Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/131

 FOUND IN CUERDALE. these ingots and drops have been ham- mered on two sides, sometimes on fom*, 9, 10 ; perhaps, in some cases, as figs 113 ^ft a preparation to forming them into ornaments, or articles for use, such as armlets, rings, &c. ; but before this intention was fully carried out, they have frequently been cut into })ieces of various dhuensions and weights. It would seem, at first sight, most probable that all the in- gots and bars in this treasure were made previously to the ornaments found with them, and that they formed part of the materials of their manufacture. But the ins-ots marked with a cross were doubtless made by a Christian people, such as the uorthmen, by whom this emljlem of their newly embraced religion was adopted on their coins ; while the ornaments, as we shall shew, were most probably the work of pagans in the east, and thence imported into Scandinavia. We must there- fore consider that some of the ingots and bars were cast in the place of manufacture, whence the ornaments originally came, and that the remainder, i.e., those marked with a cross, were made by the northmcn, when they melted down treasure for the pm*pose of trathc. Amongst the various manufactured objects entire or in fragments, which were found in this collection, are several armlets in various stages of preparation, from which a tolera- bly correct idea may be formed of the processes by which they were constructed. Fig. 11 is a small arm- >^ -■''«-. let, probably not quite finished, having been merely haunucred into form, the edges and. u sides still rough and sliarp, and retaining traces of the ham- mer ; it is also entirely without ornament. It is perfectly flat, broad at the middle, becoming gradually narrower to- wards the extremities, where it terminates in blunt round ends. Armlets of this descri[)tion vary in breadth at the VOL. IV. U