Iron Age Ireland LA TNETHE CELTS 500 BC400

Iron Age Ireland LA TÈNE/THE CELTS 500 BC-400 AD

The CELTS: • A group of tribes that populated Europe in the 700 years before the birth of Christ and for a few centuries after. • Known to the Greeks and the Romans as Keltoi. • They were renowned as warriors, horsemen + craftsmen; skilled in the production of a wide range of goods and weapons in gold, bronze + iron. • These Celts were a loose grouping of tribes from north of the Alps, around the Danube river in central Europe. • It is thought they arrived gradually to Ireland, spreading slowly across the country. By the time Christianity arrived in Ireland, the Celtic language was being spoken all over the island of Ireland. • These people were also known as the La Tène People. • This culture was named after a place where a great deposit of weapons and other objects was found in Lake Neuchâtel in Swtizerland. It was customary for Celtic people to throw objects into lakes as part of a ceremonial offering. • La Tène has become a prime example of a Celtic site. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

The CELTS: • According to the writings of Strabo, a Roman historian, the CELTS loved decoration, ornamentation and gold. • Unfortunately the Celts kept no written records and so all written accounts are secondary sources. • When the Celts arrived in Ireland is not known for sure. It is believed that larger numbers of Celts only arrived in Ireland when Rome invaded Gaul (France) and Britain. But it is known that by the 1 st century BC Ireland had a strong Celtic culture. • Celtic style is noticeably varied as La Tène culture had contact with many areas including the Mediterranean and the East, including Greece. This contact influenced Celtic style greatly. Metalwork: • Knowledge of using Iron metalwork gradually spread throughout Ireland from Europe where Iron was increasingly being used in metalwork. Iron became the main metal used to make tools and equipment because it is much stronger than bronze. From it they made tools such as knives, axes and functional objects such as cooking pots and stirrups. However, bronze and gold continued to be used during the Iron Age for their beauty and because these metals do not rust or decay like Iron. The Triskel was a very popular as La Tène motif. It is a triple spiral design – a type of “sun wheel”, it was used to decorate as La Tène style objects. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

The CELTS: • Much of our information about the Celts also comes from oral traditions: the myths and legends that were created at the time. These were first written down by Christian monks hundreds of years after the events they were meant to describe. • The image of the Celts that we see through these tales is one of a tribal society based on family ties where wealth took the form of cattle ownership. Princes and heroes led cattle raids and wars of honour, combining physical prowess, cleverness and magic to win the day. Places described in these sagas like Eamhain Macha (Navan Fort) in Co. Armagh do exist and based on archaeological excavation were significant Iron Age sites. Development of Celtic Art: • Began during the centuries when the Celtic peoples were growing in power in central Europe. The Hallstatt style (called after a town in Austria were a lot of artefacts were first found) was the earliest development. • Most of the work is in Bronze and Gold and crafted in an abstract style. • These Celts developed the Iron technology that would influence Irish metalworking techniques, as well as improving farming and military equipment. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

The La Tène Style: • Combined influences from classical Roman and Greek art, the Etruscans, the Scythians and Oriental art with Celtic style. This style came to be known as La Tène, because many examples were found there. • The style combined… • Leafy palmate forms • Vines • Tendrils • Lotus flowers • Spirals • S-scrolls • Lyre + trumpet shapes … Into a sinuous, abstract style which the Celts used to decorate ornaments and weapons. The migrations of the Celtic people throughout Europe helped to spread the style. • Insular La Tène: • Style of art used by the first native craftsmen of Ireland. It is a modified version of the European style, consisting of s-scrolls, leaves, vines, trumpet ends and spirals. • Some of its designs are specific to islands off the West coast of Europe, which gives the style the name ‘insular’. Turoe Stone + Broightar Collar are in this style. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Architecture: • Most of our knowledge of Stone and Bronze Age cultures stems from the burial sites and tombs that they left behind. However, little is known of the burial rites of the Iron Age people in Ireland. • Yet, habitation sites (places where they lived) and ring forts in earth and stone are quite common. • Some forts were built for defence, some were ritual sites and smaller ones were just homesteads. • These circular enclosures (with houses and animal pens inside) continued in use in Ireland after the Norman invasion (12 th century), at a time when the rest of Europe had long since developed towns + cities. • Dún Aenghus on Inis Mór on the Aran Islands was in use from The late Bronze Age into the Iron Age. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Stonecarving: • The first objects in Ireland of the La Tène Style are a number of large boulders which have been dressed and carved with abstract patterns. • The Turoe Stone: • Has been dated to about 50 BC. 4 ton boulder, 1. 68 m tall is of pink feldsparred Galway granite. • It is a glacial erratic which was carried 40 km by moving ice during the last Ice Age. • The pattern takes the form of abstract leaf and vine shapes, trumpet ends + spirals all flowing in a beautifully symmetrical style. • Sculpted in low relief: background cut away to a depth of about 3 cm. • Design is in 4 segments of pattern, which connect at the top of the stone. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Stonecarving: • The Turoe Stone: • A triskele (3 curved limbs sprouting from the same point and curving in the same direction) appears in a triangular section. • Flowing pattern takes up the domed part of the stone. • Some of the spaces between the carving can also be read as part of the design, showing the Celtic love of positive and negative space. • A brick or step pattern forms a band between the patterned top and the plain base of the stone. Function: • Unknown: may have been boundary markers or ceremonial objects. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Stonecarving: • Some stone figure carvings may also be from the Iron Age but it’s hard to date them accurately. It’s generally accepted that the Tricehalic head from Corleck and the Tandragee Idol from Armagh are Celtic in origin, but some other figurative carvings are now believed to be from a later period in Irish history. Tandragee Idol IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: • Iron technology improved and simplified the production of tools and weapons. • It was readily available in the form of clay ironstone nodules and bog iron. • It was not melted + cast but heated until the impurities were burned off and then it was hammer forged and shaped. • Smiths were often itinerant, setting up wherever they were needed and moving on when work ran out. • Metalworkers were highly valued members of society and were equal in status with physicians. • Much decorative work from the Iron Age was actually made from Bronze, such as horse trappings, tools + utensils, brooches, armbands + rings. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Broighter Hoard • Not many gold finds can be dated to the Iron Age, which is why the Broighter Hoard is of such significance. • Was discovered by a ploughman near Lough Foyle in Derry in 1896. • Includes some of the finest examples of the goldsmith’s art. • Model boat, bowl made of thin sheet gold, 2 chains, 2 twisted bracelets and a gold collar. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Broighter Hoard • The collar is the most accomplished piece. • Insular La Tène style. The tubes that are the main body of the piece are sheet gold onto which the foliage pattern was chased (a technique by which a design is brought into relief by pressing back the surrounding area by hammering. Similar to false relief in stone carving). • The design would have been applied while the gold was still flat. The patterned gold sheets were then rolled into tubes, which were soldered shut and then filled with hot mastic (a waxlike substance) so that the tubes could be curved without being torn or crushed. • Symmetrical pattern, based on interconnecting s-scrolls. It combines a variety of plant-based forms culminating in spiral bosses, which were made separately and then pinned on. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Broighter Hoard • The background area between the pattern elements has been incised with compass arcs to create a contrast with the smooth surface of the raised design. • The buffer terminals are riveted onto the ends of the tubes and a row of beading has been raised along the edge to disguise the rivet heads. • Raised pattern hollowed bosses with a little gold bead soldered in the centre meets the tubes. • One of the terminals has rows of beading. A t-shaped bar is used as the lock, which holds the 2 terminals together. Another terminal, which is now missing would have joined the other ends of the tubes together. • Image was used as a postal stamp between 1990 -95. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Broighter Hoard • The gold chains and twisted bracelet from the Hoard are probably Roman imports. The Gold boat is a model of an ocean-going craft, probably a hide-covered boat driven by oars and a square sail. • It is a remarkable indication of how Celtic people travelled around the coast of Europe. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Ultimate La Tène Style: • Later in the Iron Age there was a change of style: patterns became lighter and more symmetrical. The vegetal designs of the insular style gave way to more geometric forms of the Ultimate La Tène Style, which continued into the Christian era. • Objects of this style include: the Loughnashade Trumpet + The Petrie Crown. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Ultimate La Tène Style: • The Loughnashade Trumpet: • Found in Co. Antrim. From the 1 st century AD. Made of 2 tubes of sheet bronze joined by a knob in the middle and having a decorative plate on the open end. • The tubes are expertly made; the edges are rolled together and riveted onto an internal strip of bronze. • The plate at the open end has a 4 -part pattern raised by the repoussé technique. It is based on the Roman Pelta motif and is almost perfectly symmetrical (plume on Roman helmets). • The design is lighter and more linear than earlier work, with broader areas in relief at the ends of the curves. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Ultimate La Tène Style: • The Petrie Crown: • Unknown origin from the collection of the 19 th century antiquarian George Petrie. • Consists of an open-work band with a cone + 2 discs attached to it. • The top and bottom edges of the band are perforated, which would have allowed it to be sewn to fabric or leather, or fixed to wood or metal. • It is not known how long the band was intended to be or how many horns or discs were originally fixed to it, so it’s hard to imagine its original function. • Raised outlines of the designs were created by cutting back the surrounding metal. • Openings in the band create the impression of a series of connected semi-circles which are decorated with spirals ending in crested bird heads. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Ultimate La Tène Style: • The Petrie Crown: • The concave discs that are mounted on the band have a slightly off-centre boss, one of which still has a red enamelled bead in its hollow middle. • Enamelled beads were probably fixed in the eye sockets of some of the bird heads. • The deceptively simple designs on the discs combine palmate, lotus + triskele motifs created by slim trumpet curves. • The artist made use of both positive and negative space (as on the Turoe Stone) to create the design, a tendency that became even more pronounced during the Christian Period. • The bird heads found on the band, discs + horn are among the earliest zoomorphs (animal forms) found in Irish Art. • The Cork Horns, probably a type of ceremonial headgear are nearest in design to the Petrie Crown, though not as elaborately decorated. The Cork Horns IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD

Iron Age Metalwork: the Ultimate La Tène Style: Conclusion: • Celtic period is as mysterious and enigmatic as some of the designs created by the artists of its time. • Little archaeological evidence of how the people lived. Almost no house remains and hilltop forts once thought to have been from the Iron Age are now often being dated back to the late Bronze Age, although it is known that they continued in use throughout the Iron Age also. • Elaborate burials of warriors with chariots, weapons + valuables found in Britain and on the Continent are not found in Ireland. • Pottery hardly features in Irish sites, though it is relatively common in the rest of Europe. • Many Iron Age objects decorated with La Tène designs are not easy to interpret. • The work left to us from this time desplays te elements of design and pattern that formed the basis for the decorative art that followed in the Christian-Celtic period. • Vegetal (plant) forms and zoomorphs (animal), simplified human figures and geometric patterns were all brought together to create a style of art that was harmonious, felixible, imaginative, ambiguous and beautiful. IRON AGE IRELAND: 500 BC – 400 AD