  Spear-heads, Lance-heads, etc. There can be but little doubt that one of the weapons of offence in earliest use among mankind must have been of the nature of a spear—a straight stick or staff, probably pointed and to a certain extent hardened in the fire. The idea of giving to such a staff a still harder and sharper point by attaching to it a head of bone or of stone, such as is still commonly in use among many savage tribes, would come next. And, lastly, these heads or points would be formed of metal, when its use for cutting tools and weapons had become general, and means had been discovered for rendering it available for this particular purpose. In the earlier part of the Bronze Age, when bronze was already in use for knife-daggers and even for daggers, it would appear that the spears and darts, if any such were in use, were in this country still tipped with flint. How long this practice continued it is impossible to say, and it is even doubtful whether any bronze spear-heads were in use before the time when the founders had discovered the art of making sockets by means of cores placed within the moulds. It is, however, not impossible that some of the blades found in the Wiltshire barrows, and the tanged weapons which have already been described in Chapter XI., may have been the heads of spears rather than the blades of daggers; but even at the period to which they belong the art of making cores must have been known, as the ferrule found at Arreton Down, and shown in Fig. 324, will testify, as well as the hollow socket of Fig. 328. In the South-east of Europe and in Western Asia, as in Cyprus and at Hissarlik, tanged and not socketed spear-heads have been found in considerable numbers; but such a form is of very rare occurrence in Europe, and is unknown in Britain, unless possibly some of the blades already described as knives or daggers, such as Fig. 277, were attached to long rather than short handles, and In the case of some few ancient socketed tools of bronze, the socket has not been formed by casting over a core, but a wide plate of metal has been hammered over a conical mandril so as to form a socket like that of many chisels of the present day, and of the iron spear-heads of earlier times. I am not aware of any bronze instruments with the sockets formed in this manner ever having been found in this country. In all cases the sockets have been produced by cores in the casting, and in many spear-heads the adjustment of the core has been effected with such nicety that a conical hollow extends almost to the tip, with the metal around it of uniform substance, and often very thin in proportion to the size of the weapon. The heads of arrows, bolts, darts, javelins, lances, and spears so nearly resemble one another in character, that it is impossible to draw any absolute line of distinction between them. The larger varieties must, however, have served for weapons retained in the hand as spears, while those of small and moderate size may have been for weapons thrown as lances, or possibly discharged as bolts or arrows. In length these instruments vary from about 2 inches to as much as 36 inches. Sir W. Wilde 1. The simple leaf-shaped, either long and narrow, or broad, with holes in the socket through which to pass the rivets to fix them to the shaft. 2. The looped, with eyes on each side of the socket below and on the same plane with the blade. These are generally of the long, narrow, straight-edged kind. 3. Those with loops in the angles between the edge of the blade and the socket. 4. Those with side apertures and perforations through the blade. To these four classes may be added— 5. Those in which the base of each side of the blade projects at right angles to the socket, or is prolonged downwards so as to form barbs.
A remarkably fine specimen of a broad leaf-shaped spear-head of the first class is shown in Fig. 378. The original was found in the Thames at London, and still contains a portion of the wooden shaft smoothly and carefully pointed. The wood is, I think, ash; I have a rather narrower spear-head of the same type as Fig. 378 (10¾ inches), found with a bronze sword near Weymouth; and another identical in type with that from the Thames, but only 9 inches long, found in the county of Dublin. Others of nearly the same form (12¾ inches and 8¾ inches) were found with a bronze sword in an ancient entrenchment at Worth, Another spear-head of this type from the Thames A remarkably fine bronze spear-head, found in Lough Gur, Co. Limerick, with the lower part of the socket ornamented with gold, is of much the same form as Fig. 378, and is shown on the scale of one-fourth in Fig. 379. The ornamented part is shown on the scale of one-half in Fig. 380. It is in the collection of General A. Pitt Rivers, F.R.S., who has thus described the socket. p?????e d? ??pet? d????? ???? ?a??e?? pe?? d? ???se?? ??e p?????. Another fine specimen of a spear-head with a long oval leaf-shaped blade in Canon Greenwell’s Collection is shown in Fig. 381. It was Fig. 382. Nettleham. ¼ A spear-head of nearly the same form (10½ inches) was found in a peat moss near the Camp Graves, A very fine example (about 15 inches), as well as a smaller one of the same type (about 8 inches), and one with lunate openings in the blade (Fig. 418), were found with two swords (see Fig. 351) near Whittingham, I have others (9 inches to 11 inches) found with broken swords at Stoke Ferry, Norfolk, and from the Reach Fen hoard. The same form occurs in Ireland. I have a fine specimen (8? inches) from Athlone. Another (13¼ inches) is engraved by Wilde as his Fig. 362. A very narrow spear-head, 14¾ inches long, and only 1? inch wide, said to have been found in a barrow near Headford, Co. Galway, is in the British Museum. A spear-head of this character from the Thames (16¾ inches), not fluted at the edges and quite plain, is in the British Museum. The blade is only 2¼ inches wide. One from Stanwick, Yorkshire (8 inches), is in the British Museum, as is one (11 inches) from Bannockburn, Scotland. An Irish specimen (10 inches) is devoid of rivet-holes. Another spear-head of nearly the same type, but of smaller dimensions, is given in Fig. 382. It was found, with some other spear-heads (Fig. 410), socketed celts (Figs. 155 and 157), palstaves (Fig 83), and a ferrule, to be subsequently mentioned, at Nettleham, Others of the same type have been found at Winmarleigh I have one from the River Lea Fig. 383. Achtertyre. ½ Others were in the Guilsfield hoard, Five were found in the hoard near Stanhope, Of Scottish specimens the following may be noticed: one from Lanark Leaf-shaped spear-heads such as Fig. 382 are of frequent occurrence in various parts of France. A number were found at Alise Ste. Reine They also are found in the Lake-dwellings of Switzerland Those from Italy and Greece have very frequently facets running along the midrib which contains the socket. Fig. 384. In Fig. 383 is shown a variety (11½ inches) with a projecting fillet running down to the rivet-holes as in Fig. 381, which, however, in this case forms the termination of small beads running along the sides of the central rib. There is also a beading running along the midrib. The original was found, with another spear-head, plain, a socketed celt, some bronze rings, and fragments of tin, at Achtertyre, A more elongated form, with the projecting part of the socket considerably shorter, is shown in Fig. 384, from a specimen found in the North of Ireland. A spear-head (20 inches) of the same form of outline, but with a slight ridge running the whole length of the socket from its mouth to the point, was found at Ditton, Another (14? inches) in the same collection, found in the River Thames, One of much the same form as the figure (11 inches) was found at Teigngrace, Canon Greenwell has a long spear-head (14½ inches) from Quy Fen, with grooves running up the blade at the side of the socket. The ends of the blade are truncated so as to leave projections on the sides of the socket above the rivet-hole. These are slightly ornamented. I have seen another spear-head (11½ inches) with the base of the blade slightly truncated in a similar manner. It was found near Eastbourne. This elongated form is of common occurrence in Denmark and Northern Germany, A broader variety, with the socket considerably enlarged in the part extending below the blade, is shown in Fig. 385. The original was found in company with other spear-heads like Fig. 382 from 5? inches to 10? inches long, two socketed celts with three vertical lines on the face like Fig. 125, and two somewhat conical plates with central holes, near Newark, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. A spear-head (6½ inches) not quite so broad in its proportions, said to have been found in a tumulus, near Lewes, A spear-head of the same general outline as Fig. 385, but with the sides of the socket straighter, was found with others, as well as with 16 socketed celts, a knife, fragments of swords and of a quadrangular tube (qy. a scabbard?) and a long ferrule, near Nottingham. —— Fig. 385.—Newark. ½ ———— Fig. 386.—Reach Fen. ½ – 387.—Ireland. ½ It is often the case that the sides of the upper part of the blade are nearly straight, and the socket itself appears large in proportion to the width of the blade. Such a spear- or lance-head from the Reach Fen hoard is shown in Fig. 386. I have several others from the Fen districts, as well as one of a shorter and broader form (5 inches) with a large socket extending only an inch below the blade, found at Walthamstow, Essex. A spear-head from Unter-Uhldingen In some cases the blade and socket are of nearly equal length. Fig. 387 is here by permission reproduced from Wilde’s Catalogue, Fig. 367. It is only 3½ inches long, and may have been the head of a dart or javelin rather than of a spear. I have an example of nearly the same form and size from Co. Dublin. One in the British Museum is only 2 inches long, though the mouth of the socket is ¾ inch in diameter. Some of these very small weapons may possibly have served to point arrows. In the Norwich Museum is a head like Fig. 387, but with the blade shorter in proportion and narrower, the total length of which is only 1-11/16 inch. The blade is ½ inch wide, and the socket is only ? inch in external diameter. A bronze arrow-head is said to have been found in the Isle of Portland, One 4 inches long is said to have been found in Yorkshire. Some double-pointed arrow-heads of bronze are mentioned as having been found in Ireland, In this country, In Egypt Some spear-heads appear to have had the form of their point somewhat modified by grinding, as if from time to time they became blunted by use and required to be re-sharpened. A kind of ogival outline such as is shown in Fig. 388 appears, however, to have been intentional. The original was found in the North of Ireland. This ogival outline is of frequent occurrence among the bronze spear-heads from Hungary. The lance-head shown in Fig. 389, also from Wilde (Fig. 368), has the blade of a trapezoid rather than of a leaf-shaped form, and in general character more nearly approaches the looped variety, Fig. 397, than those now under consideration. The socket also appears to be quadrangular rather than round. It will now be well to speak of some of the spear-heads of this In Fig. 390 is shown a spear-head from the Reach Fen hoard, the nature of the ornamentation on which will be seen from the cut. The five bands, each of four parallel lines around the socket, have the appearance of being engraved; but I think that this is not actually the case, but that the lines have been punched in with a chisel-like punch. The short transverse dotted lines have probably been made with a serrated punch.
Another spear-head, with ornamentation of a nearly similar character, is shown in Fig. 391. This example was found at Thorndon, Suffolk, A small lance-head of this type (4½ inches), found at Ingham, Norfolk, with socketed celts, has one band of four parallel lines round the socket. It is now in the Mayer Collection at Liverpool. Another from the Broadward hoard (Shropshire) I have a spear-head from Lakenheath, Suffolk (5? inches), with a small raised band cast on the socket just below the rivet-hole.
A spear-head (6½ inches) in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, found near Forfar, is ornamented with two bands of three parallel lines round the socket. The sockets of some Irish spear-heads are highly decorated. That of a long leaf-shaped specimen from Athenry, Co. Galway, is shown in Fig. 393, kindly lent me by the Royal Irish Academy. It is Fig. 382 in Wilde’s Catalogue, in which also some other examples are engraved. The chevron ornament and the alternate direction of the hatching are highly characteristic of the style of the Bronze Period. A similar decoration is found on English specimens. One found at Bilton, Yorkshire, A broken spear-head from the Broadward A fragment of a blade from the Haynes Hill hoard, As has already been observed, the edges of this class of spear-heads are not unfrequently fluted, but it occasionally happens that the whole blade is ornamented by minute ribs and flutings. The spear-head (10½ inches) found with two swords and two ferrules at Fulbourn, Cambridge, Fig. 394.—Thetford. ½ The discovery of other leaf-shaped spear-heads with rivet-holes through the sockets is recorded to have been made at the following places, and many others might no doubt be added to the list: the Thames, near Battersea The spear-heads of the second of the classes into which they are here divided are those with loops at the side of the projecting socket. These loops are usually more elongated than those on socketed celts and palstaves, though they probably served a similar purpose, that of securing the metallic head to the wooden handle. The metal of which the loops are formed has frequently been flattened by hammering, so as to reduce the projection of the loops beyond the socket; the flattened part is often wrought into a lozenge form. The strings which passed through these loops were probably secured to some stop or collar on the shaft, and may have been arranged in some chevron-like pattern with which these lozenges coincided. There are usually no rivet-holes in the spear-heads of this class. A specimen exhibiting these lozenges, and with the blade of nearly the same form as those of the spear-heads of the first class, is shown in Fig. 394. The upper part of the midrib containing the socket is ridged, so that the section near the point is almost square. The socket is slightly fluted round the mouth. The original was found at Thetford, Suffolk. A spear-head of the same type, but with only a single large loop, found Another (5½ inches) with two loops was found at Hangleton Down, Sussex. I have one (6¼ inches) from Fyfield, near Abingdon. Mr. M. Fisher has a specimen from the Fens at Ely (5? inches), with the midrib ridged like Fig. 396. One from Hagbourn Hill, near Chiltern, Berks, One (6 inches) was found at Chartham, near Canterbury. One, 5 inches long, from the Thames, is in the British Museum. It has a small ridge or bead along the mid-feather. The loops have a diamond engraved or punched upon them. In one from Beckhampton, Wilts The form is of not unfrequent occurrence in Ireland, though perhaps that with the raised ribs on the blade, like Fig. 397, is more common. In one instance (13½ inches) A small specimen (5¼ inches) from Fairholme, Lockerbie, Dumfriesshire, is in the British Museum. A small example of this type (about 3½ inches) is in the collection formed by Sir R. Colt Hoare at Stourhead, and now at Devizes, and in the same case with the dagger blades. It has been figured by the late Dr. Thurnam There is a diminutive variety of this class of weapon with two loops, in which the blade is extremely narrow, like that from Lakenheath shown in Fig. 395. I have another, 4? inches, with even a smaller and shorter blade, from Cumberland. Canon Greenwell has one only 3 inches long, found near Nottingham. It has three parallel grooves round the socket mouth. One, 4¼ inches, from Ashdown, Berks, is in the British Museum. A fragment of another of very small dimensions was found at Farley Heath, Surrey, and is now in the British Museum. A lance-head with a more leaf-shaped blade (6¼ inches) is said to have been found in a tumulus at Craigton, near Kinross. An Irish example, 2? inches long, and comparatively broad in proportion to its length, has been regarded as an arrow-head. It was found at Clonmel, Co. Tipperary. In some cases there is a ridge running along the whole or a great part of the midrib on the blade so as to make the section near the point almost cruciform. An example of this kind from the neighbourhood of Cambridge is shown in Fig. 396. In this case the side loops are unusually near the mouth of the socket, the cavity of which extends about half-way along the blade. Canon Greenwell has an example of this type (6½ inches), from Langton, Lincolnshire, with a longer socket, and the loops about half-way along it.
This ribbing along the midrib is of frequent occurrence on Irish spear-heads, and was probably intended to strengthen as well as to decorate the blade. The projecting ribs on the flat part of the blade were also probably added for the same purpose. Fig. 397 shows a spear-head with these ridges, found in the North of Ireland. Fig. 398.—Ireland. ½ — Fig. 399.—Thames. ½ — Fig. 400.—Ireland. ½ The blade is carried down as a slight projection along the socket until it meets the side loops, the outer faces of which are expanded into lozenges. I have a shorter example (5½ inches) from Old Kilpatrick, Dumbartonshire, Scotland; one from Termon, Co. Tyrone, is engraved in the ArchÆological Journal. In some the blade is proportionally wider and shorter. I have one from near Enniskillen (7¼ inches), in which the blade between the socket and the ribs is so thin that two long holes have been eaten or worn through it, giving it the appearance of belonging to the perforated class to be subsequently described. An Irish specimen much like Fig. 397 is engraved in “HorÆ Ferales.” A small broad-bladed form is of very common occurrence in Ireland. An example is given in Fig. 398. Another is engraved by Wilde (Fig. 369). Some have two diagonal ribs on each side of the blade instead of only one. A rather more pointed form is given by Vallancey. This type is of rare A gracefully shaped spear-head, with parallel beadings upon the blade, and having very flat loops with pointed oval faces on the socket, was found in the Thames, and formed part of the Roach Smith Collection, now in the British Museum. It is shown in Fig. 399, and appears to be unique of its kind. A plain spear-head (7 inches) of much the same form, and another of the same length, but wider and flatter, were found at Edington Burtle, Somerset, and are now in the Museum at Taunton. Fig. 401.—Near Ballymena. ½ — A very remarkable specimen in the Royal Irish Academy is engraved as Fig. 400. It has already been figured on a small scale by Wilde, who thus describes it: In one of the looped forms both the blade and the socket are often highly ornamented. The socket part is made to appear somewhat like a haft to the blade, as in the Arreton Down specimen (Fig. 328), and the blade itself has ridges running nearly parallel to the edges, the midrib being almost square in section. An example of this kind from Ballymena is, by the kindness of Mr. R. Day, F.S.A., shown in Fig. 401. As will be seen, the socket, blade, and external faces of the loops are all ornamented with engraved and punctured lines. A beautiful example from Ireland (6½ inches), the socket engraved with a double ring of chevrons near the middle, and a single ring near the base, and also ornamented with dotted circles and lines extending down the blade, is in the British Museum. It has two knobs on each side of the socket simulating rivets. Other varieties with the midrib more rounded are given by Wilde, Fig. 403 is 7½ inches long, and is also artistically ornamented. Fig. 402.—Ireland. ? ——— Fig. 403.—Ireland. ½ ——— Fig. 404.—Ireland. An example of this kind is given in “HorÆ Ferales.” One (5¼ inches) from the Dean Water, Forfarshire, is in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh. The blade is ornamented by incised lines and punctulations. Fig. 404, also kindly lent by the Royal Irish Academy (Wilde, Fig. 378), shows a smaller and a plainer type. An unornamented lance-head of this type (5 inches) was found at Peel, The spear-heads of this class with loops at the side of the sockets are almost unknown out of the British Islands. In my own collection, however, is one from the Seine at Paris (6¼ inches), almost identical in form with Fig. 394, but with the lozenge-shaped plates forming the loops somewhat wider. Fig. 405.—Elford. ½ A highly ornamented spear-head from Hungary, The third class of spear-heads consists of those with loops at the base of the blade connecting it with the socket. There are many varieties of this class, which includes some of the most elegant forms of these ancient weapons. The reason for adopting this particular kind of loop appears to be that they were, when thus attached to the blade, less liable to be broken off or damaged than when they formed isolated projections from the socket. The spear-heads were also more readily polished and furbished when the socket was left as a plain tube. The loops are very frequently formed by the continuation of two ribs along the margin of the blade, which are curved inwards from the base of the blade until they join the socket. A good example of this formation of the loop is shown in Fig. 405. The original was found at Elford, Northumberland, and is in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S. Another of nearly the same form, but without the ribs on the blade, was found near Lowthorpe, Yorkshire, E.R., and is in the possession of Mr. T. Boynton, of Ulrome Grange. The very graceful spear-head shown in Fig. 406 was found at Isleham Fen, Cambridge, in 1863, and is a remarkably fine casting, the cavity for the reception of the shaft being no less than 12¼ inches in length, and perfectly central in the blade. Fig. 406.—Isleham Fen. ½ I have another spear-head of the same type (18 inches), probably from the Thames, almost as well cast, but rather heavier in proportion to its size. There are traces of wood in the socket, as is also the case in another of the same form (14½ inches) dredged from the Thames at Battersea, Another (13¾ inches) from the Thames at Thames Ditton is in the British Museum. One (15¼ inches) from Bottisham Lode, Cambridge, is in the British Museum; as is another (14¼ inches) from the New River Works, Pentonville. I have seen others from Coveney Fen (16¾ inches, Mr. Fisher), and from Woolpit, near Bury St. Edmunds (8? inches). The blade of one (11? inches) without the socket was found at Stanwick, Yorkshire, and is now in the British Museum. One (13½ inches) was found with three rapier-shaped blades near Maentwrog, Merionethshire, and is in the same collection. Another, broken, in the Museum at Taunton, is said to have been found in the Roman villa at Wadsford, Combe St. Nicholas, near Chard. Its original length must have been about 18 inches. In the specimen from Stibbard, Norfolk, An Irish example of this form has been engraved by Vallancey. This type is rare in France, but a specimen is in the Museum at Carcassonne (Aude), and another in that at St. Germain. In some spear-heads of nearly the same form there is a raised bead running down the midrib as in Fig. 408. This beautifully finished weapon was bought in Dublin, but I cannot say in what part of Ireland it was found. A smaller and broader specimen (7 inches) in my collection was found at Clough, near Antrim. I have another (10¾ inches) from the north of Ireland in which the midrib half-way along the blade expands to form an edge almost as sharp as that at the sides. Near the point the section is cruciform, as in Fig. 396. —— Fig. 407.—Stibbard. ½ — Fig. 408.—Ireland. ½ — Fig. 409.—Lakenheath Fen. ¼ A spear-head found near Hay, on the river Wye, and now in the Museum of the Society of Antiquaries of London, presents the same peculiarity as Fig. 408. Some ancient bronze spear-heads from China Fig. 410. The long blades are often more leaf-shaped and less truncated at the base than that shown in Fig. 406. A very large specimen of this kind from Lakenheath Fen is shown on the scale of ¼ inch in Fig. 409. The point is unfortunately lost, but is restored in the engraving. The midrib containing the socket is ridged, and the outer faces of the loops expand into the diamond form. One of nearly the same character (22¼ inches), found in the Thames at Datchet, forms part of the Roach Smith Collection, A specimen in the British Museum (15¾ inches) has an ornament of hatched chevrons round the base of the socket, and the lozenge-shaped flanges are also ornamented with hatched open mascles. A spear-head of the same form (15½ inches) from Ireland In others the midrib is conical, and the blade nearly flat, or with only a shallow channel along the sides of the midrib. One such from the find at Nettleham, Lincolnshire, One from Speen, Berks Fig. 411.—Knockans. ½ A spear-head of this character (10½ inches), with the faces of the loops lozenge-shaped, was found with two looped palstaves and a chisel Spear-heads of this character are occasionally found in Scotland. Two from Wigtonshire The form is common in Ireland. I have one 12 inches long from one of the northern counties. A spear-head (6½ inches) with small projecting loops at each side of the blade was found near Hawick, Roxburghshire. In Fig. 411 is shown a remarkably fine spear-head in the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., which exhibits the peculiarity of having the loops formed by the prolongation of small ribs on each side of the midrib, and of having, in addition, a rivet-hole through the socket. It was found at Knockans, Co. Antrim. An Irish spear-head (14¾ inches) with loops at the lower end of the blade, and the socket pierced for a rivet, was exhibited to the ArchÆological Institute in 1856. The fourth class of spear-heads, those with openings in the blade, may again be subdivided into those in which the openings appear to have served as loops for attaching the blade to the shaft, and those in which these apertures seem to have been mainly intended for ornament, or possibly for diminishing weight. Of the former kind appear to be those which have merely two small slits in the lower Fig. 412.—Lurgan. ¼ — Fig. 413.—Ireland. ½ — Fig. 414.—Antrim. ½ A fine spear-head in my own collection thus perforated, found near Lurgan, Co. Armagh, The openings are about 17 inches from the point. An Irish friend has suggested that they were for the reception of poison, but after the blade had penetrated seventeen inches into the human body such an use of poison would probably be superfluous. A spear-head of the same form (19? inches) was found on the hill of Rosele, Duffus, Morayshire, A spear-head (10 inches) with small openings in the blade was found, with palstaves, socketed celts, rapiers, bracelets, and a ferrule, at Wallington, Northumberland, and is in the possession of Sir Charles Trevelyan. Fig. 415.—Thames. ½ Fig. 416.—Naworth Castle. ½ An “eyed” spear-head 22 inches long was found in the Thames near Datchet, A broader form (13½ inches) from Ireland is engraved by Wilde (Fig. 365), and another broader still is shown in my Fig. 413. This has a rivet-hole on the front of the socket, as well as the holes in the blade. This is also in the Dublin Museum. In some instances the blade is very much shorter in proportion to the length of the socket, as will be seen in Fig. 414, the original of which was found in the county of Antrim, and is now in Canon Greenwell’s collection. A remarkably fine English example of the same class is shown in Fig. 415. This specimen was found in the Thames, and is now in the British Museum. The small projecting flanges at the side of the holes in the blade are very strongly marked, and form circular discs when seen with the edge of the spear-head towards the spectator. The simplest of the forms, in which the holes in the blade appear to be ——— Fig. 417.—Blakehope. ½ ————— Fig. 418.—Whittingham. ¼ Some Italian spear-heads have two circular holes in the blade, but nearer the base. In the spear-head shown in Fig. 417 there is no trace of a rivet-hole in the socket, the end of which, however, is broken, and the two oval orifices in the blade are placed one somewhat below the other. This Fig. 419.—Winmarleigh. ¼ The more truly characteristic spear-heads of this class have two crescent-shaped or lunate openings, one on each side of the midrib containing the socket, which thus is made, as it were, to reappear in the middle of the blade. There is usually a rivet-hole in the projecting part of the socket below the blade, so that these openings must be regarded as ornamental, or else as intended to diminish the weight of the weapon. The original of Fig. 418 was found about 1847, near Whittingham, Northumberland, A rather longer specimen was found, together with a plain leaf-shaped spear-head and five socketed celts, at Winmarleigh, near Garstang, Lancashire. Another like it, but only 15¼ inches long, was found with a socketed celt near Middleham, Yorkshire. Some fragments of spear-heads of this character were found with other bronze antiquities in Duddingston Loch, Edinburgh. The same form has occurred in Ireland. A spear-head of this type, about 8 inches long, is in the Boucher de Perthes Collection at Abbeville. A spear-head smaller than Fig. 419, but of the same general character, is Fig. 420.—Burwell Fen. ½ A spear-head of nearly the same size, with the openings somewhat smaller, but ornamented in a similar manner, was found with celts, palstaves, gouges, swords, scabbards, &c., at Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire, In the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh are some spear-heads of this character, with the openings on the blade rather longer in proportion. One was found in the bottom of a cairn at Highfield, Urray, near Dingwall, Ross-shire. Some of the spear-heads of this type which have been found in Ireland are highly ornamented. A very fine specimen given by Wilde (Fig. 374) has several mouldings with a kind of cable pattern upon them. Others have circular perforations in addition to the lunate openings; and in one instance the socket is decorated with bands and vertical lines (Wilde, Fig. 372). A small lance-head from Jelabugy, Russia, The cut for Fig. 421 is kindly lent me by the Society of Antiquaries of Fig. 421.—Denhead. ¼ – Fig. 422.—Speen. ½ As will be seen, there are ten circular holes, besides two long crescents. The socket is said by Professor Daniel Wilson to contain a thin rod or core of iron, which was inserted in the mould to strengthen this unusually large weapon; but what seemed to Dr. Wilson to be an iron rod is really a piece of wood that has been recently inserted when the spear-head was mended. In the last class into which these weapons are here divided, are placed those which are barbed at the base of the blade, or in very rare instances are square at that part. A good typical example (107/12 inches) is shown in Fig. 422, from an original found at Speen, Berks. Another (10¾ inches), found in the Plaistow Marshes, Essex, and now in the British Museum, has a rivet of bronze 2? inches in length still in the rivet-hole. Curiously enough this long rivet appears to be a speciality of this class of weapons. Some of this type, together with some fragments twisted and adhering together as if partially molten, were found in the Thames at Kingston, Another (7 inches), found at Pendoylan, near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., possesses an example much like that from Speen (10? inches) found in Yorkshire, near the river Humber. In the Broadward find It has been suggested that these weapons were fishing spears, and certainly their barbed form, so distinct from that of the more common spear-heads, raises a presumption that they were intended for some special purpose. It appears to me, however, as it already has done to others, that such weapons are too clumsy to have been used for the capture of fish of any ordinary size, and would have made sad havoc even of a forty-pound salmon. If they were used for the chase at all, it is more probable that they were intended for attacking large four-footed game, such as wild oxen, either by thrusting or darting, and that the weapons were left in the wound, the shafts encumbering the animal in its flight. If, as would probably be the case, these got broken by the animal, the long rivets were well adapted for being removed so as to allow of the broken shaft being taken out, and would again serve to retain a new one. Mention has already been made of ferrules having been frequently
The illustrations given in Figs. 423 and 424 will serve to show the usual character of these objects. They vary in length from about 16 inches down to 8 inches, and are about ¾ inch or less in diameter. They are not made from a flat piece of metal turned over, but are cast in one piece, having been very carefully “cored.” The metal, especially near the mouth, is very thin, and there is usually a small hole nearer this end than the other to allow of a pin or rivet being inserted to keep the ferrule on the shaft. The original of Fig. 423 (8¼ inches) was found with spear-heads and other articles at Nettleham, near Lincoln, and is now in the British Museum. One 14 inches long, bluntly pointed at the base, was found in the Thames, near London, and is now in the British Museum. It has a portion of the wooden shaft inside, which appears to be of beech. The hole for the pin is still visible in the wood, but the pin has perished. It may have been made of horn. Fig. 424 is on the scale of one-fourth, the original being 14 inches long. It was found with eleven others, varying in length from 10 to 16 inches, and with spear-heads and other articles, at Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire. Another ferrule (9½ inches) was found, with spear-heads, socketed celts, &c., near Nottingham. Four such (about 7 inches) were found, with spear-heads, &c., at Bloody Pool, South Brent, Devon. Canon Greenwell has a specimen from Antrim (9½ inches), the end of which is worn obliquely, as if by trailing on the ground. It has a single rivet-hole. A very long ferrule of this kind (14½ inches), but with a small disc at the base, is in the Museum at Nantes. It was found in the bed of the Loire. A shorter form, somewhat expanding towards the base, is shown in Fig. 425. This, together with three others, none more than 4¼ inches long, was found, with spear-heads, &c., at Pant-y-maen, near Glancych. In the Broadward find A small ferrule of this kind was in the hoard found at Beddington, near Croydon, What appears to be a ferrule of this kind, but more widely expanded at the end, like Fig. 425, is described in Gordon’s “Itinerarium Septentrionale” Another of these expanded ferrules is in the Museum of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. In the Fulbourn find Among the African tribes on the shores of the Gambia, the spears, as Mr. Syer Cuming Some Danish ferrules Another form, more spherical at the base, is shown in Fig. 427, copied from the ArchÆological Journal. A nearly similar ferrule, but with a slight cylindrical projection beyond the spherical part, was found with other bronze objects at Lanant, Cornwall. In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy are several ferrules, apparently for the end of spear shafts, some of which are said to have been found with spear-heads. Many of these have ornaments of a late Celtic Tapering ferrules of bronze occur in Italy, and a pointed iron ferrule, probably belonging to a barbed javelin of Roman age, was found in the river Witham, near Lincoln. A ferrule, about 3 inches long, with parallel lines engraved round it, is in the Museum at Clermont Ferrand. Another, more conical, is in that of Narbonne. Fig. 425.—Glancych. ½ — Fig. 426.—Fulbourn. ½ — Fig. 427.—Hereford. ½ Others, some of them ornamented, formed part of the great Bologna hoard. A ferrule was found with a bronze spear-head, between 23 and 24 inches long, in the Alban Necropolis, and is figured in the ArchÆologia. Although the simple leaf-shaped spear-heads from the British Isles present close analogies with those from the other parts of Europe, yet for the most part those of the other types, with loops to the sockets, with openings in the blade, or of the barbed class last described, present peculiarities of their own. Several of these types appear, indeed, to have been evolved in Britain or in Ireland, and the differences they exhibit from the ordinary continental types are more marked than in any other class of bronze Some of the iron spear-heads from Hallstatt and elsewhere have been made in imitation of those in bronze, and have been welded along the whole length of their sockets in a manner which displays the highest skill in the smiths. But, unlike the iron palstaves and socketed celts, none of the spear-heads are provided with a loop. In later times the sockets of the iron spear-heads were left with an open slit along them, a method of manufacture which produced an equally serviceable weapon, and involved far less trouble. As to the position in time which spear-heads occupy in the Bronze Age, it is probable that it is towards the close rather than the beginning of that period. Not only are spear-heads almost, if not quite, absent from our barrows, but the skill involved in producing implements so thin and so truly cored could only have been acquired after long practice in casting. The objects to be considered in the next chapter are also of comparatively late date. |
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