SIR JOHX EVANS — THE BRONZE AGE. 11 



into this country, nor consider whether it was the result of in- 

 vasion or of trade, possibly Phoenician, nor can I enter into the 

 anatomical characteristics of the men of this country of the Bronze 

 Age beyond saying that they were dolicho-cepluxlic — long-headed 

 men. 



Some account of the method of casting and making the various 

 weapons may be of interest. In casting the earliest forms, moulds 

 open to the air on one side were used, but the later ones had both 

 sides moulded. Examples in stone of both the single and double 

 mcmlds have been found. The two halves of the double moulds 

 were tied together with string. The hollow in the socketed celts 

 and spear-heads was produced by means of a clay core, which in 

 some cases may have been kept in position by little scraps of 

 bronze. I have in my collection a most complete set of founder's 

 tools, which were discovered in the Island of Harty, part of 

 Sheppey. Among them are several moulds for socketed celts and 

 one for gouges, and some of the articles have evidently been cast 

 in these moulds. The ordinary method of casting a socketed celt 

 seems to have been to put the two halves of the mould together 

 and then to ram clay into them. The core thus obtained was taken 

 out and cut down so that the walls of the socket would be of 

 the right thickness ; it was left full size at the top so as to form 

 a mould for the top edge of the celt, except where channels were 

 cut for the passage of the molten metal. The clay core would 

 be burnt to a hard brick by the heat of the casting, and its 

 extraction would present some difficulty. The workman whose 

 stock-in-trade we are considering had a pointed tool which he 

 drove into the burnt clay and so managed to get it out. Originally 

 he had two, but one of them had the point broken off short, just 

 where it would come against the margin of a socket. The celts 

 cast in this manner were blunt at the edges and had to be hammered 

 out to sharpen them. After this a whetstone would be used to 

 finish the sharpening and to smooth down the rough sides. The 

 small anvil, hammer, and whetstone for doing this were found 

 in the hoard. This workman not only cast hatchets but he 

 moulded gouges, and he has left the only example of a mould 

 for this purpose which has been discovered. 



I hope tliat I have now given a fair idea of how these celts were 

 manufactured, and I will add a few words as to the manufacture of 

 shields. It is very hard to tell how the old workmen obtained 

 the thin sheets of metal necessary for their construction. Moulds 

 have been found intended to form discs of metal like small 

 pancake-^, and they would be able to beat these out into sheets 

 on their stone anvils by liammering and constant annealing. 



As of great interest, though not immediately connected witli ray 

 subject, I exhibit a bronze spear-head which once belonged to 

 Kames, a king of Egypt of the seventeenth dynasty, who lived 

 about 1750 years B.C., or between the times of Joseph and of Moses. 

 Inscribed in hieroglyphics on the blade is the whole of his name 

 and titles. It seems probable that it was not originally of 



