410 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. XT. 



bronzes made by Phillips, 1 and subsequently carried on 

 by Von Bibra, 2 and Von Fellenberg, 3 that the oldest (see 

 the above tables) were composed essentially of tin and 

 copper. Subsequently lead was added in the coinage 

 (ces, semis, quadrans) of the Republic, and in the Greek 

 coinage after B.C. 400. "Zinc makes its appearance a 

 short time previous to the Christian era, and is continued 

 in all the subsequent coins, although " occasionally 

 associated with lead and tin, until it almost entirely 

 disappears in the small brass of the period of the Thirty 

 Tyrants." l Bronze therefore is more ancient than brass, 

 and the terms ses, %aX/co?, and "brass" in the Bible, 

 imply the former and not the latter alloy. The shield of 

 Achilles was made by Hephaistus, of copper, tin, gold, 

 and silver mingled together in the furnace. The oldest 

 seats of bronze-founding among the Greeks were Delos, 

 -ZEgina, and Corinth. 



Bronze introduced into Europe from one Centre. 



The uniformity of the composition of the cutting im- 

 plements of the Bronze age implies that the art of 

 compounding tin with copper was discovered in one 

 place, from which the knowledge of it spread over nearly 

 the whole of Europe and Asia, and the greater part of 

 the Americas. Had it spread from separate centres, this 

 uniformity would have been impossible. The bronze 

 implements of ancient Peru and Mexico, although sepa- 

 rated by such a vast distance from the parts of Asia 



1 Phillips, Journ. Chem. Soc., iv. p. 288. 



2 Von Bibra, Die Bronzen und Kupferlegirungen der Alien und Altesten 

 Volker, Erlang. 1869. 



8 Von Fellenberg, Trans. Nat. Hist. Berne, 1860-61. 



