Page:Ancient Bronze Implements.djvu/16

xii ^11 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIX. CLASPS, BUTTONS, BUCKLES, AND MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS. PAGE Difficulty in Determining the Use of some Objects — Looped Sockets and Tubes — Possibly Clasps — Perforated Rings forming a kind of Brooch — Rings used in Harness — Brooches — Late Celtic — Buttons — Circular Plates and Broad Hoops — Perforated Discs — Slides for Straps — Jingling Ornaments — Objects of Uncertain "Use — Rod, with Figures of Birds upon it — Figures of Animals . . . 396 CHAPTER XX. VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC. Fictile Vessels — Gold Cup — Bronze Vessels not found in Barrows — Caldrons found in Scotland — In Ireland — Some of an Etruscan Form — The Skill exhibited in their Manufacture 407 CHAPTER XXI. METAL, MOULDS, AND THE METHOD OF MANUFACTURE. Composition of Bronze — Lead absent in early Bronze — Sources of Tin and Copper — Analyses of Bronze Antiquities — Cakes of Copper and Lumps of Metal — Tin discovered in Hoards of Bronze — Ingots of Tin — Methods of Casting — Moulds of Stone for Celts, Palstaves, Daggers, Swords, and Spear-heads — Moulds of Bronze for Palstaves and Celts — The Harty Hoard — Bronze Mould for Gouges — Moulds found in other Countries — Moulds formed of Burnt Clay — Jets or Runners — The Processes for Preparing Bronze Instruments for Use — Rubbers and Whetstones — Decoration — Hammering out and Sharpening the Edges. 415 CHAPTER XXII. CHRONOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF BRONZE. Inferences from number of Types — Division of Period into Stages— The Evidence of Hoards — Their different Kinds — Personal, Merchants', and Founders'— Lists of Principal Hoards — Inferences from them — The Transition from Bronze to Iron — Its probable Date — Duration of Bronze Age — Burial Customs of the Period — Different Views as to the Sources of Bronze Civilisation— Suggested Provinces of Bronze — The Britannic Province — Comparison of British and Continental Types — Foreign Influences in Britain — Its Commercial Relations — Imported Ornaments — Condition of Britain during the Bronze Age — General Summary 4,5o