, 1877-11-18
THE ANCIENT BRONZE-WORKERS.


THE ANCIENT BR0NZE-WoRKEIs.
It was rude period when implements Of
stone had gone out Of fashion and iron had not
come in. The people in some parts OF
Europe lived in grottos, natural or artitic1al,
anu in other regions had curious dwellings,
built upon piles over the waters Of quiet
lakes This new metal (hronze) was q uys-
terry to them. They neither knew whence 1t
came nor how 1t was made. They could
only tell tint it was brought into their midst
by oltl-loolling foreigners, Of swarthy CON-
pIexion, sturdy frames, and Il keen CONNER
ciA spirit. The brcnze-foundrlcs had forges
and crucibles, but there were no blast tur-
raccs in those days. The metal came in in
gots from some far-away 1and. All of it ev1-
IDENTIFY hud the same origin, for its composition
was always tie same. II the scientists OF that
day had known how to make Il quentitativa
AID qualitative analysis, they would have dis
covered that copper and tin were Invariably
present in bronze in the same proportions.
The approximation has baen made to the
tcn-thousaudth in modern times, and IN no
instance has there been found any variation.
The foreign workers in this curious metal
were clannisll. They established themselves
in ell parts Of Europe, but it does not appear
that they ever fratcruizcd with the people
that surrounded them. They had not only
foundries, but trcesure-keeps, or armories,
where they deposited their finished products
and exhibited them for snlc. Many FOUL
dries have been discovered in Europe, par
ticularly in France, Savoy. and Germany.
Fourteen hundred aud eighty-tiyo pieces
were taken from the foundry at Larpaud,
dating from the close of the age Of
bronze. These foundries nre remarkable for
their uniformity. They ars usually placed
near the banks Of rivers, aud were probably
not Ear from centres Of population. An i.n-
portant foundry Of tie new-stono period has
been discovered at Pierre -er-C Chastre, in the
forest Of Co,npicgnc. Five hundred objects
in bronze were taken from it in 1860. The
trcasurc-Eceps, or warehouses, nro even more
interesting t.4a. the manufactures Many
of them il..:c bcc:l found in the Alps, and
in I'll Franc: twe11ty-ninc, which yielded
1. $50 li.tet. yh; objects nrc new and have
s4:n.; kind ,:r', attached together, just as they
,:;.:n.: 1rfi., ,i!: inoll. They are found near
t!.: 1sa,.c: fr:lucntcd by travellers. Anti
,l'sn~i;:s;: believe that the deposits were col
i.t::tsa ,n1t'e for trade. The existence of
ts,c:t: trc;r,'lre-keeps with their stocks still
r,,:1lnusscl. and the fact that the deserted
folndrics arc left with all their machinery
standing, suggest IN inquiry rs to the fate OF
the once industrious worlmen. It may be !
that they grew rich too rapidly, aud excited
the jealousy Of the people among whom
they dwelt. They may have kept their So
crets too closely, or held their wares at too
high price. Even in the age Of bronze, no
doubt, monopoly was esteemed odons, and
the Law against unjust discrimination was
not the less severe because it WIS unwritten.
Perhaps tho Grangers in the age Of bronze
made things uncomfortable for the capitalists
Of that period. They may haye called it a
deadly olcnse to engineer corner in bronze.
Their tariff Of maximum rites, if it could be
found, would possess not only archaeological
Int con:enporaneous interest. Whether
these sunposiiions be correct or not, there
eau be no question that the original workers
in bronze were driven out OF their workshops
by the enraged inhabitants, In some in
stances their stocks were contlscated; in
others they were overlooked an1 buried, to
come to light thousands of years afterwards,
and provoke the imagiuutions Of the learned
and the curious. Tho bronze makers we're
dispersed through Europe. They were; in
spite of their hardships, too fond of their
adopted country, and too tenacious OF it, to
leave it for whi.n or small matter Of per-
sccution. They stood by their rights, and
their descendants are to-day famous in Hun
gary is Tsigan:s, in Italy as Zngari, in
France rs Dohemians, in Greece as Gyphtes
or Egyptians, i'll Spain rs Gitanos, aud in
England as Gypsies. Whence did they
come? Where was the storehouso from
which they brought their precious ingots?
What route did they travel?
These are the questions that SIr. JOIN
AUsTM STEVENS sets himself to answer in
recent number of the Galaxy, his article
being u compendium Of the view of N.
EMILE BUnSouF, an antiquarian of the high
est authority. His theory is that all the
bronze in ancient Europe calne from
the Peninsula Of A1alacca and Banca,
which are today the centres of pro-
luction of this metal. The reason for
believing that bronze could not have been
smelted in Europe is that no pure copper
and very little tin is to be found, while all
over Europe bronze has the same component
parts. 'sThis uniformity Of alloy, estab-
hshed by analysis, proves an Identical origin, |
aud that it WAS all imported" The objects
manufactured By the rudimentary processes
were ornaments, arms, and TOOLS When |
bronze WAS first introduced it was scarce aud |