PAGAN CELTIC ART IN THE BRONZE AGE
GENERAL NATURE OF THE MATERIALS AVAILABLE FOR THE STUDY
OF THE ART OF THE BRONZE AGE IN BRITAIN, AND THE
DECORATIVE MOTIVES EMPLOYED
As we have already observed, the Goidelic Celts were in the Bronze Age
stage of culture when they landed in Britain. Let us now inquire into
the nature of the materials available for the study of the Pagan Celtic
art in the Bronze Age.
The remains of this period may be classified, according to the nature
of the finds, as follows:—
(1) Sepulchral remains.
(2) Remains on inhabited and fortified sites.
(3) Merchants’ and founders’ hoards.
(4) Personal hoards, that is to say, finds of objects purposely
concealed, either in times of danger, or buried as
_ex voto_ deposits.
(5) Finds of objects accidentally lost.
(6) Sculptured rocks and stones.
The art of the Bronze Age in Europe is both of a symbolical and
decorative character. The principal symbols employed are:—
The Swastika. The Ship.
The Triskele. The Axe.
The-Cup-and-Ring. The Wheel.
[Illustration: CINERARY URN OF BRONZE AGE FROM LAKE, WILTS; NOW IN THE
BRITISH MUSEUM
HEIGHT 1 FT. 3¼ INS.]
It is probable that most of these were connected with sun-worship.[51]
The chief decorative art motives which were prevalent during the Bronze
Age are as follows:—
The Chevron.
The Concentric Circle.
The Spiral.
The Winding-Band.
With the introduction of bronze into Britain an entire change took
place in the burial customs of the people. The long barrows with their
megalithic chambers and entrance passages gave place to round barrows
containing cists constructed of comparatively small slabs of stone, and
having no approach from the exterior.
Although burial by inhumation still continued to be practised,
cremation was adopted for the first time. The proportions of unburnt
to burnt bodies found in opening barrows in different parts of England
vary according to Thurnam[52] thus:—
Unburnt. Burnt.
Wilts 82 272
Dorset 21 91
Derbyshire }
Staffordshire} 150 121
Yorkshire }
Yorkshire 58 53
[51] See J. J. A. Worsaae’s _Danish Arts_, p. 68.
[52] _Archæologia_, vol. xliii., p. 310.
The survival of the practice of inhumation to so large an extent would
seem to indicate that the bronze-using Goidels amalgamated with the
Neolithic aborigines rather than exterminated them.
The unburnt bodies were usually buried in a doubled-up position, and
sometimes an urn was placed near the deceased. When the body was
cremated the ashes were placed in a cinerary urn, and the grave-goods
most commonly consisted of smaller pottery vessels, a bronze dagger
or razor, and a stone wrist-guard. Occasionally flint implements and
polished stone axe-hammers have been found with burials of this type,
but it does not necessarily follow, in consequence, that bronze was
unknown at the time.
The sepulchral pottery derived from the round barrows of the Bronze Age
supplies us with ample material for studying the art of the period.
The principal collections are to be seen in the British Museum and the
museums at Devizes, Sheffield, Edinburgh, and Dublin. These have been
derived from the barrows opened by Sir R. Colt Hoare in Wiltshire, T.
Bateman in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, Rev. Canon Greenwell and the
Rev. J. C. Atkinson in Yorkshire, C. Warne in Dorsetshire, and W. C.
Borlase in Cornwall.
The pottery from the round barrows exhibits an endless variety of form,
but as regards their suggested use, they may be divided into four
classes, namely:—
(1) Cinerary urns.
(2) Food-vessels.
(3) Drinking-cups.
(4) Incense-cups.
There is no doubt as to the use for which the cinerary urns[53] were
intended, because they are found filled with burnt human bones,
sometimes placed in an inverted position upon a flat stone, and
sometimes mouth upwards. The cinerary urns vary in height from 6 inches
to 3 feet, and the most common shape resembles that of an ordinary
garden flower-pot, with a deep rim round the top, probably to give the
vessel greater strength.
[53] Greenwell’s _British Barrows_, p. 66.
[Illustration: BRONZE AGE URN OF “INCENSE-CUP” TYPE FROM ALDBOURNE,
WILTS; NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
HEIGHT 3½ INS.]
[Illustration: BRONZE AGE URN OF “FOOD-VESSEL” TYPE FROM ALWINTON,
NORTHUMBERLAND; NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
HEIGHT 5 INS.]
The so-called food-vessels[54] have received this name because they are
believed to have contained food for the deceased in the next world. In
support of this theory it may be mentioned that remains of substances
resembling decayed food have been found in some of the vessels in
question. Urns of the food-vessel type are shaped like a shallow bowl,
and they vary in height from 3 to 8 inches. They are usually found
placed beside the deceased.
The use of the so-called drinking-cups[55] is suggested more by the
form, which resembles that of a mug, or beaker, slightly contracted in
the middle, than by any actual facts connected with their discovery.
They are generally placed near the deceased. The height of the
drinking-cups varies from 5 to 9 inches. The Hon. J. Abercromby,
F.S.A. (Scot.), has recently published an elaborate monograph on the
drinking-cups of the Bronze Age entitled “The Oldest Bronze Age Ceramic
Type in Britain; its close Analogies on the Rhine; its Probable Origin
in Central Europe.”[56]
Incense-cups were conjectured by Sir R. Colt Hoare and the earlier
archæologists to have been used for burning some aromatic substance
during the funeral rites. The view taken by the late Mr. Albert Way,
and supported by Canon Greenwell,[57] is that they were for carrying
burning wood to light the funeral pile. The incense-cups are the
smallest of the sepulchral vessels of the Bronze Age, being only from
1 to 3 inches high. The shape is like that of a little cup. The sides
are sometimes perforated. The incense-cups are often found inside the
cinerary urns.
[54] _British Barrows_, p. 84.
[55] _Ibid._, p. 94.
[56] _Jour. Anthropolog. Inst._, vol. xxxii., p. 373.
[57] _British Barrows_, p. 81.
Canon Greenwell states that the urns of the four different types were
found associated with unburnt and burnt bodies in the barrows opened by
him on the Yorkshire wolds in the following proportions:—
Unburnt. Burnt.
Cinerary urns 12 9
(of cinerary urn type, (containing
but without ashes) burnt bones)
Food-vessels 57 16
Drinking-cups 22 2
Incense-cups none 6
The geographical distribution of the different types of sepulchral
urns, as far as at present ascertained, is as follows: Food-vessels are
most common in Yorkshire, and most rare in Wiltshire and the south of
England generally. Drinking-cups are found all over Great Britain,[58]
and it is the type of urn which varies least. Incense-cups are found
with greater frequency in the south of England than in the north.
[58] See map given by the Hon. J. Abercromby in the _Jour. Anthropolog.
Inst._, vol. xxxii., pl. 24.
Now as to the decorative features of the sepulchral pottery of the
Bronze Age in Great Britain.
The sepulchral urns are made of coarse clay moulded by hand—not turned
on a lathe—and imperfectly baked by means of fire. The decoration was
executed whilst the clay was moist, either by
(1) The finger-nail.
(2) An impressed cord.
(3) A pointed implement.
(4) Stamps of wood or bone.
[Illustration: BRONZE AGE URN OF “DRINKING-CUP” TYPE FROM LAKENHEATH,
SUFFOLK; NOW IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM
HEIGHT 7½ INS.]
Besides incised patterns produced by these methods, the ornament was
sometimes moulded in relief and sometimes sunk, and the incense-cups
often have ornamental perforations.
With the exception of the circles found on the bottoms of some of the
incense-cups the decoration consists entirely of straight lines running
more often diagonally than either horizontally or vertically. The same
preference for diagonal lines will be observed in the key-patterns in
the Irish MSS. of the Christian period, and led, as we shall see in a
subsequent chapter, to those modifications of the Greek fret which are
characteristically Celtic.
[Illustration: Fig. 1.
(_a_) Party per Chevron.
(_b_) Party per Saltire.
(_c_) Chevron.
(_d_) Saltire.
(_e_) Indented.
(_f_) Dancettée
]
Of the hundreds and hundreds of sepulchral urns of the Bronze Age
that have been found in Great Britain no two are exactly the same
either in size, form, or decoration. The fertility of imagination
exhibited in the production of so many beautiful patterns by combining
diagonal straight lines in every conceivable way is really amazing. On
examination it will be found that, complicated as the patterns appear
to be, the chevron or zigzag is at the base of the whole of them. We
use the heraldic terms for the sake of convenience; their meaning will
be understood by a reference to Fig. 1.
It will be seen that the chevron consists of two straight lines or
narrow bars inclined towards each other so as to meet in a point, the
form thus produced toeing that of the letter =V=. Now the chevron, or
=V=, is capable of being combined in the following ways:—
=W=.—Two chevrons, with the points facing in the same
direction, placed side by side.
=◊=.—Two chevrons, with the points facing in opposite
directions, placed with the open sides meeting.
=X=.—Two chevrons, with the points facing in opposite
directions, placed with the points meeting.
By repeating the =W=, =◊=, and =X=, each in a horizontal row, the
patterns shown on Fig. 2 are obtained.
[Illustration: Fig. 2.
(_a_) The Triangle or Chevron Border.
(_b_) The Lozenge Border.
(_c_) The Saltire Border.
(_d_) The Hexagon Border.
]
It will be noticed that the same pattern results from repeating a
series of =◊=’s in a horizontal line as from repeating a series of
=X=’s, so that in order to distinguish the lozenge border from the
saltire border, it is necessary to introduce a vertical line between
each pair of =X=s. The hexagon border is derived from the lozenge by
omitting every other =X=.
It is a principle in geometrical ornament that for each pattern
composed of lines there is a corresponding pattern in which bars of
uniform width are substituted for lines. Another way of stating the
same proposition is, that for each pattern composed of geometrical
figures (squares or hexagons, for instance) there is a corresponding
pattern produced by moving the figures apart in a symmetrical manner
so as to leave an equal interspace between them. This principle is
illustrated by Fig. 3, where a zigzag bar is substituted for the zigzag
line of the triangle or chevron border.
[Illustration: Fig. 3.
(_a_) Line Chevron Border.
(_b_) Bar Chevron Border.
(_c_) Surface Pattern, produced by repeating
either of the preceding.
]
Then, again, another set of patterns may be derived from those composed
of lines or plain bars, by shading alternate portions of the design
as in chequerwork. Thus on Fig. 4 are shown three different ways of
shading the chevron border, and on Fig. 5 the method of shading the
patterns on Fig. 3.
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
Fig. 4.—(_a_) Line Chevron Border.
(_b_, _c_, and _d_) Different Methods of Shading (_a_).
Fig. 5.—(_a_) Bar Chevron Border.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but shaded.
(_c_) Surface Pattern, produced by repeating (_b_).
A few new patterns (see Fig. 6) may be produced by placing the chevron
with the point of the V facing to the right or left, thus, =<= or =>=,
instead of upwards or downwards, thus, =Λ= or =V=.
[Illustration: Fig. 6.
(_a_) Chevron Border, with V’s placed thus, => >=.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but with a horizontal line
through the points of the =V=’s.
(_c_) The same as (_a_), but shaded.
(_d_) The same as (_b_), but shaded.
]
Figs. 7 to 10 give the triangular patterns, plain and shaded, produced
by repeating the chevron border (see Fig. 2. _a_).
[Illustration: Fig. 7.]
[Illustration: Fig. 8.
Fig. 7.—(_a_) Single Border, composed of Triangles.
(_b_) Double Border, composed of Triangles, with
the points of all the Triangles meeting.
(_c_) Surface Pattern, composed of Triangles, with
the points of all the Triangles meeting.
Fig. 8.—(_a_, _b_, and _c_) The Patterns shown on Fig. 7, shaded.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 9.]
[Illustration: Fig. 10.
Fig. 9.—(_a_) Double Border, composed of Triangles, with the
points of the Triangles in one row falling in
the centres of the bases of Triangles in the row
above.
(_b_) Surface Pattern, composed of Triangles, arranged
in the same way as in the preceding.
Fig. 10.—(_a_ and _b_) The Patterns shown on Fig. 9, shaded.
]
The patterns derived from the lozenge are shown on Figs. 11 to 18.
[Illustration: Fig. 11.
Fig. 11.—(_a_) Lozenge Border, composed of two sets of Chevrons,
with their points facing in opposite directions.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but with the Chevrons set apart.
(_c_) The same as (_a_), but with bars substituted for
lines.
(_d_) The same as (_b_), but with bars substituted for
lines.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 12.
Fig. 12.—(_a_) Lozenge Border, with Triangles or Chevrons, shaded.
(_b_) Lozenge Border, with Lozenges shaded.
(_c_) The same as Fig. 11 (_c_), but shaded.
(_d_) The same as Fig. 11 (_d_), but shaded.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 13.
Fig. 13.—(_a_) Surface Pattern, produced by repeating the Bar
Chevron Border, so that the points of all the
Chevrons meet.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but with the Chevrons set apart.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 14.
Fig. 14.—(_a_) The same as Fig. 13 (_a_), but shaded.
(_b_) The same as Fig. 13 (_b_), but shaded.
]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.]
Fig. 15.—(_a_) Line Lattice-work Surface Pattern, produced by the
repetition of either the Chevron Border,
Fig. 2 (_a_), or the Lozenge Border, Fig. 2 (_b_).
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but shaded.
Fig. 16.—(_a_) The same as Fig. 15 (_b_), but with shaded Lozenges
of two different sizes.
(_b_) Lattice-work Surface Pattern; the same as
Fig. 15 (_b_), but with diagonal white bars instead
of lines.
[Illustration: Fig. 17.]
[Illustration: Fig. 18.
Fig. 17.—(_a_) Bar Lattice-work-Surface Pattern; the same as
Fig. 15 (_a_), but with diagonal bars instead of lines.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but shaded.
Fig. 18.—(_a_) Surface Pattern, produced by repeating Fig. 11 (_c_).
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but shaded.
]
The patterns derived from the saltire are shown on Fig. 19.
[Illustration: Fig. 19.
(_a_) Saltire Border Pattern.
(_b_, _c_, _d_) Saltire Border Pattern, shaded in different ways.
(_e_) The same as (_a_), but with bars instead of lines.
]
The patterns derived from the hexagon are shown on Figs. 20 and 21.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.]
[Illustration: Fig. 21.]
Fig. 20.—(_a_) Hexagon Border Pattern, derived from the Lozenge
Border, Fig. 2 (_b_), by leaving out every other =X=.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but with the Triangles shaded.
(_c_) The same as (_a_), but with the Hexagons shaded.
(_d_) Surface Pattern, composed of Hexagons and Triangles;
produced by repeating (_c_), so that the Hexagons in
one horizontal row adjoin the Triangles in the next.
Fig. 21.—(_a_) Hexagon Surface Pattern, probably derived from
Fig. 11 (_b_), by drawing straight lines between
the points of each of the Chevrons.
(_b_) The same as (_a_), but with bars instead of lines,
and having the Hexagons shaded.
The variations in the practical application of the chevron patterns,
which have been described above, to the decoration of the sepulchral
pottery of the Bronze Age, are produced in the following ways:—
(1) By placing the chevrons (_a_) horizontally, or (_b_) vertically.
(2) By making the chevrons of different sizes.
(3) By altering the angle of the chevrons, _i.e._ making the points
more acute or more obtuse.
(4) By shading some parts of the pattern whilst other parts are left
plain.
(5) By using different methods of shading, such as plain hatching,
cross-hatching, dotting, etc.
(6) By combining the chevrons with horizontal and vertical lines.
(7) By arranging the patterns in horizontal bands of different
widths.
In a few cases[59] hexagonal figures occur in the decoration of
the urns, but the patterns do not belong to the true hexagonal
system of ornament. The hexagons were arrived at by leaving a space
between the triangles of the chevrons, as on a drinking-cup found at
Rhosbeirio,[60] Anglesey.
[59] Ll. Jewitt’s _Grave-Mounds and their Contents_, p. 108. Folkton,
Yorkshire.
[60] _Archæologia Cambrensis_, 3rd ser., vol. xiv., p. 271; _British
Barrows_, p. 70.
The decoration of the urns is generally confined to the exterior, the
only exceptions being the interiors of the lips of some of the examples
and the crosses in relief found on the bottoms inside of cinerary urns
from Wilts, Dorset, and Sussex.
The incense-cups have occasionally ornament on the bottoms of them
which, like the crosses just mentioned, may have a symbolical
significance.
Some of the urns from Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, are very
beautifully decorated with sunk triangles and ovals.
The different types of urns are not all equally highly ornamented. The
large flower-pot-shaped cinerary urns have least decoration, being
sometimes quite plain, but in the majority of cases having a broad
band of ornament round the top. The drinking-cups are more elaborately
decorated than any other class of sepulchral pottery, although the
food-vessels are also nearly as ornate.
The artistic quality of the decoration varies in different parts of
Great Britain. Some of the most beautiful examples come from localities
where there was a great mixture of aboriginal blood with that of the
Celtic invaders, and it is not unlikely that the infusion of new blood
may have had something to do with the excellence of the art.
The chevron, although it was more highly developed as a decorative
art-motive in the Bronze Age than at any other period, was not unknown
to the Neolithic inhabitants of Great Britain, and it is more than
probable that the Goidelic Celts got the idea from them. Several
shallow vessels with a band of chevron ornament round the rim were
found in the chambered cairn at Unstan,[61] Orkney, which is of the
later Stone Age. This particular chevron pattern occurs frequently in
the Bronze Age. Each of the triangles formed by the chevron is filled
in with hatched lines running diagonally, but alternately in directions
at right angles to each other (Fig. 4, _d_, p. 30). The pattern had
no doubt a structural origin, and was suggested by lashing of the
description used for the hafting of stone axes, or by some similar
bandaging of cords.[62]
[61] Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Pagan Times: Bronze and Stone
Ages_, p. 294.
[62] Prof. A. C. Haddon’s _Evolution in Art_, p. 87.
A similar chevron pattern is to be seen on a bowl from the Dolmen du
Port-Blanc, Saint Pierre, Quiberon, Morbihan, Brittany.[63] Possibly
this may be the survival of a strengthening band of basketwork round
the vessel.
[63] Paul du Chatellier’s _La Poterie aux Époques préhistorique et
Gauloise_, pl. 12, fig. 12.
[Illustration: Bronze Spear-heads ornamented with rows of dots
In the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin]
The decoration of the bronze implements, gold lunulæ, and jet necklaces
of the Bronze Age corresponds very nearly with that of the sepulchral
pottery. All the designs are founded upon the chevron, and the only
differences are in the methods of execution. On the objects of metal
the patterns are produced by the hammer, punch, and graver,[64] and on
the flat jet beads of the necklaces by a borer.
[64] Sir W. Wylde’s _Catal. Mus. R. I. A._, p. 388.
[Illustration: Gold Lunula from Killarney
Now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin]
The bronze implements most frequently decorated are celts and razors,
and more rarely dagger-blades and spear-heads.
Of the three classes of bronze celts, namely,[65]
(1) Flat celts,
(2) Winged and flanged celts,
(3) Socketed celts,
it is only the first two that are decorated with chevron patterns in
the same way as the sepulchral pottery. The socketed celts, which
are later than the others, are ornamented with concentric circles
resembling those on certain Gaulish terra-cotta figures.[66]
On some of the bronze spear-heads in the Museum of the Royal Irish
Academy the ornament consists of lines of small dots. The dotted
patterns in the Irish MSS. of the Christian period may possibly be
traced to this source.
The greatest number of gold lunulæ, most of which exhibit the
characteristic chevron-motive decoration of the Bronze Age, have been
found in Ireland. Dr. W. Frazer has compiled a list of known examples,
which will be found in the _Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries
of Ireland_.[67] The numbers are as follows:—
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy 32
British Museum 11
Edinburgh Museum 4
Belfast Museum 1
Private Collections 3
Present owners unknown 9
Found in France 2
[65] _Early Man in Britain_, p. 350; and _British Museum Bronze Age
Guide_, p. 40.
[66] _Archæologia Cambrensis_, ser. 3, vol. xiv., p. 308.
[67] 5th ser., vol. vii., p. 41.
The decoration consists of very fine lines executed with chisel-edged
punches,[68] and it is concentrated on the edges and the two horns of
the crescent, the broad part of the crescent in the middle being quite
plain, as will be seen in the specimen illustrated on page 40 from
Killarney, now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
[68] Sir W. Wilde’s _Catal. of Antiquities of Gold in Mus. R. I. A._,
p. 10.
The lunulæ were probably worn as head-dresses or else round the neck,
and the contrast between the large expanse of burnished gold and the
delicately engraved patterns must have been very effective when seen
flashing in the bright sunlight.
Some of the finest examples of jet necklaces have been found with
Bronze Age burials in Scotland, as at Balcalk, Forfarshire; Tayfield,
Fife; Torrish, Sutherlandshire;[69] Assynt, Ross-shire;[70] Melfort,
and Argyllshire. They have also been found occasionally in England, as
at Middleton Moor,[71] Derbyshire.
The beads of which the necklaces are composed are of three different
shapes, ovoid, flat triangular plates, and four-sided flat plates.
The flat beads are decorated with chevrons, triangles, and lozenges
produced by rows of dots. Here again we have an instance of a kind of
decoration which survived in Christian times.
The last class of remains exhibiting Bronze Age decoration are the
sculptured rocks and stones. Some of the carvings are found on natural
rock surfaces and boulders; others on such megalithic monuments as
stone circles, dolmens, and chambered cairns; whilst numerous examples
are on the slabs forming the covers or sides of sepulchral cists.
[69] Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Pagan Times: Bronze and Stone
Ages_, pp. 53, 55, and 56.
[70] Daniel Wilson’s _Prehistoric Annals of Scotland_.
[71] Bateman’s _Ten Years’ Diggings_, p. 25.
Although the megalithic structures called by the late Mr. James
Ferguson “rude stone monuments” undoubtedly belong as a class to the
Neolithic period, yet some of them exhibit decorative forms which
are characteristic of the Bronze Age. This suggests the interesting
speculation whether the ornamental patterns used by the Celts in the
Bronze Age may not have been to a large extent borrowed from the
Neolithic aborigines, and also whether the absorption of the Iberian
peoples by the conquering Goidels may not have had a stimulating effect
on decorative art.
However this may be, it is a curious fact that the best specimens of
Bronze Age ornament sculptured on stone exist in the Co. Meath, in
Ireland, where such an admixture of race would be most likely to occur,
and the type of monument on which the carvings are found belongs to
the Neolithic period. In Ireland, therefore, either the erection of
dolmens, chambered cairns, and other similar structures must have
survived during the Bronze Age, or else the characteristic patterns of
the Bronze Age must have been derived from a Neolithic source.
The wonderful series of chambered cairns at Newgrange, near Drogheda,
and at Sliabh na Calliaghe, near Oldcastle, both in the Co. Meath,
have been well known to archæologists for many years, but it is only
quite recently that their decorative sculpture has been studied
scientifically by Mr. George Coffey, M.R.I.A., the Curator of the
Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin. The following account has
been compiled chiefly from Mr. Coffey’s admirable monographs on the
subject, published in the _Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy_.[72]
[72] Vol. xxx., p. 1.
The great prehistoric cemetery, which has been identified with the
Brugh na Boinne mentioned in the Leabhar-na-h-Uidhri and in the Book of
Ballymote, is situated five miles west of Drogheda, extending thence
about three miles along the northern bank of the Boyne towards Slane.
Amongst the most important of the sepulchral remains are the three
great tumuli of Dowth, Newgrange, and Knowth, taking them in order from
east to west. Two of the tumuli certainly contain chambers, access to
which is gained by a passage leading from the exterior, and the third,
judging from analogy, probably is also chambered. The Boyne tumuli are
recorded in the _Annals of Ulster_ to have been plundered by the Danes
in A.D. 862. The chamber of the Dowth tumulus has been open since 1847;
that of Newgrange since 1699, when it was first entered in modern times
by Edward Lhuyd, the keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford; and that
of Knowth still remains to be explored.
[Illustration: Longitudinal section of Chamber and Passage of Tumulus
at Newgrange, Co. Meath.]
The sculptures at Newgrange are of such exceptional interest that it is
desirable to give a brief description of the structure upon which they
are found. The tumulus stands less than a quarter of a mile north-east
of Newgrange House, the Dowth tumulus being 1¼ to the north-east,
and the Knowth tumulus three-quarters of a mile to the north-west.
The Newgrange tumulus is surrounded by a circle of stones originally
consisting of thirty-five upright monoliths, twelve of which may still
be traced. Four of the standing stones near the entrance are from 6
to 7 feet in height, but the remainder are of smaller size. Between
the circle and the base of the mound is a ditch and a rampart of loose
stones. The tumulus is also of loose stones, surrounded at the base
by a continuous curb of great slabs of stone from 8 to 10 feet long,
laid on edge, above which is a retaining wall of dry rubble 5 or 6
feet high. The tumulus is approximately circular in plan, 280 feet in
diameter, and 44 feet high. The area occupied by the mound alone is at
least an acre. The entrance to the passage leading to the chamber is on
the S.E. side of the mound, and the passage runs in a N.W. direction.
The chamber is not in the centre of the mound, but to the S.E. side
of the centre. The plan of the passage and chamber is irregularly
cruciform, the dimensions being as follows:—
Feet. Inches.
Length of passage 62 0
Length from end of passage to back of
N.W. recess 18 0
Average width of passage 3 0
Width of chamber from back of N.E.
recess to back of S.W. recess 21 0
Height of passage varies from 4 ft. 9 in. to 7 10
Height of chamber 19 6
Depth of N.E. recess 8 8
” N.W. ” 7 6
” S.W. ” 3 4
The side walls of the passage and chamber are constructed of tall
upright stones, having the interstices filled in with rubble work.
The passage is roofed over with single lintel stones. The roof of the
chamber is in the form of an irregular six-sided truncated pyramid
composed of stones corbelled out until they meet sufficiently near
together at the top to be covered by a single slab. The floor was
originally paved with carefully selected, water-rounded pebbles. These
with equal originality and care have been removed by the Irish Board of
Works, and placed in the bottom of the pit dug in front of the carved
stone at the entrance.
There are on the floor four rudely made shallow stone basins, one
in each of the three recesses, and the fourth in the centre of the
chamber. The one in the middle of the chamber was taken from the
position it formerly occupied on the top of the basin in the N.E.
recess (where it was seen by Edward Lhuyd in 1699), and placed where
it now is by the over-officious zeal of the Irish Board of Works. The
large stones used in the construction of the chamber are of the lower
silurian grit of the district.
The following stones of the Newgrange Tumulus are sculptured:—
_On exterior of Mound at Base._
No. 1.—Above entrance of passage leading to chamber.
No. 2.—Front of entrance.
No. 3.—Nearly in a line with axis of passage prolonged to
cut circumference of mound on N.W. side.
No. 4.—N. side of mound.
_In Passage._
N.E. side—twenty-one uprights—Nos. 3, 12, 18, and 21 sculptured,
counting from entrance inwards.
S.W. side—twenty uprights—Nos. 10, 11, 17, and 20 sculptured,
counting from entrance inwards.
[Illustration: Plan of Chamber and Passage of Tumulus at Newgrange, Co.
Meath]
_In Chamber._
Seventeen uprights—Nos. 2, 3, 4, 10, and 16 sculptured,
commencing at end of passage S.W. side, and counting
round from right to left. Nos. 2, 3, and 4 are in S.W.
recess, where there is also a horizontal stone above
No. 3 sculptured. No. 10 forms the N.E. jamb of the
N.W. recess. No. 16 forms the S.E. jamb of the N.E.
recess, which has also a sculptured roofing-stone. The
horizontal lintel-stone over the opening of the passage
into the chamber is sculptured.
[Illustration: Spiral Ornament at Newgrange, Co. Meath.
Scale ⅙ linear]
Analysing the sculptured decoration of the Newgrange tumulus, we find
it to consist partly of chevron patterns and chevron derivatives (such
as combinations of the triangle and lozenge), and partly of spiral
ornament, together with a few designs formed of circles grouped round
a lozenge, and some cups and rings. The chevron patterns have already
been noticed on sepulchral urns, bronze implements, and jet necklaces
of Great Britain, and concentric circles on socketed bronze celts, but
spiral ornament is conspicuous by its absence on any of these classes
of objects. Spirals are only known to occur on sculptured stones and
rock-surfaces in Great Britain, and on a few of the remarkable stone
balls with knobs found in Scotland. The following examples have been
recorded:—
[Illustration: Slab with Spiral Ornament outside entrance to passage of
Tumulus at Newgrange, Co. Meath
From a drawing by George Coffey, M.R.I.A.]
ENGLAND
CUMBERLAND. Maughanby (Stone circle surrounding cist
under tumulus).
Old Parks, Kirkoswald (Upright slab under tumulus).
LANCASHIRE. Calderstones, near Liverpool (Stone Circle).
NORTHUMBERLAND. Morwick (Rock-surface).
Lilburn Hill Farm (Slabs of stone found in grave).
WALES
MERIONETHSHIRE. Llanbedr (Slab of stone found near hut-circles,
now in Llanbedr churchyard).
SCOTLAND
ORKNEY. Eday (Stone in Pict’s House,
now in the Edinburgh Museum).
Firth (Slab of stone, now in the Edinburgh Museum).
ELGINSHIRE. Strypes (Standing stone).
Elgin (Stone ball).
ABERDEENSHIRE. Towie (Stone ball, now in the Edinburgh Museum).
Lumphanan (Stone ball, now in collection of
Hugh W. Young, Esq., F.S.A., Scot.).
ARGYLLSHIRE. Achnabreac (Sculptured rock-surface).
AYRSHIRE. Coilsfield (Cist-cover).
Blackshaw (Rock-surface).
PEEBLESSHIRE. La Mancha (Slab of stone, now in the
Edinburgh Museum).
WIGTONSHIRE. Camerot Muir, Kirkdale (Standing stone).
DUMFRIESSHIRE. Hollows Tower, Eskdale (Door-sill).
IRELAND
CO. MEATH. Newgrange (Chambered Cairn).
Dowth (Chambered Cairn).
Loughcrew (Chambered Cairn).
King’s Mountain (Chambered Cairn).
CO. LOUTH. Killing Hill, Dundalk (Sepulchral Chamber).
CO. TYRONE. Knockmany (Chambered Cairn).
CO. FERMANAGH. Castle Archdall (Sepulchral Chamber).
CO. DONEGAL. Glencolumbkille (Sepulchral Chamber).
Spiral ornament is as conspicuously absent on the implements and
objects of the Bronze Age in Gaul as in Britain. It is, then, to
Scandinavia that we must look for the origin of the Bronze Age spirals
found in this country.
In the museums at Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Christiania, may be seen
splendid specimens of bronze axes, sword-hilts, and personal ornaments
exhibiting spiral decoration in the greatest perfection. These are
fully illustrated in A. P. Madsen’s monograph on the Bronze Age, in the
works of O. Montelius and J. H. A. Worsaae, and in the _Transactions_
of the various archæological societies in Sweden and Denmark.
[Illustration: Spiral Ornament on Bronze Axe-head from Denmark]
The spirals with which the objects of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia are
decorated are generally arranged with their centres at equal distances
apart, and connected together by =S= or =C-=shaped curves, the former
being the most common.
When spirals are arranged in a single row, the problem of how to
connect the whole together so as to form a continuous running pattern
does not present much difficulty, but if it is required to cover a
large surface with spirals in groups of three or of four, all properly
connected, the solution is not so easy as it appears at first sight.
Both the metalworkers who made the Scandinavian bronze implements, and
the artist who designed the sculptured decoration of the Newgrange
tumulus, seem to have been unable to master the method of arranging the
=S-= and =C-=shaped connections of the spirals in proper order,[73]
so as to be capable of extension in every direction over a surface of
any required size. The difficulty was got over by a most ingenious
artifice, as Mr. George Coffey was the first to point out in his
monograph on “Newgrange, Dowth, and Knowth” in the _Transactions of the
Royal Irish Academy_ (vol. xxx., p. 25).
[73] That is to say, the way of placing the centres of the spirals in
relation to each other, and of determining how many =S-= or =C-=shaped
curves should run to each centre.
[Illustration: Bronze Axe-head with Spiral Ornament from Sweden]
When the spirals are not arranged and connected together in accordance
with the requirements of geometry, some of the bands which compose the
ornament have loose ends, _i.e._ run to nowhere. The question was how
to dispose of the loose ends so as to deceive the eye and give the
appearance of a continuous pattern. It was effected very simply by
carrying the loose ends right round one or more of the other spirals
so as to enclose them. Good instances of this occur on the sculptured
slabs at Newgrange (p. 48), and on the carved stone ball from Towie,
Aberdeenshire, now in the Edinburgh Museum of Antiquities.
Mr. G. Coffey’s theory, in which we feel inclined to agree, is that
the spiral motive came to Ireland from Scandinavia across Scotland
and the north of England. Both the geographical distribution of
spirals sculptured on stone in Great Britain, and the fact that the
same imperfect method of connecting the spirals together for all over
surface treatment is found in Ireland, Scotland, and Scandinavia
certainly lend support to this view.
It is now generally admitted by archæologists that the spiral
decoration of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia is of Mycenæan origin; and
the clearest possible proof is furnished by an associated spiral and
lotus motive design upon a bronze celt from Aarhöj,[74] near Aalborg,
Jutland, which finds an exact parallel in the ornament upon a gold
pectoral from Mycenæ.[75]
[74] _Mémoires de la Société Royale des Antiquaires du Nord_, 1887, p.
259.
[75] Perrot and Chipiez’s _Art in Primitive Greece_, vol. i., p. 323.
The Mycenæan spiral decoration has furthermore been clearly proved
by Mr. Goodyear in his _Grammar of the Lotus_ to have been borrowed
from ancient Egypt; the best instance of the transference of a spiral
and lotus motive pattern from Egypt to the Ægean being the sculptured
ceiling of the beehive tomb at Orchomenos. In Egypt, the spiral is
found by itself forming a continuous running border on the scarabs
of Usertesen I.[76] (Twelfth Dynasty, B.C. 2758-2714), and combined
with the lotus on a scarab at Turin[77] of the same period. The best
examples of the use of the spiral as continuous surface ornament are
to be seen on the ceilings of Egyptian tombs of the Eighteenth Dynasty
(B.C. 1633-1500).[78]
The spiral motive thus was most nourishing in Egypt from the Twelfth
Dynasty to the Eighteenth, say from B.C. 2758-1700.[79] After that it
found its way to the Ægean, perhaps as early as 1400 B.C.,[80] and
thence to Hungary, Scandinavia, and Great Britain.
[76] Flinders Petrie, _Egyptian Decorative Art_, p. 21.
[77] _Ibid._, p. 22.
[78] _Prisse d’Avennes, Histoire de l’Art Egyptien après les Monuments._
[79] Flinders Petrie, _Decorative Art in Egypt_, p. 28.
[80] _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, vol. xii., p. 203.
The chambered tumuli at Dowth, on the Boyne, and Loughcrew, near
Oldcastle, Co. Meath, resemble the Newgrange tumulus in plan and
construction, but the sculptures upon the stones of the chambers and
passages are not so obviously of Bronze Age type as those at Newgrange.
The designs seem to be more symbolical than ornamental, and from the
frequent occurrence of star- and wheel-shaped designs may have to do
with sun-worship. The Loughcrew tumuli and their sculptures have been
very fully described by Mr. E. A. Conwell, in the _Proceedings of the
Royal Irish Academy_ (vol. ix., p. 355; and 2nd ser., vol. ii., p. 72);
by Mr. George Coffey, in the _Transactions_ of the same society (vol.
xxxi., p. 23); and by Dr. W. Frazer, in the _Proceedings of the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland_ (vol. xxvi., p. 294).
A certain proportion of the sepulchral cists of the Bronze Age in Great
Britain exhibit symbolical or decorative designs. The following is a
list of the examples which have been recorded:—
ROSS-SHIRE. Bakerhill.
ARGYLLSHIRE. Kilmartin.
Carnbân.
CLACKMANNAN. Tillycoultry.
LINLITHGOWSHIRE. Caerlowrie.
Craigie Wood.
LANARKSHIRE. Carnwath.
AYRSHIRE. Coilsfield.
CUMBERLAND. Aspatria.
Redlands, near Penrith.
NORTHUMBERLAND. Ford West Field.
YORKSHIRE. Bernaldby Moor.
CO. TYRONE. Seskin.
The sculpture is usually on the cover-stone of the cist, but in the
case of the examples at Kilmartin and at Carnbân it is on the vertical
end slabs.
The sculptured designs consist of cups and rings, concentric circles,
lozenges, triangles, axe-heads, curved meandering lines, and a few
patterns composed of straight lines. The carvings show the same
pick-marks that were observed at Newgrange.
The axe-heads on the end slab of the cist at Kilmartin[81] are of the
wedge shape common in the early Bronze Age. Like the stone axes and
axe-heads sculptured on the dolmens of Brittany, they probably have a
symbolical meaning connected with the worship of some axe-bearing deity
such as Zeus.
[81] _Jour. Brit. Archæol. Assoc._, vol. 36, p. 146.
The designs, composed of triangles alternately covered with dots and
left plain, which occur on the cist-cover from Carnwath,[82] we have
already seen sculptured at Newgrange and engraved on bronze axes and
jet necklaces. The grouped circles on the cist-cover from Craigie
Wood[83] may also be compared with those on the slabs in the Newgrange
tumulus, on the stone ball from Towie in the Edinburgh Museum, and on
the chalk drums from Folkton in the British Museum.
[82] _Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot._, vol. x., p. 62.
[83] _Ibid._, vol. vi., _Appendix_, p. 28.
In three cases (viz. at Coilsfield,[84] Carnwath, and Tillycoultry)[85]
elaborately ornamented urns of the food-vessel type have been found
in the sculptured cists, thus clearly proving the period to which the
cists belong.
Sometimes slabs of stone sculptured with cup-marks, cups and rings, and
spirals, have been found associated with Bronze Age burials, although
not forming parts of a cist. One of the most remarkable discoveries
of this kind was made at Old Parks,[86] near Kirk Oswald, Cumberland.
In 1894 a barrow composed of loose stones, 80 feet in diameter and 4
feet high, was opened by the late Chancellor R. S. Ferguson, F.S.A.,
and when the mound was removed a row of five slabs fixed upright in
the ground was disclosed. The stones were in a line pointing north
and south, cutting the site of the mound into two halves, and three
of them are sculptured with spirals. As many as thirty-two deposits
of burnt bones were found in holes scooped out of the natural surface
of the ground, together with two ornamented urns of incense-cup form,
fragments of several other urns, and a necklace of cannel-coal beads.
[84] _Ibid._, vol. vi., _Appendix_, p. 27.
[85] _Ibid._, vol. xxix., p. 190.
[86] _Cumb. and West. Ant. Soc. Trans._, vol. xiii., p. 389.
A slab of stone sculptured with spirals and concentric circles was
found in 1883 on Lilburn Hill[87] Farm near Wooler, Northumberland,
associated with seven deposits of burnt bones buried in small circular
pits.
Stones sculptured with cups, or cups and rings, have been found either
as cover-stones of urns or associated with burials in round barrows at
the following places:—
NORTHUMBERLAND. Ingoe.
Black Hedon.
Kirk Whelpington.
CUMBERLAND. Maughanby.
YORKSHIRE. Kilburn.
Ayton Moor.
Claughton Moor.
Wykeham Moor.
DERBYSHIRE. Elkstone.
Sheen.
STAFFORDSHIRE. Stanton.
DORSETSHIRE. Came Down.
SUTHERLANDSHIRE. Dornoch Links.
ABERDEENSHIRE. Greenloan, Cabrach.
A link between the art of the Bronze Age in Britain and the art of
Mycenæ is afforded by a rock-sculpture at Ilkley,[88] Yorkshire, which
takes the form of a curved swastika. It belongs to a peculiar class of
patterns composed of winding bands and small bosses or dots, of which
there are numerous examples in the Scandinavian[89] and Mycenæan[90]
metalwork. Perhaps some of the Late-Celtic designs, in which the
arrangement of the long sweeping =S-= and =C-=shaped curves is governed
by the position of circular bosses they connect, may be descended
from the winding-band patterns of the Mycenæan period. For instance,
the designs on the enamelled handles of the bowl found at Barlaston,
Staffordshire, and on the Ilkley rock-sculpture have obvious points in
common, both being founded on the curved swastika.
[87] _Archæol. Æliana_, ser. 2, vol. x., p. 220.
[88] _Jour. Brit. Archæol. Assoc._, vol. xxxv., p. 18.
[89] A. P. Madsen’s _Antiquités préhistoriques du Danemark_.
[90] Schlieman’s _Mycenæ_, pp. 166, 167, 169, 264, and 265.
[Illustration: Winding Band (curved Swastika), sculptured in rock near
Ilkley, Yorkshire
Scale ⅛ linear]
There are in different parts of Great Britain a great number of rocks
and boulders sculptured with cups, generally surrounded by concentric
rings, and often having a radial groove leading from the cup outwards.
[Illustration: SPIRAL ORNAMENT ON STONE BALL FROM TOWIE, ABERDEENSHIRE;
NOW IN THE EDINBURGH MUSEUM
SCALE 1/1 LINEAR]
[Illustration: WINDING-BAND CURVED SWASTIKA ON SWORD-HILT FROM DENMARK]
[Illustration: BRONZE SWORD-HILT WITH WINDING-BAND PATTERN FROM DENMARK]
[Illustration: BRONZE SWORD-HILT WITH SPIRAL ORNAMENT FROM DENMARK]
[Illustration: Cup-and-ring Sculptures on rock at Ilkley, Yorkshire
Scale ¹/₃₂ linear]
The best-known instances are at Ilkley in Yorkshire, Wooler in
Northumberland, the district on the east side of Kirkcudbright Bay
between Kirkcudbright and the Solway Firth, and Lochgilphead and
Kilmartin in Argyllshire. In a few cases the cup-and-ring sculptures
are associated with the wheel-symbol, as at Mevagh, Co. Donegal,
and at Cochno, Dumbartonshire. Such sculptures are more likely to
be symbolical than decorative, but it would take us too far afield
to discuss their meaning here. Those who wish to pursue the subject
further may with advantage consult Sir James Simpson’s valuable paper
on “Ancient Sculpturings of Cups and Concentric Rings,” forming the
Appendix to vol. vi. of the _Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot._
The sculptured rock-surfaces of Great Britain in some respects resemble
the “Hällristningar” on the west coast of Sweden. The cup-and-ring,
the wheel-symbol, and the curved swastika are common to both, but the
Swedish sculptures are much more elaborate and include figure-subjects,
ships, animals, etc. The age of some of the sculptures is indicated by
the characteristic shape of the axes (evidently of bronze) held by the
figures, and by the fact that the same set of symbols which occur on
the rocks are also to be seen on the engraved knives of the Bronze Age
found in Scandinavia. The Swedish rock-sculptures are fully described
and illustrated in L. Baltzer’s _Hällristningar från Bohuslän_, A.
Holmberg’s _Skandinaviens Hällristningar_, and the _Mémoires_ of the
International Congress of Prehistoric Archæology at Stockholm.
Summing up the results of our investigations, we find that the
peculiarities in the Pagan Celtic art of the Bronze Age which were
transmitted to the Pagan and Christian styles of the Early Iron Age are
as follows:—
(1) The use of the closely coiled spiral.
(2) The use of rows of dots.
(3) The use of diagonal lines in preference to those running
horizontally or vertically.
(4) The use of designs founded on the curved swastika.
Of all these the spiral decorative motive is by far the most important,
as we shall see in a subsequent chapter.