Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/437

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The presence of lead, and of iron, zinc, sulphur, silver, and nickel, in extremely small quantities, is probably due to their not having been separated from the copper in the operation of smelting. In some cases, however, such as the socketed celts from northern France in the above table, the percentage of lead is too great to have been accidental, and in one case rises to 28⋅50, while tin is reduced to a mere trace. Lead would add to the toughness of the alloy, and may have been used where the supply of tin had run short. In anvils and cold chisels, where great hardness was required, the normal amount of tin was very much exceeded.

It may be gathered from the analyses of ancient