield has been given by Professor Daniel "Wilson, {
but the illustrations here given will convoy a much more accurate
impression of its character and details.
Though there is some discrepancy as to measurement, there is little
doubt thai this is the shield found about the year 1780 in a peat moss on
a farm called Luggtonrigge, in the parish of 1'eith, Ayrshire, and pre-
sented to the Society of Antiquaries by J >r. Ferris,§ who was informed
* "Catal. Mus. Soc Ant.," p. 16.
f See " Ayr. and Wigt. Coll.," vol. i. p. 66, where I h.ive described this shield.
I " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," 1st ed., p. 267 ; 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 3.(7.
§ " Minute Book of Soc. Ant.," vol. xxiv. p. H7.
SHIELDS i'(HXI) IN SCOTLAND. 349
that four or five others of the same kind were discovered at the same
time. A portion of the margin of the shield is shown of the full size in
Fig. 433, and the handle across the inner side of the boss on the scale of
one-half in Fig. 434. These figures give so complete an idea of the
original that it seems needless to enter into further details. It is, how-
ever, well to call attention to the fact that the handle of the buckler,
which is made from a flat piece of bronze, is rendered more convenient to
grasp, and at the same time strengthened, by its sides being doubled
over, and thus made to present a rounded edge. It is secured to the
shield by a rivet at each end. About midway between the edge of the
umbo and that of the shield, but placed so that one of the rivets of the
handle is in the same line and midway between them, have been two
rivets, each fastening a short button like those on the Coveney Fen shield,
of which at present only one remains. The rivet-hole for the other has
been closed by a short rivet.
Fig. 434.— Beith. J
Other shields, almost identical in character, have likewise been found
in Scotland, one of which, by the kindness of the Council of the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland, is shown in Fig. 435, on the scale of one-sixth.
A portion of the margin is shown full size in Fig. 436, and the interior
of the umbo in Fig. 437, on the scale of one-fourth. It was found in 1837,
together with another, in a marshy field near Yetholm, Roxburghshire.
These shields have been described in a paper by the late Mr. W. T.
M'Culloch,* of some of whose references I have here made use.
One of these Yetholm shields is 2 3 A- inches in diameter, and has thirty
concentric rings of convex knobs alternating with projecting circular
ribs or beads ; the other measures 24 inches across, and has twenty-four
rings of both knobs and ribs. In the centre of each is a hollow circular
umbo 4 inches in diameter, with a handle riveted across it.
Another shield of the same character was found at Yetholm f in 1870,
near the place where the two others were discovered. It is 22j inches in
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 1G.5. See also Tr. P. Hist, and Arch. AstOt
Tn land, 4th S., vol. iv. p. 487.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. viii. p. 393.
350
SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS.
[CHAP. XV.
diameter, with twenty-nine concentric rings alternating with the usual
small knobs. The boss is 3£ inches in diameter.
Fig. 435— Yetholm.
Fig. 436.— Yetholm. \
Fig. 437.— Yetholm. J
SHIELDS FOUND IN ENGLAND AND WALES. 351
At the back of each of these shields, about midway between the centre
and the rim, are the usual small movable tongues of bronze, which have
been supposed to serve for the attachment of a leather strap by which the
shield might be slung round the body. Mr. Jeffrey, F.S.A. Scotland, of
Jedburgh, who described this third shield, has pointed out that there is
too little room beneath the tongues for a strap of any kind.
So far as at present known these are the only instances of bucklers
of this kind having been discovered in Scotland.
In England and Wales several such have been found. One was in the
Meyrick Collection * at Goodrich Court, and is now in the British
Museum. It is about 26^ inches in diameter, with twenty concentric
circles of knobs and ribs between, and is in all respects like those just
described. It was found about 1804 in a turbary near Aberystwith,
Cardiganshire. It has had the usual buttons, one of which remains.
Another example f of the kind (25J inches), with twenty-seven con-
centric rings, was also in the Meyrick Collection, and is now in the
British Museum. It was found in a peat moss at Moel Sinbod, near
Capel Curig, Carnarvonshire. It has one of the usual loops and the
rivet of the other. Sir Samuel Meyrick had heard of another shield,
dug up near Newcastle-on-Tyne, which the owner, wishing to gratify
all his friends, cut up like a cake, and sent to each a slice. This may be
the shield found at Broomyholme, Chester-le-Street, Durham, of which
a fragment is in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-
on-Tyne.
Another now in the possession of Sir Edward Blackett, Bart., was
found near Corbridge, Northumberland.
Fragments j of two other shields of the same character were also
found in Northumberland, at Ingoe, in the parish of Stamfordham, about
two miles north of the Roman wall. They were originally about 20 inches
in diameter, and like so many others were discovered during draining
operations.
Another buckler of the same character was found in the Thames § at
London, and passed into the British Museum with the Roach Smith
Collection. This specimen is 21 J inches in diameter, and has eleven rings
of the small bosses upon it separated by concentric ribs. A curious
feature in this shield is that the places to which the usual little buttons
were attached have been neatly cut out, leaving triangular holes. There
is also a third hole of the same kind. In one place also there is a hole
through the shield, such as might have been produced by the thrust of
a bronze spear. Close by this hole is a clean cut, such as might have
been made by a sword. The plate of bronze has been turned over on to
the face, so as to form the outer rim.
A circular shield, || with twenty-six concentric rings of studs, was dredged
up, together with a leaf-shaped bronze sword, from the bed of the Than us
off AVoolwich in 1830.
A thin bronze plate from the Thames, 19 inches in diameter, convex,
and with small knobs round the margin, is in the Miyn- Collection at
Liverpool. It has been marked with the hammer, possibly in imitation
* Arch., vol. xxiii. p. 92; " Anc. Arm.," by Skelton, vol. i. pi. xlvii. 4.
t Arch., vol. xxiii. p. 95. J Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 157.
§ "Hor. Fer.," pi. ix. 168; C. lioach Smith, "Catal. of Lond. Ant.," p. 80.
|| C. Roach Smith, ubi sup.
3j2 shields, bucklejrs, and helmets. [chap. XV.
of basket-work, and has been mended in one place in ancient times. It
may be the bottom of a caldron, and not a shield.
Another buckler, 26 inches in diameter, having twelve concentric raised
rings with the usual knobs between them, is also said to have been found
in the Thames* between Hampton and Walton, in September, 1864.
In draining a meadow at Bagley,f about five miles from Ellesmere, in
Shropshire, another of these circular bucklers was found. This is 23
inches in diameter, with an umbo of 4 inches, and has twenty-six con-
centric circles, with the same rings of knobs between them as on the
other examples. It has the usual holes for the rivets of the small buttons.
Another, found on Burringham Common,| Lincolnshire, in 1843, is
26 inches in diameter, with an umbo of A.\ inches, and only nineteen
concentric circles with intermediate rings of knobs. The boss of this
shield is conical rather than hemispherical. It is now in the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy. A shield of this kind 20£ inches in diameter,
having thirteen concentric circles of small bosses and raised rings be-
tween, was found at Sutton St. Michael's, Norfolk. §
In the collection of Canon Greenwell is the bronze boss of a shield
nearly 5 inches in diameter, probably intended for the centre of a wooden
buckler. It has three small holes for nails or rivets in the rim. In one
place there is a square hole, apparently made by a thrust from a spear.
This boss was found at Harwood, Northumberland.
Shields like Fig. 435, with several concentric rings alternating with
small knobs, are rare, but by no means unknown in Ireland. One (27f
inches in diameter) was found in a bog near Ballynamona,|| Co. Limerick,
and has been figured. As usual, it has the two movable loops or buttons
at the back. There is a little patch of bronze over a small irregular
hole in the shield, such as an arrow or a javelin would make. It is
soldered on with a metal which is stated to be bronze, but which I
imagine must be some more fusible alloy of copper. This shield is now
in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, and in their Proceedings ^f is
stated to have been found in Lough Cur, Co. Limerick, but this must
be an error.
The central portion of a bronze shield, including the umbo, was found
at Toome Bar, Lough Neagh, and is now in the collection of Mr.
William Cray, of Belfast.
A somewhat doubtful instance has been recorded of the remains of a
bronze shield having been found with an interment in a barrow. Sir R.
Colt Hoare, in his examination of the Bush Barrow, Normanton,** found
a skeleton lying from S. to N., and about eighteen inches S. of the
head " several brass rivets intermixed with wood, and some thin bits of
brass nearly decomposed. These articles covered a space of twelve inches
or more ; it is probable, therefore, that they are the mouldered remains
of a shield." Near the shoulders lay a Hanged bronze celt like Fig. 9.
A large dagger of bronze, and what Sir Richard calls a spear-head of the
same metal, but which was probably a dagger, the inlaid hilt (Fig. 289).
* Troc. Soe. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 518; v. p. 363 ; Gent. Mag., Dec, 1865, p. 771.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., '-'ml S., vol. iii. ]>. 2u0.
X Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iv. p. 395; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 200; Proc.
Roy. Irish Acad., 1874, p. 277- § Arch. Assoc. Jour., vol. xxxvi. p. 165.
|| Journ. Royal Hist, and -Ink. Assoc, of Ireland, 4th S., vol. ii. p. 118, and vol. iv.
p. 487. SeeArc/i., vol. xliii. p. 480.
U Vol. x. p. 155. ** " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 203.
THE DATE OF CIRCULAR BUCKLEK>. 353
a stone hammer, and some plates of gold accompanied this interment.
It is much to be regretted that more is not known of the real character of
the object with the rivets, but their presence shows that it could not have
been a shield such as those here described, in which the only rivets are
those securing the handle and the movable buttons.
The umbo of a Late-Celtic shield was among the objects found at Polden
Hill,* Somersetshire.
Some wooden bucklers have been found both in Scotland t and Ireland,
but it is hard to determine their age.
Mr. Franks J has already remarked that bronze shields are of far less
common occurrence on the Continent than in the British Isles. He cites
three from the Copenhagen Museum, § one of which, about 27 inches in
diameter, has five concentric ribs round the boss and ten sets of knobs ;
these, however, are arranged in such a manner as to leave a star of eight
rays of smooth metal radiating from the boss. The other two are less
like the British in character. A fine shield in the Stockholm Museum,
with swan-like figures ujdou it, has been thought to have been imported
from Italy. ||
One found near Bingen, on the Rhine, H about 15^ inches in diameter,
has merely four raised concentric ribs. There are two small bowed
handles secured with two rivets, each in about the same position as the
usual button. They seem certainly intended for a strap to pass through
them. There are, however, two other rivets in the shield to which
movable buttons may possibly have been attached.
The Italian shields mentioned by Mr. Franks are of a different type.
One in the British Museum (34 inches in diameter) has a very slight
boss, and is ornamented with concentric bands of sphinxes and other
designs.
As has already been observed, it is somewhat hard to judge of
the date of these bucklers. I am not aware of any portions of
them having been found in the hoards of metal in which fragments
of swords frequently occur. Still in the case of the shield dredged
up off Woolwich the sword which accompanied it was of bronze,
though of course there is no evidence of the two having been lost
or deposited together. The whole character, however, of the
ornamentation and workmanship is, I think, more in accordance
with the Bronze Age than with the Late Celtic or Early Iron
Period, though the shields probably belong to the close of the
Bronze Period.
Circular bucklers, or targets, no doubt remained in use until a
considerably later date, but it seems probable that some other
materia] than a thin plate of bronze was used for their manufac-
* Arch., vol. xiv. p. 00. pi. xviii. t See Arch. Scot., vol. v. p. -J 1 7
j "Hor. Per.," p. 166.
-J Madscn, "Afhild.," vol. ii. pi. xvii. ; " Atlas for Nord. Oldk.," pi. B, v. . Woi
' IViin. Ant. of Den.," Thorns' Kn- vd., p. 31.
|| "Cong, prch.," Bologna vol., p. 294.
f Lindenschmit, "Alt. u. h. Vorzeit," vol. i. Eeft xi. Taf. 1, t, and 5.
A A
354 SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS. [CHAI\ XV.
ture. Professor Daniel Wilson* remarks that on the gold coins of
Tasciovanus, Cunobeline, and others of our native rulers contem-
porary with the first intercourse with Rome, the shields borne by
the warriors are either long and double-pointed, or, if round, large
and disked, and of very different construction from the Luggton-
rigge shield. On one coin of Cunobeline, however (Evans, pi. xii.
14), the horseman bears a circular buckler, which, so far as can be
judged from so diminutive a representation as that given on the
coin, would be about 2 feet in diameter. On two small gold coins
of Verica,f recently published, the horseman carries a target of
somewhat larger proportions. Somewhat smaller circular bucklers
are carried by the horsemen on certain Spanish coins, + probably
of the second century B.C. One of these shields shows four
smaller bosses, arranged in cruciform order around the central
boss ; another seems to be plain except the umbo and a project-
ing rim.
This buckler is no doubt the Cetra, or Csetra (h-curpea, Hesych.),
in use among the people of Spain and Mauretania, which was
usually made of hide, among the latter people sometimes of that
of the elephant. Csesar§ speaks of the "cetratse Hispanioe cohortes,"
and Tacitus II mentions the Britons as armed " ingentibus gladiis
sine mucrone et brevibus cetris." It does not appear that the
Romans ever carried the cetra, which has been by Livy compared
to the pelta of the Greeks and Macedonians. «|I The clipeus appears
to ha-A e been larger in size, and to have been held on the arm
and not by the handle only.
Bfirt whatever shields may have been in use in this country at
the time of the Roman invasion, I am inclined to refer these
circular bucklers to a somewhat earlier date, as already in Caesar's
time iron was fully in use for swords and for cutting purposes
generally ; and, as has already been observed, the shields with
which the early iron swords are found are of a different form
from these. As is the case with bronze swords, such bucklers are
never found with interments, and those discovered seem to have
been lost in the water, or hidden in bogs, rather than buried as
accessories for the dead.
The skill requisite for the production of such bucklers must
* "Preh. Ann. of Scot.," 2nd ed., vol. i. p. 398.
t Num. Chron., N.S., vol. xvii. pi. x. 7 and 8.
X See Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 187.
§ " De Bell. Civ.," i. 39, 48. || " Agric," 36.
II See Smith's "Diet, of Ant.," s. v. Cetra.
THE DATE OF BRONZE HELMETS. 355
have been great, and the appliances at command by no means
contemptible. The whole of the work is repousse and wrought
with the hammer, and not improbably the original sheet of bronze
from which a shield was made was considerably less in diameter
and also much thicker than the finished shield. To produce so
large a casting of such even substance, and yet so thin, would I
think be beyond the skill of most modern, and probably most
ancient, brass-founders ; and moreover there is no appearance on
the shields, of the metal having been cast in the form in which
it now appears.
While still upon the subject of defensive armour it will be well
to say a few words about bronze helmets, though there is good
reason to believe that in this country at all events such objects do
not belong to the Bronze Age properly so-called. Indeed the
earliest known bronze helmets in some other countries, such as
those from Assyria and Etruria, appear to belong to a time when
iron was already in use in those countries. The date of an Etrus-
can helmet of bronze preserved in the British Museum* can be
determined with precision, for an inscription upon it jn-oves that
it was offered in the Temple of Zeus at Elis, by Hiero, Tyrant
of Syracuse, from the spoils of the Etruscans after the naval battle
of Cumoe, which took place in B.C. 474. It is of simple form
with a brim around it. Those which have been found in Styria
and Germanyf are in some cases half ovals in form, sometimes
with a knob at the top, without any rims round the opening, but
with a certain number of small holes for the attachment of cheek-
pieces or appendages of other kinds. These may belong to a true
Bronze Period. Others, like those from Hallstatt,+ have rims and
even ridges for crests.
In the Salzburg Museum is a fine helmet without a rim, but with
an ornamented ridge and cheek-pieces. It was found, with twelve
others now at Vienna, at Mattrey,§ between Innsbruck and Brixen.
One of these bears an Etruscan inscription upon it. According to
Pliny, "the ancient inhabitants of Brixen came from Etruria."
Even in the time of Severus, the Britons, according to Herodian.ll
made no use of helmets or cuirasses, though they wore an iron
collar round the neck and an iron belt round the body, and re-
garded them as ornaments and signs of wealth.
* " Horae Ferales," p. 168, pi. xii. 1.
t Lindenschrait, "A. u. h. Vorzeit," vol. i. Heft xi. Taf. 1.
X Von Sacken, "Grabf. zu Ilallst.," Taf. viii. 5, 6.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. i. p. 167. || Tib. iii. c. 14.
A A 2
356 SHIELDS, BUCKLERS, AND HELMETS. [CHAP. XV-
The following English and French helmets of bronze may just
be mentioned.
(1.) A helmet of hemi- spherical form tapering to a projection, pierced
above to receive a crest or ornament, the extreme height being about
8£ inches, and the diameter at the base nearly the same. This was found
in Moorgate Street, London.*
(2.) One found in the Thames,! near Waterloo Bridge, with projecting
horns and ornamented with scroll-work and red enamel. This is un-
doubtedly of the Late Celtic Period. Some Etruscan helmets also bear
horns, but more curved in form than those on this helmet from the
Thames.
(3.) Another, more conical in form, and with a semicircular plate at
the back, locality unknown, but probably from a river. j This was in the
Meyrick Collection, and is now in the British Museum.
The helmets found on Ogmore Down,§ Glamorganshire, appear to be
of much later date.
A helmet from Auxonne, Cote d'Or, has been figured by Chantre.||
Another was found with various bronze antiquities at Theil ^f (Loir et
Cher).
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 518.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 342; Waring's " Ornaments of Remote Ages,"
pi. xci. 10.
+ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 362.
§ Arch., vol. xliii. p. 553, pi. xxxvi. || " Album," pi. xvi. bis.
H Chantre, "Age du Br.," lere ptie., p. 146.
CHAPTER XVI
TRUMPETS AND BELLS.
Another instrument probably connected with warfare, though
not strictly speaking an arm either of offence or defence, is the
trumpet, of which numerous examples in bronze have been found,
especially in Ireland. It is very doubtful whether the greater
part of them do not belong to the Early Iron Age, rather than to
that of Bronze ; but as it seems probable that some at least belong
to a transitional period, and it is possible that others are of even
earlier date, they could hardly be passed over without notice in
these pages.
There are two distinct classes of these instruments, so far as the
process of their manufacture is concerned, viz. those which are
Fig. 438.— Limerick. J
cast in one piece, and those which are formed of sheet-metal
turned over and riveted to form the tube. There are also two
distinct varieties of the instrument, viz. those in which the aperture
for blowing is at the end, and those in which it is at the side.
Sir W. Wilde, in his Catalogue* of the Museum of the Royal
Irish Academy, has devoted several pages to a detailed description
of the trumpets found in Ireland, to which the reader is referred.
Those which he figures are all curved, some almost to a semicircle,
others to a more irregular sweep. Some straight tubes which
\\<re found in company with several curved horns he has regarded,
but without sufficient cause, as the portions of a " commander's
staff," or of the handle of a halberd. One of these is shown in
Fig. 438, borrowed from his Catalogue.! A similar straight tube,
t Fig. 3(30, p. 492.
1 P. (23 et seqq. i
358 TRUMPETS AND BELLS. [CHAP. XVI.
(2 3 1 inches,) found with trumpets at Dunmanway, Co. Cork, is now in
the British Museum. The earliest known instance of the discovery
of such instruments is, according to Wilde, that recorded by Sir
Thomas Molyneux,* in 1725, of a "short side-mouthed trumpet"
being found with others in a mound near Carrickfergus, which was
then regarded as of Danish origin. But so early as 1713 Mr. F.
Nevill described eight bronze trumpets found at I)ungannon,f Co.
Tyrone. In 1750 thirteen or fourteen more curved bronze horns
were discovered between Cork and Mallow, three of which are
described and figured in the " Vetusta Monumenta."+
There is a remarkable resemblance between these trumpets and
three of those found near Chute Hall, Tralee, Co. Kerry, and
described by Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., in the Journal of the Royal
Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland.^ By his
kindness I am able here to reproduce his cuts as Figs. 439, 440, and
441. It will be observed that in two of them the ends are open,
w.cs.sc.
Fig. 439.— Tralee.
so as to be adapted for the reception of mouth-pieces, and that the
end of the other is closed. In this there is a lateral opening to
which to apply the mouth. It is on the inner curve of the trumpet,
but in some other cases it is at the side. As Mr. Day has
observed, there are rivet-holes at the wide ends of two of the
horns, as if for securing some more widely expanding end, while
in the more bell-mouthed examples no such rivet-holes are present.
The trumpet shown in Fig. 440 is made of two pieces which fit
exactly into each other, one of them being nearly straight. The
length of this instrument, taken along the external curve, is
50 inches, and its bell-shaped mouth is 4 inches in diameter. It
will be seen that at the mouths, and in other positions on these
* "Discourse concerning Danish Mounds, &o." t Phil. Trans., vol. xxviii. p. 270.
X Vol. ii. pi. xx. 3, 4, 5 ; Gough's " Camden," vol. iv. pi. xiv. ; " Hor. Fer.," pi. xiii. 1.
$ 4th S., vol. iii. p. 422.
TRUMPETS WITH LATERAL OPENINGS.
359
three trumpets, there are small conical projections or spikes always
in groups of four. Mr. Day has suggested the possibility of these
being added to give effect to blows with the trumpets in case it
became necessary to use them as weapons of offence. He has also
pointed out the remarkable resemblance between the horns with
the lateral openings and the war trumpets in use in Central Africa,
Figs. 440 and 441.— Tralee.
which are made from elephants' tusks. One of these is shown in
Fig. 442, also kindly lent by Mr. Day. The conch-shell trumpets
of Fiji have also lateral openings.
As will subsequently be seen, trumpets of the two types repre-
Fig. 442.— Africa.
sented by Figs. 439 and 440 have been found associated with bronze
weapons.
To return to the trumpets from Cork described in the " Vetusta
Monumenta." Two of these are formed, like Fig. 440, of two pieces,
and are open at the end, which may have been provided with some
kind of mouth-piece. The other, like Fig. 439, is cast in a single
piece and is closed at the small end, but has a large orifice at the
side like the Portglenone specimen Fig. 444. Both are provided
360 TRUMPETS AND BELLS. [CHAP. XVI.
with a number of conical projections by way of ornament round the
mouth, and one of them has similar small spikes in other positions.
With them were found some pieces of straight tubing, which were
also decorated in a similar manner. The horn with the side aperture
is provided with a ring for suspension, like Fig. 430. Some of the
straight tubes have a sliding ferrule upon them also furnished with
a ring.
Sir W. Wilde observes of a horn about 24 inches long with the
aperture at the end slightly everted, as if for holding the lips, that
it requires a great exertion even to produce a dull sound with this
instrument. As to those with lateral apertures 2 inches long on
the average, and 1 J inches wide, he says that " it is not possible
by any yet discovered method of placing the lips to this mouth-
hole to produce a musical sound ; but, as conjectured by Walker
in 1786, these instruments might have been used as speaking-
trumpets, to convey the voice to a great distance as well as render
it much louder."
In one instance of a trumpet, like Fig. 439, being broken
across the mouth-piece, it has been repaired by a process of burning-
together, like that adopted
/f\ in the case of broken
swords "" previously men-
tioned. The mended por-
tion is shown in Fig. 443,f
borrowed from Wilde. This
trumpet was found at Derrynane, Co. Kerry.
A trumpet, broken across the middle and mended in a similar
manner, formed part of the " Dowris find," from which a number
of specimens are preserved in the British Museum,+ and others
are in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The metal of
which most of the articles in this hoard are formed has a peculiar
golden lustre which is thought to arise from the admixture of a
certain proportion of lead. A horn analyzed by Donovan § gave :
Copper . . 79-34
Tin 1087
Lead 911
99-32
* P. 282.
t Wilde, fig. 529, p. .392, kindly lent by the Council of the K. I. A. One of Mr,
Day's trumpets is also patched.
{ Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p. 96. There is an article on Irish trumpets by Dr. Petrie
in the Dublin Penny Journal, vol. ii. .See also Proc. A'. /. ./., vol. iv. pp. 237, 423.
\ Von Bibra, "Die Br. u. Kupf.-leg.," p. 140.
THE DOWRIS HOARD.
361
The find took place at Downs, near Parsonstown, in
King's County, and comprised, besides trumpets and socketed
celts, a casting for a hammer-head, a socketed knife, tanged knives,
razors, a broad rapier-shaped dagger-blade, broken swords, a
dagger formed from a part of a sword, spear-heads both leaf-:shaped
and with openings in the blade, vessels of thin bronze, rough metal,
some rattles or crotals, such as will shortly be mentioned, a pin
with a hook somewhat like a crochet-needle, and some rubbing
stones for grinding and polishing. There may have been other
articles, but those here mentioned are represented in the portion
of the hoard now in the British Museum. The association of
trumpets with such a series raises the presumption that some of
them at least belong to the close of the Bronze Age proper.
Some of these Do wris trumpets are engraved in the " Horae Ferales," *
and one of them belonging to the Earl of Eosse is peculiar as having two
Fig. 444. — Portglenone.
loops opposite each other above and below. A detached portion of
another consists of a nearly straight tube, 9 inches long, expanding at
each end.
Another slightly differing example with the opening at the side is also
figured by Mr. E. Day, and here with his permission reproduced. It
was found at Portglenone, Co. Derry, and measures 24 i inches along the
convex margin.
The other finds of trumpets have been for the most part isolated. Most,
of those I am about to cite have already been mentioned by Wilde. A
line specimen, like Fig. 444, is figured by Vallanceyf and in Gough's
"Camden's Britannia. "| Three others and a portion of a straighl tube vrere
tunnel in the county of Limerick § in 1787. Others have been found neai
Killarney ; || Cornaeonway, Co. Cavan ; Kilraughts, Co. Antrim; Dia-
mond Hill, Killeshandra ; Crookstown and Duiunanway, Co. Cork.
" PL xiii. 3, 4, 5, G, 9. f " Coll. llib.," vol. iv. pi. vii. 2.
| Vol. iv. pi. xiii. 2. § Trans. /.'. /. -I., vol. ii.
|| Wilde's "Catal. Mus. R. 1. A.," ]». G2I it seqq. ; Tow. /:. II. <>W ./. -•/. »/' Ireland,
4th S., vol. iii. p. 422 et seqq. Seo also Ulster Town, of Arch., 1860, vol. viii. p. 99;
and " Horaj Ferales," p. 172.
362
TRUMPETS AND BELLS.
[chap.
XVI.
As the riveted variety of trumpet appears from its ornamentation to
belong to the Late Celtic Period, a short mention of it will suffice. One *
found near Armagh, and now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,
has at the end a disc Ih inches in diameter, embossed with the peculiar
scroll patterns characteristic of that period.
Another is no less than 8 feet 5 inches
along the convex margin, and consists of
two portions made of sheet bronze, each
turned over to form a tube, and having the
abutting edges riveted to a long strip of
metal extending along the interior of the
tube. This strip of bronze is only half an
inch in width, and has two rows of minute
rivet-holes in it, the rivets being placed
alternately. Their circular heads are on
the inside of the tube, and so minute are
the rivets, that there are no less than 638
of them along the seam. It is, indeed, not
unlike a modern riveted hose pipe of leather.
In what manner such an ingenious and
complicated piece of riveting could have
been effected is, as Sir W. Wilde remarks,
a subject for speculation.
These riveted trumpets appear to be
unknown in Britain, and the cast-bronze
variety is extremely scarce. A fine and
perfect specimen found at Caprington,
Ayrshire, has been engraved for the
Ayrshire and Wigtonshire Archaeological
Association,! and is here, by the kind-
ness of the Council of the Association,
reproduced as Fig. 445. It was found
some time before 1G54, on the estate
of Coilsfield, in the parish of Tarbolton,
in Kyle, but is known as the Caprington
horn. According to Mr. R. W. Cochran-
Patrick, F.S.A., it has been described by
Sir Robert Gordon in Blaeuw's Atlas +
and by Defoe J This horn is 25 inches
in length, and is the only specimen re-
corded to have been found in Scotland.
The metal of which it is formed has been analyzed by Professor
Stevenson Macadam, and consists of —
* Wilde, 630 ct seqq.
t " Collections," vol. i. p. 74 ; Proe. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. xii. p. 565.
J Vol. vi. p. 50. § " Tour through Britain," vol. iv. p. 130.
Fig. 445. — The Cupiingtou Horn, A
TRUMPETS FOUND IN ENGLAND. 363
Copper . . .90-20
Tin . • • • .901
Loss . . . . "13
10000
English trumpets of bronze are of extremely rare occurrence.
One found in the river Witham, Lincolnshire, has been figured
in the Philosophical Transactions* and is nearly straight for the
greater part of its length (about 28 inches), curving upwards near
the end into an irregularly- shaped expanding mouth. It has an
ornament or crest like a mane along the exterior curve. In form
it is not unlike the carnyx which is brandished by the horseman
on the coins of the British princes Eppillus and Tasciovanus,f and
which also appears on some Roman coins and monuments com-
memorative of Gallic and British victories. The metal on analysis
gave copper 88, tin 12, and the tube was formed from a hammered
sheet and soldered with tin. It not improbably belongs to a
period not far removed from that of the Roman invasion of this
country.
Another, with two joints and a perfect mouth-piece, is said to
have been found at Battle, Sussex, and has been engraved by
Grose.* A bronze horn about 3 feet 7 inches long, found in
MecklenburgJ is not unlike the Scotch horn in character, though
smaller at the wide end. The curved bronze horns or " hirer,"
found in Denmark, II have usually broad bossed flanges at the
wide end, and most resemble the Irish Late Celtic trumpets.
The use of war trumpets among the Celtic population of
Western Europe has been more than once mentioned by classical
writers, and passages from them have been cited by Mr. Franks
and others. Polybius^[ speaks of the innumerable trumpeters in
the army of the Celts, and Diodorus Siculus ** says of the Gauls
that they have barbaric trumpets of a special nature which emit a
hoarse sound well suited to the din of battle. The Roman III mis
in use for cavalry seems to have been of much the same shape as
the carnyx, the end of which latter was in some cases made to
resemble a fanciful head of an animal. The continuance of the
* Vol. lxxxvi. 1796, pi. xi. ; " Horce Fer.," pi. xiii. 2 ; Arch. Jown., vol. xviii. p. 1 10.
t Evans, " Anc. British Coins," pi. iii. No. 11, and pi. v. No. 10, &o.
X "Anc. Armour," pi. xiii. ; Gough's "Camden," vol. iv. p. 231.
§ Lisch, " Fred. Francisc," Tab. ix. 3.
|| "Atlas for Nord. Oldk.," pi. B, vii. ; Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," ti~s. 199— 201.
IT Lib. ii. c. 29.
" Lib. v. c. 30. See also Livv, lib. v. 37 and 39.
364
TKUMPETS A>TD BELLS.
[CHAP. XVI.
same character of instrument into the Early Iron Age, and the
advanced art shown in producing such castings as the trumpets
from Dowris and elsewhere, go to prove that they must belong
to the close of the Bronze Period, if, indeed, some may not more
probably be placed in a period of transition from Bronze to Iron.
Another form of instrument intended for producing sound, if
not indeed deserving to be classed as a musical instrument, is the
bell, or rattle, formed of a hollow egg-shaped or pear-shaped piece
of bronze, with a pebble or piece of metal inside by way of
clapper.
The only examples which I am able to adduce are those which
formed part of the Dowris hoard, one of which is represented in
Fig. 446.* There are three such in the Mu-
seum of the Royal Irish Academy, and four in
the British Museum. With the latter is a smaller
plain bell of the same character and two un-
finished castings. Sir W. Wilde observes that in
casting, the metal appears to have been poured
into the mould by an aperture at the side,
through which the core of clay that contained
the metal clapper was broken up. The mould
was in two halves, and the rings and staples at
the ends were cast together. In the perfect
examples at the British Museum, the sides of
the holes by which the core was extracted have
been hammered together so as in some cases
to be almost closed. In one instance there is
some appearance of the sides having been brazed together.
The sound emitted by these bells is dull and feeble. Like the
modern horse bells, a number of them may have been hung
together, and not improbably employed in a similar manner to
attract the attention both of the eye and ear.
Fig. 446. — Dowris.
' Wilde, "Catal. Mas. E. I. A.," p. 612, fig. 523, whence this cut is reproduced.
See also Proc. R. I. ./., vol. iv. pp. 237, 423.
CHAPTER XVII.
PINS.
Tins for the purpose of fastening the dress or the hair seem to
have been in use from very early times. Made of bone,* they have
been found associated with polished stone implements, and pins of
the same material are of extremely common occurrence with
Roman remains, and are not unknown at the present day. In
the same manner, pins of bronze or of brass have remained in use
ever since their first introduction during the Bronze Period, and
it is, therefore, by no means easy, and, indeed, often absolutely
impossible, to assign a date with any degree of confi-
dence to such objects when found by themselves, and
not in association with other remains of which the
antiquity can be more readily determined. In the
case of small or imperfect pins there is considerable
difficulty in distinguishing them from awls, such as
have already been described in Chapter VII. In other
cases, it is often difficult to say whether bronze pins,
certainly of great antiquity, are to be assigned to the
Bronze Period properly so called, or the Late Celtic or
Early Iron Period. Heatherj
xi m • i • r i • -n Burn. I
In describing the objects ol this class, it will, per-
haps, be best to take first such examples as have been found in
the exploration of tumuli or in direct association with bronze
weapons or instruments.
Among the numerous relics found in the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham,
were a large number of bronze pins, of which one, f 3| inches long, is
shown in Fig. 447. Canon Greenwell has eleven others from 3 inches to
5 1 inches long, with flat heads, all from this cave, as well as one which
has had its end hammered flat, and then turned over into a loop, so as to
* Greenwell, " British Barrows," pp. 15, 31.
t I'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 130. I am indebted to the Council of the Soi ietj
for the use of this cut.
366
PINS.
[chap. XVII.
form the head. A socketed knife and many other objects from this cave
have been described in previous pages.
Four imperfect bronze pins, without heads, the longest 3| inches long,
were found in the hoard at Marden,* Kent, with a sickle, dagger, and
other objects.
What is termed part of a bronze pin, some chipped flints, and long
ribbed beads of pottery, were found in the barrow called Matlow Hill.f
Cambridgeshire. Another, also frag-
mentary, was found with a flake of
calcined, flint, four jet beads, and burnt
bones in a barrow on Wykeham Moor,!
Yorkshire, by Canon Greenwell. Others
are mentioned by Bateman ; § but in all
these cases, as Canon Greenwell || has
pointed out, the presumed pins may
have been awls or prickers. The little
pin found with a lance-head, a small
urn, and some gold ornaments at Upton
Lovel,^ Wilts, may have been of the
same character, as also other pins men-
tioned by Sir E, Colt Hoare.** A " fine
brass pin " is described as having been
found with glass, jet, and amber beads,
together with burnt bones, in a barrow
near Wilsford.ff A very fine one in a
barrow at Lake, J! which, from the en-
graving, was probably an awl. The
long pin with a handle found with a
bronze celt and lance-head, or dagger,
in a barrow at Abury,§§ may also have
been a tool of that kind. The bronze
pins recorded to have been found in a
barrow at Bulford,|||| Wilts, likewise
seem to come under this category.
In a barrow at Brigrnilston ^j^f an
interment of burnt bones was accom-
panied by a pin of twisted bronze,
6 inches long, in the form of a crutch, the head perforated (Fig. 448), a
small dagger of bronze, and two whetstones.
A smooth pin of the same character and nearly the same size, but
broken, was found in a barrow at Norman ton,*** in company with burnt
bones, two bronze daggers, a whetstone, and a pipe of bone.
The curious pin, with two rings at the head, in each of which is
another ring (Fig. 449), was found by Sir R. Colt Hoare in a barrow near
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 259. t Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 227.
X Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 247.
§ " Vest. Ant. Derb.," p. 34 ; "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 130.
|| " Brit. Barrows," p. 366. H Arch., xv. p. 129.
** " Anc. Wilts," vol. i.pp. 206—208. tt Op. cit., p. 207.
XX Op. cit., p. 210. The references to the plate are somewhat confused or confusing.
§§ " Anc. Wilts," vol. ii. p. 90. |||| Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 319.
tH "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 194, pi. xxiii., here copied. See also A rch., vol. xliii.
p. 467. *** "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 199, pi. xxiv.
Fig. 448.
Brigrnilston.
i
Fig. 449.
Everley.
PINS WITH VXNULAR HEADS.
367
Everley. The interment seems to have been in the hollowed trunk of a
tree, but the bones were burnt. "With them was a dagger with three
rivets, and this instrument, which is described as having been in a sheath
of wood lined with cloth. Its purpose is difficult to determine.
Fig. 450— Biyn Criig. \ Fig. 451.— Taunton
Fig. 452.— Chilton Bustle. {
Another pin (4£ inches), with a bi-lobed head and three perforations,
was found with a two-looped palstave and a knife with an interment at
Bryn Crug,* near Carnarvon. It is shown in full size in Fig. 450.
Pins with large rings for their heads have occasionally been found.
One such from Taunton, f 7f inches, is shown in Fig. 451. It was found
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxv. p. 246. I am indebted to the Institute for the use of
this cut.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 94. Tring, "Brit, and Rom. Taunton," pi. ii.
368
PINS.
[chap. XVII.
Lake-dwellings
of
with palstaves, a socketed celt, rings, and other objects.
The part forming the pin is bent, it would appear inten-
tionally, but for what purpose it is difficult to guess.
Another with a straight pin was found at Chilton Bustle,*
Somersetshire. The annular part is divided in the middle,
and is flat and thin. It is shown full size in Fig. 452.
Another object of a similar character, but with the ring
larger (being oval and 4£ inches by 3 inches) and with the
pin part shorter, was found in a barrow between Lewes and
Brighton,! with a long pin, to be subsequently mentioned,
and a pair of looped bronze bracelets, like Fig. 482. These
are now in the museum at Alnwick Castle. Another (6
inches, with ring 2 inches in diameter), probably from a
Wiltshire barrow, j is in the collection at Stourheacl.
A pin of the same character from the
Savoy has been figured by Rabut.§
Another form has a smaller ring at the top, and the pin
beneath is usually curved. Fig. 453, from Wilde, || shows
an example of this kind. One of the two pins reported to
have been found with bronze bridles and buckles of ' ' Late
Celtic " character, as well as with a bronze lance-head and
socketed celt, at Hagbourn HilL^f Berks, was of this type.
The other had a flat head.
I have a pin of the same kind (4J inches) found at Holt,**
Worcestershire. It has, however, a small cross, formed of
five knobs, attached to the front of the ring. It was found
in the bed of the Severn, . and was presented to me by Mr.
G. Edwards, C.E. The pins of this character seem to belong
to quite the close of the Bronze Period, if
not indeed to the " Late Celtic."
A much larger form of pin appears, from
its style of ornamentation, to belong more
truly to the Bronze Period. That shown in
Fig. 454 was, indeed, found with a bronze
sword, spear-head, and palstave, in the
Thames at the mouth of the river Wandlo,jf
Surrey, and is now in the British Museum.
It is 7f inches in length, and the bidging
portion in the centre is pierced probably for
some means of attachment. The point, Mr.
Franks thinks, was purposely curved. He
regards the pin as having been intended to
adorn the hair or fasten the dress.
Another pin, of much the same fashion,
12 A Laches long, also has the point curved.
The bulging portion is in this instance nearer
the head, which, moreover, has a piece of
amber set in it, and there is a small loop on
Fig
River
. 454.
Wandle.
' Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 106. t Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ii. p. 265.
X Arch., vol. xliii. p. 469. § 2eme Mem., " Album," pi. xi. 17. || Fig. 452.
H Arch., vol. xvi. p. 348, pi. 1. ** Allies, "Wore," p. 149, pi. iv. 7.
tt Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 8. I am indebted to Mr. Franks for the use of this i ut
PINS WITH SPHEROIDAL HEADS.
369
the side of the pin, as in Fig. 457, instead of a hole through the bulging
part. This specimen was found in a mine near the river Fowey,* at
a depth of ten fathoms from the surface, when a new work was begun for
Bearching after tin ore.
The long pin already mentioned as found in a barrow near Lewes f has
an expanded head with a boss upon it, and about 4 inches below, an
ornamented lozenge-shaped plate, beneath which is a small loop for
attachment.
Large pins of the same character have been found in the Lake-dwell-
ings of France, Switzerland, and Italy.
A large bronze pin, 13£ inches long, found on Salisbury Plain, J is
described as having a flattened head, ornamented on one side with a
pattern. This which is now in the British
Museum is, however, of the late Celtic
Period.
It is by no means impossible ihat
these larger and heavier pins may at
times have served as piercing-tools and
even as weapons. The stiletto sur-
vives as a ladies' piercing-tool, but no
one at the present day would " his
quietus make with a bare bodkin ; '
though there was probably a time when
both stiletto and bodkin served a double
purpose, and were used, as occasion
might require, either as weapons or
as tools.
Smaller pins, ornamented at the blunt
end, have not unfrequently been found.
A fragment of one discovered by Sir P.
Colt Hoare in a barrow at Scratchbury, is
engraved in his unpublished plate, and
has also been figured by Dr. Thurnam,
F.S.A.,§ in his memoir so often quoted. It
is here reproduced as Fig. 455. Another from a barrow at Canierton.i|
Somerset, has a hollow spheroidal head, with a double perforation. Tho
head and upper part of the stem are decorated with parallel rings and
oblique hatching, as may be seen in Fig. 456. In character this pin
much resembles some of those from the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
A very similar pin was obtained from a barrow near Firle,^] Sussex, by
Dr. Mantell.
A fine pin, nearly 12 inches long, with a head of this shape, was found
near Enniskillen. The upper part of the pin is ornamented with groups
* Arch., vol. xii. p. 414, pi. li. 8. | 8it88. Arch. Cull., vol. ii. p. 260.
X Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 4G9.
$ Arch., vol. xliii. p. 408. I am indebti d to the <ouncil of the Soc. Ant. for this and
the next cut.
|| Proc. Sum. Arch. Soc, vol. viii. p. -1").
11 Dr. Thurnam, ubi sup. (Ilorslield, " Lowes," vol. i. 48, pi. iii. 12).
i: I;
Fip. 455.
Scratchbury.
Fig. 456.
Camertou. |j
370
PINS.
[chap. XVII.
of five small headings round it, and between these are spiral ribs, forming1
many threaded screws alternately right- and left-handed.*
A long pin from Galway, t of which the lower part is twisted into
a spiral, has a head with a notch in it, much like that of a modern
screw.
The pins with spherical heads, ornamented by circular holes, with
concentric circles around them, so common in the Swiss Lake-dwell-
Fig. 457.
Ireland.
Fig. 458. Fig. 459. Pig. 460.
Ireland. $ Cambridge. J Ireland. J
Fig. 461.
North of Ireland, i
ings, are as yet unknown in Britain. I have, nevertheless, a portion
of what appears to be the large spherical head of a pin, which formed
part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens. Instead of holes,
however, it has bosses at intervals, with concentric circles round
them. In the spaces between are bands of parallel dotted lines.+
* Journ. H. Hist. Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 1 Sec. vol. v. p. 97.
t Arch., vol. xv. p. 394, pi. xxxiv. ;). J Like Keller, " Luke-dwellings," pi. xxxiv. 2.
PINS WITH FLATTENED HEADS.
371
Some of the Swiss pins have knobs of tin, or some other metal
than bronze, and even red stones inlaid in the perforations, so that
not improbably those which now show merely holes in the metal
may have been inlaid with horn or some perishable material.
Pins with flat heads, sometimes of large size, are of not unfre-
quent occurrence, and appear to belong to the Bronze Age.
An Irish example with a small loop at the side is shown in Fig. 457,
from a specimen in my own collection. It has apparently at some time
been longer. Some German pins * are provided with side loops in the
same manner.
A large pin, 8£ inches, with the upper part beaded, and with a small
side loop, was in the hoard found near Amiens, and is preserved in the
museum of that town. AVith it were socketed celts, a sickle, &c.
A pin of the same general form, but
without any loop and with a more
ornamental head, also from Ireland,
is shown in Fig. 458, and an English
example, found near Cambridge, in
Fig. 459.
One with a plain flat head, and
llf inches long, is figured by Wilde
(Fig. 446).
Similar pins with flat heads have
been found in the Lake-dwellings of
Savoy and Switzerland.
The large flat heads are often
highly ornamented.
The pin from Ireland, of which the
head is shown in Fig. 460, t one-third
of the actual size, is 13|- inches long.
This cut and Figs. 453, 462, 463, and
465, are kindly lent by the Eoyal
Irish Academy.
The ornamental expanded heads,
which usually have a conical projection in the centre, are more fre-
quently turned over so as to be in the same plane as the pins and be
visible when stuck into a garment. Fig. 461 is from a specimen of my
own found in the North of Ireland.
Fig. 462, from Wdde, j shows a small pin of the same kind, found at
Keelogue Ford.
< )> casionally the head seems disproportionately large to the pin.
That of which the highly ornamented head is shown in Fig. 463, § is
only 5.\ inches long, while the head itself is 2} inches in diameter.
A grand pin of this kind from Ireland, with the head ■!* inches in
diameter, and tho pin lOf- inches long, is in tho British Museum. The
face of the disc has five concentric circles upon it, with triangles, squares,
and ring ornaments between them.
♦Lisch, "Freder. Frandsc," Tab. xxiv. 5, 6. t " Catal. Mus. R. I. A..," fig. U7.
J Op. fit., p. 558, iii<. 449; Journ. Arch. Assoc, of Scot., 2nd S., vol. i. [>. L94.
§ Wilde, fitf. 448.
B B 2
Fig. 462. — Keelog-ue
Ford. £
Fig. 463.— Ireland.
372
PINS,
[chap. XVII.
A Scottish specimen of the same character as Fig. 462 (9 inches),
found at Tarves, Aberdeenshire, together with bronze swords, is in the
same collection. The head is If inches in diameter. Another of the
same type from Ireland * is said to have had the cone originally gilt.
The head of another, which was found with a number of bronze swords
at Edinburgh,! is shown in Fig. 464. This discovery seems to prove that
the pins of this type belong to quite the latter part of the Bronze Period.
Pins with flat heads turned over so as to lie parallel with their stems
are of common occurrence in Denmark.^ They are usually ornamented
with concentric ribs, and the heads are sometimes plated with gold. The
stems are also often decorated.
Another form of pin has a cup-shaped head, not unlike the termination
Tig. 464.— Edinburgh.
Eig. 465.— Ireland.
of the large gold clasps, like drawer-handles, so frequently found in
Ireland. One of these is shown in Fig. 465, borrowed from Wilde. §
An example of this kind was found in the Heathery Burn Cave.
Another pin of this type, 10£ inches long, with the cup-shaped head £ inch
in diameter and A- inch deep, with a small cone projecting in the bottom
of the cup, was found with a bronze sword and two spear-heads in peat
near the Point of Sleat, || Skye.
Sir W. Wilde has given figures of numerous other types of pins,
but they nearly all belong to a later period than that of which I
am treating. That from a brooch at Bowermadden, Caithness,
engraved in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland,^ is also of later date. Altogether the subject of pins
belonging to the Bronze Age in the British Islands is one of
* Journ. Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 2nd S., vol. i. p. 194.
t Proc. Hoc. Ant. Scot., N.S. vol. i. p. 322. For the loan of this block I am indebted
to the Council of the Society.
J Worsaae, " Nord. Olds."," fig. 239.
|| 1'rov Hoc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 102.
§ "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 558, fig. 450.
11 Vol. be. p. 217.
THEIR DATE DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE. 373
which, in the present state of our knowledge, it is difficult to
treat satisfactorily, so few of the more highly developed types
having been found in actual association with other bronze relics.
In England especially the rarity of bronze pins, as compared, for
instance, with their abundance in the Lake-dwellings of Southern
Europe, is very striking. As will subsequently be seen, there is
nearly as great a scarcity of bracelets and of some other orna-
ments. It may be that for personal decorations the jet and
amber, which during our Bronze Age were so much in fashion for
ornaments, suited the native taste better than decorations manu-
factured from the same metal as that which served for tools and
weapons ; and that when metal was used gold had the preference.
At the same time, for useful articles, such as some kinds of pins,
bronze may well have served, and it is to be observed that no
pins decorated with gold have as yet been found with bronze
weapons in Britain, though they have occurred in other countries.
CHAPTER XVIII.
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS.
Although some of the pins described in the last chapter were
destined for ornament rather than for use, they cannot as a class
be regarded as purely ornamental. The collars and armlets, to
which the present chapter is to be devoted, must, I think, be con-
sidered as essentially ornaments, though possibly in some cases
affording protection to the neck and arms. The modern epaulette
was originally intended for the protection of the shoulder, though
now, as a rule, little better than an ornament.
The torque, or tore, takes its name from the Latin torques,
which again is derived a torquendo. This word torques was
applied to a twisted collar of gold or other metal worn around the
neck. Among the ancient Gauls gold torques appear to have been
abundant, and to have formed an important part of the spoils
acquired from them by their Roman conquerors. About 223 B.C.,*
when Flaminius Nepos gained his victory over the Gauls on the
Addua, it is related that instead of the Gauls dedicating, as they
had intended, a torque made from the spoils of the Roman
soldiers to their god of war, Flaminius erected to Jupiter a golden
trophy made from the Gaulish torques. The name of the Torquati,
;i family of the Manlia Gens, was derived from their ancestor, T.
Manlius,f having in B.C. 3G1 slain a gigantic Gaul in single com-
bat, whose torque he took from the dead body after cutting off the
head, and placed it around his own neck.
On some of the denarii of the Manlia family $ the torque forms
a circle round the head of Rome on the obverse. Two interesting
papers "On the Tore of the Celts," by Dr. Samuel Birch, will be
found in the Archaeological Journal. §
Although these gold torques in many instances undoubtedly
* Florus, lib. ii. c. 4. t Aulus Gellius, HI), ix. c. 13.
X Cohen, " Med. Cons.," pi. xxvi. 5. $ Vol. ii. p. 368 ; vol. iii. p. 27.
TORQUES OF GOLD.
::;:,
belong to the Bronze Period, they are sufficiently well known to anti-
quaries to render it needless for me here to enter into any minute
description of them. The commonest form presents a cruciform
section, so that the twist is that of a four-threaded screw, and at
either end there is a plain, nearly cylindrical bar, turned back so
as to form a kind of hook. I have a fine example of this kind of
torque, found with a bronze anvil (Fig. 217) and other bronze
Fig. 466.— Wedmore. £
instruments and weapons at Fresne la Mere, Calvados. A similar
but smaller gold torque was found near Boyton, Suffolk,* which is
said to have had the extremities secured together by two small
penannular rings of gold, embracing the two terminal hooks.
One 42 inches long was found on Cader Idris ;t others in
Glamorganshire ; + at PattLagham, Staffordshire ;§ and in several
other parts of Britain. Some line examples of these funicular
' Arch., vol. xx vi. p. 471.
X Op. eit., vol. xxvi. p. 464.
f Arch., vol. xxi. p. ■'>■'>'.
§ Op. eit., vol. xiv. p. 9G.
376 TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
torques of gold, as well as of other varieties of the same kind of
ornament, are in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at
Dublin. *
The torques formed of bronze are, as a rule, thicker and bulkier
in their proportions than those of gold, and the ends are usually
left straight or but slightly hooked over so as to interlock. They
are never provided with the projecting cylindrical ends already
mentioned.
The form most frequently discovered in the British Islands is
Fig. 467. — Wedmore. $
that known as funicular, one of which is shown in Fig. 466,
copied from the Archaeological Association Journal.4?
The original was found with two others at "Wedmore, Somersetshire.
One of these is of the same type, hut of smaller size, and not qiiite so
closely twisted, as shown in Fig. 467 ; and the other is made of a flat
ribbon of metal, -f inch broad, twisted, as shown in Fig. 469, which is
copied from the same plate as Figs. 466 and 467.
From another account of these torques,:]: it appears that they were found
near Heath House, in the parish of Wedmore, and that with them were
two celts and a few amber beads strung on a wire. This latter, to me,
sounds doubtful, as the wire is probably a later addition. The weight of
* See Wilde's " Catal.," p. 70, et seqq. ; and " Vetusta. Monum.," vol. v. pi. xxix.
t Vol. xxi. pi. xii. 2. X Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 81.
FUNICULAR TORQUES.
37:
the largest is said to be i pound, of the second 2 ounces, and of the
smallest 1^ ounce.
Another torque of the character of Fig. 466, about 9 inches in diameter,
was found with a bracelet, Fig. 481, and a two-looped palstave, Fig. 87,
at West Buckland, Somersetshire,* and is in the collection of Mr. W.
A. Sanford. It is shown on the scale of one-third in Fig. 468.
A portion of another torque, but of slender make, was found at Pen
Pits,f m the same county; and another, somewhat imperfect, near
Edington Burtle.]: With the latter was a portion of a ribbon torque like
Fig. 469, two bracelets, some rings, and four palstaves.
Two very fine torques, like Fig. 468, 8f inches in diameter, were also
found in Somersetshire on the Quantock Hills, § in 1794. Within each of
Fig. 46S.— West Buckl uid.
them is said to have been placed a looped palstave, like Fig. 77. The
weight of one of the torques is reported to have been nearly 2 pounds.
In the collection of the Rev. E. Duke, of Lake House, near Salisbury,
are two fine torques of this kind, one large and heavy, and the other
smaller and more slender, which were found near Amesbury. With them
were several spiral rings closely resembling Fig. 489.
Two others found with armillpe in Dorsetshire || are now in the British,
Museum. The larger of these is closely twisted, and about 71 inclirs in
diameter. The smaller is thicker, and shows a coarser twist, and is
about 6f inches in diameter. The armilla) are penannular and of rlimn-
boidal section.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107, whence this cut is lent by the Council.
f Som. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Troc, vol. vii. p. 27.
J Op. tit., vol. v. 1S;34, p. 91. § Arch., vol. xiv. p. 94, pi- xxiii.
|| Troc. Soc. Ant., vol. i. p. 234.
378 TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
Two small torques, some bronze rings or bracelets, and a palstave
are recorded to have been dug up in Woolmer Forest, Hants.-'1 Two
spiral rings were found with tliem.
In the collection of Mr. Durden, at Blandford, are several specimens
found at Spetisbury, Dorset, f
I have a thin torque about 6J inches in diameter, but unfortunatel}7
broken, found in Burwell Fen, Cambridgeshire.
In some instances the plain ends of the torque are left without hooks.
Such is the case with the fine collar found, with four looped armlets and
a palstave without loop, at Hollingbury Hill, j near Brighton, which is
now in the British Museum. On each extremity was a spiral ring of
Fig. 469.— Wedmore. $
bronze, considerably larger than the rod forming the torque, and a thinl
ring is shown in the published drawing. The palstave, which is broken
in the middle, apparently on purpose, lay within the circle of the torque,
which also was broken across the middle. At regular intervals round it
lay the four bracelets, which resemble Fig. 482, and vary somewhat in
weight.
The third of the torques already mentioned as found at Wedmore is
shown in Fig. 469.
It is of a type which occurs more frequently in gold than in bronze,
and in the former metal has often been found in Scotland. Several
such were discovered under a large stone at Urquhart, Elginshire.
Others have been found at Culter, Lanarkshire ; § Belhelvie, Aber-
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. vi. p. 88. t Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxi. p. 232.
{ Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 323; Arch., vol. xxix. 372; Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ii.
p. 267.
$ Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. 211, pi. xxi. 2.
RIBBON TORQ1 I 5.
379
deenshire; Little Loehbrooni, Ross-shire; Rannoch, Perthshire; and
elsewhere. Some of these are in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh.
There are three or four such in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy.
A gold torque of this class found at Clonmacnoise,* King's County,
has oval balls at each end instead of hooks.
So far as at present known, the funicular torques of bronze are
more abundant in the southern and western counties than in tin i
other parts of England. They appear to be unknown both in
Fig. 470.— Yarnton. J
Scotland and Ireland, though torques of Late Celtic patterns occur
in those countries.
The inference is that, although socketed celts are rarely if ever
found with them, these twisted neck- rings belong to the close of the
Bronze Period, and were introduced into Britain from the Continent.
The form is, however, rare in the North of France, and the nearest
analogues to the English torques with which we are acquainted ar<
to be seen among those from Northern Germany and Denmark.
Tin; Danish form, with broad expanding ends terminating in
spirals, and the derivatives from it in which the spirals are repre-
sented by solid cast plates with volutes upon them, are nevertheless
unknown in Britain, as is also that with the twist alternately to
the right and to tin • left.
* Wilde, "Catal. Mua. 11. I. A.," p. 71, fig. G03.
380
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
Another form of bronze torque found in Britain is made from
a plain piece of wire, hammered out at each end into a broad,
nearly quadrangular, plate.
That shown in Fig. 470 lay near the head of a contracted skeleton at
Yarnton, four miles from Oxford, at a spot which seems to have been a
prehistoric cemetery. I obtained it through the kindness of Professor
Eolleston when visiting the place. The ends are ornamented by hammer
marking. In a line with the wire forming the torque is a slightly raised
flat band perpendicularly fluted ; the expanding parts above and below
are fluted horizontally. A herald would engrave " azure, a fesse gules "
in the same manner, but with the lines much closer together. Two
torques of the same character, found at Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire, are
in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh.
The form probably belongs to the close of the Bronze Period, if not
indeed to the Late Celtic or Early Iron Age.
Fig. 471. — Mon1f?omcrysliire.
A torque about 5 inches in diameter, described as of copper, made of
a simple wire, with the ends turned back so as to form hooks, and on
each a lenticular button of metal, was found near Winslow, Bucks, * and
may also be Late Celtic.
Another form of torque is made from a stout wire expanding into small
fiat discs at the end, a type which is also common among bracelets both
in bronze and gold. A torque of this kind, together with a bracelet, is
shown in Fig. 471, kindly lent by the Council of the Society of Anti-
quaries.
These objects were found with seven others in the parish of Llanrhaiadar-
yn-Mochnant, Montgomeryshire. | One of them is said to have had
pendants upon it. Several of them were too small to have served as
torques for the neck, and were most probably bracelets or anklets. To
these penannular ornaments I shall have to refer further on.
* Arch., vol. xi. p. 429, pi. xix. 3,
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 467; "Montgom. Coll.," vol. iii. p. 419 ; vol. iv.
p. 247.
LATE-CELTIC TORQUES. 381
The other varieties of torques found in Britain seem decidedly to
belong to the Late Celtic rather than to the Bronze Period, so that a brief
notice of them will suffice. They are frequently made in two halves,
hinged or dowelled together, and are often decorated with a series of
ornamental beads.
A collar found in Lochar Moss, Dumfries-shire, is now in the British
Museum.* About one-third of it is formed by a solid piece of bronze of
flat section, having the face ornamented with a peculiar wavy pattern
and the outer rim with cabled lines. The rest consists of fluted melon-like
beads with pulley-shaped collars between them. They appear to have
been strung on an iron wire.
A portion of another collar found at Perdeswell,f Claines, near "Wor-
cester, has the iron wire still preserved. The ornamental beads are natter,
with leaf-shaped projections upon them, and between them are smaller
pulley-like beads.
Another, formed in much the same fashion as that from Lochar Moss,
was found at Mow-road, Rochdale, Lancashire, j This was in halves,
dowelled together with iron pins.
Another, entirely of bronze, is made in two pieces, one part re-
sembling a row of beads, the other engraved like a closely plaited cord,
and was found at Embsay, near Skipton, Yorkshire. §
A torque, weighing no less than 3 lbs. 1 0 ozs. avoirdupois, was found
in the parish of Wraxall, Somerset. || This also is in halves, with pins to
form the joint. It is described as appearing to have been adorned with
precious stones. Possibly, like some other objects of Late Celtic manu-
facture, it may have been inlaid with enamel of different colours.
Bracelets of the same type as the torque and bracelet shown in
Fig. 471 have not unfrequently been found in Britain, though,
perhaps, they are less common in bronze than in the more precious
metal, gold.
They are sometimes slightly hollowed at the expanding ends. One
found with the hoard at Marden, Kent,^| is of this kind. Another plain
penannular bracelet tapers off at the ends instead of expanding. This
latter is too small for an adult person.
One found, with various other bronze relics, at Ty Mawr, on Holyhead
Mountain,** expands at one end and tapers at the other. As is often the
case, the inner side of the ring is natter than the outer.
One, 2f inches by 2 inches inside, expanding at each end, was in the
Heathery Burn Cave hoard. Some others were also found there.
In somo instances the section of the metal, instead of being rounded, is
nearly square. Two such, tapering towards the ends, were found in Dor-
setshire, ff with the torques already mentioned, and are now in the British
Museum.
* Arch. ,\ol. xxxiv. p. 83, pi. xi.; 1'roc. Soc. Ant., vol. ii. p. 14S; Arch., xxxii. p. 100.
t Arch., vol. xxx. p. 554.
\Arch., vol. xxv. p. 595; Arch. Jour)/., vol. xviii. p. 167.
S Arch., vol. xxxi. p. 517, pi. xxiii ; Arch. Journ., vol. iii. p. '■'<-■
|| Arch., vol. xxx. p. 521.
11 Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 258, pi. xiii. 2, 3.
** Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 307 ; vol. xxiv. p. 251.
ft Proc. Hoc. Ant., vol. i. p. 234.
382
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
Three plain penannular bracelets were in the hoard of palstaves and
socketed celts found at Wallington, Northumberland.
Several have been found in Scotland. Two such bracelets, the one
slender and the other thick, were found at Achtertyre, Morayshire,* in
company with a socketed celt, a spear-head, Fig. 388, another spear-head,
Fig. 472. — Achtertyre. {
and some fragments of other bracelets and of tin. One of these is shown
full-size in Fig. 472.
Another, 2£- inches in greatest diameter, slightly thickened at the ex-
tremities, was found in a peat moss at Conage, Banffshire. f
Other penannular armlets, one of which is shown as Fig. 473, were
Fig. 473— Redhill. J
found with socketed celts at Eedhill, Premnay, Aberdeenshire, J and are
now in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh ; as is another found with
burnt bones near Preston Tower, East Lothian.
This very simple penannular form of bracelet is found all over the
world, and is indeed the form of necessity adopted wherever it became
the fashion to wear thick metal wire round the arm. It was common
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ix. p. 435. t P. S. A. 8., vol. iv. p. 377-
J /'. S. A. 6'., vol. i. p. 138,
PENANNULAR BRACELETS.
.",s:;
among; the ancient Assyrians, and several bronze bracelets of this form
from Tel Sifr, in South Babylonia, are in the British Museum. The
hammered copper bracelets of North America* are usually penannular.
Two very massive penannular armlets, formed of rounded bronze fully
inch in diameter,
and weighing about 12 <
each, were found with
an agate bead and a spindle-whorl in a tumulus near Peninnis Head, in
the Stilly Isles. f One of these is shown in Fig. 474.
An imperfect armlet of thick bronze wire was found in a barrow at
Wetton, J by the late Mr. Bateman.
Four plain armilla? of bronze found with the spiral ring, Fig. 489, and
with a palstave, in "Woolmer Forest, Hants, are also in the Bateman
Collection. § As already mentioned, two small torques and a celt are said
to have been found with them. ||
Ornamented bracelets, such as have been found in abundance in the
Fig. 474.-Scilly
Fig. 475.— Liss.
Swiss Lake-dwellings, and such as are common in most continental
countries, are scarce in Britain.
In the British Museum are two bracelets, shghtly oval in section, and
engraved with parallel lines, chevrons, &c, as will be seen by Fig. 47').
They were found at Liss, Hampshire. Though the two ends are brought
more closely together than usual in continental examples, the general
character of these bracelets is much like that of some French and German
specimens. The patina upon them closely resembles that on the celt Fig. 1 7,
also found at Liss; so they were probably deposited together.
A curious penannular armlet with flat broad ends, and ornamented
with punctured markings, was found with another armlet of smaller
diameter, but plain, more massive, and broader, together with the remains
* Schoolcraft, "Ethn. Res.," vol. i. p. 92; Squier and Davis, " Anc. Mon. Miss. Vail.,"
p. 204.
t Arch. Jowrn., vol. ix. p. 9G ; l'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. pp. 10G, 122 , Boi
" N;i-ni;i Corn.,*' p. 162.
J "Ten Years' Digg.," p. 167.
I "Catal.," p. 22; Froc. Soc. Ant., vol. ii. p. 83.
ii Arch. Assoc. Jowrn., vol. \i. p. 88.
384
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
of a skeleton, at Stoke Prior,* "Worcestershire. It is now in the British
Museum, and is represented in Fig. 476. It may belong- to a later period
than that of which I am treating-, and is possibly Saxon.
Fig. 477, kindly lent by the Council of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland, shows another form of armlet, made from a bar of nearly semi-
Fig. 476— Stoke Prior. i
circular section, bent into a circular form. The original, together with
another of the same kind, were found near Stobo Castle, f Peebles-shire,
beneath a flat stone, and lying on a large boulder, under which was a
collection of small stones, burnt and with apparently calcined bones
among them.
Another armlet (3 inches) of the same type was found with an urn
Fig. 477.— Stobo Castle. }
containing burnt bones in a cairn in the parish of Lanark.]; A bronze
spear-head is stated to have been found with it.
One of the bracelets from the find at Camenz,§ in Saxony, is of nearly
the same type.
Two circular armlets, one with the ends slightly apart, were found in
Dorsetshire, one in the parish of Milton. || I have an imperfect armlet of
this kind, found with a palstave, at Winterhay Green, Ihninster, Somerset.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xx. p. 200. The Council of the Institute have kindly li-iit this
figure.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 277.
X Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xvii. p. Ill, pi. xii. 2; vol. x. p. 8.
S Proe. Soc. Ant., 2nd 8., vol. iii. p. 332.
|| " Uanow Diggers," p. 77, pi. v. 14, lo.
BEADED AND FLUTED BRACELETS.
385
A penannular armlet of bronze, Tvith compressed oval knobs at the
extremities, was found by Mr. F. C. Lukis, with a jet armlet, in the
cromlech of La Roche qui sonne* in Guernsey, and is shown in Fig. 478.
The scale has been said to be one-third, though from information kindly
furnished to me by the Eev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A., it appears to be one-half.
A somewhat different and more elegantly ornamented armlet from
Cornwall f is shown in Fig. 479.
A bronze armilla, made from a flat ribbon of metal, \ inch broad, and
Fig. 478. — Guernsey.
Fig. 479. — Cornwall.
ornamented outside with a neatly engraved lozengy pattern, was found
with an interment in a barrow at Castern,^: near Wetton, Staffordshire.
Another, about \\ inch wide, ornamented with four parallel bands of
vertical lines, with chevrons at the end, was found in a barrow at
Normanton,§ Wilts, encircling the
arm of a skeleton, and is shown
in Fig. 480. In this example the
ends overlap.
Another, with a series of small
longitudinal beads or mouldings
upon it, was found near Lake,
Wilts, and is in the collection of
the Eev. E. Duke. Some plain
penannidar bracelets from that
district are in the same collection.
An armlet of nearly the same
character, but narrower, was found
in Thor's Cave,|| near Wetton,
Derbyshire. Eemains of Late
Celtic and of Eoman date were
found in the same cave.
A fluted bracelet was found with rings and other objects at Edington
Burtle, Somersetshire.^
A bracelet of bronze, of which some of tin- fragments are represented
in Fig. 481, was found with a bronze torque and a two-looped palstave
* Arch. Assoc. Join-)/., vol. iii. p. 344 (I am indebted to the Council for the use of this
cut) ; Arch., vol. xxxv. p. 247 ; " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 417.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. pp. 406, 430.
% Bateman, '*>Ten Years' Dig.," p. 167.
§ Hoare's "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 160; Arch., vol. xliii. p. 469, fig. 172. T am in-
debted to the Council of the Soc. Ant. for the use of this cut.
|| " Reliquary," vol. vi. p. 211, pi. xx. 1 ; Dawkins, "Cave Hunting," p. 129.
II Som. Arch, and Xat. Hist. Soc. Proc, vol. v. 1854, p. 91.
C C
Fig. 480.— Nm-iiianton.
386
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RTNGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
at "West Buckland,* Somersetshire. It is flat on the inside, so that the
ornaments appear to have been cast in a moidd, though subsequently the
more delicate work was added by means of punches or gravers.
Another form of bracelet, probably of earlier date than some of those
represented in the previous figures, is of the type shown in Fig. 482. It
consists of a long bar of bronze, either circular or sub quadrangular in
section, doubled over so as to leave a broad loop in the middle, and then
curved round so as to form the bracelet, the two ends of the bar being
bent over to form a hook, which engages in the central loop. That
Fig. 481.— West Buckland. *
shown in the figure was formerly in the collection of the late Sir Walter
Trevelyan, and is now in the British Museum. As will be seen, the
edges are in some parts minutely serrated. The original was discovered
with two others, and a ring of the same metal, in a moss at Ham Cross,
near Crawley, Sussex.
Four others, forming two pairs, neatly placed round a torque, were
found at Hollingbury Hill,f near Brighton, as already described. They
are now in the British Museum. I have seen two others of the same
kind which were found at Pyecombe, Sussex. They are in the collection
Fig. 482.— H
Fig. 483.— Heathery Bum.
of Mrs. Dickinson, of Hurstpierpoint. Another was found in a barrow
near Brighton, J with the long pin already mentioned, and is now at
Alnwick Castle. This was slightly ornamented with a kind of herring-
bone pattern.
Bracelets constructed on the same principle are sometimes formed of
much thinner wire. One from the Heathery Burn Cave,§ already so often
mentioned, is shown in Fig. 483.
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii. p. 107. I am indebted to the Institute for the use of this
eut. See Figs. 468 and 87.
t Arch. Journ., vol. v. p. 323.
% Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. i. p. 148 ; Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ii. p. 260.
§ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 131. For the use of this cut I am indebted to the
Council of the Society.
LATE-CELTIC BRACELETS.
3&
Another of the same size and character, but made of even thinner wire,
was found with a bronze razor, a button, and other antiquities, in the bed
of a stream near Llangwyllog Church,* Anglesea. These objects are now
in the British Museum. The type is not confined to Britain, for a bracelet
clasping in the same manner was found in the Lac du Bourget.f
Penannular bracelets, like Fig. 473, with the ends slightly expanding,
have been not unfrequently found in Ireland. One engraved by Wilde J
is described as of pure red copper.
In many there are large cup-shaped ends at about right angles to each
other. One from Co. Cavan is shown in Fig. 484. I have another of
the same type, but much smaller and lighter, from Ballymoney, Co.
Antrim.
They much resemble the manillas or ring-money in use on the West
Coast of Africa, but are more cup-shaped at the ends. It appears possible
Fig. 484.— Co. Cavan.
Fig. 485.— Cowlam.
that, like some large Irish rings which will subsequently be described,
they are not actually bracelets. The other armillai engraved by Wilde
appear to be of later date than the Bronze Period. The same may be
said of the elegant bracelet shown full size in Fig. 485, which is certainly
Late Celtic. It was found by Canon Greenwell, F.E.S., on the right
arm of a female skeleton in a barrow at Cowlam, § Yorkshire, and is
similar to some found at Arras, || in the same county.
Another somewhat plainer bracelet, with a short dowel at one eud,
fitting into a socket at the other, so as to form an almost invisible joint,
was found with a fibula, Fig. 498, on the skeleton of an aged woman in
another of the Cowlam ^f barrows, and is shown in Fig. 486.
Another bronze armlet of the same period was found in a barrow in
the parish of Crosby Garrett,** Westmoreland. It encircled the right
arm of a skeleton, and is penannular, " oval in section, and unorna-
mented, except in having a series of notches along both edges."
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 74.
t Perrin, " Etude. pr£h. sur la Sav.," pi. xviii. 6.
t " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 570, fig. 479.
|| " Cran. Brit.," pi. xii. B 4 ; Arch., vol. xliii. p.
If Greenwell' s "British Barrows," p. 209.
c c 2
474.
§ "British Barrows," p. 210.
Op. ait., p. 386.
388 TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
Many bracelets of Late Celtic date have been found at various times in
Scotland. Some of these are of very ornate design, and extremely
massive; while on others a repousse pattern has been worked upon a
plate of thin bronze. Such bracelets hardly come within the scope of
the present work, but a few references to engravings of them are sub-
joined : —
Aboyne, Aberdeenshire {Arch. Joum., vol. xxii. p. 74 ; Wilson's " Preh.
Ann. of Scot.," vol. ii. pp. 136, 139).
Alvah, Banffshire {Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vi. p. 11, pi. iii. 1).
Muthill, Perthshire, now in the British Museum [Arch., vol. xxviii.
p. 435).
Plunton Castle, Kirkcudbright {Arch. Joum., vol. xvi. p. 194; Proc.
Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 236).
Strathdon, Aberdeenshire {Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vi. p. 13, pi. iii. 2).
Fig. 486.— Cowlara. \
Among hoards of bronze antiquities belonging to the latter part
of the Bronze Period, rings of various sizes are of not unfrequent
occurrence. They are usually plain and of circular section, as if
formed of a piece of cylindrical wire, though actually cast solid,
and do not for the most part seem to require any illustrations.
Some also are lozenge-shaped in section.
In the hoard found at Marden,* Kent, there were six perfect bronze
rings, varying in diameter from 1£ to If inch. In the Heathery Burn
Cave were numerous rings of -circular section, and varying in thickness
from | inch to 1 A inch in diameter. Many of these are now in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. One, 2£ inches in diameter, was in the
hoard found at Westow,f Yorkshire, and may have been an armlet.
Several stout rings, about 1 inch in diameter, " probably cast in moulds,"
* Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. xiv. p. 2.58. t Arch. Assoc. Joum., vol. iii. p. 59.
HOLLOW KINGS.
389
were found with various other antiquities in bronze at Ty Mawr* Holy-
head, and a number of rings of various sizes, from £ inch to li inch in
diameter, were found in the deposit at Llangwyllog,t Anglesea. There
were also three small rings in the great hoard found at Fant-y-maen,J
Glancych.
Several rings, some of lozenge-shaped section and of delicate workman-
ship, were found i;i the hoard at Taunton, § with the pin and other objects
already mentioned.
Such rings may have served various purposes, but were probably used
as means of connection between different straps or accoutrements. Canon
Greenwell has called my attention to two separate instances of two rings
being found together, in company with a bronze sword, in one case
near Medomsley, Durham, and in the other near Eothbury, Northumber-
land.
The rings found with remains of chariots at Hamden Hill, || near
Montacute, Somersetshire, appear to be of Late Celtic date, and to be
hollow. A hollow ring, however, If inch in diameter, and made from
a strip of bronze, fashioned into a tube
and left open on the inner side, was
found with a socketed celt, a gouge,
and other objects of bronze, at Mel-
bourn,^} Cambridgeshire. Many of
those from the cemetery at Hallstatt
are of this kind, wrought from a thin
plate of metal. Some hollow rings
from Ireland will subsequently be
mentioned.
Near Trillick,** Co. Tyrone, a pin
passing transversely through the body
of two rings (see Fig. 496) was found,
and with it two large rings about Sc-
inches in diameter, and four smaller, about 2 inches. These latter appear
to be hollow, with probably a clay core inside. With these objects a
socketed celt and a bronze hammer were found.
Nearly six hundred bronze rings are in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy.
Some of the Irish rings are cast in pairs, like a figure of 8-ft Others
of large size have smaller rings cast upon them. That shown in Fig. 487,
borrowed from Wilde,|J is 4J inches in diameter, with rings of 1£ inches
diameter upon it. Sir W. Wilde was inclined to regard it as a bangle
with two rings by which to suspend it, but this appears to me very
doubtful. I have an almost identical example of the form from Bally-
money, Co. Antrim.
A gold ring, 4£ inches in diameter, with a single small ring playing
upon it, from the great Clare find, is figured by Wilde. §§ He states that
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 256 ; Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 483.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xxii. p. 74. J Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. x. p. 224.
\ Pring, "The Brit, and Rom. on the Site of Taunton," p. 50.
|| Arch., vol. xxi. p. 39. f Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 294.
** Journ. Hist, and Arch. Assoc, of Ireland, 3rd S., vol. i. p. 164.
tt " Vallancey," vol. iv. pi. xiv. 8 ; Wilde, " Catal. Mus. It. I. A.," p. 578, lig. 490.
XX "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 570, fig. 480.
§$ "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 46, fig. 573.
Fig. 487.— Ireland.
390
TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
" similar articles are occasionally observed sculptured upon the breasts
of the statues of ancient Roman generals, the small ring being attached
to the dress."
Some few bronze ornaments, which have been thought to be
finsfer rings, have from time to time been found associated with
other objects of the same metal, such as armlets, torques, &c.
One found with the armlets and palstaves in Woolmer Forest,* Hants,
as already mentioned, is shown in Fig. 488. It has been formed from a
small quadrangular bar of metal, cylindrical at the ends, twisted after
the manner of an ordinary torque, and subsequently coiled into a spiral
ring. Mr. Bateman f describes it as a finger ring. With it was also
another twisted bronze ring of the same kind, but of only one coil. It
appears doubtful whether these rings were not more of the nature of
ornamental beads. It will be remembered that three spiral rings of the
same kind, but plain and of about four coils each, were found on the
Fig. 488.— Woolmer Forest.
Fig. 4S9.— Dumbarton.
extremities of the torque discovered at Hollingbury Hill, + Sussex. They
were considerably too large to fit on the torque, and were regarded as
intended in some way to fasten the garment. Some rings of this kind
were found with torques near Amesbury, as already mentioned. A ring
of a single coil, but made from a twisted bar like that in the figure, was
in the hoard found at Camenz,§ Saxony, in which also were fragments
of torques.
I have three small twisted penannular rings of gold which were found
with a small torque of the same metal near Carcassonne, Aude. They
are of different sizes and weights, but are all too small for the finger or
for ear-rings. One of them is indeed too small to pass over the re-curved
end of the torque, but the ends may possibly have been pinched together
since it was found. I am not aware that any of the rings were ever
actually upon the torque, though I have reason to believe they were
found with it.
Mr. Franks has recently presented to the British Museum a gold torque
from Lincolnshire, which has three banded rings of gold, strung like
beads upon it.
* Froc. Soc. Ant., vol. ii. p. 83. The cut is kindly lent by the Council,
t " Catal.," p. 22. + Sup., p. 378 ; Arch. Town., vol
$ Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S„ vol. iii. p. 332.
v. p.
323.
RINGS FOUND WITH TORQUES. 391
Some small penannular rings found on a gold torque at Boyton have
already been mentioned.
The penannular rings so often found in Ireland, and commonly called
ring money, may after all be of the nature of beads.
The large hollow penannular ornaments made of thin gold, and nearly
triangular in section, seem also to be of the nature of beads or possibly
clasps. Straps passed through the narrow notch would require some
trouble to take out ; but still such beads could be dislodged from their
string without its ends being unfastened. The ornament shown in Fig.
489 was found near Dumbarton.*
Others, similar, have been found in Anglesea, Heathery Burn Cave,
near Alnwick,! and in other places. They occur also in Ireland. ;J; They
have frequently been found associated with armlets. Some Egyptian
rings of carnelian, ivory, and other materials have similar notches through
them. They have, however, been regarded as ear-rings.
Bronze finger rings seem to have been in occasional use.
In a perished ura with burnt bones, found with several others, one
containing a barbed flint arrow-head, in the cemetery at Stanlake,§
Oxfordshire, there was a spiral bronze finger ring of the plainest form,
the only fragment of metal brought to bght during nearly a month's
excavations by Mr. Akerman and Mr. Stone. What may have been a
finger ring was also found in the Heathery Burn Cave,|| Durham. It is
formed of stout wire, the ends expanding, and slightly overlapping each
other, and is £ inch in diameter.
In the hoard of bronze antiquities found near Edington Burtle,^} Somer-
setshire, were several small rings ; but with one exception they are hardly
such as could have served for finger rings. This exceptional ring is
penannular, and fluted externally like the bracelet found with it in the same
hoard. The form is not unlike that of the gold ring engraved by Wilde **
as his Fig. 609.
Another form of ornament, the ear-ring, appears to have been
known in Britain during the Bronze Period. In two of the
barrows on the Yorkshire Wolds, explored by Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S., female skeletons were found accompanied by such orna-
ments.
In a barrow at Cowlam,ff " touching the temporal bones, which were
stained green by the contact, were two ear-rings of bronze. They have
been made by beating the one end of a piece of bronze flat, and forming
the other end into a pin-shaped termination. This pin had been passed
through the lobe of the ear and then bent round, the other and flat end
being bent over it. Thus the ear-ring must have been permanently fixed
in the ear." One of these rings is, by Canon Greenwell's kindness, shown
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. iii. p. 24, whence this cut is borrowed.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p. 295.
J " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 36.
§ Arch., vol. xxx vii. p. 368.
|| Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 426.
f Som. Arch, and Nat. Hist. Soc. Proc, vol. v. 1854, p. 91.
•♦ " Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 81.
tt " British Barrows," p. 223.
892 TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIll.
as Fig. 490, as is one from Goodinankam,* in Fig. 491. In the latter
case there was a bronze awl, or drill, behind the head ; the ear-ring here
figured was at the right ear, and its fellow, in a more broken condition,
Fig. 490.— Cowlam.
Fig. 491.— Goodmanham.
lay under the left shoulder. The better preserved of the two is some-
what imperfect, and may, I think, have formed a perfect circle when
whole.
Mr. Bateman records finding in a barrow called Stakor Hill, f near
Fig. 492.— Orton. J
Burton, a female skeleton, "the mastoid bones of which were dyed
green from contact with two small pieces of thin bronze bent in the middle
just sufficiently to clasp the edge or lobe of the ear." With the skeleton
*"Brit. Barrows," p. 324. For Fig. 491 I am indebted to the Delegates of the
Clarendon Press.
t "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 80.
EAR-RINGS. 393
was a flint "javelin head," and Mr. Bateman considered the interment
to be the oldest he had met with in which metal was present.
By way of illustration, a much longer form of trough-shaped ear-ring
may be adduced, though the metal in this instance is gold and not bronze.
That shown in Fig. 492 was found with another in a stone cist at Orton,
Morayshire. *
It seems possible that a lunette or diadem of gold was buried with
these ear-rings.
A pair of circular embossed plates, with a beaded ring on each and a
smaller disc above, were found in a tumulus near Lake, Wilts, and have
been regarded as ear-rings. They are in the collection of the Rev. E.
Duke.
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy f is another gold ornament
of the same form as Fig. 492. It is, however, smaller, and the lower
part is at present flat. Gold penannular rings of torque-like patterns,
pointed at each end, and which may have been ear-rings, and not bead-
like ornaments, are not uncommon in Ireland and Britain. J Rings of
nearly the same kind are still in use in Northern Africa. Plain double-
pointed penannular ear-rings in bronze are also found, but I am uncertain
as to the period to which they should be assigned. Some appear to be of
Saxon date. §
I have a pair of ear-rings of circular form from Hallstatt, about 2 inches
in diameter, of hollow bronze, made from a thin plate, and with one end
pointed which fits into a socket at the other end. Other ear-rings of
bronze, || from the same cemetery, have a small ring encircling them, to
which, in one instance, three small spherical bells are attached.
In the Laibach Museum are some bronze ear-rings of the Early Iron
Age, much like those from Goodmanham, but broader.
Ear-rings of the Bronze Period appear to be almost unknown in France.
I have, however, specimens found with a hoard of bronze socketed celts,
fragments of swords, spear-heads, bracelets, and a variety of other objects
at Dreuil, near Amiens, about 1872.
They are two in number, in form like Fig. 490, but rather shorter.
One of them is coiled up, and the other has the broad part nearly flat.
Each is ornamented with some parallel lines stamped in across the broader
part. Several small hollow and some solid rings, circular, semicircular,
and flattened in section, were in the same hoard.
Some few objects of bead-like character have from time to time
been found in barrows and with other bronze objects. Dr. Thur-
nam^j describes a tubular bronze bead, 1{- inch long, found in a
barrow in Dorset, and now in Mr. Durden's collection. He thinks
the bead mentioned by Sir R. Colt Hoare as found in a barrow
near Fovant** may have been the spheroidal head of the bronze
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. viii. p. 30.
t Wilde, " Catal. Mus. li. I. A.," p. 40, fig. 570.
X Op. cit., p. 38.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 88.
|| Von Sacken, " Grabf. v. Hallst.," Taf. xvii. 4, C.
t Arch., vol. xliii. p. 470.
** " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 243.
394 TORQUES, BRACELETS, RINGS, EAR-RINGS, ETC. [CHAP. XVIII.
pin with which it was found. Some beads of amber and jet were,
however, discovered with it.
A notched head of tin, like a number of small beads strung together,
accompanied a little pin of copper or bronze, most probably an awl, and
some conical buttons of bone or ivory, in a barrow on Sutton Verney
Down,* in which there had been deposited a burnt body. Hoare says
that " it is the only article of that metal we bave ever found in a barrow."
Small beads, or more probably drum-shaped buttons of gold, as sug-
gested by Dr. Thurnam,f have also been found in the Wiltshire barrows.
Beads formed of joints of encrinites, with others formed of burnt clay,
as well as a necklace formed of the shells of dentalium, were found in
a barrow near Winterbourn Stoke.;]; Glass beads of the notched form
have been found with burnt interments, and frequently with bronze in-
struments in others of the Wiltshire barrows. § Other beads have spiral
ornaments in white upon a blue ground. A blue glass bead, with three
yellow spirals on it, was found with the point of a bronze blade in a cist
with burnt bones in a barrow at Eddertoun, Ross-shire. || Such beads,
known as Clachan Nathaireach,^ or serpent stones, have been used as
charms for diseased cattle and other evils.
Glass beads with the same spiral ornamentation have been found in the
cemetery at Hallstatt, and their presence in these graves certainly affords
an argument for assigning them to a comparatively late period, or at all
events to a time when commerce with the Continent was well estabhshed.
Among the objects found at Exning, Suffolk,** are some "curious
bullae " with clay cores, but they appear to belong to a later date.
As will be seen from the list of personal ornaments described in
the preceding pages, their forms are but few and their number
small in the British Islands, as compared with those of analogous
objects found in some continental countries, as, for instance, Scan-
dinavia and Switzerland. The absence of several forms of torques
has already been mentioned ; the Danish and North German
lunette, or diadem-like bandlets, are also never found in this
country, though, perhaps, the crescent-shaped gold plates or
" minds " of the Irish antiquaries may represent the same class of
ornaments. Spirals formed by coiling long tapering pieces of wire,
such as are common in Scandinavia and throughout Germany, are
also unknown, and this circumstance affords an argument against
there having been any direct intercourse in very early days between
this country and Etruria, where such spiral ornaments abounded.
Besides this absence of spirals formed of solid metal, the engraved
* " Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 103. t Arch., vol. xliii. p. 525.
X Op. cit., 114. A bead of burnt clay has also been found in a Westmoreland barrow.
" Brit. Barrows," p. 66.
§ See Tkurnam, Arch., vol. xliii. p. 495.
|| Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. 313, pi. xxi. If Ibid.
** Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3.
ABSENCE OF CONTINENTAL FORMS. 395
spiral ornament which in some countries is characteristic of the
Bronze Period may be said to be absolutely unknown in Britain.
The nearest approach to it is the ring ornament formed of concen-
tric circles.
The bracelets formed of cylindrical coils of wire are also un-
known, as well as those of hollowed bronze with discoidal ends,
such as are so common in the Swiss Lake-habitations. Decorated
pendants, like those which are found in Switzerland and the South
of France, are also wanting. Altogether the bronze ornaments of
Britain are neither abundant nor, as a rule, highly artistic; and it
would appear that here, at all events, the serviceable qualities of
bronze were more highly appreciated than its decorative lustre.
CHAPTER XIX.
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, AND MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS.
There still remain to be noticed a number of objects in bronze, of
some of which the precise nature and use are now hardly sus-
ceptible of being determined ; and of others but so few examples
are known that they are best placed in a chapter which, like the
present, is intended to treat of miscellaneous articles. It has
occasionally been observed of antiquaries that when at a loss to
explain the use or destination of some object of bronze or brass,
their usual refuge is in the suggestion that it formed some portion
of harness, or was what is termed a horse-trapping. To judge from
what may be seen on the dray-horses and waggon-horses of the
present day, future antiquaries, in examining the relics of the
nineteenth century, will have some justification in assigning a vast
number of forms of ornamental pendants and tongueless buckles
to this comprehensive class of trappings ; while a number of
curious instruments of brass and other alloys, some of them not
unlike complicated dentists' Instruments, will probably be given
up in despair, though now in most cases susceptible of being re-
cognised by the adept as destined to extract cartridges or their
cases from breech-loading guns. If these puzzles await future
antiquaries, those of the present day must be pardoned for occa-
sionally being at fault as to the destination of some ancient
instrument or ornament, and they may even be forgiven for
making suggestions as to probable uses of such objects, provided
they do not insist upon possibilities being regarded as strong pro-
babilities, much less as facts.
In Fig. 493 is shown full-size a mysterious object, consisting of a tube
with a slight collar at each end, having on one side a long narrow loop of
solid metal sub-quadrangular in section, and on the other an elongated
oval opening, a part of the side of which has been broken away. It was
found with a number of socketed celts, knives, and other articles in the
hoard at Eeach Fen, Cambridge, already often mentioned. With it was
LOOPED SOCKETS.
397
also another smaller object of the same kind, shown in Fig. 494. This.
however, has the orifice in the front, and not at the side opposite the
loop, the section of which in this case is circular. One end of the tube
is plugged up with a bronze rivet. The mouth of the oval opening is
rough, and has no lip to it, as in the other case ; and within the tube
there are remains of wood. I have a broken specimen found at Malton,
near Cambridge, of the same character as Kg. 493, but with the loop
round in section, and both shorter and stouter. The end of the tube is
cast with a flat plate closing the aperture, except for a central hole about
£ inch in diameter. I have another specimen much like Fig. 493, but
the loop is longer and flatter, and beneath it the tube has a long oval
opening with a lip around it, as well as a somewhat shorter opening on
the opposite side of the tube. The loop also has a deep groove on its
inner side extending its whole length. I am not sure where this object
was found, but there is little doubt of its being English.
An object like Fig. 493 was found with socketed celts, gouges, and ham-
Fig. 493.— Reach Feu. }
Fig. 494.— Reach Fen.
Fig. 495. -Uroadward. }
mers at Hoseberry Topping,* Yorkshire, in 1826. With them was a flat
quadrangular whetstone (?) and fragments of a flat plate of bronze, the
ends hollowed and with crescent-shaped openings or lunettes in them,
and with staples for attachment at the corners. There are three rivet-holes
on the convex side of the lunettes.
Another object of the same kind was found with a socketed celt, a hollow
ring, gouge, &c, at Melbourn,f Cambridge. There were two of these
looped tubes found with spear-heads, socketed celts, broken swords, &c,
near La Pierre du Villain, J Longy, Alderney.
In the great hoard of bronze spear-heads, ccc, found at Broad ward, §
Shropshire, was a short object of this kind about \\ inch Long, with the
loop as large in diameter as the tube and extending the whole length, so
* Arch. Mliana, vol. ii. p. 213, pi. iv. ; Arch. Scot., vol. iv. p. 55, pi. vii.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 294. X Arch. Assoc. Jottrn., vol. iii. p. 10.
§ Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol. iii. p. 354. I am indebted to the Council of the Cambrian
Arch. Assoc, for the use of this cut.
398
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, ETC.
[CHAP. XIX.
o
as to give it the form of the letter D. The orifice of the loop is only
£ inch long. This specimen is shown in Fig. 495. Another seems to
have been found at the same time.
A fragment of another was in the collection of the
late Lord Braybrooke.
An example, like Fig. 493, but somewhat broken,
was in the deposit of Notre-Dame d'Or, now in the
Poitiers Museum.
Another (2f inches), almost identical with Fig. 493,
was found in a hoard with other objects near Amiens,
and is now in the museum of that town.
Another of much the same kind was found at La
Parnelle, Manche.*
I have an object from the Seine at Paris, which
appears to belong to the same class as the tubes lately
described, though without any loop. The tube is in
this instance about 3 inches long, with small flanges
at each end ; and through the middle of it is an oval
opening about 1 inch by £ inch, with mouth-pieces
standing out on each side of the tube, making the
whole length of the oval cross-tube thus formed
nearly 1 £ inch. Each mouth-piece has two parallel
beads running round it. I am at a loss to assign a
purpose to it.
Those with a loop seem to me possibly intended as
clasps for leather straps or belts, one end of which
passed through the metal loop and was sewn or
fastened to the strap so as to form a loop of leather,
while a corresponding loop at the other end was in-
serted into the oval mouth-piece, so that a pin passed
down inside the tube would go through it and secure
it. This pin need not have been of metal, but of
some more perishable material.
The objection to this view is that the side orifice
in the tube is not in all cases opposite to the loop, but
in one instance at least at right angles to it. A second
suggestion is that they were loops in some manner
attached to wooden or leather scabbards of swords,
which could at any time be detached by withdrawing
a pin that passed down the tube. Whatever purpose
they served, they do not appear to have been perma-
nently attached to any other article, as in no instance
have any rivet-holes been observed in them.
Some of the hollow rings found in Ireland with
transverse perforations through them, appear also to
have been made for attachment at will to leather or
cloth by means of a pin passing through the cross-
holes, which at once converted the rings into brooches or buckles of a
peculiar kind.
Thispurpose has already beensuggestedbyMr.T. 0' Gorman, in the Journal
of the Royal Historical and Archceological Association of Ireland.] He there
* Mem.Soc.Ant.Korm.,1827— 8,pl.xvii. t 3rdS., vol. i.p. 164, whence thecutisborrowed.
Fig. 496.— Trillick.
RINGS WTTH TRANSVERSE PERFORATIONS. 399
describes a bronze pin with two thick bronze rings upon it, which was
found with two large rings of bronze, four rings of about the same size
as those on the pin, a large socketed celt, and a bronze hammer, in what
appears to have been a sepulchre near Trillick, Co. Tyrone. These objects
are now all in my own collection, and, as will be seen in Fig. 496, there
can be no doubt of an efficient form of double buckle being presented by
the pin and rings. Whether it was used for fastening a cloak or tunic,
as suggested by Mr. O'Gorman, or for some other purpose, I need not
stay to examine. I think, however, that the discovery of the pin and
perforated rings in juxtaposition throws some light upon the character of
other rings with cross perforations, of which many have been found in
Ireland. One of these is shown in Fig. 497, borrowed from Wilde. * I
have one of precisely the same character, 2f inches in diameter, with a
cross perforation through the two projecting mouth-pieces, slightly oval,
and about the size to receive a common pencil. Vallancey f has figured
others, in one of which there is a cross-pin with a
small ring at each end, somewhat like a horse's bit.|
Others, with numerous small loops round the circum-
ference, and with central bosses secured by pins, or
occasionally with cross arms within them, appear to be
of later date and to have had bands of chain-mail
attached. In some of the plain rings, however, there
is a portion of a strap of bronze left, which Sir W.
Wilde regards as having served to connect the ring-
chains, of which he thinks that coats of mail were iigi49d'
made. Under any circumstances, these perforated
rings seem to come under the category of fastenings or clasps, to which
the looped tubes already described may also be referred.
A perforated ring was in the hoard found at Llangwyllog, § Anglesea,
already mentioned.
Large rings, such as those described in the last chapter, may
also have served as connections for bands or straps.
There is, indeed, numismatic evidence that among the Ancient
Britons, shortly after the time of Julius Caesar, rings were em-
ployed as connecting links between the different straps forming
the harness of war-horses. On a gold coin of Verica,|| engraved
on the title-page of Akerman's " Ancient Coins of Cities and
Princes," and now in my own collection, there is on the reverse
a warrior on horseback. The engraving of the die is exquisitely
minute, and the warrior's saddle is shown to be secured by four
girths, and by straps running from it round the chest and the
hind-quarters to keep it in position. On the shoulder and the
haunches there are rings to which these straps are joined, and
from each of these rings another strap runs down to pass below
* "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 579, fig. 494. t Vol. iv. pi. xiv.
% See Wilde's "Catal.," p. 576 et seqq.
§ Arch. Joto-n., vol. xxii. p. 74 ; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. xii. p. 97.
|| Type of Evans, "Anc. Brit. Coins," pi. ii. 9.
400
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, ETC.
[chap. XTX.
the body of the horse. Each ring, therefore, has three straps
secured to it, one running forwards, another backwards, and the
third downwards. Eings with three loops for straps attached
occur among Etruscan Antiquities.*
Of brooches proper, with a pin attached by a spring or hinge,
and secured by a hasp or catch, none are, I think, known in
Britain which can with
safety be assigned to an
earlier period than the Late
Celtic.
Fig. 493.— CowLam.
That shown in Fig. 498
was found by Canon Green-
well, F.R.S., in a barrow in
the parish of Cowlam,f Yorkshire, together with an armlet (Fig. 486)
and a necklace of glass beads, on the body of an aged woman. The
pin was of iron, which had replaced the original of bronze. I have a
somewhat similar brooch from Eedmore, near St. Austell, Cornwall, as
well as one of longer form and with a larger disc, which was found
in a barrow near Bridlington, together with two remarkable buckles
formed of penannular rings. These were described by the late Mr.
Thomas Wright j (who has figured them) as un-
doubtedly Roman, but their character is decidedly
" Late Celtic." Other brooches of the same character
as the figure, found in the Thames, London, and near
Avebury, "Wilts, are in the British Museum.
Another article in use for fastening or attach-
ing parts of the dress is the button, which
claims a high antiquity. I have elsewhere §
described some made of stone and jet, in which
a V-shaped perforation in the body of the button
afforded the means of fastening it to the dress.
In the bronze buttons a legitimate loop or shank
is found, which is cast in one piece with the
button itself.
Kg. 4!)9.
Reach Fen. +
In Fig. 499 are shown three full-size views of one of
two bronze buttons from tlie Reach Fen hoard in my own
collection. There is a sharpness and smoothness about
their faces which suggests their having been finished
by some process of turningor rotary grinding. The centre and raised bands,
though similar, are not identical in the two, or it might have been thought
that 1 hey were cast in ametalmould. Four others were found at the same time.
A button of almost the same size and pattern was found with a razor
and other objects at Llangwyllog, Anglesea.|| One of the same character,
* Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xxxvi. p. 110. f " British Barrows." p. 209.
% " Essays on Arch. Sub.," vol. i. p. 25. $ " Anc. Stone Imp.," p. 407.
|| Arch. Journ. , vol. xxii. p. 74 ; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. xii. p. 97.
BUTTONS WITH CONCENTRIC FLUTINGS. 401
but of larger size (If- inch), was found with a gouge, socketed celts,
&c, at Kensington.* It has a central boss and two raised ridges. Both
these buttons are now in the British Museum.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, was a small button, £ inch in
diameter, with one loop at the back; and another larger (1£ inch), with
five loops at the back, one in the centre, and the four others at equal
distances around it forming four sides of an octagon. This larger button
has a series of concentric rings or grooves on the face ; the small one
has a central pointed boss with one groove around it.
Some curious buttons, bike half barrels in shape, were found with a
hoard of bronze objects at St. Genouph (Indre et Loire), and are
preserved in the Museum at Tours. Numerous buttons of circular form
have been found in other parts of France.
Buttons of various sizes and shapes have also been found in abund-
ance in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
A clay movdd, apparently for buttons of this kind, is in the Museo
Civico at Modena.
In the cemetery at Hallstatt immense numbers of small button-like
objects have been found, some of the warriors' coats having been completely
Fig. 500.— Edinburgh. {
studded with them. Some of these are not more than £ inch in diameter,
nearly hemispherical, and with a small bar cast across them inside.
A peculiar annular button with two loops at the back, found with
bronze swords (see Fig. 353) and a flat-headed pin (Fig. 464) at Edin-
burgh,! is represented in Fig. 500. The original is now in the Anti-
quarian Museum at Edinburgh. It has been thought to be the mounting
of a belt.
Bronze discs of larger size than any ordinary buttons or clasps are
occasionally found. One such, 3^ inches in diameter, with three con-
centric circles engraved on one of its faces, was discovered at Castell y
Bere, Merionethshire, j Another was found at Wolsonbury Hill,§ Sussex.
A third, about 5 inches in diameter, with raised concentric rings upon it,
is in the Scarborough Museum. One found at Inis Kaitra,|| Lough Derg,
between Clare and Galway, has been figured. It has a hollow conical pro-
jection like the umbo of a shield, surrounded by five concentric raised
rings, the interval between the second and third being about double that
between any other pair. The inner side has grooves corresponding with the
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 232.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., N.S., vol. i., p. 322, whence this cut is borrowed.
X Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 179. § Ibid. || Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 200.
D D
402
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, ETC.
[chat. XIX.
external ridges, and across the inside of the hollow umbo is a small bar
of metal. The diameter of this ornament is 4f inches. It is now in the
British Museum. In many respects such discs resemble the so-called
tutuli of the Scandinavian antiquaries, though the long-pointed form has
not been found in the British Islands.
An irregularly rounded flat plate of bronze, about 5 inches by 5£,
and 1 1 inch thick, apparently hammered out, was found with leaf-shaped
Fig. 501.— Heathery Bum Cave. J
spear-heads and a sword at Worth,* Devon. I have a round flat plate,
about 6£ inches in diameter and i inch thick, found near Clough, Co.
Antrim, which bears deep hammer marks in sets of parallel grooves on
both faces. Perhaps such plates were destined to be still further drawn
out into sheets for the manufacture of caldrons or other vessels.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned, were about
ten convex plates, with a raised rim round their edge, a small hole in the
middle, and four loops cast on at the back. One of these is shown in
Fig. 501.1 With them were found about
the same number of broad hoops, of which
an example is given in Fig. 502. These
are dexterously cast in one piece, with a
groove inside corresponding with the raised
central ridge on the outside. Their dia-
meter is only about 4-jj- inches, while that of
the discs is about 5 ^-0 inches. It is diffi-
cult to see any connection between the two
Fig. 502.-Heathery Bum Cave, j forms, though from the correspondence in
their numbers a connection at first sight
seems probable. The hoops have been spoken of as armlets, but I can
hardly regard them as such. Most of the specimens are in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., though thanks to his kindness I have an
example of each ; and two hoops and a disc are in the British Museum.
Canon Greenwell has two other discs of a somewhat similar character,
found with spear-heads and socketed celts near Newark. They are 5^
inches in diameter, with a raised rib round the margin and a central
* Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv. p. 120.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 236. This and the following cut are kindly lent
me by the Council of the Society.
SLIDES FOR STRAPS? 403
hole. The surface, instead of being regularly convex, rises more rapidly
towards the centre, so as to make a kind of cone with hollowed sides.
There are no loops nor any means of attachment on the interior. It may
be that a shank was riveted through the central hole, as was the case
with some analogous conical objects from Hallstatt.
Without expressing any definite opinion on the subject, I may call
attention to a certain analogy that exists between these hoops and discs, and
the hoops and axle ends of Gaulish chariots of the Early Iron Age. The
naves of the'wheels of the chariot found in the tomb of la Gorge Heillet*
(Marne) had bronze hoops on either side of the naves, and an ornamented
plate at each end of the axle. The hoops, however, are made of plates
riveted together, and were not cast in one piece, and the centre of the
plates is open, though crossed by an iron pin.
Fragments of what may have been discs of the same kind, with a hole
in the centre and four small bosses at intervals around it, were found
in the hoard at Stanhope, t Durham, which comprised spear-heads, celts,
&c, much like those in the Heathery Burn Cave.
Similar large discs with concentric circles upon them, and having loops
at the back, have been found in various parts
of France, Switzerland, and Italy .J
Another and smaller disc with a central hole,
having a short collar round it, is shown in
Fig. 503. This is only the rough casting ; and
at one time I thought it was merely a waste
piece or jet from the foundry, as it was dis-
covered with moulds, celts, &c, in the Isle of
Harty hoard. Another disc of the same kind
was, however, found with the hoard of bronze
at Yattendon, § Berks, which shows so much
finish all over that it would seem to have been Fig~503^Harty. i
adapted for some special purpose, and not to
have been merely a piece of waste metal. Another disc of the same kind
was found in the hoard at Haynes Hill, || Kent, and was regarded as part
of an utensil. Mr. Franks informs me that an example with a rather
longer tube has been found in Brittany. In the Yattendon hoard were
also some fragments of thin bronze plate very highly planished on one
face, and a hollowed conical piece of bronze, not unlike an extinguisher;
but the purpose for which either of these was intended is a mystery.
Eeturning to bronze objects which appear to be in some manner con-
nected with straps, I may cite some loops or slides of which an example
is given in Fig. 504. The original is not in this case English, having
formed part of the hoard found at Dreuil, near Amiens. But a specimen
of the same size and shape, though rather more convex on the faces, is
in Lord Braybrooke's collection at Audley End, and was, I believe, found
with other bronze objects, including a hollow ring, in Essex. At first
sight such objects might appear to be intended for mouth-pieces of scab-
bards, but on trial I find that the opening is not wide enough to allow of
the passage of a sword blade, much less to admit of a thickness of
* Fourdrignicr, "Double Sep. Gaul.," 1878, pi. v. and vi.
t Arch. AVliana, vol. i. p. 13, pi. ii. 11.
X See Chantre, "Age du Br.," lere ptie., p. 156.
§ Proc. iS'oc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. vii. p. 485.
|| Arch. Journ., vol. xxx. p. 282, fig. 3 ; Anthrop. lust. Jouni., vol. in. p. 230.
D D 2
404
CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, ETC.
[chap. XIX.
leather or wood in addition. They seem more probably to be slides, such
as might haA^e served for receiving the two ends of a leather belt.
In the Dreuil hoard was also a flat kind of ferrule, about 2 J inches
wide and closed at the end, which may have served as a sort of tag or
end to a broad strap. There were also socketed celts and knives.
In the same hoard was a loop fluted on one face, like Fig. 505, but
with four divisions instead of three, and 2J inches wide. The loops
shown in Figs. 505 and 506 formed part of a large hoard found near
Abergele,* Denbighshire, and described in the Archceologia, whence my
cuts are copied. There were present in the hoard forty -two loops or slides
of this kind, though of various widths, as well as eighteen buttons, a reel-
shaped object like Fig. 377, and numerous rings, some of them almost like
Fig. 505.— Abergele.
Fig. 504.— Dreuil, Amiens. \
Fig. 506.— Abergele.
Fig. 507.— Abergele.
buckles in shape. There were also several double rings fitting the one
within the other, the inner about \\ inch in diameter and the outer about
2£ inches. They are cast hollow, and on the inner ring is a loop which
fits into a hole in the outer ring. In the same hoard was the remarkable
object shown half-size in Fig. 507. It consists of three pairs of irregular
oval plates with loops, through which is passed a bar of bronze. Mr.
Franks, who has described the hoard, says that " the loops show marks
of wear, and the whole was probably a jingling ornament to be attached
to horse-harness. Objects of the same nature have been found with
bridle-bits, and are engraved in Madsen, Afbildninger,\ and in Worsaae's
Nordiske Oldsager, Fig. 266."
These examples, however, do not present such close analogies with the
* Arch., vol. xliii. p. 556, pi. xxxvii. figs. S and 11.
t PI. xl. 16; Samlede Fund, pi. xvi. 12.
OBJECTS OF UNCERTAIN USE. 405
Welsh specimen as do some interlinked rings with flat pendants found at
Ploneour,* Brittany, with looped palstaves and a flat quadrangular knife.
Some other analogous objects are mentioned by M. Chantre,f who has also
described several ststrum-like instruments, to which M. de Mortillet $ is
inclined to assign an Eastern origin.
Eeverting to the Abergele hoard, I may add that Mr. Franks regards
it as belonging to the close of the Bronze Period, and conjectures that
most of the objects which it comprised formed part of the trappings of a
horse.
Bronze bridle-bits, such as have been found in various parts of the
Continent, § have very rarely been found in Britain, though occasionally
discovered in Ireland. In the British Isles they appear for the most part,
if not in all cases, to belong to the Late Celtic Period.
Another form of bronze objects of uncertain use is shown in Fig. 508,
which is taken from a French and not an English original. This formed
part of the Dreuil hoard ; and as in so many respects the articles com-
prised in this deposit present analogies with those found in England, it
appeared worth while to call attention to this particular object. It is a
kind of semicircular flap, with a hole
running through the beaded cylinder at
top. What was its purpose I cannot
say, though I have a thin gold plate of
the same form, but decorated with ring
ornaments, that was found at Hallstatt.
It may be merely a pendant.
Among other miscellaneous objects
of bronze may be mentioned an article
of twisted bronze already cited at p. 51.
It has a flat tang for insertion into a
handle, in which are four rivet-holes.
Beyond the handle project two twisted Fig s'us -Dreuil.
horns, which seem to have nearly or
quite met, so as to form a somewhat heart-shaped ring. In the centre
opposite the tang is a long slot with a chain of three circular rings
attached. The whole covers a space of about 6£ inches in length by 4£
inches in breadth. With Sir E. Colt Hoare, "Heave to my learned
brother antiquaries to ascertain" what was the ancient use of this
singular article, which was found in a barrow at Wilsford,|| with a stone
hammer, a flanged bronze celt, and other objects in company with an un-
burnt body.
Portions of three sickle-like objects, with a kind of square tang,
through which is a large hole, were found with a palstave and a flat celt
and many other bronze antiquities, near Battlefield, Salop. ^f These
measure about 7 inches by 7] inches, and their purpose is as much
veiled in mystery as that of the Wilsford relic, with which they present
a slight analogy.
The flat annular and horseshoe-shaped plates — the one 13 inches in
diameter, and the other 2 feet 1 inch long — found with an oblong cup-
* Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. vi. p. 137. t "Age du Bronze," lfere ptie., p. 188.
X Rev. Anthrop., 187-5, tome iv. p. 650.
§ See Chantre, "Age du Br.," Ire ptie., p. 152.
|| "Anc. Wilts," vol. i. p. 209. II 1'roc. Soe. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 252.
406 CLASPS, BUTTOxVS, BUCKLES, ETC. [CHAP. XIX.
shaped boss on the hill of Benibhrese,* in Lochaber, appear to me to be
probably Late Celtic.
Some of the curious spoon-like articles f of bronze occasionally found
in all parts of the United Kingdom may also belong to the Late Celtic
Period, and most of them probably to quite the close of that period, if
not to a later date.
The remarkable bronze rod. about 1 8 inches long, with small figures
of birds and pendent rings upon it, found near Ballymoney, ! County
Antrim, is probably of later date than the Bronze Period : as are also
the curious figures of boars and other animals found near Hounslow.§
In concluding this chapter, it may be observed that although
I have attempted to give in it some notice of various forms of
bronze relics of many of which the use is uncertain, yet that I do
not pretend that the list here given comprises all such objects as
have been discovered in Britain. In several hoards of bronze
there have been found portions of thin plates and fragments of
objects the purpose of which is unknown ; and I have thought it
best not to encumber my pages with notices of mere fragments
about which even less is known than about the mysterious articles
to the description of which, perhaps, too much space has already
been allotted.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. vi. p. 46.
t See Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. pp. 35 and 52; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. v. p. Ill;
C. R. Smith's " Catal. London Ant.," p. 82 ; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. viii. p. 208 ; vol. x.
p. 57; "Hor. Fer.," p. 184.
X Trans. Kilkenny Arch. Soc, vol. iii. p. 65. Annaler for Oldk., 1836, p. 175.
\ Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 90.
CHAPTER XX.
VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
Of the various forms of fictile vessels which were in use at the
same period as daggers and other weapons formed of bronze, it is
not the place here to speak. Much has already been written on
the subject, not only in various memoirs which have appeared in
the proceedings of our different Antiquarian and Archaeological
Societies, but also in several standard archaeological works. For
the pottery found in the tumuli of this country I would more
particularly refer to Canon Green well's " British Barrows," and to
Dr. Thurnam's "Paper on the Barrows of Wiltshire," published
in the Archceologia* Both these authors agree that none of the
pottery from the barrows has been made upon the wheel. The
greater part of the fictile ware with which we are acquainted was used
for sepulchral purposes, and there appears good reason for supposing
that much of it was manufactured expressly for the dead, and not
for the living. Still there are a certain number of examples known of
what has been termed culinary pottery, some of which have been
found in barrows, and some in the remains of dwellings of the
Bronze Period. This pottery, unlike the sepulchral, is devoid of
ornament, and is well burnt, " plain, strong, and useful," but it
is also made by hand. Some of the pottery from the Swiss Lake-
dwellings is, however, ornamented in various ways, but the
potter's wheel does not seem to have been in use. t And yet, in
more than one instance, there have been found in barrows in the
South of England weapons of bronze, accompanied by vessels of
amber and of shale, which have all the appearance of having been
turned in a lathe. Of some of these vessels I have given figures
in my "Ancient Stone Implements," + and also stated the parti-
culars of the discoveries. I have also mentioned the discovery of
a gold cup in a barrow at Rillaton, Cornwall, which was accom-
* Vol. xliii. f Lubbock, "Preh. Times," 4th ed., p. 223. % P. 399 el a$qq.
408
VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
[CHAP. XX.
panied by what appears to have been a bronze dagger.* As this
vessel is of metal, I have here reproduced the cut as Fig. 509.
It seems to me probable that the same kind of vessel which was
made in the nobler metal may also prove to have been made in
bronze, although as yet no examples have been discovered. The
Bottom of cup.
Fig. 509.— Golden Cup: Rillaton. Height, 3\ inches.
hanging cups of bronze of which many have been found in Scan-
dinavia, and at least one example in Switzerland, are at present
not known to have been discovered within the British Isles.
It was probably not until nearly the close of the Bronze Period
that the art was discovered of hammering' out bronze into suffi-
ciently large and thin laminse for the manufacture of cups and
* Erroneously called a celt by Mr. Kirwan. See Arch. Jonrn., vol. xxiv. p. 189
whence this cut is borrowed.
CALDRONS FOUND IN SCOTLAND. 409
vessels. It would be impossible to cast the metal so thin as even
that employed for shields, and before ingots or flat plates, like
those already mentioned at page 402, could be thus drawn out, an
acquaintance with some process of annealing must have been
gained. It is a remarkable fact that the same process which has
the effect of hardening steel has exactly the contrary effect on
copper, and to some extent on bronze. Steel when heated to
redness and then dipped in cold water becomes so intensely hard,
that tools treated in this manner have to be somewhat tempered,
or softened by heat, before they can safely be used; while to
soften copper the usual method adopted is to make it red-hot
and dip it in cold water. In whatever way the metal was drawn
out, some of the large vessels of the transitional period between
Bronze and Iron, such as those from Hallstatt, are wonderful
examples of skill in working bronze.
Almost the only bronze vessel found in a barrow in England
had an iron handle to it, showing that it could not belong to the
Bronze Age properly so called. It is, indeed, somewhat doubtful
whether it accompanied an interment. In the centre of a low
mound near Wetton,* Staffordshire, about a foot below the surface,
Mr. Bateman found " two very curious vessels," one about four
inches high, and of rather globular form, carved in sandstone, and at
the distance of a foot from it the other, "a bronze pan or kettle four
inches high and six inches in diameter, with a slender iron bow
like a bucket handle. It has been first cast and then hammered,
and is very slightly marked with horizontal ridges." It was
inverted, and above it were traces of decayed wood. There appear
to have been some remains of burnt bones near the surface of the
ground. This bronze vessel is somewhat like the lower part of
an ordinary flower-pot in form. In Mr. Bateman's Catalogue f
there is a note to the effect that this object is " probably Romano-
British," but I have thought it best to cite it.
Several caldrons made of thin bronze plates riveted together
have been found in Scotland, in some instances in company with
bronze weapons.
In Duddingston Loch,| near Edinburgh, together with swords and
spear-heads, were some bronze rings and staples similar in character to
those attached to the rim of a large bronze caldron found at Farney,§
Ulster, hut there is no record of any caldrons. Others of these rings are in
* "Ten Years' Dig.," p. 173. t P. 21.
% Wilson, "Preh. Ann.," vol. i. pp. 350, 408.
$ Shirley's "Dominion of Farney ;" Arch. Joitru., vol. iii. p. 90".
410 VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC. [cHAP. XX.
the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, two of which were found with the
large caldron here figured (Fig. 510) in the Moss of Kincardine,* near
Stirling, in the year 1768. In this case no weapons appear to have been
found. At the side is a broad band embossed with circles. This vessel
is of large size, being 16 inches high, 16 inches across the mouth, and
25 inches in extreme diameter.
An imperfect caldron, with handles of the same kind, was found at
Kilkerran, Ayrshire, with socketed celts and fragments of swords.
Others of these caldrons, but Httle differing in form from those found
with bronze relics, have been accompanied by various tools formed of
iron, as, for instance, those found at Cockburnspath, Berwickshire ; and
in Carlinwark Loch, Kelton, Kirkcudbright. There can, indeed, be little
Fig. 510. — Kincardine Moss.
doubt that such vessels, if belonging to the Bronze Age, are to be
assigned to the close rather than to the beginning or even middle of that
period.
Several such caldrons have been discovered in Ireland.
That shown in Fig. 511 is about 2 1 inches in diameter and 1 2 inches
high.f It is composed of a number of pieces of thin bronze, each averaging
3£ inches broad and decreasing in length near the bottom. " These
plates bear the marks of hammering, and are joined at the seams with
rivets averaging about half an inch asunder. These rivets have sharp
conical heads externally, and some were evidently ornamental, as they
exist in places where there are no joinings, and in the circular bottom
portion they are large and plain. The upper margin of this vessel is
2£ inches broad," and corrugated. " Its outside edge next the solid hoop
has a double line of perforations in it." It was in a vessel of this kind
that part of the great Dowris hoard of bronze antiquities was deposited.
The metal is said by Mr. McAdam, in a paper on " Brazen Caldrons,"
* Wilson, op. cit., vol. i. p. 409. I am indebted to Messrs. Macmillan & Co. for the
use of this cut.
t Wilde, " Catal. Mus. R. T. A.," p. 529, fig. 407. This cut has been lent me by the
Council of the Academy.
CALDRONS FOUND IN ENGLAND. 411
published in the Ulster Journal of Archeeology •* to be thinner than any-
thing of the kind used in our modern cooking vessels, while the surfaces
are almost as even and level as that of modern sheet brass.
Another caldron from Dowris, more nearly hemispherical, also with
two rings, is in the collection of the Earl of Eosse. A specimen from
Farney has been already mentioned. It resembles Fig. 511.
In the collection of Mr. T. W. U. Eobinson, F.S.A., is a remarkably
fine and perfect caldron, closely resembling Fig. 511, found in the parish
of Ballyscullion, Co. Antrim, in June, 1880. The following are its
dimensions : —
Diameter at top . . . 18 inches.
Width of rim . . . . 2|- „
Extreme diameter . . . 24 ,,
Height . . . . . 16 ,,
Outside diameter of rings . 4£ „
The rings are about f inch wide and of this section J-j*.
Fig. 511. — Ireland.
Although no such vessels have been found in barrows in Eng-
land, they are not entirely unknown in this country.
A very fine caldron of this character, about 21 inches in extreme
diameter and about 16 inches in height, was dredged up in the Thames
near Battersea, and is now in the British Museum. It is formed of two
tiers of plates above the concave bottom, and has had two rings at the
mouth, one of which, about 5 inches in diameter, remains. The rings are
of this section f-|-, which combines great strength with economy of metal.
The expanding rim of the mouth is supported on four small brackets,
pierced so as to leave a saltire ornament in each. The rivet-heads are
about £ inch in diameter. From these brackets two strips of thin brass
run down about 3 inches, each ornamented with a fern-leaf pattern.
The bottom of another caldron, from Walthamstow, of about the same
size, is also in the same collection. The metal is remarkably thin.
The two rings of such a caldron, b\ inches, of this section |-« , found
near Ipswich, are in the British Museum. The semi-cylindrical br;i(l<<|
brackets through which they pass and a part of the rim are still
attached. Another ring was found with a hoard at Meldreth, Cambs.
* Vol. v. p. 82.
412
VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
[chap.
XX.
In some vessels very large sheets of bronze have been used. That shown
in Fig. 512, also from Wilde,* is 181 inches deep, but was formed of three
plates only, one for the circular bottom and two for the remainder of the
vessel. At the neck is a stout bronze ring, over which the plates are
turned. " It originally stood on six feet, each forming an inverted cup."
It has suffered much from wear, and has been carefully patched in
several places. The metal is very tough and of a rich golden colour. It
is composed of —
Copper ...... 88-7l
Tin 9-46
Lead . . . . . . l-66
Iron ...... Trace
99-83
Among three bronze vessels from the Dowris find now in the British
Museum is one of the form of Fig. 512, 16 inches high.
The form is almost identical with some
of the bronze urns from the cemetery at
Hallstatt, of which several appear to be of
Etruscan fabric.
Another vessel of the same character
was found in a tumulus in Brittany, f and
contained burnt bones.
In the collection of Canon Greenwell,
F.E.S., is a vessel of hammered bronze
of the same character as the figure, but of
rather broader proportions, being nearly
17£ inches high and about 16 inches in
diameter ; at the shoulder the neck con-
tracts to 13 inches. It has the usual two
massive handles ; and at the bottom is a
flat ring with arms across it like a four-
spoked wheel, rather more than 9 inches
in diameter. The arms are ribbed longi-
tudinally, and the ring has concentric
ribs upon it, except at the junction with the arms, where there are
cross-ribs. There are five rivets in it, one in the centre and four in the
ring opposite each end of the arms. This vessel, which has been patched
in more than one place, was found with numerous other bronze objects
in the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned.
A remarkably fine specimen of a vase of this character, found in
Capecastle Bog, near Armoy, Co. Antrim, is in the collection of Mr. T.
W. U. Robinson, F.S.A. It formerly belonged to Mr. WilKani Gray, of
Belfast, who kindly allowed me to engrave it as Fig. 513. Its dimensions
are as follows —
Height ..... 17^ inches.
Diameter of mouth . . . 13 ,,
Diameter at shoulder . . 15A ,,
Diameter at bottom . . 7| ,,
The weight is 5 lbs. 9 ozs. The plates of which it is formed are care-
fully riveted together, and are of large size. Some holes which have'
* Catal. Mua. R. I. A., p. 531, fig. 409. t Rev. Arch., N.S., vol. xxvi. p. 326.
Fig. 512.— Ireland.
CALDRONS FOUND IN IRELAND.
413
apparently been worn by use have been carefully patched. All the upper
part of the vessel above the shoulder is decorated by small raised bosses pro-
duced by means of a punch applied on the inside of the vessel, and below
the shoulder is a series of triangles embossed in a similar manner forming
a kind of Vandyke collar round the vessel. This character of ornamentation
is very characteristic of the Bronze Period, and though not uncommon on
urns formed of burnt clay, has not, I think, been before observed on those
made of bronze.
The bottom of the vessel is se-
cured by a ring and cross piece of
bronze forming a kind of four-
spoked wheel, as shown in the
lower figure. The rings for
suspension are solid, and hang
towards the inside of the vessel.
As will be seen, there is much
analogy between this Irish vessel
and that from the Heathery Burn
Cave last described. The latter,
however, is without ornament.
These conical vessels are
probably earlier in date than
the spheroidal caldrons.
Whether either were actu-
ally manufactured in Britain
and Ireland is an interesting
question. There can, I think,
be little doubt that the conical
form originated among the
Etruscans, whose commerce
certainly extended to the
northern side of the Alps. *
One of the upright vases
found at Hallstatt t has animal figures upon it almost undoubtedly
of Etruscan work, though showing some signs of Eastern influence
in their style, and bronze helmets bearing Etruscan inscriptions have
been found in Styria. On the other hand, M. Alexandre Bertrand
and some other antiquaries are inclined to believe in a more direct
commerce with the East along the valley of the Danube or Dnieper.
The finding of vessels of the same form in Brittany, England, and
Ireland seems to point to a more western course of trade, always
assuming that these objects were imported. That some of them
* A paper on " Etruscan Commerce with the North," by Dr. Hermann Genthe, will
be found in the Archiv. fur Anthrop., vol. vi. p. 237.
t Von Sacken, " Das Grabf. v. Hallst.," Taf. xxi. 1.
Fig. 513.— Capecastle Bog.
414 VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC. [CHAP. XX.
may have come from abroad appears in the highest degree probable.
Not impossibly the ces importatum of Caesar may refer to a con-
tinuance of such a trade. But whether there were no bronze-
smiths in the British Isles capable of imitating such products of
skill is doubtful. The bronze shields which are of essentially
indigenous character exhibit an amount of dexterity in producing
thin plates of bronze quite sufficient for the manufacture of such
vessels. Moreover, the handles of these British and Irish vessels
are formed by rings, while those of the vessels from southern
countries are loops like the handles of pails or buckets. The
spheroidal caldrons are also of a form and character which appears
to be unknown on the Continent, and are therefore, in all proba-
bility, of indigenous manufacture.
The careful manner in which some of the vessels are mended
affords an argument that such utensils were rare and valuable ;
but it also shows that the native workmen understood how to
make thin plates — unless these were portions of other vessels —
and at all events how to rivet plates together.
CHAPTER XXI.
METAL, MOULDS, AND THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURE.
Having now passed in review the various forms of weapons, tools,
ornaments, and vessels belonging to the Bronze Period of this country,
it will be well to consider the nature of the metal of which they are
formed, and the various processes by which they were produced
and finished ready for use. Some of these processes, as for instance
the hammering out of the cutting-edges of tools and weapons, and
the production of ornamental designs by means of the hammer
and punch, have already been mentioned, and need be but cursorily
noticed. The main process, indeed, of which this chapter will
treat is that of casting.
Bronze, as already stated, is an alloy of copper and tin, and
therefore distinct from brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc.
Many varieties of bronze — or, as it is now more commonly called,
gun-metal — are in use at the present day ; and one remarkable
feature in bronze is that the admixture with copper of the much
softer metal tin, in varying proportions, produces an alloy in most
if not all cases harder than the original copper ; and when the tin
is much in excess, as in the metal used for the specula of tele-
scopes, so much harder that, a priori, such a result of the mixture
of two soft metals would have been thought impossible. The
following table compiled from a paper in Design and Work,
reprinted in Martineau and Smith's Haydvare Trade Jonyiud,'-'
gives some of the alloys now in most common use and tin*
purposes to which they are applied : —
Ter cent.
Tin. Copper. of Copper.
11 ino _ no-7fi ) -^ common metal for cannon and machine
brasses, used also for bronze statues.
qc _ «n.7o ( Gun-metal proper, used for cannon.
11 99 = 90
11
. j Used for bearings of machinery, frequently
( called gun-metal.
«
April 30, 1879.
416 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
Per cent.
Tin. Copper. of Copper.
11 72 = 86-75 Bather harder.
11 60 = 84*50 Harder, not malleable.
11 44 = 80-00 Used for cymbals and Chinese gongs.
11 48 = 81*35 Very hard, used for culinary vessels.
11 36) (76-69 ) -r. ,, , ,
12 36^75-00 j BeU-metaL
11 24 = 68-57 Yellowish, very hard, sonorous.
, , . ofi.Rfi f Very white, sometimes used for specula with
( some other slight admixture.
Lord Rosse, however, in casting specula, preferred using copper
and tin in their atomic proportions, or 68-21 per cent, of copper
and 31-79 of tin.
The addition of tin, while increasing the hardness of copper,
also renders it more fusible. In small proportions it but little
affects the colour of the copper,* and it is difficult to recognise its
presence from the physical characters of the copper, except from
that of increased hardness. What appear, therefore, to be copper
instruments may, and indeed often do, contain an appreciable
admixture of tin, which, however, can only be recognised by
analysis.
Besides the superiority of one alloy over another, it appears
probable that the method of treatment of the metal may some-
what affect its properties. M. Trescat found that a gun-metal
cast by Messieurs Laveissiere, consisting of — •
Copper 89-47
Tin 978
Zinc 0-66
Lead 009
was superior in all respects to either the common gun-metal A or
the phosphor-bronze B cast at Bourges, the constituents of which
were as follows : —
Copper
Tin .
Zinc ....
Lead ....
100- 100-
* Percy's " Metallurgy," vol. i. p. 474 (ed. 1861).
t Comptes Hindus de I Ac. des Sc, vol. lxxvi. (1873), p. 1232.
A
B
89-87
90-60
9-45
8-82
031
0-27
0 37
0-31
LEAD ABSENT IN EARLY BRONZE. 417
The results of both ancient and modern experience as to the
proportions in which copper and tin should be mixed, in order to
produce a tough and hard though not brittle metal, appear to be
nearly the same ; and nine parts of copper to one part of tin may-
be regarded as the constituents of the most serviceable bronze or
gun-metal.
In the following table I have given the results of some of
the more recent analyses of bronze antiquities found in the United
Kingdom, and have omitted the early analyses of Dr. Pearson*
in 1796 as being only approximative. I have arranged them so far
as practicable in accordance with the different forms of the objects
analyzed ; and one feature which is thus brought out tends strongly
to confirm the conclusion which has been arrived at from other
premises, that certain forms of bronze weapons and other instru-
ments and utensils are of later date than others.
It will be seen, for instance, that in the flat and flanged celts,
the palstaves, and even spear-heads, lead, if present at all, exists in
but very minute quantity ; whereas in the socketed celts and swords,
which are probably later forms, and especially in those from
Ireland, this metal occurs in several cases in considerable pro-
portions.
This prevalence of lead is very remarkable in some of the small
socketed celts found in very large numbers in Brittany, which
from their diminutive size have been regarded as "votive" rather
than as destined for actual use. In some of these Professor
Pelligott found as much as 28*50 and even 32"50 per cent, of
lead, with only li per cent, or a small trace of tin. In others,
with a large per-centage of tin, there was from 8 to 16 per cent,
of lead. Some of the bronze ornaments of the Early Iron Period
also contain a considerable proportion of this metal, which, in the
early Roman as + and its parts, is found to the extent of from
20 to 30 per cent. Although some such proportion as 9 to 1
appears to have been aimed at, there is great variation in the
proportions of the principal ingredients even in cutting tools of
the same general character, the tin being sometimes upwards <>f
18 per cent, and sometimes less than 5 per cent, of the whole.
This variation was no doubt partly due to occasional scarcity of
tin ; but, as Dr. W. K. Sullivan has pointed out J there arc two
* Phil. Tram., 1796, vol. lxxxvi. p. 395.
t (Jhantre, "L'Age du Br.," lrro ptie., p. 62.
X .T. A. Phillips, Q. ./. Chem. Soc, vol. iv. p. 266.
§ O'Curry's "Mann, and Cust. of the Anc. Irish," vol. i. p. ccccxx.
E E
418 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
other causes for it : first, the separation of the constituent metals
in the fused mass, and the accumulation of the tin in the lower
portion of the castings ; and, second, the throwing off of the tin
by oxidation when the alloys were re-melted. M. Dusaussoy*
found that an alloy containing 9(P4 per cent, of copper and 96
per cent, of tin lost so much of the latter metal by six fusions that
it ultimately consisted of 95 per cent, of copper and only 5 per
cent, of tin.
With regard to the early sources of the copper and tin used in
this country, and in general through Western Europe, it will not
be in my power to add much to what has already been published
on this subject.
It seems probable that gold, which commonly occurs native and
brilliant, was the first metal that attracted the attention of man-
kind. The next metal to be discovered would, in all probability,
be copper, which also occurs native, and has many points of
resemblance with gold.
The use of this metal, as I have observed in the Introductory
Chapter, no doubt originated in some part of the world where, as
on the shore of Lake Superior, it occurs in a pure metallic state.
When once it was discovered that copper was fusible by heat,
the production of the metal from some of the more metallic-looking
ores, such as copper pyrites, would follow ; and in due time, either
from association with the metal, or from their colour and weight,
some of the other ores, both sulphuretted and non-sulphuretted,
would become known, f
When once the production of copper in this manner was
effected, it is probable that the ores of other metals, such as
tin, would also become known, and that tin ores would either
* O'Curry, op. cit., p. ccccxviii.
t For an interesting essay on the sources of bronze, see Prof. Sullivan in the Intro-
duction to O'Curry's " Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish," p. ccccvii. See
also H. H. Howorth, F.S.A., on the "Archaeology of Bronze," Trans. Ethnol. Soc,
vol. vi. p. 72; Sabatier, " Production de l'or, de l'argent, et du cuivre," &c, 1850 ; Von
Bibra, "Die Bronzen und Kupferlegimngen," 1869; De Fellenbcrg, " Bull, de la Soc.
des Sc. nat. do Berne," 1860; Wocel, " Chemische Analyscn anb. Bronze legirungen,"
in Sitz.-Ber. phil. hist. Classe. Acad, der Wiss. Wien. Bd. xvi. 169 ; " Kelterncs, Ger-
manernes og Slaverncs Bronzer," in Antiq. Tidskrift., 1852 — 54, p. 206 ; Morlot, " Les
Mctaux dans l'Age du Bronze," Mem. Soc. Ant. du Nord, 1866—71, p. 23 ; Wibel, " Die
Cultur der Bronze-Zcit Nord und Mittel Europas," 1865; Von Cohausen's Review of
Wibel, Archiv. fur Anth.,Vo\. i. p. 320, vol. iii. p. 37; Lubbock, " Prehistoric Times," p. 59
et eeqq.\ Zaborowski-Moindron, " L'Anciennete de 1'IIoinmc," 1874; Dr. C. F. Wiberg,
" Einlluss der Etrusker und Griechen auf die Bronze Cultur," Arch, fur Anth., vol. iv.
p. 11; Troyon, " Monuments de l'Ant. dans 1' Europe barbare," 1868; De Rougcmont,
"L'Age du Bronze," 1866; A. Bertrand, "Arch. Ccltique et Gauloise," 1876; G. De
Mortillct, "Origine du Bronze," R,vne d'Anthrop., vol. iv. p. 650; Wilson, " Proh.
Annals of Scotland," and " Prehistoric Man."
SOURCES OF COPPER AND TIN. 419
be treated conjointly with the ores of copper, as suggested by
Dr. Wibel, so as at once to produce bronze ; or added to crude
copper, as suggested by Professor Sullivan ; or again, be smelted
by themselves so as to produce metallic tin. At what date it
was generally known that " brass is molten out of the stone "* is,
however, a question difficult to answer.
Native copper and many of its ores occur in Hungary, Norway,
Sweden, Saxony, and Cornwall ; but copper pyrites is far more
generally distributed, and is found in most countries of the world.
So far, therefore, as the existence of this metal is concerned, there
was no necessity for the Britons in Caesar's time to make use
of imported bronze, especially as tin was found in abundance in
Cornwall, and long before Caesar's time was exported in considerable
quantities to the Continent. And yet his account may to some
extent be true, as a socketed celt of what is almost undoubtedly
Breton manufacture has been found near Weymouth, t and several
instruments of recognised French types have been found in our
southern counties. Bronze vessels also may have been imported.
Copper and its ores are abundant in Ireland, especially
copper pyrites and gray copper.
Although tin was formerly found in abundance in some parts of
Spain, and also in less quantity in Brittany, + there can be but
little doubt that the Cassiterides, with which either directly or
indirectly the Phoenicians traded for tin,§ are rightly identified with
Britain. But, with due deference to Professor Nilsson and other
antiquaries, I must confess that the traces of Phoenician influence
in this country are to my mind at present imperceptible; and it may
well be that their system of commerce or barter was such as
intentionally left the barbarian tribes with whom they traded in
much the same stage of civilisation as that in which they found
them, always assuming that they dealt directly with Britain and
not through the intervention of Gaulish merchants.
The argument, however, that the Phoenician bronze would have
been lead-bronze, because the Phoenicians derived their civilisa-
tion and arts from Egypt, and had continual intercourse with
that country, where lead-bronze was early known, appears to me
wanting in cogency. For though the Egyptians may have used
* Job, chap, x.wiii. v. 2.
t P. 115.
X Comptes Rendu*, 18GG, vol. lxii. pp. 223, 34fi.
§ The douhts raisnl by the late Sir G. C. Lewis on this point have been dealt with by
Sir John Lubbock, " Preh. Times," p. 63 el scqq.
E E 2
420 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
lead-bronzes for statues and ornaments, the Egyptian dagger*
analyzed by Vauquelin gave copper 85, tin 14, and iron 1 per
cent., and showed no trace of lead. Of one point we may be fairly
certain, that the discovery of bronze did not originate in the British
Isles, but that the knowledge of that useful metal was commu-
nicated from abroad, and probably from the neighbouring country,
France. When and in what manner that and the other countries
of Western and Central Europe derived their knowledge of bronze
it is not my intention here to discuss. I will only say that the
tendency of the evidence at present gathered is to place the original
source of bronze, like that of the Aryan family, in an Asiatic rather
than an European centre.
The presence in greater or less proportions of other metals than
copper and tin in bronze antiquities may eventually lead to the
recognition of the sources from which in each country the
principal supplies of metal were obtained. Professor Sullivan,
in the book already cited, arrives at the following among other
conclusions from the chemical facts at his command : —
1. The northern nations in ancient times used only true bronzes
— those formed of copper and tin — of greater or lesser purity
according to the kind of ores used.
2. Many of these bronzes contain small quantities of lead, zinc,
nickel, cobalt, iron, and silver, derived from the copper from which
the bronze was made.
3. Though some bronzes may have been produced directly by
melting a mixture of copper and tin ores, the usual mode of
making them was by treating fused crude copper with tin-stone, t
In later times bronze was made by mixing the two metals
together.
4. The copper of the ancient bronzes seems to have been
smelted in many different localities.
Some analyses of bronze antiquities found in other countries are
given in the works indicated below, J in addition to those men-
tioned on page 418.
* Von Bibra, op. eit., p. 94.
f Dr. Percy, F.R.S., and other practical metallurgists have shown that thia view is
untenable. See Lubbock, " Prehist. Times," p. 621.
X AnnalcH for Oldk., 1852, p. 249 ; Jahrbiich. des Ver. v. Alt.-frcund im Rheinl., vol.
lix. p. 21 ; Chantre, "Age du Br.," lere ptie., p. 62 ; Perrin, " Et. preh. sur la Savoie,"
1870, p. 19; Layard, "Nineveh and Babylon," p. 670.
ANALYSES OF BRONZE ANTIQUITIES.
421
u
CD
»
Pi
O
O
i
a
a
H
H
O
2
o
O
>
U2
o
a
3
J3
a.
3
02
Total.
4-.
00
k.
a
a
<
Flat celt, Ireland . .
Flanged celt . . .
86-98
90-18
12-57
9-82
Trace.
0-37
99-92
100-00
B
A
Falstave (Mean) . .
„ Fife . . .
89-33
81-19
9-20
18-31
0-75
0-34
0-24
99-11
100-25
A
D
Socketed celt, York-
Socketed celt, Ireland.
„ „ (Mean) .
„ „ Wicklow
,, ,, Cavan .
,, ,, Dowris .
81-15
90-69
83-65
88-30
95-64
85-23
12-30
7-44
11-02
10-92
4-56
13-11
2-63
1-28
3-20
0-10
0-25
1-14
Tr.
Tr.
058
Tr.
0-13
Tr.
Tr.
0-07
0-02
Tr.
Tr.
015
*96-28
99-41
98-79
99-32
100-47
99-63
A
A
A
B
B
F
o-
34
Dagger, Newton, near
Cambridge . . .
Dagger, Ireland (?) .
j> >> • • •
85-33
99-72
87-97
14-20
11-35
0-29
0-28
Tr.
0-27
004
Tr.
•28
Tr.
flOO-13
100-
99-60
A
A
B
Sword,England(Mean),
Chertsey, Br. . .
Sword, Scotland .
„ Ireland (Mean)
>> >> • •
„ „ (Mean)
>> J! •
1J ?) " •
89-69
88-51
91-79
87-07
85-63
88-63
83-50
9-59
9-30
8-17
8-52
10-03
8-54
5-15
2-30
337
2-93
2-83
8-35
0-33
Tr.
0-44
3-00
Tr.
Tr.
Tr.
99-61
100-11
99-96
99-96
99-03
100-00
100-00
A
D
A
B
A
E
E
Spear-head, Ireland .
86-28
84-64
88-42
12-74
14-01
11-29
0-07
0-31
Tr.
Tr.
0-29
0-09
0-29
Tr.
99-49
98-65
100-29
B
B
G
Halberd, Ireland . .
95-85
2-78
0-12
1-32
100-07
B
Shield, Coveney Fen .
87-50
87-55
11-62
11-72
0-40
99-12
99-67
C
c
Trumpet, Dowris . .
79-34
10-87
9-11
99-32
F
Caldron, Scotland . .
»> )»
„ Ireland .
92-89
84-08
88-71
5-15
7-19
9-46
1-78
8-53
1-66
003
99-82
99-83
99-83
D
D
B
A, Mr. J. A. Phillips, see Quart. Journ. Chan. Soc, vol. iv. p. 276.
B, J. W. Mallet, Trans. £. T. Ac, vol. xxii. p. 324.
C, T. H. Henry, F.R.S., Tub. Camb. Ant. Soc, No. xiv. p. 13.
D, Dr. George Wilson, Wilson's " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 374.
E, Prof. Davy, „ „ „ „
F, Dr. Donovan, „ „ „ „
G, De Fellenberg.
* In this case oxygen to the extent of 3-83 was present. The bronze had become so
friable as to be easily pulverised in a mortar. Mr. J. Arthur Phillips writes about it
as follows : — " When a freshly-broken fragment of it is examined under a low magnify-
ing power, it is seen to consist of a metallic net-work enclosing distinct and prrfcctly
formed crystals of cuprite, surrounded by a greyish white substance which is chiefly
binoxide of tin. In this alloy the nickel, silver, and iron are evidently accidental im-
purities, but the load is no doubt an intentional ingredient." The specific gravity
after pulverization is about 7-26 only. t Specific gravity 8-59.
422 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
I have here given most of the trustworthy analyses already
published, and have only added two new analyses kindly made for
me by Mr. J. A. Phillips, F.G.S., of a socketed celt from York-
shire and of a small dagger from Newton, near Cambridge.
Those who wish for detailed information as to the composition
of the bronze antiquities found in other countries are referred to
De Fellenberg's essays and to Von Bibra's comprehensive work.*
The copper which was used by the bronze-founders of old times
appears to have been smelted from the ore and run into a shallow
concave mould open at top, in which the metal assumed the form
of a circular cake, convex below and flat above ; but before
becoming sufficiently cold to be quite set into tough metal, these
cakes seem as a rule to have been disturbed and broken up into
numerous pieces, better adapted for re-melting than the whole
cakes would have been. This method of breaking up the solid
cakes while hot saved also an infinity of labour ; as to cut such
masses into small pieces when cold would, even with modern
appliances, be a difficult task ; and with only bronze and stone
tools at command would have been nearly impossible. Many of
the cakes are, however, interspersed with cavities formed in the
metal, and in some cases there seems reason to think that this may
have been produced intentionally, so as to render the breaking of
the cakes even when cold more readily practicable.
Many of the blocks of metal cast in rough moulds, and known
by Italian antiquaries as ces signatum, have a similar broken
appearance at the ends. Professor Chiericif has suggested that
the moulds in which they were cast were of considerable length,
and that from time to time clay and sand were thrown in so as to
break the continuity of the metal, which indeed was poured in at
intervals, after the insertion of the sand or clay,t to form the break
in the mould.
Some pieces of metal which have been regarded as ingots, and
which not improbably are really such, have the form of a double-
ended axe with a very small shaft hole. They have been discovered
with several of the bronze-founders' hoards in France. Dr.
V. Gross, of Neuveville, has a fine example of this kind found at
Locras, in the Lac de Bienne.+ It is about lGh inches long and
4f inches wide at the ends, the hole through the centre being
* "Die Bronzen und Kupferlegirungen," 8vo. Erlangen, 1869.
t Bull, di Paletnol. Ital., 1879, p. 159.
% Chantre, "Age du Br.," leroptio., p. 36; "Alb.," pi. xxviii. ; "Materiaux," vol. xi.
pi. i. 1. Proc. Soc. Ant. 2nd Ser., vol. viii. p. 250.
LUMPS OF ROUGH METAL. 423
about j inch in diameter, and the weight of the ingot, which is of
pure copper, is about 6| lbs.
Rough lumps of metal have frequently been found with deposits of
bronze implements in Britain, these latter being sometimes in a
worn-out or broken condition, and apparently brought together as
old metal for re-casting. In other deposits the instruments seem
new and ready for use, or again they are in an unfinished condition.
All the circumstances of these discoveries, however, go to prove that
they are in fact the stock-in-trade of the ancient bronze-founders.
The jets or waste pieces from the castings, of which I shall subse-
quently have to speak, are often found mixed with the rude lumps.
These lumps have usually the appearance of pure copper, and in
many cases have proved to be so on analysis.
Some copper cakes appear, however, to belong to Roman times.
They differ in shape from those already described, in being of nearly
even thickness, but with the edge inclined as if they had been cast
in a small frying-pan. They are from 1 0 to 13 inches in diameter
and about 2 inches thick ; and on more than one found in
Anglesea* there are inscriptions in Roman characters. They
weigh from 30 to 50 lbs.
Turning now to the instances of lumps of rough metal being found
with bronze weapons and tools, the following may be cited, though other
instances are given in the tables at page 462 : —
Lanant, Cornwall,! heavy lumps of fine copper, found with broken
socketed celts, &c.
Kenidjack Cliff, Cornwall,! with palstaves and socketed celts.
St. Hilary, Cornwall, § lumps weighing 14 or 15 lbs. each, said to have
been found with spear-heads.
Near Worthing, Sussex, several lumps of metal, with palstaves and
socketed celts.
Beachey Head, || three lumps of raw copper, apparently very pure,
with palstaves, socketed celts, &c.
Wick Park, Stogursey, Somerset,^} with palstaves, socketed celts,
broken swords, spears, &c.
Kingston Hill, Surrey,** with socketed celts, fragments of swords, and
spear-head.
Beddington, Surrey,ff with mould, socketed colts, gouge, spear-heads, &c.
Wickham Park, Croydon, Surrey, j J with palstave, gouge, hammer, &o.
Danesbury, near Welwyn, Herts, §§ lumps of metal with damaged
socketed celts.
* Arch. Camb., 4th S.,'vol. ii. p. 59, vol. viii. p. 210 ; Pennant's " Tour," vol. i. p. G3 ;
Arch. Joum., vol. xxix. 194 ; Froc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 286.
t Arch., vol. xv. p. 118. \ Joum. Roy. Inst. Cornw., No. xxi.
5 Arch., vol. xv. p. 120 (Leland). || Arch., vol. xvi. p. 363.
H J'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd Ser., vol. v. p. 427. ** Arch. Joum., vol. xxvi. p. 288.
tt Surrey Arch. Coll., vol. vi. %\ Anderson's "Croydon," p. 10.
§§ Arch. Joum., vol. x. p. 248.
424 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
Cumberlow, Herts,* with palstaves, socketed celts, fragments of
swords, &c.
Westwick Row, Hemel Hernpsted,f several lumps, with socketed celts.
Romford, Essex, J lumps of metal in waste pieces and imperfect cast-
ings, untrimmed socketed celts, &c.
Fifield, Essex, § upwards of 50 lbs. of metal, with socketed celts.
High Roding, Essex, || with socketed celts, &c.
Kensington,"^ with socketed celt, gouge, &c.
Sittingbourne, Kent,** with socketed celts, gouges, &c.
Meldreth, Cambs,ff with socketed celts, chisel, ring of caldron, &c.
Carlton Rode, Norfolk, XX lamps of metal, with socketed celts, gouges,
&c.
Helsdon Hall, Norwich, §§ pieces of copper, socketed celts, &c.
Earsley Common, York, || || several lumps of metal, with nearly a hundred
socketed celts.
Martlesham, Suffolk, ^f^f a large quantity of metal, including some lumps
weighing 5 or 6 lbs., with socketed celts, gouge, &c.
West Halton, Lincolnshire,*** with socketed celts and broken sword.
Roseberry Topping, Yorkshire,! ff with socketed celts, gouges, hammer,
&e.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, and in the Gruilsfield find, there
was in each case at least one lump of metal.
Besides the cakes of copper, bars of that metal appear to have been
hammered into an oblong form, and then cut into lengths of from 4 to
5 inches, weighing each about £ lb., and in that state to have served as
the raw material for the bronze-founders. Thirteen of these short bars
were found at Therfield, near Royston, Herts, XXX an^- -^r- Percy found
on analysis that they contained about 98^ per cent, of copper with a
small alloy of tin or antimony, probably the latter. Some fifteen or
sixteen "pieces of long triangular brass" are described as having
been found with about the same number of celts at Hinton, near Christ-
church, Hants. §§§ These bars "seemed to be pieces of the metal out
of which the celts were cast."
In Scotland some "lumps of brass" were found with the swords,
spears, &c, in Duddingston Loeh.|||||| Probably other lumps of metal have
been found in that country, but they seem to be scarcer in Scotland and
Ireland than in England.
Although, as already observed, Spain may have been the
principal Western source of tin in early times, and possibly
MalaccallHH in the East, the trade with Britain for that metal must
* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., vol. vi. p. 195. t Penes me, Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p. 24.
\ Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p. 302. § Arch., vol. v. p. 116.
| In the British Museum. 11 Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd Ser., vol. iii. p. 232.
** Smith's " Coll. Ant.," vol. i. p. 101. tt In the British Museum.
+ + Arch. Journ., vol. ii. p. 80. §§ Arch., vol. v. p. 116.
Illl Arch., vol. v. p. 114.
II If Penes Capt. Brooke, Ufford Hall, Woodbridge.
*** Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 69. ttt Arch. JEliana, vol. ii. p. 213.
+ + + Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. i. p. 306; Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 86.
§§§ Arch., vol. v. p. 115.
IIIIH Wilson, " P. A. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 348 ; Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 132.
UHU Crawfurd, Trans. Eth. Soc, vol. iii. p. 350.
DISCOVERIES OF TIN IN HOARDS OF BRONZE. 425
have commenced at a very remote epoch. We might expect,
therefore, that fragments of tin would be frequently found in the
old bronze-founders' hoards. But though lumps of copper have
so often been discovered in them, tin is at present conspicuous by
its absence. The only instance to which I am able to refer is the
discovery at Achtertyre,* Morayshire, of four "broken bits of tin,"
in company with socketed celts, spear-heads, and bracelets. These
pieces seem to be fragments of a single bar which was about
6 inches in length, of oval section, and somewhat curved, and in
weight about 3 ounces. Though spoken of as tin, the metal is in
fact a soft solder composed, according to Dr. Stevenson Mac-
adam, of —
Tin . . . . . 78-66
Lead 21-34
100-
This, lie points out, is a more fusible alloy than the ordinary
plumbers' solder, which consists of 1 of tin to 2 of load, and
fuses at 441 degrees Fahr., as it contains nearly 4 of tin to 1 of lead,
and would fuse at 365 degrees. Whether this bar was intended
for use as solder, or represents a base tin exported to Scotland
from the tin-producing districts, is an interesting question. Pro-
fessor Daniel Wilson t has called attention to the fact that in all the
bronze instruments found in Scotland which have been submitted to
analysis lead is uniformly present, though in varying proportions.
Soldering* is considered to have been entirely unknown in the
Bronze Age, and even during the earlier times of the Iron Age ;
but the art of burning bronze on to bronze was certainly known,
and instances of its having been practised are given in preceding
pages.
Some fragments of pure metallic tin have from time to time
been found on the Continent. A small hammered bar found at
the Lake-dwelling of Estavayer,§ and analyzed by M. de Fellenberg,
Avas free from lead, zinc, iron, and copper.
Besides being found in Cornwall, tin occurs in France, || Saxony,
Silesia, Bohemia, SwTeden, Spain, and Portugal. It also occurs in
Etruria.1I and is said to be found in Chorassan.**
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ix. p. 435. t "Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. L. p. 376.
% Lubbock, "Preh. Times," p. 44; Von Sacken, "Das Grabfeld von Hallstatt,"
p. 118. § Keller, 3er Beiicht, p. 93.
|| "Manners and Customs of the Anc. Irish," O'Curry and Sullivan, p. ccccxix.
If "Cong, preh.," Buda-Pest, vol. i. p. 242; Engineer, March 26, 1876.
** Arch, fur Auth., vol. ix. p. 265.
426 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
This metal is said by Dionysius* to have been struck into coins
at Syracuse, but none such are at present known. Among the
Ancient Britons, f however, tin coins cast for the most part in
wooden moulds were in circulation, not in the tin-producing dis-
tricts, but in Kent and the neighbouring parts of England. Their
date is probably within a century of our era, either before or after
Christ.
A large ingot of tin, in shape like the letter H, was dredged up
in Falmouth harbour. + It is 2 feet 11 inches long and about
11 inches wide, and 3 inches thick, and, though a small piece has
been cut off at one end, it still weighs 158 lbs. It is shown in
Fig. 514. The late Sir Henry James, F.R.S.J has pointed out
that the form in which the ingot is cast adapts it for being laid in the
keel of a boat, and for being slung on a horse's side, two of them
Fig. 514.— Falmouth.
thus forming a proper load for a pack-horse. He has also suggested
that this was the form of ingot in which the tin produced in
Cornwall was transported to Gaul, and thence carried overland, as
described by Diodorus Siculus, to the mouths of the Rhone.
Curiously enough this author speaks of the blocks being in the
form of astragali, with which this ingot fairly coincides. Other
ingots II of tin of different form have also been found in Cornwall,
but there appears to me hardly sufficient evidence to determine
their approximate date, and I therefore content myself with men-
tioning them. A lump cast in a basin-shaped mould, with two
holes in the Hat face converging so as to form a V-shaped receptacle
for a cord, is in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury.
What appear to be ingots of copper rather than votive or mor-
tuary tablets have been found in Sardinia,Hand in their form present
a close analogy with this ingot of tin, though they are of much
* Jul. Pollux. " Onom," lib. ix. c. 6, p. 1055.
t Evans, " Coins of the Anc. Brit.," p. 123.
X Arch. Joum., vol. xvi. p. 39 ; whence the cut is borrowed.
§ Arch. Joum., vol. xxviii. p. 196. See also Arch. Joum., vol. xvi. p. 7, for an inter-
esting paper on Ancient Metallurgy, by the late Prof. J. Phillips.
|| Arch. Joum., vol. xvi. p. 39. H Spano, " Paleoetnol. Sarda," p. 26.
METHODS OF CASTING. 4:27
smaller dimensions. Both the sides and ends curve inwards, the
notch at the ends of some being semicircular. They are counter-
marked with a kind of double T.
As to the method of melting the metal but little is known. It
seems probable, however, that the crucibles employed must have
been vessels of burnt clay provided with handles for moving them ;
while for pouring out the metal small ladles of earthenware may
have been used. At Robenhausen,* on Lake Pfaffikon, Switzer-
land, small crucibles of a ladle-like form have been found, in some
cases with lumps of bronze still in them. Crucibles without
handles have been discovered at Unter-Uhldingen,t in the Ueber-
linger See.
The methods of easting were various. Objects were cast —
1. In a single mould formed of loam, sand, stone, or metal,
the upper surface of the casting exhibiting the flat surface
of the molten metal, which was left open to the air. In
the case of loam or sand castings a pattern or model would
be used, which might be an object already in use, or made
of the desired form in wood or other soft substance.
2. In double moulds of similar materials. The castings pro-
duced in this manner when in unfinished condition show
the joints of the moulds. When sand was employed a
frame or flask of some kind must have been used to retain
the material in place when the upper half of the mould
was lifted off the pattern. The loam moulds were pro-
bably burnt hard before being used. In many cases cores
for producing hollows in the casting were employed in
conjunction with these moulds.
3. In what may be termed solid moulds. For this process the
model was made of wax, wood, or some combustible
material which was encased in a mass of loam, possibly
mixed with cow-dung or vegetable matter, which on
exposure to heat left the loam or clay in a porous condi-
tion. This exposure to fire also burnt out the wax or
wood model and left a cavity for the reception of the metal,
which was probably poured in while the mould was still
hot.
Sir John Lubbock + regards this as the commonest mode of
casting during the Bronze Age, but so far as this country is con-
* Keller, " Lake-dwellings," Eng. ed., p. 54. t Op. cit., p. US.
% " Preh. Times," p. 40.
428 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
earned it appears to me to have been very seldom, if ever, in use.
Except in highly complicated castings, such as ring within ring, no
advantage would be gained by adopting the process, as the same
result could usually be obtained by the use of a mould in two
halves, while the pattern would then be preserved. In comparing
a number of objects together, though, like the six hundred and
eighty- eight specimens of celts in the Dublin Museum, no two may
appear to have been cast in the same mould, it does not follow
that this was actually the case, for allowance must be made for
hammering, polishing, and ornamenting, which were subsequent
processes, and also for wear at the edge. Even in castings from
the same metal mould there will be considerable variations, from
differences in the amount of coating used to prevent the hot
metal from adhering to mould, and the length stopped off by the
core. But of this I shall shortly speak.
The moulds formed of burnt clay have but rarely lasted to our
times, though some have been found on the continent of Europe.
One for a perforated axe found among the remains of Lake-dwell-
ings near Laibach, in Carniola, is in the museum of that town.
Others will subsequently be mentioned.
The single moulds found within the United Kingdom are all of
stone, and are adapted for the production of flat celts, rings,
knives, and small chisels. In some cases it is hard to say whether
a mould was intended to be used alone or in conjunction with
another of the same kind, so as in fact to be only the half of a mould.
The single mould, which I have engraved as Fig. 515, was
found near Ballymena, Co. Antrim, and, as will be seen, is for a
flat celt of the ordinary form. The material is a micaceous sand-
stone, which a recent possessor of the mould has thought so well
adapted for use as a whetstone, that the mould is in places scored
with the marks where apparently a cobbler's awl has been sharp-
ened. A celt cast in such a mould would be natter on one face
than the other, and be blunt at the ends, though much thinner
there than in the middle. Before being used it would be sub-
mitted to a hammering process, which would render the two faces
nearly symmetrical, and at the same time condense the metal and
render it harder and fitter for cutting purposes, especially at the
edge which was drawn out. In an Irish, specimen in my collec-
tion there is in one face a deep conical depression, apparently
caused by the contraction of the metal in cooling. It was probably
necessary to add a little molten metal to the casting while cooling
SINGLE MOULDS FOK FLAT CELTS.
429
in order to avoid such defects. The sides as well as the faces of
these plain celts have usually been wrought with the hammer, and
I - ■Mb
m
1
Fig. 515.— Ballymi oa.
it seems probable that some even of the flanged celts were origi-
nally plain castings in an open mould.
Moulds of the same kind have been found, though rarely, in
England. In a field near Cambo,* near Wallington, Northumber-
* Arch. JFJiana, vol. iv. p. 107; Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 2.
430 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
land, was found a block of sandstone, having on one face two
moulds for flat celts of different sizes, and on the other face another
such mould, and also one for a flat ring. It is now in the British
Museum.
Stone blocks with moulds cut in them have been found in Scotland.
One with a mould for a large celt in the centre, and near it in one
corner of the slab a mould for a very small celt, was found in a cairn
near Kintore, Aberdeenshire.*
Another large block, forming the end of a cist, near Kilmartin,
Argyleshire,f has nine depressions in it in the form of flat celts, which
may have been used as moulds. They are barely an eighth of an inch
in depth, and on this account have been thought to be pictorial represen-
tations rather than moulds. "With a metal so imperfectly fluid as melted
bronze, castings could be made thicker than the depth of the moulds, and
it is by no means impossible that this stone and another forming part of
the same cist may have been intended for the production of castings.
The second slab of stone may have served for casting pins.
The stone moulds from Trochrig, near Grirvan, Ayrshire, \ and Alford,
Aberdeenshire, § with depressions of various forms upon them, not impro-
bably belong to a later period than that of which I am treating.
A mould for casting rings, 2^ inches in diameter, found at Kilmaihe,
Inverness-shire, is in the Museum at Edinburgh.
One for two flat celts on the one face, and for a larger celt and
perhaps a knife on the other, is in the Antiquarian Museum at
Edinburgh. ||
These moulds are more abundant in Ireland.
One in the Belfast Museum, ^j polyhedral in shape, has moulds upon four
of its faces for flat celts of different sizes. In the Bateman Collection is
a slab of schistose stone (7 inches by 6 inches) with three such moulds
upon it. It was found near Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim.**
On a slab in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy f f there are
moulds for two flat celts, and also for one with a stop-ridge and a loop.
It would appear as if the founder must have possessed a second half of
this latter mould.
Two moulds formed of stone, and apparently intended for flat or
slightly flanged celts, have been found at Bodio in the Lago di Varese.JI
Moulds for palstaves and socketed celts have been found both of
stone and of bronze, but it will be well to reserve the latter until
all the forms of moulds made of stone have been considered. Such
celt moulds have always been made in halves.
* Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. ii. p. 33, vol. vi. p. 209.
t Journ. Ethnol. Soc, vol. ii. p. 341 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iv. p. 513. Arch.
Assoc. Journ., vol. xxxvi. p. 146. Only seven depressions are there described.
X Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i. p. 45.
$ Ibid., vol. iv. p. 383, and v. p. 109.
|| Ibid., vol. ii. p. 34 ; Wilson, " Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 343, pi. v.
IT Arch. Journ., vol. iv. p. 335, pi. vi. ; Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 392.
** " Catal.," p. 78. tt Wilde's " Catal.," p. 91, fig. 72.
%X Pegazzoni, " L'uomo preist. nella Prow di Como," 1878, pi. vi. 18 — 20.
DOUBLE STONE MOULDS FOR l'ALSTAYI>.
431
In Fig. 516 is shown the half of a mould for palstaves, which is now
in the Museum of the Boyal Irish Academy. The other half is with it.
They are formed of sandstone. It is uncertain in what part of Ireland
they were found.
Another mould, formed of mica schist, and now in the British Museum,
was found in the river Bann, and was intended for short palstaves about
3£ inches long.
The half of a mould for casting palstaves of a somewhat broader form
was found near Lough Corrib, Galway,* and is in the Antiquarian Museum
at Edinburgh. Another has been engraved by Dunoyer,f who has also
figured a mould for a looped palstave, from the Museum of the Univer-
sity of Dublin. A stone mould from Ireland, for palstaves with double
Fig-. 516.— Ireland. i
Fig. 517.— Ireland.
loops, is in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. As the halves of
these stone moulds are rarely made so as to be dowelled together,
they are almost always of exactly the same size externally, so as to be
readily adjustable into their proper position when tied together for the
reception of the metal.
The half of a mould for a small palstave, with transverse edge, is
shown full size in Fig. 517. The original is of green schist, and is in
the Boyal Academy Museum at Dublin. It is remarkable that a mould
for so rare a form should have been found. A stone mould for trans-
verse palstaves of the same kind has, however, lately boon discovered in
the Lac de Bienne \ by Dr. V. Gross.
On tho Continent stone moulds for ordinary palstaves have been found
* Wilson, " Preh. Ann.," vol. i. p. 358, fig. 46. t Arch. Journ., vol. iv. p. 835.
j " Lies dernieres trouvailles du Lac de Uiennc," 1879, pi. i. 10 ; " M.iUii.uix," L880,
pi. i. 10.
432 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [f'HAP. XXI.
in some numbers, especially in the Lake habitations. In the museum at
Geneva are several from the Station of Eaux Vives. The wings as originally
east were vertical to the blades, so that they might be withdrawn from
the mould, and they were subsequently hammered over to form the side
pockets, as in Fig. 85.
Moulds for looped palstaves have been found in the Lac du Bourget,
Savoy.* One of them is in my own collection. A broken mould for a
palstave was found at Billy (Loir et Cher).f
Others have been found in Hungary.;];
A few stone moidds for casting socketed celts have been found in
England. The half of one, apparently for celts without loops, was found
near Milton, Dorsetshire, § and is now in the Dorchester Museum. It has
several holes on the face of the slab, as if for the reception of dowels, on
which the other half of the mould would fit.
In another instance a set of moulds has been formed of three slabs of
stone, and would produce two varieties of socketed celts, one half of the
mould of each being engraved on the two faces of the central slab. It is only
this central piece which has been preserved. It was, I believe, found at
Bulford Water, near Salisbury, and not at Chidbury Hill, near Everley,
as stated in the "Barrow Diggers." || On one face is the mould for a
single-looped socketed celt about 4^ inches long, of oblong section, with
three vertical ribs on the face ; on the other is that for a double-looped
celt of the same character, but about b\ inches long, also with three
vertical ribs. This mould is formed of some variety of greenstone, and
is now in the collection of the Rev. E. Duke, of Lake House, near
Sahsbury.
Stone moidds for socketed celts, with vertical ribs upon them, have been
found in the Lacustrine Station of Eaux Vives, near Geneva. There are
often moulds on each face of the stones.
Others in sandstone for socketed celts have been found in Hungary.^}
Several moulds for such instruments have been discovered in Sweden. **-
One with diagonal air-passages, like those in Fig. 521, is in the Copen-
hagen Museum.
Stone moulds for socketed celts have also been found in Scotland.
Two pair from the parish of Rosskeen, Boss-shire, ft have been figured by
Professor Daniel Wilson. They are for looped celts rather wide and
straight at the edge, about 5 inches long and of hexagonal section. The
castings from the one are plain upon the faces ; in those from the other
there are three annulets connected by raised ribs, much the same as on one
face of the celt from Wigtonshire (Fig. 166). These moulds had the two
halves dowelled together when in use. On one there appears to be a
second mould for a small flat bar.
In Ireland stone moxdds for socketed celts are rare, and they appear to
* Exp. Arch, de la Sav., 1878, pi. iv. 187 ; Chantre, "Alb.," pi. Hi.
t " Materiaux," vol. x. p. 112. % " Materiaux," vol. xii. p. 185.
§ "The Barrow Piggfrs," p. 75, pi. v. 10. It is so badly drawn that it might be
taken for a broken mould for a palstave. Arch., vol. xxviii. p. 451.
|| P. 78.
U Hampel, "Cat. de l'Exp. prehist.," 1876, p. 134 ; "Ant. preh. de la Hongrie;"
"Materiaux," vol. xii. p. 184.
** Wittlock, " Jord-fynd fran Wiirend's forhist. Tid.," 1874, p. 68.
ft " Preh. Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p. 345, figs. 48 and 49. Fig. 61 shows a casting
from one of tho moulds.
STONE MOULDS FOR DAGGERS.
4-33
have been for the most part cast in sand or loam. There is, however, in
the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy,*- the half of a mould of this
kind made of mica slate, and much worn by age and exposure, apparently
intended for a ribbed socketed celt. It has dowel-holes on the face of the
slab.
The mould, or more properly half of a mould, for a tanged knife, with
a central rib along the blade, is shown in Fig. 518. It is of close-
grained sandstone, and was found near Ballymoney, Co. Antrim. The
surface on which the knife has been engraved is ground very smooth, as
!• ig. 51H.— Ballymoney.
Fig. 51S). — Brougiishane. £
if to fit another half mould. In this other half there was probably little
more than grooves for the central rib and tang, as the mould at the edge
of the knife would produce a casting fully fa inch thick, which Mould
require a good deal of hammering out.
Fig. 519 shows the half of a mould for a dagger blade of elegant
form. It is of mica slate, and was found near Broughshane, Co. Antrim.
It is about I inch in thickness; and on the other face arc moulds for a
small flat chisel with side stops, in total length about 2| inches, tor a
flat triangular celt-like tool about l.\ inch long, and an unfinished mould
for a segment of a flat ring.
* Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 91, fig. 73.
F F
434 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [(HAT. XXI.
Stone moulds for daggers have been found in the Italian terramare.*
•: : W
.1 1 P'l ! i«
,.H|>
hi
toai
Fig. 521.— Knighton. i
Fig. 520.— Knighton. i
In Figs. 520 and 521 I have reproduced on the scale of one-fourth
the engravings of two stone moulds which were found near Knighton,
* Gastaldi, "Nuovi cenni," 1862, Tav. iv. 22.
STONE MOULDS FOR SPEAR-HEADS.
!:;.-»
but in the parish of Hennock, near Chudleigh, Devon, and are pub-
lished in the Arclueological Journal* They are of a light greenish
micaceous schist, such as occurs in Cornwall. The large one is 24-A- inches
in length by 3 inches in its greatest width, the smaller is 21 h inches long
and also 3 inches wide. When found the two halves of each mould were in
apposition ; the longer mould placed vertically, the shorter horizontally.
As will be seen, they are for the production of rapier-shaped blades.
In the smaller is a series of small channels, to allow of the escape of
air during the process of casting. On the larger, by the side of the main
mould, is a second, which would produce a slightly tapering casting,
ribbed longitudinally on one face
and flat on the other. It is diffi-
cult to judge of the purpose for
which it was intended, but it
may possibly have been at once
an ornament and a support for
the scabbard of the blade.
Some fluted pieces of bronze,
such as would be produced from
a mould of this kind, are in the
museum at Tours, found in a
hoard at St. Grenouph.
A mould for a short leaf -shaped
sword has been found in Ire-
land.}
A stone mould, formed of
green micaceous schist, and
found at Maghera, Co. Deny,
is in the collection of Canon
Green well, F.R.S., and is
shown in Fig. 522. As will
be seen, it is for a spear-head
of the ordinary Irish type,
with loops on the socket.
These, however, were pro-
bably flattened down during the finishing process. The outside of
the mould has been neatly rounded, and has shallow grooves in it
to assist in keeping the string in place with which the two halves
of the mould were bound together when ready for use.
In the same collection is the half of a mould for speardieads, from
Annoy, Co. Antrim. It is much like the figure, but 7| inches Long.
T have the half of a mould for a nearly similar spear-head, made of
light brown stone, with the sides left square, and not rounded. This is
also from the North of Ireland. It is dilliciilt to understand the manner
in which the cores for forming the sockets of the spear-heads were sup-
ported in the moulds. Possibly small pins of bronze were attached to the
Kg. 522.— Maghera.
* Vol. ix. p. 185.
f Mem. de» Ant. du Nord, 1872—77, p. 142.
F F 2
436 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAF. XXI.
clay core, which kept it in position, but which during the casting process
got burnt into the molten metal. I have, however, found no actual traces
of such a contrivance. On examining broken spear-heads it will some-
times be found that the socket core inside the blade, instead of being simply
conical, has lateral projections running into the thicker part of the blade.
A mould for spear-heads of the same kind as Fig. 521, found near
Claran Bridge,'1" in the barony of Dunkellen, Co. Galway, has at the base
two pin-holes about 1 inch long and J inch in diameter. Their axes are
parallel to that of the socket. These may possibly be connected with
the steadying of the core.
A stone mould found at the edge of Lough Earner, Co. Cavan,f and
now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is quadrangular in
section, with moulds for very small lance-heads on three of its faces. On
the fourth there are marks of a worn-out mould. The corresponding
halves have not been found. Such instances of several half -moulds on a
single block of stone are not unfrequent.
Fig. 523.— Loug-h Gur.
A moiety of a stone mould for casting spear-heads of various
sizes, and also pointed objects, " possibly," though not probably,
"arrow-heads," was found at Lough Gur,+ Co. Limerick, and is now
in the British Museum. It is a four-sided prism, 6| inches long
and 2 1 inches broad at one end of each face, and If inch at the
other. A second similar prism would, it has been observed, give four
perfect moulds for casting spear-heads slightly varying in form, but
in each case provided with side loops. These loops are as usual
semicircular in form on the mould, and were no doubt destined to
be flattened in the usual manner by a subsequent process of ham-
mering. There is one special feature in this mould, viz. that at
the base of the blade there is a transverse notch in the stone,
evidently destined to receive a small pin, which would serve to
keep the clay core for the socket in its proper position. There is
a similar transverse notch in one of the smaller moulds for the
pointed objects. This mould is shown in Fig. 523.
* Arch., vol. xv. p. 349, pi. xxxiv. 1, 2. f Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R. I. A.," p. 93.
% Arch. Journ., vol. xx. \). 170. The cut is kindly lent by the Council of the Institute.
STONE MOVLDS FOE SPEAR-HEADS
437
There is a similar notch in a mould for leaf-
shaped spear-heads without loops in the Treusker
Collection at Dresden. It would seem as if the
pin which formed the hole for the rivet was also
of use to support the core. Another such mould is
in the museum at Modena.
There are similar notches in a stone mould for
spear-heads, in one of burnt clay for socketed
knives, found at Mcerigen, in the Lake of Bienne,
and in one found in the Lake of Varese.*
A small Irish mould for casting broad leaf-shaped
lance-heads without loops is in the Antiquarian
Museum at Edinburgh.
A mould of much the same character as the
Irish examples was found near Campbelton,t
in Kintyre, Argyleshire. It is formed of dark
serpentine, and one of its halves is shown in
Fig. 524. On the same spot were found two
j)olished stone celts and another stone mould
for spear-heads, in two portions, also of ser-
j>entine, shown in Figs. 525 and 526, both
sides being cut for moulds, one for a looped
spear-head and the other for one without loops.
Dr. Arthur Mitchell, who has described this
find, says that in this second mould the two halves
Fig.
a n
Fig. 525.— Campbelton. £
Fig. 626.— Campbelton. 4
* Ranchot e Regazzoni, Atti delta Soc. Hal. de sc. nat., vol. xxi.
t Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot.,vol. vi. p. 48, pi. vi. 1 am indebted to the Council Eor the
use of these Eoui blocks.
438 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
as in the one first described. In this case one-half has the shape
of the spear-head deeply cut into the stone, so as to include the whole
thickness of the edge of the spear, and the other side has simply
the midrib alone cut on it, and the rest of that side of the mould
is gently bevelled towards the edges, the result of which simple plan
is that when the two sides are laid together a perfect mould is
made, the two sides of the casting being almost exactly alike, less
labour being thus required than in forming an outline exactly
alike on both sides of the stone mould, and the result being
equally satisfactory.
An English, or rather Welsh, quadrangular mould, much like that
from Lough Grur, was found between Bodwrdin * and Tre Ddafydd,
Anglesea. It is formed of hone-stone 9£ inches long, with the sides
tapering from 2 inches to 1£ inch. It is adapted for casting looped
spear-heads of two sizes, and what has been regarded as a double-looped
celt. The fourth side has a conical groove, and may be the complement
of another more denned motdd, as is the case with Fig. 525b. It has
been thought to have been for a spike-like javelin. What has been
regarded as the mould for double-looped celts seems also to be the shallow
half of a mould for spear-heads. In the museum at Clermont Ferrand f
there is an analogous stone mould for palstaves of three types and a
point or ferrule.
Of other stone moulds, I may mention one for casting buckles of a
kind like those from Polden Hill, which was found at Camelford, Corn-
wall.]: This is not improbably of Late Celtic date.
I have a flat oval slab of compact grit, about 2 inches thick, having on
one face a mould for a thin oval plate of metal about 5 inches by 4i inches,
and on the other a mould for a rather thicker oval plate, about 6 inches
by Ah inches. It was found near Nantlle, Carnarvon, and was given me
by Mr. R. D. Darbishire, F.S.A. I am uncertain as to the period to
which it ought to be assigned.
Of foreign moulds of stone besides those already cited, I may mention
some for double-ended hatchets and for flat celts which have been found
in the Island of Sardinia. §
A number of moulds formed of stone, principally mica-schist, were
found by Dr. Schliemann || during his excavations on the presumed site
of Troy. They were for casting flat celts, tanged spear-heads or daggers,
and various other forms. Several of the blocks had moulds on both sides
and ends, and served for casting as many as a dozen different objects.
The moulds made of bronze which have been found in this
country are for palstaves, socketed celts, and gouges only. They
appear to be more abundant in England than in any of the neigh-
bouring parts of Europe. At one time the whole school of English
* Arch. Joitrn., vol. iii. p. 257, vol. vi. p. 385 ; Lindenschmit, "A. u. h. V.," vol. ii.
Heft. xii. Taf. i. 5.
t Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 1GG.
% Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv. p. U8. § Spano, " Paleoutnol. Sard.," p. 27.
|| "Troy and its Remains," pp. 82, 110, 139, 173, 261, <fcc.
BRONZE MOULDS FOR PALSTAVES.
439
antiquaries regarded the moulds for socketed celts as cases or
sheaths specially prepared to hold such instruments.* To Vallancey,
I think, belongs the credit of being the first to recognise their
true character. In writing about the half of a bronze mould for
palstaves found in Ireland, he observes,! " Dr. Borlase and Mr.
Lort had seen brass cases of these instruments, which fitted them
as exactly as if they had been the molds in which the instru-
ments were cast. I cannot conceive why these gentlemen hesitate
Tig. 527.— Hotham Cair. J
to call them molds, as a certain proof that they were manufactured
in Ireland, where the Romans came not, either as friends or foes,
the molds are found in our bogs ; they are of brass also, mixed
with a greater quantity of iron, or in some manner tempered much
harder than the instruments." I am not sure that the latter
remark as to the comparative hardness of the moulds holds good
in all cases, otherwise the correctness of the opinion expressed by
Vallancey, now about a hundred years ago, is undeniable.
* See Arch., vol. v. p. 108 et teqq. t " Colli ■< ■l:un-;i," ml. iv. p. 59,
440 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
In Fig. 527 are given three views of one half of a complete mould
for palstaves, -which was found with a hoard of bronze objects, includ-
ing seven palstaves without loops, at Hotham Carr, in Yorkshire, E.R
It is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. Among the
palstaves which were found with it only one was in an un-
damaged condition. As will be seen from the figure, there are
projections or dowels on the face of this half of the mould which
fit into corresponding depressions in the counterpart, so as to
steady the two halves when
brought together and keep
them in proper position. At
the top is a cup-shaped
cavity for the reception of
the metal. Any portion of
the casting which occupied
this part of the mould was
broken off from the palstave
when it was cool, and was
kept for re-melting. Such
waste pieces, or jets, from tie
moulds are of common occur-
rence in the old founders'
hoards, and some will be
subsequently noticed.
Another mould for simple
palstaves was found in Danes-
j j[ 'J$ I ' JBBillffl'W/l ^e^> near Bangor,* in L800.
|S« mm \ t^1' ^~'%tdr ^ *s ^or a hlade rather wider
at the edge and narrower in
the shank than that produced
by the Yorkshire mould. With
Fig. 528.— Wiltshire. £ Fig. 529.— Wiltshire. | •/ £ j ,, , , n
it was found another mould for
a looped palstave of about the same size. One half of each pair of
moulds is in the British Museum, and the other half in Lord Bray-
brooke's collection at Audley End. The half of a bronze mould for a
simple palstave, with a shield-shaped ornament below the stop-ridge,
was found in Ireland. f One of the same kind was lately in the collec-
tion of Mr. Stevenson of Lisburn.
In the British Museum is another moidd for looped palstaves, which is
shown in Figs. 528 and 529, for the use of which I am indebted to the
Council of the Society of Antiquaries. J The original was found in Wiltshire.
It is remarkable as bearing on each of its halves bands evidently cast from
actual twine which has been upon the model ; but the bands on the two
* Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 38G, vol. xviii. p. 166 ; Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol. ii. p. 128.
t VulluiiLW, "Coll.," vol. iv. p. 59, pi. x. 10. \ &roc. Sue. Ant., vol. iii. p. 158.
33$r
BRONZE MOULDS FOR SOCKETED CELTS.
411
halves do not coincide, being on the one placed higher than on the other.
The sides are also joggled together in a singular maimer. As to the
bands of cording, it may be that the model of the first half of the mould
was formed of clay, which when dry, in order to prevent its being broken,
was tied on to the palstave on which it had been shaped, and was thus
moulded in clay or loam ; and that afterwards, when the second half of
the mould had to be cast by a similar process, the model for it was tied
on to the half -mould already formed, the binding being in contact with
the side of the band already in reHef upon the back and sides of the half-
mould.
Several palstave moulds formed of bronze have been found in different
countries in Europe.
The half of one, found in the Saone, for looped palstaves, is in the
museum at Lyons.*
General A. Pitt
Rivers, F.R.S., has one
from the neighbour-
hood of Macon. f
M. Charles Seidler, of
Nantes, has another.
Another from the
hoard of Notre-Dame
d'Or, Vienne, is in the
museum at Poitiers.
M. Porel has another
found in the Lake-dwel-
lings at Morges.J
A palstave mould of
bronze, found near
Medingen, is in the
museum at Hanover. §
The half of one found
at Polsen, near Merse-
burg,|| is in that of
Berlin.
Fig. 530.— Uarty.
Another bronze mould from the neighbourhood of Griinberg,^[ is in the
museum at Larrnstadt.
There are several bronze moulds of this character in the Museum of
Northern Anticpaities at Copenhagen.
In Figs. 530 and 531 are engraved the halves of two moulds
for casting socketed celts of different sizes and patterns, which
were found with a number of other relics in the Isic of Uarty,
Sheppey, and are now in my own collection. I have already
given an account of this discovery elsewhere ; ** but as it throws -<>
* Chantre, "Album," pi. i. ; " Ago du Br.," lerc. ptie., p. 26.
t Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. i'.i'.'>.
X Keller, 3er Berieht, p. 109, pi. vii. 43 ; Troyon, "H.ib. Lac," pi. x. 15.
§ Lmdenschmit, "Alt. u. h. V.," vol. ii. Eeft. xii. Tut', i. ;j.
|| Bastian unci A. Yuss, "Die Bronzt'-s<-h\\vrl< r <lrs K. Mus. zu Berlin," Taf. xiv. !».
11 Lindenschmit, ubi •■-"/'., Taf. i. 4.
** Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 408; "Cong, preh.," Stockholm vol. i. p. 445.
442 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
much light upon the whole process of casting as practised towards the
close of the Bronze Period, it will be desirable to give a somewhat
detailed account of the entire find and its teachings in this place.
The hoard, which may very fairly be described as the stock-in-
trade of an ancient bronze-founder, consisted of the following
articles —
Both halves of the mould, Fig. 530.
5 celts cast in this mould and a fragment.
Both halves of the mould, Fig. 531.
1 celt cast in it.
One-half of a smaller mould with a portion of a lead lining
adhering to it, as kindly determined for me by Dr. J. Percy, F.R.S.
3 celts, more or less worn out, apparently cast in it.
2 large celts from different
moulds.
2 small socketed celts from
other and different moulds.
Both halves of a gouge mould,
Fig. 532.
2 gouges,
Fig\ 531.— Harty. §
1 perforated disc, Fig. 503.
1 ferrule, Fig. 377.
both from one
mould, but it is doubtful
whether they are from this. See
Fig. 205.
2 pointed tools, Fig. 220.
1 double-edged knife, Fig.
253.
1 single-edged knife, Fig. 2 GO.
1 part of a curved bracelet-like object of doubtful use, with
small hole near the end.
1 hammer or anvil, Fig. 211.
1 small hammer, Fig. 212.
2 pieces of rough copper.
1 whetstone, Fig. 540.
Of the largest mould itself, Fig. 530, not much need be said.
The dowels on the face of one of the halves have been much injured
by oxidation, so that the two parts of the mould do not now fit so
well together as they did originally. On the outside of each valve
are two projecting pins intended to hold the cord in position, by
which the two parts of the mould were held together when in use.
THE HARTY HOARD. 443
As will be seen, the mould itself is somewhat bell-mouthed. Of
the ornamental " flanches " on the celt, I have already given the ,
history at page 108. The instruments cast from this mould, and
present in the hoard, are five in number, four in fairly perfect
condition, and one broken in two in the middle. Though cast in
the same mould, no two are absolutely alike. Not only do they
vary in width at their edges — the natural result of one having
been more freely hammered out than another — but in the upper
part, to which very little has been done in the way of hammering
or grinding since the celt left the mould, there are striking differ-
ences. As will be seen, the mould is calculated to produce three
parallel mouldings round the mouth of each celt ; but in one of
the castings only two of these mouldings are present ; in another
there are three, and there is metal enough beyond to represent
half the width of another moulding. In two others the length is
equivalent to nearly another moulding, so that the celts appear to
have four mouldings round their mouths ; and in the fifth celt
there is a collar of plain metal extending § inch beyond the three
bands (see Fig. 113.) On comparing this instrument with that
first described, the difference in the length above the loop is
upwards of \ inch. This difference can only be accounted for
by a difference in the arrangement of the mould and core at
the time of casting. On comparing the interior of one celt with
that of another, it is evident that the core was not produced in
any mould or core-box, as the small projecting ribs of metal left as
usual to help in steadying the haft vary in number and position.
In the case of the celt broken in two in the middle, the core has
been placed so much out of the centre that there is a large hole
in the casting: where there was not room for the metal to run.
The system adopted appears, therefore, to have been much as
follows.
First, the mould was tied together in proper position, and loam
or clay was rammed into it so as tightly to fill the upper pari.
The mould was, secondly, taken apart — and the clay removed
and probably left to become nearly dry. Thirdly, the lower part
of the clay was then trimmed to form the core, a shoulder being
left which would form the mould for the top of the celt. The
upper part of the clay would be left untouched, beyond having
two channels cut in it to allow of the passage of the melted metal.
Fourthly, the mould would be tied together again with the pre-
pared core inside, the untrimmed part of which would fori a a
444 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
guide for its due position in the mould. / Fifthly, the mould would
then be placed vertically, probably by being stuck into sand, and
the melted metal would be poured down the channels. When cool
the runners thus formed would be broken off, and the fractured
surfaces would be hammered or ground/* The knife found with
the hoard was probably used for cutting the channels and trimming
the core. If such a process as that which I have described were
in use, it is evident that the chances would be much against the
shoulders of the clay core being always cut at exactly the same
place, and we have at once a reason for the variation here ob-
served.
There is another cause for slight variations in the sharpness of
the mouldings and the other details of the castings. / In order to
prevent the molten bronze from adhering to the bronze mould, the
latter must have been smeared over with something by way of
protection, so as to form a thin film between the metal of the
mould and that of the casting./ Modern founders, when casting
pewter in brass, or even iron, moulds,* "anoint" the latter with
red ochre and white of egg, or smoke the inside of the mould /and
our plumbers prevent solder from amalgamating with lead by
using lamp-black and size, or even by rubbing it with a dock-leaf.
[ No doubt the ancient founders had some equally simple method,
such as brushing the mould over with a very thin coat of marl./
Turning now to the second mould, Fig. 531, it will be seen that
just below the mouldings there is accidentally present a sharply
defined small recess ; the imjjression, however, of this recess on
the celt cast in this mould is not nearly so sharp, probably in con-
sequence of the mould having been smeared as lately suggested.
It will also be noticed that though there is a double band of
mouldings in the mould, there is but one and a fraction on the
celt itself, which is shown in Fig. 114.
The outside of this mould is provided with three knobs to keep
the binding cord from slipping off. The other and smallest half-
mould has a single projection in the middle, like an imperfectly
formed loop. The three celts which were apparently cast in this
mould show great uniformity at their upper ends, and to the
reason for this I think the lead adhering to the mould furnishes a
clue. It is evident that if, in preparing the cores, instead of
beginning by having the mould empty and ramming clay into it,
* Holtzappf el, "Turning and Mcch. Manip.," vol. i. p. 321; Arch. Journ., vol. iv.
p. 337.
THE HARTY HOAUU.
445
which was subsequently to be trimmed, the founder placed a celt
in the mould, its socket would act as a core-box or mould for a clay
core which would require no further trimming so far as the part of
forming the socket was concerned. On opening out the mould
this core could be withdrawn from the socket of the model celt,
and when dry would be ready for use. Perhaps in the celts with
long and not highly tapering sockets there would be a difficulty
in getting out the clay unbroken, and the process would not be
found to answer ; but in the case of the small celts there would
probably be less difficulty. In this mould I think we have the
remains of a celt formed of lead, an instrument which would be
utterly useless as a cutting tool, but which might well have been
made and kept as a core-box. The very fact of its being made of
another metal would prevent its being confounded with the other
castings and being bartered away; while in the first instance a casting
in lead might have been made on a wooden core, which could pro-
bably be trimmed to the exact shape required more readily than one
of clay. I have elsewhere* called attention to the fact that wooden
moulds were in use among the Ancient Britons for the casting of
coins formed of tin. Several socketed celts made of lead have from
time to time been found, though not in association with bronze-
founders' hoards, and have been a great puzzle to antiquaries. One
found at Alnwick, t near Sleaford, Lincolnshire, was thought to
have come from a barrow. One found with bronze celts in the
Morbihan, is in the collection of the Rev. Canon Green well, F.R.S.,
but it is doubtful whether it was used as a core-box. The use
which I have sus^ested for them is at all events one that is
possible, but we must wait for further discoveries before accepting
it as the only cause for their existence.
A mould for sword hilts found in Italy, + and now in the museum
at Munich, is formed by three pieces of bronze, even the core by
which the cavity in them was produced being formed of that metal.
But that the cores were frequently if not always made of clay,
and not, as has been sometimes supposed, of metal, is proved by
the numbers of socketed celts which from time to time have been
found with the cores still in them, though this, it is true, has been
the case in France rather than in England. In the giv.it hoard of
socketed celts found near Plenc'e Jugon, in Brittany, the majority
* " Anc. British Coins," \>. 124.
t Proc. Geol. and Pok/t . Hoc. »/' Yorkshire, 1866, p. 1".'.'.
X Lindenschmit, "Alt. u. h. Vorz.," Heft. i. Tat', ii. 10, 11, 12.
446 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAF. XXI.
were as they had come from the mould, with the clay cores still in
them, burnt as hard as brick by the heat of the metal. I have
already mentioned this fact in describing the tool from the Harty
hoard, which appears to have been used for extracting the cores.
I have also described the anvil, if such it be, and the hammer,
Figs. 211 and 212, by means of which, probably, the edges of the
celts were drawn out and hardened. I will now add that the celt,
Fig. 114, is too long and too broad at the edge for that part of
it to enter into the mould in which it was cast. This shows how
much its edge was drawn out by hammering. The final sharp-
ening was no doubt effected by the whetstone, Fig. 540.
Fig. 532.— Haity. \
The other mould from this hoard is almost unique of its kind.
Two views of each of its halves are given in Fig. 532. Originally
there was a loop on the back of each half, but from one this has in
old times been broken off. The arrangement for carrying the core is
different from what it seems to have been in the other moulds. There
is in the upper part of the mould when put together a transverse
hole, which would produce what may be termed trunnions on the
clay core, and assist materially in holding it in proper position
during the process of casting. From the upper surfaces of the
gouges found with the mould, it appears that there were two
channels cut for the runners of metal, one at the middle of each
half of the mould, so as to alternate with the joint of the mould
through which the air could escape during the casting process.
BRONZE MOULDS FOR GOUGES AND CELTS. 447
What appears to be part of a mould for gouges was found in the
hoard of Notre-Danie d'Or, and is now in the museum at Poitiers.
I must now return to the other examples of moulds for socketed
celts which have been found in this country.
One, with, external loops on each half, like that on Fig. 532b, was found
with looped palstaves, socketed celts, and broken dagger or sword blades,
at Wilmington, * Sussex, and is now in the museum at Lewes. All these
objects, as is the case in many other hoards, had been deposited in a vessel
of coarse pottery.
Another mould, found with eleven celts and fragments of weapons at
Eaton,f near Norwich, has smaller and broader loops near the top. On
each side of the face of one half, a little distance from the actual moidd,
and roughly following its contour, is a shallow groove, into which tits a
corresponding ridge on the counterpart. The outer face of each half is
ornamented with two slightly curved vertical ribs, one on each side of the
loop, and joined at the base by a transverse rib. It is for casting celts
about 4 J inches long, and of the ordinary form.
Another moidd, for celts with an octagonal neck, was found on the
Quantock Hills, X Somersetshire (and not in Yorkshire), and is now in
the British Museum. The halves are adjusted to each other by a rib and
groove, as on that last mentioned, and the back is ornamented with a
peculiar raised figure with three vertical hues and a straight transverse
line at the top, and two lines at the bottom running up to the central
vertical Line so as to form on each side of it an angle of about 120°.
At the junction there is a ring ornament, and two others near the angles
formed with the side lines. This mould has a transverse hole at the top
like that in the gouge-mould already mentioned.
Another mould, also in the British Museum, § is for celts with three
vertical ribs on the face. This likewise has a transverse and nearly square
hole at the top, and also recesses in each half-mould, so as to give four
points of support to the core between which the channels for the runners
might be cut. On the outside, near the top, is a loop, and near the
bottom two projecting pins to retain the string. This appears to be the
mould from Yorkshire belonging to Mr. Warburton, figured by Stukeley.||
The half of another mould for celts, of nearly the same character, Mas
found in the Heathery Burn Cave,^| already so often mentioned, and is
shown in Fig. 533, for the use of which I am indebted to the Council of
the Society of Antiquaries.
Another mould was found in the fen atWashmgborough,**near Lincoln.
Another, from Cleveland,ff found with elite's, gouges, &c, is in tin-
Bateman Collection.
A part of another was found in a hoard at Beddington, Surrey, J J and a
* Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xiv. p. 171 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xx. p. 192.
t Arch., vol. xxii. p. 421; Arch. Journ. , vol. vi. p. 387 ; " Arch. Inst.," Norwich vol.,
p. xxvi. I have assumed that the mould described in these passages is one and the
same.
X Arch., vol. v. pi. vii. ; Arch. Journ., vol. iv. p. 336, pi. iii. .">, 6, 7, 8.
§ Arch. Journ., vol. iv. pi. ii. 5, 6, 7, 8. || " It in. Cur.,*' pi. iccvi , 2nd ed.
II Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132 ; Arch. Journ., vol. xi\. p. 358.
** Arch. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 166. ft Ibid.
XX " Surrey Arch. Soc. Coll.," vol. vi.
448 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
182
2i.
fragment of another at Wickham Park, Croydon. This latter is now in
the British Museum.
A bronze mould for socketed celts, found at Eikrath, was in the collection
of the late Dr. Hugo Garthe, of Cologne. Upon the outside there are
six ribs with ring ornaments at the ends, diverging from a loop in the
centre.
A bronze mould for socketed celts, ornamented with V-shaped lines, and
found at Gnadenfeld,* in Upper Silesia, is in the Berlin Museum.
Another bronze mould with an external loop, also for socketed celts, was
found in Gotland,! and ^s m the Stockholm Museum.
A magnificent mould for socketed celts was found in the Cotentin J in
It has broad loops outside either half, with three processes from
it running up and down the mould.
A bronze mould for spear-heads was ex-
hibited in Paris in 1878. A part of another
was in the Larnaud hoard, and is now in
the museum at St. Germain.
There were some fragments of bronze
moulds in the great Bologna hoard.
The process of casting bronze instru-
ments in loam, clay, or sand must have
been much the same as that in use at
the present day ; but it was very rarely
that the mould consisted of more or
less than two pieces. On a great many
bronze instruments the joint of the
mould is still visible; and in some of
the large hoards, such as those which
have been found in the North of France,
we see the castings just as they came
from the moulds, except that the runners have been broken off.
For socketed celts there were usually two runners of metal ; for
palstaves sometimes two, and sometimes only one nearly the full
width of the upper part. It is not uncommon to find castings
which show that the two halves of the mould or the flasks have
slipped sideways, so that they were not in proper position when
the casting was made.
1 have a palstave from a large hoard found near Tours, in which
the lateral displacement of the mould is as much as a quarter of an
inch, so that there is what geologists might term a "fault " in the
casting The metal which has been in contact with what was the
face of the mould is smooth, and appears to have been cast against
* Bastiau and A. Voss, " Dio Bronze-schwerter des K. Mus.," p. 76.
t Ulfsparre, " Svenska Fornsaker," pi. viii. 93.
+ Mem. Soc. Ant. Norm., 1827-8, pi. xviii.
Fig. 533.— Heathery Burn, i
MOULDS FORMED OF BURNT CLAY. 449
clay. A considerable variety of patterns was in use by the founder
to whom this hoard belonged, and they appear to have been of
metal and not of wood, some of the palstaves having been appa-
rently cast from tools already shortened by wear.
That castings were occasionally made even from tools already
mounted in their handles is proved by the Swiss hatchet,
Fig. 185.
Some portions of moulds formed of burnt clay were found
with broken palstaves, socketed celts, gouges, knives, spear-heads,
daggers, swords, lumps of metal, runners, &c, at Questembert
Brittany, and are in the museum at Vannes.
Part of a mould for spear-heads formed of burnt clay was found
in the Lac du Bourget ;* but the most interesting discoveries are
those which have been made by Dr. V. Gross at the station of
Mcerigen,t on the Lake of Bienne. He there found a considerable
amount of the plant of an ancient bronze-founder, all of whose
moulds, however, were either in stone or burnt clay, and not
formed of metal. The stone moulds appear to have been princi-
pally used for the plainer articles, such as knives, sickles, pins, &c,
while for articles with irregular surfaces, or requiring cores, clay
was preferred. Of clay moulds Dr. Gross recognises two types :
one formed in a single piece, which could serve but once, and which
was broken in extracting the casting ; and the other, which was
composed of two or more pieces, and which could be used over and
over again. Of the first kind there were two examples — one for a
socketed chisel and the other for a socketed knife. The form of
the mould for a chisel is nearly cylindrical, with a funnel-shaped
opening at one end, at the bottom of which are two holes leading
into the interior of the mould. The clay between these two holes
forms part of a conical core. Such a mould would give the idea
of its having been formed on a model of wax on the system known
as that of cire perdue ; but this appears not to have been really
the case, for on examination the mould itself appears to have been
originally formed of two halves, or valves, formed of fine clay,
which had been well burnt, and these when put together had been
surrounded by an external envelope of coarse clay, which held
them and the core they enclosed in their proper position. The
core itself seems to have been T-shaped, the ends of the transverse
line being triangular and fitting into corresponding recesses in the
valves of the mould.
* Chantre, " Alb.," pi. liv. 5. t Keller, 7ter Bericht, p. 16, Taf. xvii.
G G
450 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXL
The best-preserved mould of the second kind was one for a
socketed hammer, which was also provided with a core of the same
kind. It seems to me, however, that the distinction draAvn by
Dr. Gross between the two classes of moulds does not really exist,
as by enveloping such a mould as that for the hammer in a
mass of clay it would be transferred from the second class to
the first.
Clay moulds for socketed- celts have been found in Hungary.*
In some Scandinavian examples! of what appear to have been
ceremonial axes there is merely a thin coating of bronze cast over a
clay core, but no such specimens have as yet been found in Britain.
That bronze so thin could have been cast shows wonderful skill
in the founder.
The heads and runners, jets or waste pieces, from the castings
were reserved for being re-melted, and are frequently found in the
Fig. 534. — Stogursey. \
■ - „ prjj
Fig. 535.— Stogursey. £
bronze-founders' hoards. They are of course of various sizes,
but are usually conical masses, showing the shape of the cup or
funnel into which the metal was poured, and having one, two, or
more processes from them showing the course of the metal into
the mould.
Figs. 534, 535 and 536, all from the same hoard, found at Stogursey,"]:
Somersetshire, will give a fair idea of the general character of these
waste pieces, or jets. They are shown with their flat face downwards,
or in the reverse position to what they occupied when in the molten state,
and exhibit one, two, and four runners from them respectively. No less
than fifteen of these objects were found with this deposit — six with one
runner, three with two, and six with four.
Jets of metal, for the most part with two runners, were found with the
"VVestow hoard, § Yorkshire, those of Marden, || Kent; of Kensington ; ^[
* " Materiaux," vol. xii. p. 184.
t "Aarbogerfor Nord. Oldk.," 1866, p. 124.
X Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 40!).
§ Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p. 382; Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. iii. pp. 10 and 58.
|| Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 2o8.
II J'roc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. iii. p. 232.
JETS OR WASTE PIECES OF METAL. \')l
and of Ilounslow. Those from the two latter deposits are in the British
Museum.
Another waste piece, If inch long, with two runners, was found in
the Heathery Burn Cave,* and is shown in Fig. 537.
A very symmetrical jet, circular, with four irregularly conical runners
proceeding from it, was in the hoard found at Lanant,f Cornwall, and is
now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries.
Another oval head (2 inches long), with four runners from it, has much
the appearance of a sword pommel. It was found with socketed
celts on Kenidjack Cliff, J Cornwall.
A perforated disc, with a collar round the central hole (Fig. 503),
which at one time § I regarded as a waste piece from a casting, I have
now reason to think was prepared for some special
purpose, as at least one object of this class has been
found with the runners removed, and in a finished
condition. See page 403.
The conical lump of metal found with the hoard
at Marden,|| Kent, and described as "a very rare
species of fibula," may be the head of metal from
a casting. tSeivBorn
Some conical funnels of burnt clay, found in the
Lake-dwellings near Laibach, have been regarded as having served to
receive the metal in the casting process.
Runners of the same character as those already described have been
found in different countries, including Denmark ^[ and Sweden.**
We must now briefly consider the processes to which the cast-
ings were subjected before being finally brought into use. Where
the objects had sockets cast over clay cores, those cores had to be
removed, probably by means of pointed tools, such as that already
described under Fig. 220. Where they were solid they seem in
most cases to have undergone a considerable amount of hammering,
which both rendered the metal more compact, and to a certain
extent removed the asperities resulting from the joints in the
mould. With edged tools and weapons, whether socketed or not,
the edges especially were drawn down by means of the hammer.
These hammers, as has already been shown, were occasionally
themselves of bronze, and so also were some of the anvils. It is,
however, probable that in most cases both hammers and anvils were
stones, either natural pebbles and flat slabs, or occasionally wrought
into special shapes. In South Africa at the present day the iron
assegais are wrought with hammers and anvils of stone. Judging
from the unfinished condition of the tools and weapons in sonic
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. ii. p. 132. I am indebted to the Council for the use of
this cut; Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p. 358.
t Arch., vol. xv. p. 118, pi. ii. J Journ. Roy. List, of Comical!, No. xxi. fig. 4.
§ " Petit Album," pi. xxv, 6. || Arch. Axsoc. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 260.
11 Worsaae, " Nord. Olds.," figs. 213, 214. ** Montelius, " La Suede preh.," fig. 10.
GG 2
452 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
of the old bronze-founders' hoards, and from large deposits of
socketed celts having been found with the clay cores still in them,
it seems not improbable that the founders often bartered away
their castings nearly in the state in which they came from the
moulds, with only the runners broken oft', and that those who
acquired them finished their manufacture themselves. Possibly a
hammering process upon the surface of the socketed spear-heads
and celts would so loosen the cores that they would fall out or
could be extracted with merely a pointed stick.
After the hammering, the surface of most weapons and of some
tools was further polished, probably by friction with sand, or with
a rubbing-stone of grit. I have elsewhere described some of the
stone rubbers which appear to have been in use in conjunction
with sand, for the purpose of grinding and polishing the faces of
different forms of perforated stone axes, which in Britain at all
Fig. 538.— Kirby Moorside. J Fig. 5:i9.— Hove
events belonged to the period when bronze was known. It is,
therefore, probable that similar rubbers were employed for grind-
ing and polishing the faces of bronze weapons ; and the rubber
shown in Fig. 538 appears to have been destined for this purpose.
It was found with several socketed celts at Keldholm, near Kirby
Moorside, North Riding of Yorkshire, and is now in Canon Green-1-
well's collection. The material seems to be trap.
No doubt many other such rubbing-stones must exist, and it is
possible that some of those which I have regarded as used for the
grinding and polishing of weapons of stone may have served for
those of bronze. Whetstones of various kinds have from time to
time been discovered in company with bronze instruments. Near
Little AVenlock,* Staffordshire, some spear-heads, a socketed celt, and
part of a dagger were found in 1835, and with them are recorded
to have been three or four small whetstones. In the Dowris
hoard f also some rubbers of stone with convex, concave, and
* Hartshorne's " Salop. Ant.," p. 95. t Prcc. JR. 1. Acad., vol. iv. p. 439.
RUBBERS AND WHETSTONES. 453
flat surfaces were present. In my "Ancient Stone Implements"*
I have given an account of a number of "whetstones found at
various places in company with bronze relics, not unfrequently
with interments in barrows, and I need not here repeat the
details. I reproduce, however, in Fig. 539 a whetstone found
in a barrow at Hove, near Brighton,! with the remains of a
skeleton, a stone axe-head, an amber cup, and a small bronze
dagger.
Another whetstone, shown in Fig. 540, was found with the
hoard in the Isle of Harty, and no doubt was employed by the
ancient bronze-founder for finishing off the edges of the socketed
celts and gouges in which he dealt. It is made from a sort of
ragstone.
The decoration of the surfaces of bronze implements by sunk, and
in some cases by raised lines appears to have been
effected, not as a rule by any method of engraving,
but by means of punches, as already described in
Chapter III. I have in that chapter accidentally
omitted to mention two decorated bronze celts which
have been figured and described by Mr. Llewellynn
Jewitt, F.S.A.+ They were both found at a place called
Highlow, in the High Peak of Derbyshire, about two
miles from Hathersage, and are in the possession of the
Duke of Devonshire. There seems some reason to
believe§ that the celts were found in a barrow accom-
panied by burnt bones and pottery. One of them
(6f inches) is flat and ornamented with lines of slightly
impressed chevrons running along it. The other (6j
inches) is flanged and ornamented with a similar herring- Fig. 6 o.
■l t • i • -i • • -i • c Harty.
bone pattern, which in this instance ends in a row ot
triangles near the edge of the celt. In some few cases the patterns
may have been engraved, and I find on trial that there is no diffi-
culty in engraving such parallel lines as are frequently seen on
dagger blades by means of a flake of flint. Such an instrument
suffers but little by wear, and by means of a ruler, either straight
or curved, there is no difficulty in engraving lines of the required
character in the bronze, though the lines are hardly so smooth as
if made with a chisel-edged punch.
* Chap. xi. p. 235 et seqq.
t Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. ix. p. 120, whence this cut is borrowed; Arch. Jourri.,
vol. xiii. p. 184, vol. xv. p. 90. J " Reliquary," vol. iv. p. 63.
§ Pennington, " Barrows and Bone Caves of Derbyshire," 1877, p. 51.
454 METAL, MOULDS, AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. [CHAP. XXI.
Notches which would assist in the breaking off of superfluous
pieces of metal, such as the runners in the moulds, can readily be
made with flint flakes used as saws.
For smoothing the surface of bronze instruments flint scraping-
tools are not so efficient, as they are liable to " chatter " and to
leave an uneven and scratched surface, much inferior to one
produced by friction with a gritty rubber.
There remains little more to be said with regard to the manu-
facture of the ancient bronze tools and weapons. It may, however, be
observed that the processes of hammering-out and sharpening the
edges were employed not only by those who first made the instru-
ments, hut also by the subsequent possessors. Many tools, such
for instance as palstaves, like Fig. 65, were no doubt originally
much longer in the blade than they are at present, and have in
the course of use either been broken and again drawn down and
sharpened, or have been actually worn away and " stumped up "
by constant repetition of these processes. The recurved ends of
the lunate cutting edges of many such instruments are also due to
repeated hammering-out. In some instances the broken part of
one instrument has been converted into another form — as, for
example, a fragment of a broken sword into a knife or dagger,
or a palstave that has lost its cutting end, into a hammer.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE.
Having now passed in review the various forms of instruments,
arms, and ornaments belono-inof to the Bronze Period of Great
Britain, it will be well to attempt some chronological arrangement
of the different types, and to examine the means at our command
for fixing the approximate date and duration of the Period as well
as the sources from which the knowledge of bronze in this country
was derived.
The sequence and extent of variation in the types of an
instrument or weapon destined to serve some given purpose are
of course important factors in any theoretical calculation of the
length of time such an instrument was in use. For if the type
has remained one and the same during the whole period of the
use of the instrument, it affords no evidence as to the length of
its duration ; whereas, if it has varied, and the sequence of its
variations can be traced, their nature and extent may afford some
means of judging of the length of time probably necessary for the
development of the succession of forms. Or where an instrument
lias been so well adapted for its particular ends that no material
modification in its form was likely to take place in it, so long as
its use was limited to its original purpose, yet the springing from
it of what may be termed collateral types of instruments specialized
for other though analogous purposes may also be indicative of the
original form having remained in use during a lengthened period
of time.
The extremely numerous variations which may be observed in
socketed celts afford conclusive evidence of that instrument having
been employed in this country during a long series of years ; and
the collateral varieties, such as socketed chisels and gouges, as well
as the more distantly related socketed hammers, give corroborative
testimony to the same effect.
456 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
Improvements in the method of working metals will often react
on the forms of tools and weapons, but here again the chrono-
logical element exists, as old processes and old forms are slow to
die, especially among a people of no very high material civilisation.
The discovery, for instance, of the art of producing hollow sockets
in bronze castings by the use of cores of loam or clay, though it
materially modified the form of many instruments, did not cause
the entire extinction of the older forms without sockets, the use
of which in some cases went on side by side with that of the instru-
ments of more novel invention ; and this fact tends to prove that
bronze must have long been in use for tools with tangs instead of
sockets, before the process of coring was known. Indeed, as I
have elsewhere* pointed out, the Bronze Period of Britain is
susceptible of division into an earlier and later stage, the former
mainly characterized by instruments which were let into their
hafts or handles, and the latter by those which received their
handles in sockets. As will subsequently be seen, it may be
divided even into three more or less distinct stages.
A division into two stages has been suggested for the Scandinavian
Bronze Age. M. Gabriel de Mortillet has in like manner divided the
Bronze Period of France and Switzerland into an earlier and later
stage — the one distinguished by flanged celts, which came into
use at the close of the Stone Period (his Epoque robenhausienne),
and the other by palstaves and socketed celts, which he regards as
belonging to the close of the Bronze Period. To these two stages
he has applied the terms morgien and larnaudien, derived from
the Lake-dwelling of Morges, in the Lake of Geneva, and from
the large founder's hoard discovered at Larnaud (Jura). Curiously
enough he regards the flat celts as being even more recent in date
than the socketed, forgetful that the form with flanges at the sides
can hardly by any possibility have been an original type, as such
flanges must either have been produced by hammering the sides
of flat celts, or must have been cast in a mould consisting of two
halves, which certainly cannot have been so early a form of mould
as a simple recess in stone, sand, or clay, adapted for casting a
nearly flat plate of metal like a wedge-shaped celt.
Such flat celts, as has already been mentioned, have been found
with interments in barrows associated with what were apparently
lance-heads of flint, and maces and battle-axes of stone ; and their
nearest allies, those with but slight flanges — the result of ham-
* Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol. v. p. 412.
PROPOSED DIVISION OF THE BRONZE PERIOD. 457
merinsf the sides — have also been found under similar circum-
stances.
The knife-daggers, as described in Chapter X., and the awls or
prickers, are the only other bronze instruments which in this
country can challenge a similar antiquity ; and none of these, as a
rule, are found in those deposits of bronze objects to which the
name of " hoards " has been given.
As M. Gabriel de Mortillet and others have pointed out, these
hoards are of more than one character. In certain cases they seem
to have been the treasured property of some individual who would
appear to have buried his valued tools or weapons during troublous
times, and never to have been able to disinter them. In other
cases the hoards were probably the property of a trader, as they
consist of objects ready for use and in considerable numbers ; and
in others, again, they appear to have been the stock-in-trade of
some bronze-founder of ancient times, as they conrprise worn out
and broken tools and weapons, lumps of rough metal, and even
the moulds in which the accumulation of bronze was destined to
be recast.
Mr. Worsaae has suggested that some of these hoards may be of
a votive character and have been deposited in the ground as
precious offerings to the gods. I am not, however, aware of any
of our British hoards being of such a character that they can safely
be regarded as votive.
As to the other three kinds of hoards, the small group from
Wallingford* (No. 60 in the following table), consisting of a socketed
celt, gouge, and knife, and a tanged chisel and razor, may be taken
as a good instance of a private deposit. That of Stibbard t (No. 8),
consisting of seventy palstaves and ten spear-heads, some of
them rough from the mould, would appear to have belonged to a
merchant ; and the Harty hoard (No. 105), described in the last
chapter, affords a typical example of the stock-in-trade of a bronze-
founder.
In some other cases, deposits, especially when consisting exclu-
sively of ornaments, may possibly be of a sepulchral character.
The value of the evidence afforded by hoards, especially by
those of the first and second kinds lately mentioned, is great and
unquestionable in determining the synchronism of various forms of
instruments — as, for instance, of plain and looped palstaves with
socketed celts. In the case of the bronze-founders' hoards of
* Page 128. t Pago 84.
45S CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
old metal, it is of course possible that the fragments contained may
belong to various periods. Nevertheless the objects, as a rule,
appear to be such as were in use at the time, and which, being
worn out or broken, were collected by the bronze-founder for the
purpose of re-melting. In order to make them at once more
portable and more ready for placing in the crucible, he generally
broke the larger and longer articles into fragments, broken spear-
heads, swords, &c, being frequently present in the hoards, as well
as the jets or waste pieces of metal broken off from castings. In some
instances fragments of various instruments have been inserted in the
sockets of others, so as to diminish the space occupied by the whole.
As will subsequently be seen, by far the greater number of the
undoubted bronze-founders' hoards belong to a time when socketed
celts were already in use, and therefore to the close rather than the
beginning of our Bronze Period.
M. Ernest Chantre has divided the principal hoards of the
Bronze Age discovered in France into three principal categories, to
which he has applied the terms " Tresors," " Fonderies," and
"Stations." The first, as a rule, comprise articles which have
never been in use, and are, in fact, of the same character as the
hoards which I have classed under the head of " Personal " or
" Merchants." The principal tresors, those of Re'allon, Ribiers,
Beaurieres, Manson, Frouard, are characterized by the presence
of socketed instruments ; and in two instances — those of La Ferte'-
Hauterive, and Vaudrevanges, Rhenish Prussia — either an ingot
or a mould of metal was present. I should, therefore, have
classed these two among the "fonderies."
M. Chantre has, however, in the main, restricted this term
to hoards consisting principally of broken objects, and of these
fonderies he has examined some fifty in France. In the southern
part of that country these hoards are by no means so constantly
characterized by the presence of socketed celts and other socketed
instruments as in Britain. In the north of France, however, the
socketed forms are more frequent in the hoards.
The stations arc considered to represent habitations of the
Bronze Age of the same character as the Lake-dwellings, but fixed on
terra firma instead of on piles or artificial islands. Some of the
hoards placed under this head appear from the presence of moulds
and lumps of metal to be those of founders.
Hoards of broken objects of bronze have been found in other
parts of Europe, but it seems needless to do more than mention
DIFFERENT KINDS OF HOARDS. 459
the fact. I may, however, refer to the hoards of Camenz and
Grossenhain, in .Saxony,* of which I gave an account to the Society
of Antiquaries some fifteen years ago.
In the following lists I have divided the principal hoards
discovered in the United Kingdom into two main categories, the
one, in which socketed celts, gouges, or other tools were absent ;
the other, in which they were present in greater or less abundance.
This is perhaps the simplest method of arriving at what may be
regarded as a fairly trustworthy chronological division. Some of
the results of an examination of the lists will subsequently be
discussed. In the first list I have given the precedence to those
hoards in which flat or flanged celts were present. Second, I have
placed those in which there were palstaves. Third, those in which
ornaments were found ; and last, those mainly characterized by
swords and spear-heads, or spear-heads and ferrules, but in which
both palstaves and socketed celts were absent.
In the second list I have placed at the head the hoards in which
socketed celts, sometimes accompanied by palstaves, were found
associated with swords or spears, while mere tools, such as gouges
and hammers, were absent. Next come a few cases in which
socketed celts occurred either in company with ornaments or alone.
Then follow the hoards in which chisels, gouges, or hammers were
found, but no lumps of metal were present. After these are
placed the bronze-founders' hoards, in which lumps of metal and
the jets or waste pieces from castings were found, including one or
two Scotch and Irish hoards ; and, finally, those in which moulds
were present.
In each case I have attempted to distinguish whether a hoard
was personal or belonged to a merchant or founder, by adding the
letters P, M, or F. Where two of these letters occur, the hoard
seems to come under either category. It is possible that some of
those characterized by a P may be sepulchral.
Appended to the tabulated lists is a more detailed account,
mentioning some of the principal features in each case, and giving
references to the works in which the discoveries are recorded. Of
course this is to a great extent a repetition of what has been
recorded in previous pages. It must be observed that the num-
bers given in the lists do not always refer to entire objects but
frequently to fragments only. Where the numbers are unknown
the presence of the objects is shown by an x.
* Proe. Soe. Ant., 2nd S., vol. Hi. p. 32S
460
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
METAL
1 I 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 |'| 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 IS
JETS
1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 II II*
MOULDS
1 1 1 M 1 1 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 l|
MISCELLAN.
iHii 1 1 M 1 ** 1 lrtllHIMIIH*^
CALDRONS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 * 1 1 1 1 1 1 o
RINGS
1 1 | 1 1 | CO CC !N W 1 W 1 IlllllllllllCd
I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ^
CLASPS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 hi 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1*6
BUTTONS
1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 11 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 H 1 1 l<5
BRACELETS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 *M^~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 In
TORQUES
llllllll'N'-''--1^— ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 L-i
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 C"1
PINS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1--" 1 1 1*
TRUMPETS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 l£
FERRULES
H | 1 | — I <N ■* -h 1 1 III-* CD^
SPEAR-HEADS
1 1 1 1 1 — i « O I 1 1 I lOHMNHHCOtliiHSNH ihsnOi
1 1 1 1 1 i-i 1 1 1 1 1 Oil i-H 1 co 02
TANGED SP.
* ~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 g
SCABBARDS
| | | | | | | | | | | | |« |r*-. | | | I-*- | | |~ | | 13
SWORDS
| 1 [ 1 I 1 I 1 | 1 INiN^iOHiHWmtq^Sj^^n 1 l"*OD
RAPIERS
1 1 l-'l 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1. 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1" 1 l«
DAGGERS
M TO 1 1 " 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Q
HALBERDS
~ 1 I 1 I 1 1 I I I I 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 1; 1 1 1 1 1 IH
RAZORS
1 I 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l«
KNIVES
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 IM
SICKLES
1 Ml 1 1 "* 1 1 1 1 II II00
HAMMERS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 IH
AWLS
1 II 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M
GOUGES
1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1*
CHISELS
1^1 1 l~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ig
SOCK. CELTS
il i i i i i i i i i i i i i i I I i i i I i i I I I i i IS
PALSTAVES
1 ^ 1 aisco^wtiHM i |r~'| | Ph
FLANGED CTS.
^2*2" I | | | I I I I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ig
LIST I.
1. Arreton Down P.M.
2. Plymstock P.M.
3. Battlefield M.
4. Postlingford Hall M.
5. Rbosnesney M.F.
6. Broxton P.
7. Sherford M.
8. Stibbard M.
9. Quantock Hills P.
10. Hollingburv Hill P.
1 1 . Edington Burtle P.M.
12. Woolmer Forest P.
13. West Buck-land P.
14. Blackmoor M.F.
15. Fulboum Common P.?
16. Pant-y-maen M.F.
17. Wicken Fen F.?
18. Corsbie Moss P.
19. Weymouth P.
20. Whittingham P.
21. Worth P.
22. Stoke Ferry M.
23. Brechin M.P.
24. Duddingston Loch M.
25. Point of Sleat P.
26. River Wandle P.
27. Tarves P.
28. Maentwrog P.
29. Bloody Tool M.F.
30. Broadward M.
LISTS OF PRINCIPAL HOARDS.
461
METAL
1 1 1 II 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 is
JETS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1^
MOULDS
i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i °
1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ma
MISCELLAN.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II i III II 1 I 3
CALDRONS
II II 1 .1 II 1 I 1 II II II II 1 II II II lo
RINGS
lllllllll^l 1 H 1 1 1 "" ^
CLASPS
1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1-3
BUTTONS
i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i *
1 M M M M 1 M II M M M M M 1 M qq
BRACELETS
1 C9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 fr<
1 II II 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 pq
TORQUES
IIIIIIIIII|||||IIIW1I|-|III^
PINS
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIII^IIIII^IIIIP-i
TRUMPETS
II 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 ! 1 1 1 l£
FERRULES
l~-~ II 1 II 1 1 1 1 M II 1 1 1 1 II II 1 1^
SPEAR-HEADS
|*1IM I-NIOWSSh I DMIDHN 1 1 1 ODNN S S 1 ft
1 | iH 1 | | | eg 1 OQ
TANGED SP.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II II 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |M
1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 p
SCABBARDS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 f T 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 *-* 1 1 1 1 r- O
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l 1 1 1 1 1 1 Mil r.
SWORDS
| | CO I 1 «^OH^ S I | | | 1 1 i | 1 1 Tfl 1 1 I |-H-_
II II <N 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 III! J)
RAPIERS
-<N 1 1 1 - 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I P3
DAGGERS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II I 1 1 |P
HALBERDS
II 1 I II I 1 M ll I 1 1 1 II 1 I II 1 II 1 la
RAZORS
1 1 II 1 1 1 II 1 1 !w 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l«
KNIVES
1 1 - 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 - II 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 "" 1 1 1 """""M
SICKLES
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1* 1 1 1 |CQ
HAMMERS
II II 1 1 II l 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 II l 1 I I - I l - la
AWLS
1 1 II 1 1 II II M 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 II 1 II 1 H
GOUGES
l| | * | "-1 rH rH r"1 c5
CHISELS
1 I'l 1 1 II 1 l II II 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 lM 1 1 1 I 16
SOCK. CELTS
PALSTAVES
HOOH^IH 1 1 1 1 CO CI | 1 p
FLANGED CTS.
1 II 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 II 1 lg
LIST II.
. Mawgan P.M.
Wallington M.
Nottingham M.F.
Nettleham M.
Haxey ?
Ambleside P.M.
Bilton M.F.
Alnwick Castle M.?
Flixborough M.F.
Shenstone P.M.
Wrekin Tenement F.M.
Llandysilio P.M.
Dunbar P.
Little Wenlock M.F.
Winmarleigh P. ?
Newark M.
Hagbourn Hill M.P.
Ty Mawr P.
Wedmore P.
Wymington M.
Reepham M.
Yattendon F.
Taunton M.P
Beacon Hill P. ?
Ebnall M. ?
Exning M.?
Melbourn P. ?
cocoeoeocococococo-*<Tj<-^<'>j<'*'fl<-i<T)<-<f|-*'fS>o,0"5,'5lo>o"'
4G2
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [cHAI\ XXII.
METAL
1 | I 1 1 | | 1 |"3 IOHSSHSMH | SSSSrtSON
lllllllll •— • 1 r— 1 1 f±\
JETS
i i i i i i i i i i H i is i * i i i- r i i i i i*
MOULDS
1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ml
MISCELLAN.
(Ml 111 |Hi-i|<M«S| CO H | M
( ALDEONS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 lo
EINGS
llllll^l^llilllllll^llll^Mtf
CLASPS
1 1 H 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 i 1 1 1 1 1" 1 13
BUTTONS
I l l l I I 1 i" I 1 l l l l I l I I l I I I 1° 1 1(5
BEACELETS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 15
TOEQUES
1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |H
PINS
1 1 1 1 1 1- 1 1 \~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I 1 1 1 |Ph
TRUMPETS
II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 16
FERRULES
^ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 12 | | | | | | | | | | | | | |h
SPEAE-HEADS
1 1 1 1 1 •-> 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 CC
TANGED SP.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ig
SCABBAEDS
lllllllll 1 1 ffll- ' 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 •— 1 "— ' 1 o
1 II M 1 1 1 1 1 Mh 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I GQ
SWOEDS
■ — 1 1 I 1 |H|H|Ol8rt(Oii|SSH| 1 1 1 1 1 on fci ■* ~
EAPIEES
II 1 II 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 M II 1 1 1 1 II l«
DAGGEES
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 l~ 1 1 1 1 1 * !«
HALBEEDS
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 |W
EAZOES
1 1 rt 1 1 1 1 1 rt 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 «
KNIVES
_SICKLES
1 Hi- 1 | 1 i— 4 1 rH i-H i— I I C<1 i— 1 | | ^ .— 1 1 | tQ | H|yj
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 1 1 1 1 II 1 II II 1 1 1 1 1=0
HAMMEES
^rt J -• | | —** j | ] | | | | | | | ^ | | | | | *-■ | | h
AWLS
l~ 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 \<
GOUGES
rl r-l rl | i-H i-H I 1 rH M H N d 1 1 | 1 <D -* 1 1 «) N CM -K
CHISELS
1 1 H« 1 H I I H 1 | |r-j|^COH| | IN 1 rH;Cj
SOCK. CELTS
-* <N r-l ■* <M li-H 1 |>Q^CStiSSttS<N I N SN HNHHfflO
I | 1 C-l r-l 1 ■* rHMCN jjj
PALSTAVES
I 1 | | 1 1 1 | |(NS<*(iN | HSWHHSHHffl I I Ip^
FLANGED CTS.
1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Ig
LIST II. {continued.)
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iCO^COCOCO^COCOCOCDCONhNNNNNNN^COCOCOOOa)
LISTS OF PRINCIPAL HOARDS.
463
METAL
JETS
MOULDS
MISCELLAN.
CALDRONS
RINGS
CLASPS
BUTTONS
BRACELETS
TORQUES
PINS
TRUMPETS
FERRULES
SPEAR-HEADS
TANGED SP.
SCABBARDS
SWORDS
RAPIERS
DAGGERS
HALBERDS
RAZORS
KNIVES
SICKLES
HAMMERS
AWLS
GOUGES
CHISELS
SOCK. CELTS
PALSTAVES"
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464
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
LISTS OF HOARDS.
LIST I.
, Locality.
1. Arreton Down, Isle of
Wight.
2. Plymstock, Devon.
3.
4.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16,
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
Battlefield, Shrews-
bury.
Postlingford Hall,
Clare, Suffolk.
Rhosnesney, Wrex -
ham, Denbighshire.
Broxton, Cheshire.
Sherford, Taunton,
Somerset.
Stibbard, near Faken-
ham, Norfolk.
Quantoek Hills, Som-
erset.
Hollingbury Hill,
Brighton, Sussex.
Edington Burtle, Som-
erset.
Woolmer
Hants.
Forest,
"West Buckland, Som-
erset.
Blackmoor, Hants.
Fulbourn Common,
Cambs.
Pant-y-maen, Cardi-
ganshire.
"Wicken Fen, Cambs.
Corsbie Moss, Leger-
wood, Berwickshire.
Weymouth, Dorset.
Thrunton Farm, Whit-
tingham, Northum-
berland.
Worth, Washfield,
Devon.
Remarks.
Flanged celts, some ornamented,
tanged spear-heads, ferrule to
one, halberd? one socketed dagger.
Flanged celts, straight chisel.
Mostly melted. Flat celts, palstaves,
curved objects.
Flanged celts, some ornamented.
Palstaves, all from one mould ;
castings for a dagger and for
flanged celts of narrow form.
Tanged chisel ; socketed spear-
head.
One palstave, a defective casting.
Castings for small palstaves and
spear-heads.
Each palstave laid within a torque.
Palstave laid within a torque, brace-
lets around.
One casting for a flat sickle ; ribbed
bracelet and ring.
There appears some doubt about
the small torques.
Two-looped palstave.
Fragments of swords and sheaths,
large and small spear-heads.
Swords broken, leaf-shaped spear-
heads, broad-ended ferrules.
Swords and leaf -shaped spear-hcads,
broken or damaged.
Nearly all fragmentary ; fragments
perhaps of two swords.
Sword perfect.
Both sword and spear-head nearly
perfect.
Spear-heads, leaf-shaped, and with
lunate openings ; all objects un-
broken.
Sword and leaf-shaped spear-heads,
perfect.
Reference.
Arch., vol. xxxvi. p. 326.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi.
p. 346 ; Tram. Devon.
Assoc, vol. iv. p. 304.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. ii. p. 251.
Arch., vol. xxxi. p. 496 ;
Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. i. p. 83.
Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol.
vi. p. 72.
Penes Sir P. de M. G.
Egerton, F.R.S.
Pring," British and Roman
Taunton," p. 76.
Arch. Inst., Norwich vol.
p. xxvi.
Arch., vol. xiv. p. 94.
Arch. Journ., vol. v. p.
323 ; Arch., vol. xxix.
p. 372, &c.
Som. Arch, and Nat. Hist.
Proc, vol. v. (1854) pt.
ii. p. 91.
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
vi. p. 88 ; Bateman's
Catal., p. 22.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii.
p. 107.
White's "Selborne," Bell's
ed., 1877, vol. ii. p. 381.
Arch., vol. xix. p. 56.
Arch. Camb., 3rd S., vol.
x. p. 221.
In British Museum.
Troc Soc. Ant., vol. iii.
p. 121.
Penes Auct.
Proc Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. v. p. 429.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxiv.
p. 120.
LISTS OF PRINCIPAL HOARDS.
465
Locality.
22. Stoke Ferry, Norfolk.
23. Brechin, Forfarshire.
24. Dttddingston Loch,
Edinburgh.
25. Point of Sleat, Isle of
Skye.
26. River Wandle, Surrey.
27. Tarves, Aberdeenshire.
28. Cwm Moch, Maen-
twrog, Merioneth-
shire.
29. Bloody Pool, South
Brent, Devon.
30. Broadward, Leintwar-
dine, Herefordshire.
Remarks. '
Swords and leaf-shaped spear-
heads broken, halberd.
Swords, &c., unbroken.
Swords, spear-heads, &c, in frag-
ments; caldron.
Sword, spear-head, and pin, per-
fect.
All objects nearly perfect.
Objects mostly perfect.
Objects unbroken ; loops at base of
blade of spear-head.
Spear-heads mostly barbed; all
objects broken.
Spear-heads, leaf-shaped, with per-
forations in blade, and barbed.
Reference.
enes Auct. ; Proc. Soc.
Ant.y 2nd S., vol. v. p.
425.
Arch. Journ., vol. xiii. p.
203; Proc. Soc. Ant.
Scot., vol. i. pp. 181 and
224.
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol. i.
p. 132; Wilson, "Preh.
Ann. of Scot.," vol. i. p.
348.
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol.
iii. p. 102.
Arch. Joum., vol. ix. p. 7.
Horceferales, p. 161.
Arch., vol. xvi. p. 365.
Arch. Journ., vol. xii. p.
84 ; xviii. p. 160.
Arch. Camb., 4th S., vol.
iii. p. 345 ; iv. 202.
31. Mawgan, Cornwall.
32. Wallington, Northum-
berland.
33. Nottingham.
34. Nettleham, Lincoln-
shire.
35. Haxey, Lincolnshire.
36. Ambleside, Westmore-
land.
37. Bilton, Yorkshire.
38. Alnwick Castle, Nor-
thumberland.
39. Flixborough, Lincoln-
shire.
40. Greensborough Farm,
Shenstone, Stafford-
shire.
41. Wrekin Tenement,
Shrewsbury.
42. Llandysilio, Denbigh-
shire.
43. Dunbar, Haddington-
shire.
44. Little Wenlock, Shrop-
shire.
LIST II.
Rapier in high preservation.
Fragments of swords, and possibly
of scabbard-tip.
Socketed celts of peculiar types.
Swords described as broad-swords,
and sharp-pointed swords.
Swords broken, one spear -head
ornamented.
Found in 1726.
Sword broken. Possibly palstaves.
Swords apparently perfect.
One celt, a few swords, about 150
spear-heads and fragments.
Seep. 119.
Uninjured.
Spear-heads mostly broken, whet-
stones with them. Possibly the
same hoard as No. 41.
H H
Arch., vol. xvii., p. 337.
In Sir C. Trevelyan's Col-
lection.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. i. p. 332.
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii.
p. 159.
Penes Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S.
Arch., vol. v. p. 115.
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
v. p. 349.
Arch., vol. v. p. 113.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxix.
p. 194.
Arch., vol. xxi. p. 548.
Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 464.
Penes Canon Greenwell,
P.E.S.
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol.
x. p. 440.
Hartshorne, " Salop. Ant.,"
p. 96 ; Arch. Journ.,
vol. viii. p. 197-
466
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
Locality.
45. Winmarleigh, Gar-
stang, Lancashire.
46. Near Newark, Not-
tinghamshire.
47. Haghourn Hill, Berks.
48. Ty Mawr, Holyhead.
49. Heath House, Wed-
more, Somerset.
60. Wymington, Beds.
51. Reepham, Norfolk.
52. Yattendon, Berks.
53. Taunton, Somerset.
54. Beacon Hill, Charn-
wood Forest, Leices-
tershire.
55. Ebnall, Oswestry,
Salop.
56. Exning, Suffolk.
67. Melbourn, Cambs.
58. Stanhope, Durham.
59. Thorndon, Suffolk.
60. Wallingford, Berks.
61. Whittlesea, Cam-
bridgeshire.
62. Barrington, Cambs.
63. Porkington, Shrop-
shire.
64. Trillick, Tyrone.
65. Bo Island, Fermanagh.
66. Llangwyllog, Angle-
sea.
67. Meldreth, Cambs.
68. Hounslow, Middlesex.
69. Hundred of Hoo,
Kent.
Remarks.
One spear-head, large, and with
lunate openings ; all found in
"a cist or box."
Two large discs in hoard.
Bridle-bits and late Celtic buckles,
said to have been found ; coins
also?
Said to have been found in a box.
Amber beads found at same time ;
possibly palstaves and not sock-
eted celts.
About sixty celts found.
Found about 1747.
Swords in fragments, tanged chisels
and knives, two socketed knives,
flat celt much worn.
Flat sickles, looped pin.
Leaf-shaped spear-heads.
Two punches ?
Mostly perfect ?
Sword broken, a clasp.
Leaf -shaped spears, fragment of
sword, broken hammer, &c.
All entire. Most of these are
figured on previous pages.
Entire ; mostly here figured.
Entire ; one celt with loop on face.
Perfect.
Point broken off sword.
Perfect ; two rings with cross per-
forations for the pin.
Sword and hammer broken.
Connected with the other hoards
by the razor and buttons.
Most of the objects broken ; sock-
eted chisel, flat lunate knife with
opening in middle, caldron ring.
One flat celt, swords in fragments.
Most of the objects broken. See p.
95.
Reference.
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii.
p. 158.
Penes Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S.
Arch., vol. xvi. p. 348.
Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 483.
Arch. Journ. vol. vi. p. 81.
Specimens penes Auct.
Arch., vol. v. p. 114.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. vii. p. 480.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxxvii.
p. 94.
Proc. Soc. Ant., vol. iv.
p. 323.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxii.
p. 167.
Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3;
vol. ix., p. 303.
Arch. Journ., vol. xi. p.
294.
Arch. JEliana, vol. i. p.
13.
Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 3.
Penes Auct.
In Wisbech Museum.
Penes Auct.
Arch. Journ., vol. vii. p.
195.
Journ. Hist, and Arch.
Assoc, of Irel., 3rd S.,
vol. i. p. 164.
Penes Auct.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxii.
p. 74.
In British Museum.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. iii. p. 90 ; vol. v.
p. 428.
Arch. Cant., vol. xi. p.
123.
LISTS OF PRINCIPAL HOARDS.
467
Locality.
70. Guilsfield, Montgom-
eryshire.
71. Wick Park, Stogursey,
Somerset.
72. Chrishall, Essex.
73. Romford, Essex.
74. Cumberlow, Baldock,
Herts.
75. Beachy Head, East-
bourne, Sussex.
76. Burgesses' Meadow,
Oxford.
77. Westow, Yorkshire.
78. Carlton Rode, Norfolk.
79. Kenidjack Cliff, Cora-
wall.
80. Helsdon Hall.Norfolk.
81. Worthing, Sussex.
82. Reach Fen, Cambs.
83. Haynes Hill, Salt-
wood, Kent.
84 . Allhallows, Hoo, Kent.
86. St. Hilary, Cornwall.
86. Longy Common, Al-
derney.
87 Kingston Hill, Coombe,
Surrey.
88. Sittingbourne, Kent.
89. Martlesham, Suffolk.
90. Lanant, Cornwall.
91. West Halton, Lincoln-
shire.
92. Burwell Fen, Cambs.
93. Marden, Kent.
94. Kensington, Middle-
sex.
Remarks.
Objects for the most part broken,
spear-heads with lunate open-
ings.
Swords broken, numerous frag-
ments of other forms.
Portion of socketed knife.
Swords broken, socketed chisel,
celts not trimmed.
Swords in fragments.
Fragment of sword, four gold
bracelets.
An ingot 9| inches long.
Seventeen fragments included
among the celts ; one chisel
socketed, two tanged.
One tanged gouge, tanged and
socketed chisels.
Large oval jet.
Found before 1759.
Found in an earthern vessel.
Fragments of swords and many
broken objects.
Objects nearly all broken.
Objects mostly broken, flat knife.
See p. 214.
Swords in fragments ; weight alto-
gether about 80 lbs.
Socketed sickle, objects mostly
broken.
Objects all fragmentary.
In two urns ; broken sword and
rings in one urn, celts, &c., in
the other.
Fragments of swords, socketed
knife.
Fragments of swords ; pieces of
gold in one celt.
Fragment of sword.
The ring penannular and of tri-
angular section.
Found in an earthen vessel, mostly
broken.
Knives broken.
hh2
Reference.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. ii. p. 251 ; Arch.
Camb., 3rd S., vol. x.
p. 214; Montg. Coll.,
vol. iii. p. 437.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. v. p. 427.
Neville's "Sep. Exp., "p. 3.
Arch. Journ., vol. ix. p.
302.
Journ. Anth. Inst.,\o\.m.
p. 195.
Arch., vol. xvi. p. 363.
In Ashmolean Museum.
Arch. Journ., vol. vi. p.
381 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ.,
vol. iii. p. 58.
SmithVColl. Ant.," vol.i.
105; Arch. Journ., vol. ii.
80 ; Arch. Assoc. Journ.,
vol. i. p. 51 ; Arch.,
vol. xxxi. p. 494.
Journ. Boy. Inst, of Corn.,
No. xxi.
Arch., vol. v. p. 116.
Specimens penes Auct.
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
xxxvi., p. 56.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxx.
p. 279 ; Journ. Anth.
Inst., vol. iii. p. 230.
Arch. Cant., vol. xi. p.
124.
Arch., vol. xv. p. 120.
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
iii. p. 9.
Arch. Journ., vol. xxvi. p.
288. (
Smith's " Coll. Ant.," vol.
i. p. 101 ; Arch. Journ.,
vol. ii. p. 81.
Penes Capt. Brooke.
Arch., vol. xv. p. 118.
Arch. Journ., vol. x. p. 69.
Penes Auct.
Arch. Assoc. Journ., vol.
xiv. p. 257.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S.,
vol. iii. p. 232.
468
CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
Locality.
95. Roseberry Topping,
Yorkshire.
96. Danesbury, Welwyn,
Herts.
97. Earsley Common,
Yorkshire.
98. High Roding, Essex.
99. Panfield, Essex.
100. WestwickRow,Hemel
Hempsted, Herts.
101. Achtertyre, Moray-
shire.
102. Dowris, Parsonstown,
King's County.
103. Hotham Carr, York-
shire.
104. Beddington, Surrey.
105. Isle of Harty, Kent.
106. Heathery Burn Cave,
Durham.
107. Wickham Park,
Croydon, Surrey.
108. Wilmington, Sussex.
109. Cleveland, York-
shire.
110. Eaton, Norfolk.
Remarks.
Mostly broken.
Mostly imperfect.
Nearly 100 celts found in 1735.
Some figured in previous pages.
Possibly other forms found at same
time.
One celt broken.
With tin. See p. 425.
With caldrons, trumpets, bells, &c.
See p. 361.
Palstaves almost all damaged.
Many fragments, mould broken.
See p. 441.
Socketed knife, large collars and
discs. See p. 119, &c.
Mould broken, other objects mostly
fragmentary; list partly com-
piled from Anderson, and partly
from originals.
In an urn, mostly broken or worn.
Said to be in the Bateman Collec-
tion. Possibly the same hoard
as No. 95.
Spear-heads apparently broken.
Reference.
Arch. JEliana, vol. ii. p.
213 ; Arch. Scotica, vol.
v. p. 55.
Arch. Journ., vol. x. p.
248.
Arch., vol. v. p. 114.
In British Museum.
Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd S..
vol. v. p. 428.
Penes Auct.
Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot., vol.
ix. p. 435.
Wilde, "Catal. Mus. R.I.
A.," pp. 360, 613, 626;
Proc. R. I. Ac, vol. iv.
pp. 237, 423.
Penes Canon Greenwell,
F.R.S.
Surrey Arch. Soc. Coll.,
vol. vi. ; Anderson's
"Croydon," p. 10.
Penes Auct.
Arch. Journ., vol. xix. p.
358 ; Proc. Soc. Ant., 2nd
S., vol. ii. p. 127.
Anderson's " Croydon," p.
10 ; British Museum.
Suss. Arch. Coll., vol. xiv.
p. 171 ; Arch. Journ.,
vol. xx. p. 192; Proc.
Soc. Ant., 2nd S., vol.
v. p. 423.
Arch. Journ., vol. xviii.
p. 166.
Arch., vol. xxii. p. 424 ;
Arch. Journ., vol. vi.
p. 387; Arch. Inst.,
Norwich vol. p. xxvi.
Turning now to the lists, the following observations may be
made, though they must be accepted as liable to revision under
the light of future discoveries : —
1. That flat celts and knife-daggers, such as have been fre-
quently found in barrows, rarely occur in hoards, only two
instances being recorded of the occurrence of flat celts.
2. That flanged celts and palstaves are occasionally found
together, while the latter are frequently associated with socketed
celts.
INFERENCES FROM HOARDS. 469
3. That socketed weapons are of rare occurrence in association
with flanged celts, though a socketed dagger and a ferrule for a
tanged spear-head or dagger were present in the Arreton Down
hoard.
4. That such tanged spear-heads or daggers are never found
in company with socketed celts.
5. That torques are more frequently associated with palstaves
than with socketed celts, and are mainly confined to our western
counties.
6. That there are several instances of swords and scabbards,
and spear-heads and ferrules being found together without either
palstaves or socketed celts being with them.
7. That swords, or their fragments, are not found with flanged
celts.
8. That socketed celts are often found with swords and spear-
heads, or with the latter alone.
9. That socketed celts are often accompanied by gouges, and
somewhat less frequently by hammers and chisels, though even
where such tools occur, spear-heads are generally present.
10. That caldrons, or the rings belonging to them, have been
discovered with socketed celts, both in England and Ireland.
11. That where metal moulds are found in hoards they are
usually those for socketed celts.
12. That where lumps of copper or rough metal occur in hoards,
socketed celts are, as a rule, found with them.
The general inferences are much the same as have already been
indicated in former chapters, viz., that two of the earliest forms
of bronze weapons discovered in the British Isles are the flat and
the slightly flanged celts, and the thin knife-daggers. That these
are succeeded by the more distinctly flanged celts, and the tanged
spear-heads, with which probably some of the thick dagger-blades
found in barrows are contemporary. That subsequently the celts
with a stop- ridge and the palstave form came in and remained in
use to the close of the Bronze Period, though to a great extent
supplanted by the socketed celt which, as has already been
shown, was probably evolved from one of the forms of the
palstave ; and it may here be remarked that flanged celts with
a stop-ridge seem rarely, if ever, to occur in the hoards. That the
socketed chisels, gouges, hammers, and knives are contemporary
with the socketed celts, as are also socketed spear-heads and
470 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
swords. That hoards in which palstaves only, and not socketed
celts, are present rarely belonged to ancient bronze-founders ; but
that the deposits which these artificers have left behind them almost
all denote a period when the art of coring, and thereby producing
socketed tools and weapons, was already well known.
From this latter circumstance, and the comparative abundance
of bronze-founders' hoards, it may reasonably be inferred that in
this country they belong for the most part to the close of the
Bronze Period. To how recent a date bronze remained in use for
cutting purposes is a question difficult of accurate solution. There
are, indeed, two instances in which socketed celts are reported to
have been discovered in company with ancient British coins, but
in neither case is the evidence altogether satisfactory. Two unin-
scribed silver coins, of the type of my Plate F, No. 2*, are stated
to have been found with a human skeleton and a bronze celt at
Cann, near Shaftesbury, in 1849 ; but I believe that this state-
ment would, if it were now capable of being sifted, resolve itself
into the fact of the two coins, the celt, and some bones having
been found near together by the same workman, without their
being actually in association together. The type of the coins,
though probably among the earliest in the British silver series,
is one which was derived from gold coins struck some considerable
time after the introduction of a gold coinage into this country, and
probably belongs to the first century B.C. If such coins were in
contemporary use with socketed celts, it is strange that none of the
gold coins of earlier date have ever been found associated with
bronze instruments.
It is true that in the account given in the Archceologia t
of the antiquities discovered on Hagbourn Hill, Berks, it is stated
that at the bottom of a pit about four feet from the surface of the
ground was a further circular excavation, in which, together with
bronze bridle-bits and buckles of Late Celtic patterns, were socketed
celts, and a spear-head of bronze, and, in addition, some coins.
These, however, were not seen by the writer of the account, but
he was informed " that one of them Avas silver and the other gold,
the latter of which was rather large and flat, and perhaps one of
the lower empire." Looking at the Late Celtic character of some
of the objects it seems possible that Ancient British coins might
have been found with them ; but, on the other hand, it is evident
that the particulars given of the find were all derived from the
* Evans's " Coins of the Anc. Britons," p. 102. t Vol. xvi. p. 348.
DATE OF TRANSITION TO IRON. 471
workmen who dug up the objects, and not from personal observa-
tion ; and it is possible that not only were the coins described not
actually found with the bronze celts and spear-heads, but that these
latter were not discovered in actual association with the Late Celtic
bridle-bits. I have, however, provisionally accepted the account of
their being found together, relying to some extent on the Aber-
gele* hoard, in which some buckles allied in form to those from
Hagbourn Hill were present, associated with slides such as have
been elsewhere found with socketed celts.
Whatever mav be the real state of the case in these dis-
coveries, there is every probability of a transition having gradually
taken place in this country, from the employment of bronze for
cutting tools and weapons of offence to the use of iron or steel
for such instruments ; in other words, from a Bronze Age to an
Iron Age, such as that to which the term " Late Celtic " has been
applied.
That this transition must have been effected, at all events in the
South of Britain, prior to the Roman invasion, is shown, as has
already been pointed out, by the circumstance that the Early
Iron swords found in France belong in all probability to a period
not later than the fourth or fifth century B.C., while the southern
parts of Britain had, long before Caesar's time, been peopled by
Belgic immigrants, who either brought the knowledge of iron with
them or must have received it after their arrival from their
kinsmen on the continent, with whom they were in constant
intercourse. In the more northern parts of Britain and in Scotland
an acquaintance with iron was probably first made at a somewhat
more recent period ; but in the Late Celtic interments in York-
shire no coins are present, and the iron and other objects found
exhibit no traces of Roman influence. Moreover, the Roman
historians, who have recorded many of the manners and customs
of the northern Britons, do not in any way hint at their weapons
being formed of bronze.
In Ireland, perhaps, which was less accessible from the continent
than Britain, the introduction of iron may have taken place con-
siderably after the time when it was known in the sister country ;
but there appears to have been a sufficient intercourse between
Scotland and the north of Ireland at an early period for the
knowledge of so useful a metal, when once gained, to have
been quickly communicated from one country to the other.
* Supra, p. 405 ; Arrh., vol. xliii. p. 556
472 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
On the whole I think we may fairly conclude that in the
southern parts of Britain iron must have been in use not later than
the fourth or fifth century B.C., and that by the second or third
century B.C. the employment of bronze for cutting instruments had
there practically ceased. These dates are of course approximate only,
but will at all events serve to give some idea of the latest date to
which bronze weapons and tools found in England may with some
degree of safety be assigned.
As to the time at which such weapons and tools were here first
in use, we have even less means of judging than we have as to
when they fell into desuetude. It is, however, evident that the
Bronze Period of the British Isles must have extended over a long
period of years, probably embracing many centuries. The
numerous bronze-founders' hoards, containing fragments of tools
and weapons of so many various forms, testify to the art of bronze-
founding having been practised for a lengthened period ; and
yet in all of these the socketed celt occurs, or some other
socketed instruments, which we know to have been contemporary
with it, are present. It is true that the socketed celt was not
originally developed in this country, but was introduced from
abroad ; and,, as has already been pointed out, was derived from a
form of palstave which is of rare occurrence in Britain. Yet the
length of time requisite for the modification of the flat form of
celt to that with flanges, of this latter again to that with the
flanges produced into wings, and finally the transition into the
palstave with the wings hammered over so as to form sockets on
each side of the blade, must itself have been of very great duration.*
The development of the forms of palstave common to Britain and
the opposite shores of the Continent must also have demanded a
long lapse of years, and most of the stages in its evolution can be
traced in this country. We have the flat celt, the flanged celt,
and the flanged celt with a stop-ridge ; and we can trace the
modification of form from one stage to another until the charac-
teristic palstave is reached, in which the stop-ridge is as it were
formed in the actual body of the blade. And it is to be observed
that this form of palstave had already been developed at the time
represented by the earliest of the ordinary bronze-founders' hoards,
in which, moreover, the flanged celts, either with or without a
stop-ridge, are hardly ever present.
* See also Col. A. Lane Fox's "Primitive Warfare, Sect. III.," in Joum. R. U.
Service Inst., vol- xiii.
DATE AND DURATION OF BRONZE AGK. 473
The Bronze Age of Britain may, therefore, be regarded as an
aggregate of three stages : the first, that characterized by the flat
or slightly flanged celts, and the knife-daggers frequently found in
barrows associated with instruments and weapons formed of stone ;
the second, that characterized by the more heavy dagger-blades and
the flanged celts and tanged spear-heads or daggers, such as those
from Arreton Down ; and the third, by palstaves and socketed celts
and the many forms of tools and weapons, of which fragments are so
constantly present in the hoards of the ancient bronze-founders.
It is in this third stage that the bronze sword and the true
socketed spear-head first make their advent. The number of
these hoards, and the varieties in the forms of these swords and
spear-heads, as well as in the socketed celts and other tools,
would, I think, justify us in assigning a minimum duration of some
four or five centuries to this last stage. The other two stages
together must probably have extended over at least an equal lapse
of time ; so that for the total duration of the Bronze Period in
Britain we cannot greatly err in attributing eight or ten centuries.
This would place the beginning of the Period some 1,200 or 1,400
years B.C. — a date which in many respects would seem to fit in
with what we know as to the use of bronze in the southern parts
of Europe.*
Although I have thus attempted to assign a definite chronology
to our Bronze Age, I do so with all reserve, as any such attempt is
founded upon what are at best imperfect data, and each of the
stages I have mentioned may have been of far longer duration
than I have suggested, though it is not likely that any of them
should have been materially shorter.
There is, it must be acknowledged, the difficulty which I have
already mentioned, as to the absence of nearly all traces of the later
stages of the Bronze Period in the graves and barrows that have
been examined in Britain.! The reason of this absence has still
to be discovered ; but it may perhaps have been the case that
during this time the method or fashion of interring the dead
underwent some change, and the practice of placing weapons and
ornaments with the bodies of departed friends and relatives fell
into disuse. Among the bronze-using occupants of the Yorkshire
Wolds, whose burial-places have been explored by Canon Green -
well, the interments by inhumation were much in excess over those
* The Bronze Period of Switzei-land has by some been calculated to have begun not
less than 3,000 years b.c. — Zaborowski Moindron, " L'Anc. de l'homme," 1874, p. 208.
+ See Greenwell's " British Barrows," p. 44 et seqq.
474 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
which took place after cremation, but in other parts of England
the proportions are reversed. Out of fourteen instances * in which
bronze articles were associated with an interment, it was only in
two that the body had been burnt ; or taking the whole number
of burials, viz. 301 by inhumation and 78 after cremation, bronze
articles were found with 4 per cent, of the burials of the former
kind and only 2| per cent, with those of the latter. This seems
to point to a tendency towards departing from the old custom of
burying weapons with the dead for use in a future life. And,
indeed, if the custom of burning the dead became general,
the inducement to place such objects among mere dust and ashes
would be but small. An urn or a small recess in the ground
would suffice to contain the mightiest warrior, and his weapons
would be out of place beside the little calcined heap which was
left by the purifying fire. Even the practice of raising mounds or
barrows over the interments may have ceased, and " when the
funeral pyre was out and the last valediction over, men took a
lasting adieu of their interred friends."
It has been suggested that the absence of the later bronze forms
with interments is due to a superstitious reverence for the older
forms, so that the habit of burying the flat wedge-shaped axe t and
the dagger with the dead continued down to the later Age of
Bronze ; but I cannot accept this view.
In Scandinavia + interments with which bronze swords and other
weapons are associated, have frequently been discovered ; and in
some instances in which coffins, hollowed out in trunks of trees,
have been used, even the clothing has been preserved. In this
country also coffins of the same kind have occasionally been dis-
covered, but the bronze objects which have been placed in them
are of the same character as those which are found in the barrows
of the district, and never comprise socketed weapons or swords.
Stone weapons are also occasionally present. Remains of clothing
made of skins and of woven woollen fabric have also been found.
The best-known instance of the discovery of the latter was in ;i
barrow at Scale HouseJ near Rylston, Yorkshire, examined by
Canon Greenwell, who has recorded other instances of these tree-
burials. Neither bronze nor stone were in this instance present.
It is not, however, my intention to dilate upon the burial
customs of our Bronze Age, as they have already been so full}'
* "British Barrows," p. 19. t Dawkins's " Early Man in Britain," p. 348.
J See Worsaae in Arch. Journ., vol. xxiii. p. 30.
\ " British Barrows," pp. 32, 37o. See also ReUq'/'iry, vol. vi. p. 1.
SOURCE OF BRONZE CIVILISATION. 475
discussed by Canon Greenwell, Dr. Thurnam, Sir John Lubbock,
and others.
It will now be desirable to say something as to the sources from
which the use of bronze in this country was derived, though on
this subject also much has already been written.
The four principal views held by different authors have thus been
summarized by Colonel A. Lane Fox, now General Pitt Rivers : — *
1. That bronze was spread from a common centre by an intru-
ding and conquering race, or by the migration of tribes.
2. That the inhabitants of each separate region in which bronze
is known to have been used discovered the art independently, and
made their own implements of it.
3. That the art was discovered and the implements fabricated
on one spot, and the implements disseminated from that place by
means of commerce.
4. That the art of making bronze was diffused from a common
centre, but that the implements were constructed in the countries
in which they were found.
For a full discussion of these hypotheses I must refer the reader
to General Pitt Rivers' Paper, but I shall here make use of some
of the information which he has collected, premising that in my
opinion there is a certain amount of truth embodied in each of
these opinions.
The first view, of an intruding and conquering race having
introduced the use of bronze into their country, has been held by
most of the Scandinavian antiquaries, and Professor Boyd Dawkins
seems to regard a Celtic invasion and conquest of the Iberic peoples
in Britain as having been the means by which the knowledge of
bronze was extended from Gaul to these islands. The osteological
evidence in favour of the bronze-using Britons having as a rule
been of a different race from the stone-using people of our
Neolithic times is strongly corroborative of such a view ; as is
also the chansre which is to be noted in the burial customs of the
O
two periods. Such an immigration or conquest must, however,
have taken place at a very early period if we accept Sir John
Lubbock's t view, that between B.C. 1500 and B.C. 1200 the
Phoenicians were already acquainted with the mineral fields of
Britain, a period at which it must not be forgotten the use of
bronze had long been known in Egypt. Although it is true that
* "Primitive Warfare, Sect. III. ; " Journ. R. U. S. Inst., vol. xiii.
t " Preh. Times," p. 73.
476 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
at present we have no satisfactory proof of any Phoenician influence
on the people of our Bronze Age, yet if at so early a period there
was an export of tin from this country, the search for that metal
and the means employed for its production would almost of
necessity tend to an acquaintance with copper also, even supposing,
what is improbable, that those who traded for tin in order to
manufacture bronze with it kept the knowledge of this latter
alloy from those with Avhom they had commercial relations, or
that the natives of Britain were not already acquainted with more
metals than tin when the trade first began. But to this subject
I shall recur. It may be observed by the way that the date
assigned for this Phoenician intercourse corresponds in a remark-
able manner with the date assigned for the earliest instances of
the use of bronze in Britain, which was suggested on other
grounds.
The second view of the independent discovery of bronze in
different regions has little or nothing to support it so far as the
different countries of Europe are concerned, though there is a
possibility that the discovery of copper and of the method of
alloying it with tin, so as to produce bronze, may have been made
independently in America. But it may even there be the
case that the knowledge of bronze was imported from Asia.* In
Europe, however, when once the use of the metal was known,
there were certain types of weapons and implements developed in
different countries which in a certain sense may be regarded as
instances of independent discoveries.
The third view, that the art was discovered at some single spot
at which subsequently implements were manufactured and dis-
seminated by commerce must, at least to a limited extent, be true.
Wherever the discovery of bronze may have been made, there is
ample evidence of its use having spread over the greater part of
Europe if not of Asia ; and at first the spread of bronze weapons
and tools was in all probability by commerce. Even subsequently
there were local centres, such as Etruria, from which the manufac-
tured products were exported into neighbouring countries, as well
as to those lying to the north of the Alps. Some even of the
bronze vases found in Ireland, though themselves not of Etruscan
manufacture, bear marks of Etruscan influences in their form and
character. In each country in Europe there may have been one
or more localities in which the manufacture of bronze objects was
* Worsaae, in "Aarb. for Nord. Oldk.," 1870, p. 327.
DIVISION INTO PROVINCES. 477
principally carried on, though it may now be impossible to identify
the spots. Such large hoards of unfinished castings as those of
Plenee Jugon, and other places in Brittany, prove that district,
for instance, to have been at one time a kind of manufacturing
centre. Indeed, a socketed celt of Breton type, unused, and still
retaining the burnt clay core, has been found on our southern
coast.
The process of casting, as practised by the ancient bronze-
founders, was, moreover, one requiring a great amount of skill ;
and though there appear to have been wandering founders, who,
like the bell-founders of mediaeval times, could practise their art
at any spot where their services were required, yet there were
probably fixed foundries also, where the process of manufacture
could be more economically carried on, and where successive gene-
rations passed through some sort of apprenticeship to learn the art
and mystery of the trade.
The fourth opinion, that the use of bronze spread from some
single centre, though implements were manufactured in greater or
less abundance in each country where the use of bronze prevailed,
is one that must commend itself to all archaeologists. It does
not, of course, follow that in any given district the bronze
tools and weapons were all of home manufacture, and none of
them imported. There is, on the contrary, evidence to be found
in most countries that some, at least, of the bronze instruments
found there are of foreign manufacture, and introduced either by
commerce or by the foreign travel of individuals.
Where the original centre was placed, from which the European
use of bronze was propagated, is an enigma still under discussion,
and one which will not readily be solved. Appearances at present
seem to point to its having been situate in Western Asia ;* but the
whole question of the origin and development of the Bronze
civilisation has been so recently discussed by my friend Professor
Boyd Dawkins, in his "Early Man in Britain," that it appears
needless here to repeat the opinions of which he has given so good
an abstract. Suffice it to say, that it has been proposed to regard
the bronze antiquities of Europe as belonging generally to three
provinces,! the boundaries of which, however, cannot be very
accurately defined. These provinces are — the Uralian, comprising
Russia, Siberia, and Finland ; the Danubian, which consists of the
* See A. Bertrand in Rev. Arch., vol. xxvi. p. 363.
t See Chantre, " Age du Bronze," 2eme ptie. p. 281.
478 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
Hungarian, Scandinavian, and Britannic sub-divisions or regions ;
and the Mediterranean, composed of the Italo-Greek and Franco-
Swiss sub-divisions.
I must confess that I do not attach such high importance to this
classification as at first sight it would seem to merit ; for on a
close examination it appears to me to involve several serious
incongruities. Take, for instance, the Danubian province, and it
will be found that the differences in type of bronze instruments
belonging to the Hungarian region, when compared with those of
the British, are on the whole greater than the difference presented
when they are compared with the types of the Italian region,
which, however, is made to belong to another province. There is,
moreover, a difficulty in synchronizing the antiquities belonging to
different provinces or regions, so as to be sure that any comparisons
between them are of real value. Taking, for example, the Uralian
province, it will at once be seen that though in Finland some Scan-
dinavian types occur, such as swords and palstaves, yet the great
majority of the bronze antiquities belonging to it, so far as at
present known, consist of socketed celts, often with two loops ; of
daggers, with their hafts cast in one piece with the blade ; and of
perforated axes, sometimes with the representations of the heads
of animals ; in fact, of objects which evidently belong to a very
late stage in the evolution of bronze, and which, as Mr. Worsaae
has pointed out, not improbably show traces of Chinese influence.
Such objects can hardly be satisfactorily compared with those of a
province in which the whole development of bronze instruments,
from the flat celt and small knife, to the socketed celt and the
skilfully cast spear-head and sword, can be traced.
All things considered, I think it will be better and safer to
content ourselves for the present with less extensive provinces ;
and, so far as these are concerned, the sub-divisions already enume-
rated may be accepted, and are quite sufficiently large, if, indeed,
they are not too extensive. In the Britannic province, a part of
France is included by M. Chantre, and there are certainly close
analogies between many of the types of the south of England and
those of the north and north-west of France. For the purpose of
the present work, though accepting M. Chantre's boundary in the
main, I shall, however, restrict the Britannic province to the
British Isles.
On a general examination of our British types it is satisfactory
to see how complete a series of links in the chain of development
THE BRITANNIC PROVINCE. 479
of the bronze industry is here to be found, though many of them
bear undoubted marks of foreign influence, and prove that though
some of the types were of native growth, yet that others were
originally imported. On general grounds, I have assigned an
antiquity of 1,200 or 1,400 years B.C. to the introduction of the
use of bronze into this country, but it is a question whether this
antiquity will meet all the necessities of the case ; for we can
hardly imagine the Phoenicians, or those who traded with them,
landing in Britain and spontaneously discovering tin. On the
contrary, it must have been from a knowledge that the inhabitants
of Britain were already producers of this valuable metal that the
commerce with them originated ; and the probable reason that tin
was sought for by the native Britons was in order to mix it with
copper, a metal which occurs native in the same district as the tin.
If, therefore, the Phoenician intercourse, direct or indirect, com-
menced about 1500 B.C., the knowledge of the use of tin, and
probably also of copper, dates back in Britain to a still earlier
epoch.
A comparison of the various British types of tools and weapons
with those of Continental countries has been frequently instituted
in the preceding pages, but it will be well here to recapitulate some
of the principal facts. We have in Britain the flat form of celt in
some abundance, though none of the specimens exhibit traces of
being direct imitations of hatchets formed of stone, as would
probably have been the case in any country where the use of
metal for such instruments originated. And yet many of our
British flat celts exhibit a certain degree of originality, inasmuch as
they are decorated with hammer- or punch-marks in a manner pecu-
liar to this country, and others in a fashion but rarely seen abroad.
We can trace the development of the flanged celt from the flat
variety, through specimens with almost imperceptible flanges, tl it-
result merely of hammering the sides, to those with the flanges
produced in the casting. At the same time, the flanges are never
so fully developed as in some of the French examples.
The development of a stop-ridge between the flanges, which
eventually culminated in the ordinary palstave form, can probably
be better observed in the British series than in that of any other
country. At the same time, the origin of the other form of
palstave — that without a definite stop-ridge, and with semicircular
wings bent over so as to form a kind of side-pocket — can best be
traced on the Continent, and especially in the south of France. It
480 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
was from this form of palstave that the socketed celt was develojoed,
and although this development seems to have taken place abroad,
possibly in Western Germany, the form was introduced into Britain
at an early period of its existence, as is proved by the semicircular
projections and curved "tranches" so common on the faces of the
socketed celts of this country.
Our knife-daggers may originally have been of foreign introduc-
tion, but evidently belong to a time when metal was scarce, and
like the flat and slightly-flanged celts have often been found
associated with stone implements. The dagger-blades of stouter
make, which seem to have succeeded them, show analogies with
French, Italian, and German examples ; but similar blades, with a
tang such as those from the Arreton Down hoard, seem to be
almost peculiar to Britain. The fact, however, that the socketed
blade found with them has its analogues both in Switzerland and
Egypt suggests the probability of the tanged form being also of
foreign, and possibly Mediterranean origin ; indeed, a specimen is
reported to have been found in Italy.
Our halberd blades with the three rivets are nearly allied to
those of northern Germany ; and the type appears never to be
found in France, though I have met with a solitary example in
Southern Spain, and the form is not unknown in Italy, there
being one from the province of Mantua in the British Museum.
Socketed chisels, hammers, and gouges were probably derived from
a foreign source ; but tanged chisels, though not absolutely want-
ing in the North of France, are more abundant in the British
Isles than elsewhere. Long narrow chisels with tangs were, how-
ever, present in the great Bologna hoard.
Bronze socketed sickles are almost peculiar to the British Isles,
though they have occasionally been found in the North of France.
The flat form, from which they must have been developed, is of
rare occurrence, though not unknown in Britain. Its origin is to
be sought in the South of Europe, though the British examples
more closely resemble German and Danish forms than those of any
other country. Tanged single-edged knives are almost unknown
in our islands, though so abundant in the Swiss Lake-dwellings
and in the South of France. Double-edged knives with a socket
are, however, almost peculiar to Britain and Ireland, though they are
found in small numbers in the North of France. The tanged
razor may also be regarded as one of our specialities, though
not unknown in Italy. Most of the foreign varieties have a ring
COMPARISON WITH CONTINENTAL FORMS. 481
for suspension at the end of the tang, a peculiarity almost
unknown in Britain.
Bronze swords, no doubt, originated on the Continent ; and as
such long thin blades required great skill in casting, it seems
probable that their manufacture was to some extent localized at par-
ticular spots, and that they formed an important article of commerce.
The same type has been discovered in countries wide apart, and
many of those found in Scandinavia are now regarded as being of
foreign origin. Still there are some British types which are rarely
or never found abroad, and the discovery of moulds proves conclu-
sively that both leaf-shaped and rapier-shaped blades were cast in
these islands. The latter kind of blades are, indeed, almost
exclusively confined to Britain and the north of France. Bronze
scabbard-ends, as distinct from mere chapes, seem also to be con-
fined to the same tract of country.
When we turn to the spear-heads of these islands we find that
though the leaf- shaped form prevails over the greater part of
Europe, yet that those with loops at the side of the socket and with
loops at the base of the blade are common in the British Isles,
while they are extremely rare in France, and almost unknown else-
where. The same may be said of the type with the small
eyelet-holes in the blade, and of those with barbs. Those with
crescent-shaped openings in the blades are also almost unknown
elsewhere, though one example has been found in Russia. Our
bronze shields with numerous concentric rings are also specially
British.
Among ornaments formed of bronze, there are feAv, if any, that
we can claim as our own. Our torques seem more nearly connected
with those of the Rhine district than of any other part of Europe.
Our bracelets, which are not common, hardly present any special
peculiarities, and brooches we have none.
Our spheroidal caldrons seem to be of native type, but with
them are vases which almost undoubtedly show an Etruscan
influence in their origin.
We have here then, I think, sufficient proof that Britain, though
not unaffected by foreign influences, and in fact deriving many of
the types of its tools and weapons from foreign sources, was, never-
theless, a local centre in which the Bronze civilisation received
a special and high development ; and where, lia<l extraneous influ-
ences been entirely absent after the time when the knowledge of
Bronze was first introduced, the evolution of forms would probably
i i
482 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
have differed in but few particulars from that which is now
exhibited by the prevailing types found in this country.
If we compare these British types with those of the other
regions which together make up the so-called Danubian province,
we shall at once be struck, not by the analogies presented, but by
the marked difference in the general fades.
Taking Scandinavia to begin with, and Mr. Worsaae's types as
giving the characteristics of that region, what do Ave find ? The
perforated axe-hammers and axes of bronze are here entirely want-
ing; the tanged swords and the majority of those with decorated hilts
are also unknown. There is hardly a type of dagger common to
this country and Scandinavia. The saws, knives, and razors are of
quite another character, but there is a resemblance in the sickles
to a rare British type. The flat and flanged celts of the two
regions are of nearly the same kind, and in one rare instance there
is a similar decoration on a reputedly Danish and on an Irish celt.
The palstaves, however, are of an entirely different character, with
the exception of the form with semicircular wings, which is not
essentially British. The socketed celts are nearly all unlike those of
this country ; and though the leaf-shaped spear-heads present close
analogies, the looped and eyed kinds are absent. The shields are
of a different character from ours. The tutuli and diadems are
here unknown. There is but one form of torque common to this
country and Denmark. Brooches, combs, and small hanging vases
are never met with in Britain ; and the spiral, whether formed
of wire or engraved as an ornament, is conspicuous by its absence.
If we take the Hungarian region, we are driven to much the
same conclusions. The perforated axes and pick-axes, principally
formed of copper, the semicircular sickles, the spiral ornaments,
the swords with engraved hilts of bronze, and several forms of
minor importance are absent in Britain, wliile the socketed celts
and the majority of the palstaves are of markedly different types,
though that with the semicircular wings hammered over is of
common occurrence in Hungary.
In Northern Germany the types of bronze may be regarded as
intermediate between those of Hungary and Scandinavia, though
in some few respects presenting closer analogies with those of
Britain, with which, as will subsequently be seen, there may have
been some commercial intercourse. The connection between
British and German types is, however, but small, and on the whole
I think that the evidence here brought forward is sufficient to
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF BRITAIN'. 483
prove that the British Isles can hardly be properly classified
as forming part of any Danubian province of bronze.
The connection between France and Britain during the Bronze
Period cannot be denied, and in many respects there is an identity
of character between the bronze antiquities of the North of France
and those of the South of England. The North of France cannot,
however, at any time since the first discovery of bronze, have
been absolutely shut out from all communication with the South
and East. The East must always have been affected by the habits of
those who occupied Avhat is now Western Germany; and the South
can hardly have been exempt from the influence of Italy, if not,
indeed, of other Mediterranean countries. I am inclined to think
that these external influences acted also on the bronze industry
of Britain, not so much directly as indirectly, and that some of the
types in this country may be traced to an Italian or German origin
as readily as to a French.
It is, I think, a fact that as close a resemblance in type, so far
as regards our earliest bronze instruments, may be found among
Italian examples as among French. Many of the slightly flanged
celts of Italy can hardly be distinguished from those of Britain, ex-
cept by the faces of the latter being more frequently decorated ; and
there is also a great similarity between the dagger-blades of the
two countries. In the later forms, such as palstaves and socketed
celts, the difference between British and Italian examples is suffi-
ciently striking. May it not be the case that at the time when
first the commerce between Britain and the Mediterranean
countries originated, always assuming that such a commerce took
place, the flanged celt was the most advanced type of hatchet
known by those who came hither to trade, and the palstave and
socketed form were subsequently developed ? At a later period it
was the German influence that was felt in Britain, rather than the
Italian, for our socketed celts appear, as already stated, to have
had the cradle of their family in Western Germany ; and the few flat
sickles that have been found in Britain, as well as the more numerous
torques, show a closer connection in type with those of Germany
than with those of France or any other country. Whether tliis
introduction of what appear to be North German types can in
any way be attributed to commercial relations between the two
countries, and especially to a trade in amber, is worth considera-
tion. The abundance of amber ornaments in some of the graves
of our Bronze Period shows how much that substance was in use
ii 2
484 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
At the same time, the easterD shores of England might have fur-
nished it in sufficient quantity to supply the demand, without
having recourse to foreign sources. I have known amber thrown
up on the beach so far south as Deal.
A curious feature in the comparison of the later bronze antiqui-
ties of Britain and those of France, is the marked absence of many
of the forms which abound in the remains of the Lake-dwellings of
Savoy, as well as in those of Switzerland. A glance through
" Rabut's Album "* or " Keller's Lake-dwellings," will at once show
how few of the specimens there figured could pass as having been
discovered in the British Isles. The large proportion of ornaments
to tools and weapons is also striking. There is, indeed, as M.
Chantre has j)ointed out, a closer connection between the bronze
antiquities of the South of France and those of Switzerland and
Northern Italy, than with those of Northern France.
Even the character of the ornaments is in many cases essentially
different. The hollowed form of bronze bracelet, made from a thin
plate bent in such a manner as to show a semicircular section, is
entirely wanting in Britain, and is very rarely found in the North
of France.
Enough has, however, now been said in favour of regarding
Britain as one of those centres into which a knowledge of the use
of bronze was introduced at a comparatively early date, and where
a special development of the bronze industry arose, extending over
a lengthened period, and modified from time to time by foreign
influences. On the transition from bronze to iron, it is not neces-
sary here further to enlarge. I have, in treating of the different
forms of tools and weapons, pointed out those which I considered
to belong to the close of the Bronze Period ; and it is pro-
bable that these forms for some time continued in use, side by side
Avith those made of the more serviceable metal, iron, which ulti-
mately drove bronze from the field, except for ornamental purposes
or for those uses for which a fusible metal was best adapted. It
seems probable that, as was the case in Mediterranean countries,
some of the socketed weapons, such as spear-heads, which were
more easily cast than forged, may for some time have been made
of bronze in preference to iron ; but at present our knowledge of
any transitional period is slight, and this question would be best
treated of in a work on the Late Celtic or Early Iron Period of
Britain.
* "Habitations Lacustres de la Savoie," 1864, 1867, 1869.
IMPORTED ORNAMENTS. 485
Among the ornaments in use in this country during the Bronze
Period, are some, the history of which, if it could be traced, might
throw light upon the foreign intercourse of that time, for glass and
ivory were probably not of native production.* Glass beads
have occasionally been found in barrows of the Bronze Age,
nearly always in our southern counties, and with burnt in-
terments. They are usually small tubes of opaque glass of
a light blue or green colour, with the outer surface divided
into rounded segments, so as to give the appearance of a
number of spheroidal beads side by side. I am not aware of any
having been discovered with interments of the Bronze Age on
the Continent, but it seems probable that such beads have
been found, and they may eventually assist in marking out the lines
of ancient commerce with this country. A few larger beads, with
spiral serpent-like ornaments upon them, have likewise been found ;
but these, also, I am unable to compare with any Continental
examples. The finding of glass, however, in tombs belonging to
the early portion of our Bronze Age is suggestive of some method
of intercourse, direct or indirect, with Mediterranean countries.
The small quoit-like pendants, formed of a greenish vitrified
material, which have been found in Sussext with burnt interments
of the Bronze Age, closely resemble Egyptian porcelain, and their
presence in this country corroborates this suggestion.
The discovery of beads made in sets like those of glass, of
a bracelet, buttons, pins, and hooks, all, in Dr. Thurnam's opinion,
formed of ivory, gives indications in the same direction ; for
though billiard balls have been manufactured from Scottish
mammoth ivory of the Pleistocene Period, the fossil tusks found in
Britain are, as a rule, too much decomposed to be any longer of
service, and in this respect differ materially from the fossil mam-
moth tusks of Siberia, which still furnish so much of our table
cutlery with handles.
For the jet and amber ornaments of the Bronze Period we have
not, of necessity, to go so far afield as for glass. Abundance of jet
is to be obtained in our own country, and the usual type of jet
necklace, + with a series of flat plates, seems to be essentially
British. Some of the amber plates found at Hallstatt are, how-
* See Thurnam in Arch., vol. xliii. p. 494.
t Arch., vol. xliii. p. 497.
% See "Ancient Stone Impts.," p. 411. I may take this opportunity of correcting
the statement that the Assynt necklace is inlaid with gold. It is merely engraved with
various patterns, in which micaceous grains of sand got lodged and were mistaken for
gold.
486 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
ever, of the same form, and perforated in the same manner, so
that possibly these jet necklaces may have been made in imitation
of foreign prototypes in amber. How far the amber ornaments of
the Bronze Period in Britain were of native production we have no
good means of judging ; but the circumstance just mentioned
is suggestive of Hallstatt and Britain having been supplied from a
common source, which may have been on the shores of the Baltic.
On the other hand, our amber ornaments differ, as a rule, from
those of Scandinavia, and, as already remarked, our eastern coast
would furnish an ample supply of the raw material without seek-
ing it abroad. It must, however, be remembered that some of
the forms of our bronze instruments show traces of German influ-
ence, and that in Strabo's time both amber and ivory were among
the articles exported from Celtic Gaul to Britain. The remark-
able amber cup from the Hove barrow, near Brighton, I have
described elsewhere.*
It remains for me to say a few words as to the general condition
of the inhabitants of Britain during the Bronze Age ; but on this
subject, apart from the light thrown upon it by the tools, weapons,
and ornaments which I have been describing, and by the contents
of the graves of the period, we have in this country but little to
guide us. Such a complete insight into the material civilisation
of the period as that afforded by the Lake-dwellings of Switzer-
land, Savoy, and Northern Italy is nowhere vouchsafed to us in
Britain: The Irish crannoges, which, in many respects, present
close analogies with the pile-buildings, have remained in use until
mediaeval times, and in no instance has the destruction of a settle-
ment by fire contributed to preserve for the instruction of future
ages the household goods of the population. The nearest approach
to a Lake-dwelling in England is that examined in Barton Mere.t
Suffolk, where, however, the results were comparatively meagre.
A single spear-head was found, apparently of the type of Fig. 406,
and the remains of various animals used for food, including the
urus and the hare, which latter in Caesar's time the Britons did
not eat.
The information to be gained from the burial customs and the
contents of the graves has already been gathered by the late Dr.
Thurnam and by Canon Greenwell, as well as by other antiqua-
ries, and I cannot do better than refer to the fortj^-third volume of
* " Ancient Stone Impts.," p. 102.
t Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," p. 3.52 ; Quart. Jouru. Suff. Inst., vol. i. p. 31.
GENERAL SUMMARY. 487
the " Archaeologia," and to " British Barrows."* I may, however,
shortly depict some of the principal features of the external condi-
tions of the bronze-using population of these islands, taken as a
whole, for no doubt the customs and condition of the people were
by no means uniform throughout the whole extent of the country
at any given moment of time.
As to their dwellings, we seem to have no positive information,
but they probably were of much the same character as those of the
Swiss Lake population, except that for the most part they were
placed upon the dry land, and not on platforms above the water.
Their clothing was sometimes of skins, sometimes of woollen
cloth, and probably of linen also, as they were acquainted with the
arts of spinning and weaving. Of domesticated animals they
possessed the dog, ox, sheep, goat, pig, and finally the horse.
They hunted the red deer, the roe, the wild boar, the hare, and
possibly some other animals. For the chase and for warfare their
arrows were tipped with flint, and not with bronze ; and some
other stone instruments, such as scrapers, remained in use until
the end of the period. At the beginning, as has already often
been stated, the axe, the knife-dagger, and the awl were the only
articles of bronze in use. For obtaining fire, a nodule of pyrites
and a flake of flint sufficed. Some cereals were cultivated, as is
shown by the bronze sickles. Pottery they had of various forms,
some apparently made expressly for sepulchral purposes; but they
were unacquainted with the potter's wheel. Some vessels of
amber and shale, turned in the lathe, may have been imported
from abroad. Ornaments were worn in less profusion than in
Switzerland ; but the torque for the neck, the bracelet, the ear-ring,
the pin for the dress and for the hair, were all in use, though
brooches were unknown. Necklaces, or gorgets, formed of amber,
jet, and bone beads were not uncommon ; and the ornaments of
glass and ivory, such as those lately mentioned, were probably
obtained by foreign commerce. Gold, also, was often used for
decorating the person, though coins, and apparently even the
metal silver, were unknown. They appear to have been accom-
plished workers and carvers of wood and horn, and there were
among them artificers who inlaid wood and amber with minute
gold pins almost or quite as skilfully as the French workmen of
the last century, who wrought on tortoise-shell. In casting
* See also Rolleston's App. to "British Barrows;" Lubbock's " Prehist. Times;"
Dawkins's "Early Man in Britain," &c, &c.
488 CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. [CHAP. XXII.
and hammering out bronze they attained consummate skill, and
their spear-heads and wrought shields could not be surpassed at
the present day. The general equipment of the warrior in the
shape of swords, daggers, halberds, spears, &c, and the tools of
the workman, such as hatchets, chisels, gouges, hammers, &c,
have, however, all been dealt with at large in previous pages.
They contrast with the arms and instruments of the preced-
ing Neolithic Age more by their greater degree of perfection than
by their absolute number and variety. The material progress
from one stage of civilisation to the other was no doubt great,
but the interval between the two does not approach that which
exists between Paloeolithic man of the old River-drifts and
Neolithic man of the present configuration of the surface of
Western Europe.
So far as the general interest attaching to the Bronze Period
is concerned, it may readily be conceded that it falls short of
that with which either of the two stages of the Stone Period
which preceded it must be regarded. The existence of numerous
tribes of men who are, or were until lately, in the same stage of
culture as the occupants of Europe during the Neolithic Age,
affords various points of comparison between ancient and modern
savages which are of the highest interest, while there exists at the
present day not a single community in which the phases of the
Bronze culture can be observed. The Palaeolithic Age has, more-
over, a charm of mysterious eld attaching to it as connected with
the antiquity of the human race which is peculiarly its own.
The Bronze Age, nevertheless, from its close propinquity
to the period of written history, is of the highest importance
to those who would trace back the course of human progress
to its earliest phases ; and though in this country many of
the minute details of the picture cannot be filled in, yet, taken
as a whole, the broad lines of the development of this stage
of civilisation may be as well traced in Britain as in any other
country. It has been a pleasure to me to gather the information
on which this work is based ; and I close these pages with the
consolatory thought that, dry as may be their contents, they may
prove of some value as a hoard of collected facts for other seekers
after truth.
FINIS.
GENERAL INDEX.
Achilles, shield of, 12 ; spear of, 18, 242
Addua, Gauls defeated on the, 374
sEs importatum, 414, 419; signatum, 422
^Eschylus quoted, 11
.ffisculapius, temple of, 18
.iEstii, the, iron scarce among, 19
^Ethiopians, bronze rare among, 17
African axe of iron, 149 ; ironworkers, 181 ;
swords, 306 ; trumpet, 359
Agamemnon, breast-plate of, 12
Agatharchides quoted, 8
Akerman, J. Y., F.S.A., cited, 391, 399
Alban necropolis, 341
Alcinous, walls of palace of, bronze-plated, 11
Algonquins, fusing of copper among the, 3
Alloys, various, of copper and tin, 22, 178, 265,
352, 415, 47°
Amber, beads, 135, 189, 244, 366, 394, 487 ; buttons
or studs, 217; cup with interment, 243,486; hilts
or pommels, 228, 229; ornaments, 373, 483, 485,
487 ; trade in, 483, 486
American tomahawks, 162
Amulets, celts used as, 134
Analysis of metal of caldron, 412 ; celts, 417, 421 ;
Indian celts, 40 ; chisels, Mexican and Peru-
vian, 166; shield, 346 ; solder, 425 ; trumpets,
360, 363 ; various bronzes, 415 to 422
Anderson, Mr. Joseph, quoted, 239, 290
Anvils, 180 to 183, 375, 451
Ariantes, Scythian king, 318
Armillse and Armlets. See Bracelets
Arreton Down type of spear-head, 257, 480
Arrow-heads, 216, 318, 323 ; flint, 39, 42, 167, 190,
223, 226, 236, 318, 391, 487
Arundelian marbles, 14
Aryan name for copper, 10
Asiatic origin of bronze, 2, 276, 420, 477
Assyrians, early use of iron among, 9 ; wore pen-
annular bracelets, 383
Asteropaeus, breast-plate of, 13
Ausonius quoted, 29
Awls, 188 to 191 ; double-pointed, 190 ; tanged,
189, 190; handled, 191; with interments, 189,
190, 191, 225, 241, 319, 392, 457
Axes, 14, 41, 147 to 156, 161, 162 ; African modern
iron, 149 ; ceremonial, 450 ; Egyptian, 147 ;
Hungarian, 147, 161, 482 ; clay mould for,
428; of copper, 265; perforated, 161,478,482;
stone, 190, 226
Axe-hammers, of stone, 217, 224, 225, 243
Axe-shaped socketed celts, 142
Aymara Indians, 148
Aymard, M., collection, 215
Aztec chisel, 166
B
Banks, Sir J., quoted, 34, 15s
Banks, Rev. S., collection, 78, 133
Barnwell, Rev. E. L., quoted, 55, 77
Barthelemy, Abb3, quoted, 20
Bateman collection, seeMuseums, Sheffield ; Mr.,
quoted, 42, 44, 151, 190, 225, 227, 228, 383, 390,
392, 393, 402, 409
Battle-axe of Menelaus, 14. See Axes
Bayonet-like blades, 255, 256
Beads, 393 ; agate, 383 ; amber, 135, 189, 244, 366,
487; bone, 487; bronze, 381, 393; dent.ilium
shells, 394 ; fluted, 381 ; glass, 134, 366, 394,
485 ; gold, 391, 394 ; ivory, 485 ; jet, 118, 158,
366, 394, 487 ; joints of encrinite, 394 ; pen-
annular, 285, 391 ; pottery, 366; pulley-shaped,
381 ; tin, 394 ; with leaf-shaped projections,
381 ; with spiral ornaments, 394, 485
Beck, Rev. James, F.S.A., collection, 60, 84, 87
Beck, Dr. L., quoted, 15
Beger quoted, 28, 29
Bell or rattle of bronze, 364
Bell collection in the Ant. Mus., Edinburgh, 105
Bell-metal, 416
Bells to ear-rings, 393
BENIIIE, its meaning, 7
Bertrand, M. Alexandre, quoted, 300, 413
Birch, Dr. S., F.S.A., quoted, 9, 147, 374
Birds on rod, 406
Blackett, Sir Edward, collection, 351
Blackmore Museum. See Museums, Salisbury
Blades, bayonet-like, 255, 256 ; curved, 264 ; diffi-
culty of determining character of, 258, 260 ;
lance-shaped, perforated, 213 ; of dissimilar
character, in the same interment, 241 ; tanged,
211, 244
Blaeuw's Atlas, 362
Bloxam, Mr. M. H., F.S.A., collection, 75, 179
Boars found at Hounslow, 406
Bodkin obsolete as weapon, 369
Bone, instruments of, 189, 285, 366 ; of Horus, 8 ;
of Typhon, 6, 8 ; plates for sword-hilt, 296 ;
pommels for dagger-hilts, 228 ; rings, 51
Borlase, Dr., quoted, 30, 32, 439
Bourgeois, the Abbe, 160
Bouterolle. See Chapes
Boynton, Mr. T., collection, 327
Bracelets, 381 to 388; 90, 96, '35. 136. 155. 198,
333. 377 ; American, 383 ; Assyrian, 383 ;
beaded, 385 ; circular, 384 ; gold, 94, 180, 209,
283, 285 ; jet, 385 ; Late Celtic, 385 to 388 ;
looped, 76, 368, 378, 384, 386, 387; penannu-
lar, 381,382; Scottish, 388, 400; with inter-
ments, 135, 385, 387
Bracer of chlorite slate, 223
Brackenridge, Rev. G. W., collection, 67
Brackstone, Mr., collection, 93, 131, 132
Braybrooke, Lord, collection, 211, 398, 403,
440
Brent, Mr. John, F.S.A., 88, 114
Bridle-bits, 144,322, 368, 404, 405, 470
Bristles, possible early use of, 191
Britain, condition of its inhabitants in the Bro
Age, 486
Britannic province of bronze antiquities, 478
British types of instruments mostly indigenous,
24, 481
490
GENERAL INDEX.
Britons, ancient, merely cut off the ears of corn,
202 ; used iron before the Roman invasion,
19, 276, 354, 471, 472; used no helmets in
time of Severus, 355
Brixen, ancient inhabitants of, came from
Etruria, 35s
" Broad arrow ' ornament on ring, 158
Bronze, analysis of, 22, 178, 265, 415 to 422 ;
Asiatic origin of, 2, 276, 420, 477 ; bronze
burning on to, 280, 293, 425 ; cakes of, 423 ;
early value of, 17, 177, 204 ; brittle when
heated, 185, 409; hardening of, 11, 12, 178,
415 ; lumps of, see Metal ; moulding of, 427
to 470 ; survival of use of, 18, 22
Bronze-founders' hoards, 24, 55, 94, no, 113, 185,
361, 422, 423, 440 (see Hoards) ; classification
of, 457, 459; lists of principal, 460 to 468
Bronze Period, antiquities of, divided into pro-
vinces, 477 ; chronology of, 455, 456,472, 473 ;
condition of the inhabitants of Britain during
the, 487 ; succession of, to Stone Period, 9,
40; succession of iron to, 16, 33, 274, 299,
300, 471
Brooches, 135 ; Late Celtic, 400 ; penannular,
304
Brooke, Capt., collection, 113, 206
Buckles, Late Celtic, 144, 368, 470 ; penannular,
400
Bucklers, 303 ; date of, 353 ; not found with
interments, 354 ; Spanish, 354
" Bulla-," 394
Burnishers, 22
Buttons, 400, 401; annular, 290; bone or ivory,
394; gold, 394! jet, 41, 225, 236; polished
shale, 230 ; sandstone, 41
Cable-pattern, 48, 54, 140
Caesar, Julius, quoted, 19, 354, 414 ; time of, 19,
276. 354. 399. 4r9, 486
Caldrons, 409 to 413 ; spheroidal, 481
Camden's " Britannia" quoted, 31, 361
Canoe, rapier-blade found in, 250
Caprington horn, the, 362
Carelli quoted, 283
Carians armed with bronze, 8
Carnyx on British coins, 363
Carter, Mr. James, collection, 80
Cassiterides identified with Britain, 419
Casting from hafted celt, 154 ; from worn instru-
ments, 117, 121, 442, 449
Castings, defective, 81, 114, 428, 448; unfinished,
84, 90, 115, 175, 328
Catti, the, used iron, 19
Caylus, Count de, quoted, 20, 104
Cazalis de Fondouce, M., 223
" Celestial iron," 7
Celts, as amulets, 134; analysis of,40, 417, 421; cast-
ing, method of, in, 443; casting from ready
mounted, 154 ; casting from worn specimens,
117, 121,442,449; classification of, 38; con-
jectures as to, 31 to 37; copper, 2, 39, 40, 43,
61, '145 ; decoration of, 44 to 49, 52 to 54, 60 to
63, 102 ; derivation of name, 27 to 29 ; flint,
189, 190; gold (?), 135; gradation of types of,
35. 70, 76. 77. 95. 99. 108, 153. 456. 4°9. 479 i
hafting of, 70, 146 to 164 ; moulds for, 136,
143, 428, 429, 430, 442 to 450 ; " recipient " and
" received," 32, 107, 456; restored at edge by
hammering, 83, 112, 446, 454; shortened by
wear, 83,87, 112 ; stone, 40, 150; superstitious
reverence for, 39 ; supposed identity with
German framea, 151 ; tanged, included under
chisals, 38 ; tinned appearance of, 55, 56 ;
votive, 69, 135, 417 ; with interments, 41,42,
44. 47. 5i. 134. 145. '5°. 352
Celts, countries where found. — Austria, 69, 131,
144, 157; Belgium, 116; Cambodia, 142;
China, 142 ; Cyprus, 40 ; Denmark, 40, 52,
54, 60. 69. 95. 134. 159, 163 ; Egypt, 142. 147 ;
Etruria, 39, 132, 156 ; France, 43, 52, 54, 55,
77, i°9> IIQ, "5. "9, "I, 122, 129, 131, 142,
144, 152; Gaul, 115, 116; Brittany, 117, 124,
419, 445, 477 ; Savoy Lake-dwellings, 131 ;
Germany, 43, 52, 77, 109, 112, 116, 133, 142,
144; Greece, 69, 160; Holland, 77, 109, 133,
152 ; Hungary, 40, 43, no ; India, 2, 40 ; Italy,
104, 132, 142, 143, 155, 157, 160; Java, 142;
Jutland, 30 ; Mexico, 43 ; Portugal, 143 ;
Russia, 143 ; Siberia, 131, 143 ; Spain, 43 ;
Sweden, 52, 129, 143
Celts, flat. — English, 39 to 48 ; Scottish, 55 to 59 ;
Irish, 39, 45, 61 to 65; copper, 39, 40, 43, 61 ;
decorated, 44, 49, 58, 59, 62 to 65, 69, 453 ;
double-ended, 69 ; doubly tapering, 44, 49,
69; earliest in date, 39, 107, 149, 469; iron,
157; largest found in Britain, 57 ; moulds for,
430, 428, 438 ; perforated, 160
Celts, flanged. — English, 48 to 55 ; Scottish, 59 to
61; Irish, 66 to 68; castings for, 55; de-
corated, 48, 53, 54, 58 to 61, 66 to 69 ; doubly
tapering, 68, 69; perforated, 59; roughening
blade of, 67; with "flanches" on face, 60;
with stop-ridge, 68, 69, 73, 74, 479
Celts, socketed. — English, 107 to 135 ; 87, 93, 94,
95 ; Scottish, 135 to 137, 143 ; Irish, 137 to 142 ;
apparently of German origin, 483 ; axe-
shaped, 142 ; castings for, 86 ; clay cores
left in, 115, 116, 186, 445; of copper, 145;
" flanches " on, 60, 107 to in, 131, 480 ; of iron,
116, 144, 157, 159, 163 ; of lead, 445; method
of casting, 442 ; moulds for, of bronze, 438 to
445 ; moulds for, of burnt clay, 450 ; moulds
for, of stone, 432 ; origin of, 107, 483 ; rarely
or never found with interments in Britain, 134;
with loop on face, 130; with two loops, 142, 143;
without loops, 133, 142, 144; with ribs inside
socket, 109, no, in ; with ribs on face, 117,
127, 136, 137, 140
Celts, winged. — English, 71 to 77 ; Scottish, 97 ;
Irish, 99 to 102
Celts, trumpeters in army of, 363
Celtiberian method of preparing iron, 275
" Celtis" Roman pronunciation of, 29
Census, method of taking, 318
Centres of manufacture, independent, 106, 143,
_ 475 . „
" Ceraunius, 40
Cereals cultivated during the Stone Period, 194 ;
cultivated during the Bronze Period, 487 .
See Sickles
Cesnola, General di, 40
Cetra in use in Spain and Mauretania, 354
Chabas, M., quoted, 6, 7
Chalybes, the, 17
Chantre, M. Ernest, quoted, 43, 55, 88, 109, 176,
183, 184, 202, 297, 358,405, 478, 484 ; his classi-
fication of hoards, 458
Chapes, 285, 305 to 307 ; wooden, 302
Chariots of Early Iron Age, 389, 403
Chierici, Professor, quoted, 422
Chilian celt of copper, 145
China, steel imported to Rome from, 19
Chinese antiquarian work, 263 ; halberd, 262 ; in-
fluence, 478 ; spear-heads, 329
Chisels, 165 to 173, 113, 148; Aztec, 166; celts used
as, 38, 133, 146; Egyptian, 8, 166; flint, 165;
narrow, 259; mould for, 449; socketed, 171,
172 ; from Swiss Lake-dwellings, 166 ; tanged,
167 to 171, 315
Christy collection, 142
Chronos, sickle of, 15
Cicero's facetious inquiry, 275
Cimbrians used iron, 19
" Cire perdue " method of casting, 427, 449
" Clachan nathaireach," 394
Clasps, 396 ; or slides, 308 ; found with celts, 144 ;
gold, 139
Clerk, Baron, collection, 98, 214, 218
Clipeus longer than cetra, 354
Coins, British, 118, 134, 181, 354, 363,399, 470; of
Cunobeline, 181, 354; of Dubnovellaunus, 181;
of Eppillus, 363 ; of Hadrian, 117 ; of gold and
silver, 322; Italian, 283 ; Roman, 115, 117,
GENERAL INDEX.
49 L
363 ; Spanish, 354 ; Syracusan, 426; of Tas-
ciovanus, 354, 363 ; of Verica, 354, 399 ; un-
known in Bronze Age, 487
Collars, with beads strung on iron wire, 381. See
Torques
" Commander's staff," 262
Commerce between Britain and the Mediter-
ranean countries, 483, 485 ; of the Etruscans,
413,476; of the Phoenicians, 419, 475, 479!
with the East, 413
Congress of Prehistoric Archaeologv, Buda-Pest,
180 ; Stockholm, 288
Continental influence on British forms, 106, 143,
297. 379, 472, 479 to 486
Cooke collection, 128
Cooke, Mr. B., quoted, a
Copper Age, in America, 2; in Europe, 2; in
modern times, 4
Copper, bars of, 424 ; blades, 265 ; cakes, 422 ;
cakes with Roman inscriptions, 423 ; celts,
Chilian, 145 ; celts, Etruscan, 39 ; celts,
Indian, 2 ; celts, Irish, 61 ; early sources
of, 8, 14, 418 ; halberds, Irish, 265 ; ingots,
426; knives, Esquimaux, 211 ; lumps of
{see Metal) ; native, 3, 418, 419 ; perforated
axe, 265 ; punches, or sets, modern, 265 ;
pyrites, 419 ; saw from Santorin, 184 ;
smelting of, 422
Cord, traces of, on celt, 160 ; traces of, on dag-
ger, 226
Cores of clay for bells, 384 ; extraction of, 186,
451 ; method of casting with, 443 ; remaining
in celts, 115, 116, 186, 445 ; wooden and
bronze, 445
Cornwall, native copper in, 419 ; native tin in,
419
Cotton, Charles, Esq., 133
Crannoges, Irish, 220, 486
Crawfurd, Mr. J., quoted, 9
Crofton Croker collection, 131
Cross-guards of daggers or knives, 309
Crotals or rattles, 361
Crowbar, 161
Crucibles, probably of clay, 427
Cumae, Battle of, 355
Cuming, Mr. Syer, quoted, 37, 306, 340
Cunliffe, Sir R. A., collection, 55
Cunnington, Mr., P.S.A., quoted, 189, 242
Cunobeline, hammer on coins of, 181 ; shields on
coins of, 354
Cups, amber, 243, 486 ; gold, 407 ; hanging, 408 ;
with interments, 189, 190, 226, 239, 243
Curved cutting tools, 180
D
Dactyli, invention of metals ascribed to, 15
Daggers, 222 to 247, 254, 256 to 260; Danish, 254 ;
Egyptian, 254, 420; French, 223, 234, 238,
243, 254; German, 246; Hungarian, 236;
Irish, 234, 239, 244, 254; Italian, 236, 241,
287 ; methods of hafting, 227 to 236 ; moulds
for, Italian, 434 ; ornamented on blade, 234,
241, 246 ; Peruvian mode of holding, 246 ;
Scandinavian, 234, 236, 252 ; socketed, 200,
480; tanged, 222, 223, 224, 254, 258, 259, 260 ;
tanged, peculiar to Britain, 480; with stone
axes in interments, 161, 224, 225
Daimachus quoted, 17
Dalmatian hammer, 183 ; chisels, 172
Danubian province of bronze antiquities, 478, 482
Darbishire, Mr. R. D., F.S.A., 438
Davy, Mr. H. A., 87
Dawkins, Prof. W. Boyd, F.R.S., 475, 477
Day, Mr. R., F.S.A., collection, 6t, 62, 65, 102,
105, 138, 139, 140, 141, 171, 172, 176, 212, 246,
259, 293, 315. 325- 358
Delas, inventor of bronze, according to lhrn-
phrastus, 15
I)e Bonstetten, 104
De Champlain quoted, 3
De Fellenberg referred to, 422, 425
Defoe quoted, 362
Dentalium necklace, 394
Desor, Prof., collection, 86, 180
Diadems, 184 ; Danish and German, 394 ; gold,
42, 393
Dickinson, Mrs., collection, 80, 84, 386
Diodorus Siculus quoted, 202, 275, 363, 426
Dionysius said to nave struck coins of tin, 426
Discs with concentric circles, 401 ; perforated,
403
Dolabra, Roman, 36
Dolmen, French, 293
Donovan's analysis of trumpet, 360
Douce and Meyrick collection, 109
Douglas, "Naenia Brit.," quoted, 34, 233
Dow, Rev. John, quoted, 35
" Dowris Find," golden lustre on articles from,
360
Drills. See Awls
" Druidical pruning-hook," 32, 200
Druid's altar, supposed, 114
Dryden, Sir Henry, collection, 74
Dubnovellaunus, hammer on coin of, 181
Duke, Rev. E., collection, 166, 377, 385, 393, 432
Dunoyer, Mr. G. V., quoted, 35, 132, 155, 160, 431
Durden, Mr., collection, 134, 250, 378, 393
Dusaussoy, Mr., analysis by, 418
Dyer, Mr. Thiselton, F.R.S., 313
E
Early Iron Age of Denmark, 159 ; hoard at
Vimose, 195 ; interment, belonging to, 25 ;
trumpets of, 357,363. -SVealso Hallstatt and
Late Celtic Period.
Ear-rings, 391 ; gold, 393
Edwards, Mr. G., C.E., 368
Egerton, Sir P. de M. G., F.R.S., collection, 91,
169. 33i, 464
Egypt, bronze as circulating medium in, 8 ; early
rarity of iron and steel in, 6 ; early use of
bronze in, 475 ; lead bronze used in, 419
Egyptian arrow-heads, leaf- shaped, 318 ; axes,
142, 147 ; celts with ears, 147 ; chisels, 166 ;
daggers, 234, 254 ; daggers, analysis of, 420 ;
daggers, socketed, 261, 480; hatchet still
hatted, 148; hoe-like instrument, 142; method
of fixing adze blades, 159 ; rings, penannulai,
391 ; swords, 298 ; tongs, 185
Elissa, bronze sickle of, 18, 194
Enamel on bronze articles, 135 ; red, on shields,
343
Encrinite beads, 394
Engelhardt, Mr. Conrad, quoted, 159, 164, 195
Enniskillen, Earl of, F.R.S., 61, 180, 282
Ennius, iron used in Italy before the days of, 18
Epaulettes, originally intended for protection of
shoulder, 374
Esquimaux, handles of instruments, 195 ; knives
of copper, 211
Etruscan, celts, 132 ; commerce, 413, 476; gold
necklaces, 39 ; helmets, 355 ; influence on
form of Irish vases, 412, 476, 481 ; rings with
loops, 400; tomb, copper celt in, 39 ; urns at
Hallstatt, 412
Euripides quoted, 16
Fabrics, woven, 474
Fabricius, J. A., quoted, 151
Falmouth, Earl of, golden(?) celt belonging to, 135
Faussett collection, 129
Fenton, Mr., 223
Fenton, Mr. S., 306
Ferris, Dr., 348
Ferrules, 338 to 341, 236, 257, 309, 315, 317, m\
African celt-like, 340; Danish, 309, 340; flat,
404; gold, 309, 313; Irish, 340; iron, 311
" Ferrum ' used for sword in Caesar's time, 276
Fibula of silver, 155 ; with interment, 387, 400
Fiji, conch-shell trumpets from, 359
Files, bronze, 7, 181, 184, 185 ; iron, 184
492
GENERAL INDEX.
Finds of bronze. See Hoards of Bronze
Finger-rings, 198, 391
Fisher, Mr. Marshall, collection, 53, 78, 79, 91,
121, 248, 254, 272, 282, 286, 322, 328
Fish-hooks, 192
Fitch, Mr. R., F.S.A., collection, 52, 114, 120, 282
Flaminius Nepos, 374
" Flanches " on celts, 60, 107 to ill, 131, 480
Flint, arrow-heads, 42, 167, 223, 226, 236, 238, 318,
391; Etruscan, 39; celts, 189, 190; chipped,
243, 366; chisels, 165; flakes, 167, 366; flakes
used as saws, 454 ; implements, 189, 224, 225 ;
implements, French, 223 ; implements, Irish,
271 ; knives, 41, 225, 240; scraper, 225 ; simi-
larity between Irish and Portuguese forms,
271 ; spear-heads, 190, 225 ; " strike-a-lights,"
22, 225
Flower, Mr. J. W., F.G.S., 122, 242, 270
Forbes, Mr. David, F.R.S., 148, 165
Forel, M., collection, 210, 441
Franks, Mr. A. W., F.R.S., quoted, 37, 49,
51. 135> J99, 257. 299. 302, 33°, 353. 363, 4°4.
405, &c.
Frederick, Sir Charles, 257, 260
Gage, Mr., F.S.A., 343
Garrucci, Padre, 341
Garthe, Dr. Hugo, collection, 448
Gastaldi, Prof., 202
Gauls, gold torques among the, 374 ; Isumbrian,
had iron swords, 19 ; of North of France had
iron mines, 9
Gaulish reaping machine, 194 ; torques used for
trophy, 374 ; trumpets, 363
Genthe, Rector, quoted, 21
Geoffroy's experiments, 12
Gesenius, suggestion of, 5
Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., quoted, n, 16
Glass beads, 134, 135, 366, 394, 485, 487
Gold, bracelets, 180, 209, 283, 285 ; buttons, 394 ;
clasps, 139, 391 ; Cornish celt, doubtful, 135 ;
diadems, 42, 393 ; ferrules, 309, 313 ; fillet,
239 ; mines, Egyptian, 8 ; necklaces, 39 ; on
dagger hilts, 51, 228, 232 ; ornaments, 51, 304,
391. 393! Merovingian, 117; pins for inlaying,
51, 228, 232; plates, 51, 232, 244; plates, cres-
cent-shaped, 394 ; probably the first metal
used, 418 ; rings, 389, 390, 393 ; torques, 90,
180, 209, 374, 375, 376, 379, 390; trophy of
Gaulish torques, 374
Gongora y Martinez, Don M., 238
Goodwin, Mr., 347
Gordon, Sir R., 218, 289, 340, 362
Gouges, 173 to 177, 319, 320, 336 ; French, 176
Gozzadini, Count, quoted, 37
Gray, Mr. W., collection, 352, 412
Greece, early use of iron in, 14
Greek axe, 161 ; fret on Chilian celts, 145 ; lan-
guage, testimony of, 10 ; sword, 298 ; vases,
representations on, 340
Greenwell, Rev. Canon, F.R.S., collection, pas-
sim ; quoted, 37, 41, 151, 224, 227, 387, 389,
400, 407, &c.
Grimm quoted by M. Miiller, 10
Grose quoted, 363
Gross, Dr. Victor, collection, 114, 176, 183, 195,
422, 431, 449
Gudea, King of Assyria, 9
Gun-metal, 415
H
Hafting. See Handles and Hilts
Halberds, 261 to 270; Chinese, 263; Irish, 263,
266, 268 ; iron, 263 ; Italian, 480 ; mode of
attachment to shaft, 262 ; rare in Britain,
270; Russian, 263 ; Scandinavian, 262; Scot-
tish, 269; Spanish, 271
Hallstatt, 23, 25, 69, 144, 181, 184, 229, 288, 293,
308, 342, 355, 389, 393, 394, 401, 405, 409, 412
Hammers, 177 to 181 ; bronze, 81, 94, 319, 442,
451 ; in Bologna hoard, 180 ; casting for, 361 ;
clay mould for, 450 ; formed of part of pal-
stave, 180 ; Hungarian, 180 ; Lake-dwellings,
181 ; looped, 180 ; stone, 165 ; stone with inter-
ment, 51, 232, 353, 405
Handles to celts, 146 to 164 ; to celts, club-like,
149 ; to celts, elbowed, 146 ; to celts, original,
150; to iron celt, 144, 157 ; to Italian celt, 155 ;
to knife, of amber, 228 ; to stone celts, of stags-
horn, 150; to vessels, variety of, 414
Hare, remains of, at Barton Mere, 486
Harford, Mr. E. J., F.S.A., quoted, 34
Harland, Mr. H. S., 118, 226
" Hasta Pura," 218
Hatchets, iron, 148
Hearne, quoted, 31
Hector, gold-ringed spear-head of, 313
Helmets, bronze, 355 ; Late Celtic, 356
Herodian quoted, 355
Herodotus quoted, 17
Hesiod quoted, 16, 17
Hiero, Tyrant of Syracuse, 355
Hieroglyphic inscriptions on axes, 147
Hildebrand, Dr. Hans, quoted, 21
Hilts of daggers, 229 to 236; of rapiers, 252 to
256 ; of swords, 286 to 300 ; proportional to
blades, 277 ; made of amber, 228 ; made of
ivory, inlaid with amber, 299 ; made of ox-
horn, 252 ; inlaid, of dagger, 352
Hoards of Bronze —
Abergele, 144, 308, 404, 405, 471
Achtertyre, 136, 315, 382, 425, 468
Allhallows, Hoo, 214, 230, 467
Alnwick, 43, 113, 285, 321, 391, 465
Ambleside, 285, 465
Amiens, 52, 157, 176, 201, 206, 249, 371, 398
Arreton Down, 49, 243, 244, 257, 258, 260, 464,
473. 480
Barrington, 78, 118, 466
Battlefield, 43, 86, 405, 464
Beachy Head, 94, 283, 423, 467
Beacon Hill, 43, 174, 321, 466
Beddington, no, 174, 320, 340, 423, 447, 468
Bernay, 77, 78, 79
Bilton, 113, 129, 282, 314, 320, 465
Blackmoor, 464
Bloody Pool, 338, 339, 465
Bo Island, 180, 292, 466
Bologna, 104, 143, 172, 173, 176, 180, 183, 184,
185, 210, 217, 288, 341, 448, 480
Brechin, 290, 465
Broadward, 168, 285, 319, 320, 336, 338, 397, 465
Broxton, 91, 169, 331, 464
Burgesses' Meadow, Oxford, 81, 169, 179, 467
Burwell Fen, 467
Camenz, 202, 384, 390, 459
Carlton Rode, 78, 94, 113, 119, 121, 122, 133, 167,
171. 173. 175. 178, 424. 4D7
Chrishall, 117, 283, 465
Clare, Postlingford Hall, 48, 464
Cleveland, 447, 468
Corsbie Moss, 290, 464
Cumberlow, 94, no, 134, 424, 467
Danesbury, 423, 468
Dowris, 176, 179, 211, 220, 293, 335, 360, 361, 410,
411, 412, 452, 468
Dreuil, 109, no, 129, 144, 176, 208, 283, 370, 393,
403, 404, 405
Duddingston Loch, 289, 315, 335, 409, 424, 465
Dunbar, 220, 465
Earsley Common, 113, 134, 424, 468
Eaton, 447, 468
Ebnall, 167, 174, 187, 466
Edington Burtle, 197, 249, 320, 325, 330, 377,
385, 391, 464
Exiling, 174^, 394, 466
Flixborough, 465
Fresne la Mere, 180, 183, 189, 209, 375
Fulbourn, 279, 282, 320, 340, 464
Glancych, 285, 304, 315, 340, 389, 464
Greensborough Farm, Shenstone, 285, 465
GENEEAL INDEX.
493
Guilsfield, 87, 114, 174, 285, 302, 315, 336, 339,
424, 467
Hagbourn Hill, 144, 322, 368, 466, 470, 471
Harty, Isle of, no, 111, 174, 177, 181, 186, 211,
214, 308, 403, 441, 442, 453, 457, 468
Haxey, 89, 129, 465
Haynes' Hill, 297, 305, 320, 403, 467
Heathery Burn Cave, no, 118, 166, 172, 175,
185, 206, 211, 219, 285, 314, 365, 372, 381, 386,
388, 391, 401, 402, 412, 424, 447, 451, 468
Helsdon Hall, 424, 467
High Roding, 109, 116, 424, 468
Hollingbury Hill, 76, 115, 378, 386, 390, 464
Hotham Carr, 84, 92, 440, 468
Hounslow, 128, 175, 210, 451, 466
Hundred of Hoo, 95, 466
Kenidjack Cliff, 95, 119, 423, 451, 467
Kensington, 158, 174, 401, 424, 450, 467
Kingston Hill, 126, 423, 467
Lamballe, 116
Lanant, 206, 285, 340, 423, 451, 467
Larnaud, Fonderie de, 68, 131, 167, 176, 184,
192, 448, 456
Little Wenlock, 113, 234, 314, 336, 452, 465
Llandysilio, 93, 119, 206, 465
Llangwyllog, 81, 192, 219, 387, 389, 400, 466
Longy Common, 321, 467
Maentwrog, 248, 328, 465
Marden, 198, 208, 211, 308, 366, 381, 388, 450,
45i. 467
Martlesham, 113, 119, 120, 129, 174, 206,424,467
Mawgan, 116, 184, 250, 465
Melbourn, 174, 389, 397, 406
Meldreth, 172, 201, 411, 424, 466
Moussaye, 115, 116, 445, 477
Nettleham, 86, 92, 131, 314, 330, 395, 465
Newark, 118, 316, 402, 466
Nottingham, 93, 118, 317, 322, 339, 465
Panfield, 468
Pant-y-maen. See Glancych
Pierre du Villain, 214, 279, 397
Plenee-Jugon. See Moussaye
Plymstock, 50, 165, 241, 259, 464
Point of Sleat, 289, 315, 372, 465
Porkington, 168, 174, 466
Quantock Hills, 77, 377, 447, 464
Reach Fen, 79, 112, 118, 122, 133, 167, 174, 187,
205, 210, 211, 213, 216, 229, 283, 305, 314, 315,
317. 319. 396, 4°o, 467
Reepham, 466
Rhosnesney, 55, 90, 226, 464
Romford, 86, 172, 424, 467
Roseberry Topping, 129, 172, 174, 178, 397, 424,
468
St. Hilary, 285, 423, 467
Shenstone, 285, 465
Sittingbourne, 113, 174, 424, 467
Stanhope, 118, 129, 174, 179, 315, 403, 466
Stibbard, 84, 328, 457, 464
Stoke Ferry, 270, 282, 305, 314, 465
Tarves, 290, 372, 465
Taunton, 116, 178, 198, 218, 367, 389, 466
Thorndon, 174, 177, 189, 205, 319, 466
Thrunton Farm, Whittingham, 280, 288, 314, 335,
,464
Tours, 448
Trillick, 180, 389, 399, 466
Ty-Mawr, 129, 168, 315, 381, 389, 466
Vimose, 159, 195
Wallingford, 87, 128, 167, 206, 219, 321, 457, 466
Wallington, 89, 333, 382, 465
Wandle River, 282, 316, 368, 465
Wedmore, 376, 378, 466
West Buckland, 96, 377, 386, 464
,, Halton, 113, 118, 120, 424, 467
Westow, 85, 118, 130, 168, 172, 174, 388, 450, 467
Westwick Row, 112, 424, 468
"Weymouth, 279, 313, 419, 464
Whittlesea, 131, 175, 179, 466'
Wick Park, 120, 304, 423, 450, 467
Wicken Fen, 76, 199, 205, 287, 464
Wickham Park, 95, 340, 423, 448, 468
Wilmington, 87, 447, 468
Winmarleigb, 118, 314, 335,466
Woolmer Forest, 378, 383, 390, 464
Worth, 254, 313, 402, 464
Worthing, 87, 423, 467
Wrekin Tenement, 285, 338, 465
Wymington, 113, 466
Yattendon, 169, 403, 466
Hoare, Sir Richard Colt, quoted, 34, 44, 51, 134,
163, 190, 232, 241, 242, 352, 369, 405, and
passim
Hodgson, Rev. John, quoted, 35
Holmes, Mr. J., collection, 201, 328
Homer, bronze or copper? mentioned by, n;
mentions tin, 12; other metals, 13
Homeric Age, 16, 18, 161, 242, 313, 340
Hones. See Whetstones
Hood, Sir A. A., Bart., collection, 119
Hoops, 402
Horns, curved, found in Denmark, 363
Horn, the Caprington, 362
Horn, used, 225, 226, 227, 252, 487
Horse-trappings, 396
Hostmann, Dr., quoted, 21
Hugo, Rev. T., F.S.A., quoted, 36
Hugo collection, 65, 104, 105, 284
Hungary, native copper in, 419
Hungarian province of bronze antiquities, 482
Hutchins, Mr., quoted, 94
I
Imitation rivets, 235, 257, 260, 344
Inlaying of metals, 13, 296, 297 ; wood and amber,
Si, 228, 232, 368, 487
Instruments, broken, converted into another form,
180, 211, 361, 454; tanged, of earlier date
than socketed, 456
Intercourse between Britain and the Continent.
106, 143, 162, 379, 413, 483; Ireland and
Spain, 271
Interments, 41, 42, 237, 238, 239; burnt, 51, 96,
189, 190, 224, 226, 233, 241, 242, 243, 366, 384,
394. 474. 485 ; contracted, 44, 51, 134, 190,
223. 244. 380 ; comparison ot size of men of
the Stone and Bronze Periods, 277 ; in a hide,
with fern leaves, 225 ; in wooden cist, 241;
Late Celtic, 23, 391 ; with beads, 135, 366, 394 ;
with bracelets, 135, 385, 387 ; with awls, 189,
190,191, 225, 241, 319, 392, -457; with axes,
190, 226; with celts, 41, 42, 44, 47, 51, 134,
145. !5°. 352 ; with stone hatchets, 204 ; with
stone hammers, 51, 232, 353, 405 ; with knife
daggers, 41, 161, 204, 225, 226, 256, 367, 480 ;
with marine shells, 189, 394 ; tree-burials,
190, 226, 228, 241, 243, 301, 367, 474; urn-
burials, 42, 190, 191, 217, 226, 234, 384, 391 ;
at Hallstatt, 412; various modes of, 473
Ionians armed with bronze, 8
Ireland, use of iron probably later than in Britain,
471 ; never occupied by the Romans, 276
Iron, ancient, preservation of, 25 ; approximate
date of introduction into Britain, 472; "Ce-
lestial," 7; celts, 116, 144, 157, 159. 163;
Celtiberian method of tempering, 275 ; col-
lars and belts, 355; currency, 17; date of
discovery of, from the Arundelian ^marbles,
14 ; effects of long burying, 275 ; files, 184 ;
forms copied from bronze, 23, 95, 144, 299 ;
hatchet from Bolivia, 148 ; meteoric origin
of, 7; mines in France, 19; probably un-
known till after the separation of Aryan
nations, io; pyrites in urn, 243, with inter-
ment, 225, for obtaining fire, 487 ; religious
avoidance of, in Egypt, 6 ; self-iused mass of,
15 ; succession of, to bronze, 4, 6, 16, 22, 23 ;
spear-heads, 342 ; swords, iq, 274, 275, 270 ;
280, 287, 297, 299, 300, 343, 354; used in
Britain before Roman invasion, 19, 276, 354,
471, 472 ; used by the Catti, 19 ; used by the
Gauls, 19; used in ancient Greece. 14, 15;
used in Italy, 19
494
GENERAL INDEX.
Italian, coins with type of sword, 283 ; origin sug-
gested for Northern bronze antiquities, 21
Ivory, bracelets, 485 ; buttons, 394, 485 ; dagger
handles, 233 ; exported from Gaul to Britain,
486 ; hilts to iron swords, 229 ; hooks, 485 ;
nippers, 233 ; pieces of, with bronze rivets,
241; pins, 51, 233, 241, 485 ; rings, Egyptian,
391 ; tweezers, 241 ; war trumpets, African,
359
James, Sir Henry, F.R.S., quoted, 426
Japanese sabres, 275
Java, socketed celt from, 142
" Tavelin with loop," 256
Je"ffrey, Mr., F. S.A.Scot., 351
Jerome, St., quoted, 27, 28
Jet, beads, 118, 158, 189, 336,394; Buttons, 225,
236; discs, 190; loops, 308; necklaces, 189,
190, 487 ; ornaments, 485 ; pendant, 190; used
for decorations, 373
Tets and runners, 450
Jewitt, Mr. Llewellynn, F.S.A., quoted, 44, 453
Job, book of, quoted, 5 ; translation of, by St.
Jerome, 27
Tones, Hon. Col. C. C, quoted, 3
Jutland, flat celts in, 30
Keller, Dr. F., quoted, 150, 195
Kendrick, James, M.D., 46, 158
Kirwan, Rev. R., 134,224
Klemm, Dr., cited, 153
Knife-daggers, antiquity of, 222, 457 ; associated
with stone implements (see Stone and Bronze
together) ; attached to haft by perishable
rivets, 226; ornamented, 212, 237} perforated,
225 ; Scottish, 238 ; short and broad, 240 ;
Spanish, 238; with handle of yew, 207 ; with
haft of ox-horn, 225 ; with interments, 41, 161,
204, 205, 226, 256, 367, 480
Knives, 204 to 216; flint, 41; flint with inter-
ment, 225, 240
Knives, socketed, curved, 204, 205, 209 ; double-
edged, 205 to 208, 167, 216, 480 ; Irish, 207 ;
looped, 210, 215 ; moulds for, 449; with fluted
blade, 205
Knives, tanged, 211 to 216 ; curved, 209, 214, 215 ;
Danish and German, 215 ; made from broken
swords, 211 ; moulds for, 433; perforated, 213,
215 ; single-edged, 214, 215, 480; tang ending
in head of animal, 213 ; tangs flat, 211, 212 ;
with rings on blade, 215
Koudourmapouk, King of the Soumirs and Ac-
cads, 9
Laconia, steel of, 17
Lake-dwellers probably cut straw, 202
Lake-dwellings of Savoy, 95, 131, 191, 371 ; of
Switzerland, 13,95, JI4> 37°; insight into early
civilisation given by, 486
Lake Superior, native copper found near, 3, 418
Lance -head, 368
Lane Fox, Gen. A. See Pitt-Rivers, Gen. A.
Late Celtic Period. — Arrow-heads, 318; bridle-bits,
144, 368, 405, 470; bracelets, 135, 387, 388;
brooches, 400; buckles, 144, 368, 470; celts,
137, 144. 157, 163 ; chariots, 389, 403 ; ear-
rings, 393 ; ferrules, Irish, 340; helmet, 356;
interments, 23, 25, 135, 471; pins, 144, 369;
remains, 135, 144, 385; sheaths, 302, 308;
shield, 353 ; spear-heads, 144, 342 ; swords,
229, 275, 299, 343 ; torques, 381 ; trumpets, 362 ;
vessel with iron handle, 409
Lauth, Prof., quoted, 7
Laveissiere, Messrs., gun-metal, 416
Lawrence, Mr. W. L., F.S.A., 45
Layton, Mr. T., F.S.A., collection, 52, 126, 284,
302
Lead, absent in early bronze, 417 ; at butt-end of
palstave, 97 ; socketed celts, made of, 445 ; in
small socketed celts, from Brittany, 417 ; in
articles from Dowris, 360 ; spoken of by Job, 5
Lead bronze used in Egypt, 419
Leather sheath for flint dagger, 309 ; for bronze
knives, 309 ; for Scandinavian dagger, 252 ;
thongs for securing hatchet, 148
Leland quoted, 30
Lepsius quoted, 7
Lichas the Lacedemonian, 18
Lichfield, Mr., collection, 94, 127
Lindenschmit, Dr. Ludwig, quoted, 21, 81, 202
Liseh, Dr. F., quoted, 151, 262
Livy quoted, 354
Local peculiarities of bronze antiquities, 24, 477
Londesborough, Lord, collection, 345
" Long Barrow " period, skeletons of, 277
Loops or slides, 403 ; of jet, 404
Lort, Rev. Mr., F.S.A., quoted, 31, 33, 439
Lovelace, Earl of, 245, 316
Lubbock, Sir John, F.R.S., quoted, 20, 37, 149,
i57, 274, 276, 427, 475
Lucretius quoted, 16
Lukis, Rev. W. C, F.S.A., 181, 385
" Lurer," or curved horns found in Denmark, 363
Lusitanians, bronze spears among the, 17
Lycurgus, iron currency in time of, 17
Lydia, steel of, 17
M
Macadam, Dr. Stevenson, quoted, 56, 362, 410,
425
McCulloch, Mr. W. T., quoted, 349
Maces, 271, 272; perforated stone, 51
Macrobius quoted, 275
Madsen quoted, 52, 54, 288, 404
Magnentius, bronze swords attributed to time of,
, 25
Malacca the principal Eastern source of tin, 424
" Malga," Australian wooden weapon, 263
Manetho quoted by Plutarch, 8
Manillas, or African ring money, 387
Manlia Gens, denarii of, 374
Mariette, M., quoted, 6
Marine shells with interments, 189, 394
Martineau and Smith quoted, 415
Masons of Peru still use stone pebbles as mallets,
165
Massagetae a bronze-using people, 17
Mayer collection. See Museums, Liverpool
Medea, bronze sickle of, 18, 194
Medhurst, Mr., collection, 127
Medicinal use of iron in ancient Egypt, 6 ;
" virtue in brass," 31
Mediterranean province of bronze antiquities,
478
Memnon, sword of, 18
Menelaus, battle-axe of, 14
Meriones, arrow of, 18
Merovingian gold ornaments, 117
Metals, 415 to 426; admixture of other than 'cop-
per and tin in bronze, 346, 360, 417, 420 ;
early use of, 1 to 20, 418, 420; lumps of, 81,
87, 94. "3, "9. 120, 283, 423, 425, 442, 449, 459,
469
Meteoric origin of first-known iron, 7, 15
Mexican, bronze, 4 ; name for copper transferred
to iron, 10
Meyrick collection, 109, 205, 271, 351, 356; Sir
Samuel, quoted, 155
Milles, Rev. Dr., collection, 48
"Minds," Irish, 42, 394
Mines, Egyptian gold, 8
Minerva, Temple of, at Phaselis, 18
" Missile hatchets, 162
Mitchell, Dr. Arthur, F-S.A. Scot., 437
Molyneux, Sir T., quoted, 358
Money, suggestion that celts served as, 17
Montelius, Dr. O., quoted, 109, 26?, 288, 298
Montezuma II., axe of, 148
JMorlot, M., quoted, 26
GENERAL INDEX.
495
" Morning Star," or flail, 271 '
Mortillet, M. Gabriel de, 405, 456, 457
Mortimer, Messrs., collection, 43, 113,190,227, 230
Mortise and tenon, 171
Moseley, H. N., F.R.S., 263
Moulds, 427 to 450; bronze, 84, 174,43810448;
clay, 427, 428, 448, 449 ; clay, for buttons, 401 ;
stone, 143, 158, 180, 250,428 to 438; notches
on, 436 ; wooden, for British coins of tin, 445
Movers, Prof.,"quoted, 5
Miiller, Prof. Max, quoted, 10
Miiller, Dr. Sophus, quoted, 21
Museums —
Abbeville, 335
Agram, 177
Alnwick Castle, 46, 116, 285, 287, 368, 386
Amiens, 119, 183, 201, 206, 208, 371, 398
Assen, 109
Belfast, 430
Berlin, 39, 173, 184, 234, 262, 263, 298, 299, 441,
448
Boulaq, 261
Boulogne, 238, 250
Bourges, 307
Bristol, 217
Brunswick, 288
Buda-Pest, 142, 327
Caen, 86
Cambridge Ant. Soc, 174, 199, 205, 259, 270,
271, 272, 279, 340, 346
Carcassonne, 328
Chambery, 131, 184
Chateaudun, 122
Clermont-Ferrand, 119, 176,341, 438
Copenhagen, of Northern Antiquities, 172, 259,
288, 353, 432, 441
C racow, Academy of Sciences, 181
Darmstadt, 91, 441
Devizes, see Stourhead
Dorchester, 432
Dover, 113
Dresden, Preusker collection, 437
Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, passim ; Trinity
College, 220, 431
Edinburgh, Ant., passim; Advoc. Library, 289
Elgin, 333
Evreux, 77
Exeter, 51
Florence, 156
Geneva, 210
Gottingen, 77
Gratz, Johanneum, 288
Hanover, 184, 308, 441
Kiel, 262
Laibach, 246, 393, 428
Lausanne, 260
Leipsig, Deutsche Gesellschaft, 221
Le Puy, 293
Lewes, 87, 447
Leyden, 89, 133, 173, 176, 221
Linz, 153
Liverpool, Mayer collection, 52, 81, 82, 83,
88, 129, 168, 319, 351
London, British Museum, passim ; Soc. Ant.,
49, 90, 125, 348, and passim
Lyons, 131, 301, 441
Madrid, 97
Malmoe, 262
Metz, 131
Modena, Museo Civico, 401, 437
Munich, 445
Namur, 109
Nantes, 121, 124, 230, 250, 252, 281, 339
Narbonne, 43, 121, 122, 172, 254, 341
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 78, 116, 125, 285, 351
Norwich, 78, 80/134, 173, 175, 178, 199, 281, 318
Oxford, 287 ; Ashmolean, 81, 169, 189, 216, 225
Paris, d'Artillerie, 301 ; Hotel Cluny, 176 ;
Louvre, 185
Plymouth, Athenaeum, 228
Poitiers, 119, 176, 214, 221, 398, 441, 447
Prague, 308
Rennes, 287
Rouen, 86, 280
St. Germain, 171, 248, 293, 328, 448
St. Omer, 131
Salisbury, Blackmore, 80, 81, 91, no, 114, 120,
132, 175, 2,6, 237, 248, 426
Salzburg, 152, 355
Scarborough, 211, 401
Schwerin, 262
Sheffield, Bateman collection, 42, 44, 113, 122,
150, 168, 172, 190, 205, 225, 279, 280, 307, 321,
327, 39o, 392, 393. 4°9, 43°, 447
Sigmanngen, 173, 176
Soissons, 80
Stockholm, 122, 143, 353, 448
Stourhead, 219, 322, 368, and^aui'm
Stuttgart, Cabinet of Coins, 142
Taunton, 119, 198, 249, 320, 325, 328, 330
Toulouse, 41, 97, 119, 122, 131
Tours, 86, 172, 207, 254, 401, 435
1 rent, 107
Turin, Royal Armour}', 288
Vannes, 215, 449
Vienna, Ambras, 148 ; Antiken Cabinet, 86,
131, 299. 355
Warrington, 123, 335
Wisbech, 131, 175, *79
Wurzburg, 308
Zurich, 166
" Museum Moscardi," quoted, 31
N
Nail for fastening scabbard end, 305
Native copper, 3, 418, 419
Neb, projecting, on celts, 104, 160
Necklaces, amber, 244, 487; bone, 487; of dentalium
shells, 394 ; of glass beads, 135; jet, 189, 190,
487
Necropolis, Alban, 341
Needle of bronze, 192 ; wood, 226
Neolithic Period, gouges developed in, 165
Neville, Mr. F., quoted, 358
Nickel present in bronze of shield, 346
Nilsson, Prof., 419
Nitzsch quoted, 14
Noricum, iron swords of, 19
Norris, Mr., collection, 96
Northumberland, Duke of, collection, 46, 116
Norway, native copper in, 419
Noulet, Dr., 142
O
Objects of uncertain use, 306, 308, 396, 397, 405
Obsidian instruments from Santorin, 184
Odyssey, description of hardening axe in, 14 ;
testimony of, as to axe- heads, 161
O'Gorman, Mr. T., quoted, 398
Oppert, M., referred to, 9
Orestes, bones of, 18
Origin of term celt, 27; of term palstave, 71, 72;
continental, of British bronze forms, 108, 115,
H3. 297, 379
Ormerod, Mr. G. W., F.G.S., collection, 82
Ornaments, 374 to 395, 481, 483 to 486; bronze,
rare in Britain, 395,481,487; gold, 51, 304,
391. 393> 487 : for horse-trappings, 404 ; sil-
ver, 2
Ornamentation on bronze, preserved by patina,
46 ; cable pattern, 54, 60, 140 ; chevron pat-
terns, 90, 145, 160, 180, 320, 321, 330, 338 ; by
enamel, 135, 338 ; fern-leat pattern, 61, 102 ;
Greek fret, 145 ; by inlaying of metals, 13,
296, 297 ; by hatched lozenges, 53, 66, 218 ; by
punching, 67, 187,319, 453; by matted pat-
terns, 53, 74 ; resembling Roman numerals,
203; rings, 296 ; rings concentric, on shields,
347 to 353 ; ring and pellet, 124^ et seqq- ;
shield-shaped, 128 ; on back of Swiss Lake
knives, 203
Osteological observations, 278, 475
Overlapping of Stone and Bronze Periods, 1. ..'4
Owen, ProfT, F.R.S., cited, 296
496
GENERAL INDEX.
Paalstab, the term, 71, 72
Palafitta of Castione, 153
Palstaves, 70 to 106, 159, 169 ; broken, with broken
torques, 378 ; castings for, 90, 448 ; Danish,
95, 151, 163 ; development of, from flat celts,
107, 472 ; double-looped, 95 to 97, 104, 105 ;
edge renewed by hammering, 92, 454 ; French,
81, 88, 91,97,160; German, 80, 83,91; Ice-
landic, 71 ; Irish, 81, 99 to 105, 160; iron, 157,
159; looped, 80, 98, 103; moulds for, 431, 439,
440 ; of two metals from Hallstatt, 95 ; origin
of term, 71 ; roughening blade of, 77 ;
Scottish, 77 to 79, 99 ; socketed celts evolved
from, 108, 472; Spanish, 90,97, 161; transi-
tional forms between celts and, 76, 77, 95,
472 ; with ridges on recesses for handle, 79 ;
with transverse edge, 85, 105, 159 ; with
socket formed by wings, 85 ; worn by re-
sharpening, 83, 87, 454
Paris Exhibition of 1878, 97, 448
Patina, preservation of ornament by, 46
Patrick, Mr. R. W. Cochran.'F.S.A., 362
Patroclus, funeral games of, 15
Pausanias, quoted, 15, 18
Payne-Knight collection, 94
Pegge, Rev. Samuel, F.S.A., quoted, 33, 42, 226
Pelligot, Prof., analysis of Breton celts, 417
Pelta or buckler of Greeks and Macedonians, 354
Penguilly l'Haridon, M., quoted, 162
Pennant's "lour " quoted, 290
Pentateuch, mention of metals in, 5
Percy, Dr. J., F.R.S., quoted, 11,40, 420, 424,
442
Perthes, Boucher de, collection, 335
Peru, bronze in, 4 ; use of stone mallets in, 165
Peruvian mode of holding dagger, 246
Pest, Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology at,
180
Petrie collection, 140
Phillips, Mr. J. A., F.G.S., 422,426
Philology, testimony of, 9, no
Philoxenus quoted, 168
Phcenician trade with Britain, 419, 475, 479
Pins, 365 to 373; 134, 135, 191, 282, 290, 322;
associated with swords, 290, 372 ; bone, with
Roman remains, 365 ; curved, 368 ; Danish,
gold-plated, 372; French, 370 ; German, 371 ;
gold, for inlaying, 51, 228, 232 ; Irish, 369, 371,
372 ; Late Celtic, 368, 369 ; looped, 368, 369 ;
Scottish, 372; spiral, 370; Swiss, 370;
twisted, 191, 366 ; with amber inlaid, 368 ;
with annular heads, 367 ; with flat heads,
290, 365, 371 ; with perforated heads, 96
Pindar quoted, 17
Pipe of bone, 366
Pisander, axe of, 18
Pitt-Rivers, Gen. A., F.R.S., 37, 84, 205, 313, 328,
441,475
Plates, conical, with central hole, 316 ; convex,
351; with rims, 402; flat, 402 ; gold, articles
made of, 244; gold, lozenge-shaped, 51, 232;
horse-shoe shaped, 405 ; with lunate open-
ings, 397
Pliny quoted, 18, 19, 194, 35s
Plot, Dr., quoted, 31, 42, 133
Plutarch quoted, 19
Pollux, Julius, mentions currier's chisel, 168
Polybius quoted, 275, 363
Pommels, of dagger hilts, 229 ; to iron sword,
229; object like, with links of chain, 296;
cast on core of clay, 290 ; to Scottish swords,
290
Porsena, articles of peace tendered by, 18
Poseidon, trident of, 15
Poste, Mr. Beale, quoted, 308
Pottery, from barrows, 407 ; of Bronze Age, 407,
487 ; from Swiss Lake-dwellings, 13
Pownall, Governor, F.S.A., quoted, 293
Preservation of iron, 25
Prickers of bronze for extracting clay cores, 186.
See Awls
Prigg, Mr. H., quoted, 187 ; collection, 127
Proportion between size of tool and handle, 277
Proximity of objects no proof of identity of date,
25. II.7. 273, 470
Psammetichus, brazen helmet of, 8
Punches, used in ornamenting, 67, 68, 187, 188,
453 J serrated, 319, 320
Punic War, Second, 19, 275
Pyramid, Great, iron wedge found in, 7
Pyrites, iron, 225, 243, 487; copper, 419
Queen Aah-Hotep, axe found in tomb of, 148
Queen's Drive, Edinburgh, swords found at, 289
Quincussis," 283
R
Rabat, M., collection, 180, 368
Rameses III., tomb of, 7
Ramsauer, Herr, 157
Ramses, the name on Egyptian axe, 147
Rapier-shaped blades, 245 to 254, 328, 333 ;
broken, regarded as a steel, 250 ; rare in
hoards, 256 ; with hilt of ox-horn, 252
Rattles, crotals, or bells, 361, 364
Ravaliere, Levesque de la, quoted, 20
Kavensworth, Lord, collection, 288, 335
Razors, 217 to 221, 480; continental forms, 221 ;
crescent-shaped, 221 ; from Lake-dwellings,
215 ; Irish, 218, 318 ; perforated, 218 to 221 ;
tanged, 217 to 219 ; tanged, peculiar to Bri-
tain, 480
Read, Mr. C, 231
Reaping-hooks, of flint, 194 (see Sickles);
Saturn's, 17
Reaping-machine, Gaulish, 194
"Recipient" and " received," the terms as ap-
plied to celts, 107
Religious rites, use of bronze in, 18
Repousse work on Late Celtic bracelets, 388
Reproduction in bronze of stone forms, 40
Reverence, superstitious, for celts, 39
Rhcecus and Theodorus, the Samians, 15
Rhind, Mr. A. Henry, 274, 275
Richardson, Dr. Richard, quoted, 155
Rickman, Mr., quoted, 35
Rings, 388 to 391; 82, 135, 158, 290; bone, 51,
232 ; of caldron, 411 ; concentric, on shields,
347 to 353 ; connecting straps of harness,
399 ; dentated, for maces, 271 ; Egyptian,
391 ; Etruscan, 400 ; gold, 389, 390, 391 ;
hollow, with transverse perforations, 389, 398,
399; interlinked, 405; Irish, in pairs, 389; on
loop of celt, 118, 158 ; penannular, 198, 390,
391 ; and plates as ornaments for horse-
trappings, 404 ; and pellet ornament, 124 to
127 ; spiral, 76, 390, 391 ; stone mould for,
158 ; twisted, 390
Ring-money, African, 387 ; Irish, 391
Rivets, horn or wood, 227 ; imitation of, 235,
257, 260, 344 ; long, for barbed spear-heads,
338 ; numerous, for trumpet, 362
Robinson, Mr. T. W. U., F.S.A., collection, 411,
412
Rod, with birds and rings, 406
Rolleston, Prof., F.R.S., quoted, 25, 277, 287,
380
Roman, coins, at Karn Brc',32, 115 ; commemora-
tive of victories, 363 ; priests, bronze knives
of, 18 ; pronunciation of celtis, 29 ; remains,
116; sword, long, 275
Roman numerals, ornaments resembling, 203
Rome, best steel imported to, from China, 19
Rosse, Earl of, collection, 361, 411 ; his speculum
metal, 416
Rossi, Prof. Stefano de, quoted, 37
Roughening of butt-end of celts, 67, 77, 160
Rowland quoted, 31, 32
Rubbing-stones for grinding and polishing, 361,
452
GEXEEAL INDEX.
497
Sabine priests, bronze knives of, 18
Sabres, Japanese, 275
Sacken, Baron von, 157, 181, 246, 308
Sagartii, the, had bronze daggers, 17
Sagas, use of terra Paalstab in, 72
Sanford, Mr. W. A., F.G.S., collection, 06, 377
Sanscrit terra for iron, 10
" Sarcophagus with ashes " in cairn, 273
Savoy Lake-dwellings. See Lake-dwellings
Saws, 183, 184 ; flint flakes used as, 454
Saxon cemeteries, preservation of iron in, 25
Saxony, native copper in, 419
Scabbards and scabbard-ends, 301 to 309, 336 ;
French, 301 ; localities where found, 481 ;
Scottish, 304
Scandinavia never occupied by the Romans, 270
Scarabffius of bronze, 155
Schliemann, Dr., quoted, 40, 166, 224, 207, 438
Schreiber, quoted, 43, 52, 104
Scott, Lady John, collection, 60
Scythians, the, did not use bronze, 17 ; method of
taking census among, 318
" Seare " or Sickle, 200
Segested cited, 52
Seidler, Mr. Charles, collection, 441
Severus, Britons of the time of, 355
Sharp, Mr. S., F.S.A., collection, 43
Sharpeners, 7 ; broken bronze rapier regarded as,
250
Shaw, Mr. S., collection, 234
Sheaths, bronze, 301 ; bronze, for iron sword, 302 ;
leather, 252, 289; wooden, with interment,
301, 302
Shields, 343 to 356; on British coins, 354; Italian,
.153; Late Celtic, 363; Scottish, 349; with
Early Iron swords, 354 ; with interment, 352
Shiffner, Sir H., Bart., collection, 53
Shipp, Mr., 233
Sickle of Chronos, 15 ; of Elissa and Medea, 18,
194 ; ot Saturn, 17
Sickles, 194 to 203, 480, 487 ; English, 197 ; Scot-
tish, 199; Irish, 200; French, 201; German,
202 ; Italian, 202 ; Scandinavian, 195 ; Swiss,
195, 202; method of hafting, 196; flat, with
knobs on blade, 197,480; socketed, 195, 198 et
seqq., 480
Sidonius quoted, 162
Sigimer, his followers provided with missile
hatchets, 162
Silver, apparently unknown in the Bronze Age,
487 ; ornaments at Gungeria, 2
Simpson, Kev. Sparrow, D.D., collection, 147
Sinai, copper from peninsula of, 8
Sinclair quoted, 200
Sinope, steel of, 17
Sistrura-like instruments, 405
Slafter, Rev. E. F., quoted, 3
Smith, Dr. Aquilla, 67
Smith, Mr. C. Roach, K.S.A., quoted, 274 ; col-
. Jection, 249, 280, 325, 330, 35 1
Smith, Mr. Ecroyd, 168
Smith, Dr. John Alexander, 56, 199, 221
Soldering unknown in the Bronze Agre. ,12=;
Solly, Mr. S., F.S.A., 233
Sophocles quoted, 194
Spain, tin in, 419, 424
Spear-heads, 310 to 338 ; absent from barrows,
342; African, 340; Arreton Down type, 257,
260; barbed, 337, 338, 481 ; castings for, 84;
Celtic, in the Alban Necropolis, 541 ;
Chinese, 330; "eyed," 333; ferruled, 257;
flint, 190, 225; Greek, 313, 340; inlaid with
gold, 313; Irish, 311, 320; iron, 342; leaf-
shaped, 248, 254, 312 to 321, 341, 481; looped
on blade, 248, 327 to 331 ; looped on socket,
321 to 326; moulds for, 43510438; perforated,
288, 330 to 337 ; retaining portion of shaft,
312, 313, 316, 327; tanged, 257, 258; types
peculiar to Britain, 341 ; where found, 481
Speculum-metal, 178, 416
Spindle-whorl, 383
Spirals, their absence in Britain, 287, 394; on
beads, 394, 485
Spiral rings, 76, 390, 391
Spoon-like articles, 406
Squier and Davis quoted, 3
Stag's-horns, 284 ; horn handle to brass instru-
ment, 163 ; handle to celts, 150; instruments
in barrow, 226; instruments like netting-
meshes in barrow, 190
Stair, Earl of, collection, 137 <
" Stake," possible origin of this name for a small
anvil, 181
Stature of men interred in Yorkshire barrows
278
Steel of three kinds produced by the Chalybes,
17 ; helmet of Hercules, 17 ; known in
Homer's day, 14; Japanese method of
preparing, 275 ; reaping-hook of Saturn, 17 ;
of Sinope, 17
Stevenson, Mr., collection, 440
Stiletto and bodkin, served a double purpose, 369
Stone, Mr., 391
Stone, Mr. Edward, in
Stone anvils, 181 ; mallets, 165
Stone, forms reproduced in bronze, 40 ; and
bronze associated, 41, 42, 51, 161, 165, 189,
190, 223, 224, 225, 226, 232, 236, 238, 243, 256,
3&6, 391, 405, 452, 453, 456, 480, 487
Strabo quoted, 17, 19,486
Strobel, Prof., quoted, 108, 202
Stukeley quoted, 31, 87, 107, 189
Succession of iron to bronze, 4, 6, 16, 22, 23
Sullivan, Prof. W. IC, 417, 420
Superposition of articles of different date, 26
Superstitious reverence for beads, 394 ; for celts,
Survival of celts as amulets, 134 ; of'flanches"
as ornaments, 60, 107, 108, no, in, 131
Sweden, native copper in, 419
Swiss Lake-dwellings. See Geographical Index.
Swords, 273 to 300; British, 275, 278 to 287;
Celtibenan, 275 ; Danish, 286, 296, 298, 309 ;
Egyptian, 298; Finnish, 299; French, 281,
287, 293, 297, 301; Gaulish, ;oo; German,
298, 299; Greek, 297; Hallstatt, 299; Hun-
garian, 276; Irish, 291, 293 to 296; Italian,
274, 297; from Mycenae, 297; Roman, 275;
Scandinavian, 274, 276, 287, 296,298; Scottish,
273.289.290, 291; from site of Troy (presumed),
298; Spanish, zj$ ; Swiss Lakes, 280, 287,
297
Swords, absent from interments, 273, 274, 277 ;
date of, 273, 274, 275, 276; Early Iron, 274,
275, 276, 280, 287, 297, 299, 300, 313, 354 ;
found in a moss arranged in a circle, 2tS ;
inlaid, 296, 297 ; length of, 275 ; methods of
mending, 254, 293 ; mode of grasping, 276 ;
on Italian bronze coin, 283; types almost
peculiar to Britain, 481 ; with bronze sheaths,
301
Sword-hilts and hilt-plates added by casting,
287, 290; Danish, 276; Hungarian, 276;
ferrules on, 306; gold on, 286, 296, 298;
of ivory inlaid with amber, 299; longitudinal
slot-, in, 278, &c. ; pommels to, of alabaster,
291; pommels with curved horns, 288 ; pom-
mels of lead, 285 ; with plates of bone, horn,
or wood, 278, 286, 290, 293, 296; spirals on,
rare in Britain, 287
Sydenham, Mr., 237
Tacitus, quoted, 275, 354
Talbot de Malahide, Lord, collection, 10 )
Tamassus, mart for copper at, 14
I.iki iovanus, coins of, 354, 363
Teeth of animals in barrows, 42, 189
Telamon, battle of, 275
Telchines, the, gold, silver, and copper discovered
by, 15
K K
498
GENERAL INDEX.
Teutonic languages, name for copper in, 10
Thebes, paintings in sepulchres at, 7, 185
Theophrastus quoted, 15
Theseus, grave of, 18
Thorns, Mr., note on Paalstabs, 72 .
Thomsen, Councillor, 72
Thorlacius quoted, 151
Thurnam, Dr., F.S.A., quoted,' 44, 134, 188, 189,
191, 216, 222, 225, 230, 232, 236, 241, 242, 369,
393, 475, 485
Tin, bead of, 394 ; coins of, 445 ; early sources of,
418; Egyptian, source unknown, 8 ; exported
from Britain, before Roman invasion, 419,
476 ; found in Brittany, 419 ; fragments of,
136, 315, 425; in bronze, loss of, by fusion,
418 ; in hoards of bronze, 425 ; in ingots, 426 ;
Malacca, principal Eastern source of, 424 ;
mentioned by Homer, 12 ; pure metallic, 425 ;
pure, used >by early Greeks, 12 ; Spain,
principal Western source of, 424 ; trade
with Britain for, 424 ; used for soldering,
363
Tinned, implements supposed to be, 55, 56, 57
Tischler, Dr. Otto, 24
Tongs, 185
Torquati, origin of their name, 374
Torques, 374 to 381; 76, 96,198; beaded, ^8i ;
Danish, 379 ; on denarii of the Manlia Gens,
374 ; derivation of name, 374 ; funicular, 375
to 377; gold, 90, 180, 209, 375, 376; gold,
Gaulish, 374 ; gold, Irish, with ball at each
end, 379 ; Late Celtic, 381 ; ribbon, 90, 379 ;
rings on, 390, 391
Towneley, Mr. Charles, 48
Tree-burial. See Interment.
Tresca, M., 416
Trevelyan, Sir Charles, collection, 89, 333 ; Sir
Walter, 386
"Tribulum," the, 202
Trojans, " bronze-speared," 16
Troy, swords rare on the presumed site, of, 298
Troyon, M., collection, 131
Trumpets, 357 to 364 ; African, of elephants'
tusks, 359 ; broken and repaired by burning,
360; English, 363; found at Dowris, 361;
from Fiji, of conch shells, 359 ;'Gaulish, 363 ;
Irish, 357, 361 ; Late Celtic, 362 ; metal of,
360, 363 ; Scottish, 363 ; with lateral opening,
358
"Tuagh-catha," Irish war-axe, 263
Tubal-Cain, 5
Tubes, 265 ; looped, 397
Tucker, Mr., F.S.A., 254
Tuscan cities, bronze ploughshare used in found-
ing, 18
"Tutuli," 402
Tweezers, 191, 192; ivory, 241
U
Umbrian coins with the type of a sword, 283
Unfinished castings, 84, 90, 115, 175, 328
Uralian province of bronze antiquities, 477
Urn-burials, 42, 190, 191. 217, 226, 234, 384, 391 ;
at Hallstatt, 412
Urns, cinerary, 474; cinerary, said to contain
sword, 273 ; of coarse earthenware, 87 ; found
at Chiusi, 156; inverted, 234
Urus, remains of, at Barton Mere, 486
Utilization of broken instruments, 180, 361, 454
Vallancey quoted, 138, 176, 200, 201, 234, 263, 361
399; as to Irish moulds, 439
Variations in implements cast in the same mould,
in, 442, 444
Various centres of bronze-founding in Britain
143. 477
Vases of Etruscan origin, 413, 481
Vauquelin's analysis of Egyptian dagger, 420
Verica, gold coins of, 354, 399
Vessels, amber, 407; bronze, 361; bronze, coni-
cal, 413 ; bronze, ornamented, 413 ; bronze,
with iron handle, 409 ; gold, 408 ; sandstone,
409 ; shale, 407
Virgil quoted, 12, 13, 16, 104
Von Bibra, referred to, 422
Von Estorff quoted, 315
Von Sacken quoted, 157, 181, 246, 308
Votive celts or hatchets, 69, 135, 417 ; hoards, 457
Vulgate, different readings of, 28
W
Wakeman, Mr., collection, 303
Wakeman, Mr., quoted, 252
Wallace, Mr. J. R., collection, 43, 120
Warburton, Mr., 447
Ware, Mr. Samuel, F.S.A., quoted, 48
Warne, Mr. C, F.S.A., quoted, 234, 238, 243
Watson, Mr. C. Knight, Sec. S.A., quoted, 27
Way, Mr. Albert, F.S.A., quoted, 37, 50, 51, 166
" Welding," the term, 293
Westendorp quoted, 152
Westwood, Prof., quoted, 8r
Whetstones in hoards, 113, 397, 452 ; with inter-
ments, 51, 225, 226, 242, 360; in urns, 163,
217; use of, 453
Whincopp, Mr., collection, 260.
Whitaker, Dr., collection, 48; quoted, 47
Whitaker, Mr. W., F.G.S., 248
Wibel, Dr., 419
AVickham, Mr. Humphrey, collection, 214, 230
Wilde, Sir W. R., 37, 39. 4°. 6r> 65> 67, ioi, 155,
170, 184, 252, 264, 293, 306, 311, 357, 360, 361,
364, 372, 389, 399, 410
Wilkinson, Sir Gardner, quoted, 5, 6, 185
Wilshe collection, 208
Wilson, Prof. Daniel, quoted, 58, 72, 99, 136, 137,
169, 176, 207, 209, 214, 272, 273,337, 348,354,
425. 432
Wilson, Rev. George, 167J
Wood preserved by salt, 152; preserved by salts
of copper, 160; preserved by salts of iron,
157
Wooden hafts for celts, 144, 149, 150, 151, 155,
157 ; handle of sickle, of yew, 195 ; handle of
knife, of yew, 207 ; shafts for spears, of ash,
312, 313 ; shafts for spears, of beech, 339 ;
shafts for spears, of bog-oak, 313; sheath
tor dagger, 308 ; sheath for dagger, ap-
parently of willow, 233
Woodward Collection, 107
Worm, Dr. Olaf, quoted, 30
Worsaae, Councillor, quoted, 72, 163, 276, 298,
457. 478, 482
Wright, T., F.S.A., quoted, 9, 20, 37, 274, 400
Y
Yates, Mr. James, F.R.S., quoted, 36, 168
Young, .\lr. A. Knight, collection, 296
INDEX,
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL.
See also '■'■Hoards" and "Museums" in General Index.
ENGLAND.
BEDFORDSHIRE.
Toddington, 321
Wymington, 113, 466
BERKSHIRE.
Ashdown, 322
Blewbury, 225
Cottle, 215
Fyfield, 322
Hagbourn Hill, 144, 322, 368, 466, 470, 471
Isis, near Little "Wittenham, 343
Kennet and Avon Canal, 247
Newbury, 77, 81, 259, 308
Rowcroft, Yattendon, 242
Speen, 330, 333, 337
.Sunningwell, 80
Sutton Courtney, 223
Thames, near Bray, 199
,, near Maidenhead, 245
Thatcham, 247
Theale, 247
Wallingford, 87, 128, 167, 206, 219, 321, 457, 466
Wantage, 79
Windsor, 84, 113, 199, 281, 314, 340
Yattendon, 169, 403, 466
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
Buckinghamshire, 81
Hawridge, 270
Lodge Hill, Waddesdon, 111
Thames, near Datchet, 330, 333
Winslow, 380
CAMBRIDGESHIRE. '
Aldreth, 279
Barrington, 78, 118, 128, 46C
Bottisham, 79, 83, 88, 112, -,14
t, ",, T.Lode> Q2> 123, 175, 328'
Burwell Fen, 74, 79, 82, 83, 113, 248, 258, 336, 378,
467
Cambridge, 94, 127, 179, 244, 281/323, 371
Chatteris, 250
Coveney, Isle of El}-, 129, 248
„ Fen, 328, 346
Downham Fen, 199
Duxford, 43
Ely, oi, 254
„ Fens at, S3, 78, 121, 282, 286, 322
tfens, 43, 83, 90, 91, 93, 116, 122, 129, 245, 248, 317,
Fen Ditton, 123
Fordham, 254
Fulbourn, 279, 282, 320, 340, 464
.Harston, 79
Isleham Fen, 327
Malton, 397
Manea, 270
March, 52
Matlow Hill, 366
K
Melbourn, 174, 389, 397, 466
Meldretb, 172, 201, 411, 424, 466
Mildenhall Fen, 78, 133
Newton, m, 422
Quy Fen, 79, 316
Reach Fen, 79, 112, 118, 122, 133, 167, 174, 187, 20^,
210, 2ii, 213,216,229, 283,305,314, 315, ,1
3i9, 390,.4°o. 4°7
Shippey, Ely, 79
Soham Fen, 245
Stretham Fen, 199
Swaffham Fen, 78, 259
Waterbeach, 245, 248, 250
Whittlesea, 131, 175, 170, 466
Wicken Fen, 76, 199, 205, 287, 46}
Wisbech, 131
CHESHIRE.
Broxton, 91, 169, 331, 464
Grappenhall, 43
W'ilmslow, 228, 238
CORNWALL.
Cornwall, 96, 116, 119, 135, 385, 419, 425, 426
Angrowse Mullion, 243
Camelford, 438
Falmouth, 426
Fowey River, 369
Harlyn, 42
Ivurn Bre, 32, 115, 119
Ivenidjack Cliff, 95, 119, 423, 451, 467
Lanant, 206, 285, 340, 423, 45!, 467
I.aunceston, 119
Mawgan, 116, 184, 250, 465
Penvores, 95
Penzance, 8r
Redmore, 400
Rillaton, 407
St. Austell, 95
St. Hilary, 28^, 423, 407
St. Michael's Mount, 31
CUMBERLAND.
Cumberland, 322
■Aspatria, 86
Camp Graves, Bewcastle, 314
Irthington, 85
Keswick, 93
Longtown, 73
Naworth Castle, 33 }
Wigton, 73
DERBYSHIRE
Derbyshire, 175
Bakewell, 316
Biggeil Grange, 168
Blakelow, 42
Borther Low, 42
Brassington Moor, 88, 228
Brier Low, 226
Krough, 122
Carder Low, 225, 226
1'Ow Low, 237
k2
500
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Duffield, 325
End Low, 225
Haddon Field, 190
High Low, 453
Lark's Low, igo
Matlock, 42, 259
Middleton, 226
Minning Low, 190, 225
Moot Low, 44, 224
Narrowdale Hill, 228
Parcelly Hay, 225
Parwich Moor, 42
Peak Forest, 122
Shuttlestone, 42, 150
Stakor Hill, 392
Standlow, 231
Thor's Cave, Walton, 385
Throwley, 190
Waggon Low, 190
Wardlow, 314
DEVONSHIRE.
Devonshire, 95
Bloody Pool, 338, 339, 465
Broad Down, Farway, 134
Chagford, 82
Drewsteignton, 86
Hammeldon Down, 228
Hennock, 250
Honiton, 113
Kent's Cavern, 206
Knighton, 434
Lovehayne, 81
Plymstock, 50, 165, 241, 259, 464
Sidmouth, 47
Talaton, 250
Teigngrace, 316
Torrington, 244
Upton Pyne, 224
Winkleigh, 250
Worth, 254, 313, 402,464]
DORSETSHIRE.
Dorsetshire, 52, 206, 226, 233, 238, 377, 381, 393
Badbury, 250
Bere Regis, 242
Bincombe Down, 226
Blandford, 127, 175
Came, 242
Cranbourne, 282
Gussage St. Michael, 279
King Barrow, Wareham, 114
Maiden Castle, 237
Milton, 380, 432
Portland, Isle of, 115, 121, 285, 318, 333
Preston Down, 46
Purbeck, 94
Roke Down, 233
Spetisbury, 378
Wareham, 115
Weymouth 279, 313, 419, 464
Wintnth, 81
Woodlands, 279
DURHAM.
Broomyholme, 351
Chester-le-Street, 116
Heathery Burn Cave, no, 118, 166, 172, 175, 185,
206, 211, 219, 285, 314, 365, 372, 381, 386, 388,
391, 401, 402, 412, 424, 447, 451, 468
Modomsley, 285, 389
Stanhope, 118, 129, 174, 179, 315, 403, 466
Wolsingham, 76
ESSEX.
Essex, 403
Baddow Hall Common, 43
Barking Marshes, no
Chelmsford, 90
Chrishall, 117, 283, 467
Fifield, 424
Gray's Thurrock, 144
High Roding, 109, n6, 424, 468
Lea, at Stratford-le-Bow, 258
,, River, 280
Mardyke, 2,4
Panfield, 468
Plaistow Marshes, 338
Romford, 86, 172, 424, 467
Stifford, 282
Thames, near Barking Creek, 284
,, near Erith, 122
Walthamstow, 317, 411
GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
Ablington, 241
Cirencester, 241
Kilcot Wood, Newent, 48
Meon Hill, 133
Nether Swell, 217
Severn, near Wainlodes Hill, 80
South Cerney, 81
Stanton, 73
Stroud, 272
Whittington, 45
HAMPSHIRE.
Arreton Down, Isle of Wight, 49, 243,214, 257,
259, 260, 278, 464, 473
Ashey Down, 226
Bere Hill, 234
Blackmoor, 464
Fovant, 393
Hinton, 424
Liss, 54, 383
New Forest, 115
Woolmer Forest, 378, 383, 390, 464
HEREFORDSHIRE.
Aston Ingham, 250
Broadward, 168, 285, 319, 320,336, 338, 340, 397, 465
Bucknell, 74
Oldbury Hill, 90
Ross, 91
St. Margaret's Park, Hereford, 340
Weston, 78
HERTFORDSHIRE.
Hertfordshire, 314
Cumberlow, 94, no, 134, 424, 467
Danesbury, 423, 468
Lea River, St. Margaret's, 315
Royston, 424
Westwick Row, 112, 424, 468
Wigginton, 213
HINTINGDONSHIRE.
Hammerton, 90
I 1 1 'i sey, 330
Taxley Fen, 43
KENT.
Kent, 129, 426
Allhallows, Hoo, 214, 230, 46-
Ashford, 81, 82
Blean, 88
Buckland, 88
Canterbury, 114, 168
Chartham, 322
Chatham I >ockyard, 74
Hill, 83
I (over, 52
Harty, Isle of, no, in, 174, 177, 181, 186, 211, 214,
308, 103, 441, 442, 453, 457, 468
Hayncs I till, 297, 305, 320, 403, 467
1 1 11 11 ( 1 1 cil (it I loo, 95, 466
Marden, 198, 208, 211, 308, 366, 381, 388, 450, 451,
467
.Midway, Chatham Roach, 281
,, Upper Reach, 280
Minster, 129
Sittingbourne, 113, 174, 424, 467
1 hanu's .il ( iroenwirh, 28 |
„ off Woolwich, 351
Wateringbury, 109
Wye Down, 52
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
501
LANCASHIRE.
Lancashire, 87
Acker's Common, 86
Cuerdale, 118, 314
Gleaston Castle, 43
Kirkland Cave, 168
Lancaster Moor, 224
Mow Road, Rochdale, 381
Read, 47
Risdon, 46
Winmarleigh, 118, 314, 335, 466
Winwick, 82, 124, 158, 224
LEICESTERSHIRE.
Beai on Hill, 43, 174, 321, 466
Leicester, 231
LINCOLNSHIRE.
Lincolnshire, 284, 300
Alnwick, Sleaford, 445
Killinghay, 282
Boston, 34, 89
Broughton, 216
Burringham Common, 352
Klsham, 80
Fleet and Gedney, Sea-dike between, 285
Flixborough, 465
Haxey, 89, 129, 465
Horncastle, 54
Langton, 323
Lincoln, 325
Nettleham/86, 92, 131, 314, 330, 339, 465
Newport, 177
North Owersby, 85
Scothorn, 175
Sleaford River, 86
South Kyrae, 248
"Washing-borough, 279, 447
West Halton, 113, 118, 120, 424, 467
\Vitham River, 287, 341, 363
MIDDLESEX.
Edmonton Marsh, 205, 330
Hampton Court, 328
Hounslow, no, 128, 175, 210, 406, 451, 466
Kensington, 158, 174, 401, 424, 450, 467
London, 95, 214, 272, 356
Pentonville, 328
Teddington, 243
Thames, at Chelsea, 303
,, between Hampton and Walton, 352
,, near Isleworth, 52, 302
„ at or near London, 84, 86, 123, 126, 158,
168, 198, 205, 2ii, 224, 247, 249, 280,
o°3, 307, 312, 3*4. 322. 325. 333, 339, 3 15,
35 1. 400
,, at Teddington, 303
,, near Waterloo Bridge, 356
MONMOUTHSHIRE.
Castle Hill, Usk, 114
NORFOLK.
Norfolk, 52, 167
Attleborough, 77
Carlton Rode, 78, 04, 113, 119, 121, 122, 133, 1G7,
_ 171, 173, i75» 178, 424. 467
Caston, I2i
I >ei chain, 199
Eaton, 4.17, 468
Frettennam, 120
,, Common, 131
Hanworth, 114
Helsdon Hall, 424, 467
Ingham, 319
Little Cressingham, 244
Methwold, 249
< tuse River, near Thetford, 250
Reepham, 466
Rougham, 73
Snettisham, -q
Stibbard, 84, 328, 457, 464
Stoke Ferry, 270, 282, 305, 314, 465
Sutton, St. .Michael's, 352
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE.
Northamptonshire, 90
Aston -le- Walls, 89
Aynhoe, 73
Brixworth, 285
NORTHUMBERLAND.
Northumberland, 46, 158
Alnwick, 43, 113, 285, 321, 391, 405
Blakehope, 335
Branton, 285
Cambo, 429
Cheswick, 241
Chollerford Bridge, 74
Corbridge, 248, 333,351
Elford, 327
Ewart Park, 285
Ford, 244 '
Harwood, 352
Inghoe, 351
Linden, 76
Newbiggin, 43
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 351
Nevvham, 120
North Charlton, 237
„ Tyne, 78
Rothbury, 389
Tosson, 285
Tyne, near Newcastle, 281
Wellington, 89, 333, 382, 465
Wallsend, 43
Whittingharn, 280, 288, 314, 335, 404
NOTTINGHAM.
Colwick, 77
Gotam, 190
Gringley, 321
Newark, 118, 316, 402, 466
Nottingham, 93, 118, 211,317, 322, 339, 465
OXFORDSHIRE.
Oxfordshire, n=;
Burgesses' Meadow, Oxford, 81, 169,' 179, 467
( li'-rwrll River, 287
Culham, 75, 320
Dorchester, 75, 76, 78, 83, 86, 93, 109, 112
Dyke Hills, 343
Freeland, 79
Isis, near Dorchester, 303
„ near F^ynsham Bridge, 345
Sandford, 248, 284
Stanlakc, 391
Stanton Harcourt, 88
,i arnton, 380
SHROPSHIRE*
Shropshire, 270
Bagley, 352
Battlefield, 43, 86, 405, 411
I '.road ward (sec Herefordshire)
bnall, 167, 174, 187, 466
Little Wenlock, 113, 234, 314, ^^6, 452, 465
Porkington, 168, 174, 466
in, ne.11 I luildwas, 282
Wrekin Tenement, 285, 338, 465
[IRE.
Bath, 89, 1 1 1. 116
I lamerton, 243, 369
< beddar Yalle\ ,
t lull, hi Bustle, 368
I dington Hurtle, 197, 249, 320, 325, 330, 37; ,
301, T'l
ILimden Hill.
Midsummer Norton, 279
Pen Pits, 377
Polden H.ll. JS3
l'riddy, 217, 226
502
GEOGRAPHICAL AN]) TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Quantock Hills, 77, 377, 447, 464
Sedgemoor, 119
Sherford, 90, 330, 464
Sparkford Hill, 167, 197
South Petherton, 96
Taunton, 116, 178, 198, 218, 367, 389, 466
Tiverton, 284
Wadsford, 328
Wedmore, 376, 378, 466
"West Buckland, 96, 377, 386, 464
,, Cranmore, 242
Wick Park, Stogursey, 120, 304, 423, 450, 467
Winterhay Green, 90, 384
Wraxall, 381
STAFFORDSHIRE.
Staffordshire, 31
Alton Castle, 282
Brewood, 86
Bushbury, 86
Castern, near Wetton, 385
Ham Moor, 190
„ St. Bertram's Well, 42
Lady Low, 216, 224
Lett Low, 225, 226
Morridge, 86
Musdin, 240
Pattingham, 375
Shenstone, 285, 465
Stretton, 87
Thorncliff, 225
Wetton, 383,409
Yarlet, 321
SUFFOLK.
Suffolk, 48
Barrow, 54, 279
Barton Mere, 486
Boyton, 375, 391
Broomswell, Woodbridge, 90
Exning, 174, 394, 466
Fornham, 122
Hintlesham, 260
Honington, 91
Ipswich, 411
Lakenheath, 80, 125, 320, 322
,, Fen, 330
Lark River, Icklingham, 282
Lidgate, 271
Martlesham, 113, 119, 120, 129, 174, 206, 424, 467
Mildenhall, 46, 78, 127, 306
Postlingford Hall, 48, 404
Sutton, 84, 87
Thetford, 122, 321
Thorndon, 174, 177, 189, 205, 319, 466
Ubbeston, 93
Undley, 175
Wetheringsett, 274, 282
Woolpit, 281, 328
SURREY.
Battersea, 245
Bcddington, no, 174, 320, 340, 423, 447, 468
Casar's Camp, Farnham, 113, 250
Canada Wharf, Rotherhithe, 86
Ditton, 128,245,316,319,328
Farley Heath, 69, 169, 322
Guildford, 120
Kingston, 124, 126, 321
„ Hill, 82, 423, 467
Thames at Battersea, 175, 278, 279, 281, 321, 327,
411
,, Kingston, 84, 86, 125, 211, 248, 250,
251. 284,33s
,, Lambeth, 330
,, Richmond, 246
,, Runnymede, 328
,, Vauihall, 248, 279
,, Wandsworth, 130
,, mouth of Wandle, 282, 316, 368
Wandle R ivor, 81, 463
Wickbam Park, Croydon, 95, 340, 423, 448, 4CS
SUSSEX.
Alfriston, 114
Battle, 280, 363
Beachy Head, 94, 283, 423, 467
Billingshurst, 81
Bognor, 80, 81
Bracklesham, 244
Brighton, 80, 115
Chichester, 81
Clayton Hill, 80
Eastbourne, 316
Firle, 369
Ham Cross, 385
Hangleton Down, 87, 322
Highdown Camp, 205
Hollingbury Hill, 76, IIS, 3/8, 386, 39°, 4^4
Hove, 243, 453, 486
Ilford, 81
Lewes, 53, 316, 369
Lewes and Brighton, between, 368
Plumpton Plain, 52, no
Pulborough, 87, 119
Pyecombe, 318, 386
Storrington, 190
Waldron, 91
Westburton, 84
Wilmington, 87, 447, 468
Wolsonbury Hill, 84, 401
Worthing, 87, 423, 467
WARWICKSHIRE.
New Bilton, 245
Rugby, 179.
Wolvey, 75, 86
WESTMORELAND.
Ambleside, 285, 465
Brough, 53
Crosby Garrett, 387
Harbyrnrigge, 270
Helsington Peat Moss, 246
WILTSHIRE.
Wiltshire, 110,219, 44°
Ablington, 242
Abury, 366
Aldbourn, 241
Amesbury, 233, 377, 390
Avebury, 400
Barrows, 51, 190, 191, 227, 230, 241, 242, 260, 322
394
Beckhampton, 190, 322
Brigmilston, 226, 230, 336
Bulford, 190, 366
,, Water, 143, 432
Bush Barrow, 44, 51, 232. 352
Cann, 118, 134, 470
Downton, 89, 91, 120
East Harnham, 83
,, Kennett, 226
Everley, 147, 163, 242, 36O
Fishcrton, 248
Fovant, 242, 393
Golden Barrow, 189, 224
Great Bedwin, 272
Homington, 237
Idmiston, 237
Jack's Castle, Stourton, 226
King Barrow, 190, 24T
Lake, 166, 189, 242, 366, 385, 393
Mere Down, 223
Normanton, 366, 385
< Kvrton Hill, 51, 134
K.unsbury, 87
Robin Hood's Ball, 210
Rockbourn Down, 118
Koundway, 223, 242
Salisbury Plain, 369
Si ratchbury, 369
Stonehenge, 47
,, Harrow near, 189, 191, 220
Stourhead, 229
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
503
Sutton Verney, 394
Tun Hill, 114
Upton Lovel, 189, 366
Wilsford, 51, 226, 322, 366, 405
Winterbourn Stoke, 229,241, 394
Winterslow, 216, 223
Woodyates Barrow, 236
Yatesbury, 226
WORI :iire.
Astley, 81
Bevere Island, 42
Broadway Tower, 280
Castle Hill, 120
Holt, 129, 368
Ombersley, 88
Perdeswell, 381
Severn at Kempsey, 330
„ near Worcester, 337
Stoke Prior, 384
YORKSHIRE.
Yorkshire, 44, 118, 129, 132, 189, 211, 226, 318, 422,
447, 47i
Arras, or Hessleskew, 23, 134, 387
Bilton, 113, 129, 282, 314, 320, 405
Bishop Wilton, 227, 228
Bolton Percy, 88
Bramham Moor, 31
Bridlington, 400
Brigmilston, 230
Brompton, 76
Broughton in Craven, 217
Butterwick, 41, 151, 169, 224
Cawthorn, 227
Cayton Carr, 125
Cleveland, 447, 468
Cowlam, 387, 301, 400
Cundall Manor, 86
Driffield, 223
Earsley Common, 113, 134, 424, 408
Ebberston, 280, 285, 307
Embsay, 381
Eimber, 190
Frodingham, 113
Garton, 228, 230
Gembling, 127
Givendale, 127
Goodmanham, 392
Gristhorpe, 228
Helperthorpe, 227
Hotham Carr, 84, < 2, 440, 468
Hull. 118
Humber River, 338
Keldholm, 452
Knapton, 43
Langton Wold, 189
Deeds, 242
Lowthorpe, 327
Middieham, 335
Middleton, 118
Morley, 328
Pickering, 227, 228
Raisthorp, 43
Ravenshill .Harrow, 190
Keeth, 76
Roseberry Topping, 129, 172, 174,178,397,421, t( 3
Kudstone, 224, 225
Scale House, Barrow near, 474
Seamer Carr, 124, 213
Sherburn Carr, 43
,, Wold, 223
Stanwick, 314, 328
Tadcaster,'nK, 158
Thixendalc, 108
Three Tremblers, 240
I 'lleskelf, 93, 132
West.nv, 85, 118, 130, 168, 172, i74) 388, 450, 4-37
Wolds, 3qi, |73
Wykeham Moor, 300
CHANNEL ISLANDS, &c
ALDERNEY.
Aldcrney, 201
I, a Pierre du Villain, 214, 279, 397
J.ongy Common, 321, 407
GUERNSEY.
" La Roche qui sonncy ' 383
ISLE OF MAN.
Broust in Andreas, 120
Castleton, 43
East Surby, 44
Kirk-bride, 120
Kirk-patrick. 120
Peel, 326
SCULLY ISLES.
Peninnis Head, 383
WALES.
North Wales, 78, 141
ANGLESEA.
Anglesea, 79, 391, 423
Bodwrdin and Tre Ddafydd, between, 438
Holyhead Mountain, 206
Llangwyllog, 81, 192, 219, 387, 389, 399, 400, 466
Llanidan, 82, 89
Llanvair Station, 86
Mcnai Bridge, 54, 86
Ty-Mawr, Holyhead, 129, 168, 315, 381, 389, 466
BRECKNOCKSHIRE.
Brecknockshire, 274
Hay, 77, 329
Keven Hirr Vynidd, 114
CAERMARTHEN.
Kidwelly, 05
/ Ai RNARVON.
liryn Crug, c6, 223, 367
I lancsfield, 90, 4 id
Cilangwnny, 87
Moel Siabod, ;
Nantlle, 438
CARDIGANSHIRE.
Aberystwith, 351
Glancych or Pant-y-Maen, 285,304, 315, 340, 389,
464
Pcndinas Hill, 79
DENBIGHSHIRE.
Ujergele, 1 1 1, 308, 404, 405, 1
Llandysilio, 93, 11 1, 21 6, ^6 ,
Xhosnesney, 55, 90, 220, ]<>|
GLAMORGANSHIR) .
1 rlamorganshire, 2<S2, 373
Corbridge,
Great Wood, St. Pagan's, 1 1 ,
Mynydd-y Glas, 119
New Forest, 205
Ogmon- I (own, 356
Pendoj Ian, , 18
Pont Caradog, |
Swansea, 43
MBRIONBTHSHIR1 .
Merionethshire, 1 1 1
Barmouth, 283
( ladei Mi is, . .
( las tell -y- 1 lere, 401
Cynwyd, 79
Dolgellau,
504
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Harlech, 248, 345
Maentwrog, 248, 328, 465
Monach-ty-Gwyn, 77
Tomen-y-Mur, 226
Vronheulog, 93, 321
MONTGOMERYSHIRE.
Caersws, 81
Guilsfield, 87, n4, 174, 285, 302, 315, 336, 339, 424,
467
Llandrinio, 81
Llanfyllin, 78
Llanrhaiadar-yn-Mochnant, 380
Llan-y-Mynech Hill, 318
Trefeglwys, 322
RADNORSHIRE.
" Castle Tump, The," Newchurch, 247
Llansanffraid,"Cwm Deuddwr, 270
St. Harmon, 81
Woodhouse Farm, Knighton, 90
SCOTLAND.
Scotland, Q7, 126, 166, 170, 238, 252, 2S9, 290, 291,
308, 424, 471
ABERDEEN.
Aberdeen, 289
Aboyne, 388
Alford, 430
Belhelvie, 378
Burreldale Moss, 97
Edengerach, 200
Forest of Birse, 136
Kintore, 57, 430
Lumphanan, 380
Memsie, 27s
Methlick, 289
Redhill Premnay, 382
Strathdon, 388
Tarland, 57
Tarves, 290, 372, 46^
Tullynessle, Lord Arthur's Cairn, 97
Ythsie, 304
ARGYLESHIRE.
Argyleshire, 289
Barcaldine, 97
Callachally, Isle of Mull, 239
Campbelton, 207, 260, 437
Cleigh, 239
Irvine, 289
Kilmartin, 430
North Knapdale, 135
Southend, Cantire, 136
Strachur, 170
AYRSHIRE.
Ayrshire, 289
Caprington, 362
Coilsfield, 362
Kilkerran, 410
Lugtonridgo, Beith, 348
Trochrig, 430
BANFF.
Alvah, 388
Colleonard, 56, 58
Conage, 382
Hill of Fortrie of Balnoon,
Longman, 59
BERWICKSHIRE.
Cockbumspath, 410
Corsbie Moss, 290, 464
( rreenlees, 60
\S indshiel, 98
Kingarth, 270
CAITHNESS.
Bowermadden, 372
Forse, 289
Kettleburn, Pict's House near, 192
DUMBARTON.
Dumbarton, 391
Old Kirkpatrick, 324
DUMFRIES.
Applegarth, 60
Birrenswark, 97
Drumlanrig, 55
Fairholm, 247, 322
Lochar Moss, 381
EAST LOTHIAN.
Preston Tower, 382
EDINBURGH.
Edinburgh, 289
Cobbinshaw, 56
Duddingston Loch, 289, 315, 335, 409, 424, 405
Edinburgh, 190, 289, 372, 401
,, Arthur's Seat, 136, 289
Bell's Mills, 135,136
,, Leith Citadel, 136
Gogar Burn, 304
Kinleith, 221
Lawhead, Farm of, 57
Ravelston, 56
ELGIN.
Sluie, 270
Urquhart, 378
FIFESHIRE.
Fifeshire, 289
Auchtermuchty, 247
Collessie, 239
Dams, 61
Dunino, 57
Falkland, 59, 269
Kilrie, 244
Pettycur, 99
St. Andrew's, 218
FORFARSHIRE.
Forfarshire, 289
Brechin, 290, 465
Cauldhame, 304
Dean Water, 326
Denhead, 337
Forfar, 320
Leuchland, 289
Linlathen, 239
Loch of Forfar, 136
HADDINGTONSHIRE.
Bowerhouses, Dunbar, 220, 465
Corsbie Moss, 290
INVERNESS-SHIRE.
Ardgour House, 56
Benibhreas, Hill of, 406
Craigton, 322
Kilmailie, 430
Skye, Isle of, 100, 209, 290
,, Point of Sleat, 289, 315, 372, 465
South Uist, Iochdar, 289
KINCARDINE.
Kincardine, 289
KIRCUDBRIGIITSIIIRE.
Balmaclellan, 315
( '.irlinwark Loch, 410
Crossmichael, 239
Kilnol rie, 08
Plunton Castle, 388
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
505
LANARKSHIRE.
Lanarkshire, 271, 289
Aikbrae, 99
Biggar, 55
Kerswell, 97
Carmichael, 273
Crawford, 330
Culter, 55, 226, 378
Douglas, 326
Hangingshaw, 136
Lanark, 315, 384
Tintot-top, Clydesdale, 98
MIDLOTHIAN.
Ratho, 57
Vogrie, 57
MORAYSHIRE.
Achtertyre, 136, 315, 382, 425, 468
Orton, 393
Rosele, 332
Sluie, 56, 58
Nairn, 58
PEEBLES-SHIRE.
Peebles-shire, 59
Peebles, 97, 289
Stobo Castle, 384
PERTHSHIRE.
Abernethy, 56
Ardoch, 247
Blair Drummond, 248
Drumlanrick, 239
Kilgraston, 207
Kincardine, 289
Muthill, 388
Perth, 60
Pitcaithly, 246
Rannoch, 379
lay River, 175
,, near Errol, 199
ROSS-SHIRE.
Eddertoun, 304
Highfield, 336
Little Lochbroom, 379
Rosskeen, 137, 432
Wester Ord, 209
ROXBURGHSHIRE.
Roxburghshire, 336
F.ildon, 57
Hawick, 331
Yetholm, 349)
STIRLINGSHIRE.
Stirlingshire, 289, 336
Ballagan, 273
Bannockburn, 314
Graham's Dyke, 289
Moss of Kincardine, 410
Stirling, 289
SUTHERLAND.
Balblair, 218
Inchnadamff, 57
Ledbeg, 200
Lieraboll, 218
Rogart, 218
WIGTONSHIRE.
Wigtonsbire, 289, 331, 432
Balcarry, 98
Glen Kenns, 322
Glenluce, 167, 192, 224
Inch, 56
Kilfillan, g8
Leswalt, 56, 137
Muss of Cree, 56
Portpatrick, 135
Stranraer, 135, 270
IRELAND.
Ireland, 34, 39, 63, 90, 98 to 105, 128, 138, 140, 142,
170, 176, 179, 192, 20s, 208, 212, 234, 247, 250,
254, 263, 291, 293, 296, 303, 314, 317, 318, 322,
o24> 326,328, 330, 331, 333, 336,340, 368, 371,
387, 389, 393, 398, 4°5. 4°6, 410, 430, 432, 440,
471, 476
North of Ireland, 105, 207, 316, 318, 323, 329, 371,
435
ANTRIM.
Antrim, 100, 139, 239, 333, 339
Armoy, 68, 99, 100, 435
Ballycastle, 213
Ballyclare, 212
Hallymena, 105, 325, 428
Ballymoney, 142, 387, 389, 4°6, 433
Rallysculhon, 411
Bann River, 431
Belaghey, 170
Belfast. 139, 141
Broughshane, 433
Capecastle Bog, Armoy, 412
Carrickfergus, 67, 358, 430
Clough, 328, 402
Connor, 63
Craighilly, 139
Craigs, 212
Glenarm, 256
Killyless, 219
Kilraughts, 361
Knockans, 331
Lisburn, 142, 440
Newtown Crommolin, 141
Toome Bar, Lough Neagh, 352
Tullygowan, Gracehill, 67
ARMAGH.
Armagh, 254, 362
Lurgan, 332
Mullylagan, 296
CAVAN.
Cavan, 266, 387
Cornaconway, 361
Diamond Hi'll,'Killeshandra, 361
Killeshandra, 251
Lough Ramer, 436
Thornhill, Killina, 282
CLARE.
Clare, 389
Inis Kaltra, Lough Derg, 401
CORK.
Ballincollig, 104
Ballybawn, 61
Cork, 140, 359
„ and Mallow, between, 358
Crookstown, 361
Dunmanway, 358, 361
Inchigeela, 249
Kanturk, 171
derrv (see Londonderry).
DONEGAL.
i itterkenny, 263
Raphoe, 256
DOWN.
Down, 139
Lurgan and Moira, between, 208
DUBLIN.
Dublin, 315, 317
Balbrig^an, 142
Clontarf, 65
Dublin, 101, 315
Mil town, 103
FERMANAGH.
Ballinamallard, 6i, 100
Belleek, 234
506
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Bo Island, 180, 292, 466
Enniskillen, 324, 369
GALWAY.
Gal way, 37°
Athenry, 320, 345
Athlcague, Hog- of Aughrane, 207
Claran Bridge, Dunkellen, 436
Headford, 314
Keelogue Ford, 142, 306, 371
Lough Corrib, 431
KILKENNY.
Piltown, Iverk, 306
KERRY.
Aghadoe, 293
Chute Hall, Tralee, 358
Derrynane, 360
Killarney, 361 .
king's county.
King's'County, 61
Boyne River, near Edenderrj','155
Clonmacnoise, 379
Dowris, 176, 179, 211, 220, 293, 335) 36°. 36l> 410.
411, 412, 452, 468
Ballinamore, 236
I.EITRl.M.
LIMERICK.
Limerick, 361
Ballynamona, 352
Lough Gur, 313, 430
LONDONDERRY
Londonderry, 141, i?6, 215, 251
Balteragh, 207
Garvagb, 200
Lissane, 252
Maghera, 330, 435
Magheratelt, 244
Newtown Limavady, 268, 291
Portgleuone, 361 ;
LONGFORD.
Longford, 81
Carlea, 141
Lauesborough, 101
LOUTH.
Greenmount, Castle Bellingham, 63
MAYO.
Ballina, 141
HEATH.
Aleath, 140
Athboy, 140
Dunshaughlin, 141
,, Crannogc at, 236
Kells, 207
Trim, 67
MONAGHAN.
Monaghan, 220, 256
Farney, 400
Lisletrim Bog, 295
SLIGO.
Colloony, 246
Kilrea, 247
T1PPERARY.
Tipperary, 63, 233, 272
Burrisokane, 171
Clonmel, 323
Cloonmore, Templemore, 303
Cullcn, 293, 296
Rathkennan liog, 251
Roscrea, 2O0
TYRONE.
Arboe, 142
Ballygawley, 201, 268
Ballynascreen, 212
Dungannon, 358,
Galbally, 252
Terman, 324
Trillick, 61, 102, 140, 141, 180, 389, 399, 466
WESTMEATII.
Westmeath, 88, too, 259
Athlone, 201, 314
Mullingar, 176
WEXFORD.
Slieve Kileta Hill, 266
FRANCE.
Gaul, 300, 426
France, 41, 83, 94, 95. "4. "9. I42> 28l» 287i 2Q7>
301, 369, 401, 403, 425, 480
Franc.-, North of, 19, 81, no, 304, 379, 448, 480,
481, 483
France, North-west of, 81, 115
„ South of, 57, 85, 131, 153, 234, 479, 484
Brittany, 117, 124, 135, 181, 223, 403, 412, 417, 419,
477
Normandy, 43, 79; 91
Cormoz, 300, 301
Aisne, 250
AISNF.
Ferte Hauterive, La, 458
Gannat, 20 ,;
Carcassonne, 390
Cascastel,i22
EOUCHES DU RHONE.
Bounias, Cave of, 223
CANTAL.
Alies, 287
Mons, St. Flour, 307
CALVADOS.
Escoville, 86
Fresno la Mere, 180, 183, 189, 209, 375
COTE D OR.
Alise Ste. Reine, 293, 315, 311
Auxonne, 356
Cosne, 300
Magny Lambert, 300
COTES DU NORD.
Lamballc, no
Moussaye, Plenee-Jugon, 115, no, 443, ;
l)i. libs. 1 ;, 172
Bcsanron, 293
BeauriSres, ; ;8
Marsanne, 307
Bernay, 77, 78, 81
Evreux, 52
Gasny, 77
Les Andelys, 79
EC RE.
H'Kt J.I LOIRE.
Lutz, 122
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
507
FINISTERB.
Finistere, 43
Camoel, 243
Kerhue-Bras, 238
Ploneour, 215, 405
GARD.
Uzes, 301
. GIRONDE.
Langoiran, 97
HAUTES ALPES.
Hautes Alpes, 176
Rarae, 238
Reallon, 458
Ribiers, 131, 184, 458
HAUTE ARIEGE.
Haute Ariege, 97
HAUTE LOIRE.
Haute Loire, 131
Cheylounet, 254
Polignac, 293
St. Jullien, Chapteuil, 215
MEURTHE.
HAUTES PYRENEES.
Tarbes, 97
HAUTE SAONE.
Haute Saone, 52
Auxonne, 248
ILLE ET VILAINE.
Rcnnes, 287
INDRE ET LOIRE.
Chatellier d'Amboise, 172
St. Genouph, 207, 401, 435
Tours, 448
Isere, 131
Grenoble, 88
La Balme, 131
Vienne, 55, 180
.JURA.
Jura, 43, 131, 172, 293
Raresia, 307
Fonderie de Larnaud, 08, 131, 167, 176, 184, 192,
448, 456
Orgelet, 129
Lille, 78
NORD.
LOIRE INEERlIiURi;.
Marais de Donges, 238
Nantes, 180, 215, 281
Loire at, 252, 339
Penhouet, 249
St. Nazaire-sur-Loire, 281
LOIR ET CJIHK.
Loir et Cher, 160
Billy, 432
Then, 356
Miers, 293
Saumur, 123
MAINE ET LOIRE.
MANCHE, LA.
Manche, La, 129, 215, 230
Cotentin, 448
La Parnelle, 398
MARNE.
La Gorge Mcillet, 403 .
Lusancy, 109
Frouard, 458
MOKI1IIIAN.
Morbihan, 445
L'Oricnt, 122
Questembert, 215, 449
Villeder, 86
OISE.
Beauvais, 171
Compiegne, 52, 304
Jonquieres, 77
Mareuil-sur-Ourcq, 54
Noailles, 252
Pont-point, 131, 142, 176
St. Picrre-en-Chatre, 192
PAS DE CALAIS.
Chaussee Brunehault, 250
Hewelinghen, 238
I'l'Y DE DOME.
Manson, 458
Royat, 41
RHONE.
Lyons, 52, 223
,, Rhone at, 287
,, Saone at, 441
SAONE ET LOIRE.
Chalon-sur-Saone, 180, 183
Macon, 441
SAVOIE.
Savoie, 95, 131, 172, 191, 305, 315, 341, 308, 484
Donsard, 210
Gresine, 230
Lac du Bourget, 129, 131, 180, 184, 387, 432, 449
SEINE.
Seine River, at Paris, 77, 157, 160, 176, 183, 201,
208, 221, 238, 243, 249, 272, 283, 313, 327, 398
SEINE ET OISE.
Seine et Oise, 281
Angerville, 180
Argenteuil, 279
SOMMK.
Somrac, 250
Abbeville, 91, 92, 335
Albert, 279
Amiens, 52, 157, 176, 183, 201, 200, 208, 249, 371,
398
Caix, 304
Dreuil, 109, no, 129,144, 176,208,283,370, 393,
. 4°3> 4°4. 405
Somme Valley, 180
; TARN.
Briatexte, 180, 215
Lavene, 215
VAL'CLUSE.
Avignon, 131
VIENNE.
Notre-Dame d'Or, 176, 214, 221, 398, 441, 447
G HUMAN HMI'IUH.
Germany, 19, 52,01. 9Si "!• r53i V2i z87i 293,
298, 299, 315, 355
North of, 80, 298, 315, 316, 379, 480
482, 483
South of, 85, [61
West..!,-,.
Hercinia, 31
Thuringia, 109
508
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
Baden, 85
Bohemia, 425
Brandenburg, 299
Hanover, 308
Hesse, 85
Mecklenburg, 112, 215, 363
Palatinate, 238
Pomerania, 116
Rhenish Hesse, 282
„ Prussia, 85, 95, 481
Saxony, 419, 425
Silesia, 425
Ackenbach, 43
Benfeld, 143
Bingen, 353
Blengow, 262
Bonn, 85
Camenz, 202, 384, 390, 459
Eikrath, 448
Erxleben, 288
Giessen, 91
Gnadenfeld, 448
Gottingen, 77
Grossenhain, 459
Griinberg, 441
Kempten, 173, 176
Lammersdorf, 184
Landshut, 85
Magdeburg, 298
Medingen, 441
Neu-Ruppin, 262
Oberwald-behrungen, 308
Pfaffenburg, 144
Polsen, 441
Schlieben, 173
Stade, 184
Stettin, 288
Vaudrevanges, 458
Watsch, 145
Zaborowo, 133
AUSTRIAN EMPIRE.
Austria, 40, 8,
Dalmatia, 172, 183
Hungary, 40, 43, 119, 147, 158, 161, 180, 236, 272,
276, 318, 327, 419, 432, 450, 478, 482
Styria, 119, 355, 413
Agram, 177
Aninger, 131
Brasy, 308
Brixen, 355
Grate, 288'
I lallein, 152, 153
Hallstatt, 23, 25, 69, 95, 144, 157, 181, 184, 229,
274, 288, 293, 308, 342, 355, 389, 393, 394, 401,
4°3, 405. 4°9, 4!3» 485^ 486
Korno, 308
Laibach, 246, 393, 428, 451
Macarsca, 172, 183
Mattrey, 355
Pressburg, 166
Przemysl, 180
Vienna, 246
Gedinne, 300
Maulin, 109
HOLLAND.
Holland, 77
Deurne, 173, 176, 221
Duren, 133, 176
Emmen, 173
Groningen, 152
Masseyck, 82
Nymcgcn . 1
SCANDINAVIA.
Scandinavia, 147, 184, 191, 195, 234, 236, 252, 274
287, 296, 298, 408, 474, 478, 481, 482, 486
Norway, 419
NORWAY.
DENMARK.
Denmark, 30, 40, 52, 54, 60, 69, 95, 134, 159, 163,
270, 286, 296, 298, 309, 315, 316, 340/363, 372
379. 451
Iceland, 71
Jutland, 30, 163
Hvidegaard, 309
Kallundborg, 296
Kongshoi, 301
Lydshoi, 309
Nydam, 159
Soborg, 272
Store-Hedinge, 151, 163
Treenhoi, 302
Vimose, 159, 195
SWEDEN.
Sweden, 40, 52, 129, 298, 419, 425, 432, 451
Gotland, 448
Smaaland, 196
o
Arup, 262
Hasslof, 252
BELGIUM.
Bernissart, 215
Bevay, 116
SWITZERLAND.
Lake-dwellings, 13, 86, 95, 150, 166, 167, 172, 180,
101, 208, 236, 280, 287, 297, 305, 315, 369, 370,
383. 395, 4°J, 4°3. 407, 408, 480, 484, 486, 487
Lake of Bienne, 180, 300, 431
., ,, Locras, 422
I ake of Bienne, Mcerigen, 13, 114, 153, 172, 176,
,, 180, 184, 195, 238, 437, 449
,, Oefeh, 237
,, ,, Nidau, 221
,, Geneva, 130, 183
,, „ Eaux Vives, 180, 210, 215, 432
„ ,, La Tiniere, 26
,, ,, Morges, 441, 456
,, I.uissel, 288
,, Neuchatel, Auvernier, 114, 131, 176, 180,
183
„ ,, Concise, 288
,, Estavayor, 425
,, Pfaffikon, Robenhausen, on, ' 150, 427,
456
Echallens, 131
Karon, 154
Sion, Valais, 260
Untcr-Uhldingen, in the Ueberlinger See, 317, 427
1 ITALY.
Italy, 41, 52, 86, 104, 155, 160, 234, 241, 259, 271,
272, 274, 280, 287, 297, 315, 334, 341, 369, 403,
I (5, 480, 483, 184
Etruna, 39, 355, 394. 400> 4". 4*3. 425. 476, 481
Bologna, m4, 143, 172, 173, 176, 180,183, 184, 185,
210, 217, 288, 341, 448
Alban Necropolis, 341
("astiimc, 153
Chiusi, 155, 480
Herculaneum, 32
Lake of Varese, 430, 437
Modena, 401
Sardinia, Island of, 426, 438
" Terramare," 236, 434
GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL INDEX.
509
SPAIN.
Spain, 19, 43, go, 97, 161, 238, 271, 275,'27g, 354,
419, 424> 425, 480
Asturias, 97
Ciudad Real, 43, 271
Niebla, 184
Oviedo, 97
Sierra de Baza, 97
PORTUGAL.
Portugal, 425
Estremadura, 143
GREECE.
Greece, 10, 160, 161, 297, 315, 318
Archipelago, 40
,, Scyros, 18
,, Santorin, 184
„ Thermia, 40, 160
Dodona, 69
Mycense, 297
Salamis, 161
Thera, 297
MEDITERRANEAN COUNTRIES.
Mediterranean Countries, 478, 480, 483
RUSSIAN EMPIRE.
Russian Empire, 477
•Finland, 299, 477
Siberia, 131, 143, 177, 477 .
Inwa, the, 263
Jelabugy, 336
Kertch, 143
Kiew, 124
Viatka, 263
Yenissei, the, 263
ASIA.
Asia, 310, 476
Asia Minor, Hissarlik, the presumed site of
Troy, 40, 166, 224, 310, 438
Arabia, 318
,, Sarbout-el-Khadem, 8
,, AV'adv-.Magarah, 8
'„ Wa.ly-Xash, 8
Assyria, 147, 355
Cambodia, 142
China, 19, 263, 329
,, Sanda Valley, Yunan, 142
Chorassan, 425
Cyprus, Island of, 40, 184, 310
>, Tamassus, 14
India, Gungeria, 2, 40
Southern Babylonia, Tel Sifr, 9, 40, 211, 383
AFRICA.
Africa, 149, 181, 306, 340, 359, 387, 393, 451
^-gJ'Pt, 6, 7, 8, 147, 261, 298, 318, 391, 419, 475, 480
,, Great Kantara, 298
,, Karnak, 6
„ Thebes, 7, 185, 234
Mauretania, 354
AMERICA, NORTH.
America, North, 43, 383, 476
Mexico, 4, 43, 166
Wisconsin, 2
AMERICA, SOUTH.
Bolivia, 165
,, i-a Paz, 148, 165
Chili, Copiapo, 145
Ecuador, 148
Peru, 4, 148, 165
„ Lima, 166
Australia, 263
Borneo, 340
fiji. 359
Japan, 275
Java, 142
.Madagascar, 340
Malacca, 424
New Caledonia, 263
South Sea Islands, 34
OCEANIA, &c.
3i2Eorks bg tfy same Stutfjor.
THE COINS OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS,
Arranged and described by Johx Evaxs, F.S.A., F.G.S.,
Hon. Sec. Num. Soc. of London, and engraved by F. W.
Faikholt, F.S.A. Medium 8vo, 26 plates, price 21s.
J. RUSSELL SMITH. London, 1864.
THE ANCIENT STONE IMPLEMENTS,
WEAPONS, AND OKNAMENTS OF GEEAT BEITALN.
By John Evans, F.E.S.,. F.S.A., Hon. Sec. of the Geol.
and Num. Socs. of London, &c, &c, &c. Medium 8vo,
476 woodcuts, 2 plates, price 28s.
LONGMANS & CO. 1872.
GETTY CENTER LIBRARY
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