Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/159

 almost without exception, socketed, and gracefully proportioned, but variable as regards dimensions.

The bronze swords found in Britain are nearly all leaf-shaped blades, with sharp points and a flat projection at the hilt containing several rivet-holes, by means of which plates of bone, horn or wood were attached on each side so as to form the handle. These weapons had no guard; and although both edges were hammered out thin and sharpened by grinding-stones, they appear to have been better adapted for thrusting than for parrying or striking. There is another rapier-shaped blade occasionally met with, the peculiarity of which is that it has no projection of the metal into the entire body of the perishable handle, but merely a flattened base to which the handle was attached by rivets, like the knife-daggers.

The most common type of shield found in the British Isles consisted of a circular plate of thin bronze, having a central boss 3$1⁄2$ to 4$1⁄2$ inches in diameter, surrounded by a series of concentric raised rings, with circles of small studs in repoussé work between each.

Sir John Evans makes the following observations on the chronology of British shields: "The shields first in use in Britain were probably formed of perishable material, such as wicker-work, wood, or hide, like those of many savage tribes of the present day; and it can only have been after a long acquaintance with the use of bronze that plates could