The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.

HAVING now passed in review the various forms of instruments, arms, and ornaments belonging to the Bronze Period of Great Britain, it will be well to attempt some chronological...

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 class of celts cast in such a manner as to have a socket for receiving the haft is numerously represented in the British Isles. In this form of instrument the haft was actua...

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 i...

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...

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, espe...

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 tas...

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 pointe...

AMONG ancient weapons of bronze, perhaps the most remarkable both for elegance of form and for the skill displayed in their casting are the leaf-shaped swords, of which a consid...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 t...

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, tho...

THERE still remain to be noticed a number of objects in bronze, of some of which the precise nature and use are now hardly susceptible of being determined; and of others but so...

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 m...

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 so...

SICKLES are the only undoubtedly agricultural implements in bronze with which we are acquainted in this country. Already in the Stone Period the cultivation of cereals for food...

PINS for the purpose of fastening the dress or the hair seem to have been in use from very early times. Made of bone,[1402] they have been found associated with polished stone i...

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 b...

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 b...

Page 117, under fig. 123, _for_ “Crishall” _read_ “Chrishall.” ” 143, line 15, _for_ “Spain” _read_ “Portugal.” ” 207, ” 34, _for_ “St. Genoulph” _read_ “St. Genouph.” ” 215, ”...

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—Inferen...

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—...

Terms, “the Recipient” and “the Received”—Evolution from Palstaves—With “Flanches,” or curved Lines, on the Faces—Plain, with a Beading round the Mouth—Of a Gaulish type—With ve...

Origin of the term Palstave—Celts with a Stop-ridge—Varieties of Winged Celts—Transitional Forms—Palstaves with Ornaments on Face—With Central Rib on the Blade—Shortened by Wear...

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—S...

Tanged Knives or Daggers—Knife-Daggers with three Rivets—Method of Hafting Daggers—Bone Pommels—Amber Hilt inlaid with Gold—Hilts with numerous Rivets—Inlaid and Ivory Hilts—Hil...

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 Base of the Bl...

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...

The Gaulish Torque—Gold Torques—Funicular Torques—Ribbon Torques—Those of the Late Celtic Period—Penannular Torques and Bracelets—Bracelets engraved with Patterns—Beaded and Flu...

Simple form of Chisel rare—Tanged Chisels—Chisels with Lugs at sides—Socketed Chisels—Tanged Gouges—Socketed Gouges—Socketed Hammers—Irish Hammers—Method of Hafting Hammers—Fren...

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—B...

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...

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 Ch...

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 F...

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 Buckl...

Pins 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 diffic...