THE BRONZE AGE, 17 



list of the objects found in some of the Swiss Lake Settlements, 

 while, as regards France, M. Chantre gives the following 

 numbers: Celts, 9153; swords and daggers, 727; lances, 

 513; knives, 342; sickles, 225; pins, 1220; needles, 204; 

 bracelets, 1086; rings and chains, 1572; arrow-heads, 213; 

 hammers, 23; anvils, 5; chisels, 58 ; gouges, 31; razors, 62; 

 saws, 8; hooks, 172; moulds, 74; and a variety of other 

 articles, making altogether no less than 20,000 objects. 



The pottery also shows a considerable advance. The 

 potter's wheel indeed seems to have been unknown 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 charac- 

 teristic of the Iron Age. 



So again the distinction between the Bronze and Iron Ages 

 does by no means rest 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. 



* The extreme coarseness of the the vessels found in tumuli of the 



Swiss Lake pottery is, perhaps, Stone Age, the material was often 



partly owing to its having been more carefully prepared, 

 intended for kitchen purposes ; for 



C 



