Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon PeriodsJewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
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Grave-mounds and Their Contents: A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon Periods
Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William
Great Britain -- Antiquities; Megalithic monuments -- Great Britain; Mounds -- Great Britain
In BRONZE, the articles found are celts, daggers, awls, pins, etc.
Celts are, however, but seldom met with in barrows, although frequently
ploughed up in the course of agricultural operations. Palstaves and
socketed celts, etc., are also occasionally picked up. The ordinary
form of celt will be best understood by the engravings here given
(figs. 183 and 185) from Irish examples, and by the next figure (187),
from Moot-Low, near Dove Dale. One of these celts, of precisely similar
form to fig. 187, found in a barrow at Shuttlestone, has been the
means of throwing considerable light on the mode of interment adopted.
The barrow contained “the skeleton of a man in the prime of life and of
fine proportions, apparently the sole occupant of the mound, who had
been interred whilst enveloped in a skin of dark red colour, the hairy
surface of which had left many traces both upon the surrounding earth
and upon the verdigris or patina coating of a bronze axe-shaped celt
and dagger, deposited with the skeleton. On the former weapon there
are also beautifully distinct impressions of fern leaves, handfuls of
which, in a compressed and half-decayed state, surrounded the bones
from head to foot. From these leaves being discernible on one side
of the celt only, whilst the other side presents traces of leather
alone, it is certain that the leaves were placed first as a couch for
the reception of the corpse, with its accompaniments, and after these
had been deposited, were then further added in quantity sufficient to
protect the body from the earth.”[32] With the skeleton, besides the
celt, were a fine bronze dagger, with two rivets for attachments to the
handle, which had been of horn, the impression of the grain being quite
distinctly perceptible; a small jet bead; and a circular flint. The
celt had been, as was evident from the grain of wood still remaining,
driven vertically, for about two inches of its length, into a wooden
handle.
[Illustration: Fig. 184.]
[Illustration: Fig. 185.]
[Illustration: Fig. 186.]
[Illustration: Fig. 187.]
Other forms of celts are shown on the accompanying series of figures
(184, 185, 186, and 188 to 195), and another excellent example is fig.
196, which has the loop (as also fig. 197) for attaching to the handle
by means of a thong. A great many other varieties are also met with.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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