Page:Early Man in Britain and His Place in the Tertiary Period.djvu/413

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CHAP. X.]
HOARDS OF THE BRONZE-SMITH.
385

smelting is a perfect ingot of bronze, weighing 2⋅840 kilos, boat-shaped, and perforated in the centre for convenience of carriage. Similar ingots have been met with in various parts of France, and are very readily mistaken for large and heavy hammers or picks. The tools for working bronze are represented in the following list:—

Materials for Smelting and Implements for Working Bronze.

  1. Bronze ingot and fragments24
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  1. Smelting waste130
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  1. Mould of lance-head1
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  1. File1
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  1. Cold chisels and points3
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  1. Stamps2
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  1. A mould for making round heads in repoussé1
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  1. Socketed hammer1
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The cold chisels are composed of bronze, with a large percentage of tin. The stamp is for working the plates of bronze, or possibly for making pottery or moulds. One is terminated by a disk, on which two circles are engraved round a central point. The other is a small elongated rectangular implement, with one end composed of a line of points and the other of a series of oblique lines. Both have evidently been employed in the composition of the beautiful patterns so conspicuous on the personal ornaments. We may therefore conclude that the manufacture of some of the higher works of art was carried on at this very spot.

The implements intended for various purposes are as follow:—