Routledge Library Editions: The Anglo-Saxon World [1 ed.] 9781032529769, 9781032534220, 9781032534244, 9781003411963, 1032529768

Table of contents :
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Original Title Page
Original Copyright Page
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
One: Introduction – The Celts in Europe
Two: Iron Age Britain
Three: The Roman Interlude
Four: The Dark Ages
Five: Epilogue – Celtic Twilight
The Best of Celtic Britain
Further Reading
Index

Citation preview

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS: THE ANGLO-SAXON WORLD

Volume 7

CELTIC BRITAIN

CELTIC BRITAIN

LLOYD LAING

First published in 1979 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd This edition first published in 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 1979 Jennifer Laing All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-032-52976-9 (Set) ISBN: 978-1-032-53422-0 (Volume 7) (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-53424-4 (Volume 7) (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-41196-3 (Volume 7) (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003411963 Publisher’s Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. Disclaimer The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Celtic Britain Lloyd Laing

Routledge & Kegan Paul London and Henley

First published in 1979 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd 39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and Broadway House, Newtown Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN Photoset in Palatino and printed in Great Britain by Lowe & Brydone Printers Ltd Thetford, Norfolk © Jennifer Laing 1979 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the quotation of brief passages in criticism British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Laing, Lloyd Robert Celtic Britain. - (Britain before the conquest), 1. Great Britain -Antiquities, Celtic I. Title II. Series 936.1 DA140 78-41209 JSBN 07100 0131 2

Contents

Acknowledgments

xi

one

Introduction - the Celts in Europe

1

two

Iron Age Britain

three

14

The Roman Interlude

101

four

The Dark Ages

119

five

Epilogue - Celtic Twilight

172

The Best of Celtic Britain

182

Further Reading

184

Index

187

Illustrations

Plates 1 Escutcheon, Aylesford bucket, Kent (British Museum) 2 The Waterloo Bridge helmet (British Museum) 3 The Battersea shield (British Museum) 4 Scabbard mount, Standlake, Oxford (Ashmolean Museum) 5 Anthropomorphic sword hilt (British Museum) 6 The Datchet spearhead (British Museum) 7 Coins of Tasciovanus, Eppillus and Verica showing horsemen (Ashmolean Museum) 8 Torrs pony cap, Kirkcudbright (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 9 The Ipswich tores (British Museum) 10 The Needwood Forest tore, Staffordshire (British Museum) 11 The largest of the Snettisham (Norfolk) tores (British Museum) 12 'Celtic' fields, Fifield Down, Wiltshire (Photo: Major G. W. Allen: Ashmolean Museum) 13 Philodendron, an Tron Age' type of pig, Acton Scott Farm Museum, Shropshire 14 Set of glass gaming pieces, Welwyn Garden City, Herts (British Museum) 15 Iron currency bars, Salmonsbury, Glos (Ashmolean Museum) 16 Iron Age pottery, All Cannings Cross, Wiltshire (Devizes Museum) 17 Iron Age pot, All Cannings Cross, Wiltshire (Devizes Museum) 18 Belgic pottery, Colchester, Essex (Colchester and Essex Museum) 19 Spanish figurine, Aust-on-Severn (British Museum) 20 Uffington Castle and Uffington White Horse (Aerofilms) 21 Vitrified fort, Finavon, Angus (Photo: Prof. J. K. St Joseph; Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography) 22 South Barrule hillfort, Isle of Man, showing huts (Manx Museum and National Trust) 23 Maiden Castle, Dorset, from the air (Photo: Major G. W. Allen; Ashmolean Museum) 24 Chysauster, Cornwall, from'the air (Photo: Prof. J. K. St Joseph; Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography) 25 Fogou, interior, Carn Euny, Cornwall 26 Reconstruction of Iron Age house, Butser, Hants (Photo: P. Reynolds; Butser Ancient Farm Project)

16 23 25 26 27 29 30 32 33 34 35 38 39 43 45 48 49 50 51 53 54 55 56 59 60 61

vii

Illustrations

viii

27 Late Bronze and early Iron Age villages, Jarlshof, Shetland (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 28 Clickhimin, Shetland, the 'Blockhouse' (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 29 Broch of Mousa, Shetland (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 30 Intra-mural staircase of broch, Midhowe, Orkney 31 Reconstruction of Clickhimin, Shetland, in the broch period, by Alan Sorrell (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 32 Interior of broch of Gurness, Aikerness, showing postbroch structures, Orkney 33 The Basse-Yutz flagons (British Museum) 34 The Torrs drinking horns, Kirkcudbright (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 35 The Wandsworth boss (British Museum) 36 The Bugthorpe (Yorks) scabbard (British Museum) 37 The Birdlip (Glos) burial group, showing mirror (Gloucester City Museum) 38 The Desborough (Northants) mirror (British Museum) 39 TheTrawsfynydd tankard (Liverpool City Museums) 40 The Capel Garmon firedog (National Museum of Wales) 41 Group of mounts from the Stanwick hoard, Yorks (British Museum) 42 The Hounslow (Middlesex) bronze boar (British Museum) 43 Human figure on bronze plaque from Tal-y-Llyn, Merioneth (National Museum of Wales) 44 Bronze plaque, Llyn Cerrig Bach, Anglesey (National Museum of Wales) 45 Coin of Cunobelin (a) with 'druid' and (b) coin of Tasciovanus with 'seated priest' 46 Celtic stone head from Netherby, Cumbria (Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery, Carlisle) 47 Wooden male figure from Dagenham, Essex (Colchester and Essex Museum) 48 Head of wooden figure from Roos Carr, Humberside (Hull Museum) 49 Early Celtic British coins (b and e Heberden Coin Room, Ashmolean Museum) 50 Imported silver cup, Welwyn, Herts (British Museum) 51 Group of bronze objects from chieftain's grave, Lexden, Colchester (Colchester and Essex Museum) 52 Pendant made out of a denarius of Augustus, Lexden (Colchester and Essex Museum) 53 Belgic coins with Roman inspired designs 54 The Elmswell mount (Hull Museum) 55 The Silkstead girl, Hants (Winchester City Museum) 56 Coin of Carausius II (Ashmolean Museum) 57 Cadbury-Congresbury, Somerset, during excavation (Prof. P. A. Rahtz) 58 Liddington Castle during excavation (Prof. P. A. Rahtz) 59 Dinas Emrys, Gwynedd 60 Chun Castle, Cornwall 61 Inscribed stone, Traprain Law, East Lothian (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland)

62 63 64 64 65 65 67 70 71 72 73 73 74 75 76 77 77 78 79 84 87 88 90 96 97 98 99 103 104 110 112 112 113 113 114

62 Native homestead, Din Lligwy, Anglesey 63 Silverware from the Traprain Treasure, East Lothian (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 64 The Pillar of Eliseg (National Museum of Wales) 65 Wansdyke (Aerofilms) 66 Page from MS Harley 3859, referring to Mons Badonicus (British Library) 67 Memorial stone from Llangian, Gwynedd, commemorating a medicus. Fifth century 68 Free-standing cross, Carew, Pembroke. Early eleventh century (National Museum of Wales) 69 The 'Drosten' stone, St Vigeans, Angus (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 70 Dunadd, Argyll (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 71 The Mote of Mark, Kirkcudbright 72 Iron objects, Buston crannog, Ayrshire (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 73 Bone comb, Buston, Ayrshire (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 74 Bone comb, Dun Cuier, Barra (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 75 Imported 'A' and 'B' ware, Tintagel, Cornwall (British Museum) 76 Chi-Rho ornamented sherd, Dinas Emrys, Gwynedd (National Museum of Wales) 77 'E' ware beaker, Buston, Ayrshire (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 78 Pictish horseman, Meigle No. 3, Perthshire (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 79 A drinking Pict, Invergowrie, Angus (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 80 The Latinus Stone, Whithorn (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 81 Stone from Penmachno, Gwynedd, referring to the consul Justinus (National Museum of Wales) 82 Stone of Senacus, referring to a 'presbyter', from Aberdaron, Gwynedd (National Museum of Wales) 83 Spooy t Vane Keeill, Michael, Isle of Man (Manx Museum and National Trust) 84 Abernethy round tower 85 Cells at Tintagel, Cornwall 86 St Ninian's Isle Treasure, Shetland: (a) inscribed chape, (b) 'pepperpots', (c) hanging bowl (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 87 (a) Silver pin, Oldcroft, Glos (British Museum) and (b) group of silver hand pins from Nome's Law hoard, Fife (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 88 (a) Roman triskele decorated disc brooch, Silchester (Reading Museum), and (b) Hanging bowl escutcheon from Middleton Moor, Derbys (Sheffield Museum) 89 Penannular brooch, Pant-y-Saer, Anglesey (National Museum of Wales) 90 The Hunterston Brooch, Ayrshire (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 91 Clay mould for ornamental roundel, from the Mote of Mark, Kirkcudbright

115

Illustrations

117 119 124 128 132 136 141 144 145 146 147 147 148 149 149 150 150 153 153 153 155 155 156 158 160 161 162 162 164

ix

Illustrations

92 Reconstruction of a roundel cast from a mould found at the Mote of Mark, 1913 (Drawing by D. Longley) 93 The Breadalbane Brooch (British Museum) 94 St John's Cross, lona (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 95 'Face cross7 cross-slab, Riskbuie, Colonsay (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 96 Class I Pictish symbol stone, Easterton of Roseisle (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 97 The Aberlemno churchyard cross (a) and the Aberlemno roadside cross (b), Angus 98 Meigle No. 2, Angus, Pictish Class II slab (Department of the Environment; Crown Copyright reserved) 99 Arch, Forteviot, Perthshire, late ninth-tenth century (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 100 Pictish pin, Golspie, Sutherland (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 101 The Monymusk Reliquary (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 102 The Nome's Law hoard (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 103 Penannular brooch, found near Perth (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 104 One of the 'Cadboll' brooches, Rogart, Sutherland (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 105 King Arthur, from the fourteenth century MS Le Roman de Lancelot du Lac et de la Mort du Roi Artit, MS Add.10294, foL94 (British Library) 106 The Eglinton Casket (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 107 Scottish powder horn, 1693 (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 108 Victorian version of Hunterston Brooch (National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland) 109 Columba, from a wall painting by W. Hole (Scottish National Portrait Gallery)

Maps

1 Celtic Europe in the Iron Age 2 The Tribes of Celtic Britain before the Roman Conquest 3 Britain c.AD 600

X

164 165 165 166 167 167 168 168 169 169 170 170 171 174 178 178 179 180 6 11 130

Acknowledgments

The author and publishers would like to thank the following institutions and individuals for allowing photographs to be reproduced and for helping in finding suitable photographs: Aerofilms, Plates 20, 65; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Plates 4, 7a, 12, 15, 23, 49b, 49e, 56; The Trustees of the British Museum, Plates 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10,11, 14,19, 33, 35, 36, 38, 41, 42, 50, 75, 87a, 93; the British Library, Plates 66, 105; Mr Peter Reynolds and Butser Ancient Farm Project, Plate 26; Prof. J. K. St Joseph and the Cambridge University Committee for Aerial Photography, Plates 21, 24; Carlisle Museum and Art Gallery, Plate 46; Colchester and Essex Museum, Plates 18, 47, 51, 52; Department of the Environment, Crown Copyright reserved, Plates 27, 28, 29, 31, 69, 70, 78, 80, 94, 98; Devizes Museum, Plates 16,17; Gloucester City Museums, Plate 37; Kingston-upon-Hull Museums and Art Galleries, Plates 48, 54; the Manx Museum and National Trust, Plates 22, 83; Merseyside County Museums (Liverpool City Museums), Plate 39; the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, Plates 8, 34, 61, 63, 72, 73, 74, 77, 79, 86a,~86b, 86c, 87b, 90, 95, 96, 99, 100, 101,102, 103,104, 106, 107, 108; National Museum of Wales, Plates 40, 43, 44, 64, 68, 76, 81, 82, 89; Prof. P. A. Rahtz, Plates 57, 58; Reading Museum, Plate 88a; Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Plate 109; Sheffield Museum, Plate 88b; Winchester City Museum, Plate 55. The unattributed photos of coins (Plates 45, 49, 53) were taken from plaster casts of coins in the British Museum by the Liverpool University Joint Faculty Photographic Service, who also took Plate 91. All other unattributed photographs were taken by the author.

XI

IntrOdUCtiOn: Chapter one

The Celts in Europe The story of the Celtic people is one of the most extraordinary in the history of Europe. Celtic traditions have endured despite the impact on European thought and custom of Goths, Huns, Vandals, Romans and several modern empires, yet at no time did the Celts have any sense of national identity. Today the term 'Celts' embraces many peoples with traditions as diverse as those to be found in Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. The Celts have intermingled with most of the populations of western Europe to varying extents, and their legacy includes a host of famous place-names. The great rivers of northern and central Europe, the Rhine, the Danube, the Neckar, the Main, the Thames and many others owe their names to remote Celtic antiquity, and the names of cities such as London and Paris commemorate the presence there of otherwise forgotten Celts. From Celtic workshops have come some of the most magnificent treasures of early Europe - gold and bronze shaped into the vitally vigorous art that borrowed freely from Classical and eastern sources and which yet, like the Celts themselves, retained its peculiar brand of conservatism and individualism. The Celts evolved at a time when written history existed only in the eastern Mediterranean and the Near East. Their culture evolved systadially with the development of iron technology in Europe, and their flourishing was the greatest achievement of the European Iron Age. Eclipsed by the civilization of Rome, they enjoyed a cultural renaissance after the Roman Empire collapsed that was to leave a legacy to the modern world. From their lavish art works to their humble hermits' cells perched on remote rock stacks off the Atlantic coast of Britain and Ireland, from their lyrical, mystical literature to their gruesome pagan religious observances, the Celts always were and remain a paradox. Europe before the Celts

Until about the thirteenth century BC, European Bronze Age society had been remarkably static and conservative. European culture had gradually been improving its bronze- and gold-working, and developing warfare. Around 1200 BC,

1

Introduction: The Celts in Europe

2

however, a series of events interrupted the tempo of life in both the Mediterranean world and in mainland Europe. The original cause for the upheavals may have been an exodus of nomads from Russia, who stirred up hitherto static peoples. The Mediterranean teemed with sea-borne war-bands. For a while Egypt was taken over by barbarian rulers, and even as this happened the great Hittite Empire in Anatolia crashed. Mycenae, the hub of the great prehellenic civilization of Greece, tottered and descended into the Greek Dark Ages not much later, and wild Philistines overran Palestine. The collapse of the Hittite empire had wide repercussions, not least among which was the dissemination of the secrets of iron-working, which had for long been a Hittite monopoly. Mainland Europe benefited in three ways from the Mediterranean's misfortune. First, the barbarians learned a new technology making beaten bronze work that could be fashioned into cups and shields. Second, barbarian Europe acquired a taste for wine, and opened the door to possibilities of trade with the Mediterranean whence came the intoxicating juice. Last, but not least, an interplay of ideas between the two areas led to the development of the heavy bronze sword; aggression could never be the same again. The Bronze Age Europeans who chiefly benefited from these innovations were the immediate ancestors of the historical Celts. Archaeology knows them by the uncompromising name of the Urnfielders. They buried their dead in urns in flat cemeteries, and around 1200-700 BC they spread out from their eastern European homeland until their cultural influence was felt in France, Switzerland, Germany and even Italy. The Urnfield peoples probably spoke an early form of Celtic, and they developed many of the characteristics that were later to be associated with the Celts. They were the first builders of real hillforts in Europe (though types of forts had been known in the later Neolithic), and they were the first developed warrior society equipped with fine armour, weapons and shields. They were more successful farmers than their predecessors, perhaps because of the innovations of crop rotation, and their standard of living was higher than any previously seen in Europe. What they did not possess, that later Celtic societies exploited, was iron. In later centuries the Greeks attributed the development of iron technology to two areas. The first was Anatolia, the land of the Hittites. The second region was a land at the edge of the known world, that of the Cimmerians, a little known people from the north of the Caucasus, whose ancestors may have included those who set the Mediterranean in ferment

several centuries previously. It was the movement of these and other nomads into Europe around the eighth century BC that introduced iron-working into Urnfield lands. The Cimmerians swept down into Europe, swarming over the Hungarian plain to the Swiss lakes, and possibly even as far as southern France and Belgium. From them the Urnfield people took up not only ferrous metallurgy but horsemanship as well. From 700 BC onwards characteristic burials can be recognized in Czechoslovakia and the upper Danube in which, typically, the dead were laid on fourwheeled wagons, set within timber mortuary houses. With them on occasion went the draught horses, which from the surviving bones can be seen to have been of Steppe pony type. Europe was gravid with the first great Celtic culture.

Introduction: The Celts in Europe

Hallstatt - the beginnings of Celtic Europe

The first stage of Celtic development is known as the Hallstatt, after a village in the Salzkammergut in Austria where an early cemetery connected with substantial salt mines is typical of its early flowering. Salt, as well as iron, was the currency in which the Hallstatt Celts calculated their wealth and power. Salt mining was not a new industry in central Europe. Places with names reflecting their importance as salt mines in earlier prehistoric times - Halle, Hallein, Hallstatt - were already being exploited before 1000 BC. By the seventh century BC there may have been as many as two dozen centres of salt production, which would have traded not only in the mineral but also in salted meat and fish. The preservative nature of salt has resulted in bodies of miners surviving from the Hallstatt mines, grisly reminders of the hardships of salt mining before the advent of modern technology. Salt and iron provided the wealth, but farming still provided the basis of the Celtic economy. With the new metal tools, forests could be cleared quickly and crops harvested more efficiently. Farming became more productive, the population expanded, and for reasons not properly understood, aggression built up. A social pyramid, capped by chieftains and warriors, was maintained by farming and industry, and as fields were hacked out of the forest the Celts infiltrated new areas, determinedly reaching the English Channel and then crossing to Britain. Meanwhile, as the Hallstatt chiefs grew prosperous on the proceeds of industry and improved farming, a new market offered exciting possibilities. The Greek world, emerging from its 'dark' centuries, was expanding its territories and establishing outposts on the far bounds of the Mediter-

3

Introduction: The Celts in Europe

4

ranean. By the sixth century BC, Greeks from Phocaea on the Adriatic had set up a settlement at Massilia (Marseilles) in what was to become southern France, and here cultivated the first vineyards that Provence was to know. Thence a riverine trade route was pioneered along the Rhone to south-west Germany. By the sixth century BC the centre of Hallstatt power had thus moved from the upper Danube, upper Austria and Czechoslovakia, to the upper Rhine, south-west Germany, Switzerland and Burgundy, and these new areas soon began to benefit from the luxuries that the Greek traders had to offer. Richly painted Attic cups, bronze drinking vessels and the wine to fill them, were transported north to grace Celtic feasts in return for salt products, iron, and possibly slaves. One of the beneficiaries of this enterprise was the socalled Princess of Vix, a lady of about thirty whose corpse was buried with all ceremony on a bier made out of the bodywork of a wagon (the wheels had been detached and set against the wall of the burial chamber), some time around the middle of the sixth century BC. Among her treasures were not only the familiar Greek cups and other drinking vessels but, more significantly, a huge bronze krater or mixing bowl for wine. This stands over 1.5 m high, and is without doubt one of the most distinguished treasures of archaic Greek art ever to survive. No such object has remained intact in its homeland. It was the art manifest in this and similarly exotic imports that stimulated the Celts into the creation of new and invigorating artistic expressions. Under Greek and barbarian stimulus the arts of peace and war developed. Tools were improved and potters and metalworkers became more accomplished. Hillforts began to proliferate, and one notable example in southern Germany, known as the Heuneburg, was embellished with mud-brick bastions on stone foundations in imitation of the Greek, though no engine of war could ever have stood on their fighting platforms. Weapons and armour were continually refined under stimulus from the Mediterranean. In 540 BC trouble flared up. The Phocaean Greeks came into conflict with the Carthaginians, and fought for western Mediterranean supremacy in a sea battle at Alalia, off the coast of Italy. Since the Carthaginians won, and blockaded Greek trade, the standards afforded by Greek contact were temporarily lost. When trade relationships were reestablished half a century later, major changes had affected the Celtic world. Once more the centre of power had altered, and a more advanced Celtic culture was evolving, centred on the middle Rhone and Marne.

La Tene - Celtic culture at its zenith The new phase in Celtic culture is known in archaeological terminology as La Tene, and is named after a site on Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland. La Tene (literally 'the shallows') was part of the lake deemed particularly appropriate to receive offerings thrown in by pious Celts to please the gods. These provided antiquaries with a range of Celtic objects unparalleled elsewhere in Europe when they were found in excavation in 1906-17. Finds included a mass of iron swords and other weapons, everyday ironwork, woodwork (including a complete wheel) and the remains of human skeletons. The La Tene Celts are distinguishable by a change in burial rite. Instead of a rustic wagon burial, the elite were honoured by interment on a more elegant two-wheeled chariot, accompanied as before by weapons and armour and the requisites of an after-life feast. No influential strangers need be sought to explain the new burial rite; it reflects rather an increased achievement on the part of the La Tene warriors. Wagons are the vehicles of fighting farmers, chariots of fighters who are maintained by farms. The prototypes probably came from eastern Europe, but the Celtic chariots found in graves of the fifth century BC are distinctive, the outcome of skilled collaboration between carpenters, wheelwrights and blacksmiths, and they are in all ways superior to their nearest wheeled rivals in Europe. Once again the supply of Mediterranean imports facilitated Celtic trade. This time the main routes crossed the Alps into central Europe and southwards into France. The imports came not from the Greek but the Italic world, for civilization too was developing and the focus moving inexorably towards first Etruria and then Rome. The Celts in history From the fifth century BC the La Tene Celts began to figure in the writings of Classical authors. They swagger across the last stages of European prehistory and into the first pages of history, flamboyant and brilliant. Their technology was for the most part equal to that of their civilized Greek and Roman contemporaries, and in some respects was its superior. Drunken, boastful and disorganized they may have been, but they were fearless and dynamic and the desire for territorial expansion was strong within them. Soon the La Tene Celts had extended their influence over the areas formerly occupied by their Urnfield and Hallstatt predecessors, and then they touched civilization itself. Hecataeus and Herodotos are two of the first writers to

Introduction: The Celts in Europe

5

n

Roman territorial names

Lti Tene raids and influence

La Tenc culture additional to areas aJready occupied by Hallsiatt Cells

HaJlstatt

Earliest LaTene

Lines of Scyihian aitnck

j Scylhinn occupied areas

^T HaNstau culture 7:h-5th cen:. BC

ETRURtA

£

Map 1 Oltic Europe in the Iron Age

mention the Celts, and from this point on it is possible to Introduction: chronicle Celtic expansion from the viewpoint of the The Celts in Europe Classical world as well as from archaeology. The first civilized victims of Celtic expansion were the northern Etruscans in Italy, who in the fifth century BC witnessed their towns sacked by Celts from eastern France, Germany and Switzerland. Eager for plunder the barbarians streamed into the Po valley, and here they subsequently settled. For the first time Celtic peoples have historical names - Insubres settled around Milan, Boii, Lingones and Senones in Lombardy. Groups of Celtic warriors ventured even further south, to Apulia and the shores of Sicily. In 387 the Roman legions were overcome by Celtic might at the battle of the Allia and Rome, which had been founded as a little Etruscan village in the sixth century BC, was sacked. Under the leadership of Brennus (one of the many Celtic leaders of this name mentioned by Classical writers) they rampaged in the Eternal City on a scale not to be witnessed again until the visitation of Alaric the Goth in the fifth century AD. The triumphant Brennus demanded his weight in gold, throwing his sword on to the scales on his side with the contemptuous words 'Vae Victis!' - 'Woe to the Defeated!' Brennus was out for loot, not for conquest, and left Rome to reorganize her defences, while the towns of southern Italy panicked in the face of the barbarian onslaught. One Celtic chief was buried in Canusium (in Southern Italy), in a grave reserved for the local ruling family. The Celts remained a force to be reckoned with in Italy until 295 BC, when the tables were turned and they were thoroughly beaten by the Romans. Gradually they were pushed further north until at last at the battle of Telamon in 225 BC the Roman army marched, triumphant, into northern Italy. By the time of the dictator Sulla in 82 BC northern Italy was established as the province of Cisalpine Gaul, and the long Celtic summer was at an end. Italy was but one target for Celtic plundering. During the fourth century BC the Celts raided the Carpathians Alexander the Great received envoys from the Celts of the Danube - and soon after, raids were reported in Bulgaria and Macedon. The Celts were unbeatable in the Balkans. In 279 BC they devastated Macedonia, which only half a century previously had been the hub of the greatest empire the ancient world had known, and under Akichorius and another Brennus penetrated Thessaly. At Thermopylae they met the Athenians just as the Persians had done over two centuries before. Their advance was not halted, and the

7

Introduction: The Celts in Europe

8

warlike Volcae i eetosages pillaged Delphi, the sacred shrine o< \pollo and the Pythoness. The booty was carried off and r - - ; H - ' . = d u p i n Toulouse. 1 hese encounters with civilization gave impetus to Celtic opportunism with a new idea for profit - Celts now hired themselves out as mercenaries to any Hellenistic princeling who could afford their price. Celtic soldiers became Commonplace in Greek armies. In 265 BC a division of Celts m u t i n i e d at Megara because the pay was unsatisfactory. King \ikomedes of Bythinia (now in Turkey) invited 20,000 Ce! ts in to Asia Minor, but the plan went awry, for these Celts imposed a rule of terror on the Greek cities. In 270 Celts were given territory near Ankara. This became the kingdom of Galatia (the name is the same as that of Gaul), which was to survive into Christian times. St Paul addressed a letter to the G .3 Lilians - in his time the inhabitants still spoke a recognizable Celtic as well as Greek. This has proved to be a lost kingdom, for, apart from a couple of brooches of Celtic type believed to have been found in Galatia that turned up in a Turkish a n t i q u e shop, few remains of these Celts have been tound. Celtic terrorism in the eastern Mediterranean came to an end around 244 BC, when they were defeated first by Antigonas Gonatas in Macedon and then by Attalos of Pergnmon in Turkey. Their fall is chronicled in one of the h'nest series of Hellenistic sculptures to have survived the ravages of time, the Pergamene Reliefs. Of these the most famous is the 'Dying Gaul' (actually a Galatian) now admired by visitors to the Capitoline Museum in Rome. The Pergamene school of sculpture is characterized by the first real attempts at naturalism, and subsequently led the Greek world in sculpture. iToiVi the third century BC onwards the Celtic world began it* s h r i n k . In the second century Celts and Romans alike felt the scourge of another group of barbarians, Germans from north Jutland known as Cimbri, who joined forces with the Celtic Teutones and harried Celtic lands. Twice repulsed by the Romans, in 107 and 105 BC, they bore down on the Italian peninsula. In 102 the Roman general Marius defeated them, and an uneasy peace ensued. During the first half of the first century BC the Romans began their implacable encroachment on Celtic realms. By 58 BC there had been a series of political crises in Gaul, arising from the collapse of old kingdoms and the emergence of new tribal groups. This time of upheaval provided J u l i u s Caesar with the opportunity for the conquest of Gaul. Some Celtic tribes were prepared to ally with him, and with

their help he subdued the Helvetii (in what is now Swit/er- Introduction: land) and pushed the Germans under Ariovistus bad The Celts in Europe across the Rhine. The Gallic tribes allied under the *-.. rf^v-;

rj&m* f ?-^;'-;r^

*f%/$&

178

Dark Ages that it has more than once been claimed as a tenth-century work. This 'new Celtic art', if it can so be called, persisted during the seventeenth century (when complex interlace was used to ornament powder horns) and into the eighteenth century. The tradition petered out for a short time, but Queen Victoria's tour of the Highlands and her interest with all things Scottish brought about a Celtic revival. This time craftsmen turned their attentions to imitating old designs, rather than the creation of new. On some objects old patterns were copied, while others used famous works as a starting point for totally new interpretations. Compare the brooch illustrated with the Hunterston Brooch that it imitates. The animal ornament has been replaced with foliage scrolls of the type beloved of the Victorians, and giant polished pebbles and citrines are a travesty of the delicate inlays on the original. Such 'Celtic' jewellery is still made today, all too often inspired by Norse rather than Celtic imagery. It is not a traditional craft but a conscious revival, geared entirely to a tourist market. By looking at art and literature, then, it is possible to say

108 The Victorian taste for all things Scottish, fostered by Sir Walter Scott and later Queen Victoria, led to a spate of 'Celtic crafts' which have been produced ever since. This brooch is modelled on the Hunterston brooch (Plate 90) but bears little real resemblance to it

that something of the Celtic traditions survived the Middle Ages, though much of what is claimed as 'Celtic' is a deliberate imitation inspired by an imperfect understanding of the original. This of course extends to other 'Celtic' traditions. The Welsh National Eisteddfod is a creation of the nineteenth century, and the 'druids' who preside are an antiquarian's fancy, as far removed from historical accuracy as the cartoonist's dinosaur-hunting caveman; the druid presiding over the 1977 Eisteddfod at Wrexham wore as his insignia a copy of a Bronze Age gold necklet, which had been fashioned centuries before there were druids. Not only does it belong to another age, but to another land, for it is a replica of an Irish object, the like of which has never been found in Welsh soil. Before we smile at this image of the Celtic past, we could do worse than look at another, provided by the Scottish painter William Hole (1845-1917), to be found adorning the wall of the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh. Here depicted is the conversion of Bridei of the Picts by the Irish cleric Columba. The gentle saint has become a symbol of the missionary spirit of the nineteenth

179

109 The Victorian vision of the Celtic past is epitomised by this wall painting in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (the same building as the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland). Painted by William Hole (1846-1917), it depicts the Mission of St Columba to the Picts. The Picts are in possession of an assortment of antiquities, mostly Bronze Age and not all British

180

century. He is a Victorian, preaching to a group of African villagers his own brand of uncompromising faith. Bridei is broody, but behind him stands his wife, a Victorian matriarch, unwilling to take any nonsense from either her husband or Columba. Bridei wears an armlet of Caledonian type made perhaps in the second century; his cloak is fastened by the eighth-century Hunterston Brooch, or a version of it, he wears a helmet of a type fashionable among the Villanovans of Italy in the Iron Age, perhaps in the eighth century BC, and he sits on a block carved with ninthcentury interlace. Across his knees lies his sword. The scabbard is perhaps Iron Age English, the sword hilt itself looks more medieval. In the foreground sits a warrior with a Bronze Age shield; he and another warrior carry spears of different Bronze Age dates. One of Columba's followers carries a type of crozier fashionable in Ireland around AD 1100, and all are set in a rocky scene taken straight from an eighteenth-century antiquary's druid scrapbook. Yet, at first glance, there is nothing in this picture that jars on the eye. It evokes to the twentieth-century mind almost as faithful an image of the Celt as he is thought of as it did for the

nineteenth-century. So tied up with our own imagery are we that the Celts continue to elude us. They are there and they are not there, like a mask in an Iron Age bronze. Each generation sees in the pattern what it wants, and moves on. The Celts' contribution to Western society lies not in what they achieved, but in the myths to which they gave rise.

Epilogue: Celtic Twilight

181

The Best of Celtic Britain

This gazetteer lists fifty of the very best visible remains of the Celts in Britain, arranged geographically. Site

County

Chysauster Carn Euny Tintagel

Cornwall Cornwall Cornwall

SW473350 SW142283 SX 049891

Hembury Maiden Castle

Devon Dorset

ST112030 SY 669885

Hod Hill

Dorset

ST 856106

Hambledon Hill Badbury Ring South Cadbury

Dorset Somerset Somerset

ST 845126 ST 964030 ST 618246

Ham Hill Wansdyke Scratchbury Yarnbury Beacon Hill Ladle Hill Danebury Quarley Hill Liddington Castle

Somerset Wilts Wilts Wilts Hants Hants Hants Hants Berks

ST 479168 SU 050660 ST 911443 SU 035404 SU 457572 SU 478568 SU 323377 SU 262423 SU 208796

Uffington Castle

Berks

SU 299863

Hollingbury Mount Caburn Trundle Cissbury Chanctonbury Bredon Hill Uley Bury Croft Ambrey Old Oswestry Almondbury Ingleborough Tre'er Ceiri Din Lligwy Margam

Sussex Sussex Sussex Sussex Sussex Glos Glos Hereford Shropshire Yorks Yorks Gwynedd Anglesey Glamorgan

TQ 322078 TQ 444089 SU 877111 TQ 139080 TQ 139121 SO 957402 ST 785989 SO 444668 SJ 295304 SE153141 SD 742746 SH 374447 SH 496862 SS 802862

182

OS Grid Ref

Description Iron Age village of stone huts Similar village, with fogoit Dark Age settlement or monastery Iron Age hillfort Finest Iron Age hillfort in Britain Iron Age hillfort, with Roman fort inside it Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Major Iron Age hillfort with Dark Age occupation Iron Age hillfort Linear earthwork, Dark Age Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Unfinished Iron Age fort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age fort, with Dark Age occupation Iron Age hiilfort and White Horse Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Iron Age hillfort Stone hut group, Iron Age Collection of Dark Age sculptured stones

The Best of Celtic Britain Site Carew Aberlemno Finavon St Vigeans

County Pembs Angus Angus Angus

OS Grid Kef SN 046036 NO 522557 NO 506556 NO 639429

The Caterthuns

Angus

Meigle

Perths

NO 555668 and NO 548660 NN 287446

Sueno's Stone

Moray

Dunadd lona Dun Carloway Glenelg

Argyll Argyll Lewis Inverness

Dundornadilla Aikerness

Sutherland Orkney

NR 837936 NM 284243 NB 190413 NG 829172 and NG 834172 NH 455449 HY 383268

Midhowe

Orkney

HY 371308

Mousa Clickhimin

Shetland Shetland

HU 457237 HU 464408

Jarlshof

Shetland

HU 398096

NJ 047595

Description Free-standing Dark Age cross Pictish sculptured stones Iron Age vitrified fort Collection of Pictish sculpture Two adjacent hillforts, Iron Age Collection of Pictish sculptures Richly decorated late Pictish slab Dark Age fort Monastic site Iron Age broch Iron Age brochs, Dun Telve and Dun Troddan Iron Age broch Iron Age broch and post-broch settlement Iron Age broch and postbroch settlement Finest broch in Britain Multi-phase Iron Age settlement with broch Multi-phase Iron Age settlement, with broch and wheelhouses

183

Further Reading

General

Many books have been written about the Celts, many of them perpetuating old myths rather than clarifying them. Although very inadequate in its treatment of the archaeological evidence, M. Dillon and N. Chaciwick, The Celtic Realms (2nd edn, London, 1972) is one of the best, and is particularly illuminating on literature and secular institutions. For the prehistoric background of the Continental Celts, although again out of date, S. Piggott, Ancient Europe (Edinburgh, 1965) and S. Piggott and G. Clark, Prehistoric Societies (London, 1965) are the best introductions. The best book on the Continental Celts from an archaeological standpoint is J. Filip, Celtic Civilization and its Heritage (Prague, 1962), though its comments on Britain are very outdated and inaccurate. More reliable, but again not very detailed in its treatment of archaeology, is T. G. E. Powell, The Celts (London, 1958) which is well illustrated. J. Raftery (ed.), The Celts (Cork, 1964), is a useful paperback and very readable - it was originally a series of radio broadcasts.

Iron Age

184

The reader is very fortunate in now having two excellent texts on the archaeology of Iron Age Britain. B. W. Cunliffe, Iron Age Communities in Britain (2nd edn, London, 1978) is the most exhaustive, since it covers the whole of Britain and all aspects of archaeology. D. W. Harding, The Iron Age in Lowland Britain (London, 1974) is geographically more restricted and tends to concentrate on particular topics - it is, however, easier to read. Celtic art is dealt with in a series of books. The standard work on Continental Celtic art is P. Jacobsthal, Early Celtic Art (2 vols, Oxford, 1944), and its companion study on British Celtic art, P. Jacobsthal and E. M. Jope, Early Celtic Art in Britain (Oxford, 1977). J. V. S. Megaw, Art of the European Iron Age (Bath, 1972), provides a series of plates of British and Contintental art with excellent notes and introduction. A similar series of notes on particular pieces can be found in S. Piggott, Early Celtic Art (Edinburgh, 1970, Arts Council Exhibition catalogue). The standard historical survey of Celtic art in Britain is C. Fox, Pattern and Purpose (Cardiff, 1958), though some of Fox's 'Schools' are not now generally maintained. For Brigantian and other northern art, M. Macgregor, Early Celtic Art in North Britain (Leicester, 1976) is a fundamental source. From a wider standpoint, T. G. E. Powell, Prehistoric Art (London, 1966) sets Celtic art in its European context. I. Finlay's Celtic Art (London, 1973) deals with not just prehistoric but with Dark Age Celtic art, and is therefore quite a useful introduction. Celtic religion is well served by A. Ross, Pagan Celtic Britain (London, 1967), which deals with Romano-British as well as Iron Age Celtic cults. S. Piggott, The Druids (London, 1968) is the best modern

survey of that subject, though T. Kendrick, The Druids: A Study in Celtic Prehistory (London, 1927, and New York, 1966) remains a classic. Celtic society is dealt with in M. Dillon, Early Irish Society (Dublin, 1954, and later reprints), which again being a series of radio talks is very readable. So too is K. H. Jackson, The Oldest Irish Tradition: a Window on the Iron Age (Cambridge, 1964), which was a lecture on Irish literature as a key to Iron Age society. Of the more specialist literature, three collections of studies of regional Iron Age problems are all useful. All are papers given to conferences organized by the Council for British Archaeology. They are: S. Frere, Problems of the Iron Age in Southern Britain (London, 1961), A. L. F. Rivet (ed.), The Iron Age in Northern Britain (Edinburgh, 1966) and A. C. Thomas (ed.), The Iron Age in the Irish Sea Province (London, 1972). Collections of papers on hillforts and their problems are to be found in M. Jesson and D. Hill (eds), The Iron Age and its Hill-forts (Southampton, 1971) and D. W. Harding (ed.), Hillforts; a Survey of Research in Britain and Ireland (London, 1977). Oppida, both British and Continental, are dealt with in B. W. Cunliffe and T. Rowley Oppida in Barbarian Europe (Oxford, 1976). Of individual short studies, one is worth singling out. This is B. W. Cunliffe and T. Rowley, Oppida in Barbarian Europe (Oxford, a New Outline (London, 1974), pp. 233-62, which can be read in conjunction with the preceding article on the Bronze Age by C. Burgess.

Further Reading

The Roman Iron Age

Books on the Roman Iron Age have not been written. The north, however, is dealt with in the now old-fashioned I. A. Richmond, Roman and Native in North Britain (London, 1958), and various problems are dealt with in A. C. Thomas (ed.), Rural Settlement in Roman Britain (London, 1966). For the Roman period generally the standard survey is S. Frere, Britannia (London, 1964).

Post-Roman

Only one general survey covers the whole period and the whole of Britain from an archaeological standpoint: L. Laing, The Archaeology of Late Celtic Britain and Ireland, cAOO-1200 AD (London, 1975). For the period down to AD 634, however, L. Alcock, Arthur's Britain (London, 1971) is first-rate, and deals with Saxons as well as Celts. For a detailed study of the history of this period, J. Morris, The Age of Arthur (London, 1973) is very stimulating, though alas extremely unreliable in places in its interpretation. Its eccentricities, however, should not be allowed to discourage people from reading it. More reliable historically, but not otherwise, is N. K. Chad wick's Celtic Britain (London, 1963). For the history of Scotland in the period the best survey is still H. M. Chadwick, Early Scotland (Cambridge, 1949), while for Wales the best survey is still J. Lloyd, A History of Wales (London, 1939). On particular topics, the Picts are covered in F. T. Wainwright, The Problem of the Picts (London, 1955) and in I. Henderson, The Picts (London, 1964), which is lavishly illustrated, and has a particularly useful survey of Pictish history. A charming introduction to the Church in Celtic lands is provided

185

Further Reading

by N. K. Chadwick, The Age of the Saints in the Early Celtic Church (2nd edn, Oxford, 1963), while the archaeology of the Church is dealt with more prosaically by A. C. Thomas, The Early Christian Archaeology of North Britain (Oxford, 1971). Those interested in Arthurian problems should read G. Ashe (ed.), The Quest for Arthur's Britain (London, 1968), and they will also find L. Alcock, 'By South Cadbury is that Camelot . . .' (London, 1972), which is an account of his excavations on the site of South Cadbury, fascinating reading.

Celtic survival

There are no books on the Celts after the arrival of the Normans in Celtic lands. L. Laing (ed.), Studies in Celtic Survival (Oxford, 1977), may, however, be found useful as a collection of studies on various regions and topics.

186

Index

A Aberdaron (Gwynedd), pi. 82 Abernethy round tower, pi. 84 Adamnan, 141 adzes, 46 Aedan mac Gabran, 141 Aedan of Dalriada, 139 Aeron, 138 aes danaf 20

Aethelfrith of Bernicia, 138 Agricola, 107 Alaric the Visigoth, 7,110 Alclud, 137 Alexander the Great, 7 All Cannings Cross (Wilts), 46, 49, pi. 17 Ambrosius Aurelianus, 127-9 Anatolia, 2 Anglo-Saxons, 126-31 anklets, 48 antler, 43 apparel, 23-30 archery, 28 armlets, 48, 69 armour, 23-30 army, Roman, 108 Arras culture (Yorks), 10 art, 66-79,103-4,157-71 Arthur, King of the Britons, 124, 127,172-6 Atrebates (tribe), 93, 95,101 Attacotti, 109 Augustus, Emperor, 9, 98, pi. 52 Aust-on-Severn (Glos), pi. 19 axes, 46 Aylesford (Kent), 14-15; bucket, 24, pi. 1 B

barley, 37 basket-making, 41 Basse-Yutz flagons, 66-8, pi. 33 Battersea shield, 24, pi. 3 bean, 37 beaver, 39 Bede,121,122 Belgae, 10-12, 50, 55, 56, 89ff Beltane, 41

Birdlip (Glos), 36, 73, pi. 37

bits, 31 Book of Durrow, 167 Book of Kells, 168-9 Bosham (Sussex), 101 Boudicca, queen of the Iceni, 31, 39,105 bracelets, 48 braids, 44 Breadalbane brooch, pi. 93 Brennus, 7 Bridei mac Maelcon of the Picts, 141 bridle-bits, 46 Britons, 137-9 broch of Gurness (Orkney), pi. 32 broch of Midhowe (Orkney), pi. 30 broch of Mousa (Shetland), pi. 29 brochs, 63-6,116, pis 29, 30, 31, 32 bronze-working, 1, 2; see also metalwork brooches, 35-6, 47, 52, 69, 70 bubonic plague, 123,144 bucket, 15, 51 Bugthorpe (Yorks), 72, pi. 36 Bulleid, Arthur, 41, 42 burials, 5,10,14 Buston (Ayrshire), pi. 72 Butser(Hants),pl.26

c Cadbury Congresbury (Somerset), pi. 57 Cadfan, king, 125,134 Cadwallon, king, 134 Caer Gybi (Anglesey), 156 Caer Mynydd (Gwynedd), 116 Caesar, Gaius Julius, 8-9,10,12, 14,17,18,19, 22, 36, 39, 45, 50, 57, 58, 92, 93-5, 99 Cairnpapple Hill (W. Lothian), 85 Caledonians, 109 Camden, William, 121,126 Camlann, battle of, 128 Canusium, 7 Capel Garmon (Denbigh), 74, pi. 40 Caratacus, 105,106 Carausius, 108

Carham, battle of, 139 Cam Euny (Cornwall), 59,116, pi. 25 Carrawburgh (Northumberland), 82 Carthaginians, 4 Cartimandua, queen, 106 Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni, 89, 94 cattle, 38-9 Catuvellauni, 94, 100 cauldron chain, 46, 75 Cerrig-y-Drudion (N. Wales), 52, 68,69 chapes, 28 chariots, 5, 31-2 chess, 37 Chester (Cheshire), 113 Childe, Professor V.G., 55 chisels, 46 Chun Castle (Cornwall), pi. 60 church, 151-7 Chysauster (Cornwall), 59,116, pi. 24 Cimbri, 8 Cimmerians, 2-3 Claudius, emperor, 50, 94,105 Clevedon (Somerset), 35 Clickhimin (Shetland), 62-3, pis 31,28 club wheat, 37 Coel Hen, 137 Cogidubnus, king of the Atrebates, 101-2 coins, 31,51,92,97-100, pis 7,45, 53,79 Colchester (Essex), 50, 58, pi. 18 Commius of the Atrebates, 89,93, 94, 95, 99,100 Concenn, king of Powys, 120 Constantine III, 110 Corinium Dobunnorum, 102 corn, 40 Corpus Christi Gospel Book, 167 crafts, 41-4 crannogs, 116 Credenhill, 57 CrickleyHill(Glos),57,60 Croft Ambrey, 57 Cruithni, 109 Cuchullain, 22 Cunedda, 132,133

Cunobelin, king of Catuvellauni, 19,21,58,89,94,99,105 cups, 42 Cuthbert, St, 125 Cuthred of Wessex, 142

D Dagenham (Essex), pi. 47 daggers, 28, 46, 78 Dalriada, 139,143 Danebury (Hants), 57, 83 Datchet (Berks), 28, 72, pi. 6 Degsastan, battle of, 139, 141 Delphi, 8 derbpne, 20 Desborough (Northants), 73, pi. 38 Deskford (Banff), 31 dice, 43-4 Dinas Emrys (Gwynedd), 146, pi. 59

Dinas Powys (Glam), 145 Din Lligwy (Anglesey), 115, pi. 62 Diodorus Siculus, 21, 50 Divitiacus, 19, 92 Dobunni tribe, 95 dogs, 39 door, 42 Dream ofMaxen Wledig, 132 drinking horns, 31 'Drosten' Stone, pi. 69 druids, 79ff, 93,106,154 Dunadd (Argyll), 143,150, pi. 70 Dun Croc a Comblach (N. Uist), 41 Duncrub (Perths), 107 Dunstan, St, 173 Durotriges tribe, 29 Dyrham, battle of, 129

E eagles, 39 Edwin of Northumbria, 134 Eglinton Casket, 177, pi. 106 Egypt, 2 elk, 39 Elmet, 134 Elmswell mount, pi. 54 Eppillus, king of the Atrebates, 31,99 escutcheons, 15 Etruscans, 7 Evans, Sir Arthur, 14, pi. 16 Evans, Sir John, 14

F family unit, 20

farming, 3, 36-41,145-6 Felmershanvon-Ouse (Beds), 75 ferrules, 46 festivals, 40-1 fields, 37-8 Finavon (Angus), pi. 21 firedogs, 46, 74, pi. 40 Fishbourne (Sussex), 101 flour, 40 flute, 44 fogous, 59-60 forts, Roman, 109,116,131-2 fowl, 39 Fox, Sir Cyril, 75 Franks, 123 Frilford (Berks), 88 furnaces, 46 Fyfield Down (Wilts), pi. 12

Heptarchy, 131 Herodotos, 5 Hesiod, 17 hillforts, 2, 4,19, 52-60,101,106, 111,112,114, pis 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 Hittite Empire, 2 Hod Hill (Dorset), 88 Hollingbury (Sussex), 54 Homer, 18' Honorius, Emperor, 110 Horsa, 120 horsemen, 30-2, pi. 7 Hounslow boar, 76, pi. 42 houses, 42, 116 Huckhoe (Northumberland), 116 Hunsbury (Northants), 49 Hunterston Brooch, 162, pi. 90 Hywel Dda, 136

G

Gabran of the Scots, 141 Gaelic, 139-40 gaming board, 43 Garn Boduan (Gwynedd), 58 Gaulcross hoard (Banff), 169 geese, 39 Germanicus, 101 Gildas, 121,122,124,126,129 Giraldus Cambrensis, 21 Glastonbury (Somerset), 41-3, 48,172-4 Gododdin, 138 Golspie (Sutherland), pi. 101 gouges, 46 grain, 40 gravers, 47 graveyards, 152-4 Gray, H. St George, ,42 Great Chesterford (Essex), 36, 75 Greenhithe (Kent), 86 Gussage All Saints (Dorset), 45, 46 Gwithian (Cornwall), 38,116,146 H

Hadrian's Wall, 107, 109 Hallstatt culture, 3,4, 5 hammers, 46 hanging bowls, 161 hares, 39 Harlow (Essex), 79 Harpenden (Essex), 75 Hatfield Chase, 134 head cult, 81-3 Heathrow (Middlesex), 87 Hecataeus, 5 helmet, pi. 2 Hengist, 120 Hengistbury Head (Dorset), 52

I

Imbolc, 41 imports, 50-2 Ingoldmells (Lines), 47 ingots, 45 invasion hypothesis, 14 Invergowrie (Angus), 151 Ipswich (Suffolk), 47; tores, 33 Irish, 108-9 Ivinghoe Beacon (Bucks), 53, 56 J

Jarlshof (Shetland), 62, pi. 27 jewellery, 32-6, 48; see also metalwork Jutes, 123 K

Kenneth mac Alpin of Dalriada, 142 Kestor (Devon), 46 kingship, 21 knives, 39, 46 krater, 4

L ladder, 42 ladle, 42 La Tene culture, 5,10, 28, 67 Latinus Stone, pi. 80 leisure, 41-4 Lexden (Essex), 97, pis 51, 52 Liddington Castle (Berks), pi. 58 literacy, 58,115 Little Woodbury (Wilts), 60, 61

Llangian (Gwynedd), pi. 67 Llyn Cerrig Bach (Anglesey), 1920, 32, 46, 78-9, 106, pi. 44 Llyn Fawr (Glam), 28 Lochlees (Ayrshire), 116 looms, 40 Louis XIV, king of France, 21 Lugnasad, 41 Lydney(GIos), 112 lynchets, 38 lynch-pins, 46

Newnham Croft (Cambs), 69 Newstead (Roxburghshire), 26 Niall of the Nine Hostages, 109 Ninian, 151 Nodens, 112 Nome's Law (Fife), 169, pis 87, 102 North Creake (Norfolk), 34 North Grimston (Yorks), 27

M

Oengus mac Fergus, king of the Picts, 141 Offa's Dyke, 135 Oldcroft(Glos), pi. 87 oppidum, 58 Oswin of Northumbria, 139 Overton Down (Wilts), 38

Mabinogion, 83 Maelgwn of Gwynedd, 133 Magnus Maximus, 110,120, 132, 133 Maiden Castle (Dorset), 56-7, 112, pi. 22 Malcolm II, king of Scotland, 139 mallet, 42 Mandubracius of the Trinovantes, 94 Maponus, 84 Marcus Aurelius, Emperor, 108 Marlborough (Wilts), 15 Mayer Mirror, 72-3 Meare (Somerset), 41-3, 48 Mecklin Park (Cumberland), 85 Megaw, Professor]. V. S., 74 Meigle (Perths), No. 2 cross-slab, pi; 98 Mercia, 131 metalworking, 44-8, 146-7, 164, 169-70 Middleton Moor (Derby), 161 Midsummer Hill, 57 Milber (Devon), 75 Milton Loch (Kirkcudbright), 116 mining, 45-6 Minster Ditch (Oxford), 28 mints, 58 mirrors, 72-3 monasteries, 151-4 Mons Badonicus, battle of, 127-8 Monymusk Reliquary, pi. 100 Mote of Mark (Kirkcudbright), 145,164, pis 71, 91

O

p Palestine, 2 Pant-y-Saer (Anglesey), 116, pi. 89 Patrick, St, 151 pelican, 39 Penda of Mercia, 134-5 pendants, 48 Pen Llystyn (N. Wales), 112 Penmachno (Gwynedd), pi. 81 Philistines, 2 Pictish symbols, 166-8 Picts, 139,140-2,150, pis 78, 79 pigs, 39, pi. 13 Pillar of Eliseg (Denbigh), 119-21, pi. 64 pits, storage, 40 Pitt-Rivers, General, 42 Pliny, 86 plough, 38 Polden Hill (Somerset), 31,103 pony cap, 31, 69 Porthmeor (Cornwall), 116 Poseidonius, 18, 21 pottery, 44, 48-50, 95-6,108,1478, pis 16,17, 18,75, 76,77 Poundbury (Dorset), 54 Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, 106 Purbeck (Dorset), 47

N

Nant Cader (Merioneth), 76 Nechtan mac Derelei of the Picts, 141, 155 Nechtansmere (Angus), 141 Needwood Forest (Staffs), 35; tore, pi. 10 Nennius, 121, 122 Netherby (Cumbria), pi. 46 Netherurd (Peebles), 35

Q querns, 40

R reaping hooks, 46 reindeer, 39

religion, 79-89 Restenneth (Angus), 155 Rheged,138 Rhodri Mawr, 135 Ribchester (Lanes), 26 Richborough (Kent), 105 Rigveda, 18 Riskbuie (Colonsay), pi. 95 ritual pits, 86 Rogart (Sutherland), pi. 104 Roos Carr figures, 89, pi. 48 Rousseau, J.-J., 17

s St John's Cross (lona), pi. 94 St Ninian's Isle (Shetland), 157-9, 171, pi. 86 St Ninian's Point (Bute), 153 Salmonsbury (Glos), pi. 15 salt, 3, 47 Samain, 40 Santon Downham (Norfolk), 31 saws, 46 Saxons, 123 Saxon Shore, 108 scabbard, 72, pi. 36 scabbard mount, 26, pi. 4 Scots, 139-40 Scott, Sir Walter, 31, pi. 8 Scottish kingdoms, 136-42 scribers, 47 Sedgeford (Norfolk), 34 shale, 47-8 Shapwick Heath (Somerset), 74 shears, 46 sheath, 27 shield, 24 shrines, see religion sickles, 39, 46 Silchester (Hants), 154, pi. 88 Silkstead (Hants), 103, pi. 55 silverware, 96-7 sledges, 39 slings, 28-30 Snailwell (Cambs), 35 Snettisham hoard, 34-5 Snettisham tores, 33, 34, pi. 11 society, structure of, 19-23 South Barrule (Isle of Man), pi. 22 South Cadbury (Somerset), 47, 87 spindle whorls, 40 Spooyt Vane (Isle of Man), pi. 83 Standlake (Oxon), 26-7, pi. 4 Stanfordbury (Beds), 43, 44 Stanwick (Yorks), 41, pi. 41 Stilicho, 110 stockraising, 38-9 Strabo, 32, 33 Strathclyde, 137 Suetonius Paulinus, 106

Sulla, General, 7 Sutton (Lines), 27 Sutton Hoo (Suffolk), 75 sword, 2, 27-8, 46, pi. 5

T

Tacitus, 81,106,107 Tain Bo Cualnge, 22-3, 44 Taliesin, 133 Tal-y-Llyn (Gwynedd),76, pi. 39 tankard, 74, pi. 39 Tara Brooch, 162 Tarquinius Superbus, 99 Tasciovanus, king of the Catuvellauni, 19,31,98,100 tattoos, 36 tazza, pi. 18 Teignmouth (Devon), 51 Teingrace (Devon), 89 Telamon, battle of, 7 terrets, 46 Teutones, 8 Theodosius, 109,137 Thermopylae, 7 Tincommius of the Atrebates, 98, 99,100 Tintagel (Cornwall), 156, pis 75, 85 Togodubnus, 105,106 tombstones, 131,152, pi. 67 tores, 32-5, 47, pis 9,10,11

190

Torrs horns, 70, pi. 34 towns, Roman, 125 trade, 50-2,116-17, 148-9 Traprain Law (E. Lothian), 58, 114,118,169, pi. 63 Trawsfynydd (Gwynedd), 74, pi. 39 Tre'er Ceiri (Gwynedd), 58,113, pi. 61

U

Uffington Castle (Berks), pi. 20 UrienofRheged, 138 urnfielders, 2-3

V

Veneti tribe, 52 Venutius, 106 Vercingetorix, 9,17 Verica, king of the Atrebates, 31, 99,105 Vespasian, 106 Vikings, 142-3 vitrification, 54-5 Vix, 'princess of', 4 Vortepor, 133 Vortigern, 120,125,126-7

W

Waldalgesheim, 27, 33, 68, 69 Wandlebury (Cambs), 83 Wandsworth shield boss, 71, pi. 35 Wansdyke, pi. 65 warfare, 1, 22-3 . warriors, 21-3, 30,149-51 Waterloo Bridge (London), 23-4, pi. 2 Wat's Dyke, 135 Wayland's Smithy (Berks), 85 weapons, 23-30 weaving, 44 Welby (Lines), 48 Welwvn (Herts), 36, 43, pis 14, 50 Welsh kingdoms, 131-6 West Brandon (Co. Durham), 60 wheel, 31-2; hubs, 42; spokes, 42 wheelhouse, 66 Witham: shield, 24-5; sword, 24 wooden objects, 42 Wookey Hole (Somerset), 44, 82 Worlebury (Somerset), 40 Worth (Kent), 88 Wraxhall (Somerset), 35 Wroxeter (Salop), 104

Y York, 112-13 Youlton (Cornwall), 75