river Danube, then down the Elbe, and so to Scandinavia, whence
traders by the north of Scotland introduced the motives and patterns
of the Aegean into Ireland. Whichever way the eastern civilization
penetrated into Ireland, it left England practically untouched in her
primitive barbarity.

Of gold work, for which Ireland is especially famous, the principal
feature in the bronze age was the lunula, a crescent-shaped flat gold
ornament generally decorated at the ends of the crescent. These
lunulae are found in profusion all over Ireland. A few have been
found in Cornwall and Brittany, and a few in Scotland and Denmark.
One has been found in Luxemburg and one in Hanover.

Gold collars are numerous in Ireland and also date from the bronze
age. The earliest form of collar is the "torc" of twisted gold.
Another type, later in date than the torc, is the gold ring-shaped
collar. Two splendid examples of this latter type were found at
Clonmacnois, the decoration of which, in _La Tène_, or trumpet,
pattern, shows the connection between the Irish and continental
designs.

A find of prehistoric gold ornaments in county Clare should be
mentioned. An immense number was there discovered in 1854 hidden
together in a cist, the value of the whole being estimated at over
£3,000.

After the bronze age comes the iron age. The introduction of iron
wrought a great change in metalworking, but, as iron is a metal very
subject to oxidization, comparatively few early iron remains are
found. There are some swords of an early pattern in the National