436 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A LEAD CELT IN LINCOLNSHIRE ; 
WITH REMARKS ON CELTS GENERALLY. BY HENRY 
DENNY, A.L.S., ETC. 
Of the various implements which have come down to us 
belonging to people of remote ages, none are so extensively 
distributed as those known under the general name of Celts , 
and perhaps none possess greater interest from the obscurity 
which exists as to their original use or uses; for, though all 
are denominated celts, they are not all precisely alike. It is 
also a fact, not a little remarkable, that the rude stone imple- 
ments of all uncivilized nations have a nearly uniform type 
or pattern, and are made of such materials as were most 
probably the nearest at hand ; hence we find the most 
primitive made of serpentine, jade, basalt, sienite, coarse grit, 
clay- slate, granular porphyry, andernach trap, red iron- 
stone, horn -stone, and flint. As the nations became more 
advanced in civilization, we find implements made for the 
same purpose of metals, and almost invariably of copper and 
bronze; many of these exhibit great proficiency, not only in 
the art of casting, but also of design and finish. 
The latter, however, I believe, have never been found 
except in the various countries of Europe, though Worsaae 
tells us that the ancient Egyptians and Mexicans possessed 
battle-axes of bronze and copper. But who these early 
people in Europe were, or what the probable date of their 
original introduction, is still a subject of controversy. For, 
as Mr. Syer. Cuming has well remarked, the term celt, used 
as it is in such an indefinite way for nearly all bronze and 
stone implements, has no relation whatever to the people 
bearing that name, but is derived from an old Latin word, 
celtis, supposed to mean a graving-tool* or chisel ; and it is 
remarkable, at all events, that the word is thus used in 
See Forcellini’s Lexicon under the word Celtis. 
