20 The History of the Spur 



embrace either the bare heel or one clothed with a very close- 

 fitting boot. The terminations of the sides are in the form of 

 the button-like stud, circular in form and five-eighths of an inch 

 in diameter, slightly convex on the outer surface and concave 

 within. The heel-plate is about three-eighths of an inch from 

 the upper edge to the lower, and there is an attempt at ornament 

 in the form of two small rounded knobs, or bosses, on the upper 

 and lower edges in the median line. The spike is round in 

 section, and half an inch in length. The period in which these 

 tombs were constructed is, of course, late Etruscan, and after 

 that people had come under Roman influence. It would be 

 interesting to ascertain if the Etruscans had used spurs when 

 they were at the zenith of their power, from the eighth to the 

 fifth century B.C., before they came under the influence of 

 Rome, as that might have thrown some light on the origin 

 of this mysterious race. But I could find no evidence of spurs 

 in the Archaeological Museum at Florence, where there are 

 numerous bronze objects made by Etruscans at an early period 

 — horses' bits, weapons, etc., but no spurs. I was not able to 

 investigate all the Etruscan remains at such places as Orvieto, 

 Chiusi, etc., but I think it probable that, had any spurs prior 

 to the third century B.C. been in existence, they would have 

 been found in the Etruscan Museum at Florence. 



In the collection of Mr. Redfern, of Cambridge, there is 

 a Roman spur, found, I believe, in Essex, and which is 

 illustrated on Plate 4, Fig. 2. It is a bronze spur with short 

 rounded sides, rather less than a quarter of an inch in thickness 

 and having a spread of two and a half inches. The sides are 



