Bronze Age Weapons in the Scarborough Museum. 397 



numerous blows which the specimen has taken before it finally 

 divided. The lower half of an axe (No. 18 on the Plate 

 referred to), might almost be the remaining portion of this 

 axe. The measurements of this fragment are 2|" in length, 

 by i" in breadth at the break. The socket, which was origin- 

 ally oval, but has one side now flattened due to hammering, 

 measures i|" by i\" . Weight 3I" oz. 



Adhering to the specimen is a portion of a label in the same 

 handwriting as that on No. 12, but I am not able to decipher 

 it. 



(14) I hesitate to describe this particular example as a 

 forgery, as it is so excellently made, and if a forgery, is so 

 well done, even to the inner ridges, that it would almost seem 

 that it had been cast in an original mould for one of these 

 axes. The specimen has a lack of old patina, bears evidence 

 of considerable filing (an unusual feature) on its surfaces, and 

 in other ways resemble some of the Flint Jack forgeries in 

 the Mortimer Collection, though I must admit these are all 

 much more clumsy than the present example. 



On the other hand if genuine it must have been accident- 

 ally burnt or treated in some other way to give it its present 

 suspicious appearance. There appears to be no data attached 

 to this specimen, and while I do not care definitely to state 

 that it is a forgery, I must look upon it with suspicion until 

 further information is forthcoming. All I can at present say 

 is, that if it is a ' fake,' then it is the best I have ever seen. 

 Measurements: 3I" long, cutting edge if", the square socket 

 i|" by i^". Weight 7^ oz. 



(15) Perhaps the most interesting Bronze Age relic in the 

 Museum is the very thin triangular dagger blade, found together 

 with a bone pommel in the tumulus at Gristhorpe, in 1834, 

 by the late Professor Williamson, who, as a young man, opened 

 this large burial mound, and published one of the finest 

 descriptions of a British tumulus ever written, of which 

 editions* have been published from time to time by the 

 Scarborough Society. The bronze dagger-blade (fig. 15) has 

 several features of interest. It is very thin indeed, and is much 

 corroded, due to its long burial in the earth. It is roughly 

 triangular in shape, 3 J" in length and i|" in width. It is very 

 thin, being no thicker than an ordinary well-used dinner-knife 

 blade. It was attached to the handle by two rivets (an 

 unusual number), one of which still remains in place. f This 

 is cylindrical, f\y" in length, by |" in width. Weight | oz. 



A somewhat similar example with a bone pommel was 



* Third edition, 23 pp. and plates, published in 1872. 

 f Both were present when discovered, (see Williamson's ' Description,' 

 3rd ed., p. 13) . 



1921 Dec. 1 



