The Atlantic Iron Age: Settlement and Identity in the First Millennium BC/Jon C

The Atlantic Iron Age ‘Jon Henderson’s detailed scholarship makes a major contribution to our under- standing of the Atlantic Seaways in Prehistory. It is essential reading’. Sir Barry Cunliffe, Professor of European Archaeology, University of Oxford ‘A logical and scholarly sequel to Barry Cunliffe’s overview Facing the Ocean, this authoritative survey of the Atlantic Late Bronze Age and Iron Age is a benchmark study of a regional interaction and archaeological identities along the Atlantic façade’. Prof. Dennis Harding,Abercromby Professor of Archaeology, University of Edinburgh It may be surprising to learn that this book is the first ever survey of the Atlantic Iron Age: this tradition is cited in archaeology frequently enough to seem firmly established, yet has never been clearly defined. With this book, Jon C. Henderson provides an important and much-needed exploration of the archaeology of western areas of Britain, Ireland, France and Spain to consider how far Atlantic Iron Age communities were in contact with each other. By examining the evidence for settlement and maritime trade, as well as aspects of the material culture of each area, Henderson identifies distinct Atlantic social identities through time. He also pinpoints areas of similarity: the possibility of cultural ‘cross-pollination’ caused by maritime links and to what extent these contacts influ- enced and altered the distinctive character of local communities. A major theme running through the book is the role of the Atlantic seaboard itself and what impact this unique environment had on the ways Atlantic communities perceived them- selves and their place in the world. As a history of these communities unfolds, a general archaeological Atlantic identity breaks down into a range of regional identities which compare interestingly with each other and with traditional models of Celtic identity. Bringing together the Iron Age settlement evidence for the Atlantic regions in one place for the first time, this excellent and original book is certain to establish itself as the definitive study of the Atlantic Iron Age. Jon C. Henderson is currently Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Nottingham. His areas of research lie within the settlement archaeology of the European Iron Age, with a particular focus on the Atlantic regions of Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany. He is also actively involved in underwater archaeology and in 2004 established the Underwater Archaeology Research Centre at Nottingham. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and a Member of the Institute of Field Archaeologists. The Atlantic Iron Age Settlement and identity in the first millennium BC Jon C. Henderson First published 2007 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park,Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avec, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2007. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2007 Jon C. Henderson Typeset in Bembo by Keyword Group Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall 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. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Henderson, Jon C. The Atlantic Iron Age: settlement and identity in the first millennium BC/Jon C. Henderson. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Iron age--British Isles. 2. Iron age--France--Armorica. 3. Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric--British Isles. 4. Land settlement patterns, Prehistoric--France--Armorica. 5.Trade routes--British Isles. 6.Trade routes--France--Armorica. 7. Civilization, Celtic. 8. Excavations (Archaeology)--British Isles. 9. Excavations (Archaeology)--France-- Armorica. 10. British Isles--Antiquities. 11.Armorica (France)--Antiquities. I. Title. GN780.22.G7H46 2007 936.1--dc22 2007017434 ISBN 0-203-93846-1 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 10: 0-415-43642-7 (hbk) ISBN 10: 0-203-93846-1 (ebk) ISBN 13: 978-0-415-43642-7 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-93846-1 (ebk) Here on the old world’s western edges, The finistères, the ambivalent ends, Where the grey Atlantic, ominous, From the black rocks whose gull-whitened ledges, Break the sheer plunge to the curdled foam, Stretches away to the strange Americas, (a world outside our known allegiance), Here an ancient people find a home. ‘The Western Edges’ by Stuart Piggott 1946 The Piggott Archive, Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford Contents List of figures ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Atlantic Europe: the lands of the continuity of tradition 1 2 Atlantic land and sea 27 3 The Atlantic Late Bronze Age (1200–600 BC)57 4 Atlantic settlement in the first millennium BC 99 5 The Ultima Thule:Atlantic Scotland and Ireland 700 BC–AD 200 150 6 The western approaches: South-west England and Armorica c. 750 BC–AD 200 205 7 Atlantic communities and the sea 282 Notes 305 Abbreviations 320 Bibliography 321 Index 361 Figures 1.1 Atlantic Europe 2 1.2 The north western Atlantic zone 4 1.3 The actual routes and ports-of-call used by Pytheas 8 1.4 Mackinder’s divisions of Atlantic Britain 13 1.5 One of the first archaeological maps of the western sea routes of Britain 15 1.6 Crawford’s 1936 map of the western sea routes 17 1.7 Bowen’s ‘western seaways’ 18 1.8 The main cultural systems of Europe in the first millennium BC 23 2.1 Atlantic Europe as a series of projecting promontories of land linked by areas of sea 29 2.2 Distribution of major metal deposits in the Atlantic zone 31 2.3 The skull and jawbones of a Barbary Ape discovered at Navan Fort, Co. Armagh 44 2.4 Representations of ships on Late Bronze Age rock carvings from either end of the Atlantic 52 2.5 Model gold boat from Broighter dated to the first century BC 53 2.6 Ships represented on Iron Age coins 56 3.1 Regional traditions and sub-sets of the Atlantic Late Bronze Age 59 3.2 Distribution of objects of Atlantic type and Urnfield type at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age 60 3.3 Urnfield expansion into France from the western Rhine-Swiss group 61 3.4 Chronology of the Atlantic Late Bronze Age 62 3.5 Distribution of Irish cauldrons, Breton sickles and double looped axes 64 3.6 Distribution of flesh hooks/spits according to type 65 3.7 Distribution of Ballintober swords and related weapons 66 3.8 Penard-Rosnoën groups 67 3.9 Wilberton-St Brieuc des Iffs groups 68 3.10 Ewart Park and related swords 70 3.11 The distribution of Carp’s Tongue Swords 71 3.12 Carp’s Tongue Complex 72 3.13 The wide European relations of the Vénat hoard 73 3.14 Distribution of Gold Bar Torcs 76 3.15 Distribution of Irish gold and bronze ‘dress-fasteners’ and related bracelets 78 x Figures 3.16 Distribution of Atlantic Late Bronze Age shields 83 3.17 Shields with V-shaped notches 84 3.18 Features of the Atlantic Late Bronze Age 87 3.19 Armorican socketed axes 94 3.20 Distribution of Armorican axes 94 3.21 Distribution of bronze Mindelheim and Thames swords 97 4.1 Late Bronze Age settlements in Atlantic Scotland 102 4.2 Carrigillihy, Co. Cork 104 4.3 Dún Aonghasa,Aran Islands, Co. Galway: Late Bronze Age occupation 106 4.4 Mooghaun, Co. Clare 108 4.5 Prehistoric hut types on Bodmin Moor 110 4.6 Grimspound, Dartmoor 111 4.7 Late Bronze Age settlements on Dartmoor 112 4.8 La Grosse-Roche, Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer, Côtes d’Armor 113 4.9 The initial distributions of Hallstatt C groupings formed around the Adriatic city state zone 118 4.10 Distribution of iron ‘currency’ bars and iron smelting centres in Early Iron Age western Europe 120 4.11 Hallstatt D imports and Early La Tène imports in Armorica 121 4.12 Similarities between Armorican ceramics and western British and Irish bronzework fifth to second centuries AD 124 4.13 Distribution of promontory forts 129 4.14 Multivallate promontory forts in Armorica and south-west England 130 4.15 Barra Head,Western Isles 131 4.16 Kervédan, île de Groix, Morbihan 133 4.17 Cap d’Erquy, Côtes d’Armor 134 4.18 Castle Kenidjack, Cornwall 139 4.19 Doon Esk, Co. Kerry 140 4.20 Treryn Dinas, Cornwall 141 4.21 Plans of Armorican and Cornish souterrains 143 5.1 Distribution of Atlantic roundhouses in Atlantic Scotland 151 5.2 Typical features of complex Atlantic roundhouse architecture 152 5.3 Atlantic roundhouses in Northern Scotland 155 5.4 Complex Atlantic roundhouse villages 157 5.5 Complex Atlantic roundhouses in the Western Isles 159 5.6 Excavated wheelhouses 160 5.7 Atlantic roundhouses in the west 162 5.8 Atlantic sites in South-West Scotland 165 5.9 Later prehistoric drystone settlement development in Atlantic Scotland 167 5.10 Cellular settlement forms 169 5.11 The Atlantic Scottish Maritime Continuum 171 5.12 General Atlantic Scottish developments 172 5.13 Drystone sites in Ireland discussed in the text 178 5.14 Dún Aonghasa plan 179 5.15 Range of dates recovered from Dún Aonghasa 181 Figures xi 5.16 Cahercommaun plan 184 5.17 Cahercommaun: plan of inner cashel after excavation 185 5.18 Dunbeg, Co.

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