BRONZE WEAPONS NOT OF ROMAN ORIGIN. 19 



the case with Eoman towns which have continued to exist 

 after that period, for then, on the contrary, we find relics 

 which speak of the subsequent inhabitants, early Saxon and 

 Mediaeval. I will only, for want of space, give one example, 

 that of Eichborough, in Kent. The town of Kutupise seems 

 to have capitulated with the Saxon invaders, and to have 

 continued until its inhabitants, in consequence of the retreat 

 of the sea, gradually abandoned it to establish themselves at 

 Sandwich. Now the coins found at Eichborough do not end 

 with those of the Eoman emperors, but we find, first, a great 

 quantity of those singular little coins which are generally 

 known by the name minimi, and which, presenting very bad 

 imitations of the Eornan coinage, are considered as belonging 



O ' O O 



to the age immediately following the Eoman period, and pre- 

 ceding that of the Saxon coinage." 



We may assume, then, on the authority of Mr. Wright him- 

 self, that if all the bronze arms which are so abundant in our 

 museums were really of Eoman origin, many of them would 

 have been found from time to time in conjunction with other 

 Eoman remains ; whereas bronze weapons are never found in 

 association with coins, pottery, or other relics of Eoman origin. 



Mr. Wright, indeed, has called this fact in question, but in 

 spite of his profound acquaintance with archaeological litera- 

 ture, he has only been able to bring forward three cases in 

 support of his argument, not one of which appears to me to 

 be satisfactory. 



For a full statement of his views I must refer to his Memoir 

 on Bronze Weapons, in the Transactions of the Ethnological 

 Society,* which, in conjunction with my brother Frederic, I 

 have endeavoured to answer before the same learned body.t 

 I will, however, refer to the only three cases which Mr. Wright 

 has been able to discover. 



* Transactions of the Ethnologi- t Ditto, N.S. vol. v. p. 105. 

 cal Soc., N.S. vol. iv. p. 176. 



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