The 1874 Catalogue: Shields in General

We have reproduced the text that follows the specific entries dealing with the shields on Screen 2 from the 1874 catalogue of the displays of Pitt Rivers' collections at Bethnal Green Museum. In this text, Pitt Rivers discusses what he believes to be the evolution of European shields, by analysing shields from elsewhere in the world. The transcription here is exactly as published in 1874; some of the spelling and punctuation may therefore differ from current usage.

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Subjects discussed in this part of the Catalogue, include:

Form of the earliest European shields

Shields of the bronze period

African shields

Long narrow shields probably the earliest form in Europe

Circular shields