Object of desire

When, as a nation, did we lose our innocence? Possibly between 1,000 and 800 BC, a

period that saw the first manufacture of weapons specifically designed to kill humans.

This Irish bronze sword (right) with its leaf-shaped blade dates from that time, a

time when Ireland had rich copper deposits and one of the few Bronze Age mines in

Europe. It was found in 1985 by James Kelly on the banks of the ...