EARLY MAN The introduction of metal in the place of stone must have given to the possessors immense advantages in warfare, in the chase, and in the ordinary pursuits of life, and one would naturally be inclined to imagine that a struggle for supremacy would take place between those who possessed the secret of working bronze, and those who did not possess it. If such a conflict occurred it must have been of short duration ; at any rate its effects are not per- ceptible in the surviving remains, sepulchral deposits indicating that there was a more or less friendly relation between the two races. The knowledge of working in bronze is believed to have been intro- duced by a branch of the Celtic family known as Goidels, or Gaels. One natural effect of the discovery of the properties of such a metal as bronze was to put into the hands of the builders of houses the power of cleaving and shaping large timbers. Houses of the Bronze Age, therefore, in strong contrast with those of the Neolithic circular huts, were built in rectangular plan and with regular gabled roofs. From what has been already stated it will be gathered that the evidence of the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age, as far as Staffordshire is concerned, indicates a considerable amount of transition and overlapping. This is more particularly apparent, perhaps, in the case of sepulchral deposits, and it will be convenient at this stage to deal with these remains before describing the isolated finds which are unquestionably referable to the Bronze Age. SEPULCHRAL MOUNDS OR BARROWS Some important details of the prehistoric archaeology of Staffordshire are given in Bateman's Ten Years' Diggings, a work published in 1861. The facts were obtained by Mr. Samuel Carrington during exploratory excavations in barrows extending over the years 1848 to 1858. The fol- lowing are the more important of the discoveries. 1. Barrow situated on a hill called Hanging Bank, at Ecton Mine, 20 yds. in diameter, 4ft. high, and concave in centre like a bowl. In the middle was found a deposit of calcined human bones accompanied by bones of the water-rat in abundance, and also a large bone pin 5 in. in length, two spear points and two arrow-heads of flint, all of which bore traces of having passed through the fire. 2. Barrow on Arbour Hill, near Throwley Hall, 30 yds. in diameter. This contained a cist constructed of flat slabs of limestone neatly arranged. In the cist were found burnt human bones and a flint arrow-point. There was a smaller cist adjoining the eastern end of that just described con- taining burnt bones. Another interment contained two skeletons in close proximity and each buried in a contracted posture. One skeleton, that of a young person, was accompanied by a slender arrow-head of flint. In yet another interment in this barrow was found an iron spike about 3 in. long, which had been inserted into wood. 3. Barrow on the top of Mare Hill, near Throwley Hall. In this was found a grave cut in the rock, containing two skeletons with a spear-point of calcined flint. A piece of pottery, and a small quantity of lead (which had been accidentally fused from metalliferous gravel present upon the spot where a cremation took place) were found near the grave. 171
