Fig. 26. Fig. 27.
In the subsequent figures we see the blade developed at the expense of the socket; and the transition to the fully developed spear-head begins. The derivation of this form of spear-head from the so-called Arreton Down type of tanged blade is now admitted. Though tanged spear-heads of the Arreton Down type are fairly represented in Irish finds, no socket has been so far recovered with any of them; but an early form of nondescript tanged blade with a socket was found at Lough Ruadh bog near Tullamore, King’s County, in 1910, and shows the socket was known in Ireland.
Fig. 28.—Leaf-shaped Spear-heads.
Fig. 29.
Another very early type of spear-head, nearly all the known examples of which were found in Ireland, was derived by mounting the rapier on a socket (fig. [27]). There are six of these spear-heads in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, and one in the collection of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. One of these spear-heads, found at Taplow on the Thames, has gold studs at the base of the blade which, no doubt, represent the rivets. The derivation of the spear-head by gradually rounding off the corners of the blade can be easily followed.