Page:Prehistoric Times.djvu/33

Rh during both the Bronze and Stone Ages, but the material of which the Stone Age pottery is composed is rough, containing large grains of quartz, while that used during the Bronze Age is more carefully prepared. The ornaments of the two periods show also a great contrast. In the Stone Age they consist of impressions made by the nail or the finger, and sometimes by a cord twisted round the soft clay. The lines are all straight, or if curved are very irregular and badly drawn. In the Bronze Age all the patterns present in the Stone Age are continued, but in addition we find circles and spirals; while imitations of animals and plants are characteristic of the Iron Age.

So again the distinction between the Bronze and Iron Ages rests by no means merely on the presence of iron. The pottery is different, the forms of the implements and weapons are different, the ornamentation is different, the knowledge of metallurgy was more advanced, silver and lead were in use, letters had been invented, coins had been struck. The entire absence of silver, of coins, and of inscriptions, in the bronze finds, is very remarkable.

This class of evidence is by no means confined to the Swiss lake discoveries. In various parts of Europe more or less extensive deposits of bronze implements have been found. They may be divided into two principal classes—(1) treasures, which were hidden away by their owners and never recovered, and (2) founders' stocks. The former consist of implements, weapons, and ornaments, entire, and often almost new; the latter principally of worn and broken objects, often with lumps of rude metal. In the table given on page 16 I have given two of these finds, one (Réallon) a treasure, the other (Larnaud) a founder's stock. These finds are particularly instructive, because the objects contained in them are evidently contemporaneous. It will be seen from the lists on pp. 16, 18, 25, and 47 that the numbers of bronze objects are