THE AGE OF BRONZE.
Dale and advent of the Age of Bronze in Europe has been traced in Volume I. (pp. 17r, 172). It may be roughly said to have been from two to three thousand years before the Christian era. Without resuming the chronological considerations already discussed, we shall confine ourselves here to a characterization of the culture of that period. It may be divided into an earlier and a later. The former is represented by the later lacustrine villages, which, as we have seen, dis play the gradual and almost uniuterruped progress of man from the use of stone to that of metal. The latter is best shown by the bronze relics from Northern Germany, England, and Scandinavia.
Age of Bronze was distinguished not merely by the introduction of a far better material to which man could apply his industrial skill, but by a marked improvement throughout all art, extend ing both to design and technical execution. The older materials were retained, but they were manipulated with greater intelligence and a truer appreciation of symmetry and finish. This general improvement will be readily seen by examining Plate 5. It represents, besides a multitude of skilfully-worked bronze objects, stone implements (figs. 1-4) of admirable workmanship. The earthen vessels alone experienced no real advance ment, as is shown by their shapes in Figures 54, 5S, and 59. It seems as though it were not deemed worth while to employ higher skill upon such inferior material. An etched Runic inscription on Figure 59 shows that it had come from a German hand; and the rude attempt to form a face on Figure 5S is proof that it belongs to a comparatively late period. Both of these remarkable urns, found near the shore of the Baltic, are now in the museum of Dantzic. The pottery-working of the North progressed no further until the influence of the Romans affected it.
The most numerous and also the earliest bronze articles are the so called "celts," wedge-shaped instruments of percussion manifestly mod elled after the stone wedges. They are sometimes narrow and shaped like chisels, and sometimes enlarged into small axes, but they always possess the advantages which metal gives, especially as regards the joining and insertion of the handle. The groove was somewhat deepened on both flat sides (figs. 7, 8), in order to attach the wooden clamp more securely; and its projecting edges were gradually enlarged and bent until they formed perfect loops (fig. f t) for the reception of the cleft handle. At length some one conceived the idea of casting a real shaft-hole, and of adding a loop (figs. 12, 13) on the side in order to bind the metal and wood more tightly by means of cords. The handle was straight or knee-shaped, long or short, according to the purpose of the implement, which, by the way, served as well for the uses of peace as for those of war.
After the implements for striking, those for cutting are to be consid ered—sickles (fig. 16), knives (figs. 17-19), saws (fig. 2o), etc. Also awls (fig. 21), needles (fig. 22), fish-hooks (fig. 23), and other small arti cles were skilfully made. Sickles occur more frequently than knives; they are generally erescent-shaped or have rounded corners, and often the edge projects downward from the surface, in which form they probably served as scraping-knives for the preparation of hides. As regards the knives, it is remarkable that, though comparatively small and generally dull, they have in the curved blade a power which a straight blade could not give, because the direction of the stroke effects as much as the force exerted. The same principle was applied to the blades of the swords,
which have the shape of a willow-leaf. Their length in the earlier times seldom exceeded half a metre (nearly 20 inches). The small handles without cross-bars, sometimes made entirely of bronze, sometimes faced with wood, are particularly noteworthy, as, being much too short for us, they indicate a race with delicate hands. The forms exhibited in Figures 32 and 33 are elegant, and certainly belong to the end of this period. Dag gers (figs. 26-31) are also found, shorter than the swords and generally with a straight blade, but in other respects they are like the swords. Arrow and spear-points (figs. 24, 25), are more numerous than the swords and daggers, which must have been regarded as great treasures, but which are very different in form, size, and perfection of workmanship from those of the Middle Ages. The spear-points were probably used chiefly for javelins. The battle-axes (figs. 14, 15), shields, helmets, and war-trum pets, of which rare examples are found, always profusely decorated, hardly show the characteristics of this period; for, though they belong to a people who used bronze exclusively, they doubtless mnst have originated in lands which had already reached the civilization of the Iron Age. The number of ornamental objects is infinite, and among them the brooches or breastpins (figs.41-43) form a larger and more varied section than any other. Besides these there are found necklaces, bracelets, and anklets (figs. 44-51), hair-pins (figs. 36, 37), ear-rings, diadems (figs. 38-40,) pendants, and other trinkets. A kind of pinchers with broad tongues (Jig. 52) deserve special notice; they are found frequently, and almost always in proximity with jewelry, whence the opinion that they belong to the articles of the toilet. Only the simplest forms have an interest for us, as bronze ornaments continued to be used during the Middle Ages, and it may be supposed that all compound forms originated at a late period. The vessels bear, almost without exception, the marks of Etrus can art, and we shall return to them in the dissertation on the Etrurians (p. 200). Among the most ancient bronzes may be numbered those which, like the earthen urns, are decorated with straight or curved lines (fig. 46), to which are added clots in form of buttons in relief. Ornamental reliefs, and even figured representations, either belong to the end of the period, or must be included in the category just mentioned. Gold (figs. 56, 57) was used at an early period, and silver later. The large surfaces of the shields (fig. 34), and especially the boss in the centre and the spikes (fig. 35), gave wide scope for the ornamental lines peculiar to this period. Glit tering like gold when in use, the bronze utensils, from lying in the ground, have almost all assumed the so-called cerugo This general description of the character of antiquities in bronze dating from a period anterior to the introduction of iron will illustrate the rapid and marked advance which characterized that age. Antiquarians have divided it, as it existed on time continent of Europe, into two epochs, which, however, are distinguished geographically rather than chronolog ically, the one embracing the relics of the lacnstrine habitations, the other those obtained in the tumuli and other bnrial-places of the more northern tribes.