Coffp:y — Irish Copper Halberds 109 



edge. But in some eases they are flatter in section, and more tongue-shaped 

 in form. 



Figure 7, from the County Down, is a very well-formed example of these 

 latter specimens. It measures 5|- inches in length by 2|- inches across the 

 butt. At first it might be thought that it was a fragment of a larger blade 

 which had been snapped across ; but it is not broken : the flat surface across 

 the butt-end is a portion of the flat top of a core-like piece from which it 

 was shaped ; this is evident from the other side, from which some flakes have 

 been struck downward from that edge. It is doubtful if any of the stout 

 pieces were mounted on handles as picks ; but the flatter blade-like pieces 

 present some analogy to the copper halberds of the earliest type, which is 

 suggestive. The copper blades may perhaps have influenced these flint 

 blades ; but the series connects on better to the series 

 of the Bann implements. And if a stone pick-like 

 implement was in use in the Neolithic Period, it may £uM 



possibly help to explain, to some extent, the prevalence of the 

 metal halberd in Ireland in the next or Copper Period. As the 

 blades were made longer, the curved form would come into being, 

 and would be readily suggested by the deer-horn picks already in 

 use (fig. 8). Why the curved form should be apparently confined 

 to Ireland, we cannot explain ; but the halberd had evidently 

 a wide and fairly long use in the island. 



The copper of which the celts and halberds were made was, in 

 all probability, Irish copper. I had contemplated procuring a 

 series of analyses of Irish copper ores for comparison with the 

 analyses of copper implements to complete that branch of the 

 subject, as stated in my previous paper ; but on reconsideration 

 I have decided not to proceed with this portion of the question — 

 at least at present. Analyses of ores are somewhat troublesome to 

 make ; and the analyses of a few hand-specimens would not be likely to yield 

 results that could fairly be brought into comparison. Until a number of the 

 copper mines of Ireland have been reopened, especially in localities where 

 tin is to be expected, such as in Wicklow, and perhaps in parts of the south- 

 west, so that samples can be taken from ' quarterings ' on a large scale, as 

 was kindly done for me by the Messrs. Vivian in the case of the Cornish ores, 

 it seems to me that isolated analyses would possibly only tend to confuse the 

 subject, instead of advancing our knowledge. 



Moreover, the ores that would be first sought, and from which the copper 

 implements were presumably made, would be the oxidised ores — oxides and 

 carbonates — inferred from the fact that they are surface ores and more 



E. I. A. PKOC, VOL. XXVir., SECT. C. [16] 



