——Fig. 9.—Plymstock. ⅔————Fig. 10.—Plymstock. ⅔
In Figs. 9 and 10[192] are shown two more of these doubly tapering flanged celts, which were found in the parish of Plymstock,[193] Devonshire, about a mile east of Preston. They lay beneath a flat stone at a depth of about two feet below the surface, together with fourteen other celts, three daggers, one of which is given as Fig. 301, a spear-head or dagger, shown in Fig. 327, and a narrow chisel (Fig. 190). All the sixteen celts are of the same general type, but vary in length from 3¾ inches to 6¾ inches. The extent of the flanges or wings also varies, and in some they project considerably, and are brought with great precision to a sharp edge. At the narrow or butt end, the late Mr. Albert Way, who described the hoard, noticed a peculiar slight groove extending only as far as the commencement of the lateral flanges. The character of the groove is shown in the portion of the side view given with each figure. Mr. Way and Mr. Franks thought that the narrow end of the celt, when produced from the mould, had been slightly bifid, and that the little cleft had been closed by the hammer. My own impression is that these marks are merely the result of “drawing down” the narrow ends with the hammer after their sides had been somewhat “upset” or expanded by hammering out the side flanges.
The sides of some of these celts have been hammered so as to present three longitudinal facets; others have the sides simply rounded. One of the most interesting features of this discovery is its analogy with that already mentioned as having been made at Arreton Down. The greater number of the objects found at Plymstock were given by the Duke of Bedford to the British Museum, and the remainder to the Exeter Museum.
Four or five celts with slight side flanges were found in the Wiltshire barrows by Sir E. Colt Hoare. The largest of these (6¼ inches long and 2½ inches broad) was found in 1808, in a tumulus known as the Bush Barrow, near Normanton.[194] The following are the particulars of this discovery:—On the floor of the barrow was the skeleton of a tall man lying from south to north. Near his shoulders lay the celt, which owes its great preservation to having been inserted in a handle of wood. About eighteen inches south of the head were several bronze rivets, intermixed with wood and thin pieces of bronze, which were regarded as the remains of a shield. Near the right arm were a large dagger of bronze and a spear-head of the same metal, fully 13 inches long. The handle of this dagger, marvellously inlaid with pins of gold, will be described in a subsequent chapter. On the breast of the skeleton was a large lozenge-shaped plate of gold, ornamented with zigzag and other patterns, and near it were some other gold ornaments, some bone rings, and an oval perforated stone mace, the representation of which I have reproduced in my “Ancient Stone Implements.”
We have here an instance of bronze weapons occurring associated with those of stone and with gold ornaments. Sir R. Colt Hoare has recorded some other cases. In a bell-shaped barrow near Wilsford,[195] at the feet of the skeleton of a tall man, he found a massive hammer of a dark-coloured stone, some objects of bone, a whetstone with a groove in the centre, and a bronze celt with small lateral flanges 3¼ inches long. These were accompanied by a very curious object of twisted bronze, apparently a ring about 4½ inches in diameter, having a tang pierced with four rivet holes for fixing in a handle. In the ring itself, opposite the tang, is a long oval hole, through which passes one of three circular links forming a short chain.
In a barrow on Overton Hill,[196] Sir R. Colt Hoare found a contracted skeleton buried either in the trunk of a tree or on a plank of wood. Near the head were a small celt of this kind, an awl with a handle (Fig. 227), and a small dagger, or, as he terms it, a “lance-head.”
The occurrence of celts of this character is not limited to interments by inhumation. In another barrow of the Wilsford group Sir R. C. Hoare found, in a cist 2 feet deep, a pile of burnt bones, an ivory (?) pin, a rude ring of bone, and a small bronze celt, also with side flanges, and only 2⅛ inches long.
Among other specimens of this form of celt may be cited one found on Plumpton Plain,[197] near Lewes, Sussex, now in the British Museum; one (4 inches) found near Dover in 1856; and one (6½ inches) from Wye Down, Kent, both in the Mayer collection at Liverpool. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has one (3½ inches) from March, Cambridgeshire.
Flanged celts much like Fig. 9 have been found in France. Some from Haute-Saône,[198] Rhône, and Compiègne[199] (Oise) have been figured. I have specimens from Evreux (Eure), Amiens (Somme), and Lyons. The type also occurs in Italy[200] in some abundance; it is found more rarely in Germany.[201] Examples from Denmark are figured by Schreiber,[202] Segested,[203] and Madsen.[204] The form also occurs in Sweden.[205]