PROGRESS IN MANUl'ACTURES AND ART. 117 



sing'ham in Norfolk ^ ; but they may very possibly have been but- 

 tons, the more solid part having' been made of wood upon which the 

 thin gold plating was laid ; what are undoubtedly buttons, of a 

 conical form^ and made in the way I have suggested, of wood and 

 gold^ have occurred in the Wiltshire barrows \ What may be 

 called a fibula of bone [fig. 7, p. 34] has also been found, and 

 always, so far as I know, with burnt bodies. No bronze fibulse 

 or any fastenings of that nature have been discovered in barrows 

 of the bronze age, though they occur in those of the early time of 

 iron ; but a few buckles, small and of a simple form, show that, as 

 might be expected, so very natural a mode of connection was 

 known ^. The dress was no doubt fastened more commonly by 

 tags or laces, but of such things it is not to be expected that 

 any trace would be left. 



The implements and weapons of bronze show that they had 

 attained to a high perfection in the process of casting, and give 

 evidence of no little progress in metallurgy; whilst the pottery is 

 quite equal to what has been discovered in other parts of Britain, 

 though perhaps the designs upon some of the vessels do not show 

 so much artistic skill as is seen upon those from the south-west of 

 Scotland. It manifests, however, a long-continued experience in 

 the manufacture of fictile ware. The ornamentation upon the 

 vases and urns is not wanting in a certain tasteful arrang'ement, 

 but in the ignorance of the use of the wheel, in the imperfect firing*^ 

 in the absence of glazing, and of any other form of design in the 

 patterns than simple combinations of lines or of circular markings, 

 it cannot be said that they had attained to any great perfection in 

 the art of the potter. 



The personal ornaments, which have however occurred in a very 

 few instances, give indications of some artistic power, though de- 

 veloped after a simple fashion. They have consisted of necklaces, 

 generally made of jet, or other and inferior lignite ; of buttons and 

 rings of jet, in some cases tastefully decorated, and therefore having 

 a claim to be classed under the head of ornaments ; of ear-rings of 

 bronze ; of beads and pendants of bone, jet, and other substances, 

 not found in sufficient numbers to constitute a necklace ; and 

 of some humbler articles, such as perforated teeth. 



* Proc. Soc. of Ant., 2iid Ser., vol. iv. p. 456. 



^ Ancient Wilts, vol. i. p. 99. pi. x ; p. 201. pi. xxxv. 



* A small bronze buckle, wliieh had been used for fastening the wrist-guard, \vas 

 found in a cist at Kelleythorpe. Ai'cliBeologia, vol. xxxiv. p. 251. 



