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Rh which a thin plating of gold has been inlaid. The axe is also embellished with ornaments imitating flame. This splendid specimen is composed of a very small portion of metal, cast upon a nucleus or filling of clay, which extends as far as the edge, so that the axe in point of fact consists merely of clay, coated with a thin plating of metal. Hence it is probable that it was never used as a weapon, but rather perhaps as an emblem of command, a sort of general's baton, or something of a similar nature.

Not less remarkable than this skill in casting, is the height to which the art of working in gold had been attained at so early a period. This circumstance will be most clearly evinced by the fact that the beautiful gold cup figured above (p. 36,) like the others of the same kind has been hammered from a massive piece of gold. Among many other very elegant bronze objects, a portion of a small and very thinly cast vessel has been preserved, in which traces of inlaid work are perceptible. On the lower side are ornaments in the form of rays of light, which are deeply engraved, and are filled up with a black substance, which is now in a partially dissolved state. The ornaments on the whole deserve particular attention, not only on account of the care and skill with which they are for the most part executed, but in particular because they are of a peculiar kind, such as never occur in so decided a form either before or after this period. We possess therefore in