Fig. 501.—Heathery Burn Cave. ⅓
An irregularly rounded flat plate of bronze, about 5 inches by 5½, and 1⅛ inch, thick, apparently hammered out, was found with leaf-shaped spear-heads and a sword at Worth,[1568] Devon. I have a round flat plate, about 6½ inches in diameter and ⅛ inch thick, found near Clough, Co. Antrim, which bears deep hammer marks in sets of parallel grooves on both faces. Perhaps such plates were destined to be still further drawn out into sheets for the manufacture of caldrons or other vessels.
In the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned, were about ten convex plates, with a raised rim round their edge, a small hole in the middle, and four loops cast on at the back. One of these is shown in Fig. 501.[1569] With them were found about the same number of broad hoops, of which an example is given in Fig. 502.
Fig. 502.—Heathery Burn Cave. ⅓
These are dexterously cast in one piece, with a groove inside corresponding with the raised central ridge on the outside. Their diameter is only about 4⅜ inches, while that of the discs is about 5-3/10 inches. It is difficult to see any connection between the two forms, though from the correspondence in their numbers a connection at first sight seems probable. The hoops have been spoken of as armlets, but I can hardly regard them as such. Most of the specimens are in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., though thanks to his kindness I have an example of each; and two hoops and a disc are in the British Museum. Canon Greenwell has two other discs of a somewhat similar character, found with spear-heads and socketed celts near Newark. They are 5¼ inches in diameter, with a raised rib round the margin and a central hole. The surface, instead of being regularly convex, rises more rapidly towards the centre, so as to make a kind of cone with hollowed sides. There are no loops nor any means of attachment on the interior. It may be that a shank was riveted through the central hole, as was the case with some analogous conical objects from Hallstatt.
Without expressing any definite opinion on the subject, I may call attention to a certain analogy that exists between these hoops and discs, and the hoops and axle ends of Gaulish chariots of the Early Iron Age. The naves of the wheels of the chariot found in the tomb of la Gorge Meillet[1570] (Marne) had bronze hoops on either side of the naves, and an ornamented plate at each end of the axle. The hoops, however, are made of plates riveted together, and were not cast in one piece, and the centre of the plates is open, though crossed by an iron pin.
Fragments of what may have been discs of the same kind, with a hole in the centre and four small bosses at intervals around it, were found in the hoard at Stanhope,[1571] Durham, which comprised spear-heads, celts, &c., much like those in the Heathery Burn Cave.
Similar large discs with concentric circles upon them, and having loops at the back, have been found in various parts of France, Switzerland, and Italy.[1572]
