558 



SCIENTIFIC NEV\rS. 



[June 15, iS 



which were distinctly visible without any conscious re- 

 gard to the crystalline form enclosed. In completing the 

 figures no attempt has been made to correct or supple- 

 ment angles and planes which had not been distinctly re- 

 produced. 



(To be continued.) 



- — «-;»!:^<^«f^- 



THE COPPER AGE IN EUROPE. 



THE question of the first acquaintance of primitive 

 man with metals ranks among the most important 

 points in the studjf of the times which elapsed before the 

 origin of written histor}', or even ot surviving tradi- 

 tion. Among tliose which came into use in the so-called 

 neolithic age is copper, which on account of its pliability 

 could be wrought when cold, even in an unrefined state. 

 A very interesting account of the earliest occurrence of 

 copper tools in Europe has been published by Dr. M. 

 Much, and has been summarised and criticised by Dr. 

 C. Mehlis, in Hiunholdt. 



There are found in the Mondsee, the Attersee, the 

 Laibach lake, and among (he pile-dwellings of western 

 Switzerland, axes and knives of pure copper (/.c. not 

 bronze). Similar tools arc also found in the pile- 

 dwellings of eastern Switzerland. Hence Much regards 

 it as an established fact that in the pile-dwellings of 

 Switzerland and Austria copper is met with in quantitj' 

 before any other metal, and long before the cessation of 

 the use of stone implements. 



The European articles of copper, unlike those of North 

 America, are all of them cast, and are of very primitive 

 forms, belonging evidently to the neolithic age. Some of 

 the tools, especially the axes, show a direct connection 

 with corresponding articles of stone. 



Among these copper implements there is most fre- 

 quently found, from Denmark to Italy and from Asia 

 Minor to Spain, a flat axe with a broad edge. We often 

 meet also with weapons, daggers with a short blade to 

 which the handle is secured by means of rivets. Less 

 common are knives and spear-points. 



Among tools there are found hammers, (especially in 

 Hungary) needles, awls and sickles. Ornaments are also 

 discovered, such as single and double spiral rings, 

 bracelets, earrings, and hair-pins. 



Dr. Much enumerates two hundred places in the 

 Mediterranean regions where such articles have been 

 found. All the implements — more than a thousand in 

 number — have a very primitive character ; they show no 

 attempt at ornamentation, and agree with the neolithic 

 forms. This internal evidence, taken in conjunction with 

 the circumstances under which these relics are found, 

 render it certain that the origin of these copper products 

 must be sought for in the neolithic age. 



It must be remarked that in the districts where these 

 copper tools, etc., were found, crucibles, ladles for casting, 

 and other metallurgical appliances, have also been met 

 with. The author proves the occurrence of copper and 

 its prehistoric extraction in the territories of Salzburg 

 and in Tj'rol. 



Articles of bronze, very simple in form — especially flat 

 axes — are found in the pile-dwellin,5s on the Rhine, and 

 in Asia Minor along with implements of stone and of 

 copper. This fact furnishes Dr. Much with evidence that 

 working in bronze was not introduced into Europe as a 

 fully developed art, but that it has been evolved here 

 from crude beginnings, proceeding on the lines, so to 

 speak, of the stone age. 



A certain progress is, however, evident if we compare 

 even the oldest bronze articles with the archaic character 

 of the copper implements. Dr. ^Much, founding his 

 opmion upon the prevalence of copper ores in central 

 Europe, and on the evident disposition of neolithic man 

 to seek up useful materials, comes to the conclusion that 

 the neolithic races settled in Europe must have made the 

 independent discovery of tlie properties of copper and of 

 its extraction by fire. 



Dr. Much summarises his results in a series of pro- 

 positions which meet with the general acceptance of 

 archaeologists. These are : — 



1 . Among all the metals copper was the first to be- 

 come known to the people of Europe, inclusive of the 

 Greek islands and the western coast of Asia. Its use 

 spread almost over the whole of this quarter of the 

 globe, and may be recognised even in the earlier days of 

 the so-called neolithic (later stone) age. Copper was 

 employed for a long time along with stone and bone 

 utensils, and was not confined to ornaments, but served 

 mainlj' for tools and weapons. For a time it retained 

 the old shapes of the stone articles, which were improved 

 only by degrees. 



2. The copper implements in the possession of the 

 European peoples were not obtained by barter from 

 foreign nations, but were of domestic production, the 

 produce of local mines and local furnaces. It is probable 

 that the population of those days, which belonged to the 

 Aryan race, had discovered copper independently. 



3. Gold also became subsequently known, but without 

 extending itself in the same time over the whole region 

 in which copper wares have been discovered. On ac- 

 count of its small quantity and inadaptibility for tools, it 

 served merely for ornaments, and did not acquire the 

 high importance of copper. 



4. Before the complete disuse of stone implements, 

 there appeared the knowledge of the composition of 

 bronze. The articles of this material retained, though 

 only for a shorter time, the shapes of stone implements, 

 taking up then the more advanced patterns of the copper 

 utensils, and ultimately evolving a rich treasure of designs 



Dr. Mehlis, however, does not feel free to follow Dr. 

 Much in his denial of the existence of a neolithic age in 

 Europe. He refers, in opposition, to the graves of 

 Monsheim and Kirckheim, on the Rhine, which contain 

 not a trace of metal ; further, the graves of Merseburg, 

 on the Saale, in Vi^hich there are found stone implements, 

 but neither copper nor any other metal. 



It is a remarkable fact that the neolithic tribes of cen- 

 tral Europe seem to have become more quickly and more 

 extensively acquainted with the use of copper the nearer 

 were their dwellings to the Alps and the Carpathians. 



A closely connected question is that of the race 

 which mined and forged cast articles of copper. Both 

 Much and Mehlis conclude that the people who erected 

 the pile-dwellings of central Europe must have been of 

 Arjfan blood. This race, in possession of domestic 

 animals, the ox, the sheep, the goat, the dog and the 

 swine ; cultivating wheat and barley, and familiar with 

 the arts of grinding stones, of pottery, weaving, spinning, 

 smelting and casting copper, must have been firmly 

 established in the neolithic age along the border of the 

 Alps, and have spread thence northwards along the 

 river valleys. The Ar3'ans, at their first appearance in 

 Europe, were not nomad, but agriculturalists, ethnically 

 unconnected with the hunters of the mammoth and the 

 reindeer. 



