THE DAWN OF METALLURGY. 293 
MM. Siret think that the period they have named “ Transition”’ 
was anterior to that when the first navigators made their 
expeditions to Spain, and that probably the discovery and use 
of silver in that country was one of the great attractions which 
drew these voyagers to its shores. The actual race which 
introduced metallurgy into Spain during the Transition epoch 
does not appear to have been permanently established there, 
although probably some admixture with the Neolithic inhabi- 
tants took place; but in the immediately succeeding age, when 
metallurgy was fully practised and when bronze and silver were 
in common use, the strangers who taught the new art seem 
to have disappeared for a time, as cremation was no longer 
practised and the old Neolithic custom of burial was resumed. 
The character of the ornaments also underwent a change, 
whilst, at the same time, metallurgy, domestic architecture, 
and the pottery taught by the visitors or invaders were 
retained and even improved upon; and the general advance 
in culture was great. All that we can therefore conclude as 
far as we have got, is that the race which taught the Neolithic 
Spaniards metallurgy was probably Aryan; and that the 
same race imparted the art to the other peoples of Hurope 
where a similar bronze industry existed. As to when this 
was we have no means of knowing; we know that not in 
Europe only, but also in Asia Minor, there was a Neolithic 
age, which was gradually replaced by one in which bronze was 
the prevailing material, from which both implements and 
ornaments were manufactured; and this substitution took 
place by degrees all over Europe. The valley of the Rhone 
is rich in remains of the Bronze age, no fewer than thirty- 
nine foundries having been found; the French museums, 
as well as those of other countries, are full of specimens 
of the art, showing the spread of the new civilisation. All 
the evidence shows that the metallurgy of the Bronze age 
travelled from an easterly and probably southerly direction, 
and during the later part of the Bronze age Htruria was one 
great centre, whence it spread to Northern Kurope. ‘There is 
much to show that the change at first began in a peaceful 
way through the ordinary channels of commerce: amongst 
the earliest objects found are personal ornaments, whilst 
implements and warlike weapons seem to have been intro- 
duced at a later date; then, as time went on, the high art 
of the Etruscans gradually influenced the neighbouring 
countries, and travelled northward as far as Scandinavia and 
the British Isles. In the wake of the merchants would come 
in due course the actual makers of the bronze in various 
