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differ from the English and Irish antiquities ; in all those 

 countries moulds have also been found in which the imple- 

 ments and weapons of bronze were cast. This shews that dif- 

 ferent people in Europe, in the same state of civilization, had 

 used the same implements of the same metal, only in slightly 

 varying forms. The oldest accounts of Greek and Roman 

 authors confirm this important result, which is principally 

 due to the antiquities. 



§ 3. The Iron Period. 



It seems that the implements and weapons of bronze 

 completely disappeared when the Romans had overrun the 

 northern or north-western part of Europe ; but Ireland and 

 Denmark, the two countries which were never conquered 

 by the Romans, continued longer to make use of them, 

 and thus are peculiarly rich in antiquities of bronze, though 

 poor in Roman remains. When the Roman empire fell, 

 upon its ruins arose a new civilization, which commenced 

 by imitating the Roman models ; it is no wonder, therefore, 

 that the same ornaments which appear on the oldest Irish 

 ecclesiastical remains are also to be seen on remains from 

 the iron period in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, 

 Germany, &c. They were all barbarized imitations of Ro- 

 man designs, and resembled one another, inasmuch as they 

 were derived from a common archetype. It was only re- 

 cently that Irish weapons belonging to the iron period were 

 found, for the first time, in the course of excavations in the 

 Shannon and at Dunshaughlin. In exhibiting some of these 

 Mr. Worsaae remarked, that they were very small, compared 

 with the large and heavy swords which were found, a short 

 time ago, in cutting the railway at Kilmainham, and which, 

 undoubtedly, were Danish, or rather Norwegian swords. The 

 contrast between these Irish and Norse swords gives quite 

 a picture of the time. It is a fact that not only Ireland, 

 but other countries, England, France, Germany, &c., were, 

 from about the eighth until the twelfth century, exceedingly 



