Flat celts, or those of simple form with the faces somewhat convex, and approximating in shape to the polished stone celts of the Neolithic Period, have been regarded by several antiquaries as being probably the earliest bronze implements or weapons. Such a view has much to commend it, but, as already observed, it may be doubted whether in the earliest times, when metal was scarce, it would be so readily applied to purposes for which much of the precious material was required, as to the manufacture of weapons or tools of a lighter kind, such as daggers or knives.
Among celts, however, the simple form, and that most nearly approaching in character to the stone hatchet, was probably the earliest, though it may have been continued in use after the introduction of the side flanges, the stop-ridge, and even the socket. Some celts of the simplest form found in Ireland are of copper, and have been thought to belong to the period when the use of stone for cutting purposes was dying out and that of metal coming in; but the mere fact of their being of copper is by no means conclusive on this point.
A copper celt of the precise shape of an ordinary stone celt, 6 inches long and 2½ inches wide, which was found in an Etruscan tomb, and is preserved in the Museum at Berlin, appears to have been cast in a mould formed upon a stone implement of the same class. It has been figured and described by Sir William Wilde.[140] I have not seen the implement, nor am I aware of the exact circumstances of the finding. Celts may, however, like the flint arrow-heads inserted in Etruscan[141] necklaces of gold, have been regarded with superstitious reverence, and it does not appear to me quite certain that this specimen was ever in actual use as an implement, and was not placed in the grave as a substitute for a stone hatchet or Ceraunius.
Fig. 1.—Cyprus. ½
However this may be, some of the earliest bronze or, possibly, copper celts with which we are acquainted, those from the excavations of General di Cesnola in Cyprus, and of Dr. Schliemann at Hissarlik, are of the simple flat form, and justify Sir W. Wilde[142] in his supposition that the first makers of these instruments, having once obtained a better material than stone, repeated the form with which they were best acquainted, though they economized the metal and lessened the bulk by flattening the sides. The annexed cut, Fig. 1, shows a celt from Cyprus in my own collection, which in form might be matched by celts of flint, though it must be acknowledged that the type in stone is rather that of Scandinavia than of Eastern Europe or the Levant. A slight ridge in the oxide upon it seems to mark the distance that the narrow end penetrated the handle. Numerous tools or weapons of the same form were found by Dr. Schliemann[143] in his excavations in search of Troy. They were at first thought to be of copper, but subsequently proved to have a small per-centage of tin in them. A number of flat celts, some short and broad, and others long and narrow, were found at Gungeria,[144] in the Mhow Talook, about forty miles north of Boorha, in Central India, many of which are now in the British Museum. On analysis Dr. Percy found them to be of pure copper. The same form was found at Tel Sifr, in Southern Babylonia. Some from that place, and from the island of Thermia,[145] in the Greek Archipelago, are also in the British Museum. Nearly similar instruments, said to be made of copper, have been found in Austria,[146] Denmark,[147] Sweden,[148] Hungary,[149] France,[150] and Italy.[151] I have one 3¾ inches long, from Royat, Puy de Dôme. A large and thicker specimen is in the Museum at Toulouse. They have usually a small per-centage, 0·15 to 2·08 of tin in them.[152]
I have already, in the Introductory Chapter, made some remarks on the probability of a copper age having, in some part of the world, preceded that of bronze, and need here only repeat that the occurrence of implements in copper, of the forms usually occurring in bronze, does not of necessity imply a want of acquaintance with the tin necessary to mix with copper to form bronze, but may only be significant of a temporary or local scarcity of the former metal. I may also add that without actual analysis, it is unsafe, from appearance only, to judge whether copper is pure, or whether it has not an appreciable per-centage of tin in it.
In treating of the different forms and characters of bronze celts, and of the places and circumstances of finding, I think it will be best first to take those from England and Wales, then those from Scotland, and lastly those from Ireland. I begin with those which have been found in barrows in England.
Fig. 2 represents a flat celt found in a barrow in the parish of Butterwick, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, by the Rev. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., F.S.A.[153] It lay at the hips of the body of a young man, at whose right hand the knife-dagger (Fig. 279) and the bronze drill or pricker (Fig. 225) were found, accompanied by a flint knife formed from a broad external flake.
