Page:Prehistoric Britain.djvu/166

158 The Romans, on the contrary, having excellent points to their swords, used them not to cut but to thrust; and by thus repeatedly hitting the breasts and faces of the enemy, they eventually killed the greater number of them."

Those who deny the existence of a Bronze Age, as distinct from that of Iron, are in the habit of accounting for the entire absence of iron relics in graves and early habitations by the theory that they have disappeared in consequence of the natural law of decomposition, it being well known that iron is more liable to oxidation than copper or bronze. But this is not an adequate explanation of the facts, as there are many natural conditions in which iron may for a long time resist atmospheric action. It is difficult to believe that steel implements, in such a dry climate as that of Egypt, could have been in use from the earliest times without having left some traces of their existence.

Whatever may have been the causes which kept this useful metal so long in the background, there are indications that on its first introduction into European civilization it was a scarce commodity, and only used in small encrusted bands to decorate bronze objects. It was thus occasionally used among the Swiss lake-dwellers at the stations of Moeringen, Cortaillod, Auvernier and Corcelettes, to ornament bronze swords and bracelets. From these considerations it is evident that the mere knowledge of iron as a metal is not to be regarded as contemporaneous