The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.Evans, John
History
The Ancient Bronze Implements, Weapons, and Ornaments, of Great Britain and Ireland.
Evans, John
Bronze age -- Great Britain; Bronze age -- Ireland; Great Britain -- Antiquities
An ornamentation of nearly the same character, but without pellets at
the end of the ribs, occurs on a socketed celt from Kiew,[450] Russia.
[Illustration: Fig. 137.—Kingston. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 138.—Cayton Carr. ½]
The vertical ribs or lines occasionally end in ring ornaments or
circles with a central pellet, like the astronomical symbol for the sun
☉. Next to the cross this ornament is, perhaps, the simplest and most
easily made, for a notched flint could be used as a pair of compasses
to produce a circle with a well-marked centre on almost any material,
however hard. We find these ring ornaments in relief on many of the
coins of the Ancient Britons, and in intaglio on numerous articles
formed of bone and metal, which belong to the Roman and Saxon periods.
On Italian palstaves they are the commonest ornaments. But though so
frequent on metallic antiquities of the latter part of the Bronze Age,
it is remarkable that the ornament is of very rare occurrence on any of
the pottery which is known to belong to that period.
A good example from Kingston, Surrey, of a celt with ring ornaments
at the end of the ribs is in the British Museum, and is shown in Fig.
137. Canon Greenwell possesses a nearly similar celt (5 inches) from
Seamer Carr, Yorkshire, the angles of which are ribbed or beaded. A
socketed celt with the same ornamentation, but with pellets having
a central boss instead of the ring ornaments, is in the museum at
Nantes.[451] It was found in Brittany.
Some of the Brittany celts like Fig. 120 have one ring-ornament on
each face, composed of two concentric circles and a central pellet.
On a celt found at Cayton Carr, Yorkshire, and in the collection of
Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., there is a double row of ring ornaments at
the end of the three ribs. Below the principal moulding at the top of
the celt is a band of four raised beads by way of additional ornament.
It is shown in Fig. 138. A nearly similar specimen is in the Museum of
the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne.
In a very remarkable specimen from Lakenheath,[452] Suffolk, preserved
in the British Museum and engraved as Fig. 139, there are three lines
formed of rather oval pellets, terminating in ring ornaments, and
alternating with them two plain beaded ribs ending in small pellets.
There are traces of a cable moulding round the neck above.
[Illustration: Fig. 139.—Lakenheath. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 140.—Thames. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 141.—Kingston. ½]
In another variety, also in the British Museum, and shown in Fig.
140, the three ribs ending in ring ornaments spring from a transverse
bead, between which and the moulding round the mouth are two other
vertical beads, about midway of the spaces between the lower ribs. It
is probable that this celt was found in the Thames.
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