331 
differ from the English and Irish antiquities; in all those 
countries moulds have also been found in which the imple- 
ments and weapons of bronze were cast. This shews that dif- 
ferent people in Europe, in the same state of civilization, had 
used the same implements of the same metal, only in slightly 
varying forms. ‘The oldest accounts of Greek and Roman 
authors confirm this important result, which is principally 
due to the antiquities. 
§ 3. The Iron Period. 
It seems that the implements and weapons of bronze 
completely disappeared when the Romans had overrun the 
northern or north-western part of Europe; but Ireland and 
Denmark, the two countries which were never conquered 
by the Romans, continued longer to make use of them, 
and thus are peculiarly rich in antiquities of bronze, though 
poor in Roman remains. When the Roman empire fell, 
upon its ruins arose a new civilization, which commenced 
by imitating the Roman models; it is no wonder, therefore, 
that the same ornaments which appear on the oldest Irish 
ecclesiastical remains are also to be seen on remains from 
the iron period in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, 
Germany, &c. They were all barbarized imitations of Ro- 
man designs, and resembled one another, inasmuch as they 
were derived from a common archetype. It was only re- 
eently that Irish weapons belonging to the iron period were 
found, for the first time, in the course of excavations in the 
Shannon and at Dunshaughlin. In exhibiting some of these 
Mr. Worsaae remarked, that they were very small, compared 
with the large and heavy swords which were found, a short 
time ago, in cutting the railway at Kilmainham, and which, 
undoubtedly, were Danish, or rather Norwegian swords. The 
contrast between these Irish and Norse swords gives quite 
a picture of the time. It is a fact that not only Ireland, 
but other countries, England, France, Germany, &c., were, 
_ from about the eighth until the twelfth century, exceedingly 
