The archæology and prehistoric annals of ScotlandWilson, Daniel, Sir
History
The archæology and prehistoric annals of Scotland
Wilson, Daniel, Sir
Scotland -- Antiquities
people, that when the Carthaginians made an expedition into Spain they
found the Turditani possessed of furniture and vessels of silver, and
far advanced in wealth and luxury. It is not, therefore, indispensable
that Irish antiquaries should trace their metallurgic arts to a
Phœnician source, when a country so much nearer their own, and with
which many of their historic traditions indicate an early intercourse,
was in possession of similar arts at so remote a period.
The other point of greatest importance brought out in the above
analyses is the uniform presence of lead, though in greatly varying
quantities; amounting in the palstave to only 75/10,000; while in the
cauldron dredged from Duddingstone Loch, along with leaf-shaped swords,
perforated spear-heads, &c., it exceeds the whole tin present in the
compound; amounting to 8.53 per cent. of the whole. Lead is known to
have been used by the Romans in a similar manner, possibly from motives
of economy, as in their brass coinage, in which the antiquary has long
been familiar with the presence of this metal.[291] It is also worthy
of special note how greatly all the ingredients of No. 2 and No. 5
vary in proportion, though both were found together, and undoubtedly
belong to the same period. Possibly the very marked difference in the
proportion of the alloys may prove to be the result of design, as the
only other example at all resembling the Duddingstone cauldron, No.
5, is the so-called Roman camp-kettle, No. 3, from Berwickshire. The
difference between them is considerable, but in both the quantity of
lead present is greater than of tin. No such conclusion, however, can
by any possibility be assumed in reference to the weapons analyzed by
Professor Davy. These were both swords, similar in form, and designed
for the same purpose; yet in one the proportion of lead present
greatly exceeds that of tin, while in the other it is so small as to
suggest the possibility of its presence being accidental. A greatly
more limited scale of variations would afford evidence enough to
establish the certainty of a local and independent manufacture carried
on throughout the Bronze Period, by numerous native metallurgists
possessed of just such an amount of crude practical skill as sufficed
to render the new material available for their use.
FOOTNOTES:
[283] Primeval Antiquities, p. 137.
[284] Archæologia, vol. xviii. p. 343.
[285] Mongez, Mém. de l'Instit.
[286] Article _Bronze_, Penny Cyclopædia, vol. v. p. 468.
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