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CHAPTER III

PAGAN CELTIC ART IN THE EARLY IRON AGE

INTRODUCTION OF THE USE OF IRON INTO BRITAIN BY THE BRYTHONIC CELTS, CIRCA B.C. 300

In a previous chapter we pointed out the difference between the Q and the P Celts, the former being Goidels in the Bronze Age, and the latter Brythons in the Iron Age, when they first arrived in Britain. We will now proceed to consider the nature of the culture introduced with the use of iron into this country from Gaul by the Belgic or Brythonic Celts.

NATURE OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH HAVE LED TO THE FINDS OF OBJECTS OF THE EARLY IRON AGE IN GREAT BRITAIN

A great variety of circumstances have led to the discovery of objects of the Early Iron Age. Where they have not been buried at any great depth beneath the surface of the ground, the plough[91] has frequently been the means of bringing them to light. The making of roads[92] and railways,[93] drainage of land for agricultural purposes,[94] military fortifications,[95] quarrying[96] and mining,[97] have also had their share in helping the archæologist. A considerable number of antiquities which have found their way into the beds of rivers have been recovered in the course of dredging operations for the improvement of inland navigation[98] and building of bridge foundations.[99] Tumuli,[100] camps,[101] caves,[102] sites of towns[103] and villages,[104] crannogs,[105] etc., have yielded a plentiful harvest to the scientific explorer. In some cases the denudation of the wind[106] or the erosion of the sea[107] has removed the covering of sand by which the traces of the ancient inhabitants have been concealed for centuries. The rabbit,[108] although the enemy of the farmer, sometimes becomes the friend of the antiquary by throwing up priceless relics of the past out of his burrow. Lastly, pure accident[109] is now and then the agent by which the position of a long-forgotten hiding-place for valuables is made known.

[91] As at Polden Hill, Somersetshire.

[92] As at Birdlip, Gloucestershire.

[93] As at cuttings near Bedford and between Denbigh and Corwen.

[94] As at Westhall, Suffolk.

[95] As at Mount Batten, near Plymouth.

[96] As at Hamdon Hill, Somersetshire.

[97] As at Hunsbury, near Northampton.

[98] As in deepening the Shannon, Thames, and Witham.

[99] As at Kirkby Thore, on the Eden, Westmoreland.

[100] As at Arras, Yorkshire.

[101] As at Mount Caburn, near Lewes.

[102] As at Settle, Yorkshire; Deepdale, Derbyshire; and Kent’s Cavern near Torquay.

[103] As at Great Chesters and Silchester.

[104] As at Glastonbury, Somersetshire.

[105] As at Lisnacroghera, Co. Antrim; Strokestown, Co. Roscommon; and Lochlee, Ayrshire.

[106] As on the Culbin Sands, Elginshire, where in 1827 a sportsman having lost his gunflint, found a splendid Late-Celtic bronze armlet, whilst seeking for another flint on the site of a Neolithic settlement covered with blown sand, except where denuded by the wind.

[107] As at Hoylake, in Cheshire, where the encroachment of the sea on the portion of the coast lying between the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey washes out antiquities of every period from the submarine forest and the sandhills above it.

[108] A beautiful Late-Celtic bronze armlet was found at Stanhope, Peeblesshire, by the tenant of the farm, whilst searching for a rabbit, under a large flat stone on the hillside.

[109] As in the case of the hoard of gold objects of bullion value, amounting to £110, found at Shaw Hill, Peeblesshire, by a herd-boy who saw something glitter in the ground, and scraped out the torques and other relics with his foot.

GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE FINDS OF OBJECTS OF THE EARLY IRON AGE

The general character of the finds of objects of the Early Iron Age is almost as varied as the circumstances which have led to their recovery from oblivion, and they may be classified according to their nature, as follows:—

(1) Sepulchral remains. (2) Remains found on inhabited or fortified sites. (3) Hoards of objects purposely concealed. (4) Objects accidentally lost.

_Sepulchral Remains._—The sepulchral deposits of the Early Iron Age differ greatly, both as regards the methods of burial adopted in each case, and the kind of grave-goods placed with the deceased. This is to be accounted for by a difference of time rather than area; and it is only natural to find the Bronze and Iron Ages merging into one another, whilst towards the close of the Late-Celtic Roman and even Saxon influence began to be felt.

Possibly the earliest sepulchral remains of the Late-Celtic period that have been found in England are the burials under mounds at Arras, on the Yorkshire Wolds, which were explored by the Rev. E. W. Stillingfleet, D.D.,[110] in 1815-17, and the Rev. Canon W. Greenwell[111] in 1876. The bodies were not cremated, as was generally the case in the Bronze Age, and also subsequently during the Romano-British period; but were buried in excavations in the chalk, and the place of sepulture marked by a tumulus. The so-called Queen’s Barrow at Arras, when opened by the Rev. W. Stillingfleet, was found to contain the skeleton of a female, with the feet gathered up, and the head to the north. The grave-goods consisted of one hundred glass beads, two bracelets, rings of gold and amber, and a pair of tweezers.

[110] _Memoirs of the Meeting of the British Archæological Institute held at York in 1846_, p. 26.

[111] Greenwell’s _British Barrows_, p. 454.

In another barrow at Arras, the Rev. W. Stillingfleet discovered the remains of a warrior resting on the smooth pavement of a circular excavation in the chalk, 8 to 9 yards in diameter, and 1 foot 6 inches deep, lying on his back, with his arms crossed over the breast. He had been interred with his chariot, a pair of horses completely harnessed, and two wild boars.

A third barrow explored by the Rev. W. Stillingfleet also covered the skeleton of a warrior with the remains of his martial equipment, consisting of the bosses of his shield, one wheel of his chariot, two of his horses’ bridle-bits. Two wild boars’ tusks (one of which was perforated with a square hole, and enclosed in a case of thin brass) were associated with this burial; indicating, perhaps, some religious or superstitious belief connected with this animal.[112]

[112] A Late-Celtic boar’s head of bronze was found at Liecheston, in Banffshire, in 1816 (see Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Pagan Times: Iron Age_, p. 117). Three little bronze figures of boars, from Hounslow, now in the British Museum, are illustrated in the _Proc. Soc. Ant. Lond._ (2nd ser., vol. iii., p. 90); and the splendid bronze shield from the Thames at Battersea, in the same collection, has a boar represented upon it (see Kemble’s _Horæ Ferales_, pl. 14). The boar also occurs on one of the Scotch symbol-bearing slabs at Knock-na-Gael, near Inverness (see Stuart’s _Sculptured Stones of Scotland_, vol. i., pl. 38). For a boar on a helmet, see account of Benty Grange tumulus on p. 67.

A portion of the antiquities mentioned are now in York Museum, and the Rev. W. Stillingfleet’s manuscript notes on his diggings in 1815-17 are preserved in the Library of the York Philosophical Institute.

The barrow at Arras, opened by the Rev. Canon W. Greenwell, covered a circular grave, 12 feet in diameter, sunk in the chalk to a depth of 3 feet, on the floor of which was laid the skeleton of a woman, resting on the left side, with her left hand up to the face, and the head to the west. Two tame pigs were buried with the deceased, and the grave-goods comprised an iron mirror, a bronze harness-ring, a pair of iron chariot-wheels, two snaffle-bits, and what may have been a whip-shank.

In 1875 Canon Greenwell explored a tumulus near Beverley, in Yorkshire, which yielded two chariot-wheels and a bridle-bit, but no human or other bones.

In July, 1897, Mr. J. R. Mortimer, of Driffield, opened 16 out of a group of 178 barrows, called “Danes’ Graves,” near Pockthorpe Hall, two miles west of Kilham, E. R. Yorkshire.[113] The burial-mounds were from 10 to 33 feet in diameter, and from 1 foot 3 inches to 3 feet 6 inches high, covering graves, either oval or oblong with rounded corners, about 7 feet long by 5 feet wide by 2 feet deep. All the bodies were unburnt and buried in the doubled-up attitude characteristic of the Neolithic period. A beautiful bronze pin, inlaid with shell, was associated with the skeleton of a female in a grave beneath the largest of the mounds, and in another were found two male skeletons buried with a chariot, the iron tyres of the wheels and the iron hoops of the naves of which still remained together with the two iron snaffle bridle-bits of the horses. The antiquities derived from the “Danes’ Graves” are now in the Museum of the York Philosophical Society. The average breadth index of the skulls was 735.

[113] _Reliquary_ for 1897, p. 224; _Proc. Soc. Ant. Lond._, 2nd ser., vol. xvii., p. 119.

The burials just described bear a marked resemblance to those of Gaulish warriors at Berru[114] and at Gorge-Meillet,[115] both in the Department of the Marne in France, and may have belonged to the Celtic tribe of the Parisi, who gave their name to Paris in Gaul, and who colonised or conquered parts of Yorkshire.

Canon Greenwell describes the result of opening four barrows of the Early Iron Age in the parish of Cowlam,[116] in Yorkshire, in all of which were found the skeletons of females, laid on the natural surface of the ground, resting on the left side, with the hands up to the face, and the head to the north-east. The grave-goods from the first barrow consisted of a bronze armlet, a bronze fibula with an iron pin, and seventy exquisite blue glass beads; and from the second, of an ornamental armlet. From the remaining two barrows only fragments of pottery were obtained.

Mr. J. R. Mortimer explored a grave dug in the chalk, but without any mound above it, in 1868, a quarter of a mile north-east of Grimthorpe[117] House, near Pocklington, in Yorkshire. It measured 4 feet 6 inches long, by 2 feet 9 inches wide, by 4 feet deep, and contained the skeleton of a young man, placed on the floor of the grave, resting partly on the back, with the knees and head inclined to the left side, the lower extremities drawn up, the hands on the breast, and the head to the south. Associated with the burial were sixteen bone implements, a sword-sheath, the umbo of a shield, a disc of bronze with repoussé ornament, and bits of rude pottery.

[114] A. Bertrand, _Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise_, 2nd ed., 1889, p. 356.

[115] E. Fourdrignier, _Double Sépulture Gauloise de la Gorge-Meillet_.

[116] _British Barrows_, p. 208, Nos. li. to liv. The results of the exploration are now in the British Museum. The bronze objects are engraved in Sir J. Evans’ _Ancient Bronze Implements_, pp. 387, 388, and 400.

[117] _Reliquary_, vol. ix., p. 180, and Ll. Jewitt’s _Grave-Mounds and their Contents_, pp. 237 and 263.

The number of burials of the Early Iron Age that have been found in Great Britain is extremely small as compared with those of the Ages of Stone and Bronze. This would seem to indicate that the period between the introduction of iron into this country and the commencement of the Roman occupation cannot have been very long; and that if the new metal was brought in by a foreign invasion rather than by peaceful commercial intercourse, nothing like the extermination of the native inhabitants, who used bronze and cremated their dead, can have taken place.

As we have seen, a large proportion of the sepulchral remains of the Early Iron Age have been derived from Yorkshire; but other instances have come to light in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Kent, Gloucestershire, Devon, and Cornwall.

The Rev. Mr. Pegge has given an account in the _Archæologia_[118] of the opening of a tumulus on Garratt’s Piece, Middleton Common, Derbyshire, a mile and a half south-east of Arbelows, and ten miles south-east of Buxton. The body had been laid on the surface of the ground, lying east and west. With it were found one of the circular enamelled discs to which reference will be made subsequently; a shallow basin of thin brass, much broken and crushed; and part of the iron umbo of a shield.

[118] Vol. ix., p. 189: letter read May 8th, 1788; and T. Bateman’s _Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire_, p. 24.

At Benty Grange, in Derbyshire, eight miles south-east of Buxton, on the road to Ashbourne, and one mile north-west of Arbelows, Mr. Thomas Bateman[119] excavated a barrow, about 2 feet high, surrounded by a fosse. The body had all decayed, except the hair; but in the spot where it had been deposited was a remarkable assemblage of relics, consisting of a leathern cup mounted with silver round the edge, and having wheel- or cross-shaped silver ornaments round the bowl; three circular enamelled discs of the same class as those from the Middleton Common tumulus previously described; an iron helmet surmounted by the figure of a hog of iron with bronze eyes, having a small silver cross inlaid on the nasal; a buckle; fragments of chains, etc. This burial, presenting some Celtic characteristics, belongs to a late period, possibly even after the Roman occupation.

Two Early Iron Age burials are recorded as having been discovered in Staffordshire, one at Alstonfield, the other at Barlaston. The barrow near Alstonfield, called Steep Lowe,[120] was composed of loose stones, and was 50 feet in diameter, and 15 feet high. The Iron Age interment was a secondary one, the tumulus having been made originally in the Bronze or Stone Age. The body was laid on its back; and amongst the grave-goods were a spear-head, a lance-head, and a knife (all of iron), some fragments of a highly ornamented drinking-cup, a stud of amber, and Roman coins of Constantine and Tetricus.

The burial at Barlaston,[121] unlike the one just described, was not in a mound, but in a grave, 7 feet long by 2 feet wide, by 1 foot 3 inches deep, cut in the solid red sandstone rock. With the body were associated a beautifully ornamented flat bronze ring of Late-Celtic character; three circular, enamelled discs of the type found in the barrow on Middleton Moor; some fragments of a bronze bowl, which Mr. Ll. Jewitt erroneously conjectured to have formed portions of a helmet; and blades of an iron sword and knife.

[119] _Ten Years’ Diggings_, p. 28.

[120] Bateman’s _Vestiges of the Antiquities of Derbyshire_, p. 76.

[121] Ll. Jewitt’s _Grave-Mounds and their Contents_, p. 258; and _Archæologia_, vol. lvi., p. 44.

[Illustration: BRONZE MIRROR FROM BIRDLIP, GLOUCESTERSHIRE; NOW IN THE GLOUCESTER MUSEUM

_R. W. Dugdale photo._]

No discovery of sepulchral remains belonging to the Late-Celtic period surpasses in interest that made in 1879, between Birdlip[122] and Crickley, on the Cotteswold Hills, seven miles south-east of Gloucester, both on account of the completeness of the series of objects buried with the deceased, and the extreme beauty of some of them as works of art.

Whilst repairing the road, Joseph Barnfield unearthed three skeletons interred with the feet to the south, in graves protected by thin slabs of stone placed on edge. The central skeleton was that of a female, and those on each side males. The following grave-goods were associated with the female: a bronze bowl (laid on the face of the deceased); a silver fibula plated with gold; a necklace consisting of thirteen amber beads, two jet beads, and one marble bead; a tubular brass armlet; a brass key-handle; a bronze knife-handle ornamented with a beast’s head, having small knobs at the ends of the horns; and last, but not least, a superb bronze mirror.

Another very similar find of skeletons in graves formed of stones placed on edge was made in 1833 at Trelan Bahow,[123] in the parish of St. Keverne, in Cornwall, ten miles south-east of Helston. With one of the skeletons was a beautiful bronze mirror, now in the British Museum.[122] See John Bellows, in _Trans. of Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæol. Soc._, vol. v., p. 137. The objects found are now in the Gloucester Museum.

[123] See J. Jope Rodgers in _Archæol. Journ._, vol. xxx., p. 267.

Sepulchral deposits of the same period, which have also yielded mirrors, were brought to light in the course of military works at Mount Batten,[124] near Plymouth, in the spring of 1865. The burials, however, in this case were not in stone-lined graves near the surface, but in pits from 4 feet to 4 feet 6 inches deep, excavated in the disintegrated rock. In addition to a bronze mirror and the handles of two others, the following objects were obtained: two jointed bronze armlets, two plain bronze armlets, four fibulæ, three bronze rings, a bronze cup, an iron dagger, and a pair of shears, black pottery, and fragments of glass. Ancient British coins had been found previously at Mount Batten,[125] indicating a settlement here, perhaps in the first century B.C.

The exploration of the Late-Celtic urn-field at Aylesford,[126] in Kent, three miles north-west of Maidstone, by Dr. Arthur Evans, has been the means of extending our knowledge of the art of this period in a most unexpected manner, and has supplied the missing links between the culture of Britain in the first three or four centuries B.C., and that of La Tène on the Continent, which in its turn can be shown to have been strongly influenced by the civilisation of the ancient Venetian country at the head of the Adriatic.[127] The shape of the tall, cordoned, pedestalled vases, and other peculiarities of the pottery from Aylesford, were things entirely unknown to archæologists previously, and enable a distinction now to be drawn between the fictile ware of the Late-Celtic period and that of the Romano-British period. The discovery also of bronze objects of Italo-Greek manufacture of the second century B.C., associated with Late-Celtic burials, clearly indicates that there must have been a much more intimate trade-intercourse between Britain and the southern parts of Europe, in pre-Roman times, than has hitherto been suspected.

[124] See J. Spence Bate in _Archæologia_, vol. xl., p. 500.

[125] Sir J. Evans’ _Ancient British Coins_, pp. 72 and 106.

[126] _Archæologia_, vol. lii., p. 315.

[127] Dr. Arthur J. Evans’ third Rhind Lecture on the “Origins of Celtic Art,” as reported in the _Scotsman_, December 14th, 1895.

The Late-Celtic urn-field at Aylesford was uncovered in 1886, at Messrs. Silas Wagon and Son’s gravel-pit, in the course of removing the surface earth which here overlies the old river-deposits to a depth of 3 feet or so. One of the first burial-pits which attracted attention was circular, and about 3 feet 6 inches deep, the sides and bottom being coated with a kind of chalky compound. In the pit were found a bronze _situla_, or pail, splendidly ornamented with repoussé work in the Late-Celtic style, and containing calcined bones; an _œnochoe_, or wine-jug; and _patella_, or shallow pan, of imported Italo-Greek fabric; fragments of a second _situla_; a bronze fibula; and fragments of pottery.

From another grave, about 1 foot 6 inches deep, situated 200 yards north-west of Aylesford Church, was obtained a bronze-plated tankard with two handles, of the same class as the Trawsfynydd tankard, surrounded by a circle of five or six earthenware vases, one of these being the finest pedestalled urn collected from the site. All the antiquities from Aylesford are now in the British Museum.

_Remains of the Early Iron Age found on Inhabited or Fortified Sites._—Next in importance to the sepulchral remains, as affording indications of the culture of the Early Iron Age, come the remains derived from inhabited or from fortified sites. And it may be remarked in passing that it is impossible to separate the inhabited from the fortified sites, because in these early times the state of the country was so unsettled that no isolated place of residence, village or town, could afford to do without some means of defence, either natural or artificial.

The inhabited site which bids fair to rival all others in the varied nature of the relics obtained from it, and the light they help to throw on the arts and industries of the Early Iron Age in Great Britain, is the Glastonbury Marsh Village. As the explorations begun by Mr. Arthur Bulleid, F.S.A., in 1892 are still in progress, it would be premature to pass an opinion upon the finds until they are completely exhausted. For an account of what has been already discovered there, the reader is referred to Mr. Bulleid’s paper on the subject, which appeared recently in the _Proceedings of the Somersetshire Archæological Society_.[128] A bronze bowl is there illustrated which seems to be of the same kind as those derived from the graves, but it is ornamented with raised bosses instead of with circular plaques of enamel. The handle of a mirror, like those from the graves, was also found at the Glastonbury Marsh Village in 1896.

From the exploration of this settlement we have obtained a knowledge of the peaceful pursuits and methods of life of the Late-Celtic inhabitants, which could never have been derived from their sepulchral remains. We now know that they were expert potters, wood-carvers, coopers, and weavers,[129] applying the same beautiful flamboyant forms of decoration that are characteristic of the metalwork of the period to earthenware and wooden vessels. The long-handled weaving-combs, which are so well known in the Pictish towers, or _brochs_, of the north of Scotland, have been found here also. Amongst the iron implements was a billhook for lopping the branches of trees—a most useful appliance for clearing away undergrowth in forests, procuring firewood, and building wattled structures. Unbaked ovoid clay pellets have been dug up in hundreds. These were probably sling-stones, indicating that the inhabitants must have been expert fowlers.

[128] Vol. xl. (1893).

[129] Ornamental weaving was, no doubt, practised. Although we have no absolute proof of this, the La Tène helmet from Gorge-Meillet (Marne), previously mentioned, has a sort of swastika pattern upon it, suggestive of a textile origin.

The dwellings appear to have been circular or oval wattled huts, the rudeness of which stands out in marked contrast to the high artistic taste and technical skill of the inhabitants.

A few of the crannogs of Scotland[130] and Ireland,[131] whose structure is somewhat analogous to the Glastonbury Marsh Village, have also yielded Late-Celtic objects, but not in such quantities as to give evidence of permanent occupation over a considerable period.

Hunsbury,[132] two miles south-west of Northampton, which has been called the English “La Tène,” is a good example of a Late-Celtic _oppidum_. The camp is of oval shape in plan, measuring 560 feet by 445 feet, and defended by a single earthen rampart and ditch. The area enclosed is about four acres. Between 1880 and 1886 the whole of the interior was excavated to obtain ironstone, which lay in a bed 12 feet thick, at a depth of 7 feet 6 inches below the natural surface of the ground.

[130] At Lochlee and at Lochspouts, Ayrshire; Dowalton, Wigtownshire; and Hyndford, Lanarkshire (see Dr. R. Munro’s _Lake-Dwellings of Scotland_).

[131] Lisnacroghera and Craigywarren, Co. Antrim; Strokestown and Ardakillen, Co. Roscommon; Lagore, Co. Meath; and Ballinderry, Co. Westmeath (see Wood Martin’s _Lake-Dwellings of Ireland_).

[132] See Sir Henry Dryden in _Associated Architectural Societies’ Reports_, vol. xviii. (1885), p. 53.

In the course of the excavations about three hundred refuse-pits, averaging 5 feet in diameter, and dug in the soil overlying the ironstone, were discovered. Amongst the contents of the pits were two bronze sword-sheaths, one of them highly ornamented in the Late-Celtic style;[133] three fibulæ, bridle-bits and cheek-pieces of bone, a chariot-wheel, iron saws, knives, spear-heads, etc.; one hundred and fifty quernstones, reckoning the upper and lower stones separately; eight spindle-whorls, long-handled weaving-combs, and pottery with Late-Celtic decoration. All these antiquities are now in the Northampton Museum.

The camp on Mount Caburn, two miles south of Lewes, in Sussex, explored by General Pitt-Rivers[134] in 1878, seems to have been an _oppidum_ of the same class as that at Hunsbury, and the relics indicated the same kind of culture. The pits found at Mount Caburn were some of them oval, and others oblong, 5 to 7 feet in diameter, and 5 feet deep. The objects obtained from the pits included ornamental pottery, long-handled wearing-combs, an iron billhook like the one from the Glastonbury Marsh Village, and three ancient British tin coins.

[133] Engraved in the _Archæologia_, vol. lii., p. 762.

[134] _Archæologia_, vol. xlvi., p. 423.

The fine collection of Late-Celtic horse-trappings, etc., now in the Duke of Northumberland’s private Museum at Alnwick Castle, was found in 1844, in a pit about 5 feet deep, within an earthen entrenchment at Stanwick, in Yorkshire, seven miles north of Richmond.[135]

A few Late-Celtic objects have been derived from Roman towns[136] and stations[137] in England; and also from the _weems_,[138] or underground houses, and the _brochs_,[139] or Pictish towers of Scotland.

The bone-caves which were the permanent habitations of Palæolithic and Neolithic man in Britain served as temporary places of refuge for the Brit-Welsh population during the troublous times immediately succeeding the Roman evacuation of this country. Gildas’ account of the Britons leaving their houses and lands, and taking shelter in the mountains, forests and caves, whence they were able successfully to repel the inroads of the Picts and Scots,[140] is fully borne out by archæological research.[141]

[135] _Memoirs of the Meeting of the Archæological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland at York in 1846_, p. 88; Dr. J. C. Bruce’s _Catalogue of the Antiquities at Alnwick_, p. 38.

[136] As in Silchester. These have not been illustrated, but are to be seen in the Reading Museum.

[137] As in Æsica (Great Chesters) (_Archæologia Æliana_, 2nd ser., vol. xvii., p. xxviii.).

[138] As at Castle Newe, Aberdeenshire, and Grange of Conan, Forfarshire (see Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Pagan Times: Iron Age_, pp. 141 and 160).

[139] As at Okstrow and at Harray in Orkney (_Ibid._, pp. 219, 236).

[140] Gildas, xvii.; Bede’s _Eccl. Hist._, bk. i., chap. xiv.

[141] Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins’ _Cave-Hunting_, p. 106.

The principal caves which have yielded relics of this period are Kirkhead[142] Cave in Lancashire; the Victoria,[143] Kelko,[144] and Dowkerbottom[145] Caves in Yorkshire; Poole’s[146] Hole and the Deepdale[147] Cave in Derbyshire; Thor’s[148] Cave in Staffordshire; and Kent’s[149] Cavern in Devonshire.

The character of the antiquities derived from the caves does not differ materially from that of the remains from the crannogs and the _oppida_, although a few things of peculiar form have been found in some of the caves, such as the spoon-shaped bone-pins from the Victoria and Dowkerbottom Caves, and the bone whistles from Thor’s Cave. The fibulæ from the Victoria and the Deepdale Caves are of remarkable beauty. Evidence of spinning is afforded by the long-handled comb from Thor’s Cave, and the numerous spindle-whorls from others. The discovery of Roman coins and Samian ware indicate the period at which the Brit-Welsh sought refuge in these recesses of the rock.

_Hoards of Late-Celtic Objects purposely concealed._—The horse-trappings found in an excavation at the bottom of one of several oblong pits, 7 feet long by 3 feet wide by 4 feet deep, at Hagbourne Hill[150] in Berkshire, two miles south of Didcot, seem to have been purposely hidden; as also the horse-trappings which were discovered in the chink of the rock by quarrymen at Hamdon Hill[151] in Somersetshire, five miles west of Yeovil. Another instance of intentional concealment is afforded by the beautiful bronze mirror that was found, with other ornamental pieces of bronze, wrapped in a cloth, and covered by the upper stone of a quern, at Balmaclellan,[152] two miles north-east of New Galloway, Kirkcudbrightshire.

[142] Three miles south of Cartmel, on the shore of Morecambe Bay (_Cave-Hunting_, p. 125).

[143] A mile and a half north-east of Settle (_Cave-Hunting_, p. 81; and H. Eckroyd Smith in _Trans. of Hist. Soc. of Lancashire and Cheshire_, vol. for 1866, p. 199; and Roach Smith’s _Collectanea Antiqua_, vol. i., p. 67).

[144] Overlooking Giggleswick, one mile north-west of Settle.

[145] Between Kilnsey and Arncliffe, ten miles north-east of Settle (_Proc. Geol. and Polytech. Soc. of W. Riding of Yorksh._ for 1859, p. 45).

[146] A mile south-west of Buxton (_Cave-Hunting_, p. 126).

[147] Three miles south-east of Buxton (_Derbyshire Archæol. Soc. Trans._, vol. xiii., p. 196).

[148] Near Grindon, eight miles north-west of Ashbourne (_Reliquary_, vol. vi., p. 201, and _Trans. Midland Sci. Assoc._, 1864-5, p. 1).

[149] One mile north-west of Torquay. There is a fragment of pottery, with Late-Celtic ornament upon it, from Kent’s Cavern, in the British Museum.

[150] _Archæologia_, vol. xvi., p. 348.

[151] _Ibid._, vol. xxi., p. 39.

[152] Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Pagan Times: Iron Age_, p. 126.

_Late-Celtic Objects accidentally lost._—Besides the Late-Celtic objects which have been dropped by their original owners on dry land, and got covered with the soil and thus been preserved, it is remarkable in how many cases they have been lost whilst crossing or navigating rivers, especially the Thames,[153] Witham,[154] Tyne,[155] and Tweed.[156]

[153] Shield (_Archæologia_, vol. xxiii., p. 96); helmet (in the British Museum); fibula (_Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot._, 2nd ser., vol. xv., p. 191).

[154] Shield (_Archæologia_, vol. xxiii., p. 96); sword-sheath (J. C. Bruce’s _Catal. of Alnwick Mus._); daggers (Kemble’s _Horæ Ferales_, pl. 17).

[155] Fibulæ (_Illustrated Archæologist_, vol. ii., p. 157).

[156] Sword-sheath (_Archæologia_, vol. xlv., p. 45).

FINDS OF CELTIC COINS IN BRITAIN

The earliest native coinage of Britain belongs to the Iron Age, and dates from 200 to 150 B.C. Sir John Evans has collected together all the known facts relating to the numismatics of this period in his _Coins of the Ancient Britons_, and gives excellent maps showing the geographical distribution of the finds. Prof. John Rhys, in his _Celtic Britain_ (p. 19), says:—

“The coinage of Britain had been modelled in the first instance after that of Gaul, which, in its turn, can be traced to the Phocæan Greeks of Massilia or Marseilles, through whom the continental Gauls became acquainted in the latter part of the fourth century before Christ with the gold stater of Philip II. of Macedon. This was a fine coin, weighing 133 grains, and having on one side the head of Apollo wreathed with laurel, while the other showed a charioteer in a biga, with Philip’s name underneath. It was imitated by the Gauls fairly well at first, but as it got further removed from the original in time and place, the figures degenerated into very curious and fantastic forms.”

Before the landing of Julius Cæsar in Britain in 55 B.C. the Cantii, the Dutoriges, the Catuvelauni, and the Trinovantes each had coinages of their own, but entirely devoid of lettering. The lettered coins begin with those of Commios, dating from a period some time before 30 B.C., after which come those of his three sons—Tincommios, Verica, and Eppillos. Prof. J. Rhys[157] says:—

“The coins of Commios, and some of the earlier ones of Tincommios, continued the degenerate imitations of the Macedonian stater without showing any Roman influence; but it was not long after Augustus became emperor, in the year 30, that Tincommios copied the Latin formula, in which the former styled himself _Augustus Divi Filius_, or the son of his adoptive father, Julius Cæsar, who had now got to be officially called _Divus_, or the god. So Tincommios had inscribed on his money the legend _Tinc. Commi F._, or even shorter abbreviations, meaning Tincommios son of Commios; and the grotesque traits derived from the stater soon disappear in favour of classical designs of various kinds, proving very distinctly that the influence of Roman art was beginning to make itself felt in the south of Britain.”

The coins which have been assigned to the Dobunni (although their exact date, place of issue, and sequence are somewhat doubtful) belong to the series of the Macedonian stater, and show hardly any trace of Roman influence. Their probable date[158] seems to be between A.D. 1 and 41.

[157] _Celtic Britain_, p. 25.

[158] _Ibid._, p. 35.

There was no native British coinage either in Scotland, Wales, or Ireland, and in England the finds do not extend further north than Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The greater part of the finds lie to the south of a line drawn from Wroxeter to the Wash, and east of a line drawn from the same place to Exeter. The geographical distribution of the finds is clearly shown on the map given in Sir John Evans’ _Coins of the Ancient Britons_.

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF FINDS OF OBJECTS OF THE LATE-CELTIC PERIOD IN GREAT BRITAIN[159]

In the present state of our knowledge no very satisfactory deductions can be made from a study of the geographical distribution of the finds of this period, partly because the discoveries have been so imperfectly recorded (more especially in Ireland), and partly because a large number of sites which are probably Late-Celtic still remain unexplored. Another difficulty to be reckoned with is that it is only within the last few years that archæologists have been able to distinguish between what is purely Celtic and what is Romano-British. Indeed, in many cases, in the absence of coins or other evidence, it is quite impossible to determine whether particular finds are of pre-Roman, Roman, or even post-Roman, as the Late-Celtic style of decoration was in vogue throughout the whole of the Pagan Iron Age in Britain, and survived in remote districts after the introduction of Christianity. Then, again, the fact must not be lost sight of that the greater frequency of finds in some districts than others can be accounted for by their having been covered with lakes where crannogs could be easily constructed, or on the limestone formation, where rock-shelters and caves suitable for temporary places of refuge already existed.

[159] A complete list of the finds as far as recorded is given in the _Archæologia Cambrensis_, 5th ser., vol. xiii., p. 321.

We will take the geographical distribution of the sepulchral remains first. It is most remarkable that up to the present no Late-Celtic burials have been recorded in Wales, Scotland, or Ireland, although finds of objects of the period have been frequent in all three of these countries. The earlier Bronze Age burial customs may, of course, have survived after the introduction of iron, or interments of the Iron Age may have passed unrecognised owing to the rapid decay of the metal implements accompanying the body.

In England the greatest number of Late-Celtic burials have been found in the south-east corner of Yorkshire, near Beverley and Driffield. In most cases the tumuli covering the graves are in large groups, those at “Danes’ Graves,” near Kilham, numbering 178; those at Arras, near Market Weighton, 200; and those in Scorborough Park, near Beverley, 170. The people to whom these extensive cemeteries belonged probably invaded Britain from the Continent some few centuries before the Roman occupation, and landing at the mouth of the Humber, settled permanently on the east coast of Yorkshire. The people in question had long skulls, and buried their dead in a doubled-up attitude without cremation, which has suggested another less probable theory that they were the direct descendants of the more ancient Neolithic inhabitants of Yorkshire.

In Derbyshire one undoubted Late-Celtic burial has been found[160] and there are a few others which seem to belong to the transition towards the end of the Roman occupation or the beginning of the Saxon Pagan period.[161]

[160] In Deepdale.

[161] At Benty Grange, and on Middleton Moor.

In Kent[162] and Devonshire[163] cemeteries containing a large number of graves have been brought to light.

Isolated burials have been found in single localities in each of the counties of Stafford,[164] Gloucester,[165] Dorset,[166] and Cornwall.[167]

The following lists show the geographical distribution of the inhabited or fortified sites of the Late-Celtic period in Great Britain:—

[162] At Aylesford.

[163] At Mount Batten.

[164] At Barlaston.

[165] At Birdlip.

[166] In the Isle of Portland.

[167] At Trelan Bahow.

CAVES YORKSHIRE. Dowkerbottom Hole, Arncliffe. Victoria Cave, Settle. Kelko Cave, Settle. LANCASHIRE. Kirkhead Cave. DERBYSHIRE. Thirst House, Deepdale. Poole’s Hole, near Buxton. STAFFORDSHIRE. Thor’s Cave, Dovedale. DEVONSHIRE. Kent’s Cavern, Torquay.

LAKE-DWELLINGS AND CRANNOGS SOMERSETSHIRE. Glastonbury Marsh Village. LANARKSHIRE. Hyndford Crannog. AYRSHIRE. Lochlee Crannog. Lochspouts Crannog. WIGTOWNSHIRE. Dowalton Crannog. CO. ANTRIM. Lisnacroghera Crannog. Craigywarren Crannog. CO. ROSCOMMON. Strokestown Crannog. Ardakillen Crannog. CO. WESTMEATH. Ballinderry Crannog. CO. MEATH. Lagore Crannog.

PICTISH TOWERS ORKNEY. Broch of Harray. Broch of Okstrow. CAITHNESS. Broch of Kettleburn. SELKIRKSHIRE. Broch of Torwoodlee.

UNDERGROUND HOUSES ABERDEENSHIRE. Castle Newe. FORFARSHIRE. Grange of Conan.

CELTIC _OPPIDA_ AND FORTIFIED VILLAGES YORKSHIRE. Stanwick. NORTHAMPTONSHIRE. Hunsbury. KENT. Bigbury Camp. SUSSEX. Mount Caburn. BERKSHIRE. Northfield Farm, Long Wittenham. DORSETSHIRE. Hod Hill. Hambledown Hill. Maiden Castle. Rotherley. SOMERSETSHIRE. Ham Hill. NAIRNSHIRE. Burghead. PERTHSHIRE. Abernethy. AYRSHIRE. Seamill Fort. CARDIGANSHIRE. Castell Nadolig. CARNARVONSHIRE. Treceiri.

ROMANO-BRITISH STATIONS AND TOWNS NORTHUMBERLAND. Great Chesters (Æsica). Risingham (Habitancum). WESTMORELAND. Brough. Kirkby Thore. LANCASHIRE. Ribchester. YORKSHIRE. New Malton. NORTHAMPTON. Wellingborough. SURREY. Farley Heath. HAMPSHIRE. Silchester. PERTHSHIRE. Ardoch. DUMFRIES. Birrenswark.

A study of the above lists discloses some interesting facts. It will be noticed that the caves are confined exclusively to the limestone districts of the counties of York, Lancaster, Derby, Stafford, and Devon. The lake-dwellings are found chiefly in the south-west of Scotland and the north-east and central part of Ireland, there being only one example in England and none in Wales. The _brochs_ and _weems_ (or underground houses) are Pictish structures, and therefore do not occur anywhere except in Scotland, chiefly in its north-eastern counties. The Celtic _oppida_ are most common in the south of England where the Belgic settlements predominated, but there are a few examples in Scotland. Probably a more systematic examination of the hill-forts throughout Great Britain would show that those in which large areas are enclosed by double and triple ramparts of stone or earth[168] belong to the Late-Celtic period. At the present time practically nothing is known as to the age of the stone forts and earthen raths in Ireland or Wales.

Most of the Romano-British fortified sites which have yielded works of art of Late-Celtic type, although executed under Roman influence, are in the south of Scotland or in the north of England, on or near the Wall of Hadrian, or along the lines of the military roads leading to it.[169] At Farley Heath, near Guildford, Surrey, numerous specimens of Kelto-Roman enamelled bronze objects have been found, and this site would no doubt produce a plentiful harvest of antiquities of a similar nature if properly explored. The great difficulty, however, as we have already pointed out in dealing with the Romano-British sites, is to determine to what extent the style of the art of the objects found there can be shown to be definitely Celtic. In our lists we have only included sites from which have been procured antiquities exhibiting Celtic enamel and flamboyant ornament, or fibulæ of known Celtic type.

[168] I refer here to defensive works in which the whole of the summit of the hill is enclosed. These forts are usually of approximately oval shape, and follow the conformation of the hill.

[169] As, for instance, at Risingham (Habitancum) on the road going north from the Wall into Scotland, and at Brough and Kirkby Thore on the road from York to Carlisle, which passes through upper Teesdale, and thence into the valley of the Eden.

If to the sepulchral deposits and inhabited sites just described be added all the miscellaneous finds of objects accidentally lost or purposely concealed, it will be observed that there is hardly a single county throughout England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland which cannot show one or two such Late-Celtic finds at least. Some counties are nevertheless richer than others,[170] as, for instance, Aberdeen, Forfar, Perth, Ayr, Kirkcudbright, and Dumfries, in Scotland; Antrim, Meath, and Roscommon, in Ireland; Denbighshire, in Wales; and Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Suffolk, Middlesex, Kent, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berks, Wilts, Dorset, Hants, and Somerset, in England.

[170] _i.e._ have from four to ten localities where Late-Celtic finds have been made.

EVIDENCE AS TO DATES OF FINDS OF OBJECTS OF THE EARLY IRON AGE IN GREAT BRITAIN

The finds of objects of the Early Iron Age to which an approximate date can be assigned are as follows:—

(1) Finds associated with burials of a particular kind. (2) Finds associated with objects of the Bronze Age. (3) Finds associated with objects of early Hallstatt type. (4) Finds associated with fibulæ or other objects of La Tène type. (5) Finds of objects associated with imported articles of Græco-Italic fabric. (6) Finds of objects associated with Ancient British coins. (7) Finds of objects, (_a_) on Romano-British inhabited or fortified sites, (_b_) associated with Roman coins, and (_c_) associated with articles of Roman manufacture.

There are at least three different methods of burial characteristic of the Late-Celtic period in Great Britain.

(1) Uncremated burials in excavated graves beneath barrows in which the deceased is generally found with his chariot and horses, as at Arras, Yorkshire. (2) Cremated burials in pits without any exterior mound, the ashes being contained in cinerary urns and the burials in groups, as at Aylesford, Kent. (3) Uncremated burials in graves formed of slabs of stone placed on edge, without any exterior mound, as at Birdlip, Gloucestershire.

The first class of burials correspond with those at Berru and Gorge-Meillet, Department of the Marne, and probably belong to the same period as these earlier Gaulish interments which, from the associated Greek and Etruscan relics,[171] are known on the Continent to belong to the third, fourth, and fifth centuries B.C.[172]

The second, or Aylesford urn-field type of burial, is dated by associated vessels of Italo-Greek fabric at from 200 to 150 B.C.[173]

Implements of the Bronze Age have been occasionally discovered with objects of Late-Celtic character, as at Hagbourn Hill,[174] Berks, where a Late-Celtic bridle-bit and harness-rings were associated with some small spear-heads and a socketed celt; and at Hounslow,[175] Middlesex, where three figures of boars and two of other animals were found with celts and gouges of the Bronze Age.

[171] Such as the Græcwyl bronze vase now in the Berne Museum; the bronze _œnochoe_ and Etruscan cup from Somme-Bionne (Marne); and the two-handled cup from Rodenbach, Bavaria (described and illustrated in A. Bertrand’s _Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise_, pp. 328 to 347).

[172] Arthur Evans in _Archæologia_, vol. lii., p. 72.

[173] _Ibid._, vol. lii., p. 66.

[174] _Archæologia_, vol. xvi., p. 348.

[175] _Proc. Soc. Ant. Lond._, 2nd ser., vol. iii., p. 90.

Up to the present time, no specimen has yet been found in this country of the great iron sword of Hallstatt type, with its massive ivory handle encrusted with amber.[176] Of the smaller Hallstatt sword with an iron blade and a bronze handle, having antennæ-like projections at the top,[177] one specimen from the Thames is to be seen in the British Museum, and there are about half a dozen others in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.

Tall vessels made of thin sheets of bronze riveted together and furnished with two round ring-handles at the top have been found in Ireland (at Montiaghs,[178] Co. Armagh; and Dowris,[179] King’s Co.) and in Scotland (at Cardross,[180] Dumbartonshire); the form of these vessels shows that they are akin to the situlæ of the late Hallstatt or early La Tène period on the Continent.

In the instances where other objects have been associated either with the swords _à antennes_ or situlæ in Great Britain they have been of purely Bronze Age type, showing that the Hallstatt period on the Continent was earlier than the Late-Celtic period in this country.

[176] A. Bertrand and S. Reinach’s _Les Celtes dans les Vallées du Pô et du Danube_, p. 125.

[177] _Ibid._, p. 85.

[178] _Jour. Royal Soc. Ant. Ireland_, ser. 5, vol. vii., p. 437. Another example found in Ireland is figured in Sir W. Wylde’s _Catal. Mus. R.I.A._, p. 531.

[179] Now in the British Museum. Evans’ _Ancient Bronze Implements_, p. 410.

[180] R. Munro’s _Prehistoric Scotland_, p. 40.

The forms of the fibulæ associated with Late-Celtic finds afford specially valuable evidence as to date. The pre-Roman, or La Tène, type of fibula was made in one piece on the same principle as the modern safety-pin, and therefore differed from the Roman Provincial harp, or bow-shaped fibula, in which the pin was separate from the back and worked on a hinge. Fibulæ of the earlier kind have been found with Late-Celtic burials at Cowlam, Yorkshire; Aylesford, Kent; and Birdlip, Gloucestershire; and on inhabited and fortified sites at Hod Hill, and Rotherley, Dorset. The fibulæ from the Stamford Hill Cemetery, near Plymouth, and the Polden Hill hoard of horse-trappings belong to the later class. As the forms of the different fibulæ will be discussed subsequently, no more need be said on the subject here.

Ancient British coins have been found near the Late-Celtic cemeteries at Aylesford,[181] Kent, and Stamford Hill,[182] near Plymouth; also within the fortifications of the Late-Celtic _oppida_ at Mount Caburn,[183] near Lewes, Sussex, and Hod Hill,[184] near Blandford, Dorset. General Pitt-Rivers came across ancient British coins during his excavations on the site of the Romano-British village at Rotherley[185] in Cranbourne Chase, Dorset, and numerous specimens (especially of the coins of Verica, one of the three sons of Commios) have turned up from time to time at Farley Heath,[186] near Guildford, Surrey.

[181] _Archæologia_, vol. lii., p. 315.

[182] _Ibid._, vol. xl., p. 500.

[183] _Ibid._, vol. xlvi., p. 423.

[184] _Archæol. Jour._, vol. lvii., p. 52.

[185] _Excavations in Cranbourne Chase_, vol. ii., p. 188.

[186] F. Martin Tupper’s _Farley Heath_, p. 10.

The Romano-British inhabited or fortified sites from which objects of Late-Celtic character have been derived, have already been specified. The following lists show the instances where Late-Celtic finds have been associated with Roman coins or with objects of Roman manufacture:—

_Late-Celtic Finds associated with Roman Coins._

_Late-Celtic Finds associated with Samian Ware._

Place. Nature of Find.

Broch of Okstrow, Orkney Pictish Tower. Lochlee Crannog. Lochspouts Crannog. Settle, Yorkshire Cave. Deepdale, Derbyshire Cave. Thor’s Cave, Staffordshire Cave. Isle of Portland Burial. Westhall, Suffolk Horse-trappings.

_Late-Celtic Finds associated with Objects of Roman Manufacture._