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
Archaeological 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. Dechelette 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] Dechelette, Manuel d'Archeologie Prehistorique, 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 Tene 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 Tene 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 Tene motives (fig. 45).