The cover image was created by the transcriber based on theoriginal book cover and is placed in the public domain.
THE BRONZE AGE AND THE CELTIC WORLD
LONDON: BENN BROTHERS, LIMITED
8 BOUVERIE STREET, E.C.4
1922
PRINTED AND MADE IN GREAT BRITAIN BY HEADLEY BROTHERS,
18, DEVONSHIRE STREET, E.C.2; AND ASHFORD, KENT.
To the anonymous benefactors whose liberality madepossible the delivery of these lectures this work is gratefully dedicated.
THE substance of the followingpages was delivered in February last in a series of six lectures at The UniversityCollege of Wales, Aberystwyth. In volume form the matter has been somewhatre-arranged and the latter part expanded.
So many attempts have been made during the last century and a quarterto locate the Aryan cradle and to trace the wanderings of the Wiros,that it may be considered presumptuous for the author to venture on afurther suggestion. He can only plead that most of the previous attemptshave been made by philologists, usually with little or no archæologicalexperience, while the discoveries of the last quarter of a century haveplaced the inquirer to-day in a position which is vastly superior tothat of most of his predecessors. The evolution and distribution of theleaf-shaped swords seem to provide a crucial test by which to gauge thevalue of previous suggestions.
The author has felt that it would be for the convenience of the readerif he reduced the footnotes at the bottom of the page to the smallestpossible dimensions, while describing each work quoted very fully inthe bibliography at the end of the volume. In many cases, where thesubject matter does not form the basis of his argument and the fact isnot in dispute, he has thought that it would be more useful to quotea recent and readily accessible volume, preferably in English, inwhich authorities are fully cited, than to include all the originalauthorities in the notes and bibliography. This applies specially toChapter II, and to some extent to those immediately following.
The author would like to take this opportunity of thanking his manyfriends, who have so kindly placed their knowledge and experience athis disposal, especially the Principal and other authorities of TheUniversity College of Wales, Aberystwyth, for inviting him to deliverthe lectures, and Professors H. J. Fleure and H. J. Rose. He wishesalso to thank the Rev. Professor A. H. Sayce, Professor W. M. FlindersPetrie and Miss M. A. Murray, who have sent him valuable notes, Mr. E.Sharwood Smith for much help with classical references, Professor J.L. Myres and Dr. S. Singer for many helpful suggestions. Especiallyare his thanks due to Mr. J. H. Le Rougetil, for procuring drawingsof swords from the Buda-Pest Museum, to Sir Arthur Evans, Dr. A. J.B. Wace and Mr. S. Casson for photographs and drawings from Crete andAthens, to Dr. W. Šmid and Dr. F. Neumann for sketches and notes onthe specimens at Graz and Laibach, and above all to Dr. Adolf Mahr, ofthe Naturhistorisches Museum at Vienna, for drawings of the swords andother objects in his museum and for an immense amount of help in otherways. He wishes also to thank the authorities of various museums forpermission to publish