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 Another Random Document on
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ring, in Essex. At first sight such objects might appear to be
intended for mouth-pieces of scabbards, 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 leather
or wood in addition. They seem more probably to be slides,
such as might have served for receiving the two ends of a
leather belt.
In the Dreuil hoard was also a flat kind of ferrule, about
2¼ 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 2½ inches
wide. The loops shown in Figs. 505 and 506 formed part of a
large hoard found near Abergele,[1575] Denbighshire, and
described in the Archæologia, 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 buckles in shape. There were
also several double rings fitting the one within the other, the
inner about 1¼ inch in diameter and the outer about 2⅛
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,[1576] and in Worsaae’s Nordiske Oldsager, Fig.
266.”
These examples, however, do not present such close
analogies with the Welsh specimen as do some interlinked
rings with flat pendants found at Plonéour,[1577] Brittany, with
looped palstaves and a flat quadrangular knife. Some other
analogous objects are mentioned by M. Chantre,[1578] who
has also described several sistrum-like instruments, to which
M. de Mortillet[1579] is inclined to assign an Eastern origin.
Reverting 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,[1580] 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 comprised 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
Fig. 508.—Dreuil. 1/1
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 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 6½ inches in length by 4½
inches in breadth. With Sir E. Colt Hoare, “I leave to my
learned brother antiquaries to ascertain” what was the
ancient use of this singular article, which was found in a
barrow at Wilsford,[1581] with a stone hammer, a flanged
bronze celt, and other objects in company with an unburnt
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.[1582] These measure about 7 inches
by 7¼ 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-shaped boss on the hill of Benibhreæ,
[1583] in Lochaber, appear to me to be probably Late Celtic.

Some of the curious spoon-like articles[1584] 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 18 inches long, with
small figures of birds and pendent rings upon it, found near
Ballymoney,[1585] 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.[1586]

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.
 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 Archæological Societies, but also in
several standard archæological works. For the
pottery found in the tumuli of this country I would
more particularly refer to Canon Greenwell’s “British
Barrows,” and to Dr. Thurnam’s “Paper on the
Barrows of Wiltshire,” published in the Archæologia.
[1587]
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.[1588] 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,”[1589] and
also stated the particulars of the discoveries. I have
also mentioned the discovery of a gold cup in a
barrow at Rillaton, Cornwall, which was accompanied
by what appears to have been a bronze dagger.[1590]
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 hanging cups of bronze of which many have
been found in Scandinavia, and at least one example
in Switzerland, are at present not known to have
been discovered within the British Isles.

Bottom of cup.

Fig. 509.—Golden Cup. Rillaton. Height, 3¼

inches.
 It was probably not until nearly the close of the
Bronze Period that the art was discovered of
hammering out bronze into sufficiently large and thin
laminæ for the manufacture of cups and 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,[1591] 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[1592]
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,[1593] 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,[1594] Ulster, but there is no
record of any caldrons. Others of these rings are in the
Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, two of which were found
with the large caldron here figured (Fig. 510) in the Moss of
 Kincardine,[1595] 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.

Fig. 510.—Kincardine Moss.

Others of these caldrons, but little 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 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 21 inches in diameter and
12 inches high.[1596] It is composed of a number of pieces of
thin bronze, each averaging 3¼ 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 2½ 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,” published in the Ulster Journal of Archæology,
[1597] to be thinner than anything 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 Rosse. A
specimen from Farney has been already mentioned. It
resembles Fig. 511.
In the collection of Mr. T. W. U. Robinson, 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 2⅜ ”
Extreme ”
diameter 24
Height 16 ”
Outside diameter ”
4¼
of rings
 The rings are about ⅝ inch wide and of this section .

Fig. 511.—Ireland.

Although no such vessels have been found in

barrows in England, 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 , 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 ¼ 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, 5¼ inches, of this section
, found near Ipswich, are in the British Museum. The semi-
cylindrical beaded brackets through which they pass and a
part of the rim are still attached. Another ring was found with
a hoard at Meldreth, Cambs.
In some vessels very large sheets of bronze have been
used. That shown in Fig. 512, also from Wilde,[1598] is 18½
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 88·71
Tin 9·46
Lead 1·66
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,[1599] and contained burnt bones.
 In the collection of Canon
Greenwell, F.R.S., is a vessel of
hammered bronze of the same
character as the figure, but of
rather broader proportions, being
nearly 17½ inches high and about
16 inches in diameter; at the
shoulder the neck contracts 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,
Fig. 512.—Ireland. rather more than 9 inches in
diameter. The arms are ribbed
longitudinally, 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. William Gray, of Belfast, who kindly allowed me to
engrave it as Fig. 513. Its dimensions are as follows—

Height 17½ inches.

Diameter of ”
mouth 13
Diameter at ”
15½
shoulder
Diameter at ”
7¼
bottom
 The weight is 5 lbs. 9 ozs. The plates of which it is formed
are carefully riveted together, and are of large size. Some
holes which have 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 produced 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
secured 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. Fig. 513.—Capecastle Bog.

Whether either were

actually 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.[1600] One of the upright
vases found at Hallstatt[1601] 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 may have come from abroad appears
in the highest degree probable. Not impossibly the
æs importatum of Cæsar may refer to a continuance
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
probability, 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
telescopes, so much harder that, à 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 Hardware Trade Journal,
[1602]
gives some of the alloys now in most common
use and the purposes to which they are applied:—

Per cent.
Tin. Copper. of Copper.
A common metal for cannon
and machine brasses,
11 108 = 90·76 {
used also for bronze
statues.
11 99 = 90·00 Gun-metal proper, used for
11 96 = 89·72 } cannon.
Used for bearings of
11 84 = 88·44 { machinery, frequently
called gun-metal.
11 72 = 86·75 Rather harder.
 11 60 = 84·50 Harder, not malleable.
Used for cymbals and
11 44 = 80·00
Chinese gongs.
Very hard, used for culinary
11 48 = 81·35
vessels.
11 36 76·69
12 36 } or { 75·60 }
Bell-metal.

Yellowish, very hard,

11 24 = 68·57
sonorous.
} Very white, sometimes used
11 4 = 26·66 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,[1603] 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 somewhat affect its properties. M.
Tresca[1604] found that a gun-metal cast by Messieurs
Laveissière, consisting of—

Copper 89·47
Tin 9·78
Zinc 0·66
Lead 0·09

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:—

A B
Copper 89·87 90·60
Tin 9·45 8.82
Zinc 0·31 0·27
Lead 0·37 0·31
——– ——–
100·00 100·00
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[1605] 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 instruments 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 proportions.
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
Pelligot[1606] found as much as 28·50 and even 32·50
per cent. of lead, with only 1½ 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[1607] 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 of 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,[1608] there are two 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[1609] found that an
alloy containing 90·4 per cent. of copper and 9·6 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 mankind. 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.[1610]
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 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”[1611] 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
Cæsar’s time to make use of imported bronze,
especially as tin was found in abundance in Cornwall,
and long before Cæsar’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,[1612]
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,[1613] there can be but little doubt that the
Cassiterides, with which either directly or indirectly
the Phœnicians traded for tin,[1614] are rightly
identified with Britain. But, with due deference to
Professor Nilsson and other antiquaries, I must
confess that the traces of Phœnician 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 Phœnician
bronze would have been lead-bronze, because the
Phœnicians derived their civilisation 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 lead-bronzes for statues
and ornaments, the Egyptian dagger[1615] 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 communicated
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.[1616] 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,[1617] in addition to those mentioned on page
418.
ANALYSES OF BRONZE ANTIQUITIES.
* 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 magnifying
power, it is seen to consist of a metallic net-work
enclosing distinct and perfectly formed crystals of
cuprite, surrounded by a greyish white substance
which is chiefly bioxide of tin. In this alloy the nickel,
silver, and iron are evidently accidental impurities,
but the lead is no doubt an intentional ingredient.”
The specific gravity after pulverization is about 7·26
only.
** Specific gravity 8·59.

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 Yorkshire 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.[1618]
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 æs signatum,
have a similar broken appearance at the ends.
Professor Chierici[1619] 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, 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.[1620] It is
about 16½ inches long and 4¾ inches wide at the
ends, the hole through the centre being about ¼
inch in diameter, and the weight of the ingot, which
is of pure copper, is about 6½ 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 subsequently 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 10 to 13 inches in
diameter and about 2 inches thick; and on more than
one found in Anglesea[1621] 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,[1622] heavy lumps of fine copper, found
with broken socketed celts, &c.
Kenidjack Cliff, Cornwall,[1623] with palstaves and socketed
celts.
St. Hilary, Cornwall,[1624] 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,[1625] three lumps of raw copper,
apparently very pure, with palstaves, socketed celts, &c.
Wick Park, Stogursey, Somerset,[1626] with palstaves,
socketed celts, broken swords, spears, &c.
Kingston Hill, Surrey,[1627] with socketed celts, fragments
of swords, and spear-head.
Beddington, Surrey,[1628] with mould, socketed celts,
gouge, spear-heads, &c.
Wickham Park, Croydon, Surrey,[1629] with palstave,
gouge, hammer, &c.
Danesbury, near Welwyn, Herts,[1630] lumps of metal with
damaged socketed celts.
Cumberlow, Herts,[1631] with palstaves, socketed celts,
fragments of swords, &c.
Westwick Row, Hemel Hempsted,[1632] several lumps,
with socketed celts.
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