1;')8 ANTIQUITIES OF ALDIORNEY. 



at this period, and is tlierefure of special interest to all 

 Channel Islanders. 



The introduction of Iron brought the Bronze Age to a 

 close in this part of Europe about B.C. 5U0. 'J'o the Early 

 Iron Age belong the skeletons and associated articles })resented 

 to this Society by the Lords of the Admiralty. All the 

 skulls, bones, cS:c., Avere buried in clean sand at about the 

 same depth ; and round the neck of one skeleton was found a 

 ring 8^ inches in diameter, and f of an inch in girth : the 

 core is of iron ; but it has a coating of bronze. The ends 

 were bevelled down, a hole pierced through each end, the 

 extremities brought together, and the whole secured as a ring 

 by a rivet through the holes. Mr. Mitchell thinks that 

 the ring on the other skeleton found with this one is of similar 

 construction, i.e,^ of iron coated Avith bronze or copper, but 

 this has not been tested. This covering of iron with bronze 

 gives one the idea of plating, which seems a process impossible 

 to people living 2,000 years ago ; but I find the authorities 

 state that among Assyrian relics have been found : " Articles 

 in bronze cast Avith an iron core, older than the time of 

 Theodorus and lihoecus," ?>., B.C. 700. Bronze ornamenta- 

 tion fastened on iron by riA^ets is common, but articles 

 constructed wdth an iron core have only been found on two or 

 three occasions in ancient interments or hoards. 



In BritisJL Barrows^ by Greenwell and Rolleston, on 

 pages 454-5, speaking of a chariot burial discovered in York- 

 shire by the Rev. J. Stillingfleet, the authors say : " BeloAv 

 the head was a mirror made of iron Avitli handle of the same 

 metal : . . . where the handle is fixed to the mirror, there is 

 an ornamental plate of bronze ; the plating is fixed to the 

 iron by small rivets of bronze." ... "In front of the chest 

 of the woman Avere tAvo snaffle-bits made of bronze, . . . they 

 consist each of two rings 2^ inches wide in the inner diameter ; 

 ... it is probable that the rings are made of iron plated icitli 

 bronze^ at least the similarly shaped bit noAv in the York 

 Museum is similarly constructed." In Guide to the Early Iron 

 Aye, British Museum, 1905, page 78, we read that at Salon 

 (Aube, France) Avas found " a short sword, the handle 

 of which is not of solid bronze, but has an iron core Avhich 

 may be seen at certain points." Again (p. 116) in the 

 beautiful bronze-mounted bucket found at Aylesford, " the 

 hooped handle is of iron plated Avith bronze." Similar con- 

 struction is mentioned in Pitts-Rivers " Excavations in the 

 Wansdyke," Vol. III., page 136. Among articles found 

 was : " A portion of a twisted iron torque with a frag- 



