Axe-hammers.—The perforated axe-hammers show an advance in the manufacture of stone implements. Of these there are several varieties; some, and probably the earliest, are of the celt type; others are blunt at both ends forming true hammers; but the latter type come near to the modern axe-head in shape. They are well-designed, highly polished, and formed of stone selected for its hardness. The spot for the hole seems to have been first chipped; and the perforation was then made by rotatory friction with a suitable stone, piece of bone or wood, and the use of sand and water. The operation was usually done on both sides, as a section of the stone shows that the hole diminishes towards the middle. Many specimens show a cylindrical perforation, the drilling of which could be done with a piece of hollow wood, bone, or metal. Cores cut out in this way have been found in numbers in the Swiss lake-dwellings; but, as far as we are aware, no core of this kind has been found in Ireland. One head with an incomplete perforation may be seen in the Academy collection; this shows the cores, but broken on both sides. Many of the true round hammer-shaped heads are cleanly drilled, and with a metal tool. They are evidently late in date, and were probably used in the working of the finer metals, gold and silver. Two of the many fine examples in the Academy collection of the axe type are here figured. The larger is composed of serpentine; it is 8¼ inches long, and weighs about 6½ pounds. It has a broad hatchet-edge with a heavy head behind the handle. The other, found in the Shannon at Athlone, is of hornblendic syenite; it is 5½ inches in length, with grooves round the perforated sides. These are highly polished, and are among the finest specimens yet discovered in the British Isles.
Perforated Stone Axe-hammers.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE BRONZE AGE.
COPPER CELTS—BRONZE—ITS ANTIQUITY AND SOURCE—BRONZE CELTS—THE FLAT CELT—THE FLANGED OR WINGED CELT—THE SOCKETED CELT—CELT MOULDS—SWORDS—RAPIERS—BROAD SCYTHE-SHAPED SWORDS—SWORD SHEATHS—THE LISNACROGHERA ‘FINDS’—SPEAR-AND JAVELIN-HEADS—ORNAMENTED SPEARS—CRANNOG SPEARS—SHIELDS—BRIDLE BITS—CALDRONS—TRUMPETS—ORNAMENTS, BRONZE AND GOLD—TORQUES—LUNULÆ—TIARAS—FIBULÆ—THE BROIGHTER GOLD ‘FIND.’
The Early Irish traditions—so insisted on by many writers—of the successive invasions of Ireland by various races may contain a kernel at least of the truth of successive waves of the men of the Stone Age, overcome in time by a race stronger and better equipped with metal weapons.
The discovery of metal for the manufacture of implements marked a new epoch in the history of man. Copper was evidently known long before the discovery was made of using it with an alloy; but, owing to its softness, it could not supersede the use of stone. The question of whether there was, generally speaking, a Copper Age is still a matter of archæological controversy. The number of copper implements found is small, compared to the vast quantities of bronze of great variety that have been discovered. Flat copper celts have been found in Cyprus, the chief source of supply of the mineral to the Aegæan, in Hissarlik, in Hungary, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, and in Central India; but these latter are thought to be of late date, having been associated with objects of silver.
The National Museum, Dublin, contains 84 copper celts, the collection having much increased since the compilation of Wilde’s Catalogue, when the number stood at 30. The number found in Ireland up to the present time is about 150; and specimens have been discovered in about half the counties and in all the provinces. The copper celts are of a primitive type, and were evidently modelled after those of stone. The smallness of the number may be due either to the probability of their being recast in the manufacture of tools and weapons on the discovery of bronze; or, that the metal proving soft, it was not largely used, being inferior in consistency to stone. Bronze celts have been found of a primitive character similar to the copper, so that they may have belonged to the same period of time. From this and other considerations it has been urged that a Copper Age did not exist in Western Europe, though such, no doubt, prevailed in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, especially in Egypt. The latter country was in the Neolithic Age under the ‘New Race’; and copper came into use at the end of this Pre-dynastic Period.
In all copper celts hitherto analysed in Ireland, a very small quantity of tin has been found, varying from about one per cent. to a mere trace. Whether the presence of tin in the copper is intentional or accidental is not definitely known; but it seems likely to have existed in the ore with other impurities.[92] Copper seems to have been in general use in Ireland; for, among other objects of this metal, awls, a halbert, and blades of knives have been discovered. The existence of native ore renders it likely that it was worked as soon as its properties were known; and this is supported by the fact that the word umha, the Irish name for copper, is pure Celtic. Tin exists in small quantities in Ireland, especially in the sand and gravel deposits of the Wicklow streams; but as to the method and means of mining, and how far it was carried on in those early days, we know nothing definite. Copper workings have been discovered, of a primitive type, in Cork and Kerry, containing stone implements among the refuse.