The treasure in the library

Thomas B. Lockwood Memorial Library,
University of Buffalo, NY
photo:  Breadchastick

A successful treasure hunt resulted in the discovery of dozens of ancient Greek and Roman silver and gold coins. The treasure was not found in a farmer's field or at an archaeological site, but in the Thomas B. Lockwood Memorial Library at the University of Buffalo, NY. They had been donated about eighty years ago by Thomas B. Lockwood, himself. The irony is in the word "memorial", as the coins seemed to have been forgotten rather quickly. Perhaps that is why I have yet to see the name of the library in any of the news reports.

Although the collection is quite valuable, even its historical importance is probably not really "priceless" as is reported as all the coins illustrated so far in the reports are types already well-known. Mind you, an aureus of Otho does not come cheap, only the wealthy can afford such.

Coin collectors are wondering if bequeathing their collections to a museum is such a good idea, now. If you donate your collections to a university which then houses such in a library named after you (the main part of the collections was the works of James Joyce (one of the most expensive authors for collectors of modern first editions), then you probably would not expect that one of your collections would be stored away and forgotten.

In considering bequeathments, and at sixty five years old, the topic has already come up for me, many things should be taken into consideration. First, talk to your heirs about your ideas. If you are thinking of donating a collection, then think about how it will fit in to the current collections of the institute in question. Are such things already displayed there? Do scholars already use the institution to research such items? When Richard Hattatt donated some of his ancient brooch collection to the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, they were types that were absent in the Ashmolean collection. The rest of his bequeathment to the museum was cash. He regularly sold off his brooches after he published each of them as part of a series. I used to have three of his brooches, myself. Hattatt's donation was carefully considered and he had enjoyed a long working relationship with the Ashmolean.


The other possibility, of course, is to have your collection return to the trade from whence it came and allow others to become as inspired by them as you were. But again, talk to your heirs: what you might think would be welcomed might just give them extra stress at a difficult time.

Mighty oaks from little acorns grow

British Celtic miniature terret ring

A bit smaller than a quarter, this was the first Celtic antiquity

that I purchased. These miniature terrets are sometimes

called "votive" but I think that they are just simple strap ends.

The miniature terret ring illustrated here was the first Celtic object I bought that was not a coin. It was about thirty years ago, I didn't have much money to spend at a Calgary coin show I was attending, but there was a British dealer there who had brought a few metal-detector finds including a mixed lot of bronze harness rings of a wide date range. I saw a typically crude fifteenth century ring among the lot which seemed to be mostly Roman (although there is usually little hard evidence for the date of a plain harness ring). Happily, the dealer was not selling everything as "Celtic ring money" which commonly happens on Ebay. I saw the Celtic miniature terret and bought it at once. Like all of the rings, it was only three dollars.

What identified it to me as British Celtic was that it was in the form of a swelled ring (or a ring with an off-centre hole). Being now mostly interested in applied decoration, such items that were in my collection have all been sold off to buy more interesting (and often expensive) items. But I kept this one as it was the first of the collection.

That is the thing about collecting. I have noticed that some metal detectorists (when asked by an archaeologist) what interests them about their hobby, they will usually say "It's the history". That's the problem with "surveys", often, people will give the answer they think is expected or that will meet with some approval. While history is undoubtedly one of the interests of most metal detectorists, I think that it really is a constellation of interests that inspire detectorists. Besides the history of any area, there is the thrill of discovery; there can be friendly competition between detectorists; it can even be a joy just to get out in the country; any find will be a permanent reminder of the time of its discovery and thus also of associated events. The history is also personal: it is part of the discoverer's life and the significance of a discovery can be expressed in a multitude of ways. I have just mentioned a few of the commoner reasons.

Lower linchpin terminal, Dobunni,
early 

1st cent. AD, Width: 24mm.

All of these experiences, together, can lead to certain themes. I found the linchpin terminal (mentioned also in an update to another item) on the left on an Ebay auction. Again, the swelled ring made an appearance. It was also shown (with a blurry small photograph that did not show most of the decoration) in a price guide of antiquities with an absurdly low price. I was battling it out with a bidder from the Netherlands and I won it at about $500. I was very pleased with the result and the only slight problem was that I could not afford to spend $500 at that time. Of course, I had many other things in my collection that I liked a lot less, and a friend is a dealer in such things. That was why I sold my British A gold stater. I can buy another British A pretty well any time the fancy and finances permit. I would like to buy the upper terminal for this linchpin but it probably has not been discovered yet.

The next, and final example of the swelled ring in my current collection is a fairly recent purchase (see here, here, and there. this type of strap junction is known only from an inferior and fragmentary example excavated at Camulodunum (Colchester) and first published in 1947.

British Celtic strap-junction, circa 20-40 AD

Bronze, with six glass inlaid discs.

H. 4.4 cm W. 4.8 cm Taylor and Brailsford

type 1 Figure of eight form (flanked at each side by

a vertical bar attached at each end), No. 4 (variety).

Dealer states "ex Ringrose coll. (Essex)"

So why this interest of mine in the swelled ring? That it is a design that appeared on my first Celtic antiquity certainly has something to do with it, but the other two items shown here also have other, applied, decorative elements and through the comparison of these we gain context for dating and otherwise attributing other objects. Context is not just about the relative positions of often disparate objects in an archaeological excavation, and while not even find spots are recorded for these things, the context that they provide is far more informative than if they had been discovered as parts of archaeological excavations. Most of this type of material is not found in stratified sites in Britain but as accidental losses and more rarer, votive offerings. The reason that the context of each design element is important is because it connects ideas and not just the happenstances of things being abandoned. I learned all that through my work on Coriosolite coins. Familiarity with artistic devices can lead to the identification of specific workshops and mints and while we cannot find their exact location, the distribution patterns will usually give a rough location. We can also track the development and influences of design.

However, had I not found a three dollar miniature terret at a coin show, I might not even have started collecting early Celtic art, and you would never get an opportunity to see the photographs and read the descriptions. Who knows?

There will be forms

Paperwork
photo: Tom Ventura

Yesterday, I got the confirmation letter about my FSA from the Society of Antiquaries of London. One of the disadvantages of getting an email advance notice is that such things do not include the fine print. Along with the letter, subscription details and the information package about the society were forms to be filled out (of course). I also learned that I cannot use FSA after my name until all of the i's have been dotted and the all of the t's crossed so I took that detail off my profile first thing this morning.

This is the year of forms for me: first there was all of my pension forms and forms to replace lost documents and next there is my income tax forms to complete and send off.

I hate forms.

More Amphipolis updates

The Lion of Amphipolis
photo: Kkonstan

The Greek Reporter is staying up to date with the reporting of the excavation and theories concerning the tomb at Amphipolis. On March 1st there was a story about the skeleton remains and discussion of the main hypotheses about their identities, and on March 7th came the idea that the lion at Amphipolis was too heavy to have stood on the tomb's mound.

This is really what archaeological news reporting should be about: many archaeological sites had a life somewhat more messy and disorganized than what is thought to be the main story, but the public has come to expect that they will receive the required pronouncements from experts and that will be that. Is this a chicken or the egg question? Do some archaeologists follow previous styles of reporting or is the reporting the result of the hype given by the archaeologist in hope of further funding? Quite often, the reasons for the interpretation are not given. After all, many news organizations feel they are there to give answers, and not more questions.

But archaeology is not about the answers but the questions. Any archaeological site worth its salt will present more questions than answers. If that was not the case, there could be no more advancement on the subject. Sometimes, though, we might wonder if archaeology is mainly about career advancement. Well done to the Greek Reporter for a balanced coverage of the excavations and theories. This is the sort of reporting that promotes an interest to discover more rather than to feel satisfied with the single view so often given for nationalist or career motives.

Still no discussion about the thirteen steps, though.

The sound of the carnyx

French reconstruction of the carnyx
photo (cropped): CptKeyes

Past Horizons blog recently had an interesting post, "Reconstructing the Deskford Iron-Age Carnyx. A YouTube video of the sound of the carnyx being played by trombonist John Kenny is included and you will note that he used a couple of didgeridoo techniques while playing the instrument including a voiced growl. John Kenny is the first person to play a reconstructed carnyx.

While he says "I have been at great pains to disclaim any notion that the carnyx was some kind of bronze age didgeridoo", he adds:

"It is worth noting that the characteristic sound world of the didgeridoo derives in part from the speech patterns of Aboriginal language and accent, as well as from observation and imitation of their natural environment. I believe that the zoomorphic nature of the carnyx likewise invites the incorporation of vowel and consonant colours drawn from Celtic tongues and our own northern natural environment. Indeed, Nigel Osbourne’s piece Forest-River-Ocean makes extensive use of precisely this sound palette, deriving material based upon phonemes of the Gaelic language as well as nature sounds taken from the find site at Deskford on the shores of the Moray Firth."

The main didgeridoo connection is, I think, in the use of so-called "circular breathing" which is really using the air stored in the mouth to make a continuous sound while "sniffing" air through the nose. It took me a little while to learn how to do this, but I'm not ready for the stage just yet! When I first encountered the didgeridoo, I got the idea that the bagpipe might be a workaround for the "circular breathing" thing and there is something about the sound of the drones which reminds me of the didgeridoo.

Irish late Bronze-Age horns. The bottom example

has the side-opening mouthpiece. Ulster Museum.

photo: Notafly

Supporting the idea that the carnyx and the didgeridoo shared similar techniques, late Bronze Age Irish horns were of two types: the familiar horn design with the mouthpiece at the end, and one where the mouthpiece hole is much larger and oval-shaped rather like the opening of the beeswax mouthpiece I made for my didgeridoo which seems to get the best sounds for me (It's a bit like blowing a raspberry into the tube).

Another Celtic "princely tomb" discovered in Champagne

The Vix Krater
photo: Peter Northover

A Celtic later Hallstatt period tomb of the 5th century BC  (don't forget to view the album) is being excavated at Lavau (Aube). It looks like this one might give the previously discovered tomb at Vix (photo on the right) a run for its money. Rich in imported Etruscan and Attic artifacts, such princely tombs are a feature of Celtic sites in France and Germany but none have yet to be found in Britain. As Britain was very much on the periphery at that time, such a discovery is not expected. Mind you, no one ever expected that an example of the rare Celtic Plastic Style would be found in Britain, let alone one that was actually made there.

Have a great weekend.

Unique find from Gloucestshire

Imaginative reconstruction
of the original Boudicca.

A second century AD Roman tombstone found in Gloucestershire by Cotswold Archaeology is a unique find in that not only does it bear the Celtic name of a woman, but skeletal remains found close by are thought to be of the lady, herself. Her name, previously unattested in this form, is written as BODICACIA which might be a variation of the name of Boudicca, the famous queen of the Iceni. The element Bod... means "crow" and also refers to a war deity (crows being carrion-eaters and classically associated with the battleground).

Another theory is that there are two names: the male, Bodi, and the female Cacia, but I personally believe it is only the female who is named (with her age of 27 years).

Any old iron age?

Celtic iron sword with bronze
scabbard and furniture.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
photo: PHGCOM

We are all familiar with the archaeological "ages": stone, bronze and iron, but while the term Celtic was confusing and some archaeologists started to insist, often in an authoritarian manner, that Iron Age should be used instead. Shortly afterwards, I started to run a discussion list with an archaeologist (that never really went anywhere) about Celtic coinage. As everyone was rather twitchy about using the term Celtic, the archaeologist said that we should call the discussion group "Iron Age coinage". This meant that while we could not include Roman coins, we could certainly include the Greek. Greece was Iron Age and even the obol (a sixth of a drachm) started out its life as an iron roasting spit. But the Romans often used iron swords even though it was not their own industry. A Greek historian did not have much good to say about the Celts early use of iron swords: he reports that a warrior would often have to stop to bend his sword blade back to straight again. In contrast to that, Sir Cyril Fox, reporting on the metal finds from Llyn Cerrig Bach noted that the edge weapons were of iron exhibiting some of the properties of steel, while other non-cutting objects were of simple wrought iron. This was no accidental effect: "Analysis of the swords from Llyn Cerrig Bach shows that some were given hardened steel-like surfaces, through a smithing process called carburisation."
The first two ages seem to function very well, the latter, Iron Age, has given us some problems. At the time that everyone was first rushing out to buy the new Pc 's or Apple computers, Celtoskeptocism was in full swing. A few archaeologists thought that the term Celtic did not represent any sort of unified culture and that Iron Age was more appropriate. As far as I can see, this was because the archaeologists' ideas of what constituted a unified culture was not being met by the Celts, especially (apparently) in Britain.

However, Celtic iconography, overwhelmingly, reveals a unified set of icons that are used in the same way across ancient Celtic lands although regional styles exist as much as with virtually any other culture. More importantly, however, the term Iron Age can be contradictory for a site containing iron artifacts. In La Tène in Ireland: Problems of Origin and Chronology, Barry Raftery (p.7f) says:

"The material representing the Late Bronze Age is Ireland is a clearly recognisable entity. The material that is taken to represent the Iron Age, however, is not as easily brought together. Whereas the Late Bronze Age remains form, in broad terms, an essentially homogeneous cultural unit, that material which may be described as representing the "Iron Age" spans a considerable length of time and appears to consist of several strands of cultural development not necessarily unified either in chronological or regional terms."

Raftery was not the sort of person who would allow an archaeological fad of terminology to deny what his eyes told him.

I think that when we look at, say, the Stone Age, we are looking more at the "creature characteristics" of people: what they ate and wore, the tools they used, and how they disposed of their dead. Archaeology is about material remains. With history, though, we look at individuals and the societal forces which influenced them. The La Tène Celtic period is partially what we call "protohistory". While the Celts did not record their own history in writing and had taboos about what could be written down, the Greeks and Romans did write about the Celts in their histories. I think that our task is to use what material remains does exist that can give us any insights to the ancient Celts as culturally bound individuals. "Iron Age" just does not deliver the goods.

Remembering Sheppard Frere (1916-2015)

Waxwork figure of Sheppard Frere,
Roman Museum, Canterbury, Kent
photo: Linda Spashett (Storye book)

Distinguished Roman historian and archaeologist Sheppard Frere, CBE, FSA, FBA, passed away on February 25th at 98 years old. Although most will associate him with his book, Britannia: A History of Roman Britain, London, 1967, and subsequent revised editions, or for his excavations of Verulamium, when I heard the news my mind immediately went to his (as editor) Problems of the Iron Age in Southern Britain; papers given at a C.B.A. conference held at the Institute of Archaeology, 12 to 14 December 1958.

A considerable part of the latter volume was taken up by D. F. Allen, FSA, The Origins of Coinage in Britain: A Reappraisal, which was inspired by the discovery of the 1957 Le Catillon hoard (Jersey) and the excavations at Bagendon in Gloucestershire between 1955 and 1957. Allen's paper included a gazetteer of find spots of Celtic coins in Britain.

Sheppard Frere and D. F. Allen then collaborated on the first (card file) Celtic Coin Index at the Institute of Archaeology at Oxford and the first records are dated 1961. The tradition of the Celtic coin findspot gazetteer was continued by a number of publications by Colin Haselgrove, BSc (Sussex), MA, Ph.D. (Cantab), FHEA, FBA, FSA, FSAS.

Sheppard Frere was an important part of a lively, growing, interest in Celtic Britain and he and Allen's Celtic Coin Index inspired me to create an online version which was mostly constructed by my wife, Carin Perron (1957-2003). I never knew Sheppard Frere, he was part of a renaissance of Iron Age Celtic studies that took place when I was just a schoolboy, but I am sure that today's Portable Antiquity Scheme owes much to him for its inspiration.

On  February 25th, British history, archaeology, and Celtic coin studies lost an icon.

Fellowship

Society of Antiquaries of London. Burlington House
photo: Tony Hisgett

Early this morning, I received an email from Vincent Megaw saying that I have been elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Vincent had nominated me just over a year ago.

While I am both very thankful for the nomination and the votes, and proud of the result, I am finding the experience rather humbling. I started to think about the word fellowship. I could take this word in its focused meaning as recognition of one's peers, but a fellowship is really about what connects people. Sir John Evans was the president of the Society of Antiquaries (1885-1892), but he was also the father of British Celtic numismatics and lobbied heavily to have finders of coins and antiquities rewarded with the full value under the Treasure Trove laws of the time as it would better encourage better reporting of finds.

There is also one of those strange coincidences connected with the election. A very long time ago, my maternal grandfather and a great influence on my life, Louis A. Neale, had also been waiting for the results of an election at Burlington House. It was not for an FSA at the Society of Antiquaries, but an RA at the Royal Academy in the same building. He was an artist, and one of his paintings had been accepted at one of their exhibitions. Sadly, he was not awarded the R.A. but in that time the holders of that title were restricted to only forty living people.

With a fellowship, as with life, we stand on the shoulders of giants.

Tomorrow, remembering Sheppard Frere (1916-2015).