OF THE BRONZE AGE. 41 



the object in wood or some other hard substance, and press- 

 ing it on fine sand, so as to obtain a corresponding hollow. 

 The sand must of course have been contained in two boxes 

 or frames, fitting like the solid moulds one on the other. 

 Objects cast in this manner would therefore also show the 

 line of junction. The advantage of this method is that sand 

 can easily be worked into the required form, and wooden 

 models were much more easily made than hollow moulds, 

 either of stone or metal. Like the former, however, this 

 method was applicable to very simple castings only. Speci- 

 mens in which the line of junction is not exactly central, or 

 symmetrical, were probably cast in this manner, the model 

 having been pressed into the one mould rather more deeply 

 than into the other. 



The third method of casting was with wax or wood. In 

 this case, as in the former, a model was made and enclosed 

 in prepared earth, made of some clayey soil mixed probably 

 with cow -dung, or some other inflammable substance, in 

 order that when subjected to heat, it might become porous. 

 The frame was then heated until the wax or wood dis- 

 appeared. This mode of casting required fewer instruments, 

 and did not, like the other two methods, involve a line of 

 junction, which was a great advantage, because in the absence 



v 



of steel the projecting ridge thus produced was very difficult 

 to remove, especially when the objects were ornamented. In 

 one case M. Morlot observed on an object of bronze the mark 

 of a finger, evidently resulting from an impression on the soft 

 wax. Occasionally, again, when the wax was heated carelessly, 

 it burned and left a carbonized film, which of course produced 

 a corresponding mark on the object cast. The use of wax in 

 this manner, though presenting many advantages, does not 

 appear to have been frequent in Great Britain. 



In some few cases the interiors of bronze vessels show the 

 marks of the spatula with which the wax was worked. 



