Some spear-heads appear to have had the form of their point somewhat modified by grinding, as if from time to time they became blunted by use and required to be re-sharpened. A kind of ogival outline such as is shown in Fig. 388 appears, however, to have been intentional. The original was found in the North of Ireland.
This ogival outline is of frequent occurrence among the bronze spear-heads from Hungary.
The lance-head shown in Fig. 389, also from Wilde (Fig. 368), has the blade of a trapezoid rather than of a leaf-shaped form, and in general character more nearly approaches the looped variety, Fig. 397, than those now under consideration. The socket also appears to be quadrangular rather than round.
It will now be well to speak of some of the spear-heads of this class which have either their sockets or their blades ornamented by engraving or punching.
In Fig. 390 is shown a spear-head from the Reach Fen hoard, the nature of the ornamentation on which will be seen from the cut. The five bands, each of four parallel lines around the socket, have the appearance of being engraved; but I think that this is not actually the case, but that the lines have been punched in with a chisel-like punch. The short transverse dotted lines have probably been made with a serrated punch.
| Fig. 388. North of Ireland. ½ | Fig. 389. Ireland. ½ | Fig. 390. Reach Fen. ½ | Fig. 391. Thorndon. ½ |
Another spear-head, with ornamentation of a nearly similar character, is shown in Fig. 391. This example was found at Thorndon, Suffolk,[1218] in company with a hammer (Fig. 210), a knife (Fig. 240), a gouge (Fig. 204), and an awl (Fig. 224), the whole of which are now in the British Museum. Another in the same collection from Thames Ditton (6⅛ inches) has three sets of three rings each, with short vertical lines above the upper ring.
A small lance-head of this type (4½ inches), found at Ingham, Norfolk, with socketed celts, has one band of four parallel lines round the socket. It is now in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another from the Broadward hoard (Shropshire)[1219] has two bands of four, and one of two rings, the latter close to the mouth of the socket. A second in the same hoard shows eight rings near the mouth of the socket, and a line running down each side of the midrib prolonged below the blade as far as the rivet-hole which it encloses. A spear-head from the hoard found at Beddington, near Croydon,[1220] is ornamented in nearly the same manner. It was found with a gouge, socketed celts, a portion of celt mould, &c. That from Culham, near Abingdon, shown in Fig. 392, has three sets of four rings and one of two, as well as some vertical dotted lines above the upper ring. In this case the bands seem to have been punched in with a serrated punch which produced four short lines at each stroke, and by skilful manipulation these short lines were made to join so as to form a continuous ring.
I have a spear-head from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5⅞ inches), with a small raised band cast on the socket just below the rivet-hole.