  CHISELS, GOUGES, HAMMERS, AND OTHER TOOLS. Although, doubtless, many if not most of the instruments of different forms, described in the preceding chapters, were used as tools, and not as weapons, yet in some cases, especially where they have been found in graves, it is more probable that they formed part of the equipment of a warrior than of an artificer. With regard to the various forms of which I intend to treat in the present chapter, there can hardly exist a doubt that they should be regarded as tools, and not as weapons. Already in the Neolithic Period we find many of these forms of tools, such as chisels and gouges, developed; and so far as hammers are concerned, it seems probable that for many purposes a stone held in the hand may have served during the Bronze Period as a hammer or mallet, just as it often does now in the age of steel and steam. I have elsewhere The simplest form of chisel is of course a short bar of metal brought to an edge at one end and left blunt at the other where it receives the blows of the hammer or mallet. Such at the present day are the ordinary chisels of the stone-mason, and the “cold chisel” of the engineer. Most of the Scandinavian chisels of flint are of nearly the same form as the simplest metal chisels, being square in section in the upper part and gradually tapering to an edge at the lower end. Bronze chisels of this form are, however, but rarely met with in any part of Europe. One such, however, was found at Plymstock, I have a large chisel of the same type, but apparently formed of copper, which was found in the neighbourhood of Pressburg, Hungary. It is 7½ inches long, about ? inch square in the middle, and expands in width at the edge, which is lunate. Others of the same form, 4½ inches and 5¾ inches long, also from Hungary, are in the Zurich Museum. Such chisels have also been found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings.
A long chisel, formed from a plain square bar drawn to an edge, was found by Dr. Schliemann Bronze chisels of the same form were also in use among the ancient Egyptians. A smaller chisel, conical at the butt end and possibly intended for insertion into a handle, is shown in Fig. 191. The original is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., and was found with numerous other bronze antiquities in the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, already so often mentioned. One rather larger, about 3 inches long and 1/5 inch broad, probably found in one of the barrows at Lake An Aztec The small bronze chisel from Scotland, shown in Fig. 192, exhibits a somewhat different type; the blade tapering evenly away from the edge. The point which was intended to go into the handle appears to have been “drawn down” a little by hammering, which has produced slight flanges A flat chisel (4½ inches) like Fig. 192, but rather broader at the edge, which is somewhat oblique, was found with two flat sickles on Sparkford Hill, There were some small chisels of this class in the Larnaud hoard Others have been found in the Swiss Lake-dwellings. Two shorter edged tools, found at Ebnall, As chisels were probably used in ancient times, as at present, not only in conjunction with a mallet, but also in the hand alone with pressure as paring-tools, it would have been found convenient to attach them to wooden or horn handles. Accordingly we find them both provided with a tang or shank for driving into a wooden handle, like the majority of modern chisels, and also, though more rarely, with a socket for the reception of a handle, like the heavy mortising chisels of the present day. Chisels of the tanged variety vary considerably in size and strength, and in the relative width of the blade to the length. Fig. 192*. Carlton Rode. ½ That shown in Fig. 192 is from the great hoard discovered at Carlton Rode, A chisel much more expanded at the edge, and also of lighter make, was found at Wallingford, Berks, in company with a double-edged knife or razor, and a socketed celt, gouge, and knife, of which notices are given in other parts of this book. It is engraved as Fig. 193, and is in my own collection, as is also the original of Fig. 194. This formed part of the hoard discovered in Reach Fen, Cambridge, and was the only one of the kind there found. A socketed chisel-like celt from the same hoard has been already described and figured at page 133, Fig. 159. Tanged chisels have also occurred in various other hoards of bronze antiquities. Some were found with numerous celts and other tools at Westow, In the collection of Canon Green well, F.R.S., are two of these tanged chisels from Westow, about 4½ inches long and 1? inch broad at the edge. A small part of the blade below the round collar is cylindrical. In the British Museum is a small specimen of this kind (3½ inches) from the Thames. Fig. 193.—Wallingford. ½ – Fig. 194.—Reach Fen. ½ – Fig. 195.—Thixendale. ½ In the Mayer Collection at Liverpool is a specimen, 4 inches long and ? inch broad at the edge, found near Canterbury in 1761. The collar is flat above and almost hemispherical below. Another, with part of the tang broken off, and the blade 2½ inches long and 1½ inch wide, was found in the Kirkhead Cave, Ulverstone, Lancashire, and was described to me by Mr. H. Ecroyd Smith. Another, rather like Fig. 199, but broken at the angles, was found with spear-heads and a socketed celt at Ty Mawr, A fragment of a tanged chisel was found with a large hoard of broad spear-heads, &c., at Broadward, Shropshire. A remarkably small specimen from Thixendale, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, who has kindly allowed me to engrave it as Fig. 195. The stop, instead of being as usual Fig. 196.—Yattendon. ½ ——— Fig. 197.—Broxton. ½ Nearly similar side-stops are to be observed in the chisel represented in Fig. 196, which was found with two others (3¾ inches and 4½ inches) in a hoard of bronze antiquities at Yattendon, A very large example of a chisel of this kind is shown in Fig. 197, the original of which was kindly lent me by Sir Philip de M. Grey Egerton, F.R.S. It was found in company with two looped palstaves and a spear-head near Broxton, Cheshire, about twelve miles south of Chester. An instrument of somewhat the same character, from Farley Heath, has already been described at p. 69. A tanged chisel, 5 inches long, and without any stops or collar, was found with other objects at Burgesses’ Meadow, Oxford, in 1830, and is now in the Ashmolean Museum. This form of instrument occurs but rarely in Scotland; but what appears to be a chisel of this kind is engraved by Wilson. An example of a chisel of elongated form is in the Antiquarian Museum Fig. 198.—Scotland. ½ ——— Fig. 199.—Ireland. ½ In Ireland they are much more common. There are thirteen specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, as catalogued by the late Sir William Wilde, That which Wilde has given as his Fig. 395 is almost identical in form with the chisel from Ireland in my own collection which is here engraved as Fig. 199, though considerably longer altogether, and somewhat longer proportionally in the tang. I have another example from Belaghey, County Antrim, which is 6? inches long, and much stouter in the tang and in the neck of the blade than that here figured. It is only 1? inches wide at the edge. Among those in the museum at Dublin is one which is decorated with knobs round the collar. Two others are figured in “HorÆ Ferales.” Another chisel (4¾ inches) in the same collection has side-projections only, like Fig. 195. Another (3¼ inches), with a well-developed collar, is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal. Others in the collection of Mr. Robert Day, F.S.A., resemble Fig. 196 (4½ inches) and Fig. 197 (6 inches). The latter was found at Kanturk, Co. Cork. Tanged chisels have been found, though not abundantly, in France. One from Beauvais is in the museum at St. Germain. The socketed form of chisel is by no means common in this country; but some instruments, probably intended for use as chisels, have already been described among the socketed celts not provided with loops. These are all comparatively broad at the cutting edge; but there is another variety, with a narrow end, formed much like the modern engineer’s “crosscut chisel,” some specimens of which will be now described. Fig. 200. Carlton Rode. ½ That shown in Fig. 200 is from the great find of Carlton Rode, On the side of this Carlton Rode chisel may be seen the mark of the joint of the mould in which it was cast. The socket, as usual with these tools, is circular. A bronze chisel of the same form, 3¾ inches long, was found at Romford, In the hoard found at Westow, Yorkshire, already mentioned, were two or three socketed chisels. One of them, 2½ inches long, is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal.
In the same collection is a somewhat smaller chisel, the socket of which is square instead of circular. This was found in the Heathery Burn Cave, Durham, together with a number of objects, belonging to the Bronze Period, of which further mention will be made hereafter. Another, found at Roseberry Topping, Yorkshire, is now in the Bateman Collection, at Sheffield. A small narrow-edged chisel was found in a hoard at Meldreth, Cambridgeshire. I am not aware of any socketed chisels of the narrow form having been found in Scotland. In Ireland they are rare, but in the collection of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., are a few specimens of undoubtedly chisel-like character. The broad celt-like form has been described in a previous chapter. In France they are also far from common. There are, however, two in the museum at Tours, found at the Chatellier d’Amboise. There is also one in the museum at Narbonne. Several have been found in the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland. A number of chisels both of the tanged and the socketed forms were present in the great hoard of bronze objects discovered at Bologna. Socketed examples from Italy are in the museum at Copenhagen, I have some from Macarsca, Dalmatia, of which the sockets have been formed by hammering out the metal and turning it over, instead of being produced as usual, by means of a core in the casting. Socketed chisels from Emmen and Deurne, Holland, are in the museum From North Germany I may cite one (6? inches) from Schlieben, Others are engraved by Lindenschmit, One from Kempten, Bavaria, is in the Sigmaringen Collection. Fig. 203. Gouges. Closely allied to chisels are gouges, in which, the edge, instead of being straight, is curved or hollowed, so that it is adapted for working out rounded or oval holes. In some languages, indeed, the name by which these tools are known is that of “hollow chisels.” It is an early form of instrument, and a few specimens made of flint have been found in this country, though they are here extremely rare, while, on the contrary, they are very abundant in Denmark and the South of Sweden. In the Scandinavian countries, however, bronze gouges are never found; and though gouges of stone were not unknown in this country during its Stone Period, their successors in bronze do not appear to belong to the early part of the Bronze Period, but, on the contrary, seem to be characteristic of its later phases. Of bronze gouges there are the same two varieties as of the ordinary chisel, viz. the tanged and the socketed, of which the former is far rarer than the latter. Indeed the only tanged gouge from Britain with which I am acquainted is that from the Carlton Rode Of English socketed gouges the most common form is that shown in Fig. 204, from an original in the British Museum, which was found with a spear-head (Fig. 391), socketed knife (Fig. 240), hammer (Fig. 210), awl (Fig. 224), and two socketed celts, at Thorndon,
A gouge was found with four socketed celts and about 30 lbs. of rough copper in an urn at Sittingbourne, In the British Museum are the unfinished castings for two gouges, one 2¾ inches long and fully ½ inch wide, and the other 3 inches long and ? inch wide at the edge, which in both is but slightly hollowed. They were found with a socketed celt (Fig. 146) near Blandford, Dorset. The longer one is of very white and hard bronze.
Two gouges, one 3½ inches and the other broader, but only 2 inches long, found with various other objects at Hounslow; as well as one from the Thames at Battersea (4 inches), are in the same collection. Two gouges (3¼ inches and 5 inches) were found, with a hammer, a spear-head, and a socketed celt with a loop on the face (Fig. 154), near Whittlesea. The whole are in the museum at Wisbech. Two from Derbyshire are in the Blackmore Museum at Salisbury. A socketed gouge of unusually long proportions is shown in Fig. 206. It was found at Undley, near Lakenheath, Suffolk, and is in my own collection. In the Carlton Rode hoard were also two long gouges with the hollow extending more nearly to the socket end. They are both rather trumpet-mouthed. One of them is 4½ inches long and 9/16 inch wide at the edge, the other 4? inches long and ¾ inch wide. I have not seen the originals, but describe them from a lithographed plate. The broad short gouge shown in Fig. 207 is also from Carlton Rode. It is broken at the mouth of the socket, but I have, in the figure, restored the part that is wanting. The original was lent me by the trustees of the Norwich Museum. Another Socketed gouges have been found, though very rarely, in Scotland. That shown in Fig. 208, the cut of which has been kindly lent to me by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, was dredged up in the river Tay. In Ireland they are considerably more abundant, there being at least twenty specimens in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, one of them as much as 4½ inches long. One, much like Fig. 208, has been engraved by Wilde as Fig. 399. Others are figured in the ArchÆological Journal Fig. 209.—Ireland. ½ Socketed gouges are occasionally found in France. One, 4¼ inches long, with two mouldings round the top, ornamented with faint diagonal lines, was found with socketed celts and other implements in the Commune de Pont-point There are three with moulded tops, from the hoard of Notre Dame d’Or, in the Poitiers Museum. A fine gouge (about 5½ inches) with a moulded top is in the museum at Clermont Ferrand (Puy de DÔme). A very fine French gouge of this character is in the British Museum. I have a specimen much like Fig. 208 found in the Seine at Paris. Others were in the hoard at Dreuil, near Amiens, and in a second hoard also found near that town. Large gouges with moulded tops, from the Stations of Auvernier, There was at least one socketed gouge in the great Bologna hoard. In Germany they are very rare, but one from the museum at Sigmaringen, with a somewhat decorated socket, is engraved by Lindenschmit. It was found at Kempten, Bavaria. A socketed gouge, with the edge turned to a sweep of about 1 inch radius, is in the museum at Agram, Croatia. One from Siberia Hammers and Anvils. Another form of tool constructed with a socket to receive the handle in precisely the same manner as the socketed celts and gouges is the hammer. It is worthy of notice that, though perforated hammers formed of stone are comparatively abundant in this country, yet that instruments of the same kind in bronze are unknown. It is true that what looks like a perforated hammer, said to be of bronze, was found in Newport, Lincoln, and is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal, The most common form of hammer is that which is shown in Fig. 210, from an original in the British Museum found at Thorndon,
Fig. 214.—Taunton. ½ In the Carlton Rode find, of which mention has already been frequently made, was a hammer of much longer proportions than those from the Isle of Harty. By the kindness of the trustees of the Norwich Museum I have been able to engrave it as Fig. 213. It expands considerably at the mouth. As will be seen, the end is “upset” by use. What appears to be a hammer of much the same kind, but with the face still smaller, was found with a hoard of bronze objects, including palstaves, spear-heads, flat sickles, a torque, &c., at Taunton. A hammer somewhat larger in its dimensions than Fig. 211, but in type more resembling Fig. 212, having no shoulder upon its body, was found at Roseberry Topping, A small hammer (2¼ inches), found with gouges and other objects near Whittlesea, is in the Wisbech Museum. Another with a circular socket was in the hoard found in Burgesses’ Meadow, Oxford. A small one was found at Rugby, I am not aware of any examples having as yet been found in Scotland. In Ireland they are rare, but four “round-faced socketed punches,” varying from 2 to 4 inches in length, are mentioned in Wilde’s Catalogue. These are probably hammers. In the British Museum are also several Irish hammers, one of which is shown full size in Fig. 215, for the use of which I am indebted to the Council of the Society of Antiquaries. Fig. 215.—Ireland. 1/1 ——— Fig. 216.—Dowris. 1/1 Socketed hammers have been found in several European countries. I have two from France. One of them (3½ inches), like Fig. 212 in form, was found, with a spear-head, a double-edged knife, some curved cutting tools, and an anvil of bronze (Fig. 217), together with a large torque and a plain bracelet of gold, at FresnÉ la MÈre, near Falaise, Calvados. The other (2 inches), stouter in its proportions and more like Fig. 210, was found near Angerville, Seine et Oise. A short thick hammer was found at Briatexte, Tarn. An instrument in the British Museum, in form much like Fig. 216, found at Vienne (IsÈre?), has only a small square hole in the socket, and may have served as an anvil rather than as a hammer. A hammer also with expanded end was found near Chalon, A cylindrical hammer or anvil was found in the hoard of the Jardin des Plantes at Nantes. Cylindrical hammers have been found among the Lake-dwellings of the Lac du Bourget, In my own collection is one of these looped socketed hammers, nearly square in section, from Auvernier, in the Lake of NeuchÂtel. Others from Swiss Lake-dwellings, both with and without loops, are engraved by Keller. Professor Desor has a hammer expanding towards the end from the Lake of NeuchÂtel. They are occasionally found in Hungary. I have seen one ornamented with chevrons in relief upon the sides. One with saltires on the sides, and some fragments of others, were in the Bologna hoard. The object engraved by Madsen A solid bronze hammer (4½ inches), of oblong section, with two projecting lugs on each side for securing the handle, found near Przemysl, Poland, was exhibited at the Prehistoric Congress at Pesth. It was As to the manner in which these socketed hammers were mounted we have no direct evidence. It seems probable, however, that many of them had crooked hafts of the same character as those of the socketed celts. It is worth notice that on some of the coins of Cunobeline It is worthy of remark that an implement of the same kind as these so-called socketed hammers, and made in the same manner, of a very hard greyish alloy, was found in the cemetery at Hallstatt, It is also to be observed that of the two hammer-like instruments found together in the Harty hoard one is much larger than the other, and may have formed the head of a stake or anvil, while the other served as a hammer. Still, as a rule, a flat stone must have served as the anvil in early times, as it does now among the native ironworkers of Africa, and did till quite recently, for many of the country blacksmiths and tinkers of Ireland. Fig. 217.—FresnÉ la MÈre. ½ ——— Fig. 218.—FresnÉ la MÈre. ½ Bronze anvils of the form now in use are of extremely rare occurrence in any country. That figured by Sir William Wilde This interesting tool was found with the hammer already mentioned, a spear-head, a double-edged knife or razor, a knife with the end bent round so as to present a gouge-like edge, and a large curved cutting-tool of the same character (Fig. 247), all of bronze, at FresnÉ la MÈre, near Falaise, Calvados. With them was a magnificent gold torque with recurved cylindrical ends, the twisted part being of cruciform section; and a plain penannular ring or bracelet, formed from what was a cylindrical rod. The whole find is now in my own collection. It is not by any means improbable that this anvil was rather the tool of a goldsmith of the Bronze Age than that of a mere bronze-worker. I have another anvil of about the same size, but thinner, which was found in the Seine at Paris. It also can be mounted two ways, but in each position it presents a nearly flat but somewhat inclined face, and there are no swages in the beaks, one of which is conical and the other nearly rectangular. M. Ernest Chantre has engraved two other specimens, somewhat differing in form, but of much the same general character. They were found near Chalon-sur-SaÔne and near Geneva. Another bronze anvil is in the museum at Amiens, and a fifth, also from France, is in the British Museum. This has a flat projecting ledge at the top, and at right angles a slightly tapering beak. An anvil of the same kind, but without the beak, was found with other objects near Amiens, and is now in the museum of that town. A small anvil without a beak, found at Auvernier, In my own collection is what appears to have been a larger anvil of bronze, which was found, with other instruments of the same metal, at Macarsca, Dalmatia. In form it is not unlike an ordinary hammer-head about 5 inches long; but the eye through it appears to be too small for it ever to have served to receive a haft of the ordinary kind, though it probably held a handle by which to steady the tool when in use. One end is nearly square and but slightly convex; the other is oblong and rounded the narrow way. Both ends are much worn. On one face and one side are rounded notches or swages. This tool has been cast in an open mould, as one face presents the rough surface of the molten metal, which contains a large proportion of tin. The other face and the sides are fairly smooth. Saws and Files. While speaking of bronze tools, which up to the present time have not been noticed in Britain, but which may probably be some day discovered—if, indeed, they have not already been found—the saw must not be forgotten. A fragment of what has been regarded as a rudely formed saw of bronze was indeed found, with a sword and several celts, at Mawgan, Saws have been found both in Scandinavia and in France, in the latter country in hoards apparently belonging to the later portion of the Bronze Period. One from Ribiers, The Scandinavian A saw, found with celts, spear-heads, diadems, &c., at LÄmmersdorf, near Prenzlau, is in the Berlin Museum. A short one, with a rivet-hole for the handle, found at Stade, is in that at Hanover. A saw of pure copper was found in some excavations of dwellings of remote date at Santorin, The file is another tool of exceedingly rare occurrence in bronze, though not absolutely unknown in deposits belonging to the close of the Bronze Period. Sir William Wilde Fig. 219. The early form of file is indeed much the same as that of a very broad saw, the toothing being coarse and running at right angles across the blade. In the cemetery at Hallstatt, Tongs and Punches. From our greater acquaintance with the working of iron than with that of bronze, there seems to us a sort of natural connection between the anvil, hammer, and tongs. It must, however, be borne in mind that bronze is a metal which instead of being, like iron, tough and ductile, becomes “short” and fragile when heated, so that all the hammering to which the tools and weapons of bronze were subjected in order to planish their faces, or to draw out and harden their edges, was probably administered to them when cold. At least one pair of bronze tongs has, however, been found, which is shown in Fig. 219. This instrument was discovered, with numerous other antiquities, in the cave at Heathery Burn, In the museum of the Louvre at Paris are some Egyptian tongs of bronze, which are remarkably similar to those from Durham. A workman seated before a small fireplace, holding a blowpipe to his mouth with one hand and with a pair of tongs in the other, is shown in a painting at Thebes, published by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. What I have ventured to regard as another of the tools of the Fig. 220.—Harty. ½ — Fig. 221.—Reach Fen. ½ — Fig. 222.—Ebnall. 1/1 That these sockets were formed over a core of clay inserted into the mould is proved by numerous celts having been found with the cores still in them. The heat of the melted metal was sufficient to convert the clay into terracotta or brick, and in this condition the cores have been preserved. Some force was necessary to extract such hardened cores, and this could be well effected by driving in such a pointed instrument as that here figured. If the two prickers from the Harty hoard were originally of the same length, the broken one has lost a portion from its end exactly corresponding in length with the depth of the socket of the largest Some small punches, without any tang for insertion in a handle, were found with socketed celts and numerous other objects in the hoard from Reach Fen, already mentioned. One of these is shown in Fig. 221. No moulds were discovered in this case; and though the hoard has all the appearance of being the stock of an ancient bronze-founder, it is possible that these shorter punches may here have been used for some other purpose than that of extracting cores. The end of one is sharp, that of the other presents a small oblong face. It is possible that, like the instruments next to be described, these may have been punches used in the decoration of other articles of bronze. Mr. H. Prigg, Whatever the purpose of these particular tools, there can be but little doubt that punches were in use for the ornamentation of the flat faces and the sides of celts; and it will be well to be on the look out for such tools when hoards belonging to the ancient bronze-founders are examined. For the most part, however, these seem to belong to a period posterior to that of the ornamented flat celts, though decorated spear-heads occur in them. Some of the punches from the Fonderie de Larnaud and from the Lake-dwellings may have served for decorating other articles in bronze. Awls, Drills, or Prickers. Allied to the pointed tools last described, but considerably smaller, are the awls, drills, borers, or prickers of bronze which have so frequently been found accompanying interments in barrows. No doubt such instruments must have been in very extensive and general use; but it is only under favourable conditions that such small pieces of metal would be preserved, and when preserved it is only under conditions equally favourable that they would attract the attention of an ordinary labourer. It is, therefore, mainly to the barrow-digger that we are indebted for our knowledge of these little instruments. Many belong to a very early part of the Bronze Age, but the form continued in use through the whole period. A somewhat detailed essay upon them has already appeared in the ArchÆologia I. That with a simply flattened end or tang for insertion into its handle. II. That with a well-marked shoulder, where the stem and tang unite; the object being to prevent its passing too far into the handle. III. That with a regular stop-ridge, or waist, almost as marked as that in a carpenter’s awl, as distinguished from that of a shoemaker. One of the first type, from the Golden barrow at Upton Lovel, is engraved by Hoare,
An awl of this kind (31/10 inches) found, with a spear-head, hammer, knife, and gouge of bronze, at Thorndon, Suffolk, Several such instruments, some of them not more than an inch in length, were found by Canon Greenwell An awl, square at the centre, and round at each end in section, is shown in Fig. 225. It was found by Canon Greenwell in a barrow at Butterwick, Yorkshire, in company with the celt (Fig. 2), and other objects. The point has unfortunately been broken off. A typical example of Dr. Thurnam’s second class from a barrow at Several awls pointed at both ends were found by the late Mr. Bateman during his researches in the Derbyshire barrows. In Waggon Low
In several instances there were traces of a wooden handle, as was the case with one, upwards of 3 inches long, which was found with a flint spear-head, a double-edged axe of basaltic stone, and objects of bone, among the calcined bones in a sepulchral urn from a barrow at Throwley. In a barrow at Haddon Field In another barrow near Gotam, Nottinghamshire, In a barrow near Fimber, A bronze pin, 1½ inches long, accompanied by a broken flint celt and some arrow-heads and flakes of flint, together with calcined bones, was found in an urn in Ravenshill barrow, In some of the Wiltshire barrows more perfectly preserved handles have been found. One of these, copied from Hoare’s “Ancient Wiltshire,” In the case of an awl of the first type, engraved by Dr. Thurnam, and here reproduced as Fig. 228, the handle is of wood, but the kind of wood is not mentioned. Fig. 228. One or two bronze or brass awls with square shoulders are in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. Whether the twisted pins from the Wiltshire barrows are of the nature of gimlets, as suggested by Dr. Thurnam, is a difficult question. I shall, however, prefer to treat of them as personal ornaments rather than as tools. It is possible that they may to some extent have combined the two functions. As to the instruments which I have been describing being piercing tools or awls, there seems to be little doubt; and Mr. Bateman can hardly have been far wrong in regarding them as intended to pierce skins or leather. Though not curved like the cobbler’s awl of the present day, they are probably early members of the same family. In Scandinavia these instruments are of frequent occurrence, sometimes being provided with ornamental handles also made of bronze. In one instance at least tweezers have been found in Britain in company with objects apparently belonging to the Bronze Age, though no doubt to a very late part of it. Those represented in A more highly ornamented pair of tweezers, with a broad end, found with a bone comb, a quern, spindle-whorls, &c., in a Picts’ house near Kettleburn,
The needles of bronze found in the British Isles do not as a rule appear to belong to the Bronze Period, though some of those found on the Continent seem to date back to that age. Two are engraved by Wilde, Another useful article anciently formed of bronze—though perhaps not, strictly speaking, a tool—may as well be mentioned in this place; I mean the fish-hook, of which, however, I am able to cite but one example as having been found in the British Isles. This was found in Ireland, and is shown in Fig. 230, Fish-hooks of bronze have been found in considerable abundance on the site of several of the Swiss Lake-dwellings; and it is not a little remarkable that in form many of them are almost identical with the steel fish-hooks of the present day. The barb, to prevent the fish from struggling off the hook, is in most instances present, and double hooks are occasionally found. The attachment to the line was, even in the single hooks, frequently made by a loop or eye, formed by flattening and turning back the upper part of the shank of the hook. Fish-hooks were found in the Fonderie de Larnaud (Jura), Such are the principal forms of tools and instruments of bronze found in these islands. Some of them, such as the socketed gouges, There still remains to be described a class of instruments in use by the husbandman, and not by the warrior; and as the present chapter has extended to such a length, it will be well to treat of these under a separate heading. |
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