British, never have loops at the side of the shaft-hole. There is no doubt but that, in time, we shall be able to point out quite distinctly the limits for the different forms and patterns.
From what has here been said, we may conclude that the antiquities of bronze do not belong exclusively to one people, in the north, west, or south of Europe; which is further confirmed by the discovery in nearly every country of Europe, of the moulds in which the various weapons and ornaments of bronze have been cast; a fact which shews beyond a doubt that such bronze objects were manufactured in those countries, and not imported. The only thing which was imported being of course the metal, which by trade and barter was spread, in different ways, over the whole of Europe.
It is also well known that the classical authors do not mention copper, or bronze, as having been used instead of iron exclusively by the Celtic tribes. On the contrary, they mostly mention iron weapons among the Celts, but speak of bronze weapons as used by people who were not Celts. It is stated by Homer, Hesiod, and other authors, that the Greeks in the most ancient time, before they had knowledge of iron, used bronze, which was also the case with the Romans. Herodotus, speaking of the Massagets, a Scythian or Finnic people, living to the east of the Caspian sea, says, that they had neither iron nor silver, which were not to be found in their country, but that they had plenty of copper and gold: on which account all their lance-heads, arrow-heads, and war-axes, were of copper, and their caps and belts ornamented with gold. The same author speaks also of other Scythians, who used weapons of copper; to which must be added, that the Egyptian, and Siberian tombs and barrows, often contain tools and weapons of bronze, and copper.
From these evidences it follows that the antiquities belonging to the bronze-period which are found in the different countries of Europe, can neither be attributed exclusively to the Celts, nor to the Greeks, Romans, Phœnicians, Sclavonians, nor to the Teutonic tribes. They do not belong exclusively
