A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK clear that the houses had been constructed on piles driven into the bottom of the lake. Large blocks of stone were found round the piles, which from the associated socketed bronze spear-heads were evidently the work of the Bronze Age. The Early Iron Age The use of iron in prehistoric times succeeded the use of bronze. This division of time, or rather stage of culture, as it may more conveniently be considered, began with the first introduction of iron into Britain, and ended with the coming of the Romans to our shores. The term Early Iron Age, which is sufficiently descriptive for all practical purposes, must not, however, be taken to mean that iron was the only metal in use, because during the whole period, and indeed subsequently to it, bronze continued to be used for the hilts and scabbards of swords, for horse-trappings, and a variety of other articles in which durability and slow oxidation were more desirable qualities than the capacity for receiving a keen edge or a sharp point. There was, in fact, quite a long period of transition and overlapping, during which bronze and iron were employed in the manufacture of weapons and domestic imple- ments of all kinds. The employment of the exact admixture of metals to produce the hardest bronze proves that both copper and tin were thoroughly well understood during this period. To the metals iron, copper and tin, we may add gold, the latter having been extensively employed for the making of personal ornaments in the Bronze Age as well as the Early Iron Age. The extra- ordinary skill displayed by the inhabitants of Britain at this early period in the working of different metals is eclipsed by the artistic excellence of the ornamental forms, and by the use of variously coloured enamelling, employed especially on articles for personal wear, such as brooches, bracelets, collars, &c. Suffolk has furnished a few metallic objects of this period which may be placed amongst the very finest of their class. These will be described in this article in due course. There are reasons for thinking that the first iron used in Britain was not obtained from an indigenous source, but was imported, being brought probably by the Brythons, a branch, like the Goidels or Bronze-Age people, of the Celtic family. A point of very great interest about this subject is that the chief of the British Islands received its name from that of the new race which, at the beginning of the Early Iron Age, made its appearance on our shores. To this race, therefore, Britain is indebted for the first knowledge of iron, for her wonderful metallurgical skill, her name, and much of the blood which has made her famous amongst the great nations of history. An Early Iron-Age burial deposit of great interest was discovered in or about the year 1888 at Elveden. Dr. Arthur Evans,' who had an early opportunity of examining the objects found, draws attention to the striking resemblance of this Suffolk burial to those found at Aylesford, Kent. The objects found at Elveden comprised a two-handled bronze-plated wooden tankard adorned with repousse medallions, and presenting the closest parallel to a tankard made of bronze found in one of the Aylesford graves. The Elveden tankard is remarkable on account of the purity of the Late ^Jrci.Wi, 351, 359. 270
