FLAT celts, or those of simple form with the faces somewhat convex, and approximating in shape to the polished stone celts of the Neolithic Period, have been regarded by several antiquaries as being probably the earliest bronze implements or weapons. Such a view has much to commend it, but, as already observed, it may be doubted whether in the earliest times, when metal was scarce, it would be so readily applied to purposes for which much of the precious material was required, as to the manufacture of weapons or tools of a lighter kind, such as daggers or knives. Among celts, however, the simple form, and that most nearly approaching in character to the stone hatchet, was probably the earliest, though it may have been continued in use after the introduction of the side flanges, the stop-ridge, and even the socket. Some celts of the simplest form found in Ireland are of copper, and have been thought to belong to the period when the use of stone for cutting purposes was dying out and that of metal coming in; but the mere fact of their being of copper is by no means conclusive on this point. A copper celt of the precise shape of an ordinary stone celt, 6 inches long and 2½ inches wide, which was found in an Etruscan tomb, and is preserved in the Museum at Berlin, appears to have been cast in a mould formed upon a stone implement of the same class. It has been figured and described by Sir William Wilde.[140] I have not seen the implement, nor am I aware of the exact circumstances of the finding. Celts may, however, like the flint arrow-heads inserted in Etruscan[141] necklaces of gold, have been regarded with superstitious reverence, and it does not appear to me quite certain that this specimen was ever in actual use as an implement, and was not placed in the grave as a substitute for a stone hatchet or _Ceraunius_. [Illustration: Fig. 1.—Cyprus. ½]