IRON IN ANCIENT EUROPE. 



Eoman writers ; whereas the description given by Tacitus of 

 the Caledonian weapons shows that in his time the swords 

 used in Scotland were made of iron. Moreover there are 

 several cases in which large quantities of arms belonging to 

 the Eoman period have been found together, and in which 

 the arms and implements are all of iron. This argument is 

 in its very nature cumulative, and cannot therefore be fully 

 developed here, but out of many, I will mention a few cases 

 in illustration. 



Some years ago, an old battle-field was discovered at 

 Tiefenau, near Berne, and described by M. Jahn. On it 

 were found a great number of objects made of iron ; such 

 as fragments of chariots, bits for horses, wheels, pieces of 

 coats of mail, and arms of various sorts, including no less 

 than a hundred two-handed swords. All of these were 

 made of iron, but with them were several fibulse of bronze, 

 and some coins, of which about thirty were of bronze, struck 

 at Marseilles, and presenting a head of Apollo on one side 

 and a bull on the other ; both good specimens of Greek art. 

 The rest were silver pieces, also struck at Marseilles. These 

 coins, and the absence of any trace of Eoman influence, suffi- 

 ciently indicate the antiquity of these interesting remains. 



A very similar collection of antiquities has been obtained 

 from the ancient lake-village near La Tene, on the Lake of 

 Neufchatel. This interesting locality will be referred to 

 again in the chapter on Swiss lake -villages, and I will here 

 only observe that 50 swords, 5 axes, 4 knives, and 23 lances 

 have been discovered, but not a single weapon of bronze. 

 Nine coins have been also found here, while not a single one 

 has been met with in any of the Stone Age or Bronze Age 

 villages. Yet the Gauls had a coinage of their own 300 years 

 before Christ, and in our own country, as Mr. Evans* has 

 well shown, about 150 years later. 



* The Coins of the Ancient Britons, 1864, by John Evans, Esq., F.R.S. 



