One of these is shown in Fig. 44, the upper part of the blade of which is, as will be seen, so narrow, and the instrument itself so small and light, that it is a question whether it should not be regarded as a chisel or paring-tool rather than as a hatchet. The blade tapers both ways, and the incipient flange is more fully developed above the ridge than below. The original was found at Armoy, Co. Antrim. It is much broader at the cutting edge than the blade from Culham, Fig. 55, to which it is somewhat allied.
————Fig. 44.—Armoy. ½————————— Fig. 45.—Ireland. ½
Another Irish form of celt, or possibly chisel, tapers in both directions from a central transverse ridge, near which there are lateral projections on the blade, as if to prevent its being driven into the handle. An example of this kind, from the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, is given in Fig. 45. There are nine or ten in that collection, and they vary in length from about 3¾ to 8 inches. Others are in the British Museum, one of which is more distinctly tanged than the figure, and the stops are formed by the gradual widening out of the blade, which again contracts with a similar curve, and once more widens out at the edge. This type is also known in France. Other varieties of this form are described in Chapter VII.
A doubly tapering blade in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, shown in Fig. 46, has a slight stop-ridge on the face, and also expands at the sides, though not to the same extent as the plain specimens just mentioned. It is ornamented with straight and curved bands formed of chevron patterns.
A double-edged instrument, also in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, has a stop-ridge on one of the faces only, as shown in Fig. 47.
An instrument of the same form, but with stops at the sides instead of on the face, 4⅞ inches long, ⅝ inch broad at the edges, and about ¼ inch thick, was found at Farley Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British Museum.
A Danish instrument of the same kind is figured by Worsaae.[245]
