EARLY MAN 



several reliques, all of bronze.' The discovery of ' fragments of human bones, 

 and a piece of decayed wood about the size of two hands,' by labourers 

 employed in digging out sand, suggested to the discoverers that the deposit 

 was of a sepulchral character ; indeed, the account communicated to the 

 Society of Antiquaries of London expressly mentions ' a grave cut north and 

 south in the sand-rock.' The explanation, apparently, is that a hoard of 

 bronze objects was hidden during the Bronze Age on Greensborough Hill, a 

 pleasant knoll overlooking an extensive tract of country. On the same 

 natural hill, either before or after this period, a grave was cut into the 

 ground, and some human remains were deposited therein. 



Hoards of bronze objects, of which this affords an instance, are among 

 the most valuable of the traces of this remote age which we possess. We 

 may regard them, in certain respects, as of even greater importance than 

 sepulchral deposits, partly from the fact that the contents are of a practically 

 indestructible character, but mainly because they represent the collected 

 valuables belonging to a worker or dealer in bronze. The archaeological 

 value of associated objects of one definite period is, of course, very great, 

 proving the contemporaneity of forms of tools, weapons, &c., in the earliest 

 age of metal. 



In addition to the Shenstone hoard there are several individual bronze 

 objects worthy of note. Among them are : 



1. A bronze armilla, made of a flat piece of metal, half an inch in breadth, having on 

 the outside a lozengy pattern engraved, found at Castern, near Wetton. 



2. Another armlet (imperfect), made of thick bronze wire, found in a barrow at 

 Wetton. 



3. Bronze knife-daggers found at Lett Low, near Warslow ; Musden ; Lady Low 

 Barrow, near Blore ; and Stanshope. 



4. Palstaves found at firewood ; Biddulph ; Bushbury ; and Stretton. 



5. Bronze sword with seven rivet-holes found at Alton Castle. 



6. A leaf-shaped spear-head found at Yarlet. 



THE EARLY IRON AGE 



Staffordshire has furnished only a few remains which can be with any 

 certainty referred to this, the last period of prehistoric time. The intro- 

 duction of iron as a material for making implements and weapons must have 

 given an immense advantage to its possessors, and it marked a very distinct 

 stage in the progress of human civilization. It is possible that the fewness of 

 Early Iron Age discoveries in the county may be accounted for by the perish- 

 able nature of the newly-discovered or imported metal, but it is perhaps more 

 particularly due to the comparative shortness of the period between the 

 introduction of iron and the beginning of the historic period which dates 

 from the appearance of the Romans. 



Among the discoveries to be recorded is a leaf-shaped iron lance-head * 

 found in 1895 at Stone, 6 in association with a flint flake, and bones of Bos 



4 Mr. Reginald A. Smith, F.S.A., who has kindly favoured the writer with his opinion on this lance-head, 

 considers that, whilst the form of the blade resembles Anglo-Saxon workmanship, the unsplit socket is 

 sufficient and conclusive evidence that it belongs to the Early Iron Age. 



' North Staffs. Nat. field Club and Arch. Soc. Tram, xxx, 108-1 5. 



I 79 



