428 EARLY MAN IN BRITAIN. [CHAP. xn. 



Personal Ornaments. 



The personal ornaments show considerable artistic 

 finish, and were in part modelled on designs obtained 

 from the south. Two singular gold articles, ornamented 



in repousse, found in Ire- 

 land (Fig. 157), 1 may have 

 been intended for caps like 

 the Etruskan "tutuli," or 

 those worn by the Assy- 

 rian kings. Similar ob- 

 Fm. 157. Golden Cap, Devil's Bit, jects have been discovered 



Tipperary. 



many. Eound the neck they wore torques of gold, bronze, 

 or iron ; round the arms bracelets, and round the waist 

 belts of the same materials. Brooches were used made 

 of bronze, and of the safety-pin 2 type as well as of other 

 forms, sometimes ornamented with enamel. They had 

 finger-rings of gold, as well as of bronze and iron ; and 

 necklaces of amber, jet, and of glass. The torques and 

 bracelets are generally solid, and belong to the "beaded" 

 type of Dr. Birch. 3 



They also wore circlets on their heads made of bronze 

 or gold, sometimes ornamented with beautiful designs 

 in volutes and flamboyants, like those of the bronze 

 head-ring found in the village of Stitchel 4 (Fig. 158) in 

 Eoxburghshire. Silver was used not merely for per- 

 sonal ornament but for inlaying the hilts of the swords. 

 The precious metals were probably stored up among the 



1 Wilde, Cat. R. 1. Academy, ii. Gold Articles. 

 2 Wilde, op. cit. i., Figs. 474, 475, 476. 



3 Archceol. Journ., ii. 368 ; iii. 27. 

 4 Wilson, Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, ii. p. 146. 



