Celtic Death Rituals Author(s): Barry Cunliffe Source: Archaeology, Vol. 41, No. 2 (March/April 1988), pp. 39-43 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41731995 . Accessed: 13/11/2013 09:37

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This content downloaded from 170.24.130.117 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:37:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Celtic Death Rituals

Long a puzzle to archaeologists, ancient Celtic burial practices are now being reinterpreted with the help of dog, horse and human body parts found in Britain's pit-cemeteries.

by Barry Cunliffe

Theycut off the heads of enemies slain in centratingon the massive hill-forts The earlyseasons ofour excavation battleand attachthem to thenecks of whichdominate the landscape.Many establishedthe main structural history theirhorses - Theynail up thesefirst sites, like the famousMaiden Castle ofthe site. The firstdefenses were put fruitsupon theirhouse Theyem- excavatedby the noted Britishar- up in the sixthcentury B.C., and after balmin cedaroil theheads of the most chaeologistSir MortimerWheeler, some modificationand strengthening distinguishedenemies and preserve were sampled,but forthe mostpart theentire defensive circuit was rebuilt themcarefully in a chestand display workwas small-scaleby our modern on a moremassive basis about 400-350 themwith pride to strangers. standards.More recently,a series of B.C. Thereafter,the fortwas main- large-scale excavations have been tained in good defensiveorder until words about 100 B.C., when were written the gate was burned aboutthe downand the site was These ofEurope by a abandoned.It is tempt- Greekhistorian, Diodo- ingto see theend com- rus Siculus,in the first ing in the period of centuryA.D. He was, social and economic of course, presenting turmoilwhich seems to a grosslyoversimplified haveaffected the region picture,selecting from at this time, largely hissources those scraps as the resultof the im- ofinformation which he pact of Romantrading thoughtwould entertain pressureson the south hisreaders. coast. Usingclassical sources Throughoutthe 400 likeDiodorus to throw to 500 yearsof the forťs lighton contemporary life,a communitylived barbariansocieties is a withinthe protection practice fraughtwith of its defenses.There difficulties- particularly were well-maintained when we are dealing roads and some evi- withlands, like Britain, A dog skeleton and the leg qf a horse were among the "special dence that separate lyingon the very fringes burial deposi ts" found at the Danebury hill-fort.Both areas were set aside ofthe Celticworld, far animals had important ritual significance in Celtic religion. for specificfunctions. removedfrom the civi- Houses, forexample - lizedMediterranean. But now,at last, mounted.In theupper Thames basin, circularstructures built of timber- excavationis beginningto producenew aroundOxford, several peasant settle- clusteredaround the perimeterof the evidence,often quite startling, of the ments have been totallyexcavated, enclosedarea in the shelter of the ram- beliefsystems of the barbarian Celts. whilein Wfessexnew excavations have part; rectangularbuildings, probably One ofthe mostintensively studied been carriedout at hill-fortslike South forstoring grain used forfood, lined areasof Iron Age Britainis thecentral Cadburyin and Danebury in the roadsin rowsin the southernpart southernpart of the country,stretch- . ofthe site. Much of the center was oc- ingfrom to andfrom the For this central southernregion, cupiedby large storage pits dug deep in southcoast northwards along the Cots- Daneburyprovides some of the best thechalk bedrock. These wereproba- woldHills and intoNorthamptonshire. evidence currently available for looking blyused to storethe seed grainfor the In regionalterms this area constitutes at IronAge society.Danebury, where nextyear's sowing. Wîssex,the Cotswoldsand the South we havebeen diggingnow for 19 sea- How manypeople lived in the Dane- Midlands. sons,is a typicalWessex hill-fort, mas- buryfort at anyone timeit is impossi- Here, in the 1920s and 1930s, ar- sivelydefended with banks and ditches ble to say,but usingestimated num- chaeologistsbegan a systematicinves- anddominating a large tract of the roll- bers ofhouses andhouse sizes we can tigationof Iron Age settlements,con- ingchalk downs of central Hampshire. offera controlledguess of200 to 400.

March/April1988 39

This content downloaded from 170.24.130.117 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:37:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Howthese people related to people liv- ing in farmsteadsin the countryside around,it is also difficultto be sure: ourpreferred model is thatthe hill-fort residentswere an elitewho controlled centralizeddistribution and the ex- changeof rare raw materials. By theend ofnext year's season we willhave excavated just overa halfof the defendedsettlement- about six acres-and there the excavationwill stop.The philosophybehind the work programhas been this: to be able to makenew deductionsabout Iron Age societyand economy,we needed a largesample of well-stratified material whichcould be subjectedto statistical treatment.This sample,however, had tobe balancedby leaving a largepart of thesite intact for future archaeologists to test.In theevent the "excavate half, preserve half" solutionseemed the best. Certainly,in termsof new infor- mationthe policy has paidoff. Beforewe can see thenew evidence fromDanebury in proper perspective it maybe helpfulto sketchout what was known,before our workbegan, about deathand ritualin the IronAge ofthe An aerial view of the massive Danebury Mil-fortwhere some 2,000 region.The generalview had been that "special burial deposits" have been unearthed. ritualswere enacted in the countryside -sometimes in sacred grovesor on grain,either threshed or in the ear, gether;in another, a singlecorpse was the banksof springsor lakes-by the was tippedin and the pit sealed and laidsupine; after a layerof rubble had about whomCaesar wroteat madeairtight. Fermentation and rotting beenthrown in to cover the body, an ar- lengthin his books on the GallicWars. wouldbegin in the outermost layers of ticulatedhuman arm, partof a torso Templesand shrineswere thoughtto cornthat were in contact with the chalk and a child'sskull were laid above it. be rare. pit-walls.This process would very rap- Yet anotherexample entailedthe One greatproblem for students of idlyuse up the oxygen,replacing it burialof a youngman's pelvis, hacked IronAge lifewas the mode of burial. withcarbon dioxide (C02). Finally,a fromthe body withthe heads of the Occasionalskeletons were foundon crucial thresholdwould be reached femursstill articulated in position.In settlementsites, but in the well- whenthe C02 levelhad become suffi- additionto these practices,isolated studiedarea of central southern Britain cientlyhigh to killoff the organisms human bones are frequentlyfound no regularcemeteries were knownin causing decay. Thereafter,the pit scatteredabout the site, one of the the wholeof the Earlyor MiddleIron wouldremain sterile until opened. commonestrecurring bones beingthe Age (i.e., ca. 700-100B.C.). It was al- Once thepit had ceased to be used, skull-a vividreminder of the Celtic mostas thoughpeople had livedthere it was allowedto fillwith rubbish and loveof head-hunting. inconsiderable number; but had never withchalk eroded from its sides-but, Whatcan we makeof all this? Clearly, died! Now,the workat Daneburyhas quitefrequently, not beforea "special we are seeingthe archaeological mani- changedail this. burialdeposit" had been placedon the festationof a very complex belief- The cluescome mainly from the pits, pit'sbottom. systeminvolving the disposal of the of whichthere are estimatedto have dead. The simplestexplanation of all been about5,000 within the fort.The special depositsare of par- theevidence, including the absence of greatmajority of themwere dug for Theseticular interest. One recurringtype any cemeteries,is that the normal storage,almost certainly the storage involvedhuman bodies. These were methodof disposal was byexcarnation, of corn.The averagepit was bell-or placed on the pit bottoms,usually or exposureof the dead body above cone-shaped,50 centimetersto one tuckedagainst one side in a crouched ground.The furtherpossibility is that meter(19 inches to threefeet) in diam- position.Less frequently,parts of hu- thehuman remains found in Danebury eter at the top, two to threemeters man bodies were found,sometimes representminority rites -burial cere- (sixto nine feet) deep, and two to three withseveral bones stillin articulation. moniesobserved for only a selected metersin diameter at the bottom. A farrarer type of burial occurred in few-rather than everyday interments. The principlebehind the use ofthese speciallydug bathtub-shapedpits. In Excarnationwas a widespreadprac- storage pits was quite simple. The one case, threebodies were buried to- tice among primitivesocieties. The

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This content downloaded from 170.24.130.117 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:37:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions But whatof the completeburials on The most commonlyobserved de- thebottoms of pits? These mustrepre- positswere animal burials. Sometimes senta minorityritual. One possibilityis there were complete carcasses of thatthey were the burials of individuals sheep,young cows, pigs or dogs. Occa- who were sociallyunclean, and thus sionally,a firehad been liton thebody excludedfrom normal burial. Among and sometimeslarge stones had been the Ashantiof West Africa, for exam- placed above it. Horses were also ple, people who had died "unnatural" found,occasionally complete or miss- deaths-by beingstruck by lightning,ing just a leg or two.More often,how- or bysnake bite, or duringchildbirth - ever,the animalwas representedonly wereburied in disusedpits. bya legor by its head. Whencompared Still anotherpossibility is thatthe with the normalpercentage occur- bodieswere sacrifices placed in the pit rence of animal bones in domestic at themoment of its abandonment, and deposits,horses and dogs are greatly oftenweighed down with heavy stones over-representedin these special pit (to preventthe spiritfrom escaping?). deposits.It maybe relevantthat both Wfewill explore a possiblecontext for theseanimals have enhanced ritual sig- thisspeculation in a moment. nificancein Celticreligion. The deliberateburial of partial bodies This fascinatingrange of "spedai" -humanjoints -is moredifficult to ex- animalburials should be seen in the plain.One suggestionis that contextof other, rarer deposits on the thesejoints could represent pit bottoms: these include quern- theremains of cannibalism - stones (for grindinggrain), sets of perhaps"insult cannibalism" horsegear; tools and pots- notforget- in whichthe enemywas in- ting,of course, human skeletons. sulted,as was hislineage, by theeating of parts of his body. the completedata have In thekind of society prevail- Althoughnot been finelyanalyzed, a fair ingin Iron Age Britain, when estimatewould be thàtabout 20 per- raidingand warfareseem to centof the pits contained some kindof have been endemic,such a specialburial material. There is noth- procedurewould not be sur- ing differentabout these pits,nor is prising; but this is pure thereany apparent significance in their speculation and firmevi- date or locationin the fort.This fact dence,one wayor the other, raises an intriguingpossibility: could it is difficultto find. be thatail the pits once had special Otherkinds of ritualbe- deposits,the majorityof which left no haviormay also becomeap- recognizablearchaeological trace- parentin the archaeological thingssuch as basketsof fruits or veg- evidencewhen the size of etables,blankets, bales ofwool, hides, the data base has become and skinsfilled with mead or been In sufficientto allowrecurring the aerobicalkaline conditions within patternsto be recognized.If, the chalkpits, no traceof this perish- for example,ten pits have able organicmaterial would survive. It been excavatedand in one of is a temptinghypothesis. theman articulatedhorse's Clearly,those specialdeposits that leg has been foundon the are archaeologicallyrecognizable rep- procedureusually consisted of three. bottom,there is littleto be said. Butif resentsome kindof propitiatory offer- separatestages: first,the bodyis ex- a hundredpits have been excavated and ing. One explanationwould be to see posed,often in or nearthe house, dur- inten of them we findhorse legs, always the depositsas thank-offeringsto the ingthe fleeting liminal period in which in the same position,then we can be deitiesboth for successful storage of thespirit is assumedstill to inhabitor confidentthat the recurringpattern the seed grain,and in anticipationof hoveraround the corpse; next, the reflectsdeliberate behavior: the grain'sproviding a productivehar- bodymay have been moved to a resting This is whathappened at Danebury. vest.If this was indeedthe case, itmay place, and finally-often after a con- As the diggingprogressed and more be thatthe pitswere used forstorage siderablelength of time- parts of it and more pits were excavated (the onlyonce. may have been broughtback to the numberhas now reached about 2,000) , But it is equallypossible to suggest house for safekeepingby the family. itbecame evident that certain types of thatthe propitiatoryoffering came at Some such systemwould neatlyex- deposit on the bottomsof pits ap- theend ofa cycleof use, notafter only plainthe lack of regularburials and pearedtime and timeagain. What we one season. Suchan explanationwould thepresence of isolated human bone in were observingwere the dim reflec- requirethe life of every pit to have been occupationlevels. tionsof a complexsystem of beliefs. terminatedwith a specialdeposit.

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This content downloaded from 170.24.130.117 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:37:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions Stillother explanations are possible. der theprotection of the fertility deity twozones wherethe evidence is quite It couldbe thatofferings were made ofthe underworld. To makea propitia- wellfocused: in the southwest,in par- onlyin those pitsin use in the period toryoffering of a lamb,a harnessor ticularthe peninsula of and Corn- followinga bad harvest, so as toensure evena slavein gratitude for the deities' walland southwesternWales; and the thatthe gods were put in a mood to protectionwould be understandable. northeast,in the regioncentered on protectthe next crop yield, grown from the YorkshireWalds- the rollingchalk the seed grainstored in them.In this is muchin all this that must of countrysidenorth of the river Humber. case, therewould be no need to as- Therenecessity be speculative:the cruel Bothareas seem to haveadopted inhu- sumethere were offerings in all pits. realityis thatwe willnever know. But mation, (undergroundburial), as a This exampleshows how tantalizing this uncertaintyshould not make us "normal''mode of interment. inadequatearchaeological evidence so shy of tryingto explainour data in In thesouthwest, burial rite involved oftenis, but it does throwa completely terms of models inspiredby ethno- theinhumation of the dead person,ac- new lighton the behaviorof Iron Age graphicobservation. Where statistical companiedby a fewpersonal posses- communities.Once thepattern of pro- testingis available,so muchthe better. sions, in a small stone-builtcist or pitiatoryburials has been recognized, If all these threadsare pulled to- rock-cutgrave arranged in a cemetery itcan be tracedwidely throughout cen- gether, a distinctivebelief system thatwas oftenof considerable extent. tralsouthern Britain. This burialpat- emerges,exemplified by the Danebury The mostfamous of these cemeteries tern also raises furtherpossibilities. data. Chronologically,this set ofbeliefs was foundearly this centuryin the The use ofstorage pits for storing seed is notclearly manifest in the archaeo- sanddunes of Harlyn Bay on thenorth grainwas verycommon in thisregion logicalrecord before the seventhcen- Cornishcoast. Anotherwas exposed inthe Iron Age. Ifet below-ground stor- turyB.C. and it disappearsduring the on StamfordHill, near Plymouth, more age seems a curioustechnique when at firstcentury B.C. Geographically, itoc- thana centuryago. Herethe elite were the same time the communitywas cupiesa distinctarea ofcentral south- accompaniedby bracelets,brooches buildinglarge above-groundtimber ern Britainwhich is largelycoincident and, morerarely, by finelydecorated granaries,presumably to hold the withthe distributionof large,devel- bronzemirrors. This burial rite is simi- grainit consumed. oped hill-fortsof the Daneburytype. larto thatpracticed across the English Whythe twotechniques of storage, The totalityof the evidencesuggests, Channelin ,and is a reminder side byside in the same settlement?It therefore,that a cohesive regionex- thatthese two regions-both ofthem mightbe arguedthat there was com- isted,the disparate communities being sea-girtpeninsulas -shared a similar pellingreason to keep seed cornin pits boundtogether by a singlecomplex of culturethroughout much of prehistory. safelyhidden from raiders, and that religiousand social systems.This is In the northeast,in Yorkshire,the consumptiongrain could be storedin thebest evidencewe are likelyto find burialrite was entirelydifferent. Here, above-groundgranaries because itwas in the Celtic fringesfor defining dis- the dead were buried in a roughly marginallymore expendable; but this creteethnic entities. square pit, whichwas itselfoften lo^- line of reasoningverges on special But whatof the restof Britain? Can catedwithin a square-ditchedenclosure pleading.A moresatisfactory explana- distinctivebelief patterns be recog- and-in the case of the elite- some- tionwould be to see the seed cornas nizedin other regions in the Earlyand times accompaniedby two-wheeled beingstored in pits so as to placeit un- MiddleIron Age? There are, in fact, chariots,together with other fittings. Untilquite recently, burials of this kind wereonly dimly known from ill-recorded 19th-centuryexcavations. But recent systematicwork by John Dent on be- halfof the HumbersideArchaeological Unit,in the valleyof WetwangSlack, has broughtto lightan amazingarray of new evidence,not onlyof burialsbut also of associated Iron Age settle- ments.This was a timeof rapidly grow- ingpopulation, rising in numbersto a point at which the landscape could hardly accommodate it; in conse- quence, social tensionand aggression intensified. The workof the last 20 yearscan fairlybe saidto haverevolutionized our ideas on IronAge deathritual. What emergesmost clearly are threevery differentzones of belief:the south- westernand the northeasternzones, bothadopting inhumation as the norm Danebury's pit-cemeteriesalso contained complete human andboth sharing much in common with skeletons, as well as pots, tools and horse gear adjacentparts of Europe; and a central

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This content downloaded from 170.24.130.117 on Wed, 13 Nov 2013 09:37:21 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions As the digging progressed, it became evident that certain types of deposit on the bottoms of pits appeared time and time again. southernzone, apparentlyisolated well-preservedbody of a manburied in patchyand inadequate. fromContinental influences, with its the water-logged and anaerobic But these "watery"religious loca- deeplyingrained tradition of excarna- (oxygen-free)peat. At firstit was tionsare notthe only places where the tionand propitiation. thoughtthat the corpse was thevictim Celticgods were worshipped.Classi- This patternseems to holdgood for of a recentmurder. But radiocarbon cal writersrefer to sacredgroves, and mostof the Early and Middle Iron Age, datingsuggests that Lindow man died theirexistence is reflectedin the oc- but some time about 100 B.C. the late in the IronAge. currencesacross Europe ofthe place southeastsection of the country devel- The discoveryoccasioned great ex- nameNemeton. But sacredgroves are oped close linkswith the communities citementamong archaeologists.Bog hardto recognizeconvincingly in the ofnorthern France. These linksproba- bodies had been foundin northern archaeologicalrecord. However,re- blyresulted from a suddenupsurge in Germanyand Denmark,but nothing cent excavationsin southernBritain trade inspiredby rapidlydeveloping likeit had ever come to lightin Britain: havebegun to produceevidence of set- Romaninterests. It was a timeof social here at last was a face fromthe Iron tlementshrines, usually small rectan- andeconomic upheaval, when much of Age. Aftera wholebattery of scientific gularstructures built of timbers set in the old centralsouthern system was techniqueshad been appliedto there- continuoustrenches cut intothe bed- crumbling.Hill-forts ceased to be mains,the salientfacts became clear. rock. The firstof these to be discov- used, storage in pits became ex- Lindowman was about 25 when he eredwas unearthedduring the Second tremelyrare, and a newform of burial died.He was quitetall for the time -1.7 WorldWar when the airportat Heath- rite-cremation and burial in small meters(five feet, eight inches)- and rowwas beingenlarged. More recently, cemeteries-seems to have become hiswell-kept hands showed that he had similarstructures have come to lightin the norm.Barely 150 years laterthe notbeen a manualworker. the hill-fortsat South Cadburyand Romaninvasion introduced a rangeof Justbefore he died, he had had a Danebury,and beneatha laterRoman newbeliefs and burialpractices which mealof porridge or bread.Then came templeon LancingDown in Sussex. swampedthe indigenous systems. violentdeath. A sharpblow to thehead The existenceof these buildings is a Celticreligion was clearlya highly felledhim, a garrottehad been put reasonableindication of formalized and complexpattern of interlocking beliefs aroundhis neck, and he hadbeen bled. permanentreligious activity at certain andrituals. The Romannaturalist Pliny Only then had the body been con- sites.It maywell be thatmany of them theElder once wrote a famousdescrip- signedto the bog. Whohe was andwhy continuedin use as religiouslocations tionof the white-robed Druids gather- he died we willnever know. But it is wellinto the Roman period, since an in- ingmistletoe as it grewon oak trees. temptingto see thisburial, like those creasingnumber of Roman temples, in Theyused goldensickles and cut the of northernEurope, as partof some Britainand in France, are producing plantonly when the moonwas in the complexritual. His death may have evidenceof pre-Romanritual activity. rightquarter, in orderthat the cura- serveda propitiatoryneed, hisresting It was inthis way that many of our local tivepower of the mistletoeshould not placein a marshpool placing him in the Celtic gods-like the water deities, be lost. realms of the presidingunderworld Sulisat Bathand Covantina on Hadrian's Pliny'saccount is a vividreminder of deity.We can onlyspeculate. Wall,or thehunter god Nodens at Lyd- howdifficult itis fora 20th-centuryar- What is remarkableabout Lindow ney in Gloucestershire-continued to chaeologistto approachthe intricacies manis notthat he mayhave been sac- be worshippedby the local population of ancientCeltic religiouspractices. rificedto thegods, but simply that the throughoutthe 400 yearsor so ofthe Butone aspectof Celtic ritual which is conditionsin whichhe was buriedal- Romanoccupation. fairlywell represented in the archaeo- lowedhis flesh, skin and hair to be pre- Standingback fromit all, we can logicalevidence is the use ofsprings, served.(The bog'slack of oxygen was fairlysay thatthe last 20 years have lakes and riversas locationsthrough inimicalto the bacteriaand fungithat seen somethingof a minorrevolution in whichthe gods could be reachedby ordinarilycause decayand decomposi- our understandingof beliefs and ritual meansof votive offerings. Many chance tion.)There maywell have been little amongthe BritishCelts. Previously, discoveriesreflect this practice. One of differencebetween the circumstances rathergeneralized concepts had at- the best knownis the collectionof of his deathand burialand those sur- tempted to integratescattered ar- Early Iron Age metalworkfrom the roundingthe bodies placed carefully in chaeologicaldiscoveries with the anec- Welshlake of Llynfawr. Another is the thebottoms of the abandonedstorage dotal commentsoffered by Classical great hoard of weapons and cart pitsat Danebury. writers.Now, however, this outlook is fittingsfrom the bog at Llyn Cerrig Quite possiblyLindow man is only beginningto be replacedby a moresys- Bach,on theisland of Anglessy. thefirst of many such finds to come. It tematicapproach. What emerges is not is inevitablethat the majorityof ritual wholelyunexpected: the Celts werea evenmore dramatic, discovery depositsin bogs, lakes and riverswill complexpeople witha richand varied An was made in 1984 duringpeat cometo lightaccidentally, as theresult culture,and this fact is reflectedin cuttingin the bog of LindowMoss in of industrial activity,rather than theirbelief systems. Who knows what Cheshire (in the northwestof En- throughplanned and systematicexca- furtherinsights another 20 yearsof ex- gland).The workmencame uponthe vation.The evidencewill therefore be cavationwill yield? □

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