The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . !It is not always easy to discriminate unhesitatingly between the trueaxe-head and the palstave. In many examples, where the generalshape is completely that of the axe-blade, both the stop-ridge andside flanges are formed, while the narrow palstave no less frequentlywants the stop-ridge. In Sir Robert Sibbalds History of Fife andKinross, one of the latter class of palstaves is engraved, with a broaddouble flange, evidently adapted for insertion in a cleft handle, andwhich he has entitled a brass axe found in a cairn of stones/ Nu-merous othe
The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . !It is not always easy to discriminate unhesitatingly between the trueaxe-head and the palstave. In many examples, where the generalshape is completely that of the axe-blade, both the stop-ridge andside flanges are formed, while the narrow palstave no less frequentlywants the stop-ridge. In Sir Robert Sibbalds History of Fife andKinross, one of the latter class of palstaves is engraved, with a broaddouble flange, evidently adapted for insertion in a cleft handle, andwhich he has entitled a brass axe found in a cairn of stones/ Nu-merous other examples have been discovered under similar circum-stances, leaving no room to doubt of their native origin, or of theestimation in which they were held by their primitive owners. Cl.\ss V. includes an improved variety of palstaves having a loopor ear attached to them, and in many instances the sides overlappingto a considerable extent, occasionally so much so as to meet, and 1 Arcliffiological Journal, vol. vi. p. 392 WEAPONS AND IMPLEMENTS. 257. form a perforation or socket for receiving the handle. In this classthe overlapping flange is often only on one side, especially whereit is turned over so as to form a socket; but in no example whichI have examined is there any adaptation of it properly suggestiveof the assumed theory of a bent handle, designed to admit of its useas an axe. If such was its mode of hafting, it exhibits a degree ofclumsiness and inefficiency very inconsistent with the numeroustraces of inventive skill and ingenuityobservable in other relics of the samepeiiod. The example figured here is ! ^^^ from one found in draining a field to ^%^ the west of Blackford Hill, near Edin- burgh. It is of the most common form, and measures d^ inchesin length. Class VI. consists of the unlooped Bronze Celt, which is of com-paratively rare occurrence in Scotland, though frequently met within Denmark. It differs only from the more common celt in the ab-sence of the loop ;
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