EARLY MAN 



may be mentioned here perhaps more conveniently than elsewhere. The 

 first is the accumulation which has been found in the bed of the 

 river Wandle near its mouth. The bronze objects comprise a sword, 

 a spearhead, a palstave, a pin, and many miscellaneous objects of bronze. 

 Another more important collection of bronze objects has been 

 made from the bed of the river Thames near the following places in 

 Surrey : Battersea, three swords, two spearheads, a gouge and a caul- 



dron, all of bronze ; Kingston, two palstaves, one socketed 



celt, three rapier blades, a leaf-shaped sword, a spearhead, and 



a knife with broad tang ; Lambeth, a bronze spearhead ; 



Richmond, a broad knife-dagger; Runnymede, a spearhead ; 



Vauxhall, a long rapier blade and a leaf-shaped sword ; 



Wandsworth, a remarkable socketed and looped celt, with the 



loop placed in the same direction as the socket (see illustration). 

 The distribution of antiquities of the bronze age over 



the surface of Surrey will be seen by a glance at the archae- 



ological map in which the various discoveries are noted. 



The positions in which hoards of bronze are found do not 



necessarily indicate settlements or places 



of permanent occupation, because, as a 



hoard was essentially a deposit of a secret 



character, it is quite conceivable that the 



most unlikely and inaccessible situations 



would be chosen for such purposes. 



Flat bronze celts of the early type 



have been found at Albury and Godal- 



ming, whilst in addition to the socketed 



celts and palstaves mentioned in connec- 



tion with hoards of bronze, specimens 



have been found at the following places 



in Surrey : Bagshot, Chertsey, Farnham, 



Godalming,Guildford, Riddlesdown, Roth- 



erhithe, Wanborough, Wonersh ; and at 



Kingston some remarkable specimens of 



socketed and looped celts bearing some 



interesting ornamentation consisting of 



vertical ribs or lines ending in a kind of 



ring ornament or circle with a central 



pellet (see illustrations, p. 245). 



* This ornament,' as Sir John Evans 1 



has pointed out, ' is perhaps the simplest 



and most easily made, for a notched flint 

 could b e usec i as a pa j r O f com p asses to 



. . r 



produce a circle with a well marked centre on almost any 

 material however hard.' 



This device is also found on other objects of the bronze age, notably 



1 Ancient Bronze Implements, etc. p. 124. 

 243 



BRONZE 

 SWORD, 



BATTERSEA. 



BRONZE SOCKETED 



CELT, 

 WANDSWORTH. 



