SPEAR-HEADS, LANCE-HEADS, ETC.
THERE can be but little doubt that one of the weapons of offence in
earliest use among mankind must have been of the nature of a spear—a
straight stick or staff, probably pointed and to a certain extent
hardened in the fire. The idea of giving to such a staff a still harder
and sharper point by attaching to it a head of bone or of stone, such
as is still commonly in use among many savage tribes, would come next.
And, lastly, these heads or points would be formed of metal, when its
use for cutting tools and weapons had become general, and means had
been discovered for rendering it available for this particular purpose.
In the earlier part of the Bronze Age, when bronze was already in
use for knife-daggers and even for daggers, it would appear that the
spears and darts, if any such were in use, were in this country still
tipped with flint. How long this practice continued it is impossible
to say, and it is even doubtful whether any bronze spear-heads were in
use before the time when the founders had discovered the art of making
sockets by means of cores placed within the moulds. It is, however, not
impossible that some of the blades found in the Wiltshire barrows, and
the tanged weapons which have already been described in Chapter XI.,
may have been the heads of spears rather than the blades of daggers;
but even at the period to which they belong the art of making cores
must have been known, as the ferrule found at Arreton Down, and shown
in Fig. 324, will testify, as well as the hollow socket of Fig. 328.
In the South-east of Europe and in Western Asia, as in Cyprus and at
Hissarlik, tanged and not socketed spear-heads have been found in
considerable numbers; but such a form is of very rare occurrence in
Europe, and is unknown in Britain, unless possibly some of the blades
already described as knives or daggers, such as Fig. 277, were attached
to long rather than short handles, and should, therefore, have been
treated of in this chapter rather than in that in which I have placed
them. If spears were deposited in the graves with the dead, the shafts
must in all probability have been broken, for as a rule the graves for
bodies buried in the contracted position are not long enough to receive
a spear of ordinary length.
In the case of some few ancient socketed tools of bronze, the socket
has not been formed by casting over a core, but a wide plate of metal
has been hammered over a conical mandril so as to form a socket like
that of many chisels of the present day, and of the iron spear-heads
of earlier times. I am not aware of any bronze instruments with the
sockets formed in this manner ever having been found in this country.
In all cases the sockets have been produced by cores in the casting,
and in many spear-heads the adjustment of the core has been effected
with such nicety that a conical hollow extends almost to the tip,
with the metal around it of uniform substance, and often very thin in
proportion to the size of the weapon.
The heads of arrows, bolts, darts, javelins, lances, and spears so
nearly resemble one another in character, that it is impossible to draw
any absolute line of distinction between them. The larger varieties
must, however, have served for weapons retained in the hand as spears,
while those of small and moderate size may have been for weapons thrown
as lances, or possibly discharged as bolts or arrows. In length these
instruments vary from about 2 inches to as much as 36 inches.
Sir W. Wilde[1173] has divided the Irish spear-heads into four
varieties, as follows:—
1. The simple leaf-shaped, either long and narrow, or broad, with holes
in the socket through which to pass the rivets to fix them to the shaft.
2. The looped, with eyes on each side of the socket below and on the
same plane with the blade. These are generally of the long, narrow,
straight-edged kind.
3. Those with loops in the angles between the edge of the blade and the
socket.
4. Those with side apertures and perforations through the blade.
To these four classes may be added—
5. Those in which the base of each side of the blade projects at right
angles to the socket, or is prolonged downwards so as to form barbs.
[Illustration: Fig. 378.—Thames, London. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 379.—Lough Gur. ¼]
[Illustration: Fig. 380.—Lough Gur. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 381.—Heathery Burn Cave. ½]
A remarkably fine specimen of a broad leaf-shaped spear-head of the
first class is shown in Fig. 378. The original was found in the Thames
at London, and still contains a portion of the wooden shaft smoothly
and carefully pointed. The wood is, I think, ash; and my opinion
is supported by that of Mr. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., who has kindly
examined the shaft for me. There are no traces of the pin or rivet,
which in the spear-heads of this character appears to have been formed
of wood, horn, or bone, rather than of metal, probably with the view of
the head being more readily detached from the shaft, in case the latter
was broken. I have, however, a leaf-shaped bronze spear-head of this
class, found in the Seine at Paris, in which a metallic rivet is still
present. It is formed of a square rod of bronze, which at each end has
been hammered into a spheroidal button, of at least twice the diameter
of the hole through which the rivet passes. Portions of the wooden
shaft are still adhering to the rivet. The wood in this instance also
appears to be ash.
I have a rather narrower spear-head of the same type as Fig. 378
(10¾ inches), found with a bronze sword near Weymouth; and another
identical in type with that from the Thames, but only 9 inches long,
found in the county of Dublin.
Others of nearly the same form (12¾ inches and 8¾ inches) were found
with a bronze sword in an ancient entrenchment at Worth,[1174] in the
parish of Washfield, Devon.
Another spear-head of this type from the Thames[1175] (13½ inches) is
in the British Museum, as are others (13 inches and 10 inches long).
A remarkably fine bronze spear-head, found in Lough Gur, Co. Limerick,
with the lower part of the socket ornamented with gold, is of much
the same form as Fig. 378, and is shown on the scale of one-fourth
in Fig. 379. The ornamented part is shown on the scale of one-half
in Fig. 380. It is in the collection of General A. Pitt Rivers,
F.R.S., who has thus described the socket.[1176] Around it, “at top
and bottom, are two ferrules of very thin gold, each ⅜ inch in width.
Each ferrule is ornamented with three bands scored with from four to
seven transverse lines, and separated from each other by two bands
scored with incised longitudinal lines. The two ferrules are separated
by a band about 3/16 inch in width, in which longitudinal lines of
gold have been let into grooves in the bronze, leaving an intervening
line between each of the gold lines.” Most of these gold strips have,
however, now disappeared. The shaft of this spear is of bog oak 4 feet
8½ inches long, but though its authenticity has been accepted by many
good judges, I must confess that I do not regard it as the original.
Some other spear-heads ornamented with engraved lines, but not with
inlaid gold, will be mentioned further on. I may incidentally recall
the fact that the gold ring or ferrule around the spear-head of Hector
is more than once mentioned by Homer.[1177]
πάροιθε δὲ λάμπετο δουρὸς
Αἰχμὴ χαλκείν περὶ δὲ χρύσεος ϑέε πόρκης.
Another fine specimen of a spear-head with a long oval leaf-shaped
blade in Canon Greenwell’s Collection is shown in Fig. 381. It
was found with several others varying in length from 6⅝ inches to
11¼ inches, and numerous other articles of bronze and bone, in the
Heathery Burn Cave,[1178] Durham. As will be seen, the blade is
continued as a slight narrow projection along the socket as far as the
rivet-hole. The edges are somewhat fluted.
[Illustration: Fig. 382. Nettleham. ¼]
A spear-head of nearly the same form (10½ inches) was found in a peat
moss near the Camp Graves,[1179] Bewcastle, Cumberland. Another was
found in a hoard at Bilton, Yorkshire.[1180]
A very fine example (about 15 inches), as well as a smaller one of
the same type (about 8 inches), and one with lunate openings in the
blade (Fig. 418), were found with two swords (see Fig. 351) near
Whittingham,[1181] Northumberland.
I have others (9 inches to 11 inches) found with broken swords at
Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, and from the Reach Fen hoard. The same form
occurs in Ireland. I have a fine specimen (8⅝ inches) from Athlone.
Another (13¼ inches) is engraved by Wilde as his Fig. 362. A very
narrow spear-head, 14¾ inches long, and only 1⅜ inch wide, said to
have been found in a barrow near Headford, Co. Galway, is in the
British Museum.
A spear-head of this character from the Thames (16¾ inches), not
fluted at the edges and quite plain, is in the British Museum. The
blade is only 2¼ inches wide.
One from Stanwick, Yorkshire (8 inches), is in the British Museum, as
is one (11 inches) from Bannockburn, Scotland. An Irish specimen (10
inches) is devoid of rivet-holes.
Another spear-head of nearly the same type, but of smaller dimensions,
is given in Fig. 382. It was found, with some other spear-heads (Fig.
410), socketed celts (Figs. 155 and 157), palstaves (Fig 83), and
a ferrule, to be subsequently mentioned, at Nettleham,[1182] near
Lincoln, in 1860. They are now in the British Museum.
Others of the same type have been found at Winmarleigh[1183] and
Cuerdale,[1184] Lancashire, at Wardlow,[1185] Derbyshire, Little
Wenlock,[1186] Shropshire (8 inches), near Windsor[1187] (7 inches),
at Bottisham,[1188] Cambridge, and in Herts.[1189]
I have one from the River Lea[1190] at St. Margaret’s, Herts, and
others from Reach Fen, Cambridge.
[Illustration: Fig. 383. Achtertyre. ½]
Others were in the Guilsfield hoard,[1191] and in that of
Pant-y-maen,[1192] or the Glancych hoard. One from the latter hoard
is about 11 inches long. Another, more like Fig. 386, about 4 inches.
With them were found fragments of swords, a scabbard tip, some rings
and ferrules. Others (9 inches and 5 inches) were found, with a
socketed celt and knife, a tanged chisel, and other objects, at Ty
Mawr,[1193] on Holyhead Mountain.
Five were found in the hoard near Stanhope,[1194] Durham, with
socketed celts, a gouge, &c.
Of Scottish specimens the following may be noticed: one from
Lanark[1195] (5¾ inches), which has been figured; two (7¾ inches)
rather long in the socket, found with a bronze sword and a long
pin on the Point of Sleat,[1196] Isle of Skye; one (6 inches) from
Balmaclellan,[1197] New Galloway. One (5⅛ inches) from Duddingston
Loch, Edinburgh, is in the British Museum.
Leaf-shaped spear-heads such as Fig. 382 are of frequent occurrence in
various parts of France. A number were found at Alise Ste. Reine[1198]
(Côte d’Or), several of them ornamented with rings round the sockets.
They also are found in the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland[1199] and
Savoy. Many of them have parallel rings round the mouth of the
socket by way of ornament. They also occur in Germany[1200] and
Denmark.[1201] One from Northern Germany, still containing a part of
its wooden shaft, has been engraved by Von Estorff.[1202]
Those from Italy and Greece have very frequently facets running along
the midrib which contains the socket.
[Illustration: Fig. 384. North of Ireland. ½]
In Fig. 383 is shown a variety (11½ inches) with a projecting fillet
running down to the rivet-holes as in Fig. 381, which, however, in
this case forms the termination of small beads running along the sides
of the central rib. There is also a beading running along the midrib.
The original was found, with another spear-head, plain, a socketed
celt, some bronze rings, and fragments of tin, at Achtertyre,[1203]
Morayshire. Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., has a nearly similar spear-head (5
inches), found in Dublin.
A more elongated form, with the projecting part of the socket
considerably shorter, is shown in Fig. 384, from a specimen found
in the North of Ireland. A spear-head (20 inches) of the same form
of outline, but with a slight ridge running the whole length of the
socket from its mouth to the point, was found at Ditton,[1204] Surrey.
It is now in the British Museum, having been presented by the Earl of
Lovelace.
Another (14⅝ inches) in the same collection, found in the River
Thames,[1205] near the mouth of the Wandle, retains a portion of the
original wood in its socket. It was found in company with a bronze
sword, a palstave, and a long pin (Fig. 454).
One of much the same form as the figure (11 inches) was found at
Teigngrace,[1206] Devon. It has a delicate bead running down each side
of the midrib, and continued as a square projection below the blade.
Canon Greenwell has a long spear-head (14½ inches) from Quy Fen, with
grooves running up the blade at the side of the socket. The ends of
the blade are truncated so as to leave projections on the sides of the
socket above the rivet-hole. These are slightly ornamented.
I have seen another spear-head (11½ inches) with the base of the blade
slightly truncated in a similar manner. It was found near Eastbourne.
This elongated form is of common occurrence in Denmark and Northern
Germany,[1207] the necks being usually ornamented by delicate
punch-marking or possibly engraving.
A broader variety, with the socket considerably enlarged in the part
extending below the blade, is shown in Fig. 385. The original was
found in company with other spear-heads like Fig. 382 from 5⅝ inches
to 10⅝ inches long, two socketed celts with three vertical lines on
the face like Fig. 125, and two somewhat conical plates with central
holes, near Newark, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S.
A spear-head (6½ inches) not quite so broad in its proportions, said
to have been found in a tumulus, near Lewes,[1208] Sussex, is in
the British Museum, as is another (6½ inches) found near Bakewell,
Derbyshire.
A spear-head of the same general outline as Fig. 385, but with the
sides of the socket straighter, was found with others, as well as with
16 socketed celts, a knife, fragments of swords and of a quadrangular
tube (qy. a scabbard?) and a long ferrule, near Nottingham.[1209]
[Illustration: Fig. 385.—Newark. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 386.—Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 387.—Ireland. ½]
It is often the case that the sides of the upper part of the blade are
nearly straight, and the socket itself appears large in proportion to
the width of the blade. Such a spear- or lance-head from the Reach
Fen hoard is shown in Fig. 386. I have several others from the Fen
districts, as well as one of a shorter and broader form (5 inches)
with a large socket extending only an inch below the blade, found at
Walthamstow, Essex.
A spear-head from Unter-Uhldingen[1210] exhibits the same narrowness
of blade in proportion to the size of the socket.
In some cases the blade and socket are of nearly equal length.
Fig. 387 is here by permission reproduced from Wilde’s Catalogue, Fig.
367. It is only 3½ inches long, and may have been the head of a dart
or javelin rather than of a spear. I have an example of nearly the
same form and size from Co. Dublin. One in the British Museum is only
2 inches long, though the mouth of the socket is ¾ inch in diameter.
Some of these very small weapons may possibly have served to point
arrows. In the Norwich Museum is a head like Fig. 387, but with the
blade shorter in proportion and narrower, the total length of which is
only 1-11/16 inch. The blade is ½ inch wide, and the socket is only ⅜
inch in external diameter. A bronze arrow-head is said to have been
found in the Isle of Portland,[1211] but particulars are not given.
Another small point, in form rather like Fig. 386, and only 3⅛ inches
long, was found at Llan-y-mynech Hill,[1212] Montgomeryshire. Another,
3½ inches, was found near Pyecombe,[1213] Sussex.
One 4 inches long is said to have been found in Yorkshire.[1214]
Some double-pointed arrow-heads of bronze are mentioned as having been
found in Ireland,[1215] but in point of fact these were “razors” like
Fig. 274.
In this country,[1216] however, and not improbably in others, during
the period when bronze was in use for cutting tools and the larger
weapons, flint still served as the material from which arrow-heads
were usually made. Such a method of taking the census as that devised
by the Scythian king Ariantas would in Britain have produced but small
results; at all events, but few of the inhabitants would have been
able each to contribute his bronze arrow-head. Many of the bronze
arrow-heads found on the Continent appear to belong to the Early Iron
Age, but it is mainly in southern countries that they have been found.
In Egypt[1217] and Arabia they have occurred of the leaf-shaped as well
as of the three-edged form, which latter is common in Greece.
Some spear-heads appear to have had the form of their point somewhat
modified by grinding, as if from time to time they became blunted by
use and required to be re-sharpened. A kind of ogival outline such as
is shown in Fig. 388 appears, however, to have been intentional. The
original was found in the North of Ireland.
This ogival outline is of frequent occurrence among the bronze
spear-heads from Hungary.
The lance-head shown in Fig. 389, also from Wilde (Fig. 368), has
the blade of a trapezoid rather than of a leaf-shaped form, and in
general character more nearly approaches the looped variety, Fig. 397,
than those now under consideration. The socket also appears to be
quadrangular rather than round.
It will now be well to speak of some of the spear-heads of this class
which have either their sockets or their blades ornamented by engraving
or punching.
In Fig. 390 is shown a spear-head from the Reach Fen hoard, the
nature of the ornamentation on which will be seen from the cut. The
five bands, each of four parallel lines around the socket, have the
appearance of being engraved; but I think that this is not actually
the case, but that the lines have been punched in with a chisel-like
punch. The short transverse dotted lines have probably been made with
a serrated punch.
[Illustration: Fig. 388. North of Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 389. Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 390. Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 391. Thorndon. ½]
Another spear-head, with ornamentation of a nearly similar
character, is shown in Fig. 391. This example was found at Thorndon,
Suffolk,[1218] in company with a hammer (Fig. 210), a knife (Fig.
240), a gouge (Fig. 204), and an awl (Fig. 224), the whole of which
are now in the British Museum. Another in the same collection from
Thames Ditton (6⅛ inches) has three sets of three rings each, with
short vertical lines above the upper ring.
A small lance-head of this type (4½ inches), found at Ingham, Norfolk,
with socketed celts, has one band of four parallel lines round the
socket. It is now in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another from
the Broadward hoard (Shropshire)[1219] has two bands of four, and one
of two rings, the latter close to the mouth of the socket. A second
in the same hoard shows eight rings near the mouth of the socket, and
a line running down each side of the midrib prolonged below the blade
as far as the rivet-hole which it encloses. A spear-head from the
hoard found at Beddington, near Croydon,[1220] is ornamented in nearly
the same manner. It was found with a gouge, socketed celts, a portion
of celt mould, &c. That from Culham, near Abingdon, shown in Fig. 392,
has three sets of four rings and one of two, as well as some vertical
dotted lines above the upper ring. In this case the bands seem to have
been punched in with a serrated punch which produced four short lines
at each stroke, and by skilful manipulation these short lines were
made to join so as to form a continuous ring.
I have a spear-head from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5⅞ inches), with a small
raised band cast on the socket just below the rivet-hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 392. Culham. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 393. Athenry.]
A spear-head (6½ inches) in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, found
near Forfar, is ornamented with two bands of three parallel lines
round the socket.
The sockets of some Irish spear-heads are highly decorated. That of
a long leaf-shaped specimen from Athenry, Co. Galway, is shown in
Fig. 393, kindly lent me by the Royal Irish Academy. It is Fig. 382
in Wilde’s Catalogue, in which also some other examples are engraved.
The chevron ornament and the alternate direction of the hatching are
highly characteristic of the style of the Bronze Period.
A similar decoration is found on English specimens. One found at
Bilton, Yorkshire,[1221] with other spear-heads, fragments of swords,
and socketed celts, has round the socket three bands of triangles
alternately hatched and plain, and the blade is ornamented with a
single row of the same kind on each side of the central rib. One from
Edington Burtle, Somerset (4½ inches), in the Taunton Museum, has a
band of hatched triangles above three bands of parallel lines with
transverse lines between.
A broken spear-head from the Broadward[1222] find has the blade
ornamented in the same way. A row of plain triangles is left on each
side of the midrib, while the rest of the blade is hatched, the set
of parallel lines in each point between the plain triangles being
alternately to the right and to the left.
A fragment of a blade from the Haynes Hill hoard,[1223] Kent, has ring
ornaments engraved along each side of the midrib.
As has already been observed, the edges of this class of spear-heads
are not unfrequently fluted, but it occasionally happens that the
whole blade is ornamented by minute ribs and flutings. The spear-head
(10½ inches) found with two swords and two ferrules at Fulbourn,
Cambridge,[1224] affords an example of this kind. On each side of the
central rib containing the socket are two sharp ridges one below the
other, next comes a hollow fluting, then a ridge, and then the fluting
which forms the edge. To judge from the engraving, another found at
Gringley, Nottinghamshire,[1225] must also have been fluted in a
somewhat similar manner.
[Illustration: Fig. 394.—Thetford. ½]
The discovery of other leaf-shaped spear-heads with rivet-holes
through the sockets is recorded to have been made at the following
places, and many others might no doubt be added to the list: the
Thames, near Battersea[1226] (16¾ inches); near Wallingford[1227] (7¼
inches); and Kingston[1228] (6½ and 7-6/10 inches); two (7¾ inches
and 6 inches) were found near Toddington, Beds;[1229] at Beacon Hill,
Charnwood Forest, Leicestershire,[1230] two (7½ inches and 6½ inches)
were found with a socketed celt and gouge. Others were discovered near
Yarlet, Staffordshire;[1231] near Alnwick Castle[1232] (sixteen with
celts and swords); Vronheulog, Merionethshire;[1233] and Longy Common,
Alderney[1234] (one with blade ornamented).
The spear-heads of the second of the classes into which they are here
divided are those with loops at the side of the projecting socket.
These loops are usually more elongated than those on socketed celts
and palstaves, though they probably served a similar purpose, that of
securing the metallic head to the wooden handle. The metal of which
the loops are formed has frequently been flattened by hammering, so as
to reduce the projection of the loops beyond the socket; the flattened
part is often wrought into a lozenge form.
The strings which passed through these loops were probably secured to
some stop or collar on the shaft, and may have been arranged in some
chevron-like pattern with which these lozenges coincided. There are
usually no rivet-holes in the spear-heads of this class.
A specimen exhibiting these lozenges, and with the blade of nearly
the same form as those of the spear-heads of the first class, is
shown in Fig. 394. The upper part of the midrib containing the socket
is ridged, so that the section near the point is almost square. The
socket is slightly fluted round the mouth. The original was found at
Thetford, Suffolk.
A spear-head of the same type, but with only a single large
loop, found in Glen Kenns, Galloway, is engraved in the
_Archæologia_,[1235] but it seems probable that the figure is somewhat
inaccurate.
Another (5½ inches) with two loops was found at Hangleton Down,
Sussex.[1236] Another (5¼ inches), rather more elongated than Fig.
394, was found at Trefeglwys, Montgomeryshire.[1237] Another from
Shirewood Forest is engraved in the Archæologia.[1238] It has a
slightly ogival outline on each side, a peculiarity I have noticed in
other specimens. An example given in the same plate seems to have lost
the flat part of the blade.
I have one (6¼ inches) from Fyfield, near Abingdon.
Mr. M. Fisher has a specimen from the Fens at Ely (5⅜ inches), with
the midrib ridged like Fig. 396.
One from Hagbourn Hill, near Chiltern, Berks,[1239] is reported to
have been found with a socketed celt, a pin like Fig. 458, and another
like Fig. 453, together with a bronze bridle-bit, and some portions
of buckles like those of the late Celtic Period. These are now in the
British Museum. A few coins of gold and silver are said to have been
found at the same time.
One (6 inches) was found at Chartham, near Canterbury.[1240]
One, 5 inches long, from the Thames, is in the British Museum. It has
a small ridge or bead along the mid-feather. The loops have a diamond
engraved or punched upon them.
In one from Beckhampton, Wilts[1241] (4¾ inches), the side loops do
not appear to be flattened.
The form is of not unfrequent occurrence in Ireland, though perhaps
that with the raised ribs on the blade, like Fig. 397, is more common.
In one instance (13½ inches)[1242] the loops upon the socket are not
opposite each other, though, as usual, in the same plane as the blade.
A small specimen (5¼ inches) from Fairholme, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire,
is in the British Museum.
A small example of this type (about 3½ inches) is in the collection
formed by Sir R. Colt Hoare at Stourhead, and now at Devizes, and in
the same case with the dagger blades. It has been figured by the late
Dr. Thurnam[1243] in his valuable memoir in the _Archæologia_, and is
thought by him to have been found in a grave with burnt bones in one
of the Wilsford barrows near Stonehenge.
There is a diminutive variety of this class of weapon with two loops,
in which the blade is extremely narrow, like that from Lakenheath
shown in Fig. 395. I have another, 4⅞ inches, with even a smaller and
shorter blade, from Cumberland.
Canon Greenwell has one only 3 inches long, found near Nottingham. It
has three parallel grooves round the socket mouth. One, 4¼ inches,
from Ashdown, Berks, is in the British Museum.
A fragment of another of very small dimensions was found at Farley
Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British Museum.
A lance-head with a more leaf-shaped blade (6¼ inches) is said to have
been found in a tumulus at Craigton, near Kinross.[1244]
An Irish example, 2⅜ inches long, and comparatively broad in
proportion to its length, has been regarded as an arrow-head. It was
found at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.[1245] It has probably been broken and
repointed. An example much like Fig. 395 is engraved by Wilde as his
Fig. 379.
In some cases there is a ridge running along the whole or a great
part of the midrib on the blade so as to make the section near the
point almost cruciform. An example of this kind from the neighbourhood
of Cambridge is shown in Fig. 396. In this case the side loops are
unusually near the mouth of the socket, the cavity of which extends
about half-way along the blade. Canon Greenwell has an example of this
type (6½ inches), from Langton, Lincolnshire, with a longer socket,
and the loops about half-way along it.
[Illustration: Fig. 395. Lakenheath. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 396. Near Cambridge. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 397. North of Ireland. ½]
This ribbing along the midrib is of frequent occurrence on Irish
spear-heads, and was probably intended to strengthen as well as to
decorate the blade. The projecting ribs on the flat part of the blade
were also probably added for the same purpose. Fig. 397 shows a
spear-head with these ridges, found in the North of Ireland.
[Illustration: Fig. 398.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 399.—Thames. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 400.—Ireland. ½]
The blade is carried down as a slight projection along the socket
until it meets the side loops, the outer faces of which are expanded
into lozenges.
I have a shorter example (5½ inches) from Old Kilpatrick,
Dumbartonshire, Scotland; one from Termon, Co. Tyrone, is engraved in
the _Archæological Journal_.[1246]
In some the blade is proportionally wider and shorter. I have one from
near Enniskillen (7¼ inches), in which the blade between the socket
and the ribs is so thin that two long holes have been eaten or worn
through it, giving it the appearance of belonging to the perforated
class to be subsequently described.
An Irish specimen much like Fig. 397 is engraved in “Horæ
Ferales.”[1247]
A small broad-bladed form is of very common occurrence in Ireland. An
example is given in Fig. 398. Another is engraved by Wilde (Fig. 369).
Some have two diagonal ribs on each side of the blade instead of only
one. A rather more pointed form is given by Vallancey.[1248] There are
others figured in the “Horæ Ferales.”[1249]
This type is of rare occurrence in England, but one (4½ inches?)
much like Fig. 398 was ploughed up at Heage,[1250] in the parish
of Duffield, Derbyshire, and another (4⅝ inches) was found near
Lincoln.[1251]
A gracefully shaped spear-head, with parallel beadings upon the blade,
and having very flat loops with pointed oval faces on the socket, was
found in the Thames, and formed part of the Roach Smith Collection,
now in the British Museum. It is shown in Fig. 399, and appears to be
unique of its kind. A plain spear-head (7 inches) of much the same
form, and another of the same length, but wider and flatter, were
found at Edington Burtle, Somerset, and are now in the Museum at
Taunton.
[Illustration: Fig. 401.—Near Ballymena. ½]
A very remarkable specimen in the Royal Irish Academy is engraved as
Fig. 400. It has already been figured on a small scale by Wilde, who
thus describes it:[1252] “A long narrow spear with concave or recurved
sides, and long lozenge-shaped loops on each side of the socket, where
the circular form of that portion of the weapon becomes angular.
Narrow lateral ridges connect these loops with the base of the blade,
which has hollow bevelled edges, and is as sharp as the day it came
from the mould. The socket margin is decorated with a fillet of five
elevations, and a double linear engraved or punched ornament forming
a triangular pattern like that seen in some antique gold ornaments.
A sharp ridge extends along the middle of the socket from the loops
to the point, on each side of which, as well as in the angles between
the blade and the socket, there are lines of small oval punched
indentations apparently effected by the hand.”
In one of the looped forms both the blade and the socket are often
highly ornamented. The socket part is made to appear somewhat like a
haft to the blade, as in the Arreton Down specimen (Fig. 328), and
the blade itself has ridges running nearly parallel to the edges,
the midrib being almost square in section. An example of this kind
from Ballymena is, by the kindness of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., shown in
Fig. 401. As will be seen, the socket, blade, and external faces of
the loops are all ornamented with engraved and punctured lines. A
beautiful example from Ireland (6½ inches), the socket engraved with
a double ring of chevrons near the middle, and a single ring near the
base, and also ornamented with dotted circles and lines extending down
the blade, is in the British Museum. It has two knobs on each side of
the socket simulating rivets.
Other varieties with the midrib more rounded are given by Wilde,[1253]
and two of his figures are, by the kindness of the Council of the
Royal Irish Academy, here reproduced as Figs. 402 and 403.[1254] The
original of Fig. 402 is 5 inches long. It has “a central circular stud
opposite the base of the blade, beneath which there are a series of
minute continuous lines margined on both sides by a row of elevated
dots.” The socket and the outer surface of the loops are also highly
decorated.
Fig. 403 is 7½ inches long, and is also artistically ornamented.
[Illustration: Fig. 402.—Ireland. ⅔]
[Illustration: Fig. 403.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 404.—Ireland.]
An example of this kind is given in “Horæ Ferales.”[1255]
One (5¼ inches) from the Dean Water, Forfarshire, is in the
Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. The blade is ornamented by incised
lines and punctulations.
Fig. 404, also kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy (Wilde, Fig.
378), shows a smaller and a plainer type.
An unornamented lance-head of this type (5 inches) was found at
Peel,[1256] in the Isle of Man. Another, 5⅝ inches, with three
bands of parallel lines round the socket, was obtained at Douglas,
Lanarkshire.[1257]
The spear-heads of this class with loops at the side of the sockets
are almost unknown out of the British Islands. In my own collection,
however, is one from the Seine at Paris (6¼ inches), almost identical
in form with Fig. 394, but with the lozenge-shaped plates forming the
loops somewhat wider.
[Illustration: Fig. 405.—Elford. ½]
A highly ornamented spear-head from Hungary,[1258] preserved in the
Museum at Buda-Pest, has small semicircular loops at the sides of the
socket.
The third class of spear-heads consists of those with loops at the base
of the blade connecting it with the socket. There are many varieties
of this class, which includes some of the most elegant forms of these
ancient weapons. The reason for adopting this particular kind of loop
appears to be that they were, when thus attached to the blade, less
liable to be broken off or damaged than when they formed isolated
projections from the socket. The spear-heads were also more readily
polished and furbished when the socket was left as a plain tube.
The loops are very frequently formed by the continuation of two ribs
along the margin of the blade, which are curved inwards from the base
of the blade until they join the socket.
A good example of this formation of the loop is shown in Fig. 405. The
original was found at Elford, Northumberland, and is in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S.
Another of nearly the same form, but without the ribs on the blade,
was found near Lowthorpe, Yorkshire, E.R., and is in the possession of
Mr. T. Boynton, of Ulrome Grange.
The very graceful spear-head shown in Fig. 406 was found at Isleham
Fen, Cambridge, in 1863, and is a remarkably fine casting, the cavity
for the reception of the shaft being no less than 12¼ inches in
length, and perfectly central in the blade.
[Illustration: Fig. 406.—Isleham Fen. ½]
I have another spear-head of the same type (18 inches), probably from
the Thames, almost as well cast, but rather heavier in proportion to
its size. There are traces of wood in the socket, as is also the case
in another of the same form (14½ inches) dredged from the Thames at
Battersea,[1259] and now in the Bateman Collection. The wood has been
thought to be ash. Another similar, but originally about 20 inches
long, was found in the Thames near Runnymede;[1260] and another in
the collection of General A. Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., 17 inches long, was
found at Hampton Court.
Another (13¾ inches) from the Thames at Thames Ditton is in the
British Museum.
One (15¼ inches) from Bottisham Lode, Cambridge, is in the British
Museum; as is another (14¼ inches) from the New River Works,
Pentonville. I have seen others from Coveney Fen (16¾ inches, Mr.
Fisher), and from Woolpit, near Bury St. Edmunds (8⅞ inches). The
blade of one (11⅜ inches) without the socket was found at Stanwick,
Yorkshire, and is now in the British Museum.
One (13½ inches) was found with three rapier-shaped blades near
Maentwrog, Merionethshire, and is in the same collection.[1261]
Another, broken, in the Museum at Taunton, is said to have been found
in the Roman villa at Wadsford, Combe St. Nicholas, near Chard. Its
original length must have been about 18 inches.
In the specimen from Stibbard, Norfolk,[1262] shown in Fig. 407, the
ribs upon the blade are less distinct, and the loops are widened out
so as to show a lozenge form when the edge of the blade is seen. This
spear-head was found with nine others and about seventy palstaves
about 1806, and is in the state in which it left the mould, having
never been finished by hammering and grinding, though the core has
been extracted. I have seen a specimen in the collection of Mr. J.
Holmes, found at Morley, near Leeds, in which the hammering process
had been applied to a part only of the blade, which had evidently
broken in the operation. The partly finished base and the unfinished
point were found together.
An Irish example of this form has been engraved by Vallancey.[1263]
This type is rare in France, but a specimen is in the Museum at
Carcassonne (Aude), and another in that at St. Germain.
In some spear-heads of nearly the same form there is a raised bead
running down the midrib as in Fig. 408. This beautifully finished
weapon was bought in Dublin, but I cannot say in what part of Ireland
it was found.
A smaller and broader specimen (7 inches) in my collection was found
at Clough, near Antrim.
I have another (10¾ inches) from the north of Ireland in which the
midrib half-way along the blade expands to form an edge almost as
sharp as that at the sides. Near the point the section is cruciform,
as in Fig. 396.
[Illustration: Fig. 407.—Stibbard. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 408.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 409.—Lakenheath Fen. ¼]
A spear-head found near Hay, on the river Wye, and now in the Museum
of the Society of Antiquaries of London, presents the same peculiarity
as Fig. 408.
Some ancient bronze spear-heads from China[1264] are provided with
central ridges of the same kind on the blades. They have but one loop,
and that is on the face, and there is a deep notch at the mouth of the
socket.
[Illustration: Fig. 410. Nettleham. ½]
The long blades are often more leaf-shaped and less truncated at the
base than that shown in Fig. 406. A very large specimen of this kind
from Lakenheath Fen is shown on the scale of ¼ inch in Fig. 409. The
point is unfortunately lost, but is restored in the engraving. The
midrib containing the socket is ridged, and the outer faces of the
loops expand into the diamond form.
One of nearly the same character (22¼ inches), found in the Thames
at Datchet, forms part of the Roach Smith Collection,[1265] now in
the British Museum. Another (11½ inches) was found with palstaves at
Sherford,[1266] near Taunton.
A specimen in the British Museum (15¾ inches) has an ornament of
hatched chevrons round the base of the socket, and the lozenge-shaped
flanges are also ornamented with hatched open mascles.
A spear-head of the same form (15½ inches) from Ireland[1267] has the
ridge decorated with lines of dots, and the socket with bands and a
chevron pattern. A plain specimen, no less than 26¾ inches long, found
at Maghera, Co. Londonderry,[1268] has been figured by Wilde.
In others the midrib is conical, and the blade nearly flat, or with
only a shallow channel along the sides of the midrib. One such from
the find at Nettleham, Lincolnshire,[1269] now in the British Museum,
is, by the kindness of Mr. Franks, shown in Fig. 410. I have one
nearly similar (9½ inches) from Edmonton Marsh. One (7½ inches) from
the Thames at Lambeth is in the British Museum, as are others from the
same river varying in length from 9 to 15¾ inches.
One from Speen, Berks[1270] (7 inches), is of the same character,
as is one (8¼ inches) from Crawford, Lanarkshire.[1271] Another (9
inches) from Horsey, near Peterborough, Hunts, has been engraved
by Artis.[1272] Another (10½ inches) from the Severn at Kempsey,
Worcestershire,[1273] appears to have been of this type. I have seen
others from the Cambridge Fens. One (5½ inches) from Edington Burtle,
Somerset, is in the Taunton Museum.
[Illustration: Fig. 411.—Knockans. ½]
A spear-head of this character (10½ inches), with the faces of the
loops lozenge-shaped, was found with two looped palstaves and a
chisel (Fig. 197) at Broxton, about twelve miles south of Chester. It
is now in the collection of Sir P. de M. G. Egerton, Bart., who has
kindly shown it to me.
Spear-heads of this character are occasionally found in Scotland. Two
from Wigtonshire[1274] have been figured.
The form is common in Ireland. I have one 12 inches long from one of
the northern counties.
A spear-head (6½ inches) with small projecting loops at each side of
the blade was found near Hawick, Roxburghshire.[1275]
In Fig. 411 is shown a remarkably fine spear-head in the collection
of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., which exhibits the peculiarity of having
the loops formed by the prolongation of small ribs on each side of the
midrib, and of having, in addition, a rivet-hole through the socket.
It was found at Knockans, Co. Antrim.
An Irish spear-head (14¾ inches) with loops at the lower end of the
blade, and the socket pierced for a rivet, was exhibited to the
Archæological Institute in 1856.[1276]
The fourth class of spear-heads, those with openings in the blade, may
again be subdivided into those in which the openings appear to have
served as loops for attaching the blade to the shaft, and those in
which these apertures seem to have been mainly intended for ornament,
or possibly for diminishing weight.
Of the former kind appear to be those which have merely two small slits
in the lower part of the blade, such as would seem adapted for the
insertion of a cord. These holes are usually protected by projections
rising from the blade on the outer side of the holes.
[Illustration: Fig. 412.—Lurgan. ¼]
[Illustration: Fig. 413.—Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 414.—Antrim. ½]
A fine spear-head in my own collection thus perforated, found near
Lurgan, Co. Armagh,[1277] is shown in Fig. 412. It is 24 inches in
length, and 3¼ inches in extreme breadth.
The openings are about 17 inches from the point. An Irish friend has
suggested that they were for the reception of poison, but after the
blade had penetrated seventeen inches into the human body such an use
of poison would probably be superfluous.
A spear-head of the same form (19⅛ inches) was found on the hill
of Rosele, Duffus, Morayshire,[1278] and is now in the Elgin
Museum. Another, broken, but still 10⅝ inches long, was found with
a rapier-shaped blade at Corbridge, Northumberland.[1279] A broken
specimen was found in the Isle of Portland.[1280]
A spear-head (10 inches) with small openings in the blade was found,
with palstaves, socketed celts, rapiers, bracelets, and a ferrule, at
Wallington, Northumberland, and is in the possession of Sir Charles
Trevelyan.
[Illustration: Fig. 415.—Thames. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 416.—Naworth Castle. ½]
An “eyed” spear-head 22 inches long was found in the Thames near
Datchet,[1281] but whether it was of this or some other type I cannot
say. One (9 inches) with two holes at the base of the leaf above the
ferrule was found near Speen, Berks.[1282]
A broader form (13½ inches) from Ireland is engraved by Wilde (Fig.
365), and another broader still is shown in my Fig. 413. This has a
rivet-hole on the front of the socket, as well as the holes in the
blade. This is also in the Dublin Museum.
In some instances the blade is very much shorter in proportion to
the length of the socket, as will be seen in Fig. 414, the original
of which was found in the county of Antrim, and is now in Canon
Greenwell’s collection.
A remarkably fine English example of the same class is shown in Fig.
415. This specimen was found in the Thames, and is now in the British
Museum. The small projecting flanges at the side of the holes in the
blade are very strongly marked, and form circular discs when seen with
the edge of the spear-head towards the spectator.
The simplest of the forms, in which the holes in the blade appear
to be for ornament rather than use, is that in which there are two
circular or oval holes through the blade, one on either side of
the midrib containing the socket. The spear-head shown in Fig. 416
was found near Naworth Castle, Cumberland, in 1870, and is in the
collection of Canon Greenwell. In general form it resembles the type,
Fig. 381. It is provided with a rivet-hole through the socket.
[Illustration: Fig. 417.—Blakehope. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 418.—Whittingham. ¼]
Some Italian spear-heads have two circular holes in the blade, but
nearer the base.
In the spear-head shown in Fig. 417 there is no trace of a rivet-hole
in the socket, the end of which, however, is broken, and the two
oval orifices in the blade are placed one somewhat below the other.
This specimen is in Canon Greenwell’s collection, and was found at
Blakehope, Northumberland.
[Illustration: Fig. 419.—Winmarleigh. ¼]
The more truly characteristic spear-heads of this class have two
crescent-shaped or lunate openings, one on each side of the midrib
containing the socket, which thus is made, as it were, to reappear
in the middle of the blade. There is usually a rivet-hole in the
projecting part of the socket below the blade, so that these openings
must be regarded as ornamental, or else as intended to diminish the
weight of the weapon.
The original of Fig. 418 was found about 1847, near Whittingham,
Northumberland,[1283] in company with some other spear-heads and two
swords, and is now in the possession of Lord Ravensworth. The surface
of the blade is ornamented by being worked into steps or terraces, and
the socket by bands of parallel lines.
A rather longer specimen was found, together with a plain leaf-shaped
spear-head and five socketed celts, at Winmarleigh, near Garstang,
Lancashire.[1284] By the kindness of the curators of the Warrington
Museum I am enabled to give it as Fig. 419. It is 19½ inches long.
There are small ridges by the side of the midrib and round the margin
of the openings.
Another like it, but only 15¼ inches long, was found with a socketed
celt near Middleham, Yorkshire.
Some fragments of spear-heads of this character were found with other
bronze antiquities in Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh.[1285]
The same form has occurred in Ireland.[1286] A fine example (14
inches) from a hoard at Dowris, King’s County,[1287] is in the British
Museum.
A spear-head of this type, about 8 inches long, is in the Boucher de
Perthes Collection at Abbeville.
A spear-head smaller than Fig. 419, but of the same general character,
is shown in Fig. 420. It was found in Burwell Fen, Cambridge, about
1869. There is a double bead along each side of the midrib, and the
blade is in two steps or terraces. Around the crescent-shaped opening
the beading is grained or milled transversely. A projection is carried
down along the socket from the blade, so as to allow the rivet-hole to
be made in it. The socket extends to within 1½ inches of the point.
[Illustration: Fig. 420.—Burwell Fen. ½]
A spear-head of nearly the same size, with the openings somewhat
smaller, but ornamented in a similar manner, was found with
celts, palstaves, gouges, swords, scabbards, &c., at Guilsfield,
Montgomeryshire,[1288] in 1862. Another, broken, was found at the same
time. Another was in the hoard at Little Wenlock, Shropshire,[1289]
but does not appear to have been ornamented. There was a fragment of
another, plain, in the Broadward[1290] find.
In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are some spear-heads of this
character, with the openings on the blade rather longer in proportion.
One was found in the bottom of a cairn at Highfield, Urray, near
Dingwall, Ross-shire.[1291] Others were found in Roxburghshire and
Stirlingshire.
Some of the spear-heads of this type which have been found in Ireland
are highly ornamented. A very fine specimen given by Wilde (Fig. 374)
has several mouldings with a kind of cable pattern upon them. Others
have circular perforations in addition to the lunate openings; and in
one instance the socket is decorated with bands and vertical lines
(Wilde, Fig. 372).
A small lance-head from Jelabugy, Russia,[1292] with comparatively
large crescent-shaped openings in the blade, has been figured by
Worsaae.
The cut for Fig. 421 is kindly lent me by the Society of Antiquaries
of Scotland. The original, 19 inches long, was found with a
bronze sword at Denhead, Cupar-Angus, Forfarshire,[1293] and has
unfortunately been somewhat broken.
[Illustration: Fig. 421.—Denhead. ¼]
[Illustration: Fig. 422.—Speen. ½]
As will be seen, there are ten circular holes, besides two long
crescents. The socket is said by Professor Daniel Wilson to contain
a thin rod or core of iron, which was inserted in the mould to
strengthen this unusually large weapon; but what seemed to Dr. Wilson
to be an iron rod is really a piece of wood that has been recently
inserted when the spear-head was mended.
In the last class into which these weapons are here divided, are placed
those which are barbed at the base of the blade, or in very rare
instances are square at that part.
A good typical example (10-7/12 inches) is shown in Fig. 422, from an
original found at Speen, Berks.[1294] It is very heavy, weighing 11¾
ozs. troy, or more than ¾ lb. avoirdupois. Another of the same size,
but lighter (8 ozs.), was found in the Severn, near Worcester.[1295]
Another (10¾ inches), found in the Plaistow Marshes, Essex, and now in
the British Museum, has a rivet of bronze 2⅜ inches in length still
in the rivet-hole. Curiously enough this long rivet appears to be a
speciality of this class of weapons. Some of this type, together with
some fragments twisted and adhering together as if partially molten,
were found in the Thames at Kingston,[1296] and in one of them was the
bronze rivet. These are now in the British Museum. Some broken barbed
spear-heads of larger size (about 14 inches), also with the rivets
still in position, were found with bronze ferrules at a spot called
“Bloody Pool,” South Brent, Devon.[1297]
Another (7 inches), found at Pendoylan, near Cardiff,
Glamorganshire,[1298] has an oval socket pierced on one side for a
rivet, which, however, is wanting.
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses an example much like that from
Speen (10⅞ inches) found in Yorkshire, near the river Humber.
In the Broadward find[1299] (Shropshire) were several spear-heads of
this type, mostly retaining their bronze rivets. One of them, about
6 inches long and 3 inches broad, has the base of the blade at right
angles to the socket, and not sloping downwards. Several bronze
ferrules were included in the hoard. What appears to have been a
discovery of nearly the same character took place in a bog on a farm
called the Wrekin Tenement,[1300] also in Shropshire, where a celt,
a small number of swords, and about one hundred and fifty fragments
of spear-heads were found. They are described as being for the most
part about 8 inches in length, and having rivets of bronze through the
sockets. I have not met with the type in Scotland or Ireland.
It has been suggested that these weapons were fishing spears, and
certainly their barbed form, so distinct from that of the more common
spear-heads, raises a presumption that they were intended for some
special purpose. It appears to me, however, as it already has done to
others, that such weapons are too clumsy to have been used for the
capture of fish of any ordinary size, and would have made sad havoc
even of a forty-pound salmon. If they were used for the chase at
all, it is more probable that they were intended for attacking large
four-footed game, such as wild oxen, either by thrusting or darting,
and that the weapons were left in the wound, the shafts encumbering
the animal in its flight. If, as would probably be the case, these
got broken by the animal, the long rivets were well adapted for being
removed so as to allow of the broken shaft being taken out, and would
again serve to retain a new one.
Mention has already been made of ferrules having been frequently
discovered in company with ordinary spear-heads; and from this fact,
and the size and character of the ferrules, the inference has, with
much probability, been drawn that they served to tip the lower ends of
the shafts of spears and lances.
[Illustration: Fig. 423. Nettleham. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 424. Guilsfield. ¼]
The illustrations given in Figs. 423 and 424 will serve to show the
usual character of these objects. They vary in length from about 16
inches down to 8 inches, and are about ¾ inch or less in diameter. They
are not made from a flat piece of metal turned over, but are cast in
one piece, having been very carefully “cored.” The metal, especially
near the mouth, is very thin, and there is usually a small hole nearer
this end than the other to allow of a pin or rivet being inserted to
keep the ferrule on the shaft.
The original of Fig. 423 (8¼ inches) was found with spear-heads and
other articles at Nettleham, near Lincoln, and is now in the British
Museum.[1301]
One 14 inches long, bluntly pointed at the base, was found in the
Thames, near London, and is now in the British Museum. It has a
portion of the wooden shaft inside, which appears to be of beech.
The hole for the pin is still visible in the wood, but the pin has
perished. It may have been made of horn.
Fig. 424 is on the scale of one-fourth, the original being 14 inches
long. It was found with eleven others, varying in length from 10 to
16 inches, and with spear-heads and other articles, at Guilsfield,
Montgomeryshire.[1302]
Another ferrule (9½ inches) was found, with spear-heads, socketed
celts, &c., near Nottingham.[1303]
Four such (about 7 inches) were found, with spear-heads, &c., at
Bloody Pool, South Brent, Devon.[1304]
Canon Greenwell has a specimen from Antrim (9½ inches), the end of
which is worn obliquely, as if by trailing on the ground. It has a
single rivet-hole.
A very long ferrule of this kind (14½ inches), but with a small disc
at the base, is in the Museum at Nantes. It was found in the bed of
the Loire.
A shorter form, somewhat expanding towards the base, is shown in Fig.
425. This, together with three others, none more than 4¼ inches long,
was found, with spear-heads, &c., at Pant-y-maen, near Glancych.[1305]
In the Broadward find[1306] were six tubes, varying in length from 6
to 2 inches, of which one only was of this type. Some were so small
that the diameter did not exceed ¼ inch.
A small ferrule of this kind was in the hoard found at Beddington,
near Croydon,[1307] and part of one in that of Wickham Park. The
latter is now in the British Museum.
What appears to be a ferrule of this kind, but more widely expanded
at the end, like Fig. 425, is described in Gordon’s “Itinerarium
Septentrionale”[1308] as “a Roman tuba, or trumpet.”
Another of these expanded ferrules is in the Museum of the Cambridge
Antiquarian Society.[1309]
In the Fulbourn find[1310] there were two ferrules expanding at the
base to about 2 inches in diameter, which were regarded by Dr. Clarke
as having been the feet of two spears. He points out that similar feet
for spears may be seen represented on Greek vases.[1311] The οὐρίαχος
or σαυρωτήρ of Homer[1312] appears to have been more susceptible of
being driven into the ground. This point at the base was sometimes
used for fighting when the spear-head proper was broken.
Among the African tribes on the shores of the Gambia, the spears, as
Mr. Syer Cuming[1313] has pointed out, have a chisel- or celt-like
ferrule at the base of their shafts; and this fashion extends all
across Africa to Madagascar,[1314] and recurs in Borneo.
Some Danish ferrules[1315] present the same peculiarity of being
chisel-like at the base.
Another form, more spherical at the base, is shown in Fig. 427, copied
from the _Archæological Journal_.[1316] The original, with several
others, was found at St. Margaret’s Park, Hereford. The socket tapers
to a point 1½ inches from the extremity.
A nearly similar ferrule, but with a slight cylindrical projection
beyond the spherical part, was found with other bronze objects at
Lanant, Cornwall.[1317] A kind of pointed ferrule of a nearly square
section, with the faces hollowed, which was found near Windsor,[1318]
and is now in the British Museum, not improbably belongs to a later
date than the Bronze Period.
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy are several ferrules,
apparently for the end of spear shafts, some of which are said to have
been found with spear-heads. Many of these have ornaments of a late
Celtic[1319] character upon them. Others[1320] appear to have been
made from plates turned over and soldered, and not to have been cast
hollow. Both of these kinds are of more recent date than the Bronze
Age.
Tapering ferrules of bronze occur in Italy, and a pointed iron
ferrule, probably belonging to a barbed javelin of Roman age, was
found in the river Witham, near Lincoln.[1321]
A ferrule, about 3 inches long, with parallel lines engraved round it,
is in the Museum at Clermont Ferrand. Another, more conical, is in
that of Narbonne.[1322] Some with expanded button-like ends have been
found in the Lake-dwellings of Savoy. Several ferrules, some of them
very short, were found with bronze spear-heads at Alise Ste. Reine
(Côte d’Or).[1323]
[Illustration: Fig. 425.—Glancych. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 426.—Fulbourn. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 427.—Hereford. ½]
Others, some of them ornamented, formed part of the great Bologna
hoard.
A ferrule was found with a bronze spear-head, between 23 and
24 inches long, in the Alban Necropolis, and is figured in the
_Archæologia_.[1324] Padre Garrucci regards this spear as neither
Greek, nor Etruscan, nor Latin, but Celtic.
Although the simple leaf-shaped spear-heads from the British Isles
present close analogies with those from the other parts of Europe,
yet for the most part those of the other types, with loops to the
sockets, with openings in the blade, or of the barbed class last
described, present peculiarities of their own. Several of these types
appear, indeed, to have been evolved in Britain or in Ireland, and the
differences they exhibit from the ordinary continental types are more
marked than in any other class of bronze weapons. Though loops are
such a common adjunct to the socketed celts of other countries, yet
looped palstaves are comparatively rare abroad. At the same time, as
will have been seen, hardly any examples of looped spear-heads from
foreign countries can be cited, while in Britain, and more especially
in Ireland, they are very abundant. This fact, in whatever way it is to
be accounted for, affords a most conclusive argument against assigning
a Roman origin for our bronze weapons; a looped spear-head, so far as
I am aware, never having been discovered in Italy, and but very rarely
even in Gaul. The spear-heads with the small apertures in the blade
appear also to be of an indigenous type.
Some of the iron spear-heads from Hallstatt and elsewhere have been
made in imitation of those in bronze, and have been welded along the
whole length of their sockets in a manner which displays the highest
skill in the smiths. But, unlike the iron palstaves and socketed celts,
none of the spear-heads are provided with a loop. In later times the
sockets of the iron spear-heads were left with an open slit along them,
a method of manufacture which produced an equally serviceable weapon,
and involved far less trouble.
As to the position in time which spear-heads occupy in the Bronze Age,
it is probable that it is towards the close rather than the beginning
of that period. Not only are spear-heads almost, if not quite, absent
from our barrows, but the skill involved in producing implements so
thin and so truly cored could only have been acquired after long
practice in casting. The objects to be considered in the next chapter
are also of comparatively late date.