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).

Runcible — Tech's answer to the antique pocket watch

Inspiration for the Runcible
photo: Arne Nordmann (norro), Germany

Yesterday, a CNET article on the upcoming launch of Runcible, a new vision for the smartphone, captured my imagination. Based on the design of the pocket watch, it is the brain-child of Monohm, a Berkeley, California, company.

I have often said that the cell-phone (or mobile, if you prefer) is today's pocket watch. The pocket watch was rapidly becoming an object of the past. When I was fifteen years old, I worked at Pearl Cross Antiques in St Martin's Court, off Charing Cross Road in London. English gold pocket watches were a specialty (with clocks, jewellery and silver). Unlike Swiss or American pocket watches, the English pocket watch has a single backplate to the movement which guarantees a much longer life for the watch. The main point of the Swiss innovation of multiple backplates was to produce watches more cheaply.

What first caught my attention in the CNET article was the exotic wooden back to the smartphone. The first example illustrated was from a burl, and appears to have been taken from where a burl meets the roots. One word came to mind: craftsmanship. That is the word I most associate with those gold pocket watches at Pearl Cross. We used to have them restored to their original state by several London craftsmen. If the watch case had been engraved for a previous owner, that engraving was not polished off as is a practice of mediocre jewellers, but our craftsman used to smelt gold to the exact colour of the original and the he would flood the engraving with the gold and then polish the case down to its original thickness as checked by his micrometer; If the watch had a damaged dial, it was re-enamelled; If the watch needed new parts, they were original and purchased from a shop nearby which had been supplying new parts since the eighteenth century. The shop still retained its angled mirrors beneath the windows which directed daylight into the interior in those days before electric lights. When we sold a watch, it came with a lifetime guarantee for the new owner. Sadly, the shop premises lease ran out after I visited it again in 1999 and is now part of the upscale Sheekey's fish and seafood restaurant, which was a favorite of my boss, Dennis Strange.

Monohm has married retro with innovation. Imagine focusing Runcible's featured camera by revolving the whole smartphone! Don't you just hate lever zooms and automatic focuses on some digital cameras? I still like the manual focus ring of my old Nikon Fa (although, practically, I hardly ever use the camera anymore). With its web-based apps that can can turn your smartphone into a speedometer for your bike or a distance calculator to strap on your arm it has greater functionality than you might expect. Even its GPS system is an innovation. But what happens to that beautiful case you bought when version 2.0 of the smartphone comes out? No problem, the new "movement" can be purchased on its own and just popped into the older case.

A smartphone that will become an heirloom while still being current. This is old-style craftsmanship not planned obsolescence. It brought back fifty year-old memories of those beautiful old pocket watches in a prestigious West End London antique shop. It's going on my wish-list, and yes, you will be able to afford it as is planned to sell for less than the average smartphone.

Rick Witschonke (1945–2015)

I received the sad news from Mark Fox on Moneta-L yesterday (membership required),
that Rick Witschonke has passed away. Rick was an active member of the American Numismatic Society (ANS) and a notable collector of Roman Republican coins.

In 2013, he collaborated with Ethan Gruber of the ANS and Kris Lockyear of the University College, London (UCL) to produce Coin Hoards of the Roman Republic Online (CHRR Online).

Mark says that there was to be a Festschrift for him this year...

My condolences go to his family and many friends. He will be greatly missed. More at:
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/board/index.php?topic=100652.

The hidden monk revealed

The mummified remains of a thousand year old Buddhist monk is undergoing scientific examination. The first step was a CT scan carried out in the Netherlands and the results of a DNA study is forthcoming. The monk was interred inside a statue of Buddha found in Mongolia last month and is thought to be an example of sokushinbutsu, or self-mummification, best known from a number of such mummies in Japan.

Many believe that the incorruptibility of the flesh is a sign of enlightenment and I am reminded of the strange report of such in the remains of Paramahansa Yogananda.

A confusing statement in the video that the monk might have been a teacher of Dashi-Dorzho Itigilov (1852-1927) seems to be from an error in translation. His similarly preserved remains can be seen in the linked Wikipedia article. As a rule, in Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet itself, the remains are destroyed through the practice of "sky burial". Although the practical reason for this is that burial or cremation would be a problem with frozen ground and a lack of firewood, it is also thought that the spirit could try to stay with the body and not move on.

Modern Celtic sculpture recovered

Broighter gold boat
photo: Ardfern

"A six-feet-high sculpture of a Celtic sea god stolen from Binevenagh Mountain has been recovered by soldiers on a training exercise." More here.

John Sutton's sculpture of Manannan Mac Lir (Mac Lir means "son of the sea") had been removed in an act of religious vandalism but the damage appears repairable.

It is often difficult to separate what might be called a "culture hero" from a deity and Mannan Mac Lir gave his name to the Isle of Mann. The Broighter gold boat was part of an important hoard of early Celtic art objects and some believe that it was an offering to Manannan Mac Lir, however, the boat served as an icon of the Menapii tribe at the mouth of the Rhine as they controlled the Rhineland sea trade. They also had a presence in Ireland and while the Rhine is often considered a source for the Irish gold which contains platinum inclusions, it is almost certain that if the gold source is actually Asia Minor, then the Rhine was part of the route by which it came to Ireland as the metal type was used neither in Britain nor Gaul. For more background material and illustrations on the hoard, the boat, and the Menapii see my earlier blog entry (Frome hoard).

Old Bailey records

Proceedings at the Old Bailey, 1809

Yesterday, I was Googling nineteenth century London bookbinders when I came across a witness statement by one at the Old Bailey (Central Criminal Court of England and Wales). Although the item from 1857 had very little to interest me, I could not resist exploring further. I remember walking by the Old Bailey many times when I was a kid and it would always bring back flashes of memories of crime novels, TV shows and movies.

Abandoning my thoughts about bookbinders, and being a numismatist I became curious about incidents of uttering counterfeit coin. There were quite a few for that year and a guilty verdict brought about months or years of "penal servitude". The sentences for actually forging coins got much longer sentences, but going back to the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries the risk was being sentenced to death for high treason. Curiously though, at that same time, many sentences of merely uttering false coin would be punished only with a fine. I found records of how money was forged and how it was detected (often by bending the coin in the teeth).

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, what we now call a mugging would often get the death penalty if a weapon was involved, but burglary could often mean transportation, at first to America, and then (after the American Revolution) to Australia. There were also other sentences we do not see today in England such as whipping or branding.

Apart from the sensational, I became quite interested in the language used in these records. I even found a coinage term that I had never heard before: "a seven shilling piece" and it took me a second or so to realize that we now commonly call that George III gold coin a third guinea. If I ever write a novel set in the early nineteenth century, I plan to have some character order a "half quarten of gin" at the local inn(1/8th pint).

If you are conducting historical research, or just want to gain more verisimilitude in your novel, don't neglect these records. If you are just curious, I'm sure you will find much to entertain. Visit http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/