A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



made fast is not quite easy to see, as the studs do not come exactly 

 opposite one another on the two faces, and it would seem as if the hole 

 through which the rivet joining them passes is in a diagonal direction. 

 This feature, i.e. the presence of the gold studs, has not hitherto been 

 found on any spear-head of the Bronze Age ; similar studs, however, 

 occur upon a stone bracer in the British Museum, which was found 

 at DrifKeld, East Riding, Yorkshire. Below the wings have been 

 originally two loops of triangular section, only one of which now 

 remains. 



' Apart from the special interest of this spear-head as an unusual 

 and artistic production of the Bronze Age, it has the additional interest 

 of showing how the socketed spear-head was evolved from the sword- 

 like weapon which has been called, not very happily, a rapier. This 

 weapon has the same form as the blade of the spear-head before us, 

 although usually with a different form of mid-rib ; but if the socket be 

 taken away it will be found that in outline it exactly resembles some 

 of the many rapiers figured in Sir John Evans's and other works, and 

 that the two gold studs on either face are the survival of the rivet-heads 

 which fixed the handle to the weapon.' * 



For tumuli and barrows and the interesting remains associated 

 with them, we must refer the reader to the article on Ancient Earth- 

 works. 



A canoe or ' dug-out ' of oak, made from a single tree-trunk, was 

 found in Bagnor Marsh, near Newbury, some years ago. It was 

 about 9 feet long and 4 to 5 feet wide. 2 Such canoes are associated 

 with the Swiss lake-dwellings of the Stone Age ; but in this case 

 there is nothing by which the age can be precisely determined. 



Other discoveries of objects not specially referred to here will be 

 noticed in the topographical list at the end of this article. 



THE PREHISTORIC IRON AGE 



The Age of Iron followed the Age of Bronze just as the latter 

 succeeded the Age of Stone ; but for several reasons it is impossible to 

 say precisely when the Iron Age commenced in Britain. The discovery 

 of iron, however, seems to have been brought to our shores by the 

 Brythons, a branch of the Celtic people from whom is derived the name 

 of Britain for this island. Probably manufactured articles of the new 

 metal were first introduced in the ordinary course of trade, but there is 

 good reason to believe that iron was produced and worked in Britain 

 long before the period of the Roman occupation.' 



By far the most important discovery of antiquities of the Early Iron 

 Age made in the county is the Hagbourne Hill ' find,' which has been 

 briefly described in Archceologia! Mr. Ebenezer King, F.S.A., who 



i Mr. R. E. Goolden, F.S.A., into whose possession this fine spear-head came, has arranged for it to 

 be transferred to the British Museum. 



1 Trans. Newbury Dist. Field Club, iv. 205. 



B.M. Guide to Antiq. of the Early Iron Age, p. 4. 4 Arch. xvi. 348-9. 



186 



