214 TRANSACTIONS. 
leaf-shaped swords, though some archeologists have suggested their 
use as spear-heads. This specimen was found at Fairholm, Locker- 
erbie, and is very similar to one found at Coveney, near Downham 
Hithe, Cambridgeshire, figured on p. 249 of Dr Evans’ work. 
Three fine specimens of rapier blades, all found at Kirk- 
gunzeon, 83, 144, and 153 inches in length, are in the Thornhill 
Museum. 
IV. Sword.—The only other weapon of the Bronze Age in the 
national collection is a portion of a bronze leaf-shaped sword, now 
only 104 inches in length. It is imperfect at both ends, but the 
handle end shows two rivet holes in each wing and the side of 
another in the handle plate at the point of fracture. When perfect 
this sword would have been about 21 or 22 inches in length. No 
precise locality is attached to it. ’ 
V. Caldron.—A caldron, formed of thin sheet bronze, found 
in Whitehills Moss, Lochmaben, has recently been added to the 
national collection by purchase. It measures 134 inches in 
diameter across the mouth, and 15 inches across the widest part at 
the middle, and is 8} inches in height. The rim is gone, but its 
presence is attested by several rivet holes round the mouth of the 
caldron. 
A caldron of similar form to the one just described, but slightly 
larger, was found not long since at Kyleokin, Skye, and is figured 
in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. VII., 
New Series, page 311. 
Another one of somewhat similar form, 25 inches in diameter, 
and 18 inches in height, which was found in Carlingwark Loch, 
Kelton, Kirkcudbright, contained a large number of tools, such as 
hammers, chisels, saws, &c., of iron. It is now in the National 
Museum, along with its contents. 
These caldrons are assigned to the close of the Bronze or 
beginning of the early Iron Age. 
As regards the date of the Bronze Age in Britain, archeologists 
are agreed in assigning its origin to between 1500 and 1200 years 
B.C., from which date it continued till about the third or fourth 
century B.C., when iron appears to have become known. 
