30 BHONZE CELTS. 



member that there were many intermediate forms. The 

 first class (figs. 4, 7, 11, 13, 14, and 15) is the simplest in 

 form, and is considered by some antiquaries (as, for instance, 

 by Sir "W. E. Wilde*) to be the oldest, partly because they 

 are " evidently formed on the type of the old stone celts ' 

 (conf. figs. 11 and 18 with figs. 19 and 160), partly because 

 some of them (nearly thirty for instance in the Dublin 

 Museum) are of red, almost unalloyed, copper, and are 

 "almost the only antique implements of any kind formed 

 out of" this metal, and partly because the copper ones at 

 least are always unornamented. On the other hand, the 

 simplicity of form exhibited by the copper axes, which may 

 be observed in those from other countries as well as from 

 Ireland, is perhaps to be accounted for by the great difficulty 

 of casting copper, so that the founders, when dealing with 

 that metal, would naturally confine themselves to the simpler 

 forms. There can be little doubt that these simple celts 

 were handled in the manner indicated (fig. 7). Fig. 20 

 represents a modern African axe in my collection. Here, 

 however, the blade is of iron. 



FIG. 20. 



Modern African Axe. 



Evidently, however, in such an axe the blade would tend 

 to split the handle in which it was placed. To remedy this 

 defect, a stop, or ridge, was raised across the celt, and the 



* Cat. Irish Acud., p. 361. 



