PREHISTORIC ART. 541 



plete ill a single operation, the work of cleaning, drilling, and deco- 

 rating liaving, as in modern times, been done subseqnently. 



The other specimens were of thin sheet bronze, originally cast, for 

 bronze caji be made only by casting. How thin the bronze originally was 

 wlien cast we have no knowledge, but whatever its thickness it must 

 have been hammered, probably many times, being annealed each time 

 to prepare it. Reduced to the proper thickness by whatever process, 

 it was bent by hammering, probably repousse, into the proper form, 

 usually, if not always, in two pieces. The edges, being brought together, 

 are fastened by any of the various methods of riveting. Fig. 190 is a 

 representation of the details of the operation of riveting as employed 

 in tig. 189. Sometimes the strips of thin bronze were laid on the out- 

 side as well as inside and the rivets put through three instead of two 

 thicknesses. This was the case with fig. 187. While these workmen 

 must have had knowledge of the art of soldering (shown in their gold 

 work by the attachment of collars, rings, etc.), yet none of these instru- 

 ments are reported as having been thus made. 



Several of these instruments had been broken in ancient times and 

 mended by the prehistoric workman. The methods of doing this show 

 that in prehistoric times, as well as early Christian times, the metal work- 

 ers of Ireland were of a high order and possessed of a degree of skill 

 greater, probably, than any in Europe at the same period. Thedisplay in 

 the Museum of Science and Artin Dublin of gold, silver, and bronze work, 

 dating earlier than the eleventh century, will demonstrate the truth of 

 this proposition. Eeproductions in baser metal made by Mr. Edward 

 Johnson, an antiquarian jeweler of Dublin, were displayed in the Brit- 

 ish section at the Chicago Exposition and were admired by all who 

 had the good fortune to see them. 



The instruments cast in molds were mended by a process called 

 "burning,"!, e., pouring molten metal on the junction of the broken 

 pieces until they were themselves melted, when the old and the new 

 metal would be fused into a solid mass and the break repaired. Occa- 

 sionally this produced an enlargement, as in the case of fig. 183. In 

 other specimens the ends or edges of the broken pieces were brought 

 together and brazed. This was the usual course when mending broken 

 bronze swords or daggers. Yet many times these swords, with other 

 broken objects, were sent to the foundry for recasting. Fourteen thou- 

 sand broken pieces of this or similar kinds were found together, forming 

 part of the great prehistoric bronze foundry in Bologna, Italy. Where 

 the bronze had been hammered, the process of reparation was by dove- 

 tailing or by riveting, and sometimes both. Fig. 190 represents the 

 details of one of these processes. 



Fig. 179 represents a curved bronze trumpet molded and cast, found 

 at Portglenone, County Derry. It measures 24^ inches on its«outside 

 curve. It has the end stopped and a mouth hole in the side, flute 

 fashion, as shown in the drawing.' 



' Sir John Ev^aiis, Aucieut Bronze Jm2>k'iiieiitSj p. 361, tig. 444. 



