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commonest and, perhaps, most characteristic objects belonging to the Bronze Age are the so-called "celts" (figs. 4–18), which were probably used for chisels, hoes, war-axes, and a variety of other purposes.

7, 8, 9.—The three principal types of celts, and the manner in which they are supposed to have been handled.

Implements similar, though not identical, and made of iron instead of bronze, are even now employed in Siberia (fig. 10) and some parts of Africa. The French Museums contain more than 10,000 bronze celts. More than 2000 are known to exist in the different Irish collections, of which the great Museum belonging to the Royal Irish Academy at Dublin contained in the year 1860 no less than 688,