The advanced stage of art reached in the ornamentation of these objects has been styled ‘Late Celtic’ by Sir A. W. Franks, in editing Kemble’s _Horæ Ferales_. The objects on which the early craftsmen lavished this decoration, and in which the metal-workers of the British Islands were in no way behind those of Central Europe, consist of shields, swords, sheaths, horse-trappings, fibulæ, armlets, &c. These were of both bronze and iron, the latter prevailing in the La Tène period, and they were often embellished with enamel. Sir A. W. Franks, on a very careful examination of many of these objects, attributes them to Celtic sources, and not to Roman, Saxon, or Danish. He is inclined to fix the date of their production at about 100 B.C.; and as a discussion of the evidence involved in these questions is outside our limits, it is sufficient here to state that the early Iron Age was fully developed among the Celtic races of Central Europe long before the new metal was generally adopted by the inhabitants of the British Islands and the North of Europe. It is now generally admitted that the art and industry represented in the objects under consideration had their origin in the influences emanating from the civilization of Hallstatt and La Tène. Commencing about 800 B.C., these influences extended; and the results may be traced from the British Isles, throughout Europe, to the plains beyond the Alpine barriers, until we reach the shores of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. * * * * * _Bronze Spear- and Javelin-heads._--These have been found in large quantities in Ireland; and the number in the National Museum is about 320. The classification given by Wilde is that usually adopted: (1) the leaf-shaped, either long and narrow, or broad, with holes in the sockets for the purpose of riveting into the shaft. (2) The looped, with eyes on the sockets below the blade and on the same plane with it. (3) Spear-heads with the loops formed at the junction of the blade with the socket. (4) Those with the loops in the body of the blade, on either side of the midrib or main line of the weapon. These spaces are sometimes crescent-shaped, and are considered to lighten the weight of the spear. This division seems more or less arbitrary, depending on accentuated points of difference. A more satisfactory classification has been attempted by Mr. George Coffey, showing their probable type development.[100] [Illustration: Varieties of Spear-heads of Bronze.]