COLUMBIAN HISTORICAL EXPOSITION AT MADRID. 



139 



Bronze hatchets, third style. These are likewise always cast and always handled. 

 The handle was bent, split, and the hatchet inserted as in the preceding epoch. 

 The wings were cast straight, and, on insertion of the handle, were closed over it 

 on each side and hammered down, thus holding the handle firmly (fig. 65). No. 

 25243 shows a -piece of the original wood thus inserted. Reproductions of molds 

 for casting them are ill adjacent trays. 



Bronze hatchets, fourth style. Always cast and always handled. During this epoch 

 of the Bronze Age this form was the ne plus ultra of bronze hatchets. They were 

 the hardest, best composition, and held their edge the best. They were most 

 effective whether as implements or as weapons. The handle was inserted in 

 the socket, and, as usual, bent at the poll and lashed with a ring. The square 

 forms were peculiar to Brittany, where they have been found en cache (fig. 66), 

 (M. de Mortillet found a cache of 100 at Moussaye, and M. de Chatelier one of 92 

 near Pont 1 Abbe.) They were occasionally deteriorated in quality and size, and 

 were placed in the graves as votive offerings to the dead. Representations of 

 molds for casting are in adjacent trays. 



Bronze spearheads. These are all cast. Their use continued into the Iron Age, 

 and even into historic times. 

 The Etruscans and Romans 

 used them as well as did their 

 predecessors. 



Bronze swords, poniards, daggers. 

 These continued in use until 

 a late period. They spread 

 over Europe and are traceable 

 by their different styles. 

 Nos. 101584-101586 are from 

 Sweden; 101121 from Brit 

 tany, yet this form of grip is 

 often found in Italy. No. 

 101342 belongs to the Iron 

 Age, and shows the scabbard 

 and the netting in which it 

 was held. The three com 

 plete specimens are casts 

 originals at Konigsberg, Prus 

 sia. Nos. 101584, 101585 are 

 Swedish; 101125 is from Brit 

 tany ; they are from a foundry 

 of the Bronze Age, and have been broken into bits to be melted and recast. 



Bronze sickles. These were cast in molds of stone or bronze, possibly of sand or 

 clay. One of these molds is in the adjoining tray. The implement was attached 

 to a wooden handle elaborately carved to fit the hand. (See No. 139765, right- 

 hand side of this tray, for example, found by Dr. Gross at the Station of Moer- 

 ingen, Lake of Bienne, Switzerland; a cast, the original of which is in the 

 Government Museum at Berne.) The sickles were lashed firmly to the handle, 

 were provided sometimes with holes, sometimes with rainures, and sometimes 

 with button-like protuberances, which, when the implement was fitted to the 

 handle, served to fasten it firmly. 



Bronze knives. These are principally from the Swiss lakes. The small labels 

 indicate stations in Lake Neuchatel. They were usually cast and usually hard 

 ened by cold hammering. A pair of molds are in the adjoining tray. Notice 

 the elegance of form and decoration, superior even to those of modern times. 



Bronze razors. This utensil appeared in use in the Larnaudian epoch. The large 

 crescent-shaped were continued into the later, possibly the Iron Age. They 

 were cast and then hardened by cold hammering. Despite their appearance, 

 thev could be held in the hand with as much firmness as the modern razor. 



Fig. 63. 



BRONZE HATCHETS. 



K 11 rope 



