Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/442

414 bronze were current as the bullion of those times, capable of being used either for manufacture or for commerce. These have been found in France, Germany, and Scandinavia. The idea of coinage probably originated in this way, and the "æs rude" of the Etruskans passed into the "æs signatum" of a definite shape, weight, and value. The merchant with his pack was followed by the smelter with his tools, and as trade increased local centres of manufacture would be set up, where the conditions were favourable. In the course of time the original models would be concealed by the development of a local style. This local development of manufactures would not prevent the importation from time to time of foreign articles, such as the Etruskan shields, swords, and golden cups discovered in Scandinavia. In this manner the association of articles imported from abroad with those made upon the spot may be accounted for. The smelter was succeeded by the tinker and the worker in repoussé, who penetrated into the regions north of the Alps from the Mediterranean area towards the close of the Bronze age in those regions, if not before.

The forms of the implements and weapons, and the variations in the style of ornament, enable us to divide the Europe of the late Bronze age into three great regions, each possessing its own peculiarities—the Uralian or the Russian in the east; the Danubian in northern and middle Europe; and the Mediterranean in the south. The first of these stands so completely apart from the others, that