British Potins Abroad: A New Find from Central France and the Iron Age in Southeast England

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Gruel ◽  
Colin Haselgrove
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Research Tool ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Channel Interaction ◽  
Northern France ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Age Studies

One of Barry Cunliffe’s abiding research interests has been in the character of cross-Channel interaction during the Iron Age, a topic that he has pursued and illuminated through a sustained programme of excavations and artefact studies in southern England, northern France, and the Channel Islands. Although the exchanges were undoubtedly two-way—and must also be seen in the context of a longer-term pattern of maritime contacts between Britain and its neighbours across the ocean (cf. Cunliffe 2001)— it remains true that for the late Iron Age, much of the material evidence for relations between Britain and France is in the form of continental imports found in Britain (e.g. Cunliffe 1987), rather than the other way around. We are therefore very pleased here, following a new find of British Iron Age coins in France, to be able to offer Barry a study of a relatively rare example of a group of objects moving in the opposite direction, not least because another of Barry’s contributions over the years has been to ensure that the Celtic Coin Index in Oxford has continued to develop into the unparalleled research tool for Iron Age studies that it represents today. The British exports in question are four Flat-Linear potin coins found in a mid-first-century BC context in ongoing excavations at the hilltop oppidum of Corent, in the Auvergne region of central France, over 600km from their home territory in southeast England (figure 14.1). Coins belonging to this series have been previously recorded from northern France, where there have also been a number of new finds in recent years, but never south of the Loire. We will begin by describing these new discoveries in more detail, starting with Corent, before going on to assess their implications for our understanding of the late Iron Age in southeastern England, which are considerable. In conclusion, we will offer some possible explanations as to why these coins may have been exported to France in the first century BC.

Evidence of Absence? The Rarity of Gold in Durotrigan Iron Age Coinage

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip De Jersey
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Second Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Third Century ◽  
Negative Evidence ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Absence Of Evidence ◽  
Evidence Of Absence ◽  
Age Studies

Generations of archaeologists have done well to remember the truism that ‘absence of evidence is not evidence of absence’. About fifteen years ago I presented Barry Cunliffe with what I regarded as some rather distressingly blank distribution maps of various Iron Age artefacts in northwest France. Far from agreeing with my pessimistic view of the possibility of saying anything very meaningful about such paltry evidence, Barry reminded me of the ‘absence of evidence’ maxim, and encouraged me to think more deeply about the apparent gaps, and to question my assumptions about the usefulness or otherwise of the data—in short, to look more positively at the opportunities for investigating such seemingly negative evidence. It is perhaps a little ironic, then, that in this tribute to Barry’s unrivalled influence on Iron Age studies, I would like to present an example where I am nearly sure that the absence of evidence does indicate evidence of absence. My subject is the lack of a significant gold coinage among the Durotriges of Dorset, in contrast to every other major coin-using polity in late Iron Age Britain. My aim is to demonstrate that this lack of gold coinage is a genuine phenomenon, and not the result of partial or inadequate evidence; and to suggest some reasons why this situation may have arisen. Before focusing more narrowly on Dorset in the mid-first century BC, we need to consider the background to the importation and the production of gold coinage in Britain. Although there were probably very occasional imports of coinage from the time of the earliest ‘Celtic’ imitations, perhaps in the mid-third century BC, the first significant inflows of gold coin did not occur until at least the mid-second century BC. These began with the ‘large flan’ stater and quarter stater (Gallo-Belgic A), probably struck in central and western Belgic Gaul, in the territories later identified with the Ambiani and the Bellovaci. Their distribution in Britain is focused on the Thames estuary, with the majority of findspots in Essex and Kent (Sills 2003: 136, 153). At roughly the same time, the ‘defaced die’ staters and quarter staters (Gallo-Belgic B) were also imported into Britain, perhaps from the territory of the Nervii (Sills 2003: 185–6).

The Origin of Romano-British Glass Bangles: Forgotten Artefacts from the Late Pre-Roman Iron Age

Britannia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 7-52
Author(s):  
Tatiana Ivleva
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
First Century ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Processes

AbstractThis article reviews the emergence and development of Romano-British glass bangles in southern Britain by providing a fresh analysis of finds that also considers recent theoretical and historical advances in interpreting the transition from the late Iron Age to the Roman period. By analysing the emergence of bangles in terms of technological and stylistic transfer, it suggests that the technology used in their production and their visual elements have continental lineage. It also situates bangles amid indigenous developments in bodily adornments in southern Britain before a.d. 43. By reconnecting British bangles with their continental European counterparts and contextualising them within political, social and cultural processes in south-western England during the late pre-Roman Iron Age, the article argues that the emergence of bangles in Britain did not occur in a vacuum after the Claudian invasion in a.d. 43 but formed an integral part of globalising networks of cross-Channel trade and connections with the European mainland in the early first century a.d.

An Unusual Imported Bronze Jug Handle from Late Iron Age Easton, Suffolk

Britannia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 51 ◽  
pp. 336-347
Author(s):  
Ruth Beveridge ◽  
Tom Woolhouse
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Rural Settlement ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Iron Age

ABSTRACTDeveloper-funded excavation in Easton, Suffolk, investigated part of a long-lived Iron Age settlement and Roman farmstead. One late Iron Age pit contained an unusual bronze handle, most likely from a jug, the form of which appears to be unique in Britain. The closest parallels are products of Italian workshops in the late first century b.c. This paper describes the likely form of the vessel and discusses the significance of its presence at a rural settlement on the ‘border’ of the Iceni and Trinovantes/Catuvellauni.

Revisiting Iron Age Ethnicity

2013 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 116-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Fernández-Götz
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Human Sciences ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Complex Relationships ◽  
Age Studies ◽  
Analytical Frameworks

The possibility of exploring ethnic identities in past societies constitutes one of the most controversial fields of archaeological research. However, the reassessment of the conceptualization of ethnicity in the human sciences and the increasing transference of these theories to archaeological research is helping to develop new analytical frameworks for the study of this problematic subject. From this perspective, the aim of this paper is to attempt a theoretical and methodological approach to the complex relationships between ethnic identity and material remains from the standpoint of Iron Age studies, showing both the possibilities and difficulties of archaeological research on ethnicity. For this period, the incipient availability of written evidence allows the development of new interdisciplinary research strategies. Finally, an introduction to practical work in this field is presented, specifically focusing on two case studies: Ruiz Zapatero and Álvarez-Sanchís' approach to the identity of the Vettones of the central Iberian Peninsula, and the author's own work on the Late Iron Age sanctuaries of the Middle Rhine-Moselle region.

scholarly journals REGES, REGULI, DUCES: SOME REMARKS ON THE INDIVIDUAL AND POWER IN LATE IRON AGE PRE-ROMAN BRITAIN

2020 ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
ANTON BARYSHNIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Comparative Studies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Roman Britain ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Material Sources ◽  
The Individual

The paper considers one of the most significant changes in late pre-Roman Iron Age in Britain—the emergence of individual power, usually labeled as kingship. The modern perception of this sociopolitical phenomenon has been largely determined according to texts from Greek and Roman authors. This paper argues that this image is distorted and says more about the ancient writers than it does about ancient political leaders, their status, or the essence of their power. Avoiding terms like king to prevent a general misunderstanding of the phenomenon is reasonable; nevertheless, coins from so-called dynasties and tribes as well as other material sources show the emergence of individual power from the first century B.C.E. to the first century C.E. This new phenomenon should be analyzed with new (and re-worked) theoretical frameworks. Additionally, comparative studies can play a significant role in exploring the nature of what is referred to as Iron Age kingship in Britain.

The Winchester Hoard: A Find of Unique Iron Age Gold Jewellery from Southern England

2004 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Hill ◽  
Anthony J Spence ◽  
Susan La Niece ◽  
Sally Worrell
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
First Century ◽  
Archaeological Investigation ◽  
North West ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Gold Jewellery ◽  
Scientific Analysis ◽  
Classical Style ◽  
Made In

An unusual group of gold jewellery was discovered by a metal detectorist near Winchester in southern England in 2000. The hoard included two possibly unique massive necklaces made in a clearly classical style, but different from typical classical necklaces and from the torcs and collars of Iron Age Europe. The hoard also contained extremely rare gold versions of types of brooches commonly made in bronze and iron in north-west Europe during the first century BC, the end of the pre-Roman Iron Age. This paper describes these unique objects and the results of an archaeological investigation of their find spot. Detailed scientific analysis of the objects’ technology has proven crucial for interpreting their origins and broader significance. Finally, the broader consequences of the find for interpreting the significant changes that took place in southern Britain in the century before the Roman conquest are discussed.

The A B C of the British Iron Age

Antiquity ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 33 (131) ◽  
pp. 170-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Survey ◽  
Introductory Lecture ◽  
First Time ◽  
Age Studies

This article is something both more and less than the lecture that it represents. The lecture was given in London last December to open the Conference on the Southern British Iron Age which is reported here below by Mr Frere (p. 183). But it had the disadvantage of all introductory lectures to conferences, that they cannot anticipate what the other speakers will be saying later. And in this case, what the others said later was sometimes so new and striking as to leave the introductory lecture rather far behind. Of course, that was the measure of the conference’s success; yet I was gratified to find that what had happened, by the end, was that the others had not so much contradicted as carried further, in their various special fields, much of what was suggested in my more general talk. This surely means—and I think we can be gratified all round—that in the dozen years since the Council for British Archaeology last caused a general survey to be put forward, or the twenty years since Childe was writing in Prehistoric Communities, we have taken our Iron Age studies through a process of expansion, and of revaluation, and yet have emerged still pretty well together.These milestones in their history are worth remembering. Horae Ferales, in which Kemble and Franks first brought our Iron Age metalwork to recognition, appeared in 1863, and John Evans’s Coins of the Ancient Britons in 1864; Arthur Evans’s monograph on the Aylesford cemetery, with both metalwork and pottery shown for the first time in their European setting, in 1890; Canon Greenwell’s on the Yorkshire chariot-burials in 1906.

The Excavation of a Durotrigian Farmstead near Tollard Royal in Cranbourne Chase, Southern England

1969 ◽  
Vol 34 ◽  
pp. 102-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. Wainwright ◽  
R. J. Harrison ◽  
A. M. Evans ◽  
A. Bowman ◽  
P. F. Bird
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
The Other ◽  
Royal Commission ◽  
Public Building ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Southern Sector ◽  
The North ◽  
Historical Monuments ◽  
Large Round ◽  
The Village

The site whose excavation is here recorded is a small kite-shaped enclosure all but obliterated by ploughing. It is situated (ST (179) 942197; 6-inch sheet ST 91 NW) at the southern tip of a spur known as Berwick Down 1 mile north of the village of Tollard Royal on the borders of Wiltshire and Dorset. It is surrounded on its south or downhill side by a semi-circular bank and ditch. The locality has been recently described briefly by H. C. Bowen and P. Fowler whose plan (1966, 46–8, fig. 2) is here reproduced (fig. 2). The other two sites occupying the 16 acres of the spur comprise:(1) An Iron Age settlement to the north consisting of a concentration of unenclosed pits, a large round house demarcated by a pennanular palisade groove and two cross-dykes.(2) A circular enclosure 2½ acres in extent containing Romano-British hut platforms and crossed in its southern sector by a modern fence. To the north of this fence the earthworks have never been ploughed and are in a state of preservation, only too rarely found in southern England. To the south of the fence the downland has been heavily ploughed over a number of years.The earthworks of the kite-shaped enclosure had become so degraded that in 1962 the Ministry of Public Building and Works initiated a trial excavation under the direction of Mr E. Greenfield. With the assistance of Miss V. Russell, Mr Greenfield covered the area with a 10 foot grid of test-holes which were expanded into trenches when required. In 1965 the site was put down to grass and the earthworks planned in the spring by members of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, by which time the bank and ditch of the kite-shaped enclosure were virtually invisible. In August and September of that year the interior of the enclosure was completely stripped by the author on behalf of the Ministry of Public Building and Works.

The Iron Age Mirror Burial at Pegsdon, Shillington, Bedfordshire: An Interim Account

2007 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 109-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gilbert Burleigh ◽  
Vincent Megaw ◽  
Helen Ashworth ◽  
Mansel Spratling
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Copper Alloy ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Southern England ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Preliminary Account ◽  
Single Fragment ◽  
Pottery Sherds ◽  
Calcined Bone

In November 2000 metal detectorists located a decorated copper-alloy mirror, a single silverKnotenfibelbrooch and some pottery sherds at Pegsdon, Shillington, Bedfordshire. Subsequent excavation of the findspot uncovered a Late Iron Age cremation burial pit associated with further pot sherds and a single fragment of calcined bone. The opportunity is taken in this preliminary account to revisit both the occurrence in southern England of the brooch type and to discuss the mirror's decoration in relation to the variation of views as to the British mirror series as a whole, and in particular with regard to other recent mirror discoveries. The burial is discussed in its local context and the possible significance of the topography in relation to the site is highlighted.

Britain, Gaul, and Germany

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Moore
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Fifth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Burial Rites ◽  
Cultural Interactions

Britain’s place in the Roman Empire cannot be seen in isolation. The province’s close links to Gaul and Germany stemmed from earlier interaction in the late Iron Age, and these connections have been seen as highly significant in explaining the changes in burial, dress, and settlement that took place in Britain from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. Exploring evidence from changes in diet, architecture, and burial rites, this chapter will assess the nature and extent of cultural interactions between these provinces. In particular, it will examine whether these links can be used to argue for a ‘Gallicization’ of Britain, rather than a ‘Romanization’. It will question whether such terms are helpful in reconceptualizing the processes of cultural change before and after the Roman Conquest or whether they present their own set of problems for understanding cultural interactions and social change.

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