THE EARLY AGE OF GREECE VOL.I by W.Ridgeway 1901

'
THE BROOCH, 593
a complete ring fitted with a pin, and that of the penanular
brooch from a penanular ring similarly fitted, may have arisen
side
by side.
It is almost certain that the Irish borrowed the penanular
brooch and the buckle from their Teutonic neighbours, since not
only is there a very close resemblance between the Anglo-Saxon
penanular brooches and the ruder Irish specimens, but the round
buckles of the Anglo-Saxon graves are identical with known
'
examples of Irish buckles or
ring-pins
(Fig. lo2y. Buckles of this circular
type were common in mediaeval times^.
The buckle having been thus evolved,
the next step was to elaborate and
beautify it, as had been done centuries
before in the case of the fibula.
the Anglo-Saxons
Among
and other Teutonic
peoples buckles of most elegant designs,
beautifully decorated and at times set
with garnets or pastes, were not uncommon-'.
It is now clear that not ordy the fibula, but its important
derivatives the ' spectacle,' circular and penanular brooches,
and, above all, the buckle were not indigenous in the Aegean,
but were all evolved in central or up])er Europe.
As then the fibula passed down from central Europe into
Greece, there is a high prol)ability that the Acheans, with whom
it is first found on (Jrei'k soil, had likewise come from the same
region, for they would bring with them their own method of
fastening th('ir garments and tlii'ir own knid of fasteners, just as
the Antrles (;aiTied with them into Eii'dand and there continued
to wear the cruciform brooches, which they had used in
home.
Tlie
Iiisli
'
Fk;. 1.52. Buckle or Eingbrooeh;
Ireland.
their old
])]iiin flat circuliir buckK' here timirod (my own sjji'cimci)) is
almost iileiitical with the Dnlinaiy An;-'li)-S:ix(in louiul buckles just (k'Sfrihed.
-
I liavc thirr (if silver found td^-'etlur in Is'.),"; at W'e-ton Heath iieai- liury
St Kdniunds, Suffolk.
" 1 have one (if a white metal with a i^'arnet si't in the touj^ue, whieii was
fouiul at liurwell. Cami)iid''e.-liiie.
;)8
CHAPTER IX.
IRON
Durior et ferro, quod Xoricus excoquit ignis.
Ovid, 3Iet. xiv. 712.
The Acheans of Homer are using iron for all the ordinary
purposes of life. Did they learn its use on entering Greece,
or did they bring weapons and implements of iron with
them ? To the first question we are constrained to give a
negative answer, as the evidence from the tomb sites of the
Mycenean period makes it clear that the people who had dwelt
in Greece in pre-Homeric days were ignorant of the use of iron.
We are therefore reduced to the conclusion that the Acheans
arrived in Greece with a full
knowledge of iron, or that a
knowledge of this metal reached them immediately after their
conquest. This leads us to a short in([uiry respecting the
earliest use of iron in Europe.
It has been commonly assumed that is
Europe indebted
for iron to either Africa or Asia. Eminent metallurgists have
held that the use of iron preceded that of copper, because
iron ore can be reduced by a far lower temperature than
copper ore""'. But this is a method of reasoning
which can
1
The principles eiiiboilied in this chapter were set forth in a jiaper read
before the ]3ritish Association at Liverpool, September, 189() (Repurt Jirit. Asx.
IH'.tG, p. oao).
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J'ercv, Metiilliiriij/ of Iron (uul Stcfl, p. ST/i ; Ijcdebur, MdiiiicI