BRONZE SPEARS. 



33 



nearly 300. The handles of -the bronze swords are very 

 short, and could not have been held comfortably by hands 

 as large as ours, a characteristic much relied on by those who 



FIG. 27. 



FIG. 28. 



FIG. z9. 



FIG. so. 



FIG. 31. 



Sword-handles from Denmark. 



attribute the introduction 

 of bronze into Europe to 

 a people of Asiatic origin. 

 The Danish Museum con- 

 tains more than 350 bronze 

 swords. 



The next classes of bronze 

 objects are the heads of 

 Sjiears (figs. 35, 36), jave- 

 lins, and arrows; two hun- 

 dred and seventy - six of 

 which are in the Dublin 

 Museum ; in length they 

 vary from two feet and a half to an 

 inch, and their shapes are also very 

 various ; but it is unnecessary to 

 describe them in detail, because they 

 are repeated in similar weapons of 



all ages, countries, and materials. Bronze arrows, however, 

 are not very common in Northern Europe, probably because 

 flint was so much cheaper, and almost as effective. 



D 



Swords from Denmark. 



