414 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. XL 



bronze were current as the bullion of those times, capable 

 of being used either for manufacture or for commerce. 

 These have been found in France, Germany, and Scan- 

 dinavia. The idea of coinage probably originated in 

 this way, and the " ces rude " of the Etruskans passed 

 into the "ces signatum" of a definite shape, weight, and 

 value. The merchant with his pack was followed by the 

 smelter with his tools, and as trade increased local centres 

 of manufacture would be set up, where the conditions 

 were favourable. In the course of time the original 

 models would be concealed by the development of a local 

 style. This local development of manufactures would 

 not prevent the importation from time to time of foreign 

 articles, such as the Etruskan shields, swords, and golden 

 cups discovered in Scandinavia. In this manner the 

 association of articles imported from abroad with those 

 made upon the spot may be accounted for. The smelter 

 was succeeded by the tinker and the worker in repousse, 

 who penetrated into the regions north of the Alps from 

 the Mediterranean area towards the close of the Bronze 

 age in those regions, if not before. 1 



Local Centres of Bronze Industry in late Bronze Age. 



The forms of the implements and weapons, and the 

 variations in the style of ornament, enable us to divide 

 the Europe of the late Bronze age into three great regions, 

 each possessing its own peculiarities the Uralian or the 

 Eussian in the east; the Danubian in northern and middle 

 Europe ; and the Mediterranean in the south. The first 

 of these stands so completely apart from the others, that 



1 Montelius, Sur PAge du Bronze en Suede, Congr. Int. Archeol. Prehist. 

 Stockholm vol., 1874, 488. Chantre, L'Age du Bronze, ii. 



