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CELT , a word in See also: common use among See also: British and French archaeologists to describe the hatchets, adzes or See also: chisels of chipped or shaped See also: stone used by
See also: primitive See also: man
.
The word is variously derived from the Welsh cellt, a flintstone (that being the material of which the weapons are chiefly made, though celts of See also: basalt felstone and See also: jade are found); from being supposed to be the implement See also: peculiar to the See also: Celtic peoples; or from a Low Latin word celtis, a chisel
.
The last derivation is more probably correct
.
The word has come to be somewhat loosely applied to See also: metal as well as stone axe-heads
.
The general See also: form of stone celts is that of See also: blades approaching an See also: oval in section, with sides more or less straight and one end broader and sharper than the other
.
In length they vary from about 2 to as much as 16 in
.
The largest and finest specimens are found in See also: Denmark: one in an See also: English collection being of beautiful See also: white
See also: flint 13 in. long, 12 in. thick and 32 in. broad
.
Those found in Denmark are sometimes polished, but usually are See also: left rough
.
Those found in See also: north-western See also: Europe are ground to a more or less smooth See also: surface
.
That some were held in the See also: hand and others fixed in wooden handles is clear from the presence of peculiar polished spaces produced by the See also: friction of the See also: wood
.
In the later stone adzes holes are sometimes found pierced to receive the handles
.
The See also: bronze celts vary in See also: size from an inch to a See also: foot in length
.
The earlier specimens are much like the stone ones in shape and design, but the later manufactures show a marked improvement, the metal being usually pierced to receive the handles . It is noteworthy that the celtmakers never cast their axes with a transverse hole through which the handle might pass . Bronze celts are usually plain, but some are ornamented with ridges, dots or lines . That they were made in the countries where they are found is proved by the presence of moulds . A point worthy of mention is the position which stone celts hold in the folk-See also: lore and superstitious beliefs of many lands
.
In the West of See also: England the country folks believe the weapons See also: fell originally from the sky as " thunderbolts," and that the See also: water in which they are boiled is a specific for See also: rheumatism
.
In the North and Scotland they are preservatives against cattle diseases
.
In See also: Brittany a stone celt is thrown into a well to purify the water
.
In Sweden they are regarded as a See also: protection against See also: lightning
.
In See also: Norway the belief is that, if they are genuine thunderbolts, a thread tied round them when placed on hot coals will not See also: burn but will become moist
.
In See also: Germany, See also: Spain, See also: Italy, the same beliefs prevail
.
In See also: Japan the stones are accounted of medicinal value, while in See also: Burma and See also: Assam they are infallible specifics for ophthalmia
.
In See also: Africa they are the weapons of the See also: Thunder-See also: God
.
In See also: India and among the Greeks the hatchet appears to have had a sacred importance, derived, doubtless, from the universal superstitious See also: awe with which these weapons of pre-historic man were regarded
.
See See also: Sir J
.
See also: Evans's See also: Ancient Stone Implements of See also: Great Britain; See also: Lord Avebury's Prehistoric Times (1865-'goo) and Origin of See also: Civilization (187o) ; E
.
B
.
See also: Tylor's Anthropology, and Primitive Culture, &c
.
For the See also: history of polished stone axes up to the 17th century see Dr See also: Marcel Bandouin and Lionel Bonnemere in the Bulletin de la Societe d'Anthropologie de See also: Paris, See also: April-May 1905
.
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