Coffey and Armstrong — Bronze Objects at Annesborough. 173 



The palstave belongs to a type common both in Ireland and Great 

 Britain ; the cutting edge is expanded, and it has a triangular pattern below 

 the stop ridge. The seams of the casting can be seen on both sides. It had 

 a loop at one side which has been broken. It measures 5| inches in length 

 (Plate XVIII, figs. 2 and 3). The palstave very much resembles the three 

 found with the celebrated Grunty Fen tore figured by Baron Von Hiigel in 

 the " Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society," vol. xii, Plate III. 

 The Grunty Fen find is placed by Montelius in his third period, and there is 

 little doubt that the bronze tore and palstave from Annesborough may be 

 considered as contemporary, and the palstave placed at about the same 

 date which we have suggested for the tore, i.e. 1200-1000 B.C. 



The two bracelets that have been recovered are very featureless, being 

 merely rods of bronze, square in section, bent into circular form (Plate XVIII, 

 figs. 6 and 7). It would be exceedingly difficult to form an estimate of their 

 age. The bracelet that was not recovered was of the same type. It was sold 

 by the farmer to a woman living in the neighbourhood. 



The most interesting object, which at the same time presents the most 

 difficulties, is the brooch. It belongs to the type of Eoman provincial fibulae 

 generally known as hinged-brooches, and may be assigned to the close of the 

 first century a.d. It measures nearly If inches in length, and the cross-piece 

 is an inch long. The pin is hinged at the head, and its point rests in the 

 groove of the catch-plate. The bow has a longitudinal rib, the catch that 

 held the chord of the spiral spring having become merely ornamental, and the 

 cross-piece has slight transverse grooves near the two ends, perhaps a survival 

 of the bilateral spring with which" earlier brooches of this type were provided 

 (Plate XVIII, fig. 5). 



It is almost impossible to differentiate the latest forms of the late La Tene 

 brooches from the early provincial Eoman types, as they pass so gradually 

 from one form to the other ; but the attachment of the pin by a hinge is 

 generally considered to distinguish the provincial types from the La Tene 

 brooches.' The example before us is certainly post-La Tene. The type is 

 derived from the La Tene examples with bilateral springs, and eventually 

 it evolved into the cruciform Teutonic brooch. 



Forms of early Eoman provincial brooches similar to the Annesborough 

 brooch have been found in England — for example, at Polden Hill, Somerset. 2 

 They have also been found in central and south Europe. 



While on the subject of hinged-brooches found in Ireland, we take this 

 opportunity of illustrating four other specimens in the Academy's collection. 



1 " Zeitschrift fur Ethnologie," vol. xliii, pp. 689, 690. 

 - " British Museum Iron Age Guide," p. 128, fig. 109. 



