Late Iron Age & Roman Era Vehicle Terrets
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IRON AGE AND ROMAN-ERA VEHICLE TERRETS FROM WESTERN AND CENTRAL BRITAIN: AN INTERPRETIVE STUDY Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester By ANNA SIÂN GRODECKA LEWIS School of Archaeology and Ancient History University of Leicester 2015 Iron Age and Roman-era Vehicle Terrets from Western and Central Britain: an interpretive study This thesis presents an interpretive study into the development, distribution, use and deposition of Iron Age and Roman-era terrets, or rein-guides, from western and central Britain. It is the first in-depth study of terrets as an artefact class and, unlike previous catalogues of Iron Age or “Celtic” metalwork, includes terrets of Continental or Roman stylistic origin as well as the “D-shaped” British series. The accompanying database records 596 terrets from within the study area. The “D-shaped” series first emerged around the third century BC, and appears to have taken a stylistic leap in the early first century AD, when terret design became increasingly varied and frequently involved the inclusion of colourful enamels. From the mid-first century AD, Continental-influenced forms became widespread in Britain. The D-shaped series continued to evolve, whilst adhering to basic conventions and constraints, until chariotry fell into decline around the end of the first century AD. The thesis re-assesses dating evidence for the development of the artefact class, and proposes a new typology organised into three main typo-chronological groups. The inter-relation of D-shaped and Continental varieties is investigated, the distribution across the study area of different forms compared, and depositional contexts reviewed. The social significances of D-shaped terrets in particular are also considered, as communicated both through their artistic development and through the behaviours evident in their deposition. Moving from the Late Iron Age into the Early Roman era, the thesis makes use of object theory and post-colonial theory to interpret the changing social roles of terrets in the context of Roman invasion and occupation. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This PhD was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and by Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Cardiff. I would like to express my gratitude to both organisations. I would also like to thank the AHRC for an award of additional funding in the form of a Research Training Support Grant, which enabled me to record terrets at museums throughout the study area. I have received help from many people while researching and writing this thesis. I would like to thank Colin Haselgrove for all his advice and guidance. The project has benefited greatly from the input of National Museum Wales, Cardiff, particularly from the expertise of Adam Gwilt. During the early stages of research, I contacted staff at over 200 museums and Historic Environment Records, to ask for information about local terrets. Whilst there are too many names to list here, I am grateful to everyone who responded. I would also like to thank the museum staff who allowed me “behind the scenes” to study terrets in their collections, and with whom I had many valuable conversations. Thanks also to those who, in writing or in person, were kind enough to share with me aspects of their own research: especially Helen Anderson, Mary Davis, Jennifer Foster, Robert Hurford, Clare Randall and Katherine Robbins. I could not have completed the PhD without the practical and moral support of my family. I would like to thank my father, Stephen Lewis, for all the time and care that went into illustrating the terret typology, and also for proof-reading large sections of the thesis. Thanks to my mother, Barbara Lewis, for all of her encouragement and good cheer. I would like to thank my sister, Philippa Lewis, for wise advice, and for the stellar example she has set in her own work. I am very grateful to my grandmother, Mary Grodecki, for putting me up when I first moved to Leicester, and for her continued generosity. Thanks also to Margaret and Martin Landrygan, for making me so welcome during my visits to Cardiff. Finally I would like to thank my partner, Rhys Landrygan, for moving with me to Leicester, and for his confidence and patience. ii CONTENTS Abstract i Acknowledgements ii List of tables viii List of figures ix List of distribution maps xi Introduction 1 Chapter One: Terrets in existing archaeological literature 5 1.1 What is a terret? 5 1.1.1 D-shaped terrets: practical use 7 1.1.2 Terminology 10 1.2 Existing terret typologies 11 1.2.1 Summary of terret typologies 12 1.2.2 Chronology and distribution 15 1.2.3 Synthesis of existing typologies 15 1.2.4 Debates around the typologies: “massive” and “mini” terrets 16 1.2.5 Limitations to the existing typologies 19 1.3 Terrets in other archaeological literature 23 1.4 Other artefact studies 33 Chapter Two: Theoretical framework 35 2.1 Object theory and artefact study 35 2.1.1 Objects, people and conspicuous consumption 35 2.1.2 “General” and “special” artefacts and spheres 37 2.1.3 Things-in-motion, society in flux: a theoretical approach to artefact study 39 2.2 Identifying “social groups” and “social identities” in Iron Age Britain 40 2.3 Post-colonial theory in archaeology, and challenging “Romanisation” 44 iii 2.4 Towards a new typology of terrets: theoretical concerns and approaches 49 Chapter Three: Methodology 53 3.1 The project parameters 53 3.1.1 Geographical research area 53 3.1.2 Chronological scope of the project 56 3.1.3 Excluded artefact types 57 3.1.4 Research timeframe 59 3.2 Data collection 60 3.2.1 Resources used 60 3.2.2 Museum visits 62 3.3 Construction of the database 62 3.3.1 Using the database 65 3.4 Terrets from the study area: summaries of database statistics 65 3.5 Construction of the typology 69 3.6 Analysis of terret composition 70 3.6.1 The potentials and limitations of XRF analysis 71 3.6.2 The use of XRF in the present study 72 Chapter Four: Emergence and development: a new typo-chronology of terrets from western and central Britain 74 4.1 The typology 74 4.2 Breakdown of terret types 87 4.2.1 Other forms from outside the study area 99 4.3 Discussion: the chronological structure of the typology 100 4.3.1 Early forms 101 4.3.2 Later forms: manufacture and deposition 104 4.3.3 The stylistic dating of later terret forms 107 4.3.4 Imported forms: depositional contexts 112 4.3.5 Terrets of ambiguous date, miscellaneous terrets and questionable terrets 114 4.4 Metallurgical analysis: case studies 114 4.4.1 Hunsbury hillfort 114 4.4.2 The Polden Hills hoard 115 4.4.3 Dungworth’s (1997) assemblage 116 4.4.4 Conclusions 118 4.5 Summary: the chronology of terrets within the study area 120 4.6 Discussion: the emergence of terrets in Britain 121 4.7 Discussion: British terrets in a European context 125 iv Chapter Five: Terret manufacture, use and artistic character 133 5.1 Terret manufacture and use 133 5.1.1 Manufacture 133 5.1.2 Imported-form terrets: practical use 139 5.2 Terret design and artistic character 140 5.2.1 D-shaped terrets as Celtic art: communication through imagery; the significance of the horse; the interaction of the secular with the divine 140 5.2.2 Comparison: the artistic qualities of D-shaped and imported terret forms 150 Chapter Six: Analysis of distribution 153 6.1 Distribution maps: some caveats 153 6.2 Distribution maps and summaries 157 6.3 Interrogation of the data 179 Chapter Seven: Terrets and social identity: distribution and deposition in the third to first centuries BC 181 7.1 The problem of personal identity 181 7.2 The distribution of early-form terrets and other Iron Age harness-gear 183 7.2.1 The distribution of early-form terrets 183 7.2.2 The distribution of simple terrets 186 7.2.3 Comparative artefacts: Iron Age harness-gear recorded through the PAS 187 7.3 Terret distribution and social identity 191 7.3.1 Depositional contexts 191 7.3.2 The expression of social relations; different identities at different scales; widespread and localised terret forms 192 Chapter Eight: Terrets and social identity: distribution and deposition from the first century AD 197 8.1 The distribution of later-form D-shaped terrets 197 8.1.1 Comparison: the regional distribution and density of early- and later-form terrets 197 8.1.2 The regional distribution of later-form terrets: localised and widespread forms 199 v 8.2 New terret forms and new technologies 204 8.2.1 Changes to terret design and technology 204 8.2.2 The distribution of imported terret forms 205 8.2.3 Comparison: the regional distribution of early-, simple, later- and imported-form terrets 209 8.3 Terrets and the Roman invasion 212 8.3.1 Iron Age and Roman-era depositional contexts 212 8.3.2 Terrets recovered from Roman military contexts 214 8.3.3 Comparative artefacts: the distribution of Roman-introduced artefact types 216 8.3.4 Terrets and the Roman army: conclusions 219 8.4 Hybridity and distinction: the relationship between imported and traditional terret forms 220 8.5 Integration versus integrity: changes in the British harness-gear tradition 227 Chapter Nine: Rites of passage: terrets in the landscape 234 9.1 Humans in the landscape: theoretical approaches 234 9.1.1 Passage through the land: chariot warfare 235 9.1.2 Passage through the land: chariots in ritual and ceremony 237 9.1.3 Chariots, carts and wagons: everyday transport 246 9.2 Roads and routes 248 9.2.1 Roads and route-ways in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain 248 9.2.2 The relationship between terret distribution and roads 249 9.3 Terrets in the landscape