The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.

by John Evans

The development of a stop-ridge between the flanges, which eventually culminated in the ordinary palstave form, can probably be better observed in the British series than in that of any other country. At the same time, the origin of the other form of palstave—that without a definite stop-ridge, and with semicircular wings bent over so as to form a kind of side-pocket—can best be traced on the Continent, and especially in the south of France. It was from this form of palstave that the socketed celt was developed, and although this development seems to have taken place abroad, possibly in Western Germany, the form was introduced into Britain at an early period of its existence, as is proved by the semicircular projections and curved “flanches” so common on the faces of the socketed celts of this country.

Our knife-daggers may originally have been of foreign introduction, but evidently belong to a time when metal was scarce, and like the flat and slightly-flanged celts have often been found associated with stone implements. The dagger-blades of stouter make, which seem to have succeeded them, show analogies with French, Italian, and German examples; but similar blades, with a tang such as those from the Arreton Down hoard, seem to be almost peculiar to Britain. The fact, however, that the socketed blade found with them has its analogues both in Switzerland and Egypt suggests the probability of the tanged form being also of foreign, and possibly Mediterranean origin; indeed, a specimen is reported to have been found in Italy.

Our halberd blades with the three rivets are nearly allied to those of northern Germany; and the type appears never to be found in France, though I have met with a solitary example in Southern Spain, and the form is not unknown in Italy, there being one from the province of Mantua in the British Museum. Socketed chisels, hammers, and gouges were probably derived from a foreign source; but tanged chisels, though not absolutely wanting in the North of France, are more abundant in the British Isles than elsewhere. Long narrow chisels with tangs were, however, present in the great Bologna hoard.

Bronze socketed sickles are almost peculiar to the British Isles, though they have occasionally been found in the North of France. The flat form, from which they must have been developed, is of rare occurrence, though not unknown in Britain. Its origin is to be sought in the South of Europe, though the British examples more closely resemble German and Danish forms than those of any other country. Tanged single-edged knives are almost unknown in our islands, though so abundant in the Swiss Lake-dwellings and in the South of France. Double-edged knives with a socket are, however, almost peculiar to Britain and Ireland, though they are found in small numbers in the North of France. The tanged razor may also be regarded as one of our specialities, though not unknown in Italy. Most of the foreign varieties have a ring for suspension at the end of the tang, a peculiarity almost unknown in Britain.

Bronze swords, no doubt, originated on the Continent; and as such long thin blades required great skill in casting, it seems probable that their manufacture was to some extent localized at particular spots, and that they formed an important article of commerce. The same type has been discovered in countries wide apart, and many of those found in Scandinavia are now regarded as being of foreign origin. Still there are some British types which are rarely or never found abroad, and the discovery of moulds proves conclusively that both leaf-shaped and rapier-shaped blades were cast in these islands. The latter kind of blades are, indeed, almost exclusively confined to Britain and the north of France. Bronze scabbard-ends, as distinct from mere chapes, seem also to be confined to the same tract of country.

When we turn to the spear-heads of these islands we find that though the leaf-shaped form prevails over the greater part of Europe, yet that those with loops at the side of the socket and with loops at the base of the blade are common in the British Isles, while they are extremely rare in France, and almost unknown elsewhere. The same may be said of the type with the small eyelet-holes in the blade, and of those with barbs. Those with crescent-shaped openings in the blades are also almost unknown elsewhere, though one example has been found in Russia. Our bronze shields with numerous concentric rings are also specially British.

Among ornaments formed of bronze, there are few, if any, that we can claim as our own. Our torques seem more nearly connected with those of the Rhine district than of any other part of Europe. Our bracelets, which are not common, hardly present any special peculiarities, and brooches we have none.

Our spheroidal caldrons seem to be of native type, but with them are vases which almost undoubtedly show an Etruscan influence in their origin.

We have here then, I think, sufficient proof that Britain, though not unaffected by foreign influences, and in fact deriving many of the types of its tools and weapons from foreign sources, was, nevertheless, a local centre in which the Bronze civilisation received a special and high development; and where, had extraneous influences been entirely absent after the time when the knowledge of Bronze was first introduced, the evolution of forms would probably have differed in but few particulars from that which is now exhibited by the prevailing types found in this country.

If we compare these British types with those of the other regions which together make up the so-called Danubian province, we shall at once be struck, not by the analogies presented, but by the marked difference in the general facies.