CoFFEv — Recent Prehistoric Finds acquired hy the Academy. 87 



Professor Moutelius' recently published " Clnonology of the Bronze Age in 

 Great Britain and Ireland,"' they belong to the fifth or latest period, and can 

 be dated from the middle of the twelfth to the end of the ninth century B.C. 

 The Coachford celts are well-formed specimens, and this type is placed in the 

 " British Museum Guide to the Bronze Age " at the end of the period of the 

 development of the celt. They may be somev.'hat later than the date given 

 by Professor Montelius ; we may say, however, that they cannot in any event 

 be later than about 500 B.C. The find is therefore of much importance, as 

 it places beyond dispute the fact that many of the amber beads found in 

 Ireland can be placed in the Bronze Age. That this was so had frequently 

 been asserted in the past, but the matter can now be taken as definitely 

 settled. 



Amber is ^'ery commonly found in Scandinavia in graves belonging to 

 the earlier Stone Age, but in the last portion of this period and during the 

 Bronze Age it is very seldom found, the reason of this being, no doubt, 

 that it was exported to other countries, where it was much prized. The two 

 principal places where amber is found in the north are the west coast of 

 Jutland and the coast of west Prussia. Amber was exported early from both 

 places, and as there is no difference in appearance or chemical composition, it 

 is impossible to determine from which place amber found in another country 

 may have come. As, however, the amber was no doubt exchanged for metals 

 such as gold, bronze, and copper, and as Jutland is far richer in finds of these 

 materials than west Prussia, it is probable that the greatest amount of amber 

 comes from Jutland.' This northern amber, or succinit, as it is called, is 

 known from the chemical examination of Herr 0. Helm, of Danzig,^ to 

 contain a large proportion of succinit acid (3 per cent, to 8 per cent.). This 

 is not present, or present only in very small traces, in the amber obtained at 

 the foot of Mount Etna in Sicily. Herr Helm examined several beads from 

 different Italian graves of the Bronze Age, all of which contained succinit 

 acid, and were therefore presumably made from northern amber. The 

 examination of a bead from the shaft graves at Mycenae gave the same 

 result. None of the amber in the Academy's collection has been chemically 

 examined, this being a troublesome process; but from its appearance, and 

 judging by analogy, I think it would be fairly safe to conclude that it is 

 derived from the Baltic. 



' Aichieologia, vol. Ixi, p. 97. 



'Montelius, " Die Clironologie der Altesten Bonzezeit," pp. 71 and 72. 



^Zeitsclirift fiir Etlinologie, vol. xxxiii. 1901, p. 400. 



