CHAP. XL] DEVELOPMENT OF THE BRONZE INDUSTRY. 413 



greater part of the Continent may have been in the 

 Bronze age while Egypt and Assyria were in that of 

 Iron. 



The Earliest Bronze Implements in Europe. 



The bronze articles which are most widely distributed 

 are the simple wedge-shaped axe, and the simple dagger. 

 These are found in Egypt, in the ruins of Hissarlik, in 

 the island of Termia, in Cyprus, and over the whole of 

 Europe as far north as Sweden. The wedge-axe is 

 found in India (Gungeria), in Mexico, and Peru. 

 These two forms appear together in the early Bronze 

 age of Scandinavia, Britain, and France, and they are 

 therefore probably the first metal implements which 

 found their way into the hands of the Neolithic inhabit- 

 ants of Europe. The history of their evolution is the 

 same ; just as the wedge axe is the descendant from a 

 prototype of polished stone, so is the dagger related to 

 that of stone, of which so many wonderfully worked ex- 

 amples have been found in Scandinavia, and which have 

 also been discovered in Egypt. One specimen from the 

 latter country, in the British Museum, is mounted in a 

 wooden handle, like those of bronze. Swords and more 

 complicated axes, and more elaborate articles, came in 

 afterwards, and present local peculiarities which enable 

 the archaeologists to map out Europe into different 

 regions characterised by the different styles. 



Development of the Bronze Industry. 



Bronze was introduced into Europe first of all in the 

 shape of simple implements, weapons, and ornaments, 

 and afterwards, when smelting became known, ingots of 



