Celtic art in Pagan and Christian times — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Celtic art in Pagan and Christian times
John Stuart Mill · en
The second, or Aylesford urn-field type of burial, is dated by
associated vessels of Italo-Greek fabric at from 200 to 150 B.C.[173]
Implements of the Bronze Age have been occasionally discovered with
objects of Late-Celtic character, as at Hagbourn Hill,[174] Berks,
where a Late-Celtic bridle-bit and harness-rings were associated with
some small spear-heads and a socketed celt; and at Hounslow,[175]
Middlesex, where three figures of boars and two of other animals were
found with celts and gouges of the Bronze Age.
[171] Such as the Græcwyl bronze vase now in the Berne Museum; the
bronze _œnochoe_ and Etruscan cup from Somme-Bionne (Marne); and the
two-handled cup from Rodenbach, Bavaria (described and illustrated in
A. Bertrand’s _Archéologie Celtique et Gauloise_, pp. 328 to 347).
[172] Arthur Evans in _Archæologia_, vol. lii., p. 72.
[173] _Ibid._, vol. lii., p. 66.
[174] _Archæologia_, vol. xvi., p. 348.
[175] _Proc. Soc. Ant. Lond._, 2nd ser., vol. iii., p. 90.
Up to the present time, no specimen has yet been found in this country
of the great iron sword of Hallstatt type, with its massive ivory
handle encrusted with amber.[176] Of the smaller Hallstatt sword with
an iron blade and a bronze handle, having antennæ-like projections at
the top,[177] one specimen from the Thames is to be seen in the British
Museum, and there are about half a dozen others in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
Tall vessels made of thin sheets of bronze riveted together and
furnished with two round ring-handles at the top have been found in
Ireland (at Montiaghs,[178] Co. Armagh; and Dowris,[179] King’s Co.)
and in Scotland (at Cardross,[180] Dumbartonshire); the form of these
vessels shows that they are akin to the situlæ of the late Hallstatt or
early La Tène period on the Continent.
In the instances where other objects have been associated either with
the swords _à antennes_ or situlæ in Great Britain they have been
of purely Bronze Age type, showing that the Hallstatt period on the
Continent was earlier than the Late-Celtic period in this country.
[176] A. Bertrand and S. Reinach’s _Les Celtes dans les Vallées du Pô
et du Danube_, p. 125.
[177] _Ibid._, p. 85.
[178] _Jour. Royal Soc. Ant. Ireland_, ser. 5, vol. vii., p. 437.
Another example found in Ireland is figured in Sir W. Wylde’s _Catal.
Mus. R.I.A._, p. 531.
[179] Now in the British Museum. Evans’ _Ancient Bronze Implements_, p.
410.
[180] R. Munro’s _Prehistoric Scotland_, p. 40.