The Archaeology of Celtic Art

More documents

Recommendations

Info

DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTTuatha Dé Danann. Though there is no basis for assuming a pan-Celtic pantheon onthe basis of insular evidence, it seems likely that smiths with particular attributionsfeatured in the supernatural cosmology of the European Iron Age. A second recurrenttheme from early Celtic literature, not just in reference to the supernatural or mythologicalworld, but apparently in everyday life as well, is the high regard accordedto craftsmen. The smith ‘from his role as armourer in a warlike society, and from hispart in the creation of ornament and decoration for an intensely vain honour-culture’(Gillies, 1979, 75) was rewarded for providing through his craft endorsement of thesocial hierarchy that the poet provided in words. Master-craftsmen were thus rankedamong freemen together with the physician, whose graves equally have been identifiedarchaeologically by their associated assemblages. It seems possible that some of thesespecialized craft skills were hereditary, but the early Irish historical and genealogicaltexts also offer clues to the possible existence of ‘occupational castes’ or perhapscommunities whose tribal deity was associated with particular occupational skills.Motif, style and meaningThe conventional approach to archaeological classification, the recognition of types andtype-sequences, study of their recurrent associations, and the plotting of spatial distributionsof key types, has been criticized over the past generation as descriptive ratherthan explanatory or interpretative. Accepting that analysis is not an end in itself but ameans of distilling order from the mass of data available as an essential preliminary tointerpretation, this study of Celtic art will retain a framework that attempts to identifystyles, broadly in chronological sequence, and that sees the recognition of recurrentthemes and individual motifs as a basis for meaningful comparisons. A study of individualor recurrent motifs, like the pelta or triskele of La Tène art, is not simply anexercise in academic pedantry, but is essential to an understanding of Celtic art, just asthe understanding of words is an essential prerequisite to a critical appreciation of poetry.To attempt a critical appreciation without this fundamental understanding is simplydilettantism. Jacobsthal, Fox and others have written about the ‘grammar’ of Celtic art,by which they meant the repertory of motifs, and their adaptation or integration intothe overall composition. Some of these motifs are derived from external sources, such asthe palmette and lotus of the early La Tène styles, though they are rapidly transformed,not through technical ineptitude but through positive re-interpretation, into a novel,Celtic form. Much the same processes are evident in the transformation of Greekmodels and classical imagery on Celtic coinage, not disintegration in the hands of ineptor uncomprehending barbarians but a re-invention of the originals.Style has been defined as the ‘totality of conventions which make up the art of aparticular area at a particular period of time’ (Shapiro, 1953) and in the context ofCeltic art by Ruth and Vincent Megaw as the ‘combination of technical and iconographicelements to produce a particular form or effect’ (Megaw and Megaw, 2001, 20).Jacobsthal used the term to define his principal landmarks in the development ofLa Tène art, Early Style, Waldalgesheim, Sword and Plastic, with regional variantslike the Hungarian and Swiss Sword Styles. A review of this sequence might suggesta greater diversity still of local styles at different periods, particularly if we take abroader sweep of the media represented rather than allowing fine metal-work and aclassical perspective, as was Jacobsthal’s, to predominate.15
DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTThe recurrence of some key motifs, and even combinations of motifs, encourages thebelief that these had a ‘meaning’, and that it was part of the purpose of communicationrather than simply the decorative embellishment of a functional artefact. In as muchas art is created in a social environment, and in the context of its beliefs and values(Layton, 1991, 43) then Celtic art doubtless conveyed a meaning, overtly or subconsciously,to those who were aware of its significance. The role of art in ethnographiccontexts, however, would suggest that this meaning might be known to the communityas a whole or only to a select group within it. Once again, this might arguefor a plural understanding of Celtic arts, the art of fine metal-work perhaps communicatingwith a different social group from the art of domestic pottery or textiles, forexample. Only very occasionally can we expect archaeological evidence to provide‘answers’ to these issues; but the limitations of the evidence should never deter us fromasking the questions.16
Page 2: THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF CELTIC ARTTemper
Page 5 and 6: First published 2007by Routledge2 P
Page 8: LIST OF COLOUR PLATES(The colour pl
Page 11 and 12: LIST OF FIGURES4.11 Insular early L
Page 14 and 15: PREFACEMy interest in Celtic art ar
Page 16: PREFACEFinally, I should record my
Page 19 and 20: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTat
Page 21 and 22: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTca
Page 23 and 24: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTAp
Page 25 and 26: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTdi
Page 27 and 28: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTon
Page 29 and 30: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTth
Page 31: DEFINITIONS, MATERIAL AND CONTEXTin
Page 35 and 36: LATER BRONZE AGE AND HALLSTATT ORIG
Page 39 and 40: Figure 2.2 Late Bronze Age cult veh
Page 45 and 46: Figure 2.5 The Urnfield warrior, eq
Page 55 and 56: 3THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESOrigins a
Page 57 and 58: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESexamples a
Page 59 and 60: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESthat has a
Page 61 and 62: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESfrom the p
Page 63 and 64: Figure 3.4 Engraved ornament on the
Page 65 and 66: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESdevised on
Page 67 and 68: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESFigure 3.5
Page 69 and 70: Figure 3.6 Dürrnberg bei Hallein,
Page 71 and 72: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESfinger-rin
Page 73 and 74: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESFigure 3.8
Page 75 and 76: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESOrientaliz
Page 77 and 78: Figure 3.10 Belt attachments from n
Page 79 and 80: THE LA TÈNE EARLY STYLESand three
Page 81 and 82: Figure 3.11 The Glauberg bronze tor
Page 83 and 84:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESFigure
Page 85 and 86:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESFigure
Page 87 and 88:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESdisint
Page 89 and 90:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESsince
Page 91 and 92:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESidenti
Page 93 and 94:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESWaldal
Page 95 and 96:
Figure 4.7 Torcs and arm-ring from
Page 97 and 98:
Figure 4.8 La Tène decorated potte
Page 99 and 100:
Figure 4.9 Münsingen, Berne. A: ce
Page 101 and 102:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESon the
Page 103 and 104:
Figure 4.11 Insular early La Tène
Page 105 and 106:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESvexing
Page 107 and 108:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESPrunay
Page 109 and 110:
THE LA TÈNE DEVELOPED STYLESgroupi
Page 111 and 112:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHwhich spec
Page 113 and 114:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHstylized b
Page 115 and 116:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHFigure 5.2
Page 117 and 118:
Figure 5.3 ‘Halimba’ scabbard f
Page 119 and 120:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHconservati
Page 121 and 122:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHAmeglia, c
Page 123 and 124:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHapart from
Page 125 and 126:
Figure 5.7 Scabbards from eastern E
Page 127 and 128:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHtriangles
Page 129 and 130:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHtheme, an
Page 131 and 132:
Figure 5.9 Irish engraved scabbards
Page 133 and 134:
THE ART OF THE SWORDSMITHand freque
Page 135 and 136:
6THE LA TÈNE LATERRELIEF STYLESBro
Page 137 and 138:
Figure 6.1 La Tène ‘Plastic Styl
Page 139 and 140:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLEShem
Page 141 and 142:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESA d
Page 143 and 144:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESinh
Page 145 and 146:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESin
Page 147 and 148:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESwit
Page 149 and 150:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESess
Page 151 and 152:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESFig
Page 153 and 154:
THE LA TÈNE LATER RELIEF STYLESpla
Page 155 and 156:
Figure 6.10 British Iron Age brooch
Page 157 and 158:
7INSULAR BRITISH ART TO THEROMAN CO
Page 159 and 160:
INSULAR BRITISH ART TO THE ROMAN CO
Page 161:
Figure 7.1 Engraved and relief orna
Page 179 and 180:
Page 181 and 182:
Figure 7.3 The Witham shield. Adapt
Page 183 and 184:
Page 185 and 186:
Page 187 and 188:
Page 189 and 190:
Figure 7.5 Iron Age decorated potte
Page 191 and 192:
Page 193 and 194:
Figure 7.7 Mirrors from Holcombe, D
Page 195 and 196:
Figure 7.8 Mirror from Desborough,
Page 197 and 198:
8LA TÈNE AND NON-LA TÈNEIN IRELAN
Page 199 and 200:
LA TÈNE AND NON-LA TÈNE IN IRELAN
Page 201 and 202:
Page 203 and 204:
Figure 8.3 Irish ‘La Tène’ - 1
Page 205 and 206:
Page 207 and 208:
Figure 8.4 1. Knock (‘Clonmacnois
Page 209 and 210:
Figure 8.5 Irish ‘La Tène’ - 2
Page 211 and 212:
Page 213 and 214:
Figure 8.6 The Turoe stone, Co Galw
Page 215 and 216:
Figure 8.7 Ireland and Northern Bri
Page 217 and 218:
Figure 8.8 Ceremonial head-gear. A:
Page 219 and 220:
Figure 8.9 Ornamented discs. A: Ban
Page 221 and 222:
Page 223 and 224:
SOUTH-WEST EUROPE AND THE CELTIBERI
Page 225 and 226:
Page 227 and 228:
Figure 9.2 Anthropomorphic and zoom
Page 229 and 230:
Page 231 and 232:
Figure 9.4 Celto-Ligurian statuary.
Page 233 and 234:
Page 235 and 236:
Figure 9.6 Celtiberian swords and s
Page 237 and 238:
Page 239 and 240:
Page 241 and 242:
Page 243 and 244:
Page 245 and 246:
LATER STYLES AND ROMANIZING INFLUEN
Page 247 and 248:
Page 249 and 250:
Page 251 and 252:
Page 253 and 254:
Page 255 and 256:
Page 257 and 258:
Page 259 and 260:
Page 261 and 262:
Page 263 and 264:
Page 265 and 266:
Page 267 and 268:
Page 269 and 270:
Figure 10.10 Scottish cast bronze a
Page 271 and 272:
11LATER INSULAR ART IN BRITAINAND I
Page 273 and 274:
LATER INSULAR ART IN BRITAIN AND IR
Page 275 and 276:
Page 277 and 278:
Figure 11.4 The Norrie’s Law, Fif
Page 279 and 280:
Page 281 and 282:
Page 283 and 284:
Page 285 and 286:
Page 287 and 288:
Page 289 and 290:
Page 291 and 292:
Page 293 and 294:
Figure 11.10 Technical details of t
Page 295 and 296:
12CONCLUSIONSArchaeology and Celtic
Page 297 and 298:
CONCLUSIONSFirst, we should try to
Page 299 and 300:
CONCLUSIONSOn the principle that th
Page 301 and 302:
CONCLUSIONSDespite some recent rese
Page 303 and 304:
CONCLUSIONSVehicle embellishments,
Page 305 and 306:
CONCLUSIONSof the wearer. In the co
Page 307 and 308:
CONCLUSIONS13). On the other hand,
Page 309 and 310:
BIBLIOGRAPHYAllen, D. and Nash, D.
Page 311 and 312:
BIBLIOGRAPHYColes, J. M. (1962) ‘
Page 313 and 314:
BIBLIOGRAPHYFirth, R. (1951a) ‘Th
Page 315 and 316:
BIBLIOGRAPHYHarding, D. W. and Gill
Page 317 and 318:
BIBLIOGRAPHYKristiansen, K. and Jen
Page 319 and 320:
BIBLIOGRAPHYNeedham, S. (1979) ‘T
Page 321 and 322:
BIBLIOGRAPHYRyan, M. (1989) ‘Chur
Page 323 and 324:
BIBLIOGRAPHYVillard-Le Tiec, A., Ch
Page 325 and 326:
INDEXbeads: amber 45; ‘dumb-bell
Page 327 and 328:
INDEXcrowns 153, 183-5, 184; see al
Page 329 and 330:
INDEXHounslow 224, 265Hradenin 270,
Page 331 and 332:
INDEX‘ornament horizon’ 173Orna
Page 333 and 334:
INDEXsymbol stones, Class I 239, 24
show all

The Archaeology of Celtic Art

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?