THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD central rib, which was probably carried along the blade. The edges seem to have been removed just above the hilt, and the general type of the sword appears to have been more like a French form than any of those usually found in Britain. Spear-heads, Lance-heads, etc. A plain socketed spear-head is en- graved in Skelton's MeyricKs Ancient Armour l among ' Antient Britannic arms of Bronze,' and described as ' the head of a hunting-spear dug up in Hertfordshire.' The ' bronze spear-head, about 2 feet in length,' described by Cussans* as having been found in 1874 in a trench at Hoddesdon near Broxbourne, may have been a sword. That described by the late Rev. Thomas Hugo, F.S.A., 3 as having been found in May, 1858, in the river Lea, a short distance above the village of St. Margaret's in Herts, is now in my own collection. It is 7f inches long, in form like A.E.I., fig. 382, perfectly plain, and with a rivet-hole through the socket to secure the shaft. The only other bronze instrument that I need mention is a small curved knife, with the handle and blade in one piece, the former ending FlG " 9 " in the head of an animal. It is about 3^ inches long, and is engraved as fig. 259, A.B.I., and here in fig. 9. It was found at Wigginton 4 near Tring. It not improbably belongs to the late-Celtic period, rather than to that of the Bronze. Two bracelets of gold probably belonging to the Bronze age, were found at Little Amwell. 6 A plain gold torque, slightly expanding at the ends, and weighing 13 oz. 15 dwt., was found about the year 1800 near 8 Mardox, about two and a half miles from Ware. Owing to the mis- chievous operation of the law of treasure-trove it was melted down. THE LATE-CELTIC PERIOD This term was applied by the late Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks as an equivalent to the ' Early Iron age ' of continental antiquaries, inasmuch as in Britain it coincided in the main with the arrival of the Celtic tribes from the north-west of Europe, who developed a peculiar stage of civilization, of which more characteristic traces are to be found in Britain than in Gaul and the north-western parts of Europe. The peculiar style of decoration founded on segments of circles and on spiral ornaments stands apart from that of earlier periods, though it subsequently became more highly developed in the early Christian days of Ireland and Britain, when, however, interlaced ornaments superseded the simpler curves of former times. 1 1830, pi. xlvii. 10 ; Ancient Bronze Implements, p. 314. * Hist. Herts, ii. p. 173. 3 Proc. Soc. Ant., iv. 279 ; Ancient Bronze Implements, p. 315. 4 Proc. Soc. Ant., iv. p. 254 ; Ancient Bronze Implements, p. 214. 5 ArchteoL, xviii. p. 446. 8 Gents. Mag., 1800, vol. Ixx. 2, p. 817, pt. 3. 235
