618 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academtj. 



whom archaeologists are chiefly indebted for information about the prehistoric 

 periods in the Peninsula), have yielded numerous copper halberds.^ The 

 Spanish examples, like the Irish, were hafted in wooden handles ; in several 

 cases remains of the shafts were found adhering to the blades. Although 

 rough drawings of halberds attached to their shafts are incised on prehistoric 

 rock-markings in the Italian Maritime Alps,' the number of actual halberd 

 blades found in the north and centre of Italy is small. In England they are 

 rarely found, though examples similar to the Iiish specimens have been 

 discovered in Scotland.^ In North Germany and Sweden such blades have 

 frequently been discovered, but they are generally furnished with a handle 

 either partly or entirely of bronze.^ Halberds with such bronze handles must 

 be placed later in the series of development than similar blades with handles 

 of wood. The former type is not found in western or southern Europe ; only 

 one example appears to be known from Hungary.'' 



Hubert Schmidt, who discusses the origin of the halberd in a recent paper 

 entitled Der Bronsefund von Cancna,'^' comes to the conclusion that the inven- 

 tion of this weapon is to be attributed to the Spanish peninsula, whence 

 it spread to the rest of Europe. Dr. Much' considers the Spanish halberds to 

 be the oldest weapons of their kind : he reserves judgment as to whether they 

 were invented in Spain, but holds the Irish halberds to be later than the 

 Spanish examples, placing them between those of the Peninsula and those 

 found in Germany. Decheletle, referring to halberds, writes that the disco- 

 veries of the Iberian peninsula attest their southern origin.^ 



If tlie Spanish peninsula may be regarded as the starting-place of the 

 halberds, it seems not unreasonable to consider the Irish examples as derived 

 from that country. The Irish halberds resemble the Spanish more closely 

 than the German examples, being more primitive than the latter and nearer 

 the original prototype. Halberd blades have been found in the tumulus de 

 Saint-Fiacre, commune de Melrand, Morbihan,' indicating that the connexion 

 between Ireland and the Peninsula followed the Atlantic coast-line. 



' H. and L. Siret, Les premiers ages du metal dans le siid-ed de VEspagne, text, pp. 145, 

 19C, 207, and Plates 32, 33, 03, and 60. 



- Bickuell, Prehistoric Rock Engraciwjs in the Italian Maritime Alps, Plates I and VI. 



^ Coffey, Proc. Royal Irish Academy, xxvii, p. 105. 



* Montelius, Die Chrvnologie, pp. 27-30. 



° Dechelette, op. cit., ii, p. 199. 



" Praehistorische Zeitschrift, i, pp. 120, 127- The whole article deserves study; 

 especially p. 126 to end. 



'' Die Kupferzeit, pp. 131, 132. 



8 Op. cit., ii, p. 199. 



" Dechelette, op. cit., ii, p. 198. 



