CoFFKY — Irish Qop-per Halberds. 105 



more from the elbow than from the shoulder. This is to be inferred from the 

 examples of bronze halberds with metal shafts already mentioned, most of the 

 examples from the south-east of Spain, and the rock-markings of the Maritime 

 Alps. But examples are known in which the blade was sloped.^ 



- The Irish halberd-blades were evidently mounted at right angles to the 

 shaft in the same way as most of the Continental blades, as can be seen from 

 the straight-across marks of the handle which can be traced on several of the 

 examples. 



But the Irish type is distinct from the Continental, both by the length to 

 which the blades attain, and the curve which occurs in many of them. The 

 latter may, indeed, be spoken of as the characteristic Irish type. I have figured 

 a blade 16^ inches long, and two others over 15 inches. One from the 

 County Wexford, 15| inches long, is in the British Museum; but no halberd- 

 blades at all approaching this length appear to have been found on the 

 Continent. 



The curve is also peculiar to Ireland. It is of mechanical advantage in the 

 adaptation of these blades to halberds, especially the larger blades, but appears 

 to be unknown on the Continent. Halberd-blades, both of the straight and of 

 the curved types, have been found in Scotland, apparently of copper, and 

 indistinguishable from the Irish ; but they are of much rarer occurrence than 

 the Irish examples.^ Ireland may therefore be regarded as the centre of the 

 copper scythe-shaped type. In England halberd-blades are very rare, and the 

 curved form appears to be quite unknown. 



It has been supposed that the size and length of the rivets indicated 

 massive handles, thought by Wilde to have been of metal. This has been 

 pointed out by Sir J. Evans to be a mistake ; but Wilde's statement of the 

 length of the rivets, "some an inch and a half in length" (E.I.A. Cat., p. 450), 

 is strangely erroneous. On the contrary, the rivets are noticeable for their 

 shortness between the heads, almost always under f inch, in the case of 

 No. 21 (W. 235) not exceeding \ inch. They imply a broad, flat head to the 

 shaft, rounded off at the back, as already mentioned. At first sight, 

 the head of the shaft, as judged by the rivets, would seem, perhaps, too 

 slender ; but, as it was of considerable breadth, and would be bound round 

 above and below the blade, it was, no doubt, strong enough. That it was 

 customary to so bind the shafts may be inferred from examples with the 



^ iSee Montelius' " Die Chionologie," figs. 69 and 251 ; the latter of northern type, but from 

 Hungary, is also -figured by Hampel in " Venere Studien uber die Kupferzeit," Z. f. E. 1996, 

 p. 76, and appears to be copper, or bronze poor in tin. The halberd appears to be otherwise 

 unknown in that centre. 



"^ See Evans' " Bronze Implements," p. 268. One of the scythe-shaped blades is figured in tha 

 Catalogue, National Museum, Edinburgh, p. 142. 



