The Evolution of Culture, and Other Essays

by Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt-Rivers

Plate XX.

CELT MOULDS.

So in like manner we must assume that the development of the bronze celt extended over a long period of time; that each new improvement was communicated from tribe to tribe and from nation to nation; but that each country manufactured its own implements, and varied in the construction of them. The proof that this was the case is found in the circumstance that moulds for casting them have been found in different countries. Plate XX, Fig. 31, represents a stone mould found at Ballynahinch, Co. Down, Ireland, and figured in the Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy; it is adapted for casting celts of the Class B. Fig. 32 is a stone mould for Class G, found at Montaigu, near Valoignes, Normandy, and is taken from a cast in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries. Fig. 33, a stone mould for Class H, from Kilkenny, Ireland. Fig. 34, two halves of a bronze mould for Class E, from Morges, Switzerland, figured in Keller, Plate xxxix. Fig. 35, two halves of a bronze mould for Class H, found in the Forest of Bricquebec, Normandy, in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries. Fig. 36, one-half of a bronze mould for Class H, from England, figured in the Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, ‘Bronze,’ page 393. In the three last specimens it will be seen that the mode of fitting the two halves together, so as to prevent the escape of the metal, is by means of a ridge on one half, fitting into a groove in the other. It is improbable that a contrivance so identical as this should have arisen independently in the three countries. Further proof of connexion is shown by the identity of the ribs in the interior of the sockets of celts belonging to Class H. Figs. 37 and 38 represent sections of socket celts from Ireland, the former showing three, the latter one, longitudinal rib of raised metal running from the bottom of the socket for some distance up the side of the interior of the socket. Fig. 39 is the section of a socket celt from Denmark, in my collection, having one rib of the same kind. It has been suggested that these ribs represent the interstices between slices of the core, by means of which the socket was formed in casting; if so, the cores must have been constructed of some hard material, cut in slices, in order to facilitate their removal from the socket when formed. Several objections may, however, be urged against this; in the first place, no such cores have ever been discovered, which tends to the supposition that the cores must, in all probability, have been constructed of clay; in the second place, it will be seen by reference to Fig. 20 that this celt has only one central rib; if, therefore, the rib was formed by the metal pressing into the interstices between the slices of the core, it is evident that the core in this case had only two slices; but it will be seen that the aperture of the socket expands towards the bottom, and it would have been impossible, therefore, to extract the core if it were divided into only two parts.

The theory of core slices must, therefore, be abandoned, and we are driven to the conclusion that the ribs must have been intentional, either to give strength to the celt, which is unlikely from the great thickness of the metal, or to form channels for the passage of the metal in casting, or, what is more probable, to serve the purpose of gripping the portion of the wooden handle which fitted into the socket, and preventing its shifting with the blows of the weapon. Fig. 39 represents cross ribs at the bottom of the socket of a celt from Denmark, in my collection. Whatever may have been the purpose for which the ribs were formed, their identity in the implements of the two countries serves us as an additional proof of intercourse between them.

Although moulds for casting celts have not been found in Denmark, there is evidence to show, from vestiges of scoriae that have been found, that they were there cast in clay, as indeed they must probably have been to a great extent in other parts of Europe.

It would be premature to speculate upon the primary sources of the bronze civilization of Europe, until we have examined carefully the distribution of the other weapons belonging to that period. This much may, however, I think, be said with respect to the geographical region of bronze celts, that they belong more especially to the north and west of Europe; they have never been found in any of those countries which were occupied by the Phoenicians, nor have we any sufficient reason for believing that they were common in Greece. We have, therefore, no evidence whatever for supposing that the north of Europe derived the first idea of these weapons from either of those nations. We certainly have only negative evidence as yet for affirming that they did not, but the burden of proof must rest with those who have attributed them to the Phoenicians. To what extent they were employed in Russia and Northern Siberia, is a point which we have not as yet sufficient evidence to determine. I think, however, I am justified in saying that those hitherto discovered in Siberia are of a late type, belonging chiefly to the socket variety, and that they are there often associated with weapons of iron. I trust, however, to have an opportunity of entering more fully into this subject on a future occasion, when treating of the weapons of the later bronze and early iron periods of Europe.

EARLY MODES OF NAVIGATION[219]
(1874)

In the paper which I had the honour of reading to this Institute at Bethnal Green (pp. [1-19]), I spoke of the general principles by which I was guided in the course of inquiries, of which the present paper forms a section. I need not, therefore, now refer to them further than to say that the materials for this paper were collected whilst writing a note to my catalogue raisonné relating to the case of models of early forms of ships.[220]