Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/358

 334 BRONZE CELTS, AND CELT-MOULDS First, their style of ornament. Second, tlie comparative and total absence of this ornament at the end for hafting ; thus shewing how much of the weapon was inserted into the handle. Third, the first appearance of the stop-ridge. Fourth, the sides of the celt being made to overlap the blade slightly, by hammering, and not casting. The ornamenting on these weapons is produced in the most simple way, being a rude kind of engraving or indenting of the surface by means of a punch. The style of these deco- rations is remarkable, as it exhibits the zigzag and rope orna- ments, so frequently regarded as characteristics of Norman design, ])ut which, in the examples before us, as in many other instances in Ireland, must claim a far higher antiquity ; w^e m.ay regard them as the untaught efforts of a people who had reached to a certain stage of civilization, and we may suppose that they were suggested by the close observation of objects of common use or occurrence among them, which their taste led them to apply to the purposes of decoration. As illustrative of this idea, it is evident that the lotus flower, the adder, or the wings of birds, afforded to the ancient Egyptians, models by which to form the capitals of their pil- lars, their cups, processional staves, head-di'esses, and so forth. Again, amongst the early Greeks the rani's horn and acanthus leaf were modeled into the capitals of columns, and other examples of the like kind could be adduced from the archi- tectm'e of the ancient Hindoos and ]Iexicaiis, on the same principle. The coils and knots of ropes, as well as fish scales,' and certain kinds of fishes Avliile writhing in their death agonies, afforded to the imaginative minds of the Nomadic Celtic tribes the primary ideas for designing ornaments for their weapons, and other articles in common use. These ornaments, after a time, assumed those conventional forms which we now see, and were applied by their descendants to the purposes of decoration in general. The next example of the wedge-shaped celt is peculiarly interesting, as it affords an unique instance of the stop-ridge formed in a peculiar Avay, by carving a socket for the handle out of the solid metal of the celt, pi. 1, fig. 7. I am not prepared to say that this cutting away of the metal is not an effort at construction, made long sul:)sequent to the original casting, with a view to render this implement as serviceable as those