Scottish Early Bronze Age Metalwork by John M
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Scottish Early Bronze Age Metalwork by John M. Coles f thio s m pape completo ai t e s i r Th publicatioe eth f Scottisno h Bronz metalworke eAg , following a study of that of the Late Bronze Age (Coles 1960) and the Middle Bronze Age (Coles 1964) evidence Th . e availabl studier efo s base Earln do y Bronz metalwore eAg k differs markedly fro lateme th tha rr periodsfo t arrangemene Th . materiaf to l nominall Middle th f yo e Bronze eAg (c. 1500-900 B.C.), flanged axes, palstaves, looped-spearheads and rapiers, depends almost entirely upon typology absence th n i ,f associate eo d finds, eithe Late f grave hoardso f rth o e r r so Fo . Bronze Age (c. 900-600 B.C.), numbers of hoards are available for study, but graves are practically unknown. Lac evidencf ko buriaf eo l practices involvin depositioe gth metaf no l artifacts during the period from c. 1400 to c. 600 B.C. makes it necessary to study the metal products in virtual isolationEarle th r y BronzFo . e Age, however, ther ranga s ei evidencf eo e available which allows a study based upon several different approaches. These include not only typology and distribu- tions as in previous studies, and associations in hoards, but also grave-groups with pottery associations, metal-analyses and correlations with stone moulds, not generally available for post- Early Bronze Age metalwork. In this paper all of these avenues are explored, but in varying degree detailf so . Typolog distributiond yan s continu haveo t dominanea attempty rolean n i ,o t t organis mase e th materiaf so l generally described onl Earle 'os ya fth y Bronze Age'. Hoardd san grave-associations are employed in correlating the various industries or traditions found in Scotland, and in providing some chronological positioning. Pottery remains a disappointing elemen thin i t s particular study, primarily because basie mucth f cho wor groupingn ko , dating and publication remains to be done. Although some aspects of the associated Beaker and Food Vessel traditions have been examined recently, the precise relationship between these wares and their contemporary metal products is not treated in this paper. An attemp bees ha tn mad relato et stone eth e mould Earle th f yso Bronz wite ehAg their metal products, and some degree of correlation is claimed not only on a presence, but also on an absence, basis. The absence of suitable moulds for certain distinctive metal artifacts suggests outside source somr sfo e products independenn A . t assessmen thif o t s clai mpossibls i e through the use of metal analyses provided by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Metallurgie at Stuttgart; all available analyse Scottisf so h Early Bronz metalwore eAg listee groupkd ar dan distinguishede sar . Further work on the analyses is at present being carried out by the writer and Mr A. Balfour, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, and it is hoped to present the results in due course. metalwore Middle thath s Th f o wa t es a treateBronzs k sami e y th (Colee ewa n di eAg s 1964). Each basic typ artifacf eo describes ti illustrated analysede an th d thee dan s ar n discussed. This is followed by a general discussion of the nature of the grouping of the industries. A chrono- logical scheme is presented, which purports to distinguish the various traditions or industrial schools present in Early Bronze Age Scotland. Throughout the paper a 'traditional' chronology is maintained. The bulk of the paper, however, lies in the catalogue (Appendices A-E) which lists all metal finds believed to be of the Early Bronze Age. The lists have been compiled from | PROCEEDING 2 S OF THE SOCIETY, 1968-9 periodicals and monographs, and from museum tours in Scotland and England. They probably contain over 95% of all material in museums and known private collections, but there is a con- siderable quantity of Bronze Age artifacts now lost, and referred to only as 'celts' or 'axeheads' in early papers. These may have been of bronze, but may also have been of flanged or socketed types. It is profitless to include these in a chronologically limited paper such as this is. The notes Appendio t providxA e further informatio materian no l which checkingn ,o bees ,ha n foune b o dt lackin verifiabln gi e detaifind-spoo t s a l t and/or association. It must be remembered that this paper is only concerned with metalwork, and that the typologies described are purely internal. They do not necessarily apply elsewhere, and are de- signed solel indicato yt range eth developmend ean f metao t l industrie Earln i s y Bronze eAg Scotland. Any such regional scheme may well have to be defined again before incorporation in any wider geographical system, such as may develop for the British Isles in due course. FLAT AXES Of the 300 axes with Scottish provenances, only 9 are of the type generally called broad- butted axe r thick-butteso d axes (Britton 1963), Lough Ravel type axes (Harbison 1968; 1969), or Type A axes (Case 1966). For convenience these will be called Type A axes. Type A axes are roughly trapezoidal in plan, with a butt wide in relation to the blade-width (fig. 1). Generally the blade is less than twice as wide as the butt, in contrast to the axes of Type B (see below) wher blade eth almoss ei t alwaythrer o o e stw time butt e sidee wids sth a f Th s .so e a Typ straighfore y b axe my esmootma A a r sma to h concave line from but bladeo t but e s Th ti . generalld flaan t y straight, formin grigha t angle wit sides e sidee hth Typf Th s.o axe eA alse sar o flat verr o , y slightly rounded tha o junctioe s , tth sidf axe-facend o ean s for abrupn ma t anglet I . is likely that several distinct typological group smale presene th axe e sar t lTypf th bu so n , i t eA quantit axef yo s involved here doe t allo subdivisionsy no wan shape e generale n I th . th f f o s o l ,al Scottish Typ axe eA representee sar severae th n di l hundred surviving example f Irisso h TypeA axes (Harbison 1969). Typ axeeA s from Britai Ireland nan d hav basiea c resemblanc trapeze-shapeo et d axef so western and central Europe. Case has shown, however, that very few of the Irish Type A axes compare closel dimensionn yi s with axes from continental Europe continentae ,th l axes tendino gt be rather angula shapn ri e with straight side buttd san . ScottisSome th f eo h Typf o axee A e sar this angular type t otherbu , s posses concave sth e sides that characterise majoritsa Irisf yo h Type A axes whicd an , h have been take represeno nt locaa t l productio Typf no axeeA s alteree th y db knowledg secona f eo shapee dax , tha Typf o t axeeB s (see below). distributioe Th Typf no axeesparsA o to s comment r s (figi efo ) thos2 f . o l eAl .analyse e dar copper without tin, with lead, nickel, bismuth and iron undetected or with only a trace present. Arsenic, antimon silverd yan , however presene ar , mediun i t mhigo t h quantities. This metas i l often described as typical of Coghlan and Case's Group I (Coghlan and Case 1957), and is generally reckone Irise b origin ho di t n (se . 54)ep . A minor group of Scottish axes, only 6 in number, should also be considered here. In plan these are Type A but they have thin butts in side-view, a feature of Type B axes. These hybrids (fig. 3) are described in the catalogue as Type AB. They conform in all respects to the abundant Irish Ballybeg axes (Harbison 1969) . withoue Thesar o e eto tth tinf o , e excepar axee d on tan , same general composition as the axes of Type A. Type A axes have no associations in Scotland. In Ireland the Knocknague, Co. Galway, hoard contains three fla t thinned-butta axes s whicf ha o , e hon , thre flae eton awl tangedd san - COLES: SCOTTISH EARLY BRONZ METALWORE EAG K n\ V FIG. 1. Axes of Type A: 1 St Andrew's-Lhanbryd (Mr 24); 2 Cumbernauld (Dn 1); 3 Knock and Pitlochr; 8) n Mint22)r 6 (L Maizy; (P 10)4 g o; (Re(W . i x9) dagger (Harbison 1968,53). Another associated find, from Whitespots . Down,Co , link groovesa d dagger, a flat and probably tanged-dagger, and a flat axe which appears to be a hybrid between Types A and B. This hoard has been taken to demonstrate the association of Beaker-type objects (Type A axe and tanged-dagger) with objects connected with the 'impact-phase' of Case, when central European technological advances were extende Britise th o dt h Isles (Case se e d 1966an , p. 9 below). overwhelminn A g majorit Scottisf yo ) (fig4 . hTypf o axe . e TypeB s ar axee B charac e sar - terised abovtheiy converginb e l rax eal thi e faceo n th thi a sometime d f butttw s o o gn t an e th , s sharp butte edg plath n I t .e a n these axes exhibit considerable variation t generallbu , widte yth h of the axe-blade is two or three times greater than that of the butt.