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 455

WOODCUT ILLUSTRATIONS.

The references are to the original sources of such cuts as have not been engraved expressly for this book.