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diff --git a/26880-8.txt b/26880-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..91604db --- /dev/null +++ b/26880-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3179 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Bronze Age in Ireland, by George Coffey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Bronze Age in Ireland + +Author: George Coffey + +Release Date: October 11, 2008 [EBook #26880] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRONZE AGE IN IRELAND *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Anne Storer and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: The term "halberd" and "halbert" have both been +used on numerous occasions. "Halbert" is a variant of "Halberd" and +has been left as printed in the original text. + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BRONZE AGE IN IRELAND + + + + + THE BRONZE AGE + IN IRELAND + + BY + GEORGE COFFEY + + MEMBER OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY + HONORARY FELLOW OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND + KEEPER OF IRISH ANTIQUITIES IN THE NATIONAL MUSEUM + AND PROFESSOR R.H.A. DUBLIN + + + _WITH ELEVEN PLATES AND EIGHTY-FIVE ILLUSTRATIONS_ + + + HODGES, FIGGIS, & CO., LIMITED, + 104 GRAFTON STREET, DUBLIN + SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & CO., + LONDON + 1913 + + + + + PRINTED AT THE + DUBLIN UNIVERSITY PRESS + BY PONSONBY AND GIBBS. + + + + +PREFACE + + +In this book on the Bronze Age in Ireland I have collected and +collated all my work on the period. Much of it I have already +published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy" and +elsewhere. I have long felt the need of a book on the Bronze Age in +Ireland, as hitherto none has appeared dealing adequately with the +archæology of that period in this country. + +Within the last few years it has been recognized that the Bronze-Age +civilization in Europe did not consist of a series of isolated +communities, each developing its own type of objects and decorations, +but that there was a community of ideas and forms extending from +Mycenæ all over the European continent. + +I have described the various forms of Bronze-Age implements of peace +and of war found in Ireland, and have shown how they are connected +with similar types on the continent of Europe. M. J. Déchelette, of +the Roanne Museum, one of the first authorities on the Bronze Age, +agrees with me in ascribing a Mycenæan origin to certain forms of +Bronze-Age implements. + +How this Mycenæan influence penetrated to Ireland is a matter on which +there is some difference of opinion, and possibly new discoveries may +throw additional light on the problem. As I have shown both in this +and in former works, the most probable route seems to be that of the +Danube and the Elbe, and thence by way of Scandinavia to Ireland. It +is to be hoped that now--with a concentrating of Irish interests on +Irish affairs a new impetus will be given to the study of the history +of our country, and that many workers may be found in the fields of +archæology and of all subjects connected with our past. + +In my "Guide to the Celtic Antiquities of the Christian Period" I have +given the history of Irish art in the Christian period; in "New Grange +(Brugh na Boine) and other Incised Tumuli in Ireland, the influence of +Crete and the Ægean in the extreme west of Europe in early times," I +have given as much as is known of the pre-Christian period up to the +Bronze Age; and in this, my latest work, which has been much +interrupted by illness, I have endeavoured to complete the history of +ancient art in Ireland. + +I have to thank the Councils of the Royal Irish Academy and of the +Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland for the loan of a number of +blocks. In other cases drawings have been made direct from objects in +the National Museum by Miss E. Barnes. + +The plates are from photographs taken by the photographer of the +National Museum. + +In offering this book to the public I must express my gratitude to Mr. +E. C. R. Armstrong, to whom I am indebted for his unvarying kindness +and sympathy, and for much valuable assistance both in the matter and +form of the work. + + GEORGE COFFEY. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + CHAPTER I, 1 + Introduction; Chronology of the Irish Bronze Age. + + CHAPTER II, 6 + Transitional Copper Period; Localities where native copper + is found in Ireland; Finds of copper celts; Moulds for + casting flat celts; List of localities where Irish copper + celts have been found; Halberds; Localities where found; + Types; Analyses; Continental examples; Probable derivation + of Irish halberds from Spain. + + CHAPTER III, 23 + First and later periods of the Bronze Age; Evolution of the + bronze celt; Ornamentation of bronze celts; Palstave with + double loops; Anvil and hammers; Spear-heads; Evolution + from the knife-dagger; Type derived from the rapier; + Leaf-shaped spear-heads; Spear-heads with apertures in the + blade; Moulds for casting spear-heads; Ferules for spear-butts. + + CHAPTER IV, 46 + Irish gold: Account of Irish gold deposits; Lunulæ: + General description of; Distribution. + + CHAPTER V, 56 + Daggers and rapiers; Evolution of the dagger and rapier + blade; Handles of daggers and rapiers. + + CHAPTER VI, 62 + Gold gorgets; Gold sun-disks; Gold balls; Clare find; + Penannular rings and ring-money; Ring-money. + + CHAPTER VII, 71 + Leaf-shaped swords; Division of types; Absence of moulds + for casting; Bronze chapes; Winged chapes; Shields; + Circular bronze shields; Shield of wood; Leather Shield. + + CHAPTER VIII, 78 + Torcs; Twisted torcs; Distribution of torcs; Ribbon torcs; + Plain torcs. + + CHAPTER IX, 80 + Bronze-age finds; List of well-authenticated Irish finds. + + CHAPTER X, 88 + Bronze trumpets; Types and derivation of Irish trumpets; + Sickles; Discussion of types; Importance of, with regard to + date of agriculture; Disk-headed pins. + + CHAPTER XI, 94 + Bronze-age pottery; Food-vessels; Derivation of, from + Neolithic type; Cinerary urns; Incense cups. + + CHAPTER XII, 101 + Bronze-age ornamentation in Ireland; Discussion of the + ornamentation at New Grange; M. Déchelette's views as to + its origin compared with those of the author. + + INDEX, 105 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Fig. Page + 1. Copper Halbert, Birr find, 7 + 2. Copper celts, Birr find, 8 + 3. Copper knife and awls found at Knocknague, 9 + 4. Copper celts, 10 + 5. Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork, 11 + 6. Stone mould for casting celts, 12 + 7. Halbert blades, 13 + 8. Halbert blades, 14 + 9. Halbert blades, 15 + 10. Halbert blades, 16 + 11. Halberts from North Germany and Sweden, 18 + 12. Halberts from South and East Spain, 19 + 13. Rock markings, Maritime Alps, 20 + 14. Stone pick from the Bann, 21 + 15. Deer-horn pick, 21 + 16. Ornamented bronze celts, 24 + Plate I, Irish bronze celts in the order + of their development, 24 + 17. Ornamented bronze celts, 25 + 18. Ornamented bronze celts, 26 + 19. Winged celt, 27 + 20. Winged celt, 27 + 21. Palstave with double loops, 27 + 22. Bronze anvil, 28 + 23. Bronze hammers, 28 + 24. Dagger and spear-heads, 29 + 25. Spear-heads, 30 + 26. Spear-heads, 31 + 27. Rapier and spear-head, 31 + 28. Leaf-shaped spear-heads, 32 + 29. Ornamented socket of spear-head, 32 + 30. Leaf-shaped spear-heads found at the Ford, + Belturbet, 33 + 31. Spear-heads with loops joining the blade, 34 + 32. Spear-heads, 34 + 33. Ornamental spear-heads, with openings in + the blade, 35 + 34. Portion of spear-head, with studs at the + base of the wings, 35 + 35. Spear-heads with openings in the blades, 36 + 36. Spear-heads with ornamental loops in the blades, 37 + 37. Spear-head found at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh, 37 + 38. Half of mould for casting a socketed spear-head, + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim, 38 + 39. Half of mould for casting a spear-head and dagger, + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim, 39 + 40. Mould for casting a spear-head and knife, + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim, 40 + 41. Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in + Co. Tyrone, 41 + 42. Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in + Co. Tyrone, 42 + 43. Half of mould for casting spear-head and dagger, + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim, 43 + 44. Bronze spear-ferules, 44 + 45. Bronze spear-ferule with La Tène ornament, 44 + 46. Gold lunula found at Trenta, Carrigans, Co. Donegal, 47 + 47. Gold lunula found in Co. Galway, 48 + 48. Gold lunula, 49 + 49. Gold lunula found at Killarney, 50 + 50. Oak case for lunula found at Newtown, Co. Cavan, 51 + 51. Gold lunula found at Valognes, Manche, 51 + 52. Gold lunula found in Co. Londonderry, 52 + 53. Gold lunula found at Athlone, 54 + 54. Map showing the distribution of gold lunulæ in + Ireland and Europe, 55 + 55. Stone celt, bronze dagger with gold band, and urn, + found in Topped Mountain Cairn, Co. Fermanagh, 56 + 56. Dagger and rapier blades, 57 + 57. Dagger with horn handle found at Ballymoney, + Co. Antrim, 59 + 58. Rapier found in Upper Lough Erne, 59 + 59. Rapier found at Lissane, Co. Derry, 59 + 60. Rapiers and daggers found in Ireland, 61 + 61. Gold gorget found in Ireland, formerly in the + possession of the Earl of Charleville, 62 + Plate II, Irish gold gorgets, 62 + Plate III, gold sun-disks, 64 + Plate IV, portion of the great Clare find, 66 + 62. Gold fibulæ and other objects found together + at Coachford, Co. Cork, 67 + Plate V, gold fibulæ, 68 + 63. Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, + showing Europeans holding manillas, 68 + 64. Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, + showing natives holding manillas, 69 + Plate VI, gold ring-money, 70 + 65. Leaf-shaped bronze swords found with a spear-head + at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh, 72 + 66. Bronze chapes, 73 + 67. Winged chapes, 73 + 68. Bronze shield found at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, 74 + 69. Alder-wood shield found in Co. Leitrim, 75 + 70. Front and back of leather shield, found at Clonbrin, + Co. Longford, 76 + Plate VII, gold torcs from Tara and elsewhere, 78 + Plate VIII, gold torcs, 78 + Plate IX, gold torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter, 80 + 71. Two late Bronze-Age finds, 83 + 72. Late Bronze-Age horse-hair fabrics from Armoy, + Co. Antrim, 84 + 73. Bronze implements, Co. Tipperary, 85 + 74. Bronze implements found at Kilfeakle, Co. Tipperary, 86 + Plate X, bronze trumpets, 88 + 75. Mould for casting a sickle, found at Killymeddy, + Co. Antrim, 89 + 76. Bronze sickles, 90 + 77. Bronze sickles, 91 + 78. Bronze disk, 92 + 79. Bronze button, 92 + 80. Incense cup, 94 + 81. Cinerary urn, 94 + 82. Food-vessel with cover, Danesfort, Co. Kilkenny, 95 + 83. Cinerary urn, Carballybeg, Co. Waterford, 96 + Plate XI, food-vessels in the order of their + development, 96 + 84. Model of cinerary urn from Greenhills, Co. Dublin, 97 + 85. Cinerary urn, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, 98 + + + * * * * * + + + + +THE BRONZE AGE IN IRELAND + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +This book deals with the Bronze Age principally from the point of view +of the implements and weapons in use in Ireland during that period. It +is unnecessary to state that the materials for writing anything like a +full account of the civilization or political organization during the +Bronze Age do not exist; and even the ethnological affinities of the +dominant race that inhabited Ireland during this period are doubtful. +All that can be said is that there was apparently no gap between the +end of the Neolithic Period and the transitional Copper to Bronze +Period. Stone weapons continued in use side by side with those of +copper and bronze; and the form of the former was sometimes actually +influenced by those of the latter. + +There has been so little scientific excavation in Ireland that the +question as to the early burial-customs is surrounded with difficulty; +such evidence as there is points to cremation having been practised +early, as was also the case in Great Britain. Instances show that the +two rites of inhumation and cremation were practised side by side. + +In the cairn excavated on Belmore Mountain, County Fermanagh, both +burnt and unburnt interments were found with pottery and other objects +of early Bronze-Age type.[1] At a recent excavation near Naas, County +Kildare, a burnt interment was discovered in a cist, the remains being +associated with a wrist-bracer and remains of pottery.[2] In the fine +series of cairns on Carrowkeel Mountain, County Sligo, burnt and +unburnt interments were found associated with pottery, bone +implements, and stone beads.[3] At Annaghkeen, County Galway, a +cremated burial was discovered in a cist associated with pottery and a +small bronze knife-dagger and awl.[4] + + [1] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xx, p. 659. + + [2] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, p. 351. + + [3] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxix, p. 311. + + [4] Journal Galway Archæological and Historical Society, vol. v, p. 159. + +The Hon. John Abercromby gives a list of food-vessels found with +cremated burials in Ireland, and to these must be added a food-vessel +of early type found in 1912 in a quarry at Crumlin, County Dublin. It +must, however, be left for future excavations to decide many questions +to which at present no answer, or only a doubtful one, can be given. +This, however, is certain--Ireland during the Bronze Age was not +isolated, but stood in direct communication with the Continent. Ægean +and Scandinavian influences can be detected in the great tumuli of the +New Grange group[5]; and Iberian influence is discernible in some of +the later types of bronze implements. Ireland, as will be shown in the +chapters dealing directly with the gold objects, was, during the +Bronze Age, a kind of western El Dorado, owing to her great richness +in gold; Irish gold ornaments have been found both on the Continent +and in Scandinavia; while Scandinavian amber has been found in +Ireland. As will be seen on p. 81, the Bronze-Age people were +acquainted with the art of weaving; and fine ornaments of horse-hair +were sometimes used. The art of making pottery by hand was carried to +a high degree of excellence. Shaving must have been fairly common, +judging by the number of bronze razors found. We shall find evidence +further on in this work to show that corn was probably grown and +agriculture fairly advanced. + + [5] "New Grange and other Incised Tumuli in Ireland," p. 62. + +The great tumuli at New Grange and the lesser ones at Carrowkeel show +that the art of building was well developed, and that the religious +ideals of the people had attained a certain fixed form. What the +actual dwellings occupied by the people were we cannot say; but it is +probable that many of the promontory-forts and some at least of the +larger cashels and ring-forts date back to this period. There remain, +however, many questions which, as we have said, must be kept over for +future investigations. + + +THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE IRISH BRONZE AGE + +Some discussion as to the absolute chronology of the Bronze Age in +Ireland will, no doubt, be expected, though any attempts to give +actual dates can only be approximate; the succession of types is +really of considerably more importance than the actual date, as such +a succession enables objects, finds, and interments to be arranged +in a progressive series, and shows the general trend of advance and +culture. The doyen of prehistoric archæology, Dr. Oscar Montelius, +of Stockholm, has been the pioneer of the study of the prehistoric +chronology of Europe, his chronology of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia +having been published as far back as 1885. Since then he has published +the results of his studies of the Bronze-Age chronologies of Greece +and Italy, and of France, Belgium, South Germany, and Switzerland. +More recently (1908) he has put forward the chronology of the British +Islands in a notable memoir published in Archæologia. It may be +mentioned that Dr. Montelius visited Ireland some years ago, and +speaks with the greater authority as having personally examined the +actual Irish evidence. + +In this memoir Dr. Montelius divides the Bronze Age of Great Britain +and Ireland into five periods, and includes in his first period the +transitional time when copper was in use (Copper Period), which he +places at from the middle of the third to the beginning of the second +millennium B.C. Now, though the division of the Irish Bronze Age into +five periods may be accepted, we should hardly care to place the first +period as early as Dr. Montelius suggests; and without going into the +question of the time at which the period commenced, we might take the +period of its ending at from about 2000-1800 B.C. In this period would +be included the flat copper celts of early form, copied from the stone +celts of the preceding Neolithic Period, some few small, flat +knife-daggers of copper, and the earliest of the halberds. Stone +implements, no doubt, remained largely in use; and the very finely +decorated hammer-axes probably belong to this period. + +It is possible that gold--which, on account of its colour and +appearance on the surface of the ground, must have been one of the +metals first noticed and made use of in prehistoric times--was used +for making ornaments at this period, or possibly, as Prof. Gowland +suggests, may have been hammered into ornaments even during the +preceding Neolithic Age.[6] There is, however, no gold object in the +National Collection which we should care to place so early. + + [6] Journal Royal Anthropological Institute, vol. xlii, p. 259. + +The second division of the Bronze Age (the first period of the true +Bronze Age) would fall between 1800 and 1500 B.C.; and in it would be +included, as the principal types, the flat bronze celts--including +those with the edge much wider than the blade--flanged celts, small +bronze daggers, the later halberds, jet buttons with conical +perforations, and the early types of jet necklaces, and probably +the gold lunulæ. + +The third period might be placed at from 1500 to 1250 B.C., and the +principal types falling within it are flanged celts with stop-ridges, +tanged spear-heads, and larger dagger-blades, sometimes with bronze +handles. + +The fourth period, which was long, and during which a considerable +development takes place, might be placed at from 1280 to 900 B.C. +This period includes the later type of celts with increased stop-ridge +and flanges (palstaves), and some of the earlier forms of socketed +celts, long rapiers, the earlier type of leaf-shaped swords, and the +looped and leaf-shaped spear-heads, gold torcs, and possibly some of +the bronze fibulæ, and sickles without sockets; the disk-headed pins +and bronze razors may be placed either at the end of this time or the +beginning of the next period. In this period must also be placed the +building of the great tumuli of the New Grange group. + +The fifth division--also a long one--would go from 900 to about 350 +B.C., at which time iron weapons were probably coming into general use +in Ireland. In this period would fall the socketed celts, including +the latest type, which takes a form not uncommon among iron or steel +axes, the later bronze swords with notches below the blades, bronze +sword-chapes, the socketed sickles, probably some of the more highly +ornamented bronze spears with apertures in the blades, the bronze +trumpets, the gold fibulæ, and gold gorgets. It must be remembered +that the Continental Hallstatt period is not at present well +represented in Great Britain and Ireland, and though, under Hallstatt +influence, certain Continental Iron-Age types such as bronze caldrons, +trumpets, round shields, &c., found their way into Ireland, we cannot +as yet definitely separate this period from the end of the Bronze +Age. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +TRANSITIONAL COPPER PERIOD + + +In Ireland the metal first used was copper. Native copper is plentiful +in Ireland, and has been chiefly obtained from the Counties of +Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, and Galway. In Waterford +stone implements have been found in copper mines in ancient workings, +showing copper was mined for at an early period.[7] The time during +which copper was in use was probably relatively only a short one, much +shorter than the Neolithic Period or than the true Bronze Age. The +evidence for this period is the large number of flat copper celts +which have been found in the north and south, and east and west, of +the country. The earliest copper celts resemble in form the stone +celts from which they are derived, and were cast in open moulds on one +side only, and then hammered flat on the other. Moulds for casting +celts in this way have been found in Ireland. It is also extremely +interesting to notice that some stone celts betray the influence of +metal types by their form. It may be well here to meet an objection +that has been raised against a special use of copper in Ireland. It +has been urged that the large number of flat copper celts may have +been due to a scarcity of tin, and that as copper cannot be cast in +closed moulds, casters who could cast advanced forms of bronze celts +were obliged to return to the primitive form necessary for casting in +an open mould. Copper ores are, however, very rarely found in a pure +state, and the small impurities of antimony, arsenic, &c., combine in +the smelting with the copper, and lend a hardness and ductibility +which would enable it to be cast in closed moulds.[8] The analyses of +Irish copper celts agree among themselves, and substantially with +those from other countries, the small quantities of tin, antimony, +arsenic, &c., which are found being due to impurities in the ore. The +celts may be taken to be of copper, and not of poor bronze.[9] The +earliest copper celts resemble the stone celts from which they are +derived; some of them are small. A development takes place throughout +the series, the celts becoming larger and the edges thinner as they +approach the bronze forms. No trace of a stop-ridge is ever found on +copper celts. + + [7] Sir R. Kane, Industrial Resources of Ireland. Second edition, 1845, + p. 189. + + [8] See analysis of a socketed celt of an alloy of copper and antimony + found at Elbing, West Prussia, Journal Anthropological Institute, + vol. xxxvi, p. 21. + + [9] See paper "Irish Copper Celts," Journal Anthropological Institute, + vol. xxxi, p. 265, where the question is fully dealt with. + + [Illustration: Fig. 1.--Copper Halberd, Birr find.] + +The principal finds are as follows:-- + + 1. Three copper celts, three copper awls, and a copper knife found, + in 1874, in a bog at Knocknague, Kilbannon, County Galway. Purchased + from the finder, Michael Rafferty, by the Royal Irish Academy. (Fig. + 3.) + + 2. Three copper celts, a fragment of a fourth (butt-end), a copper + halberd, and a short blade of copper of somewhat similar form, found + in 1892, near Birr, King's County, formerly in the collection of Mr. + Robert Day, of Cork. (Fig. 2.) + + 3. Three copper celts found in 1868, when ploughing at Cullinagh, + near Beaufort, Killarney, County Kerry. (Day Collection.) + + 4. Two large and well-formed copper celts found together in street + excavations in Suffolk Street, Dublin, in May, 1857. (Ray + Collection.) (Fig. 4, nos. 1 and 7.) + + + [Illustration: Fig. 2.--Birr find.] + + 5. Two copper celts found together at Clontoo, near Kenmare, County + Kerry, in 1906. (Fig. 4, nos. 2 and 3.) + + 6. Six copper celts found together at Cappeen, County Cork. + + +The distribution, analyses, types, and finds show that the copper +celts represent a period when copper was in common use throughout +Ireland and before bronze was generally known. The celts from the Ray +Collection mentioned above show that the fully developed celt was in +use during this period, while the "Birr find" with the halberd shows +that the halberd was also known and in use during the full copper +period. + + [Illustration: Fig. 3.--Copper Knife and Awls found at Knocknague.] + +Moulds for casting flat celts, copper and bronze, have been found in +the following places in Ireland:--Carrickfergus; Ballymena; Loughgall, +County Antrim; Ballynahinch, County Down; and Lough Scur Crannog, +County Leitrim.[10] + + [10] Crawford, "Early Bronze-Age Settlements in Britain," Journal Royal + Geographical Society, 1912, p. 217. + +Copper celts have been found practically over the whole country; and +the following is a list of those in the National Collection, of which +the localities are known, and, as well as these, there are about +eighty for which the provenance has not been exactly recorded:-- + + +LIST OF COPPER CELTS FOUND IN IRELAND. + + Antrim, Craigbally, 1 (1897: 111). + + [Illustration: Fig. 4.--Copper Celts.] + + Cavan, 1 (R. 1685). + + Cork, Cappeen (6); County Cork, 1 (1881: 136). + + Donegal, Letterkenny, 1 (1897: 114). + + Dublin, Suffolk Street, 1857: 2 large copper celts. (Ray + Collection.) + + Galway, Knocknague, Kilbannon, three copper celts, a copper knife, + and three copper awls. County Galway, 1. (R. 1660) (Fig. 3.) + + Kerry, Beaufort, Killarney, three copper celts found together in + 1868 when ploughing at Cullinagh. (Day Collection.) Clontoo, near + Kenmare, two copper celts found together in 1906. + + Londonderry, in the River Bann, near Coleraine, 1. (W. 3.). + + Louth, 1. (R. 362). + + Mayo, Killala, 1 (W. 4.). + + [Illustration: Fig. 5.--Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork.] + + Meath, Dunshaughlin, 1 (172, W.). + + Tipperary, Dundrum, 1 (1881: 133). + + Tyrone, Mountfield, 1 (112: 1897). + + Waterford, Tramore, 1 (W. 10.). + + +The localities of the following copper celts in other collections are +known:-- + + Antrim, 3 (Knowles Collection.) + + Cork, 5 (Day Collection, about 4. Evans Collection, 1.) + + Fermanagh, 2 (Day Collection, 1. Evans Collection, 1.) + + Kerry, 3 (Day Collection.) + + Kilkenny, 1 (Day Collection.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 6.] + + King's County, 8 (Birr three, and five others found in the King's + County. Day Collection.) + + Limerick, 2 (Day Collection.) + + Sligo, 2 (Sir John Leslie's Collection.) + + + +HALBERDS + +As already stated the Birr find shows that the halberd was in use +during the full Copper Period; and, though to judge by the form of the +celts, we may place it at the end of the period, yet more primitive +types are known, and we may therefore presume the halberd goes well +back into the Copper Period. + +The National Collection at Dublin contains forty-nine specimens of +these broad coppery blades. In a few cases there may possibly be a +doubt as to whether they should be classified as halberds or primitive +daggers. The localities of the majority are not known further than +that they have been found in Ireland; but from the known localities +they seem, like the copper celts, to have been found in all parts of +the island; and local distinctions of type, if they existed, are not +now possible. + + [Illustration: Fig. 7.--Halberd blades.] + +Of the forty-nine mentioned, twenty have localities as +follows:--Antrim 1, Cavan 3, Roscommon 2, Galway 8, Meath 1, King's +County 1, Queen's County 1, Clare 1, Limerick 1, Cork 1. Seven of +those from Galway represent a single find, which gives that county an +undue proportion. + + [Illustration: Fig. 8.--Halberd blades.] + + +TYPES + + [Illustration: Fig. 9.--Halberd blades.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 10.--Halberd blades.] + +What may be considered as the developed or normal type of the Irish +halberd blade is slightly but distinctly curved, so that they have +been called "scythe-shaped." They vary from about 9 inches to 15 or 16 +inches in length, and from about 3 to 4 inches in breadth at the +widest part; with few exceptions they have three rivets with large +heads. The various sizes are well represented in a find of seven of +these blades obtained in 1888 when making the railway near Hollywood, +County Galway. They were described as having been found about 2-1/2 +feet under the surface of a shallow bog "stuck in a bunch in the +ground, with points down. No other relics appeared near them." We do +not think it is any use attempting to place the halberds in a series +of development; and no progression can be claimed for their forms +other than that there appears to be a movement of development from the +smaller straight blades to the larger and curved blades. In one or two +cases the mid rib has been brought to a slight roof-ridge; and a fine +example in the late Sir John Evans' collection shows a well-marked +bead down the mid rib ("Bronze Implements," fig. 331); but in most +cases the mid rib is quite plain with a rounded curve in section. + + +ANALYSES + +Analyses of the halberd blades show that the metal of which they are +composed does not differ much from that of the copper celts. A recent +analysis of five specimens is appended which shows that the blades are +practically of pure copper. This is interesting, as it removes the +doubt expressed by Sir John Evans in "Bronze Implements," p. 265, that +"many of these blades have the appearance of being made of copper; but +the absence of tin in their composition has not been proved." + + +-+----------+-------+----+---------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + | | | | | | | | | |Bismuth| + | | |Copper.|Tin.|Antimony.|Arsenic.|Lead.|Silver.|Iron.| Nickel| + | | | | | | | | | | Zinc.| + +-+----------+-------+----+---------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + |1|King's Co.| | | | | | | | | + | |Day Coll.,| | | | | | | | | + | | No. 25,| 99.02 |0.22| Nil | Nil | 0.19| 0.26 | 0.04| Nil | + | | | | | | | | | | | + |2|Antrim, | | | | | | | | | + | |1903, 235,| | | | | | | | | + | | No. 9, | 97.31 |0.31| 0.14 | 0.18 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | + | | | | | | | | | | | + |3|Galway, | | | | | | | | | + | | W. 241, | | | | | | | | | + | | No. 19,| 98.06 |0.22| Nil | Nil | 0.58| Nil | 0.17| Nil | + | | | | | | | | | | | + |4|Cork, | | | | | | | | | + | | R. 459, | | | | | | | | | + | | No. 7, | 98.30 |0.30| 0.27 | 0.37 | Nil | Nil | Nil | Nil | + | | | | | | | | | | | + |5| W. 248, | | | | | | | | | + | | No. 28,| 97.24 |0.18| Nil | 1.54 | Nil | 0.25 | Nil | Nil | + +-+----------+-------+----+---------+--------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + + [Illustration: Fig. 11.--Halberds from North Germany and Sweden after + Montelius.] + +The manner in which the halberd blades were attached to their shafts +is explained by the bronze halberds with bronze shafts--the blade and +upper part of the shaft often in one piece--from North Germany and +from Sweden. These halberds are referred to an early stage of the +Bronze Age; but they are of bronze, and, in casting and other +features, show a considerable advance on a primitive type; the large +imitation rivets cast in the head of the shaft no doubt represent an +earlier form in which the shaft was of wood and the rivets real. Ten +bronze halberd blades were found together near Stendal in Prussian +Saxony, but without handles, four of which are figured by Montelius in +"Die Chronologie der ältesten Bronzezeit," figs. 115-118. An analysis +of one of the blades gave 15 per cent. of tin and of a rivet 4·5 per +cent. of tin. From the straight mark across the blades, and some +bronze tubular pieces for the handles, there seems no doubt that they +were intended for straight wooden handles, and thus represent the +earlier type. The blades are about 12-1/4 inches in length. It is +important to note that the rivets are of two kinds: some are large and +stout like the usual Irish form; and some have metal washers, like the +solitary example found in Ireland (fig. 7), and which has caused some +authorities to consider the Irish halberd blades somewhat later than +we should care to place them. In general appearance these halberd +blades from Stendal are closer to the Irish halberds than any of the +others which have been found on the Continent, but do not include the +curved or scythe-shaped form common to Ireland. Copper halberds, with +remains of transverse wooden shafts, have been found by the brothers +Siret on the south-east of Spain. In this case they go back to the +very beginning of the bronze age in this district. The form of the +blades is, however, in most cases #T#-shaped, and different from the +Irish examples (fig. 12). Halberds attached to their shafts are also +shown on the prehistoric rock-markings in the "Italian Maritime Alps," +published by Mr. C. Bicknell. The actual blades, however, that can be +classified with any certainty as halberds are very rare in the North +and Middle Italian districts, though some of the copper and early +bronze triangular dagger forms may have been occasionally mounted as +halberds. It is possible, however, that the decoration of certain +halberds found in Germany may have been influenced by that of the +Italian dagger. + + [Illustration: Fig. 12.--Halberts from South-east Spain.] + +The halberd blade can be distinguished from the broad dagger by the +shape of the handle, which is curved or indented in the case of the +dagger, but straight across in the case of the halberd. There is, +however, another point. The hindmost rivets, both in the case of the +blades with four rivets and those with three only, are shorter than +those in front of them. The shortness of the end-rivets and slope of +the heads imply that the handle was rounded off behind the blade, as +would be the case with a transverse shaft. So there appears no room to +doubt the manner in which the long scythe-shaped blades were mounted +on handles, though some uncertainty was formerly expressed on the +subject. The Irish halberd-blades were evidently mounted at right +angles to the shaft in the same way as most of the Continental blades, +as can be seen from the straight-across marks of the handle, which can +be traced on several examples. + + [Illustration: Fig. 13.--Rock Markings, Maritime Alps.] + +From the analyses of copper halberds, it will be seen that the tin +varies from ·18 to ·31 per cent. We may therefore conclude that the +copper halberds are simply coarse or unrefined copper from similar +ores to the copper celts; and that the copper implements found in +Ireland may contain up to about ·5 per cent. of tin. An increasing +percentage of tin was not found in any of the copper celts, or, +contrary to expectation, in the copper halberds; but, judging from the +widespread use of copper implements in Ireland, from which it may be +inferred that copper remained in use for a considerable time, it seems +probable that bronze was introduced as an alloy of a known percentage +of tin. As relatively few analyses of Irish bronze implements have +been made, it is not possible at present to come to any fixed +conclusions on the subject of the introduction of bronze into Ireland. + + [Illustration: Fig. 14.--Stone Pick from the Bann.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 15.--Deer Horn Pick.] + +Also, in the case of the halberds, the great rarity of any specimens +of bronze blades which can be classified as halberds indicates that +the form of implement practically ceased to be used when bronze came +into use in Ireland. As the copper celts show a gradual transition +from stone to metal forms, it seems reasonable to look for the +prototypes of the copper halberd among the stone implements of the +preceding period. In the Bann Valley many flint wedges or picks have +been found, which may, perhaps, have influenced the copper halberds; +and if a stone pick-like instrument was in use in Neolithic times, it +may explain to some extent the prevalence of the metal halberd in +Ireland in the copper period. When the blades were made larger, the +curved form would come into existence, being suggested by the +deer-horn picks already in use. Copper came into use in Ireland, we +may suppose, in no sudden or violent manner. On the contrary, the +transition from stone was probably of some duration. The use of copper +made its way up through Europe, spreading from the lands of the +eastern Mediterranean along the old trade routes of Neolithic times, +influenced by the search for new deposits of ore. Though at first +implements of copper, and even, perhaps, the metal, might be carried a +considerable distance, an early use of the local ores seems to explain +the case better. + +Whether this new knowledge of metal, coming from the eastern +Mediterranean, first crept round by way of Spain, or struck across +the Continent to the north and west of Europe, and so to Ireland, we +cannot at present definitely say; the line of march, as indicated by +the halberds, which are strangely deficient both in the south and the +north of France, seems to point to north Germany and Scandinavia, by +way of the rich ore-fields of middle Europe. But the archæology of the +Peninsula for this early period is at present too uncertain to speak +with confidence. There are indications, even in Neolithic times, +which, perhaps, point to Spain; but, again, there are relations which +indicate a considerable correspondence with Brittany and the North of +France in the early Bronze Age. The late Dr. Much ("Die Kupferzeit," +p. 131) compared the Irish halberds with the Spanish and German +examples, and came to the conclusion that the Irish halberds were +later than the Spanish and earlier than the German. This view is +supported by the form of the Irish halberds, which are more primitive +in type than the German examples. + +Any conclusion as to the probable date when the halberds were in use +in Ireland can only be arrived at in an indirect and approximate +manner. We are, on the whole, inclined to think it is probable that +the Irish halberds were influenced by the Spanish examples; and +Herr Hubert Schmidt, who has worked out in much detail a scheme +of chronology for this period, based upon the Egyptian dating of +Professor Eduard Meyer, places the finds from El Argar at from 2500 to +2360 B.C.[11] Allowing, therefore, some margin on the later side, we +should probably be fairly safe in placing the period when the halberds +were in use in Ireland at the end of the third and beginning of the +second millennium B.C. We must remember that the whole of the Irish +Bronze Age has to be fitted in after the copper period; and if we are +to allow sufficient room for the several periods and their approximate +correspondence with the periods of the Continental chronology, it is +not easy to see how this dating can be much reduced. It may be noted +that Montelius in his recent scheme of Bronze Age chronology for the +British Islands, treats the halberds as bronze, and places them in his +second period (first period of the true Bronze Age) dated from the +beginning of the second millennium to the seventeenth century B.C.[12] + + [11] Prehistorische Zeitschrift, vol. i, 1909, p. 138. + + [12] Archæologia, vol. lxi, p. 162, and pl. xi, fig. 43. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FIRST AND LATER PERIODS OF THE BRONZE AGE + + +Even during the copper period an evolution can be traced in the celt. +The cutting-edge has been expanded; and the thickest part of the celt +has been moved up from just above the cutting-edge to the centre. +Until, however, we get into the Bronze Age, there has been no trace of +a stop-ridge. When we get into the true Bronze Age, we find a complete +and probably fairly rapid evolution of type from the flat celt to the +final socketed form. Analyses of Irish celts on a large scale have not +been made; but such analyses as have been done do not indicate an +experimental stage of small additions of tin, but rather show that +the bronze from the first contained a fairly large proportion of tin. +Where the tin came from is at present uncertain. The illustrations +will make the evolution of the celt clear. The first step was the +broadening of the cutting-edge, and moving the thickest part up to the +centre of the blade; the next step was hammering the sides to make +flanges to grip the handle more securely; a stop-ridge was then added +to prevent the handle slipping down over the blade; and the latter +forms are reached by increasing the flanges and broadening the +stop-ridge; in its last forms the wings are increased at the expense +of the stop-ridge; and the final socketed form is reached by leaving +out the centre division between the wings. Figure 20 may be noticed, +as it is very similar to certain Continental forms. + + [Illustration: Fig. 16.--Ornamented Bronze Celts.] + + [Illustration: PLATE I. Irish bronze celts in the order of their + development. _p. 24._] + +Some of the earlier flat bronze celts may have been hafted like the +stone celts, by merely fixing the smaller end into a stick with a +thick head; but this method must soon have been abandoned, as after a +certain number of blows had been delivered, the axe-head would be +forced back into the shaft. A more practical method was to place the +head in a handle having a forked head, and the origin of the +stop-ridge was to prevent the two sides coming down too low on to the +blade. The side flanges and palstave-form developed naturally from +this. The manner of hafting the socketed celts is well shown by a +handled socketed celt found at Edenderry, King's Co., and formerly in +the Murray collection. This object is now in the Ethnological and +Archæological Museum at Cambridge; and it is to be regretted that so +rare and important a find should have left the country. + + [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Ornamented Bronze Celts.] + +Some of the flat bronze celts are very finely decorated with incised +chevrons, triangles, cross-hatchings, and other Bronze-Age linear +ornament. One example has a kind of herring-bone pattern, somewhat +resembling the well-known leaf-marking at New Grange. Some examples +show a kind of cable-pattern on the side flanges; and the size of +a few specimens is remarkable. A flat celt, with a remarkable +ornamentation from the Greenwell collection found near Connor, County +Antrim, is figured by Sir John Evans, _op. cit._, p. 64. It has a +border of chevrons along the edge of the side; and this is carried +across the celt in the centre and at the commencement of the +cutting-edge. This border is joined by a similar centre band of +ornament. + +Several of the Irish palstaves have a shield-shaped ornament below the +stop-ridge. The socketed celts are, as a rule, unornamented; but there +are a few which have been found in Ireland which are ornamented with +ribs ending in pellets. + + [Illustration: Fig. 18.--Ornamented Bronze Celts.] + +The question is often asked as to whether the bronze celts were used +as weapons or tools; and the probability is that they were used as +either as occasion demanded. The celts do not show any marked +difference of type which would enable us to differentiate a weapon +from a tool, as is possible in the later iron axes of the Norman and +Danish period when we can distinguish a heavy axe and a lighter keen +blade. The Bayeux tapestry shows the two types in use, the heavy type +being used to fell trees and the lighter for fighting. + +There is one palstave, with double loops, in the National Collection; +and another was found in Ireland at Ballincollig, County Cork, and is +in the Evans collection. These double-looped palstaves are of much +interest, as the type is characteristic of the Iberian peninsula. A +few have been found in the west of France, and some in the south-west +of England, but on the route which one would expect to have been +followed if they are due to intercourse with Spain. These probably +belong to the Middle Bronze Age, though they have not as yet been +found associated with objects which would give much information as to +their date. + + [Illustration: Fig. 19.--Winged Celt.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 20.--Winged Celt.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 21.--Palstave with Double-loops.] + + +ANVIL AND HAMMERS + +Among objects that may undoubtedly be classed as tools are the small +bronze anvil (fig. 22), and the bronze socketed hammers (fig. 23). + + [Illustration: Fig. 22.--Bronze Anvil.] + +The anvil appears to be the only specimen which has been found in the +British Islands, though examples are not uncommon in France. It +resembles the small anvils used by jewellers, and it is interesting to +note that, as M. Déchelette points out, these small bronze anvils +correspond to those mentioned by Homer, which were also portable and +used by goldsmiths.[13] Socketed bronze hammers resembling the Irish +examples are fairly common in England and on the Continent. One +well-known Irish specimen was found in the Douris hoard and is figured +in Evans's "Bronze Implements," p. 179. Of the specimens illustrated, +the largest was found at Abbeyshrule, Co. Longford, the exact locality +of the others, further than that they were found in Ireland, is not +known. + + [13] Déchelette, Manuel d'Archéologie Préhistorique, vol. ii, p. 277. + + [Illustration: Fig. 23.--Bronze Hammers.] + + +SPEAR-HEADS + +Even as early as the Copper Period small weak knife-daggers were in +use, and these continued into the Bronze Age, becoming the parent of +the spear-head as well as of the rapier and sword. The spear-head was +evolved by decreasing the width of the base of the dagger-blade, and +adding a narrow tang with a peg-hole to fix into the shaft. The +addition of a ferule was the next step; and the omission of the tang, +and amalgamation of the ferule with the blade, gave rise to the +socketed spear-head. + + [Illustration: Fig. 24.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 25.] + +The Irish spear-heads may be divided into two well-defined groups, +looped and riveted; and it will be found that the separation of the +types extends farther than the mode of attachment. The form of the blade +of each class is quite distinct. Taking the looped spear-heads first, we +can follow the development of the spear-head from the dagger-blade. The +adaptation is shown in fig. 24 (the centre spear-head), which is, in +fact, a dagger-blade placed on a socket. The socket does not enter the +blade, but is stopped at the shoulders. The #V#-shaped base of the blade +is derived from the dagger, and disappears as the true character of the +spear form is developed. A feature of special interest is the survival +of the rivet-heads of the dagger in the form of ornamental bosses at +the base of the blade. The rivet-holes appear to have been drilled, and +not formed in casting. No examples of this form of spear-head have been +found in England; and but one is recorded from the Isle of Man and two +from Scotland. In the last example (in fig. 24), the imitative rivets +are reduced to a single boss, and completely disappear in the next stage +(fig. 25). + + [Illustration: Fig. 26.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 27.] + +In the subsequent figures we see the blade developed at the expense of +the socket; and the transition to the fully developed spear-head +begins. The derivation of this form of spear-head from the so-called +Arreton Down type of tanged blade is now admitted. Though tanged +spear-heads of the Arreton Down type are fairly represented in Irish +finds, no socket has been so far recovered with any of them; but an +early form of nondescript tanged blade with a socket was found at +Lough Ruadh bog near Tullamore, King's County, in 1910, and shows the +socket was known in Ireland. + + [Illustration: Fig. 28.--Leaf-shaped Spear-heads.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 29.] + +Another very early type of spear-head, nearly all the known examples of +which were found in Ireland, was derived by mounting the rapier on a +socket (fig. 27). There are six of these spear-heads in the collection +of the Royal Irish Academy, and one in the collection of the Royal +Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. One of these spear-heads, found at +Taplow on the Thames, has gold studs at the base of the blade which, +no doubt, represent the rivets. The derivation of the spear-head by +gradually rounding off the corners of the blade can be easily followed. + + [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Leaf-shaped spear-heads found together at + the Ford, Belturbet, Co. Cavan.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 31.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 32.] + +We will now turn to the spear-heads with rivet-holes in the sockets, +but without loops or openings in the blades (figs. 28 and 30). These +spear-heads are almost invariably leaf-shaped and devoid of ribs. The +pins or rivets used to attach this class to the shaft were probably of +wood, horn, or bone. Two examples formerly in Mr. Day's collection +have rivets of bronze, and others with bronze rivets have been found +in England. The leaf-shaped spear-head is associated by form with the +leaf-shaped sword; the looped type with the older type of weapons, the +dagger and rapier forms. The records of the finds are very incomplete; +but the association of leaf-shaped spears and swords to the exclusion +of the looped form is sufficiently marked to be noted as an additional +piece of evidence. + + [Illustration: Fig. 33.--Ornamental Spear-heads with openings in the + blade.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 34.--Portion of Spear-head with studs at the base + of the wings.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 35.] + +There are in the Academy's collection a number of spear-heads with +rivet-holes in the sockets and ornamental side-apertures (figs. 33 and +34). These spear-heads are very highly decorated, and form an attractive +class. They may be derived from the spear-heads in which the loops are +joined to the base of the blade (fig. 31), and in which, by a process of +evolution, the loop has been incorporated as part of the wing, or they +may also have been influenced by the early type of tanged spear-heads +from the Greek islands, in which the openings in the blade were +functional, being used for binding the head into a split shaft. These +ornamental spear-heads belong, as a type, to the British Islands, where +the socketed spear-head itself appears to have been evolved. Several of +these spear-heads have, as well as the wings, small holes in the blades, +the purpose of which is not clear. They are very finely cast; and even +in Ireland, where Bronze-Age casting reached its highest point, these +are amongst its best products. + + [Illustration: Fig. 36.--Spear-heads with ornamental openings in the + blades.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 37.--Spear-head found at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 38.--Half of mould for casting a socketed + spear-head, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim.] + +Another very rare type of spear-head, in which the loops are formed by +the extension of the small ribs on each side of the mid rib, must be +mentioned. These spear-heads are very seldom met with. We only know of +the existence of four, of which one is in the Greenwell collection, two +in the collection of the Royal Irish Academy, and one in the Municipal +Museum at Belfast. The Academy was fortunate enough to secure a very +fine specimen in 1912. It was found with two leaf-shaped bronze swords +at Tempo, County Fermanagh,[14] and measures 15-1/2 inches long (fig. +37). Judging from the associated swords, this spear-head may be dated +about the ninth century B.C. + + [14] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, sec. c, p. 91. + + +MOULDS + + [Illustration: Fig. 39.--Half of mould for casting a spear-head and + dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim.] + +The most important moulds for casting spear-heads found in Ireland are +a series for casting early tanged spear-heads which were found about +thirty years ago at Omagh, County Tyrone, and are now in the possession +of Mr. M. J. Sullivan. These moulds are of the greatest importance in +the history of the development of the bronze spear-head, as they show +the evolution of the tanged blade to the socketed form, and also that +the tanged and socketed forms were in contemporary use in Ireland. The +form of the moulds for the socketed spear-heads shows them to be at the +very commencement of this type; and it was probable that the tanged type +was rapidly superseded by the improved socketed form. + + [Illustration: Fig. 40.--Mould for casting spear-head and knife, + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim.] + +These moulds are made of sandstone; and the illustrations will show +them sufficiently. For a full description see the Journal of the Royal +Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xxxvii, 1907, p. 181. + + [Illustration: FIG. 41.--MOULDS FOR PRIMITIVE SPEAR-HEADS FOUND IN THE + COUNTY TYRONE. (Reproduced from the Journal of the + Royal Society of Antiquaries.)] + + [Illustration: FIG. 42.--MOULDS FOR PRIMITIVE SPEAR-HEADS FOUND IN THE + COUNTY TYRONE. (Reproduced from the Journal of the + Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.)] + +Another very important find of moulds was made in 1910 at Killymeddy, +near Ballymoney, County Antrim. This find included two complete moulds +and a half mould for casting looped socketed spear-heads. Of the other +moulds for casting spear-heads found in Ireland, nearly all are for +the looped type; and the few that have been found for casting the +leaf-shaped type are small and indeterminate in character. It is most +probable that, with the introduction of the leaf-shaped spear-heads, +moulds of clay or sand were introduced; and these have naturally +perished. Fragments of a clay mould for casting a spear-head and a sword +were found at Whitepark Bay, and portions of clay moulds for spear-heads +have been found in Brittany, the Lake of Bienne, and other places. The +discoveries of moulds enforce the distinction of type between the +looped and leaf-shaped spear-heads, and the moulds from Killymeddy +(figs. 38-40 and 43) may probably be placed at the end of the period +when stone moulds were in use, and assigned to about 1500-1200 B.C. + + [Illustration: Fig. 43.--Half of mould for casting spear-head and + dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim.] + + +SPEAR-FERULES + + + [Illustration: Fig. 44.--Bronze spear ferules.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 45.--Bronze spear ferule with La Tène ornament.] + +From time to time objects of bronze have been found in Ireland of a +curious shape, somewhat like the handle of a door; and their use was +considered uncertain; it is, however, clear that they were the ferules +of spears; and in some cases the remains of the wooden shafts have been +found inside them. The finding, moreover, of one in the Lisnacroghera +Crannog with the whole of the shaft, measuring 8 feet in length, +attached to it, places the matter beyond dispute.[15] It also shows +that these objects were in use down to the early Iron Age, as most of +the objects of the Lisnacroghera find belong to the La Tène period. + + [15] Journal Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. xvi, p. 395. + +Other ferules assume a long and graceful shape, and one is decorated +with La Tène motives (fig. 45). + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +IRISH GOLD + + +Ireland's extreme richness in gold during the Bronze Age made her +a kind of El Dorado of the western world. The gold was, no doubt, +obtained from County Wicklow, where gold was worked down to the end +of the eighteenth century, nuggets of 22, 18, 9, and 7 oz. being +recorded. One exceptionally large nugget weighing 22 oz., found in +1795 at Croghan Kinshela, Co. Wicklow, was presented to King George +III; and its discovery caused a rush to the workings. As well as +Wicklow there are six other counties where gold has been found. The +very large number of gold ornaments that have been found in Ireland is +therefore not surprising. The ancient literature of Ireland contains +many references to gold ornaments and payments of gold by weight. It +is interesting to note that the tradition preserved in the Book of +Leinster, a MS. of the twelfth century, refers the first smelting +of gold in Ireland to a district in which gold has been found in +considerable quantities in modern times. The Leinstermen, it is +stated, were called "Lagenians of the gold," because it was in their +country that gold was first discovered in Erin. It is further stated +that gold was first smelted for Tighearnmas, one of the earliest of +the Milesian kings, in the forests standing on the east side of the +River Liffey, by Iuchadan, a native of that district. + +After the discovery of native gold in Ballinvally stream at Croghan in +1796, the Government undertook mining operations; and in three years +collected 944 ounces worth, at the price of the day, £3,675. Since +the workings were abandoned by the Government, the district has been +worked at intervals by companies, and at other times by the peasants; +the total output since 1795 is estimated at a value of £30,000. The +knowledge of the Irish gold deposits must have been a very +considerable factor in the foreign relations of the island in the +Bronze Age. + + +LUNULÆ + +The earliest of the Irish gold ornaments are the flat gold collars +known as lunulæ. These have been found fairly evenly distributed over +the country, and in astonishing numbers. + + [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Gold Lunula found at Trenta, Carrigans, + Co. Donegal.] + +The circumstances under which the lunulæ have been found have not +often been recorded. The collection of the Royal Irish Academy in the +National Museum, Dublin, contains no less than thirty-seven examples. +Several of these have been found and recorded during the past three or +four years. As a rule the lunulæ are engraved on one face only with +finely cut or scored well-recognized Bronze Age ornament, consisting +of bands of lines, cross-hatchings, chevrons, triangles, and +lozenges. + +The centres of the lunulæ are plain, the exact reason of which is not +quite apparent. The ornament is gathered to the end of the lunula and +spaced out by bands. Two lunulæ found together at Padstow, Cornwall, +are said to have been found with a bronze celt of early type. The find +is preserved in the Truro Museum, and is of the utmost importance as +an indication of the early Bronze-Age date of the lunulæ. It is, we +believe, the only instance of lunulæ being found with associated +objects. + + [Illustration: Fig. 47.--Gold Lunula found in Co. Galway.] + +Figures 46-49 and 51-53 illustrate the various types of ornament; it +will be noticed that some of the smaller examples are quite plain. + +One lunula was found in an oak case at Newtown, Crossdoney, Co. +Cavan. The case has greatly shrunk since it was found, as when first +discovered it measured 10 inches by 8 inches (fig. 50). + + [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Gold Lunula, locality not recorded.] + +The two expanded pieces at the ends are always turned at right angles +to the plane of the lunula, and serve to clasp the back of the neck, +and may have been secured by a tie. It need not, however, be pointed +out that they are quite out of place in a head-ornament; indeed, the +geometrical shape of a lunula is contrary to such a theory, and quite +different from recognized diadems or head-ornaments. + + [Illustration: Fig. 49.--Gold Lunula found at Killarney.] + +One example found at Volognes has a chain and sort of buckle attached +at the ends. It has since been melted down, but a drawing of it has +been preserved (fig. 51). The chain seems to have been ancient--at +least it is stated to have been on it, as shown, when found; but, +however ancient it may be, it is evident that it was more recently +attached than the original make of the ornament. It is, however, of +interest as indicating at some time a chain-tie to secure the ends of +the ornament. + +The accompanying list of finds shows how numerous the lunulæ are in +Ireland and how rarely they have been found outside this island. The +map shows their distribution (fig. 54). + + [Illustration: Fig. 50.--Oak case for Lunula found at Newtown, + Co. Cavan.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 51.--Gold Lunula found at Valognes, Manche.] + +Two have been found in the West Baltic at Zealand and Funen. They have +otherwise hardly penetrated beyond Brittany. One has recently (1912) +been found at Hanover, and another some time ago at Fauvillers, +Luxembourg. This failure to penetrate far beyond the coasts of England +and Brittany may point to early raids; but the copper and tin of +Cornwall, as well as the tin deposits of Brittany and the general +trade with Brittany, may indicate the early seeking of the Irish gold +deposits. We may take as a provisional date for the lunulæ, 1200 to +1000 B.C. + + [Illustration: Fig. 52.--Gold Lunula found in Co. Londonderry.] + +Lunulæ now existing or known to have formerly existed:-- + + +IRELAND (62 at least). + + --------------+---+------------------------------------------------ + County. |No.| Reference. + --------------+---+------------------------------------------------ + Donegal, | 2 | R.I.A. 1889: 20 (1). Trenta, Carrigans. R.I.A. + | | 1909: 6 (1). Naran. + | | + Londonderry, | 2 | R.I.A. W. 12 (1). R.I.A. (loan 1907: 7) (1). + | | + Antrim, | 3 | Dublin Penny Journal, vol. iv, p. 295. + | | + Down, | 1 | Castlereagh, Ulster Journal of Archæology, + | | vol. ix, p. 46. + | | + Tyrone, | 3 | Trillick, R.I.A. 1884: 495 (1). Carrickmore, + | | R.I.A. 1900: 50 (1). Tartaraghan, Ulster + | | Journal of Archæology, vol. ix, p. 47 (at Cecil, + | | Augher) (1). + | | + Mayo, | 1 | R.I.A. 1909. + | | + Sligo, | 1 | Windele's Miscellanea, p. 206. + | | + Fermanagh, | 1 | Enniskillen (Day Coll.). + | | + Monaghan, | 1 | Ballybay (Day Coll.). + | | + Galway, | 1 | R.I.A. W. 10 (Sirr Coll.). + | | + Roscommon, | 2 | Athlone, R.I.A. W. 5, and 1893: 4. + | | + Cavan, | 3 | Newtown, R.I.A. 1884: 494 (1). Bailieborough + | | (British Museum) (1). Lisanover, Bawnboy. + | | 1910: 45 (1). + | | + Westmeath, | 2 | Ross, R.I.A. 1896: 15 (1). Mullingar, 1884: + | | 7 (1). + | | + Kildare, | 4 | Dunfierth, R.I.A. W. 4, 8, 9, and 15. + | | + Clare, | 2 | Porsoon Callan, R.I.A. 1877: 52 (1). Proc. + | | R.I.A., vol. viii, p. 83 (1). + | | + Tipperary, | 1 | Glengall (British Museum). + | | + Kerry, | 5 | Banmore, R.I.A. R., 1755, 1756, 1757 (3): + | | R.I.A., Killarney, W. 2 (1). Mangerton (Brit. + | | Mus.) (1). + | | + Cork | 2 | Ballycotton (Brit. Mus.) (1), and one or perhaps + | | two in Mr. Cliborn's scrap-book in R.I.A. + +In addition to the foregoing there are 16 in the collection of the +R.I.A. and 5 in the British Museum, and about 6 in private +collections, which are known to have been found in Ireland, but of +which the localities have not been recorded. + + +ENGLAND (4). + + Cornwall, | 4 | Penzance (1), Padstow (2), Lesnewth (1) (Arch. + | | Journ., vol. xxii, 276). + + +WALES (1). + + Carnavonshire,| 1 | Llanllyfni (British Museum). + + +SCOTLAND (4). + + Lanarkshire, | 2 | Southside near Coulter (Anderson, vol. i, p. 223). + | | + Dumfriesshire,| 1 | Auchentaggart (Anderson, vol. i, p. 222). + | | + Elginshire, | 1 | Fochabers (Cat. Nat. Mus., Scot., p. 210). + + [Illustration: Fig. 53.--Gold Lunula found at Athlone.] + + +FRANCE (6). + + Côtes du Nord,| 1 | Saint-Potan (Reinach, Revue Celtique, 1900, + | | p. 95). + | | + Manche, | 3 | Tourlaville (1), Valognes (1) (Reinach, R. C., + | | 1900, p. 95). + | | Montebourg (1) (Cong. Arch. de France, 1905, + | | p. 301). + | | + Vendée, | 2 | Bourneau (1), Nesmy (1) (Reinach, R. C., 1900, + | | p. 95). + + +BELGIUM (1). + + Luxemburg, | 1 | Fauvillers (Cong. Arch. de France, 1905, p. 302). + + +DENMARK (2). + + Zealand, | 1 | Grevinge (A. f. Anth. xix, 9). + | | + Funen, | 1 | Skogshöierup (A. f. Anth. xix, 9). + + [Illustration: Fig. 54.--Map showing the Distribution of Lunulæ in + Ireland and Europe.] + + +GERMANY (1). + + Hanover, | 1 | Schulenburg (Leine) Springe (1911). + + + + +CHAPTER V + +DAGGERS AND RAPIERS + + + [Illustration: Fig. 55.--Stone celt, Bronze dagger with gold band, + and Urn found in Topped Mountain Cairn, Co. Fermanagh.] + +As has been mentioned, as well as being parent to the spear-head, the +small weak knife-dagger frequently found in early Bronze-Age burials +also developed into the true dagger-blade, and in course of time into +the sword. Bronze daggers have often been found in Ireland; there are +about forty in the National Collection. Among the most interesting +finds of these early daggers may be mentioned that discovered in 1897 +at an interment at Topped Mountain Cairn, County Fermanagh. This +dagger measures 5-5/8 inches, and is covered with a beautiful blue +patina. It is decorated with raised lines on each side of the blade, +and has two small rivets. It was discovered in a cist in the cairn +lying at the right side of the skull of an uncremated body, and in the +same place was a small band of gold which appears to have been half +of a band of that metal which was probably round the handle of the +dagger (fig. 55). Another interesting find is the small bronze dagger +discovered with urns and cremated bones in a cist at Annaghkeen Cairn, +County Galway, in 1908. + + [Illustration: Fig. 56.--Dagger and Rapier blades.] + +In course of time the length of the dagger-blade was increased; and +later examples are wonderful specimens of casting. The earlier +daggers were either attached to the handle by rivets, or else notches +were left in the base of the blade for the attachment. The manner of +hafting them is quite clear, as a few hafted examples have been found. +Some had bronze handles cast separately (fig. 56); others had handles +of horn or wood (fig. 57); but the hilts for the most part were made +of some perishable substance, and they have consequently not been +recovered. The scolloped mark left by the hilt is often quite plainly +to be seen on the blade. In later times the handle was sometimes cast +in one piece with the blade; but the division between the handle and +the blade is always quite clearly marked. The decoration of the later +dagger-blades takes the form of a number of triangles at the base of +the blade, and the extreme similarity in decoration between the +Italian and the early northern and western daggers has led Montelius +to consider the latter as derived from the former; and this is +enforced in the case of the Irish examples by the series of small +hatched-triangles which have been found at the base of two well-known +Irish examples (fig. 56). + +The rapiers were evolved quite naturally by lengthening the +dagger-blade; and this form was probably influenced also, as will be +mentioned later, by contemporary weapons in use in the Mediterranean +lands. + +The longest rapier ever found in Western Europe is the splendid weapon +found at Lissane, Co. Derry, in 1867, which measures 30-1/4 inches in +length (fig. 59). Another very remarkable Irish example is the short +rapier found in Upper Lough Erne, and obtained by Mr. Thomas Plunkett, +M.R.I.A., from the finder. This weapon is a wonderfully fine piece of +casting. It measures 16-3/4 inches in length (fig. 58). + + [Illustration: Fig. 57.--Dagger with horn handle found at Ballymoney, + Co. Antrim.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 58.--Rapier found in Upper Lough Erne.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 59.--Rapier found at Lissane, Co. Derry.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 60.--Rapiers and Daggers found in Ireland.] + +The rapiers belong to the middle and later portions of the Bronze Age. +This type of weapon is common in France, and is described by M. +Déchelette as widely spread in the British Islands and the north of +France, and as having been introduced from there into South Germany +and the region of the Middle Rhine.[16] The rapiers of advanced +type he places in the third division of the Bronze Age, as they have +been found in Bronze-Age tumuli of that period, as at Staadorf, Haut +Palatinat (1600-1300 B.C.). Montelius places the rapiers in his fourth +period dated at the end of the fifteenth to the middle of the twelfth +century B.C.,[17] so that his dating of these objects practically +coincides with that of M. Déchelette. It is now well recognized that +the swords of the Ægean-Mycenæan area were developed on parallel lines +to those of Western Europe. We find that the long rapiers or thrusting +swords are developed from the tanged Cypriote dagger, and that the +true sword is a later evolution from the rapier. It is hardly to be +doubted that some of the western forms of daggers and rapiers were +influenced by Mycenæan types; and the discovery in Sicily of rapiers +of Mycenæan type with pottery dated as recent Minoan III, establishes +a direct bond between the Ægean and Western Europe.[18] + + [16] "Manuel d'Archéologie," vol. ii, p. 208. + + [17] "Archæologia," vol. lxi, p. 162, and pl. xv. + + [18] "Manuel d'Archéologie," vol. ii, p. 214. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +GOLD GORGETS + + + [Illustration: Fig. 61.--Gold Gorget found in Ireland, formerly in the + possession of the Earl of Charleville. From Vetusta + Monumenta, Vol. v, Pl. xxviii.] + + [Illustration: PLATE II. Irish Gold Gorgets. _p. 62._] + +Among the most striking of the gold ornaments in the National Collection +are the five gold gorgets or neck-collars, with the ends decorated with +ornamented disks. These are very elaborately decorated, and of great +massiveness. Two others mentioned as having been found in Ireland, +one of which was formerly in the possession of the Earl of Charleville, +were figured in "Vetusta Monumenta." Vallancey states that another was +found in the County Longford. A few disks have also been found which may +have been portions of these gorgets. The neck-portion of the gorgets is +arranged in three rows of raised ridges, and these are ornamented with +rows of small bosses, the depressions of the ridges being occupied with +a narrow rope-shaped fillet. In some cases the ridges are left plain. +The small disks at the terminals of the collar are remarkable; they +measure about 2-7/8 or 3 inches in diameter, and are decorated with a +centre and side bosses, surrounded with concentric circles. They much +resemble in miniature the round shields or bucklers of the late Bronze +Age, but they also show some resemblance to the so-called sun-disks +which have been found in Ireland, and which will be described later +on. Unfortunately the gorgets have in no case been found with any +accompanying objects which would assist in dating them, and in fact in +only two cases have details as to their finding been preserved, one +found at Ardcroney, near Nenagh, County Tipperary, the other at Tony +Hill, Croom, County Limerick. Their ornamentation, however, would seem +to place them in the Hallstatt period, first Iron Age, which may be +dated at about 700-600 B.C. Their form and ornamentation may be compared +with that of the splendid gold collar from Cintra, Lisbon, now in the +British Museum,[19] and also with the triple bronze collars common in +Scandinavia and north Germany, all of which are referred to the +Hallstatt period. This period is at present not well represented in +Ireland or the British Isles; and it is doubtful whether iron came into +general use in Ireland till about the third century B.C. + + [19] "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," p. 148. + +One point of much interest must be noticed. In one of the gorgets +shown in Plate II, where the disk is attached to the gorget, above +the line where the end of the plate passes into the boss, three +perpendicular and two cross-stitches can be seen. Some of these +sewings are made by means of slight square wire, but in others the +fastenings are composed of fine woollen thread, round which is twisted +spirally a thin, flat strip of gold. These strips are one of the +oldest specimens of woollen cordage now in existence in Ireland. + + +GOLD SUN-DISKS + +We have already referred to the flat disks of gold, a number of which +have been found in Ireland. There are four in the British Museum, and no +less than fifteen in the National Collection at Dublin. In four cases +they have been found in pairs--one pair at Ballina, County Mayo, another +pair at Tydavnet, County Monaghan, a third at Cloyne, Co. Cork, and the +fourth at Castle Martyr, Co. Cork. Some of these disks are ornamented +with concentric circles; others have a cruciform ornament which +resembles the four-spoked chariot-wheel, and is a well-known sun symbol. +When these objects were first discovered, their origin and use were +quite unknown; and Mr. Reginald A. Smith, of the British Museum, was the +first to point out their resemblance to the gold disk, decorated with +spirals, affixed to a bronze sun-chariot, found in Trundholm Moss, +Zealand, in 1902. The bronze chariot consisted of a bronze disk mounted +on wheels and drawn by a horse, the gold disk being affixed to the +bronze one. The ornamentation of the Irish disks is somewhat different, +as the spiral does not appear, its place being taken by the concentric +circle. The Trundholm sun-chariot is dated by Prof. Sophus Muller at +before 1000 B.C. The Trundholm disk is admittedly connected with +sun-worship, as is also the cruciform ornament on the Irish disks. The +spoked-wheel is a well-known solar symbol; and similar designs have been +found on the bases of some Irish food-vessels, and may also be compared +with some of the markings at Dowth.[20] The prevalence of sun-worship +in the Bronze Age need not be further gone into here; but the gold disks +are of great interest, as furnishing another point of contact between +Ireland and Scandinavia in the Bronze Age. The finding of Irish gold +lunulæ in Denmark, and the occurrence of Scandinavian amber in Irish +finds of the Bronze-Age, have already been mentioned. + + [20] "New Grange and other Incised Tumuli," p. 59, fig. 39. + + [Illustration: PLATE III. Gold sun-disks. _p. 64._] + + +GOLD BALLS + +We may also mention the large hollow golden balls of which seven are +in the National collection, one in the possession of Mr. H. J. B. +Clements, and another in the British Museum. Eleven of these golden +balls were found in 1834 at Carrick-on-Shannon.[21] There has been +much conjecture as to the use these balls were put to, and it has been +suggested that as their large size would render them inconvenient as +personal ornaments, they were probably used to decorate a horse. If so +they may have been attached to the bridle like the large balls shown +on the horses' bridles in the bronze scabbard from Hallstatt, dated La +Tène I. See Déchelette, "Manuel d'Archéologie," vol. ii, p. 770. The +Golden Peytrell found at Mold, Flintshire, may be instanced to show +that gold was sometimes used to decorate horses; and if the gold balls +were really used for this purpose, we may well endorse what the author +of the "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide" says when he writes: "A +discovery of this kind demonstrates in a striking manner the abundance +of gold at the end of our Bronze period."[22] + + [21] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, Sec. C, p. 450. + + [22] "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," p. 150. + + +CLARE FIND + +Another type of neck-ornaments are the thin gold gorgets with +funnel-shaped ends, many of which were found in the great Clare find. +These gorgets are quite plain, except for a little ornamentation at +the extreme ends near the funnel-shaped extremities. There are five of +these objects in the National Collection, and all were found together +in the celebrated Clare find. This find--the largest collective one of +gold objects ever made in Western Europe--was discovered in making a +railway-cutting for the Limerick and Ennis Railway in 1854. A gang of +labourers were digging near an old hawthorn-bush, a little distance to +the south of the railway bridge in Moghaun north, on the west side of +the line of the great fort, and opposite the lough, when they +undermined a kind of cist. The fall of one of the containing-stones +disclosed a mass of gold ornaments--gorgets, bracelets of all sizes +with cup-shaped ends, and a few ingots of gold. The find, from a +numerical point of view, far surpassed anything ever made, but none +of the objects were highly ornamented or of a special type. + +The fact of this immense number of gold ornaments being hidden in +a cist in this way has given rise to many conjectures; but in the +absence of any other explanation, it may be suggested that the objects +had been collected together, and hidden purposely, with the idea of +returning and regaining possession of them later. The value of the +find has been estimated at at least £3,000. Unfortunately, most of the +objects were sold to jewellers and melted down, but a large number +were exhibited at the Archæological Institute by Dr. Todd and Lord +Talbot de Malahide in 1854, and casts of these were taken, and a set +is now in the National Collection. There are also a small number of +the originals in the Royal Irish Academy's collection (Plate IV). +Otherwise such objects of the find as escaped the melting-pot were +scattered, and have found their way into different museums and private +collections. As has been mentioned, the objects of this find did not +show any remarkable types, and for the most part consisted of very +thin bracelets and penannular rings with cup-shaped ends. It is +probable that, as well as being ornaments, they served as a kind of +currency. + + [Illustration: PLATE IV. Portion of the great Clare find. _p. 66._] + + +PENANNULAR RINGS AND RING-MONEY + + [Illustration: Fig. 62.--Gold fibulæ, and other objects found together + at Coachford, Co. Cork.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 63.--Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, + showing Europeans holding manillas (after Read and Dalton, + _Antiquities of the City of Benin_).] + +The large number of penannular rings with cup-shaped ends which have +been found from time to time in the island, brings us on to the +general question of the so-called Irish fibulæ. In Ireland penannular +rings with cup-shaped ends of copper or bronze are very rare, only +about half a dozen being known, while fibulæ of gold are exceedingly +common. The Coachford find, in which amber beads, gold fibulæ, and a +copper or bronze fibula were all found together, shows that the +objects were contemporary; and as this find may be placed at the end +of the Bronze Age, it shows that these objects were in use at that +period (fig. 62). On the other hand, it is likely that their use began +earlier and continued for a long period. These objects when made of +gold are of two shapes--in the one case the expanded cups are large +and flat and the connecting bar is bow-shaped, and is striated. These +have been conjectured to have been used as brooches for fastening a +garment; and their form was probably influenced by the Scandinavian +spectacle-brooches, the bows of the latter having, in some cases, the +same decoration. Except for the striations on the connecting link, +the Irish so-called mamillary fibulæ are almost always plain; but +Vallancey has figured two examples, one of which is engraved with +triangular, and the other with lozenge, ornaments. There is also the +well-known example in Trinity College, Dublin, in which the surfaces +of the cups are completely covered with concentric circle ornament, +the inside rims of the cups being decorated with hatched triangles, +and the neckings of what may be called the handle, with chevron and +herring-bone pattern, while along the back of the handle is an +ornament of lozenges. In the second type these objects assume the +shape of a bracelet; and the expanded ends are sometimes cup-shaped +and sometimes plain. From the extreme similarity between the shape of +these, whether in gold or bronze, to the so-called African manillas, +it has been conjectured the Irish examples, like the African, may have +been used as a medium of exchange; and on the whole it seems probable +that such was the case, the dividing line between what were used for +ornaments and what may have been used for exchange not being at all +easily defined (figs. 63 and 64). + + [Illustration: PLATE V. Gold Fibulæ. _p. 68._] + + [Illustration: Fig. 64.--Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, + showing natives holding manillas (after Read and Dalton, + _Antiquities of the City of Benin_).] + + +RING-MONEY + +The question of a medium of exchange leads us to mention the very +small gold penannular rings, the largest being about an inch in +diameter, frequently found in Ireland, which are known as +'ring-money.' There are fifty-six in the National Collection; and a +find made near Belfast of a socketed bronze celt in association with +some of these objects shows they were in use during the late Bronze +Age.[23] Attention has been called to the similarity of these Irish +gold rings to the penannular copper rings plated with gold often found +in early Japanese burials.[24] + + [23] Archæologia, lxi, p. 153. + + [24] See Munro, "Pre-historic Japan," p. 435, fig. 276. + +Many attempts have been made to equate the weights of a series of +these rings with some known standard; and in his valuable work "The +Origin of Currency and Weight Standards," Professor Ridgeway devotes +several pages of his Appendix C to a discussion of the subject, and +gives a table of the weights arrived at by grouping the rings in +multiples of 18. + +While there can be no reasonable doubt that these objects were used as +a medium of exchange, we are not inclined, in the absence of literary +evidence, to go any further into the question of what standard they +may represent. Some of these rings are evidently forgeries of ancient +times, as they are composed of bronze rings covered with a thin plate +of gold. The rings as a rule are plain; but some are ornamented with +small strips of darker metal let into the gold, and two examples are +twisted like small torcs. + + [Illustration: PLATE VI. Gold Ring-Money. _p. 70._] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +LEAF-SHAPED SWORDS + + +A number of leaf-shaped bronze swords have been found in Ireland. They +may be roughly divided into two types, those with notches just below +the blade and above the handle, and those that are plain. The latter +are the earlier, and belong to the late Bronze Age; the former +correspond to the Continental swords of the Hallstatt period. The +leaf-shaped type was the typical Bronze-Age sword of western and +northern Europe. It was developed from the dagger, and, like it, was +a thrusting rather than a cutting weapon. The handle is cast in one +piece with the blade, and has rivet-holes, and in some cases a slit +for the attachment of the hilt, which was no doubt formed of bone or +horn plates. The pommel was probably globular, and formed of lead or +some heavy material. A bronze sword of this type was found in a house +on the Akropolis at Mycenæ by Schliemann, and it can be dated at about +1200 B.C.[25] The discovery of this sword may be explained either as +the result of a raid, or as showing that invaders from the north had +reached Greece as early as this date. A leaf-shaped sword has been +noticed on one of the clay tablets dated as late Minoan II, and in one +of the stone slabs from over the fifth shaft grave at Mycenæ, which +represents a figure in a chariot attacking a man on foot, the latter +is armed with a leaf-shaped sword.[26] In any case it gives us a date +for the period when these swords were in common use in western Europe. +The type with notches below the blade has a tendency to become +straighter at the sides, and to lose its leaf-shaped form. The use +of the notches is not apparent, but it has been thought that the +scabbards at that time were made of wood and were liable to shrink +from exposure to weather, and that this may have prevented the sword +from being thrust home, so that the edge was cut off by the notches +slightly below the handle to avoid cutting the hand. The handle end of +this latter type very frequently assumes a form like a fish's tail. +These swords develop into the iron swords of the Hallstatt period, of +which so far only one Irish example has been found. A bronze sword of +the notched type formed part of the Dowris hoard, and is figured in +the "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," plate ii. Two remarkably fine +specimens of this type were found in 1912 with a socketed spear-head +at Tempo, County Fermanagh. + + [25] Naue, "Die Vorrömischen Schwerter," pp. 12 and 20. + + [26] See Burrowes, "Discoveries in Crete," p. 183. + + [Illustration: Fig. 65.--Leaf-shaped bronze swords, found with a + spear-head at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh.] + +No moulds for casting leaf-shaped swords of either type have been +found in Ireland; and it is therefore probable that at the time they +were in use sand-casting had replaced casting from stone moulds. The +scabbards of the leaf-shaped swords were made of wood or leather, +protected by a ferule or chape of bronze, which was fastened to it by +rivets; the point of the weapon does not seem to have reached the end +of the sheath. There are several examples of bronze chapes in the +Royal Irish Academy's collection, and they display a considerable +variety of design. Some are long and tubular in shape (fig. 66), while +others are of the winged or boat-shaped type which is found on the +Continent (fig. 67). Others again are of a small and simple type. The +rivet-holes for the attachment of the sheaths can be seen in nearly +all the Irish specimens. The casting of these objects shows a good +deal of skill, as the metal is very thin. The winged variety are +probably the latest, as they have been found with iron swords of +Hallstatt type on the Continent. + + [Illustration: Fig. 66.--Bronze chapes.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 67.--Winged chapes.] + + +SHIELDS + + [Illustration: Fig. 68.--Bronze shield, found at Lough Gur, + Co. Limerick.] + +Two circular shields or bucklers of bronze have been found in Ireland. +There is only one in the National Collection, the fine shield +discovered at Lough Gur, County Limerick. There is, however, a small +shield of bronze ornamented with large bosses in the British Museum +which was found at Athenry, County Galway.[27] These bronze shields +have never been found in the British Islands with any objects which +would give any definite clue to their date; but they are generally +referred to the late Bronze Age. They belong to a common type, being +decorated with numerous bands of small bosses separated by concentric +circles. They appear to have been hammered out. + + [27] "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," p. 30. + + [Illustration: Fig. 69.--Alder-wood shield, found in Co. Leitrim.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 70.--Front and back of leather shield, found at + Clonbrin, Co. Longford.] + +There are two other shields of great interest in the National +Collection. One is the remarkable alder-wood shield found 10 feet deep +in a bog in 1863 at Annadale, County Leitrim. This shield is oval in +shape, and has a central boss and seven raised ribs. It will be +noticed that the ribs show an indentation at one side; but too much +emphasis must not be placed on this, as the shield shrank a good +deal after its removal from the bog, and the alteration may be due to +this. This shield has a handle at the back. It is interesting to note +that 'sciath,' one of the Irish words for 'shield,' denotes 'alder.' +The next is the leather shield found in 1908 at Clonbrin, County +Longford, and presented to the Royal Irish Academy's collection by +Colonel W. H. King-Harman. This truly remarkable shield, the only one +of its kind in Europe, is made of a solid piece of leather nearly 1/4 +of an inch thick, and measures 20-1/2 inches in length by 19-1/2 +inches across. It has an oblong centre boss pressed out of the leather +and covered with an ornamental cap of fine leather laced on to it. The +boss is encircled by three ribs, the inner one being gapped, and the +two others having a curious re-entrant angle. The shield has +twenty-four small round bosses on it which resemble those on the +bronze shields. There is a leather handle which was laced on to the +back. This shield appears to be complete as it stands, as there is no +sign of any wooden supports at the back, nor is it easy to see how +such supports could have been attached to it. According to Polybius +round shields of bulls' hide were used by the Roman equites in the +early days of Roman history. + +The round shield of the late Bronze Age was succeeded by the oval +shield which may be taken as partly transitional to the oblong shield +of Southern Europe and also of the late Celtic type found in Britain. +The date, therefore, of this Irish leather shield is probably to be +placed in the Early Iron period. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +TORCS + + +There are twenty-four golden torcs of various types in the National +Collection and one of bronze; but the Irish provenance of the latter +is doubtful. + +The best known are the two magnificent gold torcs found in the side of +one of the raths at Tara, and these belong to a type that has been +found in England and France, of which the best known examples are +those found at Yeovil, Somerset,[28] and Grunty Fen, Cambridge.[29] A +torc of this type was also found by Schliemann in the royal treasury +in the second city of Troy. This find has led to a good deal of +speculative opinions varying as to whether the model of the torc was +imported into Ireland from the south, or whether the Irish gold could +have reached the Mediterranean in pre-Mycenæan times.[30] Torcs of +this type were made by folding two thin ribbons of gold along the +middle at a right angle; they were then attached with some kind of +resinous flux, apex to apex, and twisted together. In some cases, +instead of two folded ribbons a flat one and two halves of another +were used, after being fastened together, the twisting being done in +the same way. In some of the Irish examples the body of the torc is +plain, or was grooved to simulate the appearance of the twisted torc. +A peculiar feature of these torcs is the large hooks with which they +are provided. It must be noted that whereas twisted torcs of bronze +are fairly common in England and France there is only one bronze torc +in the Irish National Collection, and, as mentioned above, the +provenance of this is doubtful. The dating of these twisted torcs +is a matter of difficulty, as there are only two instances of their +having been found in association with bronze objects, one in the case +of the Grunty Fen torc which was discovered with three bronze +palstaves, and another found at Fresné la Mère, near Falaise, +Normandy, which was found with a bronze razor and other objects of +bronze. Such evidence as exists, therefore, would place them in the +late Bronze Age, probably somewhere about 1000 B.C., but certain +varieties of torcs, as we shall see, continued in use as late as the +first century. The area of distribution of gold torcs of the Tara type +in Ireland, England and France is very limited, none having been found +in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, or Spain and +Portugal.[31] It has been suggested that the gold of which all these +torcs were composed came from the Wicklow Mountains,[32] and in view +of the extreme wealth of Ireland in gold, as evinced by the number of +gold ornaments which are still constantly found, this may be +considered probable. + + [28] Proceedings Somerset Archæological and Natural History Society, + vol. lv, 1909, pt. ii, pp. 66-84. + + [29] Cambridge Antiquarian Society's Communications, vol. xii, p. 96. + + [30] Déchelette, "Manuel d'Archéologie," vol. ii, p. 355, note. + + [31] Congrès Archéologique Français, Beauvais, 1905, p. 294. + + [32] Proc. Soc. Antiquaries of London, second series, vol. xxiv, p. 42. + + [Illustration: PLATE VII. Gold Torcs from Tara and elsewhere. + _p. 78._] + + [Illustration: PLATE VIII. Gold Torcs. _p. 78._] + +Among the other types of gold torcs are two splendid examples, one of +which appears to have been prepared for twisting and left unfinished, +while the other is in a complete state (Plate VIII). + +Small torcs made by twisting a plain ribbon are fairly common, and +some of these are so small that they must have been used as bracelets. + +In later times the torc was the distinguishing ornament of the Celt, +and there are many allusions to torcs in classical writers. In 223 +B.C., when Flaminius Nepos gained his victory over the Gauls on the +Addua, it is related that instead of the Gauls dedicating, as they had +intended, a torc made from the Roman spoils to their god of war, the +Romans erected a Roman trophy to Jupiter made from Gaulish torcs. + +The name of the Torquati, a family of the Manlia Gens, was derived +from their ancestor, T. Manlius, who, having slain a gigantic Gaul in +B.C. 361, took the torc from the dead body, and placed it round his +neck. + +The famous statue of the Dying Gaul preserved in the Capitol at Rome +shows a torc on the warrior's neck. This is one of a series of statues +set up by the Greeks of Pergamos to celebrate their struggle with, and +first victory over, the Gauls of Asia Minor, with whom they came in +contact from about 240 to 160 B.C. The twisted torc appears to have +been replaced in Ireland about the second century B.C. by the plain +torc, which was probably introduced from Gaul. The fine gold torc from +Clonmacnois (Plate IX), with La Tène decoration, is a good example of +these torcs, and is almost identical with one from the Marne district +now preserved in the St. Germain Museum. Probably the finest La Tène +torc in existence is that found in the celebrated Broighter find, +which is richly decorated with La Tène ornament (Plate IX, the inner +torc). + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +BRONZE-AGE FINDS + + + [Illustration: PLATE IX. Gold Torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter. + _p. 80._] + +One of the greatest difficulties to be contended with in any attempt +to arrive at a working chronology for the Prehistoric Period in Ireland +is that, though Ireland had a rich Bronze Age, as attested by the +magnificent collection of objects preserved in the National Collection, +yet in very few cases have any of these objects been found in +association. Excavation carried on under scientific supervision was +practically unknown in Ireland until quite recent years, and though, no +doubt, hoards of associated objects have been discovered in the country, +yet trustworthy particulars as to their finding have hardly ever been +preserved, and the objects themselves have generally been scattered. +Under these circumstances it seemed useful to gather together in the +present chapter an account of the finds--unfortunately very few--in +which associated objects have been discovered, and of which there is +indisputable evidence of their association:-- + +1. Find of a socketed celt, a gouge, a pin, a razor (the last in a +simple leather case), a portion of a woollen garment, an ornament of +horse-hair, like a tassel, and some pieces of wood. These objects were +found in a bog in the townland of Cromaghs, parish of Armoy, Co. +Antrim, in May, 1904, when cutting turf[33] (Fig. 71, nos. 1-5). + + [33] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxvi, Sec. C, p. 119. + +2. A find of late Bronze-Age objects discovered in a bog in the +townland of Lahardoun, Tulla, Co. Clare, in May, 1861. The find +contained the following objects:--two small socketed celts, a +disk-headed pin, a plain bronze ring, and a bronze fibula[34] (Fig. +71, nos. 6-10). + + [34] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxvi, Sec. C, 124. + +3. Find at Mountrivers, Rylane, Coachford, Co. Cork. This find was +made in May, 1907, and contained the following objects:--two socketed +bronze celts, two gold fibulæ, one fibula of copper or bronze, and +eleven amber beads[35] (fig. 62). + + [35] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, Sec. C, p. 85. + +4. Find at Kilfeakle, Co. Tipperary, made in May, 1906, The find +consisted of a bronze socketed celt, a socketed sickle, two chisels, +and a gouge[36] (fig. 74). + + [36] Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, + vol. xxxvii, p. 86. + +5. Find of moulds for casting primitive spear-heads. This find was +made near Omagh, Co. Tyrone, about 1882, and consisted of seven blocks +of sandstone for casting tanged and socketed spear-heads.[37] (See +page 39.) + + [37] Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, + vol. xxxvii, p. 181. + +6. Find of moulds made in December, 1910, at Killymeddy, Ballymoney, +Co. Antrim. The find contained two complete moulds for casting looped +socketed spear-heads, and half a mould for a looped socketed +spear-head, a mould for one side of a long dagger-blade, a large mould +for casting one side of a leaf-shaped knife, two halves of a mould +for casting a sickle, eight fragments of moulds, two sharpening +stones, and a stone for hammering or smoothing objects.[38] (See page +40.) + + [38] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, Sec. C, p. 83. + +7. Find made at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh. This find was made in 1912, and +consisted of two leaf-shaped bronze swords with notches below the +blades, and a very fine socketed spear-head[39] (figs. 65 and 37). + + [39] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, Sec. C, p. 91. + +8. Two leaf-shaped spear-heads found together at the Ford, Belturbet, +Co. Cavan[40] (fig. 30). + + [40] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxx, Sec. C, p. 93. + +9. Large hoard found at Dowris, King's Co., about 1825. A small +portion of this hoard, consisting of two bronze trumpets, seven +crotals, five socketed spear-heads, and a socketed gouge, are +preserved in the Royal Irish Academy's collection in the National +Museum. There are other portions of this hoard in the British Museum +and at Birr Castle.[41] + + [41] "British Museum Bronze-Age Guide," p. 28. + +10. Bronze socketed celt, large bronze ring, two smaller rings with +lateral-shaped trumpet projections, and a small flat ring all found +together near Glenstal, Co. Limerick, about 1901. + +11. Large find of objects, formerly in St. Columba's College +Collection, all stated to have been found together, in 1830, in a bog +at Derryhall, County Antrim. The find comprises fourteen disk-headed +bronze pins of late Bronze-Age type, and two bronze pins, with +cup-shaped heads, a bronze dagger and two bronze knives (one of the +latter being socketed), a socketed celt, nine bronze rings, a bronze +ring with side perforations and a double ring, a bronze fibula with +three beads; also two late brooches, and two late pins, which are said +to have proved part of this find, but whose association with the +remaining objects is very doubtful. + + [Illustration: Fig. 71.--Two Late Bronze-Age Finds.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 72.--Late Bronze-Age horse-hair Fabrics from + Armoy, Co. Antrim.] + +12. Bronze fibula, and twenty-two bronze rings, found together, +about 1876, at Broca, Rochford Bridge, County Westmeath. + +13. Socketed bronze celt, bronze fibula, bronze ring, and disk-headed +Bronze-Age pin. All found together at Lapoudin, Tulla, County Clare. + +14. Three large, seventeen small, eight double bronze rings, and one +fragment, probably all found together. + +15. Bronze fibula, bronze gouge, and three rings, found together, but +locality unrecorded. + +16. Six copper celts found together at Cappeen, County Cork. + + [Illustration: Fig. 73.--Bronze Implements, Co. Tipperary.] + +17. Seven halberds found together at Hillswood, County Galway.[42] + + [42] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxvii, Sec. C, p. 97. + +18. Two bronze rings, a small leaf-shaped spear-head, a socketed celt, +and a small gold bulla, said to have been found together in Kinnegoe +bog, County Armagh, in 1840. St. Columba's College Collection. + +19. Three bronze trumpets, one in two parts, found in a bog in the +barony of Moyarta, County Clare. + +20. Six bronze trumpets, one in two parts, found in a bog close to +Chute Hall, in the townland of Clogher, Clemin, three miles from +Tralee, County Kerry. + +21. Two trumpets, one in two parts, probably found together in a bog +at Carrick O'Gunnell, County Limerick. (These are probably two of +those described by Mr. R. Ousley, in the Trans. R.I.A., 1788.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 74.--Bronze Implements found at Kilfeakle, + Co. Tipperary.] + +22. Three trumpets found at Carraconway, near Cloughouter Castle, +County Cavan.[43] + + [43] Wilde's Catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy's Collection, p. 626. + +23. Two trumpets found at Macroom, County Cork. + +24. Four trumpets found in the bog of Drumabest, Kilraughts, County +Antrim, in 1840.[44] + + [44] _Ibid._ + +25. Two trumpets found in County Cork. (Londesborough collection.) + +26. Two trumpets and a part of a third found together, but locality +unknown. + +27. Two trumpets probably found together, from Trinity College, +Dublin, collection. + +28. A socketed bronze celt and gold ring-money found together near +Belfast.[45] + + [45] Archæologia, vol. lxi, p. 153. + +29. Four gold lunulæ, found together at Dunfierth, Carbury, County +Kildare.[46] + + [46] "Wilde's Catalogue of Gold Antiquities," p. 18. + +30. A large spear-head, a round bronze shield, with a central boss for +the hand, and two circles of smaller bosses, found in a mound or rath, +at Athenry, County Galway.[47] + + [47] Horae Ferales. pl. xi, fig. 1. + +With the exception of Nos. 4, 5, 27, and 30, the above-mentioned finds +are preserved in the Royal Irish Academy's collection, in the National +Museum, Dublin. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +BRONZE TRUMPETS + + +Numerous trumpets of cast bronze have been found in Ireland, both in +the south and the north. They are rare in Britain. Two or more +trumpets have often been found together; eight were found at +Dungannon, County Tyrone, in 1713, and thirteen or fourteen near Cork +in 1750. The Irish trumpets may be divided into three types--(1) in +the shape of a horn, open at both ends, having the mouth-piece and +trumpet cast in one piece; (2) of similar shape, but closed at the +narrow end, with an aperture for the mouth at the side near the closed +end; (3) also horn-shaped, but with a long straight tube attached to +the narrow end of the carved portion, the upper end of the tube having +four rivet-holes, to which another tube or mouth-piece may have been +fixed. There are references in classical authorities to the trumpets +used by the Celts. Polybius, describing the defeat of the Celts by the +Romans at the battle of Telemon, B.C. 225, speaks of the innumerable +horns and trumpets of the Celts (Gaesatæ, Insubres, Taurisci, and +Boii). + +Dr. F. Behn, of the Mainz Museum, has recently written an account of +the music in the Roman army, in which he has brought together much +information about the early bronze trumpets; and he includes a short +description of the Irish type.[48] The Irish trumpets, which are +furnished with the straight tubular piece, much resemble the Roman +lituus; and, as a whole, the Irish type is very closely allied to the +lituus and carnyx, the difference between the lituus and carnyx being +that the expanded end of the carnyx takes the form of some fantastic +animal's head. Trumpets have been found in the Dowris hoard, with +socketed spear-heads, and other objects of the late Bronze Age, and +they must be dated to that period; on this account the Etruscan +lituus can hardly have been derived from Irish trumpets; so that it is +probable that the Irish trumpets, like those of Gaul, were derived +from the south. + + [48] Die Musik im römischen Heere "Mainzer Zeitschrift," 1912, p. 36. + + [Illustration: PLATE X. Bronze Trumpets. _p. 88._] + + [Illustration: Fig. 75.--Mould for casting a sickle, found at + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim.] + + +SICKLES + + [Illustration: Fig. 76.--Bronze sickles.] + +Socketed bronze sickles have been found fairly frequently in different +parts of Ireland. Those in the National Collection have generally been +referred to the late Bronze Age. These sickles are all very small, and +it has been thought that the Irish, like the Gauls, cut only the ear +of the corn, and burnt the stalk. A recent find of moulds in County +Antrim contained a mould for casting a sickle without a socket like +the Continental examples, and shows that this type was also known in +Ireland in the later Bronze Age (fig. 75). The bronze sickles have an +important bearing on the question of agriculture in Ireland. An +opinion has recently been expressed that corn was not introduced into +England until the Roman invasion, and was introduced into Ireland even +later than this.[49] However, there are instances of ears of corn +being found within the walls of food-vessels of early Bronze Age date +in Scotland; and it is probable that corn was also grown in Ireland +during the Bronze Age. There is evidence that the ox was domesticated +during this period. The excellence of the metal-casting and the high +degree of skill shown in casting implements and weapons during the +Bronze Age lead us to believe that the civilization, and with the +civilization the art of agriculture and material comfort, had reached +a fairly high level. + + [49] Proc. Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxxi (Clare Island Survey, Part 5). + + [Illustration: Fig. 77.--Bronze sickles.] + + +DISK-HEADED PINS + + [Illustration: Fig. 78.--Bronze disk.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 79.--Bronze button.] + +In the late period of the Irish Bronze Age, bronze pins with +disk-shaped heads having a conical projection in the centre are +fairly common. The disk-heads in many instances are ornamented with +concentric circles and other simple kinds of decoration. They are +bent at right angles to the pin, though in some cases the pin comes +straight from the head. The pins are very long, some measuring as much +as 12 inches. In the very interesting find at Armoy, County Antrim (p. +81), it will be remembered that one of these pins was found together +with a woollen garment, and there is no doubt they were used to fasten +the dress. The fact of a razor being one of the objects of this find +indicates that the pins were used by men, though no doubt they may +also have been worn by women. The use of such long pins seems to point +to the wearing of some kind of cloak-like garment probably fastened +in the front; and the ornamental heads of the pins indicate that they +were worn in a conspicuous place. + +As well as the pins a few bronze buttons have been found consisting of +disks with the same conical projection, but having the pin replaced by +a small bar at the back. One remarkable example in the National +Collection measures 4-3/4 inches in diameter (fig. 78). This object +was probably either attached to a leathern belt or possibly may have +been a portion of a horse's furniture. The smaller buttons have been +found on the Continent, and are fairly numerous in the Continental +lake-dwellings or finds of the late Bronze Age. + +One is tempted to see in the Irish examples a derivation of the button +from the pin. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BRONZE-AGE POTTERY + + + [Illustration: Fig. 80.--Incense cup.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 81.--Cinerary urn.] + + [Illustration: Fig. 82.--Food-vessel with cover, Danesfort, + Co. Kilkenny.] + +In Ireland the pottery of the Bronze Age is principally represented +by the type of vessel known as a food-vessel. We may commence with +these, as there has only been one undoubted find of beakers made: this +consisted of the remains of three vessels found together at Moytura, +County Sligo, and preserved in the National Collection. A beaker is +stated to have been found at Mount Stewart, County Cavan; but the +vessel is not extant, and the evidence as to its discovery is not +perfectly satisfactory. The Irish food-vessel is derived directly +from the round-bottomed vessel of Neolithic times. Some of these +round-bottomed bowls have been found with Neolithic remains at +Portstewart, County Down, and there is one in the National Collection +described as found in a cavern associated with stone implements beside +the moat of Dunagore, near the town of Antrim. The development from +the Neolithic bowl can be clearly traced in the Irish series. The +earliest are flat, almost saucer-shaped bowls, which are generally +covered all over with ornament, and often have a cruciform pattern on +the base which has been thought to indicate that the vessels were +turned mouth downwards when not in use.[50] + + [50] Abercromby, "Bronze-Age Pottery," vol. i, p. 121. + + [Illustration: Fig. 83.--Cinerary urn, Carballybeg, Co. Waterford.] + +These bowls have a very pleasing effect; and, as Dr. Abercromby says: +"The small native women, sometimes under five feet high, who made +these little vessels, had certainly a fine sense of form and a +delicate perception of the beauty of curved forms. The care and +precision with which the ornament was effected, and the richness of +the effect produced by simple means, may excite our admiration."[51] + + [51] Abercromby, _op. cit._, p. 121. + + [Illustration: PLATE XI. Food-vessels in the order of their + development. _p. 96._] + + [Illustration: Fig. 84.--Model of cinerary urn, showing its position + in cist over burnt bones and small vessel, Greenhills, + Co. Dublin.] + +In the next stage a slight indentation about the centre of the +vessel can be noticed, the ornament being arranged on either side +above and below this; next two small ridges develop out of this, which +are at first close together, but are afterwards placed further apart, +and in the later stages the vessel becomes considerably higher, the +base assuming the form of a cone, and the upper portion having an +everted lip. Some of these latter vessels have a number of small ribs +encircling them. Plate XI shows a series of food-vessels placed in +the order of their evolution. The decoration can be well seen. It +consists for the most part of chevron, herring-bone, and other linear +ornament, but wavy lines can be seen in some examples. In some rare +cases the food-vessels were provided with lids (fig. 82). All of these +vessels were made by hand; and though the baking of the pottery +varies, it was evidently done over a fire. + + [Illustration: Fig. 85.--Cinerary urn, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone.] + +The food-vessels, which are found both with unburnt and burnt +interments, continued in use during the greater part of the Bronze +Age, and the name food-vessel is hardly appropriate in Ireland, as in +many cases these vessels have been found containing cremated bones, +having apparently served the purpose of cinerary urns. + +The so-called cinerary urns are large vessels which have been usually +discovered containing human bones; they have often been found inverted +over cremated remains. They can be conveniently divided into several +types, of which the type with the overhanging rim may be mentioned +first. In this type the vessel consists of two portions, a lower +flower-pot-like cone, on which is placed a larger truncated cone, +which forms the overhanging rim. This type is widely distributed in +England, and in Ireland has been found in the Counties of Antrim, +Down, and Tyrone. The cordoned or hooped type is developed from the +preceding type by replacing the overhanging rim by a moulding, both +types being contemporary. In the encrusted type the urn, which is of +the flower-pot shape, is decorated with strips of clay in the form of +chevrons and bosses, the ornamentation assuming a rope-like form. Urns +of this type have been found at Greenhills, Tallaght, County Dublin; +Gortnain, Broomhedge, County Antrim; Tullyweggin, Cookstown, County +Tyrone; Closkett, Drumgooland, and Glanville, Newry, County Down. + +Very small vessels, of usually about 2 to 2-1/2 inches in height, are +often found in interments associated with the large cinerary urns, and +occasionally, when the latter are inverted, are found inside them. The +exact use of these small vessels, which are called "incense-cups" or +"pygmy-cups," is a matter of speculation; several theories have been +advanced to explain the purpose of placing them in graves, but none of +them are altogether satisfactory.[52] + + [52] See Abercromby, _op. cit._, vol. ii, p. 24, who discusses these + small vessels at length. + +Like the other vessels, they can be divided into different types, of +which some are peculiar to England, and even there confined to +certain counties. In Ireland several of these small cups have +perforated walls, while some have handles. One remarkable specimen +found at Knocknacoura, Co. Carlow, is covered all over with ornament. + +In the fine cist discovered at Greenhills, County Dublin, and now set +up in the National Museum, a very remarkable little cup was found +inside the large inverted cinerary urn (fig. 84). The form of this +small cup appears to be originally derived from a metal prototype, and +exactly resembles pottery-vessels of Iron-Age date found in the +cemetery at Marne. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +BRONZE-AGE ORNAMENTATION IN IRELAND + + +The ornament of the Bronze Age in Ireland consists of chevrons, hatched +triangles, lozenges, etc., combined with some wavy patterns, and later +in some instances with the spirals introduced from Scandinavia,[53] +where this motive had penetrated early from the Ægean along the amber +route. This early type of ornament can be seen on some of the bronze +celts, and also on the pottery, notably the food-vessels, which are +often most tastefully decorated. The ornamentation, however, can be +most fully studied on the inscribed stones in the great monuments of +the New Grange group. These monuments, perhaps the most remarkable in +Western Europe, have justly aroused the interest of generations of +archæologists, and many interpretations have been placed upon their +decoration. Having dealt so fully with this subject in a recent book, +"New Grange and other Incised Tumuli in Ireland," 1912, it is not +proposed to go into the question again, but there are one or two points +that may be noticed. + + [53] See Hoernes, "Jahrbuch für Altertnmskunde," Band vi, p. 163. + +The most remarkable feature about the ornamentation at New Grange is +the occurrence of the spiral motive; and it is the presence of this +distinctive motive which has led to so much speculation. + +It may be stated at once that the general view at present held by +those who have studied the question is that the spiral was introduced, +and that in the case of Ireland it was derived from Scandinavia. + +The similarity between New Grange and the tholos tombs of the mainland +of Greece is so striking that it is at least likely that the former +may have been derived from the latter. + +In examining the monument of New Grange, the author had been led by +long study, and the comparison with motives common in the Ægean at +about the same period, to explain the ornamentation, notably in the +cases of the large stones illustrated in the book, p. 75, as derived +from combinations of ornaments commonly found on Ægean pottery, these +motives being themselves connected with the symbolism of sun-worship. +In the case of other markings, it was considered these were possibly +derived from the decoration of certain objects of Scandinavian origin. +In an article in _L'Anthropologie_, vol. xxiii, p. 29, dealing with +the subject, M. J. Déchelette has put forward other views with regard +to the markings at New Grange. M. Déchelette sees in the markings at +New Grange a degenerated copy of the female idols of neolithic times, +carvings of which in a more or less rudimentary form have been found +in the Iberian peninsula, Italy, France, England, and Scandinavia. It +may be mentioned that from the occurrence of carvings of this idol on +sepulchral monuments it is to be connected with funeral rites. M. +Déchelette supports his contentions with a wealth of illustrations +drawn from the tattooed idols of Greece, Portugal, and Aveyron, the +engraved chalk cylinder from Madrid, the incised lines from +Almizaraque, the sculptures from the artificial grottos of Marne, the +vase fragments of Charantaise, the chalk drum from Folkton Wold +(Yorkshire), and the engravings from the dolmens of Locmariaquer. + +On p. 43 M. Déchelette gives a scheme of the evolution of the pattern +of the idol, starting from fairly well-defined eyes, eyebrows, and +nose, with chevron marks imitating tattooing. The face becomes +stylized by the substitution of a mere arched line for the eyebrows, +and concentric circles for the eyes, the tattooing marks becoming a +conventional pattern of regular chevrons. In the Irish examples the +spiral replaces the concentric circles for the eyes, and the pattern +below is further enriched by lozenges, and finally we arrive at a form +in which the spiral has an eyebrow above and a single lozenge below, +and this form M. Déchelette compares to the engravings on the slabs at +New Grange. The shield-like figure on the roofing stone of the right +recess at New Grange is compared by M. Déchelette to the engravings on +the dolmen of Pierres-Plates at Locmariaquer, which also appear to be +a stylized form of the idol. + +M. Déchelette compares the very remarkable boundary-stone at Dowth, +with the engraving of suns on it, to the vases from Millares, province +d'Almérie, which are ornamented with raised circles, these in their +turn being derived from a degenerate form of the idol. + +M. Déchelette applies the same explanation to the scribings at +Gavir'inis, the spiral ornamentation of which is to be regarded as +derived from Ireland. + +This very brilliant and original interpretation of the scribings at +New Grange seems to fit the case exceedingly well, and M. Déchelette's +theory may be regarded as a very probable one for the origin of the +markings, but it must be remembered that there is some difficulty +caused by the fact that the similarity in plan between New Grange +and the tholos tombs, as has been pointed out, is too great to be +neglected. Now if New Grange is derived from this source, it cannot +well be placed earlier than 1000 B.C. The idol, on the other hand, is +neolithic in date, and must have survived a considerable time to have +influenced the Irish carvings. It must also be borne in mind that no +other forms of this idol have been met with in Ireland. + + + * * * * * + + + + +INDEX + + + A + + Abercromby, Hon. John, 2, 96. + + Amber found in Ireland, 2, 65, 68. + + Annadale, Co. Leitrim, wooden shield found at, 75. + + Annaghkeen, Co. Galway, burial at, 1, 57. + + Anvil and hammers, 27, 28. + + Armoy, Co. Antrim, find made at, 81. + + Athenry, Co. Galway, bronze objects found at, 87. + + + B + + Bann, River, Co. Antrim, 21. + + Beakers found in Ireland, 95. + + Belfast, find of gold ring-money and bronze celt at, 87. + + Belmore Mountain, Co. Fermanagh, interment at, 1. + + Belturbet, bronze spear-heads found at, 33, 82. + + Birr, King's Co., celts found at, 7. + + Broighter find, 80. + + Bronze Age in Ireland, chronology of, 3-5; + 1st period of, 23-27; + finds of, 80-87; + ornamentation, characteristic of, 101-103. + + Bronze celts, evolution of, 23; + hafting of, 24, 25; + ornamentation of, 25, 26. + + + C + + Cappeen, Co. Cork, copper celts found at, 8, 85. + + Carraconway, Co. Cavan, trumpets found at, 87. + + Carrick O'Gunnell, Co. Limerick, trumpets found at, 86. + + Carrowkeel, Co. Sligo, interments at, 1. + + Chapes of bronze for swords, 72, 73. + + Chute Hall, Co. Kerry, trumpets found at, 85. + + Cinerary urns, 99, 100. + + Clare find of gold ornaments, 65, 66. + + Clements, Mr. H. J. B., 65. + + Clonbrin, Co. Longford, leather shield found at, 77. + + Clonmacnois, gold torc found at, 80. + + Clontoo, Co. Kerry, copper celts found at, 8. + + Coachford, Co. Cork, objects found at, 68, 81. + + Copper, counties in which obtained, 6. + + Copper celts, list of counties in which these have been found, 10-12. + + Copper Period in Ireland, 6-23. + + Cork, Co., trumpets found in, 87. + + Crumlin, Co. Dublin, urn found at, 2. + + Cullinagh, Co. Kerry, celts found at, 7. + + + D + + Daggers and Rapiers, 56-61. + + Déchelette, M. J., 58, 65, 102, 103. + + Disk-headed pins, 81, 92, 93. + + Dowris hoard, 82. + + Drumabest, Co. Antrim, trumpets found at, 87. + + Dublin, copper celts found in, 8. + + Dunfierth, Co. Kildare, gold lunulæ found at, 87. + + + F + + Finds of copper celts, 7, 8, 10-12. + + Finds of Bronze-Age implements and weapons, 80-87. + + Food-vessels, description of, 95-99. + + + G + + Glenstal, Co. Limerick, find of bronze objects at, 82. + + Gold balls found at Carrick-on-Shannon, 65. + + Gorgets, gold, 62-64. + + Gowland, Prof. W., 4. + + + H + + Halberds, 12-23; + analyses of, 17. + + Hallstatt Period in Ireland, 5, 63. + + Hillswood, Co. Galway, halberds found at, 85. + + + I + + Incense cups, 99. + + Irish gold deposits, 46, 47. + + Iron sword of Hallstatt type found in Ireland, 72. + + + K + + Kilfeakle, Co. Tipperary, bronze implements found at, 81. + + Killymeddy, Co. Antrim, find of moulds at, 40, 81. + + Kinnegoe bog, Co. Armagh, bronze objects found at, 85. + + Knocknague, Co. Galway, celts found at, 7. + + + L + + Lahardoun, Tulla, Co. Clare, find of bronze objects at, 81. + + Leaf-shaped swords, 71-73. + + Lisnacroghera crannog, 45. + + Lissane, Co. Derry, rapier found at, 58. + + Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, bronze shield found at, 74. + + Lunulæ, gold, 47-55. + + + M + + Macroom, Co. Cork, trumpets found at, 87. + + Manillas, African, similarity to Irish gold fibulæ, 70. + + Montelius, Dr. Oscar, 3, 23, 58, 61. + + Moulds for casting spear-heads, 39-44; + absence of, for casting leaf-shaped swords, 72; + for casting flat celts, 6, 9. + + Mountrivers, Coachford, Co. Cork, find at, 81. + + Moyarta, Co. Clare, trumpets found at, 85. + + Much, Dr., 22. + + Muller, Prof. S., 64. + + Mycenæ, leaf-shaped swords found at, 71. + + + N + + Naas, Co. Kildare, excavation at, 1. + + Neolithic pottery found in Ireland, 95. + + New Grange, 3-5; + ornamentation at, 101-103. + + + O + + Omagh, Co. Tyrone, moulds found at, 81. + + + P + + Padstow, Cornwall, gold lunulæ found at, 48. + + Palstaves with double loops, 27. + + Penannular rings and ring-money, 67-70. + + Polybius quoted, 77. + + Pottery of the Bronze Age, 94-100. + + + R + + Ridgeway, Prof. W., 70. + + Ring-money, 70. + + + S + + Schmidt, Herr Hubert, 23. + + Shields, bronze, 74, 75; + wood, 75; + leather, 77. + + Sickles, 90, 91; + mould for casting, 90. + + Smith, Mr. R. A., 64. + + Spain, halberds from, 19. + + Spear-heads, 29-38; + spear-ferules, 44, 45. + + St. Columba's College, collection, 82. + + Sullivan, Mr. M. J., 39. + + Sun-disks, gold, 64, 65. + + + T + + Tempo, Co. Fermanagh, swords found at, 82. + + Topped mountain cairn, find of objects made at, 56. + + Torcs, 78-80. + + Trumpets, 88, 89; + finds of, in Ireland, 85-87. + + + W + + Wicklow, gold obtained from, 46. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Bronze Age in Ireland, by George Coffey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BRONZE AGE IN IRELAND *** + +***** This file should be named 26880-8.txt or 26880-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/8/8/26880/ + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Anne Storer and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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