Page:Prehistoric Times.djvu/23

Rh of Tiglath-Pileser (1120 ), who says: "In the desert of Mitani near Araziki, which is in front of the land of Hatti, I slew four mighty buffaloes with my great bow and iron arrows, and with my lance."

In China copper is said to have been used as far back as the reign of Yu Nai Hwang-ti, 2200 B.C.; and iron in that of Kung Kiu, about 1900 B.C. Copper axes of very simple type have also been discovered in India, but we have no means of determining their date.

The remarkable phase of archaic culture known as Mycenæan—when arms of bronze were beautifully inlaid with gold, when gems were cut, and the potter's art had attained a high degree of perfection—appears to have attained its zenith about 1500 B.C. It must, therefore, have commenced much earlier.

The date of the introduction of iron into the North of Europe cannot at present be satisfactorily determined; nevertheless, it is most likely that the use of this metal spread rapidly. Not only does it seem a priori probable that such an important discovery would have done so, but it is evident that the same commercial organization which had already carried the tin of Cornwall all over our continent, would equally facilitate the transmission of iron. However this may be, the soldiers of Brennus were provided with iron swords, and when the armies of Rome brought the civilization of the South into contact with that of the North, they found iron already well known to, and in general use among, their new enemies. Nor is there any reason to suppose that arms of bronze were also at that time still in use in the North, for, had this been so, they would certainly have been mentioned by the Roman writers; whereas the description given by Tacitus of the Caledonian weapons shows that in his time the swords used in Scotland were made of iron. Moreover, there are several cases in which large quantities of arms belonging to the Roman period have been found together, and in which the arms and implements are all of iron. This argument is in its very nature