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XVII.—The Origin, Evolution, and, Classification of the Bronze Spear-head in Great Britain and Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 November 2011

William Greenwell  and
William Parker Brewis Esq.
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Extract

The evolution of the bronze spear-head in the United Kingdom is a subject of much importance in the history of the Bronze Culture in the countries which are comprised within that area. It does not appear, however, to have had the attention bestowed upon it which it demands, and the purpose of this essay is to bring together the necessary material for supplying that want, and to attempt a classification of the different forms through which the spear-head passed in Great Britain and Ireland.

Type
Research Article
Information
Archaeologia , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , 1909 , pp. 439 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1909

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References

page 440 note a Third S. iii. No. 3.

page 443 note a Except in the Snowshill cist burial, see post.

page 443 note b Many of these may, however, belong to a time after iron became known.

page 444 note a The principle of the socket was known long before the Bronze Age, for a horn socket was often interposed between the stone axe and its shaft to prevent the latter splitting. Moreover, the early spear was at times tipped with bone, which had a natural socket (fig. 2).

page 445 note a In a round section there is nothing to denote in which direction the edge of the blade lies, but with an elliptical section the long axis is made to correspond with the edge of the blade.

page 447 note a These moulds (fig. 81) were described by Mr. George Coffey before the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland in 1907. They are probably the earliest known moulds for casting spear-heads of a similar type to those found in the Arreton Down hoard. For casts of the moulds the authors are indebted to Mr. J. M. Sullivan, H.M. Inspector of Schools in Ireland.

page 448 note a Several other heads of similar form have occurred both in Great Britain and Ireland, see list, post.

page 448 note b Fig. 9 is here considered to be the earliest socketed bronze spear-head, not only because it was found associated with tanged heads, but also because it is nearest in general features to its prototype (fig. 8), the Snowshill head.

page 449 note a Only one example with double ribs is known. See Notes on Spear-Heads, by George Coffey, fig. 9.

page 449 note b Fig. 72, in which the slight ribs on the wings turn in at the base parallel to the edge, is a very rare type which may have been the origin of fig. 37.

page 450 note a It is probable that the openings of the so-called protected loops are a survival of the actual loops, the raised part on their outer edges representing the edge of the bridge of the loops.

page 451 note a See Dr.Schliemann, Henry, Mycenæ, 279, No. 441Google Scholar; also footnote on next page.

page 451 note b This thickening of the wings was probably to make the head more shapely by suggesting greater stability, and the increased amount of metal was subsequently obviated by making the thickened portion hollow.

page 452 note a Some spear-heads found in Italy, Hungary, etc. have small round holes at the base of their wings, but these do not seem in any way to represent the lunate openings or the loops on the socket found in the United Kingdom.

page 455 note a British Museum, Guide to the Bronze Age Antiquities, fig. 56.

page 459 note a Guide to the Bronze Age Antiquities, fig. 45.

page 460 note a The name of “leaf-shaped” is to some extent misleading, for, as has already been said, many looped heads are also leaf-shaped. Nevertheless, the name is so well known and understood that it is on the whole best to retain it.

page 461 note a The so-called spear-heads mentioned by Sir Richard Colt Hoare in his History of Ancient Wiltshire, pp. 67, 76, 123, 185, 203, 211, 242, are all preserved in the museum at Devizes, and are without exception daggers. Though of such a discovery there is no reliable record, spear-heads may possibly have been found in a British barrow, but so has a hoard of shillings of Elizabeth. The point is not whether they have been found in barrows, but whether they were there associated with the primary or any other interment. Early accounts of the openings of barrows are not to be relied upon. Before any weight can be given to such accounts it must be known that they can be depended upon, and that the articles were found under such circumstances as to show that they were placed there in association with an interment, and not casually. In the United Kingdom no bronze spear-heads of a later period than that of Snowshill seem to have been found associated with a burial.

page 461 note b Archaeologia, lii. 70Google Scholar.

page 462 note a Archaeological Journal, xxvi. 346Google Scholar.

page 462 note b Archaeological Institute, Norwich Volume, 36.

page 462 note c Archaeologia, xvi. 365Google Scholar.

page 462 note d Archaeological Journal, xviii. 159Google Scholar.

page 463 note a Archaeologia, liv. 87–114Google Scholar.

page 463 note b Archaeologia Æliana, 2nd S. i. 13Google Scholar.

page 463 note c Proceedings, 2nd S. v. 429Google Scholar.

page 463 note d Proceedings, 2nd S. ii. 251Google ScholarPubMed.

page 463 note e Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, iv. 237Google Scholar.

page 465 note a Evans, 449.

page 466 note a Proceedings of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, xxxvii. part 2, 1907Google Scholar.

page 466 note b Archaeological Journal, iii. 257Google Scholar, and vi. 358.

page 466 note c Guide to the Bronze Age Antiquities, fig. 53.

page 467 note a Now in the Greenwell Collection (British Museum).

page 468 note a The loops of a head from the river Thames at Wandsworth deserve special notice, for though of the usual diamond shape yet upon examination they will be found to be built up by the insertion of a bridge piece between two projecting spurs, which have been subsequently riveted over the ends of the bridge; nor does this appear to have been a repair, for both loops are similarly constructed (fig. 16).

page 470 note a Evans, fig. 393.

page 470 note b Evans, fig. 379.

page 470 note c British Museum, Guide to the Bronze Age Antiquities, fig. 45.

page 471 note a N. S. iv. (1898), 120. This head (fig. 74) has a faceted socket, which is a very rare feature in the United Kingdom.