EARLY MAN 



1870 found about a dozen rusty flat iron objects about 4 ft, below the surface. These were 

 carelessly thrown out, and being very brittle, broke into fragments. Two or three of the most 

 perfect pieces were preserved and handed to Mr. P. F. S. Amery of Ashburton, who communicated 

 the find to the members of the Devonshire Association in 1873.^ 



The most perfect specimen was a flat bar of iron 24 in. long by if in. wide and ^ in. thick — 

 rather tapering towards one end, which was, however, much decayed. The other end possessed a 

 rude handle formed by turning 



LONCSTONE ALLOTMENT 



CHAPMAN BARROWS. Vl.S-E. 

 /an. 3'~S/-4^S~ 

 /a/-. S/'- /o ■•■ ZS/z" 



BARROW /'^l/A,\ 



ail Clones point 

 £ajt ana Weit 



4' 



Si 



6'»r/2 



^Broliicn 



60 - It 



I 

 I 



I 



•■+ 





. > 10 > 3 



up the edges so as to meet one 



another. This fold was 3 in. 



long, but being of thinner metal 



suffered greatly from rust. 



The edges of the bars 



were quite square and appear 



never to have been sharpened. 



The objects were presumed to 



be unfinished weapons. This 



find attracted the attention of 



Mr. Reginald A. Smith, F.S.A., 



who recognized them as ' cur- 

 rency bars,* a form of the 



monetary system of the Britons, 



in use before and during Caesar's 



visits to these shores.^ 



In a communication to the 



Society of Antiquaries, entitled 



'British Iron Currency'' this 



gentleman described finds of 



similar iron bars in Dorsetshire, 

 Hants, Somersetshire, Glouces- 

 tershire, Worcestershire, Berk- 

 shire and the Isle of Wight. 

 They have generally been found 

 in or near ancient camps, lying 

 together in considerable num- 

 bers, and evidently intentionally 

 concealed. In 1824 a large 

 number — 394 — were found de- 

 posited in the middle of the 

 ancient camp on Meon Hill, 

 Gloucestershire. In 1856 150 

 specimens were found near Mal- 

 vern, and in the following year 

 a further deposit of a similar 

 number was discovered 3 or 4 yds. 

 distant from the first. 



The bars were often mis- 

 taken for unfinished sword- 

 blades, but the similarity vanishes 

 on examination, for the sword- 

 blade of the period did not 

 contain so much metal, and had 

 a thin blade with a slender 

 rounded tang for a wooden 

 handle. 



The bars hitherto found 

 are hoarded like coins, and as money were much more likely to be concealed in a British camp 

 at a time of commotion than half-made sword-blades. The smith who made a blade would 

 finish it, there was probably no such division of labour in pre-Roman times involving an artificer 

 for one stage, and a finisher for the second. 



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SCALE OF FEET 



Fig. 24. — Quadrilateral, Longstone Allotment, Chapman 

 Barrows 



' Tram. Devon. Assoc, vi, 264. 



' Caesar, Commentaries (5 th Book). 



' ?rQ(, Sue Antlq. vol XX, No. 11, pp. 179-95. 



47 



