04: THE BRONZE AGE AND THE PHOENICIANS. 



last chapter, that the copper ore was not all derived from 

 one locality ; and lastly, the discovery of moulds in Ireland, 

 Scotland, England, Switzerland, Denmark, and elsewhere, 

 proves that the art of casting in bronze was known and prac- 

 tised in many countries. Under these circumstances, it 

 appears most probable that the knowledge of metal is one of 

 those great discoveries which Europe owes to the East, and 

 that the use of copper was not introduced into our Continent 

 until it had been observed that by the addition of a small 

 quantity of tin it was rendered harder and more valuable. 



I have already, in the first chapter, given the reasons which 

 have convinced me that the bronze weapons are not of Roman 

 origin. M. Wiberg* has recently attempted to show that 

 bronze was introduced into the North by Etrurian merchants ; 

 but we have not, I think, any evidence that Etruria ever 

 enjoyed so extensive a commerce as that indicated by the 

 great number of bronze objects which have been found in 

 northern and western Europe. 



We may, therefore, pass on to the views of those who 

 attribute the Bronze Age civilization to the influence of 

 Phoenician commerce, a theory which has recently been main- 

 tained with great ability by Professor Nilsson.-f- Sir George 

 Cornewall Lewis,! on the other hand, while admitting that 

 Cornwall was the great source of tin in ancient times, has 

 endeavoured to prove that this metal found its way " to the 

 nations in the east of the Mediterranean by the overland route 

 across Gaul, and that the Phoenician ships brought it from the 

 mouth of the Rhone, without sailing as far as Britain." 



He regards, therefore, the accounts of ancient voyages as 



* Arch. f. Anthrop. 1870, p. 10. the Right Hon. Sir George Corne- 



t Skandinaviska Nordens Ur-in- wall Lewis, 1862. 



van are. Af. S. Nilsson, Stockholm, Celts, spears, and other objects 



1862. of bronze have been not nnfre- 



An Historical Survey of the quently met with in old Cornish 



Astronomy of the Ancients. By minings. 



