lO SIK JOHN EVANS — THE BEONZE AGE. 



a certain number to the Bronze Age ; and from them we may infer 

 what was the state of civilization of those who occupied them 

 during the Bronze Period of Switzerland. First of all, we know 

 that they were acquainted with tire— they could not work their 

 bronze without it — but as to their means of producing fire, it would 

 appear that they used the ordinary pyrites (sulphide of iron) and 

 a piece of flint. As to their clothes, they employed the skins of 

 animals, which they were able to sew together by means of the 

 awl I have already mentioned, and they wore woollen cloth, of 

 which fragments have been discovered. They also employed flax, 

 not only for weaving purposes, but also for the manufacture of 

 string and net ; and they were acquainted with the art of spinning 

 and weaving, as we know from the spindle -whorls which have 

 been found. As to domestic animals, they had the dog, the ox, the 

 sheep, the goat, the pig, and the horse, so that they were not very 

 much behind us at the present day so far as domestic animals are 

 concerned. They hunted the red deer, the roe, the boar, the hare, 

 and other animals ; they fished with bronze fish-hooks exactly like 

 those in use at the present day, except as regards the metal of 

 which they were constructed ; and they also had nets — I do not 

 know whether they were limited as to the size of the mesh. 

 They used arrows tipped with flint, as bronze was much too 

 precious a metal to be lost; they prepared their skins with stone 

 scrapers, as was done during the Stone Period ; and they had the 

 tools which I have mentioned. They had wonderful skill in cast- 

 ing those tools and weapons. They cultivated cereals, principally 

 barley, and made pottery of a superior kind, ornamented with colour 

 and sometimes with tinfoil, although they were unacquainted with 

 the potter's wheel. An amber cup, however, evidently turned in 

 a lathe and provided with a handle, has been found in England, 

 and at the close of the period many articles were turned out of 

 Kimmeridge shale. 



The British Bronze-people wore fewer ornaments than the Swiss 

 lake-dwellers, but had more jet and gold. They wore gold torques 

 and bracelets, ear-rings, and pins for the dress and hair. That 

 they had intercourse with other nations is shown by the fact 

 that they had ornaments made of ivory, and also glass beads. 



We can in some countries divide the Bronze Age into periods. 

 In England three distinct stages can be traced. The first is 

 characterised by flat or slightly flanged celts and knife daggers, 

 which are foimd in barrows in connection with perforated stone axes 

 and occasionally knives of flint. Xext came the period of more 

 distinctly flanged celts and tanged spear-heads or daggers ; and 

 lastly that of palstaves and socketed celts and other tools and 

 weapons. It was only in this last period that the true bronze 

 SAVord and socketed spear-hcad made their appearance. 



Iloughly speaking we may consider that the Bronze period 

 would extend from about 1200 or 1000 b.c. to, say, 200 years, 

 or possibly later, before Christ. 



I cannot now go into the manner of the introduction of bronze 



