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
This ogival outline is of frequent occurrence among the bronze
spear-heads from Hungary.
The lance-head shown in Fig. 389, also from Wilde (Fig. 368), has
the blade of a trapezoid rather than of a leaf-shaped form, and in
general character more nearly approaches the looped variety, Fig. 397,
than those now under consideration. The socket also appears to be
quadrangular rather than round.
It will now be well to speak of some of the spear-heads of this class
which have either their sockets or their blades ornamented by engraving
or punching.
In Fig. 390 is shown a spear-head from the Reach Fen hoard, the
nature of the ornamentation on which will be seen from the cut. The
five bands, each of four parallel lines around the socket, have the
appearance of being engraved; but I think that this is not actually
the case, but that the lines have been punched in with a chisel-like
punch. The short transverse dotted lines have probably been made with
a serrated punch.
[Illustration: Fig. 388. North of Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 389. Ireland. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 390. Reach Fen. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 391. Thorndon. ½]
Another spear-head, with ornamentation of a nearly similar
character, is shown in Fig. 391. This example was found at Thorndon,
Suffolk,[1218] in company with a hammer (Fig. 210), a knife (Fig.
240), a gouge (Fig. 204), and an awl (Fig. 224), the whole of which
are now in the British Museum. Another in the same collection from
Thames Ditton (6⅛ inches) has three sets of three rings each, with
short vertical lines above the upper ring.
A small lance-head of this type (4½ inches), found at Ingham, Norfolk,
with socketed celts, has one band of four parallel lines round the
socket. It is now in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another from
the Broadward hoard (Shropshire)[1219] has two bands of four, and one
of two rings, the latter close to the mouth of the socket. A second
in the same hoard shows eight rings near the mouth of the socket, and
a line running down each side of the midrib prolonged below the blade
as far as the rivet-hole which it encloses. A spear-head from the
hoard found at Beddington, near Croydon,[1220] is ornamented in nearly
the same manner. It was found with a gouge, socketed celts, a portion
of celt mould, &c. That from Culham, near Abingdon, shown in Fig. 392,
has three sets of four rings and one of two, as well as some vertical
dotted lines above the upper ring. In this case the bands seem to have
been punched in with a serrated punch which produced four short lines
at each stroke, and by skilful manipulation these short lines were
made to join so as to form a continuous ring.
I have a spear-head from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5⅞ inches), with a small
raised band cast on the socket just below the rivet-hole.
[Illustration: Fig. 392. Culham. ½]
[Illustration: Fig. 393. Athenry.]
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