THE FINDS FROM LA TÈNE IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM: LA TÈNE, UN SITE, UN MYTHE 6

2018 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
pp. 43-80
Author(s):  
A P Fitzpatrick
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
British Museum ◽  
The Past ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Type Site ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Votive Offerings

Discovered in 1857, the site of La Tène, in Switzerland, played an important role in the rapid development of European prehistory in the mid-nineteenth century including the adoption of the three-age system in which it was named as the type site for the later Iron Age. The finds from it are now scattered across museums in Europe and America, and those in London are published here as part of a project to locate and publish all the finds from the site. The discovery of the site and the dispersal of its finds are discussed in the context of contemporary understandings of the past and collecting practices. Usually seen as votive offerings placed in a river, the finds have been re-interpreted recently as the remains of a trophy that displayed the bodies and equipment of an army defeated in c 220–200bc.

The Carnyx in Early Iron Age Britain

1959 ◽  
Vol 39 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Piggott
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Bronze Object

One of the most spectacular pieces of martial equipment in use among the Celtic peoples in the later stages of the La Tène culture was the animal-headed war-trumpet, the name of which, in Greek versions, has been preserved variously as karnon or karnyx. In the latter form, the name carnyx has been applied by archaeologists to the fairly plentiful representations and the very few surviving fragments of such instruments. Of the latter, the best-known is that represented today only by drawings and engravings, dredged from the river Witham at Tattershall Ferry in 1768. It is the purpose of this paper to discuss this object once again, and also to put forward the suggestion that the sheet-bronze object in the form of a boar's head, found at the beginning of the nineteenth century at Deskford in Banffshire and fortunately still surviving, is in fact the mouthpiece of another carnyx.

Seated Burials of the La Tène Iron Age

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 429-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew William Lamb
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene

A Panel of Celtic Ornament from Elmswell, East Yorkshire

1940 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Corder ◽  
C. F. C. Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Roman Period ◽  
Work Of Art ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Roman Age ◽  
Grave Goods

The work of art here to be published was found in the excavations of 1938 at Elmswell, about two miles west of Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire (6-in. O.S. Yorks. E.R. CLXISE.). These excavations, following on those carried out by our Fellow Mr. A. L. Congreve from 1935 to 1937; have shown the site to be that of a native settlement of the Parisi, occupied—probably continuously—at least from Flavian times until the end of the Roman period, and again in pagan Saxon times. Of the pre-Roman Iron Age nothing has yet come to light beyond two British coins, one of the Iceni (c. A.D. 25) and one possibly of Cunobelin, but the site is separated by little more than the line of the Driffield—Malton railway from the Eastburn area where, in building operations in 1938, as many as seventy-five Iron Age graves were discovered even in the relatively small plots of ground excavated. These contained the remains of flexed inhumation-burials, each originally covered by a small barrow, exactly as in the well-known Danes' Graves and Arras cemeteries; and the date within the three centuries directly preceding the Roman Conquest was confirmed by several finds of grave-goods, notably an iron sword of La Tène type, bronze ornaments, an ‘involuted’ brooch, and several vessels of pottery. Further, in another part of the same site, Parisian pottery of Roman age was found, the earliest of which agrees exactly with the earliest from Elmswell. There can in fact be little doubt that this whole area was an important centre of settlement in the east Yorkshire equivalent of La Tène times, where ‘the Iron Age B’ culture of the Parisi passed directly into the romanization that was introduced at the Flavian conquest of the early seventies A.D.

scholarly journals Archaeology and Zooarchaeology of the Late Iron Age-Roman Transition in the Province of Raetia (100 bc–100 ad)

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Trixl ◽  
Bernd Steidl ◽  
Joris Peters
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Temporal Analysis ◽  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
Burial Customs ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Alpine Foreland ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Transitional Phase

The incorporation of the region north of the Alpine divide and its foreland into the Imperium Romanum initiated major changes in economic and social structure and in everyday life in the newly-founded province of Raetia. Controversy exists, however, about the continuity of local La Tène traditions into early Roman times, since the archaeological evidence recorded to date tends to give the impression that the northern Alpine foreland was largely unpopulated at the time of the Roman conquest in 15 bc. However, ongoing excavations in this region are gradually enhancing the archaeological visibility of this transitional phase. Compared to early Roman provincial populations settled along the Via Claudia Augusta and its hinterland, a culturally unique community stands out: the Heimstetten group. This group is located in the eastern Raetian hinterlands and dates to around 30–60 ad. Its building tradition, settlement structure, and burial customs show close affinities with the La Tène culture, thus suggesting continuity in autochthonous culture at the time of the early Roman occupation. Since faunal remains can potentially act as cultural markers, additional insights can be gained from a spatial-temporal analysis of livestock composition and breeding practices. The results presented here clearly show that, during the Iron Age, marked regional differences in species composition are visible, implying the possibility of distinct developments during early Romanization. In addition to evaluating faunal developments in the study area between c. 100 bc–100 ad, the issue of cattle breeding—traditionally the mainstay of livestock economies in many regions and especially in the Munich Gravel Plain at least since the Bronze Age—is addressed in greater detail.

scholarly journals Novajidrány–Sárvár-Erdészház : A Celtic Cemetery at the Foothills of Cserehát, Hungary

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-23
Author(s):  
Bíborka Vass ◽  
F. Zsófia Sörös
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Carpathian Basin ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Late Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
Ceramic Assemblages ◽  
La Tene ◽  
Population Wave ◽  
Grave Goods

At the end of the 4th century BC, and the beginning of the 3rd century BC a Celtic population wave reached the eastern parts of the Carpathian Basin, including Northeastern Hungary. The elements of the funerary rite and the archaeological finds attest to the presence of the newly arrived communities in the cemeteries of the region. The present study serves as a preliminary report on the research results of a Celtic cemetery in the Hernád valley excavated in 2019. The site of Novajidrány–Sárvár-erdészház was in use between the late 4th century BC the earliest and the 3rd century BC and it fits well into the row of Late Iron Age cemeteries in the region. Both cremated and inhumated burials were documented with richly accompanied metal and pottery grave goods. Appearing next to the typically La Tène-styled finds, the graves also contained – mainly in the ceramic assemblages – Scythian-influenced forms which can be explained by the Celtic and Scythian cohabitation in the region during the Late Iron Age.

Celts, politics and motivation in archaeology

Antiquity ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (275) ◽  
pp. 200-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon James
Keyword(s):  
Iron Age ◽  
La Tène ◽  
English Identity ◽  
La Tene

Ruth & Vincent Megaw questioned the motivation behind the current critique of the use of the term ‘Celtic’ for the La Tène Iron Age in ANTIQUITY (1996: 175–81). They explained it is a nationalist reaction derived from insecurity about modern English identity. Here we have a reply to their paper, which rejects these interpretations.

I.—Prehistoric and Roman Settlements on Park Brow

Archaeologia ◽  
1927 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Garnet R. Wolseley ◽  
Reginald A. Smith ◽  
William Hawley
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
South West ◽  
Disturbed Areas ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
The Hill ◽  
The Bronze Age

In a paper describing the discovery and partial excavation of an Early Iron Age settlement on Park Brow Hill near Cissbury, published in the Antiquaries Journal, vol. iv, mention was made of the location of two other habitation sites on the hill—one Roman, and another probably occupied during the Bronze Age of Britain. It was to this latter site that I decided to attend in 1924, the object being to examine the relation between this settlement and that attributed to the Hallstatt–La Tène I period found on the top of the hill (see fig. a). The new site consists of a series of disturbed areas roughly circular, and lying on the slope of the hill facing south-west, about a furlong from the Hallstatt settlement (see fig. b).

Possibilities for Exploring the La Tène Swords and Choosing the Appropriate Method of Conservation Intervention

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-27
Author(s):  
Martin Fořt ◽  
Pavel Sankot
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Nature ◽  
Corrosion Products ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
The Past ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene

The study deals with the possibility of exploring the La Tène swords and choosing the appropriate method of conservation intervention. The published results are based on an internal grant from the National Museum running between 2015 and 2016, which was closely focused on "The Exploration of Celtic Iron Arms from the Archaeological Collection of the National Museum" and which involved 67 items. The purpose of the internal grant was to find and to map hidden decorations or other structural elements on the La Tène swords that had been preserved in the past. Preferred were the preserved swords with unremoved layers of anti-corrosion products, whereby there is a greater presumption of the occurrence of the above-mentioned elements than when the cleaning of swords was specifically of a chemical nature.

New Light on Sterne: An Old Man's Recollections of the Young Vicar

PMLA ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Kuist
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Laurence Sterne ◽  
Present Knowledge ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Public Records ◽  
The Past ◽  
Insight Into

In a volume of miscellaneous manuscripts at the British Museum, placed at random and inconspicuously among larger folio leaves, is a set of notes headed “Sterne.” The notes were written by Joseph Hunter, the nineteenth-century antiquary and literary historian, and they came to the British Museum with Hunter's other papers shortly after his death in 1861. In view of the abundant information about Sterne's private life which the notes contain, it is surprising that this item has remained unindexed and that it is not mentioned in the catalogue description of the volume. In the absence of such references, very likely only an occasional reader who has happened upon them has seen these notes, and, since the major biographies of Laurence Sterne make no use of distinct details which Hunter provides, it is quite possible that none of Sterne's biographers have encountered Hunter's information during the past century. At present, our familiarity with the early years of Sterne's marriage and his residence at Sutton-on-the-Forest is rather limited, based as it is upon isolated public records, some letters, fugitive anecdotes, and the unflattering and sometimes vicious account written by John Croft. No impartial memoirs with any claim to authenticity or wealth of details have until now seemed available. Thus, the intimate account of Sterne which Hunter has given presents to modern scholars an unexpected and promising opportunity to gain new insight into the life and, perhaps, into the work of one of England's most unusual writers. A transcript of Hunter's notes appears below, followed by a brief evaluation of them according to our present knowledge of Laurence Sterne.

scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of the Zagreb Upper Town Prehistoric Settlement

Radiocarbon ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bogomil Obelić ◽  
Marija Šmalcelj ◽  
Nada Horvatinčič ◽  
Romana Bistrovič ◽  
Adela Sliepčević
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Iron Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Early Iron Age ◽  
Wooden Structure ◽  
La Tène ◽  
La Tene ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Hallstatt Period

During the 1989–1994 renovation of the Zagreb Town Museum, it became obvious that the area was inhabited in prehistoric times. We 14C dated 40 samples to determine various settlement periods. The ages of the samples span a much longer time than expected, from the Early Iron Age (Hallstatt period) to the 19th century ad. 14C dates on charcoal samples placed the remains of dwelling pits in the Hallstatt period, 8th to 4th century bc. A late La Tène settlement dated between the 4th century bc and the 2nd century ad. Medieval fortifications were identified in the western part of the complex, consisting of a well-preserved wooden structure used for construction of the royal castrum. 14C measurements on wooden planks and posts date the construction of the fortification between the 13th and 15th centuries ad and branches, beams, and tools found below the basement of the Convent of St. Clare span the 16th to the 19th century ad.

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