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
That shown in Fig. 192 is from the great hoard discovered at Carlton
Rode,[576] Norfolk, already mentioned, and is preserved in the Norwich
Museum. The marks of the joint of the mould are still visible on the
tang. It was found with numerous celts and gouges, a hammer, and at
least one socketed chisel. Another tanged chisel of nearly the same
form and dimensions is also in the Norwich Museum. It formed part of
the Woodward Collection, and was probably found in Norfolk.
A chisel much more expanded at the edge, and also of lighter make,
was found at Wallingford, Berks, in company with a double-edged knife
or razor, and a socketed celt, gouge, and knife, of which notices are
given in other parts of this book. It is engraved as Fig. 193, and is
in my own collection, as is also the original of Fig. 194. This formed
part of the hoard discovered in Reach Fen, Cambridge, and was the only
one of the kind there found. A socketed chisel-like celt from the same
hoard has been already described and figured at page 133, Fig. 159.
Tanged chisels have also occurred in various other hoards of bronze
antiquities. Some were found with numerous celts and other tools at
Westow,[577] on the Derwent, Yorkshire, which from their curved edges
and general character the late Mr. James Yates regarded as the σμίλα
χαρτοτόμος, or chisel for cutting paper, mentioned by Philoxenus, and
as the currier’s chisel, σκιτοτόμος, mentioned by Julius Pollux. If
I were to offer an opinion it would be that any cutting tool of the
Bronze Period in Britain was more likely to have been used for cutting
leather than paper, the latter commodity being, to say the least of
it, scarce in Britain at that time; and, moreover, that chisels are
generally used for cutting wood and not leather.
In the collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S., are two of these tanged
chisels from Westow, about 4½ inches long and 1⅛ inch broad at the
edge. A small part of the blade below the round collar is cylindrical.
In the British Museum is a small specimen of this kind (3½ inches)
from the Thames.
[Illustration: Fig. 193.—Wallingford. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 194.—Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 195.—Thixendale. ½]
In the Mayer Collection at Liverpool is a specimen, 4 inches long and
⅞ inch broad at the edge, found near Canterbury in 1761. The collar is
flat above and almost hemispherical below. Another, with part of the
tang broken off, and the blade 2½ inches long and 1½ inch wide, was
found in the Kirkhead Cave, Ulverstone, Lancashire, and was described
to me by Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith.
Another, rather like Fig. 199, but broken at the angles, was found
with spear-heads and a socketed celt at Ty Mawr,[578] Anglesea. What
appears to be a chisel of this kind (4¾ inches long) was found near
Biggen Grange,[579] Derbyshire, and is in the Bateman Collection.
Another was found at Porkington,[580] Shropshire.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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