. The ancient stone implements, weapons, and ornaments, of Great Britain. a skeleton, which was accompanied by a bronze celtadapted for insertion in its handle, but without side flanges ; a mag-nificent bronze dagger, the handle of which was ornamented withgold; a lance-head of bronze; and a large lozenge-shaped plate ofgold. The hammer-head is made out of a fossil mass of tubu-lar ia, and polished, rather of an egg form, or resembling the topof a large gimlet. It had a wooden handle, which was fixed into theperforation in the centre, and encircled by a neat ornament of brass, partof which sti
. The ancient stone implements, weapons, and ornaments, of Great Britain. a skeleton, which was accompanied by a bronze celtadapted for insertion in its handle, but without side flanges ; a mag-nificent bronze dagger, the handle of which was ornamented withgold; a lance-head of bronze; and a large lozenge-shaped plate ofgold. The hammer-head is made out of a fossil mass of tubu-lar ia, and polished, rather of an egg form, or resembling the topof a large gimlet. It had a wooden handle, which was fixed into theperforation in the centre, and encircled by a neat ornament of brass, partof which still adheres to the stone. As it bore no marks of wear orattrition, Sir Richard hardly considered it to have been used as adomestic implement, and thought that the stone, as containing a mass ofserpularia, or little serpents, might have been held in great veneration,and therefore have been deposited with the other valuable relics in thegrave. Judging from the other objects accompanying this interment, itseems more probable that this hammer was a weapon of offence, though. Fig. 154.—Normanton, Wilts. a whether the material of which it was formed were selected from anysuperstitious motive, rather than for the beauty of the stone, may be anopen question. I have already mentioned instances of serpulaj- limestonehaving been employed as a material for celts of the ordinary hole in this instrument appears to be parallel, and may possiblyhave been bored with a metallic tool. The occurrence of this hammerin association with such highly finished and tastefully decorated objectsof bronze and gold shows conclusively that stone remained in use forcertain purposes, long after the knowledge of some of the metals had beenacquired. In another barrow at Wilsford,| examined by Sir Richard Hoare, amassive hammer of dark-coloured stone lay at the feet of a skeleton,accompanied by a plain bronze celt, a curious object of twisted bronze,with part of a chain attached to a tube of bone, a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidancientstone, bookyear1872
