Many of the flat celts are ornamented in a more or less artistic manner on the faces, or the sides, or on both; but before proceeding to notice any of them, it will be well to mention another variety of the plain celt, in which the faces, instead of being nearly flat or uniformly convex, slope towards either end from a transverse ridge near the middle of the blade. This ridge is never very strongly defined, as the total thickness of the blade from ridge to ridge is rarely more than half an inch. The plain variety is somewhat rare in Britain, but one ornamented on both faces will be described, under Fig. 5, and an Irish example is shown in Fig. 35.
A large doubly tapering celt (8 inches) was found at East Surby, Rushen,[176] Isle of Man. Some of those already mentioned partake of this character. In Hoare’s great work a specimen from the Bush Barrow, Normanton,[177] is engraved as being of this plain doubly tapering type; but from the more accurate engraving given by Dr. Thurnam[178] it appears that this instrument has flanges at the side, like Fig. 8, and must therefore be spoken of later on.
Fig. 3.—Moot Low. ½
I now proceed to consider some of the flat celts ornamented with patterns probably produced by punches, as will subsequently be mentioned. The first which I adduce was found with an interment, and the ornamentation is so slight that it is a question whether the celt ought not to rank among those of the plain kind.
The late Mr. Thomas Bateman in 1845 found what he described as “a fine bronze celt of novel form” and “of elegant outline” near the head of a contracted skeleton in a barrow called Moot Low,[179] about half-way between Alsop Moor and Dovedale, Derbyshire. “It was placed in a line with the body, with its edge upwards.” By the kindness of Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt, F.S.A.,[180] I am enabled to give a figure of this instrument in Fig. 3. As will be seen, it has slight flanges along the sides, and the upper part is ornamented with short vertical lines punched in.
That shown in Fig. 4 was found in Yorkshire, and is now in the British Museum. The patina upon it has been somewhat injured, but the ornamentation upon the faces is in places very well preserved. It consists of numerous parallel lines, each made up of short diagonal indentations in the metal, and together forming the pattern which will be better understood from the figure than from any description. The sides are ornamented by having two low pyramidal bosses drawn out upon them, leaving a long concave hexagonal space in the middle between them. This celt has already been figured, but on a much smaller scale, in the “Horæ Ferales.”[181]
Fig. 4.—Yorkshire. ½
This style of ornamentation on the sides is more common on Irish than on English or Scottish celts. One, however, 5½ inches long, of the doubly tapering form with lunate edge, having the central portion of the blade ornamented with a series of lines in a chevron pattern, and having the sides worked into three facets of a pointed oval form, was found at Whittington,[182] Gloucestershire, and was presented by Mr. W. L. Lawrence, F.S.A., to the Society of Antiquaries. The ornamentation is much like that on Fig. 7, but between the ornamented portion of the blade and the edge there is a curved hollow facet, the ridge below which runs nearly parallel with the edge.