THE BRONZE AGE IN EUROPE.
There exist in Europe the evidences of three different ages of human
development:
1. The Stone Age, which dates back to a vast antiquity. It is subdivided
into two periods: an age of rough stone implements; and a later age,
when these implements were ground smooth and made in improved forms.
2. The Bronze Age, when the great mass of implements were manufactured
of a compound metal, consisting of about nine parts of copper and one
part of tin.
3. An age when iron superseded bronze for weapons and cutting tools,
although bronze still remained in use for ornaments. This age continued
down to what we call the Historical Period, and embraces our present
civilization; its more ancient remains are mixed with coins of the
Gauls, Greeks, and Romans.
The Bronze Period has been one of the perplexing problems of European
scientists. Articles of bronze are found over nearly all that continent,
but in especial abundance in Ireland and Scandinavia. They indicate very
considerable refinement and civilization upon the part of the people who
made them; and a wide diversity of opinion has prevailed as to who that
people were and where they dwelt.
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