SPEAR-HEADS,. ARROWS, FISH-HOOKS, SICKLES. 



19 



the two classes together, the Dublin Museum contains 

 nearly 300. The handles of the bronze swords are very 

 short, and could not have been held comfortably by hands as 

 large as ours, a characteristic much relied on by those who 

 attribute the introduction of bronze into Europe to a people 

 of Asiatic origin. 



The next classes of bronze objects are the Fjo< 27% , Fla 28 

 heads of spears (figs. 27, 28), javelins, and 

 arrows; two hundred and seventy- six of 

 which are in the Dublin Museum ; in length 

 they vary from two feet and a half to an 

 Jinch, and their shapes are also very various : 

 but it is unnecessary to describe them in 

 detail, because they are repeated in simi- 

 lar weapons of all ages, countries and ma- 

 terials. Bronze arrows, however, are not 

 very common in Northern Europe, proba- 

 bly because flint was so much cheaper,, and 

 almost as effective. 



More than a, hundred bronze fish-hooks 

 have been found at Nidau in the Lake of 

 Bienne, but elsewhere they appear to be 

 rare; the Museum at Dublin contains only one. Sickles 

 are more numerous; at Copenhagen there are twenty-five, 

 at Dublin eleven ; in the Lake- village at Morges eleven 

 have been found, at Nidau eighteen ; they are generally 

 about six inches in length, flat on one side, and raised 

 on the other ; they were always intended to be held in the 

 right hand. 



Bronze knives (figs. 29-33) are frequently found in the 

 Danish tumuli, and among the remains of the Swiss lake- 

 habitations ; twenty, for instance, at Morges, twenty-six at 

 Estavayer, and about a- hundred at Nidau : in Ireland they 

 appear to be very rare ; the Dublin Museum does not contain 



Spear-heads from 

 Ireland. 



