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Hate or glory: a categorical and experimental consideration of Bronze Age halberds in Scotland in relation to MBA weaponry Rachel Faulkner-Jones Thesis submitted for consideration for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Edinburgh School of History, Classics and Archaeology November 2019 The copyright in this thesis is owned by the author. Any quotation from the thesis or use of any of the information contained in it must acknowledge this thesis as the source of the quotation or information. i ABSTRACT AND LAY SUMMARY Despite being one of the largest collections of their type in Europe, the Early Bronze Age halberds in Scotland have not been catalogued or analysed since Coles’ 1968-9 work. Accordingly, every halberd in Scotland was recorded and catalogued to assess the size and level of preservation of the assemblage. Experimental work using a replica halberd was designed to determine the combat capabilities and limitations of the weapon, and to determine the extent of damage inflicted on the blades during interpersonal combat. Prior to this, experiments using a replica Middle Bronze Age dirk from Friarton, Perthshire were designed to establish the methodology and experimental protocol. During the creation of the experimental protocols, parameters considered included the design and manufacture of the replica, the human tissue analogue used, the layout and audience for the experiment, and the subsequent data analysis. The experimentally derived data on the dirk were compared with extant catalogue data to investigate whether the damage inflicted on the replica blade could be observed on the prehistoric dirks. Following the methodology and experimental protocol refined following the investigations with the replica dirk, the replica halberd experiments were then undertaken, first using SynboneTM as a skeletal tissue proxy, and secondly a pig carcass as a soft tissue proxy. The damage to the replica halberd blades observed following the experiments was analysed and compared to the newly-catalogued prehistoric halberd assemblage An interpretative model synthesising all the halberd data was then derived as one possible interpretation as to the uses and distribution of the halberds; the halberds were shown experimentally to be functional combat weapons, able to be used effectively with no great amount of training or mobility, and the mending and conservation evidence in the prehistoric assemblage is hypothesised to be linked to their role as combat and political power proxies in long-distance communication networks across northern Europe. This thesis consists of 89,646 words. ii DEDICATION For my daughter Ada, an excellent reason for this taking six years instead of three. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people helped in the creation of this work. I am grateful to Magda Midgley, Ian Ralston and Manuel Fernandez-Gotz for their supervision and support. Collecting the halberd data was facilitated by many curators and museum staff without whose cooperation this research would have been impossible. My thanks to Trevor Cowie and Alison Sheridan at the National Museum of Scotland, and the curatorial team in the stores at Grantham; Mark Hall at Perth Museum and Art Gallery; Neil Wilkins and the curatorial team at the British Museum and their Hackney stores; Adam Gwilt at Amgueddfa Cymru/ National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Fiona Marwick at the West Highland Museum, Fort William; Alison Roberts at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Shona Elliot at Marischal College Collections, Aberdeen; Sarah Heaton at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery; Scott Clark at Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland; Jane Flint and Ed Johnson at Glasgow Museum Resource Centre; Helen Chavez, Fiona Clark and James Cowie at Aberdeen Council Museums Services; Stephen Liscoe at Fife Council/Fife Archaeology Unit, and Anne Owen at the Falconer Museum, Forres. I was deeply saddened to learn of Helen Chavez’s passing from Covid-19 in 2020, and extend my sympathies to her family, friends, and colleagues: she is missed. I am grateful for the advice and assistance of Ronan O’Flaherty, Derek Hall, Peter Bray, Brian Read at the Journal of Historical Metallurgy, and Jean Turnbull of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. The practicalities of the experimental work were facilitated by Simon Timberlake and Fergus Milton at Butser Experimental Farm; my thanks to them for sharing their experience and knowledge so readily. Neil Burridge made all the replicas and was invaluable in understanding the capabilities of these weapons; I am grateful to him for sharing his expertise. Mark Young at the Edinburgh College of Art was invaluable in repairing the replica dirk and in sharing his knowledge of metal casting and shaping. The skeletal experiments were facilitated by Elena Kranioti and Linda Fibiger at the University of Edinburgh; the experiments undertaken during the third lockdown in early 2021 were facilitated by Andrew Barlow and Robin Bendry at the University of Edinburgh, and Alan Faulkner-Jones at Heriot-Watt University. iv This work was presented in part at the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Research Student Symposium in 2014 in Bradford, and at Graduate Archaeology Oxford in 2015. My thanks to all of the organisers, presenters and attendees at these for stimulating discussion and lively debate. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ xii ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................................................... xix LIST OF PUBLICATIONS BY THE CANDIDATE ..................................................... xx Chapter 1 – Introduction ................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Aims and Objectives.................................................................................. 3 1.3 Structure of the Thesis ............................................................................... 4 Chapter 2 – Literature Review .......................................................................................... 8 2.1 Metallurgy and the Smiths......................................................................... 8 2.2 Chronology and Demarcation from the Neolithic ................................... 15 2.3 Weapons and the Existence of a Warrior Elite ........................................ 21 2.4 Halberds: Etymology, Origins, Dating, Typology, and Distribution ...... 22 2.4.1 Distribution ............................................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Dating ........................................................................................................ 28 2.4.3 Typology ................................................................................................... 30 2.4.4 Use ............................................................................................................ 35 2.5 Dirks or Rapiers: Etymology, Origins, Typology, Dating and Distribution 37 2.5.1 Origins ....................................................................................................... 38 2.5.2 Typology ................................................................................................... 38 2.5.3 Dating ........................................................................................................ 41 2.5.4 Distribution ............................................................................................... 42 2.6 Scotland in the European Bronze Age ..................................................... 43 2.7 Theoretical Approaches ........................................................................... 48 2.7.1 Queer Theory ............................................................................................ 48 vi 2.7.2 Gender and Feminist Theory ..................................................................... 49 2.7.3 Post-colonial Theory ................................................................................. 52 2.8 Combat Theory ........................................................................................ 53 2.8.1 Inter-personal Combat and the Scale of Fighting ..................................... 54 2.8.2 Non-violent Functions of a Violent Symbol ............................................. 58 2.9 Application of Theory to Practical Study ...............................................