Nor in treating of daggers can any trustworthy chronological arrangement be adopted, though it is probable, as already observed, that the thin flat blades are earliest in date. The late Dr. Thurnam, in the paper already frequently cited, has pointed out that of bronze blades without sockets there are two distinct types. These are the tanged, which he regards as perhaps the more modern, and those provided with rivet-holes in the base of the blade, which seem to be the most ancient. I purpose mainly to follow this classification; and, inasmuch as the tanged blades are most closely connected with the smaller examples of the same character, described in the last chapter, I take them first in order, though possibly they are not the earliest in date. [Illustration: Fig. 277.—Roundway. ½] But for its size, the blade shown in Fig. 277 might have been regarded as a knife for ordinary use. The original was found in a barrow at Roundway,[786] Wilts, covered with a layer of black powder, probably the remains of a wooden sheath and handle, the upper outline of which latter is marked upon the blade. It lay near the left hand of a contracted skeleton, with its point towards the feet. Between the bones of the left fore-arm was a bracer,[787] or arm-guard, of chlorite slate, and part of the blade and the tang of some small instrument, perhaps a knife. Near the head was a barbed flint arrow-head. A smaller blade[788] (5½ inches), of nearly the same shape and character, was found in one of the barrows near Winterslow, Wilts, as well as one more tapering in form. Another, from Sutton Courtney, Berks (6¼ inches by 1⅝ inches), is in the British Museum. Another (5½ inches) was found by Mr. Fenton in a barrow at Mere Down,[789] Wilts. In this case also there was a stone bracer near the left side of the contracted skeleton. Another, imperfect, and narrower in the tang, was found at Bryn Crûg,[790] Carnarvon, with interments. The double-looped celt (Fig. 88) was found at the same place. Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., has what appears to be a tanged dagger (6 inches) from Sherburn Wold, Yorkshire. A blade of this character (10 inches) was found by M. Cazalis de Fondouce in the cave of Bounias,[791] near Fonvielle (Bouches du Rhône), associated with instruments of flint. Smaller tanged blades, of which it is hard to say whether they are knives or daggers, are not uncommon in France. Two are engraved in the “Matériaux.”[792] I have specimens from Lyons, and also from Brittany.