On the three periods known as the Iron, the Bronze, and the Stone Ages / by Professor Rolleston.

  • George Rolleston
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the three periods known as the Iron, the Bronze, and the Stone Ages / by Professor Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Let us begin with the Iron Age, with the age of whidi we know most, ami so work our way gradually upwards and backwards through the Bronze into the Stone periods. The drawings ex- hibited represent the implements and weaj^ons used by the Bomans and by the Anglo-Saxons, which were of iron. Tlie Koman weapons are, some of them, such as we see tliem to be on momnnents aird some other Avorks of art; but iir some instances they wer'e drawings of the actual weai>ons themselves as fouird on battle-fields and elsewhei'e. The hastce and jnla of the Saxon and Fi’ank, for sirch Avere iir reality their spear and the angon, were, on the other hand, found Avhere 1 haA'-e never found the Roman Aveapons, viz., in the graA'es of those Avarriors. This difference, as to the fitting out of their deceased* depended, I Avould suggest, u})on a difference of aucavs as to the future state of the dead ■, and this difference did not consist, I a})prehend, in that the one race held tliat the future state Avould be such a peaceful one that weapons of war Avould be superfluous in it, Avliilst the other believed that it Avoirld be more or less a con tinuatioir of the life of assault and battery they had so richly enjoyed here ■, but in a A^ery difterent o})position of beliefs. The “ sunt aliquid Manes ” of Propertius Avas as beautiful a piece of poetry to the Roman as any other of the beautiful poetry of that SAveet poet, but it Avas nothing more. The Teuton, on the other hand, held firmly on to the belief in another Avorld ; and this belief accounts for the deposition of Aveapons in the graves of their dead. I am inclined to think tliat tlie Iron Age Avould be better spoken of as the “ Steel Age.” For there is no reason Avhy Ave should not suppose that iron, as distinct from steel, may liaA'e been in the hands of many tribes before they came into the pos session of Bronze; and if the iron Avas soft iron merely, bronze Avould be much more useful and trustworthy for the purposes of Avar and the chase, for which so many ancient and modern races have mainly liA'ed. A A’ery striking instance from Roman history of the comparatiA’o uselessness of untempered iron tools for such purposes is given us by Polybius, Hist, ii., c. 3.3. There Ave read, in a probably soineAvhat unjustly unfaA'ourable account of that someAvhat rare animal, a liberal military commander, that his
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