384 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. x. 



knowledge of bronze." The discovery, then, is of especial 

 importance, because it represents the goods of a merchant 

 selected to suit the market of the north and west. The 

 abundance of personal ornaments in it corresponds with 

 that abundance which has been observed in the sepul- 

 chres of the early division of the Bronze age. Several 

 other similar discoveries are described by M. Chantre. 

 That of Vaudrevanges, near Sarrelouis, contains, among 

 other things, a sword which is identical with that 

 described by M. le Comte Gozzadini from Eonzano, in 

 Italy. The proportion of ornaments in these hoards is 

 almost the same as in the sepulchres of the Cevennian 

 or early Bronze age. In the one they amount to 75*02 

 per cent> in the other they are 79 '87. The conclusion 

 which we should draw from this fact is, that these 

 articles were en route to be sold to those who ultimately 

 deposited them, as their chief valuables, in the tombs. 



Hoards of the Bronze-smith. 



The deposits of fragments of metal, with the neces- 

 sary implements for working it, in France and Switzer- 

 land, no less than sixty-seven in number, differ from those 

 of merchandise, in the fact that the articles have been pre- 

 pared for working up again. In the case of the former 

 they are either worn out or broken, in the latter they 

 are new and selected for the market. That discovered 

 at Larnaud in 1865, in a potato ground near Lons-le- 

 Saulnier (Jura), may be taken to illustrate the association 

 of articles, amounting to 1485 pieces, intended to pass 

 through the melting pot, and therefore imperfect, but 

 affording a true idea of the art and civilisation in France 

 at one and the same time. Among the materials for 



