426 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. xir. 



The Iron Age in Britain. 



The Prehistoric Iron age in Britain was probably of 

 short duration in comparison with that of Bronze. It is 

 represented principally by the contents of an insignificant 

 number of tombs, and by numerous isolated articles, of 

 which the age can only be fixed by the identity of the 

 ornamentation with that of well-known artistic styles. 



Arms and Equipage. 



No difference is noticeable in the habitations and forts 

 in Britain in the Iron age, as compared with those of 

 Bronze. The crannoges of Ireland were still inhabited, 

 as well as the camps which had been made in the Neo- 

 lithic and used in the succeeding age. It is, however, clear 

 from the observations of Caesar, that the small isolated 

 communities which we have observed in the Neolithic 

 age were welded together, and formed larger bodies 

 obedient to one rule. The civilisation was much higher, 

 partly from the accumulation of wealth, and partly from 

 contact, direct and indirect, with the culture of the south. 



The warriors in the Iron age of Prehistoric Britain 

 were armed with short, leaf-shaped iron swords for 

 stabbing, modelled on those of bronze, and afterwards, 

 and especially in the north, 1 with long iron swords with- 

 out a point, 2 probably used for cutting and not thrusting. 

 For the latter purpose bronze is far better, and with the 



1 Tacitus, Agricola, c. 56. For the history of the long swords, see 

 Kemble and Franks, Horce Ferales. 



'* The entrenchments at Stanwick have furnished a considerable quantity 

 of antiquities of the Prehistoric Iron age, including enamels, and remains 

 of chariots, of chain-mail, and a long iron sword. Journ. Archccol. Institute, 

 York vol. 



