SIR JOHN EVANS — THE BEONZE AGE. 9 



a cigarette. Various forms of pins have been found, aud in addition 

 to those of bronze and gold many necklaces have been discovered 

 made of amber aud jet. 



Cauldrons made of a number of thin plates of bronze hammered 

 into shape and riveted together have been found, and in further 

 evidence of the foreign intercourse already noticed, several of them 

 seem to be of Etruscan origin. Some of the trumpets were built 

 up of Hat plates hammered over and riveted in a similar manner 

 to the tire-hose of the present day. This implies an immense 

 amount of skill on the part of those Avho constructed them. 



I must now shortly consider what is the chronology of the 

 period, what date is to be assigned to these objects. It must be 

 evident that the Bronze Periods in the different countries of Europe 

 could not chronologically have all been of the same date. We 

 cannot expect that at the time when bronze or copper was first 

 known in Egypt it would have been known in the north of 

 Scotland, in Ireland, or in EngUmd, and it must have gradually 

 spread from some centre or other ; aud though we might say that 

 in Egypt it goes back to 4000 years before Christ, yet iron was 

 found in Egypt 1300 B.C., while in Greece bronze was almost the 

 only metal to about 1000 b.c. Iron was not in common use 

 throughout Europe until some centuries later, and though probably 

 there was a great amount of intercourse along the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and the civilization of one or another of the 

 southern countries was not very different, yet as we go farther 

 north it is evident that the introduction of iron and the disuse of 

 bronze, and the introduction of bronze and the disuse of stone, must 

 date from a later period than in the more favoured districts bordering 

 on what at one time was the centre of civilization — Egypt. Iron 

 was well known in Britain at the time of Coesar's invasion. Take 

 that as 50 b.c. ; it is evident that it must have been introduced at 

 a considerably earlier period. It had long been known in Gaul 

 and Germany, and I think we may safely say that in this country 

 bronze must have gone out of use some 200 or 300 years b.c, 

 occasionally survi\-ing in remote districts and being occasionally 

 used for ornamental purposes. In this country probably bronze, 

 as also iron, was introduced from Gaul. It seems likely that the 

 original home, both of copper and bronze implements, was in Asia, 

 where both copper and tin are found, and whence we have extremely 

 early examples. 



As to the civilization of the people who used the bronze we have 

 very good evidence from some of those Swiss lake-dwellings of 

 which so much has been heard. During dry weather the shores 

 of some of the Swiss lakes have been laid bare, and on them have 

 been found the remains of habitations erected on piles, from which 

 when the water was high a number of implements were lost and 

 buried in the lake, and when from time to time the dwellings were 

 burnt down the whole property of those who lived in them was 

 deposited at the bottom of the lake. These lake-dwellings are of 

 various dates, some belonging to the Stone, some to the Iron, and 



