LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONSFig.Page1.Copper Halbert, Birr find,72.Copper celts, Birr find,83.Copper knife and awls found at Knocknague,94.Copper celts,105.Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork,116.Stone mould for casting celts,127.Halbert blades,138.Halbert blades,149.Halbert blades,1510.Halbert blades,1611.Halberts from North Germany and Sweden,1812.Halberts from South and East Spain,1913.Rock markings, Maritime Alps,2014.Stone pick from the Bann,2115.Deer-horn pick,2116.Ornamented bronze celts,24Plate I,Irish bronze celts in the order of their development,2417.Ornamented bronze celts,2518.Ornamented bronze celts,2619.Winged celt,2720.Winged celt,2721.Palstave with double loops,2722.Bronze anvil,2823.Bronze hammers,2824.Dagger and spear-heads,2925.Spear-heads,3026.Spear-heads,3127.Rapier and spear-head,3128.Leaf-shaped spear-heads,3229.Ornamented socket of spear-head,3230.Leaf-shaped spear-heads found at the Ford, Belturbet,3331.Spear-heads with loops joining the blade,3432.Spear-heads,3433.Ornamental spear-heads, with openings in the blade,3534.Portion of spear-head, with studs at the base of the wings,3535.Spear-heads with openings in the blades,3636.Spear-heads with ornamental loops in the blades,3737.Spear-head found at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh,3738.Half of mould for casting a socketed spear-head, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,3839.Half of mould for casting a spear-head and dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,3940.Mould for casting a spear-head and knife, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,4041.Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in Co. Tyrone,4142.Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in Co. Tyrone,4243.Half of mould for casting spear-head and dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,4344.Bronze spear-ferules,4445.Bronze spear-ferule with La Tène ornament,4446.Gold lunula found at Trenta, Carrigans, Co. Donegal,4747.Gold lunula found in Co. Galway,4848.Gold lunula,4949.Gold lunula found at Killarney,5050.Oak case for lunula found at Newtown, Co. Cavan,5151.Gold lunula found at Valognes, Manche,5152.Gold lunula found in Co. Londonderry,5253.Gold lunula found at Athlone,5454.Map showing the distribution of gold lunulæ in Ireland and Europe,5555.Stone celt, bronze dagger with gold band, and urn, found in Topped MountainCairn, Co. Fermanagh,5656.Dagger and rapier blades,5757.Dagger with horn handle found at Ballymoney, Co. Antrim,5958.Rapier found in Upper Lough Erne,5959.Rapier found at Lissane, Co. Derry,5960.Rapiers and daggers found in Ireland,6161.Gold gorget found in Ireland, formerly in the possession of the Earl of Charleville,62Plate II,Irish gold gorgets,62Plate III,gold sun-disks,64Plate IV,portion of the great Clare find,6662.Gold fibulæ and other objects found together at Coachford, Co. Cork,67Plate V,gold fibulæ,6863.Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, showing Europeans holding manillas,6864.Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, showing natives holding manillas,69Plate VI,gold ring-money,7065.Leaf-shaped bronze swords found with a spear-head at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh,7266.Bronze chapes,7367.Winged chapes,7368.Bronze shield found at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick,7469.Alder-wood shield found in Co. Leitrim,7570.Front and back of leather shield, found at Clonbrin, Co. Longford,76Plate VII,gold torcs from Tara and elsewhere,78Plate VIII,gold torcs,78Plate IX,gold torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter,8071.Two late Bronze-Age finds,8372.Late Bronze-Age horse-hair fabrics from Armoy, Co. Antrim,8473.Bronze implements, Co. Tipperary,8574.Bronze implements found at Kilfeakle, Co. Tipperary,86Plate X,bronze trumpets,8875.Mould for casting a sickle, found at Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,8976.Bronze sickles,9077.Bronze sickles,9178.Bronze disk,9279.Bronze button,9280.Incense cup,9481.Cinerary urn,9482.Food-vessel with cover, Danesfort, Co. Kilkenny,9583.Cinerary urn, Carballybeg, Co. Waterford,96Plate XI,food-vessels in the order of their development,9684.Model of cinerary urn from Greenhills, Co. Dublin,9785.Cinerary urn, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone,98THE BRONZE AGE IN IRELAND———————CHAPTER IIntroductionThis book deals with the Bronze Age principally from the point of view of the implements and weapons in use in Ireland during that period. It is unnecessary to state that the materials for writing anything like a full account of the civilization or political organization during the Bronze Age do not exist; and even the ethnological affinities of the dominant race that inhabited Ireland during this period are doubtful. All that can be said is that there was apparently no gap between the end of the Neolithic Period and the transitional Copper to Bronze Period. Stone weapons continued in use side by side with those of copper and bronze; and the form of the former was sometimes actually influenced by those of the latter.There has been so little scientific excavation in Ireland that the question as to the early burial-customs is surrounded with difficulty; such evidence as there is points to cremation having been practised early, as was also the case in Great Britain. Instances show that the two rites of inhumation and cremation were practised side by side.In the cairn excavated on Belmore Mountain, County Fermanagh, both burnt and unburnt interments were found with pottery and other objects of early Bronze-Age type.[1]At a recent excavation near Naas, County Kildare, a burnt interment was discovered in a cist, the remains being associated with a wrist-bracer and remains of pottery.[2]In the fine series of cairns on Carrowkeel Mountain, County Sligo, burnt and unburnt interments were found associated with pottery, bone implements, and stone beads.[3]At Annaghkeen, County Galway, a cremated burial was discovered in a cist associated with pottery and a small bronze knife-dagger and awl.[4]The Hon. John Abercromby gives a list of food-vessels found with cremated burials in Ireland, and to these must be added a food-vessel of early type found in 1912 in a quarry at Crumlin, County Dublin. It must, however, be left for future excavations to decide many questions to which at present no answer, or only a doubtful one, can be given. This, however, is certain—Ireland during the Bronze Age was not isolated, but stood in direct communication with the Continent. Ægean and Scandinavian influences can be detected in the great tumuli of the New Grange group[5]; and Iberian influence is discernible in some of the later types of bronze implements. Ireland, as will be shown in the chapters dealing directly with the gold objects, was, during the Bronze Age, a kind of western El Dorado, owing to her great richness in gold; Irish gold ornaments have been found both on the Continent and in Scandinavia; while Scandinavian amber has been found in Ireland. As will be seen on p.81, the Bronze-Age people were acquainted with the art of weaving; and fine ornaments of horse-hair were sometimes used. The art of making pottery by hand was carried to a high degree of excellence. Shaving must have been fairly common, judging by the number of bronze razors found. We shall find evidence further on in this work to show that corn was probably grown and agriculture fairly advanced.The great tumuli at New Grange and the lesser ones at Carrowkeel show that the art of building was well developed, and that the religious ideals of the people had attained a certain fixed form. What the actual dwellings occupied by the people were we cannot say; but it is probable that many of the promontory-forts and some at least of the larger cashels and ring-forts date back to this period. There remain, however, many questions which, as we have said, must be kept over for future investigations.The Chronology of the Irish Bronze AgeSome discussion as to the absolute chronology of the Bronze Age in Ireland will, no doubt, be expected, though any attempts to give actual dates can only be approximate; the succession of types is really of considerably more importance than the actual date, as such a succession enables objects, finds, and interments to be arranged in a progressive series, and shows the general trend of advance and culture. The doyen of prehistoric archæology, Dr. Oscar Montelius, of Stockholm, has been the pioneer of the study of the prehistoric chronology of Europe, his chronology of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia having been published as far back as 1885. Since then he has published the results of his studies of the Bronze-Age chronologies of Greece and Italy, and of France, Belgium, South Germany, and Switzerland. More recently (1908) he has put forward the chronology of the British Islands in a notable memoir published in Archæologia. It may be mentioned that Dr. Montelius visited Ireland some years ago, and speaks with the greater authority as having personally examined the actual Irish evidence.In this memoir Dr. Montelius divides the Bronze Age of Great Britain and Ireland into five periods, and includes in his first period the transitional time when copper was in use(Copper Period), which he places at from the middle of the third to the beginning of the second millenniumb.c.Now, though the division of the Irish Bronze Age into five periods may be accepted, we should hardly care to place the first period as early as Dr. Montelius suggests; and without going into the question of the time at which the period commenced, we might take the period of its ending at from about 2000-1800b.c.In this period would be included the flat copper celts of early form, copied from the stone celts of the preceding Neolithic Period, some few small, flat knife-daggers of copper, and the earliest of the halberds. Stone implements, no doubt, remained largely in use; and the very finely decorated hammer-axes probably belong to this period.It is possible that gold—which, on account of its colour and appearance on the surface of the ground, must have been one of the metals first noticed and made use of in prehistoric times—was used for making ornaments at this period, or possibly, as Prof. Gowland suggests, may have been hammered into ornaments even during the preceding Neolithic Age.[6]There is, however, no gold object in the National Collection which we should care to place so early.The second division of the Bronze Age (the first period of the true Bronze Age) would fall between 1800 and 1500b.c.; and in it would be included, as the principal types, the flat bronze celts—including those with the edge much wider than the blade—flanged celts, small bronze daggers, the later halberds, jet buttons with conical perforations, and the early types of jet necklaces, and probably the gold lunulæ.The third period might be placed at from 1500 to 1250b.c., and the principal types falling within it are flanged celts with stop-ridges, tanged spear-heads, and larger dagger-blades, sometimes with bronze handles.The fourth period, which was long, and during which a considerable development takes place, might be placed at from1280 to 900b.c.This period includes the later type of celts with increased stop-ridge and flanges (palstaves), and some of the earlier forms of socketed celts, long rapiers, the earlier type of leaf-shaped swords, and the looped and leaf-shaped spear-heads, gold torcs, and possibly some of the bronze fibulæ, and sickles without sockets; the disk-headed pins and bronze razors may be placed either at the end of this time or the beginning of the next period. In this period must also be placed the building of the great tumuli of the New Grange group.The fifth division—also a long one—would go from 900 to about 350b.c., at which time iron weapons were probably coming into general use in Ireland. In this period would fall the socketed celts, including the latest type, which takes a form not uncommon among iron or steel axes, the later bronze swords with notches below the blades, bronze sword-chapes, the socketed sickles, probably some of the more highly ornamented bronze spears with apertures in the blades, the bronze trumpets, the gold fibulæ, and gold gorgets. It must be remembered that the Continental Hallstatt period is not at present well represented in Great Britain and Ireland, and though, under Hallstatt influence, certain Continental Iron-Age types such as bronze caldrons, trumpets, round shields, &c., found their way into Ireland, we cannot as yet definitely separate this period from the end of the Bronze Age.CHAPTER IITransitional Copper PeriodIn Ireland the metal first used was copper. Native copper is plentiful in Ireland, and has been chiefly obtained from the Counties of Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, and Galway. In Waterford stone implements have been found in copper mines in ancient workings, showing copper was mined for at an early period.[7]The time during which copper was in use was probably relatively only a short one, much shorter than the Neolithic Period or than the true Bronze Age. The evidence for this period is the large number of flat copper celts which have been found in the north and south, and east and west, of the country. The earliest copper celts resemble in form the stone celts from which they are derived, and were cast in open moulds on one side only, and then hammered flat on the other. Moulds for casting celts in this way have been found in Ireland. It is also extremely interesting to notice that some stone celts betray the influence of metal types by their form. It may be well here to meet an objection that has been raised against a special use of copper in Ireland. It has been urged that the large number of flat copper celts may have been due to a scarcity of tin, and that as copper cannot be cast in closed moulds, casters who could cast advanced forms of bronze celts were obliged to return to the primitive form necessary for casting in an open mould. Copper ores are, however, very rarely found in a pure state, and the small impurities of antimony, arsenic, &c., combine in the smelting with the copper, and lend a hardness and ductibility which would enable it to be cast in closed moulds.[8]The analyses ofIrish copper celts agree among themselves, and substantially with those from other countries, the small quantities of tin, antimony, arsenic, &c., which are found being due to impurities in the ore. The celts may be taken to be of copper, and not of poor bronze.[9]The earliest copper celts resemble the stone celts from which they are derived; some of them are small. A development takes place throughout the series, the celts becoming larger and the edges thinner as they approach the bronze forms. No trace of a stop-ridge is ever found on copper celts.Fig. 1.—Copper Halberd, Birr find.The principal finds are as follows:—1. Three copper celts, three copper awls, and a copper knife found, in 1874, in a bog at Knocknague, Kilbannon, County Galway. Purchased from the finder, Michael Rafferty, by the Royal Irish Academy. (Fig.3.)2. Three copper celts, a fragment of a fourth (butt-end), a copper halberd, and a short blade of copper of somewhat similar form, found in 1892, near Birr, King’s County, formerly in the collection of Mr. Robert Day, of Cork. (Fig.2.)3. Three copper celts found in 1868, when ploughing at Cullinagh, near Beaufort, Killarney, County Kerry. (Day Collection.)4. Two large and well-formed copper celts found together in street excavations in Suffolk Street, Dublin, in May, 1857. (Ray Collection.) (Fig.4, nos. 1 and 7.)Fig. 2.—Birr find.5. Two copper celts found together at Clontoo, near Kenmare, County Kerry, in 1906. (Fig.4, nos. 2 and 3.)6. Six copper celts found together at Cappeen, County Cork.The distribution, analyses, types, and finds show that the copper celts represent a period when copper was in common use throughout Ireland and before bronze was generally known. The celts from the Ray Collection mentioned above show that the fully developed celt was in use during this period, while the “Birr find” with the halberd shows that the halberd was also known and in use during the full copper period.Fig. 3.—Copper Knife and Awls found at Knocknague.Moulds for casting flat celts, copper and bronze, have been found in the following places in Ireland:—Carrickfergus; Ballymena; Loughgall, County Antrim; Ballynahinch, County Down; and Lough Scur Crannog, County Leitrim.[10]Copper celts have been found practically over the whole country; and the following is a list of those in the National Collection, of which the localities are known, and, as well asthese, there are about eighty for which the provenance has not been exactly recorded:—List of Copper Celts found in Ireland.Antrim, Craigbally, 1 (1897: 111).Fig. 4.—Copper Celts.Cavan, 1 (R. 1685).Cork, Cappeen (6); County Cork, 1 (1881: 136).Donegal, Letterkenny, 1 (1897: 114).Dublin, Suffolk Street, 1857: 2 large copper celts. (Ray Collection.)Galway, Knocknague, Kilbannon, three copper celts, a copper knife, and three copper awls. County Galway, 1. (R. 1660) (Fig.3.)Kerry, Beaufort, Killarney, three copper celts found together in 1868 when ploughing at Cullinagh. (Day Collection.) Clontoo, near Kenmare, two copper celts found together in 1906.Londonderry, in the River Bann, near Coleraine, 1. (W. 3.).Louth, 1. (R. 362).Mayo, Killala, 1 (W. 4.).Fig. 5.—Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork.Meath, Dunshaughlin, 1 (172, W.).Tipperary, Dundrum, 1 (1881: 133).Tyrone, Mountfield, 1 (112: 1897).Waterford, Tramore, 1 (W. 10.).The localities of the following copper celts in other collections are known:—Antrim, 3 (Knowles Collection.)Cork, 5 (Day Collection, about 4. Evans Collection, 1.)Fermanagh, 2 (Day Collection, 1. Evans Collection, 1.)Kerry, 3 (Day Collection.)Kilkenny, 1 (Day Collection.)Fig. 6.King’s County, 8 (Birr three, and five others found in the King’s County. Day Collection.)Limerick, 2 (Day Collection.)Sligo, 2 (Sir John Leslie’s Collection.)HalberdsAs already stated the Birr find shows that the halberd was in use during the full Copper Period; and, though to judge by the form of the celts, we may place it at the end of the period, yet more primitive types are known, and we may therefore presume the halberd goes well back into the Copper Period.The National Collection at Dublin contains forty-nine specimens of these broad coppery blades. In a few cases there may possibly be a doubt as to whether they should be classified as halberds or primitive daggers. The localities of the majorityare not known further than that they have been found in Ireland; but from the known localities they seem, like the copper celts, to have been found in all parts of the island; and local distinctions of type, if they existed, are not now possible.Fig. 7.—Halberd blades.Of the forty-nine mentioned, twenty have localities as follows:—Antrim 1, Cavan 3, Roscommon 2, Galway 8, Meath 1, King’s County 1, Queen’s County 1, Clare 1, Limerick 1,Cork 1. Seven of those from Galway represent a single find, which gives that county an undue proportion.Fig. 8.—Halberd blades.TypesFig. 9.—Halberd blades.Fig. 10.—Halberd blades.What may be considered as the developed or normal type of the Irish halberd blade is slightly but distinctly curved, so that they have been called “scythe-shaped.” They vary from about 9 inches to 15 or 16 inches in length, and from about 3 to4 inches in breadth at the widest part; with few exceptions they have three rivets with large heads. The various sizes are well represented in a find of seven of these blades obtained in 1888 when making the railway near Hollywood, County Galway. They were described as having been found about 2½ feet under the surface of a shallow bog “stuck in a bunch in the ground, with points down. No other relics appeared near them.” We do not think it is any use attempting to place the halberds in aseries of development; and no progression can be claimed for their forms other than that there appears to be a movement of development from the smaller straight blades to the larger and curved blades. In one or two cases the mid rib has been brought to a slight roof-ridge; and a fine example in the late Sir John Evans’ collection shows a well-marked bead down the mid rib (“Bronze Implements,” fig. 331); but in most cases the mid rib is quite plain with a rounded curve in section.AnalysesAnalyses of the halberd blades show that the metal of which they are composed does not differ much from that of the copper celts. A recent analysis of five specimens is appended which shows that the blades are practically of pure copper. This is interesting, as it removes the doubt expressed by Sir John Evans in “Bronze Implements,” p. 265, that “many of these blades have the appearance of being made of copper; but the absence of tin in their composition has not been proved.”
Fig.Page1.Copper Halbert, Birr find,72.Copper celts, Birr find,83.Copper knife and awls found at Knocknague,94.Copper celts,105.Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork,116.Stone mould for casting celts,127.Halbert blades,138.Halbert blades,149.Halbert blades,1510.Halbert blades,1611.Halberts from North Germany and Sweden,1812.Halberts from South and East Spain,1913.Rock markings, Maritime Alps,2014.Stone pick from the Bann,2115.Deer-horn pick,2116.Ornamented bronze celts,24Plate I,Irish bronze celts in the order of their development,2417.Ornamented bronze celts,2518.Ornamented bronze celts,2619.Winged celt,2720.Winged celt,2721.Palstave with double loops,2722.Bronze anvil,2823.Bronze hammers,2824.Dagger and spear-heads,2925.Spear-heads,3026.Spear-heads,3127.Rapier and spear-head,3128.Leaf-shaped spear-heads,3229.Ornamented socket of spear-head,3230.Leaf-shaped spear-heads found at the Ford, Belturbet,3331.Spear-heads with loops joining the blade,3432.Spear-heads,3433.Ornamental spear-heads, with openings in the blade,3534.Portion of spear-head, with studs at the base of the wings,3535.Spear-heads with openings in the blades,3636.Spear-heads with ornamental loops in the blades,3737.Spear-head found at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh,3738.Half of mould for casting a socketed spear-head, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,3839.Half of mould for casting a spear-head and dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,3940.Mould for casting a spear-head and knife, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,4041.Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in Co. Tyrone,4142.Moulds for casting primitive spear-heads found in Co. Tyrone,4243.Half of mould for casting spear-head and dagger, Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,4344.Bronze spear-ferules,4445.Bronze spear-ferule with La Tène ornament,4446.Gold lunula found at Trenta, Carrigans, Co. Donegal,4747.Gold lunula found in Co. Galway,4848.Gold lunula,4949.Gold lunula found at Killarney,5050.Oak case for lunula found at Newtown, Co. Cavan,5151.Gold lunula found at Valognes, Manche,5152.Gold lunula found in Co. Londonderry,5253.Gold lunula found at Athlone,5454.Map showing the distribution of gold lunulæ in Ireland and Europe,5555.Stone celt, bronze dagger with gold band, and urn, found in Topped MountainCairn, Co. Fermanagh,5656.Dagger and rapier blades,5757.Dagger with horn handle found at Ballymoney, Co. Antrim,5958.Rapier found in Upper Lough Erne,5959.Rapier found at Lissane, Co. Derry,5960.Rapiers and daggers found in Ireland,6161.Gold gorget found in Ireland, formerly in the possession of the Earl of Charleville,62Plate II,Irish gold gorgets,62Plate III,gold sun-disks,64Plate IV,portion of the great Clare find,6662.Gold fibulæ and other objects found together at Coachford, Co. Cork,67Plate V,gold fibulæ,6863.Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, showing Europeans holding manillas,6864.Sixteenth-century bronze casting from Benin, showing natives holding manillas,69Plate VI,gold ring-money,7065.Leaf-shaped bronze swords found with a spear-head at Tempo, Co. Fermanagh,7266.Bronze chapes,7367.Winged chapes,7368.Bronze shield found at Lough Gur, Co. Limerick,7469.Alder-wood shield found in Co. Leitrim,7570.Front and back of leather shield, found at Clonbrin, Co. Longford,76Plate VII,gold torcs from Tara and elsewhere,78Plate VIII,gold torcs,78Plate IX,gold torcs from Clonmacnois and Broighter,8071.Two late Bronze-Age finds,8372.Late Bronze-Age horse-hair fabrics from Armoy, Co. Antrim,8473.Bronze implements, Co. Tipperary,8574.Bronze implements found at Kilfeakle, Co. Tipperary,86Plate X,bronze trumpets,8875.Mould for casting a sickle, found at Killymeddy, Co. Antrim,8976.Bronze sickles,9077.Bronze sickles,9178.Bronze disk,9279.Bronze button,9280.Incense cup,9481.Cinerary urn,9482.Food-vessel with cover, Danesfort, Co. Kilkenny,9583.Cinerary urn, Carballybeg, Co. Waterford,96Plate XI,food-vessels in the order of their development,9684.Model of cinerary urn from Greenhills, Co. Dublin,9785.Cinerary urn, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone,98
———————
Introduction
This book deals with the Bronze Age principally from the point of view of the implements and weapons in use in Ireland during that period. It is unnecessary to state that the materials for writing anything like a full account of the civilization or political organization during the Bronze Age do not exist; and even the ethnological affinities of the dominant race that inhabited Ireland during this period are doubtful. All that can be said is that there was apparently no gap between the end of the Neolithic Period and the transitional Copper to Bronze Period. Stone weapons continued in use side by side with those of copper and bronze; and the form of the former was sometimes actually influenced by those of the latter.
There has been so little scientific excavation in Ireland that the question as to the early burial-customs is surrounded with difficulty; such evidence as there is points to cremation having been practised early, as was also the case in Great Britain. Instances show that the two rites of inhumation and cremation were practised side by side.
In the cairn excavated on Belmore Mountain, County Fermanagh, both burnt and unburnt interments were found with pottery and other objects of early Bronze-Age type.[1]At a recent excavation near Naas, County Kildare, a burnt interment was discovered in a cist, the remains being associated with a wrist-bracer and remains of pottery.[2]In the fine series of cairns on Carrowkeel Mountain, County Sligo, burnt and unburnt interments were found associated with pottery, bone implements, and stone beads.[3]At Annaghkeen, County Galway, a cremated burial was discovered in a cist associated with pottery and a small bronze knife-dagger and awl.[4]
The Hon. John Abercromby gives a list of food-vessels found with cremated burials in Ireland, and to these must be added a food-vessel of early type found in 1912 in a quarry at Crumlin, County Dublin. It must, however, be left for future excavations to decide many questions to which at present no answer, or only a doubtful one, can be given. This, however, is certain—Ireland during the Bronze Age was not isolated, but stood in direct communication with the Continent. Ægean and Scandinavian influences can be detected in the great tumuli of the New Grange group[5]; and Iberian influence is discernible in some of the later types of bronze implements. Ireland, as will be shown in the chapters dealing directly with the gold objects, was, during the Bronze Age, a kind of western El Dorado, owing to her great richness in gold; Irish gold ornaments have been found both on the Continent and in Scandinavia; while Scandinavian amber has been found in Ireland. As will be seen on p.81, the Bronze-Age people were acquainted with the art of weaving; and fine ornaments of horse-hair were sometimes used. The art of making pottery by hand was carried to a high degree of excellence. Shaving must have been fairly common, judging by the number of bronze razors found. We shall find evidence further on in this work to show that corn was probably grown and agriculture fairly advanced.
The great tumuli at New Grange and the lesser ones at Carrowkeel show that the art of building was well developed, and that the religious ideals of the people had attained a certain fixed form. What the actual dwellings occupied by the people were we cannot say; but it is probable that many of the promontory-forts and some at least of the larger cashels and ring-forts date back to this period. There remain, however, many questions which, as we have said, must be kept over for future investigations.
The Chronology of the Irish Bronze Age
Some discussion as to the absolute chronology of the Bronze Age in Ireland will, no doubt, be expected, though any attempts to give actual dates can only be approximate; the succession of types is really of considerably more importance than the actual date, as such a succession enables objects, finds, and interments to be arranged in a progressive series, and shows the general trend of advance and culture. The doyen of prehistoric archæology, Dr. Oscar Montelius, of Stockholm, has been the pioneer of the study of the prehistoric chronology of Europe, his chronology of the Bronze Age in Scandinavia having been published as far back as 1885. Since then he has published the results of his studies of the Bronze-Age chronologies of Greece and Italy, and of France, Belgium, South Germany, and Switzerland. More recently (1908) he has put forward the chronology of the British Islands in a notable memoir published in Archæologia. It may be mentioned that Dr. Montelius visited Ireland some years ago, and speaks with the greater authority as having personally examined the actual Irish evidence.
In this memoir Dr. Montelius divides the Bronze Age of Great Britain and Ireland into five periods, and includes in his first period the transitional time when copper was in use(Copper Period), which he places at from the middle of the third to the beginning of the second millenniumb.c.Now, though the division of the Irish Bronze Age into five periods may be accepted, we should hardly care to place the first period as early as Dr. Montelius suggests; and without going into the question of the time at which the period commenced, we might take the period of its ending at from about 2000-1800b.c.In this period would be included the flat copper celts of early form, copied from the stone celts of the preceding Neolithic Period, some few small, flat knife-daggers of copper, and the earliest of the halberds. Stone implements, no doubt, remained largely in use; and the very finely decorated hammer-axes probably belong to this period.
It is possible that gold—which, on account of its colour and appearance on the surface of the ground, must have been one of the metals first noticed and made use of in prehistoric times—was used for making ornaments at this period, or possibly, as Prof. Gowland suggests, may have been hammered into ornaments even during the preceding Neolithic Age.[6]There is, however, no gold object in the National Collection which we should care to place so early.
The second division of the Bronze Age (the first period of the true Bronze Age) would fall between 1800 and 1500b.c.; and in it would be included, as the principal types, the flat bronze celts—including those with the edge much wider than the blade—flanged celts, small bronze daggers, the later halberds, jet buttons with conical perforations, and the early types of jet necklaces, and probably the gold lunulæ.
The third period might be placed at from 1500 to 1250b.c., and the principal types falling within it are flanged celts with stop-ridges, tanged spear-heads, and larger dagger-blades, sometimes with bronze handles.
The fourth period, which was long, and during which a considerable development takes place, might be placed at from1280 to 900b.c.This period includes the later type of celts with increased stop-ridge and flanges (palstaves), and some of the earlier forms of socketed celts, long rapiers, the earlier type of leaf-shaped swords, and the looped and leaf-shaped spear-heads, gold torcs, and possibly some of the bronze fibulæ, and sickles without sockets; the disk-headed pins and bronze razors may be placed either at the end of this time or the beginning of the next period. In this period must also be placed the building of the great tumuli of the New Grange group.
The fifth division—also a long one—would go from 900 to about 350b.c., at which time iron weapons were probably coming into general use in Ireland. In this period would fall the socketed celts, including the latest type, which takes a form not uncommon among iron or steel axes, the later bronze swords with notches below the blades, bronze sword-chapes, the socketed sickles, probably some of the more highly ornamented bronze spears with apertures in the blades, the bronze trumpets, the gold fibulæ, and gold gorgets. It must be remembered that the Continental Hallstatt period is not at present well represented in Great Britain and Ireland, and though, under Hallstatt influence, certain Continental Iron-Age types such as bronze caldrons, trumpets, round shields, &c., found their way into Ireland, we cannot as yet definitely separate this period from the end of the Bronze Age.
Transitional Copper Period
In Ireland the metal first used was copper. Native copper is plentiful in Ireland, and has been chiefly obtained from the Counties of Wicklow, Waterford, Cork, Kerry, Tipperary, and Galway. In Waterford stone implements have been found in copper mines in ancient workings, showing copper was mined for at an early period.[7]The time during which copper was in use was probably relatively only a short one, much shorter than the Neolithic Period or than the true Bronze Age. The evidence for this period is the large number of flat copper celts which have been found in the north and south, and east and west, of the country. The earliest copper celts resemble in form the stone celts from which they are derived, and were cast in open moulds on one side only, and then hammered flat on the other. Moulds for casting celts in this way have been found in Ireland. It is also extremely interesting to notice that some stone celts betray the influence of metal types by their form. It may be well here to meet an objection that has been raised against a special use of copper in Ireland. It has been urged that the large number of flat copper celts may have been due to a scarcity of tin, and that as copper cannot be cast in closed moulds, casters who could cast advanced forms of bronze celts were obliged to return to the primitive form necessary for casting in an open mould. Copper ores are, however, very rarely found in a pure state, and the small impurities of antimony, arsenic, &c., combine in the smelting with the copper, and lend a hardness and ductibility which would enable it to be cast in closed moulds.[8]The analyses ofIrish copper celts agree among themselves, and substantially with those from other countries, the small quantities of tin, antimony, arsenic, &c., which are found being due to impurities in the ore. The celts may be taken to be of copper, and not of poor bronze.[9]The earliest copper celts resemble the stone celts from which they are derived; some of them are small. A development takes place throughout the series, the celts becoming larger and the edges thinner as they approach the bronze forms. No trace of a stop-ridge is ever found on copper celts.
Fig. 1.—Copper Halberd, Birr find.
The principal finds are as follows:—
1. Three copper celts, three copper awls, and a copper knife found, in 1874, in a bog at Knocknague, Kilbannon, County Galway. Purchased from the finder, Michael Rafferty, by the Royal Irish Academy. (Fig.3.)
2. Three copper celts, a fragment of a fourth (butt-end), a copper halberd, and a short blade of copper of somewhat similar form, found in 1892, near Birr, King’s County, formerly in the collection of Mr. Robert Day, of Cork. (Fig.2.)
3. Three copper celts found in 1868, when ploughing at Cullinagh, near Beaufort, Killarney, County Kerry. (Day Collection.)
4. Two large and well-formed copper celts found together in street excavations in Suffolk Street, Dublin, in May, 1857. (Ray Collection.) (Fig.4, nos. 1 and 7.)
Fig. 2.—Birr find.
5. Two copper celts found together at Clontoo, near Kenmare, County Kerry, in 1906. (Fig.4, nos. 2 and 3.)
6. Six copper celts found together at Cappeen, County Cork.
The distribution, analyses, types, and finds show that the copper celts represent a period when copper was in common use throughout Ireland and before bronze was generally known. The celts from the Ray Collection mentioned above show that the fully developed celt was in use during this period, while the “Birr find” with the halberd shows that the halberd was also known and in use during the full copper period.
Fig. 3.—Copper Knife and Awls found at Knocknague.
Moulds for casting flat celts, copper and bronze, have been found in the following places in Ireland:—Carrickfergus; Ballymena; Loughgall, County Antrim; Ballynahinch, County Down; and Lough Scur Crannog, County Leitrim.[10]
Copper celts have been found practically over the whole country; and the following is a list of those in the National Collection, of which the localities are known, and, as well asthese, there are about eighty for which the provenance has not been exactly recorded:—
List of Copper Celts found in Ireland.
Antrim, Craigbally, 1 (1897: 111).
Fig. 4.—Copper Celts.
Cavan, 1 (R. 1685).
Cork, Cappeen (6); County Cork, 1 (1881: 136).
Donegal, Letterkenny, 1 (1897: 114).
Dublin, Suffolk Street, 1857: 2 large copper celts. (Ray Collection.)
Galway, Knocknague, Kilbannon, three copper celts, a copper knife, and three copper awls. County Galway, 1. (R. 1660) (Fig.3.)
Kerry, Beaufort, Killarney, three copper celts found together in 1868 when ploughing at Cullinagh. (Day Collection.) Clontoo, near Kenmare, two copper celts found together in 1906.
Londonderry, in the River Bann, near Coleraine, 1. (W. 3.).
Louth, 1. (R. 362).
Mayo, Killala, 1 (W. 4.).
Fig. 5.—Copper celts from Cappeen, Co. Cork.
Meath, Dunshaughlin, 1 (172, W.).
Tipperary, Dundrum, 1 (1881: 133).
Tyrone, Mountfield, 1 (112: 1897).
Waterford, Tramore, 1 (W. 10.).
The localities of the following copper celts in other collections are known:—
Antrim, 3 (Knowles Collection.)
Cork, 5 (Day Collection, about 4. Evans Collection, 1.)
Fermanagh, 2 (Day Collection, 1. Evans Collection, 1.)
Kerry, 3 (Day Collection.)
Kilkenny, 1 (Day Collection.)
Fig. 6.
King’s County, 8 (Birr three, and five others found in the King’s County. Day Collection.)
Limerick, 2 (Day Collection.)
Sligo, 2 (Sir John Leslie’s Collection.)
Halberds
As already stated the Birr find shows that the halberd was in use during the full Copper Period; and, though to judge by the form of the celts, we may place it at the end of the period, yet more primitive types are known, and we may therefore presume the halberd goes well back into the Copper Period.
The National Collection at Dublin contains forty-nine specimens of these broad coppery blades. In a few cases there may possibly be a doubt as to whether they should be classified as halberds or primitive daggers. The localities of the majorityare not known further than that they have been found in Ireland; but from the known localities they seem, like the copper celts, to have been found in all parts of the island; and local distinctions of type, if they existed, are not now possible.
Fig. 7.—Halberd blades.
Of the forty-nine mentioned, twenty have localities as follows:—Antrim 1, Cavan 3, Roscommon 2, Galway 8, Meath 1, King’s County 1, Queen’s County 1, Clare 1, Limerick 1,Cork 1. Seven of those from Galway represent a single find, which gives that county an undue proportion.
Fig. 8.—Halberd blades.
Types
Fig. 9.—Halberd blades.
Fig. 10.—Halberd blades.
What may be considered as the developed or normal type of the Irish halberd blade is slightly but distinctly curved, so that they have been called “scythe-shaped.” They vary from about 9 inches to 15 or 16 inches in length, and from about 3 to4 inches in breadth at the widest part; with few exceptions they have three rivets with large heads. The various sizes are well represented in a find of seven of these blades obtained in 1888 when making the railway near Hollywood, County Galway. They were described as having been found about 2½ feet under the surface of a shallow bog “stuck in a bunch in the ground, with points down. No other relics appeared near them.” We do not think it is any use attempting to place the halberds in aseries of development; and no progression can be claimed for their forms other than that there appears to be a movement of development from the smaller straight blades to the larger and curved blades. In one or two cases the mid rib has been brought to a slight roof-ridge; and a fine example in the late Sir John Evans’ collection shows a well-marked bead down the mid rib (“Bronze Implements,” fig. 331); but in most cases the mid rib is quite plain with a rounded curve in section.
Analyses
Analyses of the halberd blades show that the metal of which they are composed does not differ much from that of the copper celts. A recent analysis of five specimens is appended which shows that the blades are practically of pure copper. This is interesting, as it removes the doubt expressed by Sir John Evans in “Bronze Implements,” p. 265, that “many of these blades have the appearance of being made of copper; but the absence of tin in their composition has not been proved.”