EARLY MAN 



The possibility of shaping it whilst in a state of fusion, and of re- 

 sharpening implements made of it, gave to metal tools an immense 

 superiority over those fashioned out of stone ; and it is practically 

 certain that the introduction of the new material had the effect of 

 revolutionizing the methods of warfare, hunting, husbandry, building 

 and other crafts. The introduction of bronze into Britain is associated 

 with the appearance of the Goidels. 



In the entire absence of documentary evidence, it is unwise to 

 speculate in reference to certain phases and sides of life in the Bronze 

 Age. We have simply the remains of weapons, implements, pottery, 

 ornaments, etc., scattered on the surface of the ground, or hidden 

 beneath its surface, either in the form of a secret hoard or a sepulchral 

 deposit ; we have evidences of decorative art on pottery and metal- 

 work ; we have earthworks built up by man during the Bronze Age ; 

 and, finally, we have bones of Bronze Age man himself. 



From these various sources it can be pretty clearly shown that 

 the Bronze Age extended over a comparatively long period of time. 

 During that period there was a considerable advance in husbandry, 

 in the potter's art, and indeed in the various phases of civilization 

 generally. When the bronze- using people came to what is now 

 England, they came probably as traders. At any rate, they soon 

 fraternized with the neolithic inhabitants, and there is strong evidence 

 that the two races intermarried. The testimony of sepulchral deposits 

 upon this point is of great value, because it clearly establishes the fact 

 that sepulture by inhumation, which was the special feature of neolithic 

 burials, survived through the Bronze Age. 



The distribution of Bronze Age antiquities in Kent, whether 

 articles composed of bronze, or pottery, or personal ornaments, affords 

 confirmatory evidence of these peaceable relations between the two 

 races. Aylesford, which is remarkable as having afforded antiquities 

 of every period of prehistoric times, is one of several localities in Kent 

 where Neolithic and Bronze Age people lived side by side. 



The chief antiquities of the Bronze Age in Kent have been discovered 

 in or near the river-valleys of the Medway and the Stour, and also on or 

 near the sea-coast, as in the Isle of Harty, and between Margate and Dover. 

 The two forms of implements usually associated with the early part of 

 the Bronze Age are the broad-edged flat celts and the short knife- 

 daggers. An example of the former has been found at Aylesford,' and 

 of the latter at Sittingbourne ^ ; but these types are distinctly rare in 

 Kent. 



The implements or weapons suggestive of a later period are, 

 however, much less rare, and the following are the more important 

 examples : Swords have been found at All Hallow's, Hoo ; Chatham ; 

 and the Thames at Greenwich : spear-heads at Chartham and Salt- 

 wood : a fine bronze shield in the Thames near Woolwich : knives at 



Proc. Soc. Antiq. xvii. yj^l- * Op- cit. x. 29. 



321 



