EARLY MAN 



Bronze Age), is unfortunately unlabelled with any more definite locality 

 than ' Suffolk.' 



A perfectly preserved gold torque, measuring about 5 in. in external 

 diameter, was discovered at Boy ton ^ in the year 1835. The torque, as one 

 might expect from its name, is twisted, whilst the ends, which are made of 

 straight pieces of thick gold wire or bar, are turned sharp back, so as to 

 produce acute hook-like fastenings. The total weight, including a link of gold 

 ring money attached, as an additional security, to the fastening, is 2 oz. 4 dwt. 

 The torque was found in a loam-pit embedded in the soil 1 2 ft. below the sur- 

 face, and unfortunately in washing it one of the pieces of ring-money (there 

 were originally two) was lost. The other is now in the British Museum. 



The period of this beautiful specimen of personal ornament is probably 

 somewhat late in the Bronze Age. The charming effect produced by the 

 twisting of the gold is due to the fact that the bar of metal was built up into 

 a kind of rod or wire of a cruciform section. 



There does not appear to be much available evidence as to the forms 

 of human dwellings during the Bronze Age. In times of civil or tribal 

 strife, possibly also in very severe weather, the Bronze-Age folk retired to 

 caves and other natural fortresses, just as at a much later period the Scottish 

 Covenanters fled to caves and forests during the persecutions which they 

 underwent. 



The antiquities discovered in Heathery Burn Cave, in the county of 

 Durham, furnish evidence of the presence of human residents extending over 

 a considerable period, but residence was probably intermittent and interrupted. 

 In other parts of the country rock shelters as well as caves may have been 

 made use of for dwelling purposes. It is significant, however, that the small 

 clay sepulchral receptacles known as hut urns, found in Italy, which are of 

 the Bronze-Age, are shaped exactly like small wooden houses or huts with 

 square plan, gabled roofs, timber-rafters, and rectangular or nearly rectangular 

 windows and doors. We may possibly conclude from this that the houses of 

 the Bronze Age in Britain, as elsewhere, were constructed of shaped timbers. 

 The tools formed of bronze would doubtless be equal to the work of cutting, 

 cleaving, and shaping the timbers necessary for the building of such houses. 



Certain remains of Bronze-Age houses in this country have been found, 

 although they are distinctly rare. On Dartmoor, where stones for the purpose 

 are abundant, there are several low circular walls or foundations of habitations 

 which belonged to this period. In other parts of the kingdom where rivers, 

 lakes, or marshy land were available, the dwellings were constructed upon piles 

 driven into the bed of the stream or lake. These pile-dwellings, whilst perhaps 

 having certain disadvantages arising from dampness, afforded valuable protection 

 from wolves as well as from human enemies. 



There is every reason to believe that there are still existing below the 

 soil, in places where lakes and marshes have been dried up or river-courses 

 have been diverted, several remains of pile-dwellings of the Bronze Age. 

 Possibly there are some such in Suffolk, a county which presents many of 

 the requisite physical conditions for structures of this character. 



At least one spot where remains of pile-dwellings have been found in 

 Suffolk is recorded ; this is in Barton Mere, at Great Barton. Here, it is pretty 



' Arch, xxvi, 471. 

 269 



