The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished RacesAllen, Emory Adams
History
The Prehistoric World; Or, Vanished Races
Allen, Emory Adams
Archaeology; Indians; Prehistoric peoples
In matters of personal ornament, the men and women of the Bronze
Age were as willing to make use of artificial helps as their
descendants to-day, and no doubt fashion was quite as arbitrary
in her rule then as now. Among some savage nations the dressing
of the hair—especially of the men—is carried to a very elaborate
pitch.14 In this respect, some of the dandies of the Bronze Age
certainly excelled. They evidently built up on their heads a
great pyramid of hair; in some cases large enough to allow of the
use of hair-pins two feet long. Of course such a structure as
this was intended to last a life-time. So careful were they of
this head-dress that they used a crescent-shaped pillow of
earthenware, so that it might not be disturbed when they slept.
Dr. Keller, who first described these crescent-shaped articles,
thought they were religious emblems of the moon. He may be right,
as the matter is not yet decided, but some think they were the
pillows in question. At first thought this would seem absurd, but
when we learn of the habits of the natives of Abyssinia and other
savage races, we cease to wonder.
Crescent, Bracelet and Hairpin.
In speaking of the ornaments of the Bronze Age, a caution is
necessary, because ornaments of bronze may belong to any age.
Bracelets and rings have been quite numerous. The bracelets vary
much in shape, are decidedly artistic in workmanship, and often
set off with carved designs. Some of this shape are composed of a
single ring of varying width, the ends of which almost meet and
terminate by a semicircular clasp; others are a combination of
straight or twisted wires ingeniously joined to one another.
“Some of these ornaments remain even up to the present day in a
perfect state of preservation. In an urn from one of the lake
settlements six specimens were discovered, the designs of which
appeared quite as clearly as if they had only just been
engraved.”15
We are called on to notice one important point in reference to
these bracelets and rings. That is, they are so small they could
scarcely be worn nowadays; a fact leading us to infer that the
people must have been of small size. It has also been noticed
that the handles of the swords are smaller than would be
convenient for soldiers now. Some ornaments of bronze were worn
as pendants. For this purpose they were provided with a circular
hole, and were probably worn suspended around the neck.
Bronze Pendants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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