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
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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