Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T16:19:50.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Iron Age of ‘Loughey’ and Meare: Some Inferences from Glass Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2011

Julian Henderson
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The archaeology of two Iron Age sites, ‘Loughey’ in County Down, Northern Ireland, and Meare Lake Village, Somerset, is discussed. Changes in the archaeological interpretation of the sites are considered in the light of recent research into Iron Age sites in Britain and Ireland. Consideration of the chemical composition of the glass from ‘Loughey’ and Meare helps to add weight to the existence of suspected links between Ireland and the Continent in the first century B.C., and not, as has regularly been assumed, specific links with south England. The compositional characteristics of the glass from Meare are found to be totally different from those of the ‘Loughey’ glass and it is suggested that glass raw materials were imported to Ireland for the manufacture of Iron Age glass beads there. We can not now be as confident that the person buried at ‘Loughey’ was of ‘foreign’ origin.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 67 , Issue 1 , March 1987 , pp. 29 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Břeň, J. 1966. Třísov: a Celtic Oppidum in South Bohemia. Guides to Prehistory, 11 (Prague).Google Scholar
Bulleid, A. and Gray, H. St George. 1917. The Glastonbury Lake Village, 11, Glastonbury Antiquarian Society (Glastonbury).Google Scholar
Bulleid, A. and Gray, H. St George 1948. The Meare Lake Village, 1 (Taunton Castle).Google Scholar
Bushe-Fox, J. P. 1915. Excavations at Hengistbury Head, Hampshire, in 1911-12, Soc. Antiq. London Res. Rep. 3 (Oxford).Google Scholar
Carruthers, J. 1856. ‘Note resulting from a monthly London meeting of the Archaeological Institute on 7th November 1856’, Arch. J. xiii, 407–9.Google Scholar
Charleston, R. J. 1963. ‘Glass “cakes” as raw materials and articles of commerce’, J. Glass Stud, v, 54–67.Google Scholar
Clarke, D. V. 1971. ‘Small finds in the Atlantic province: problems of approach’, Scot. Arch. Forum, iii, 22–54.Google Scholar
Collis, J. R. 1980. ‘Aulnat and urbanisation in France: a second interim report’, Arch. J. cxxxvii, 40–9.Google Scholar
Collis, J. R. 1984. Oppida. Earliest Towns North of the Alps (Dept. Prehist. & Arch., Sheffield Univ.).Google Scholar
Dent, J. S. 1982. ‘Cemeteries and settlement patterns of the Iron Age on the Yorkshire Wolds’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. xlviii, 437–58.Google Scholar
Dryden, H. E. L. 1885. ‘Hunsbury or Danes Camp, and the discoveries there’, Assoc. Architect. Socs. Rep. & Pap. xviii, 53–61.Google Scholar
Fell, C. I. 1937. ‘The Hunsbury hillfort, Northamptonshire: a new survey of the material’, Arch. J. xciii, 57–100.Google Scholar
Feugère, M. and Py, M. 1986. ‘Les bracelets en verre de l'oppidum de Nages (Gard) (fouilles 1958-1981)’, unpubl. conference paper presented at ‘La verrerie protohistorique en Europe occiden-tale’, held in Lyons Nov. 1986 by l'Association Franchise pour l'Archeologie du Verre.Google Scholar
Gray, H.George, St. 1936. ‘The Meare Lake Village excavations, 1936’, Proc. Somerset Arch. & Nat. Hist. Soc. lxxxii, 236–7.Google Scholar
Gray, H.George, St. 1966. The Meare Lake Village, III, ed. Cotton, M. A. (Taunton Castle).Google Scholar
Gray, H.George, St and Bulleid, A. 1953. The Meare Lake Village, 11 (Taunton Castle).Google Scholar
Guido, M. 1978. The Glass Beads of the Prehistoric and Roman Periods in Britain and Ireland, Soc. Antiq. Res. Rep. 35 (London).Google Scholar
Guillard, M.-C. 1986. ‘Perles et bracelets en verre de Mandeure (Doubs): diversité des types et des couleurs’, unpubl. conference paper presented at ‘La verrerie protohistorique en Europe occiden-tale’, held in Lyons Nov. 1986 by l'Association Française pour l'Archéologie du Verre.Google Scholar
Haevernick, T. E. 1960. Die Glasarmringe und Ringperlen der Mittel- und Spätlatènezeit auf dem europäischen Festland (Rudolf Habelt, Bonn).Google Scholar
Haevernick, T. E. 1974. ‘Gedanken zur frühesten Glasherstellung in Emopa’, Jahrbuch des Romisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz, xxi, 205–9.Google Scholar
Hawkes, C. F. C. 1982. ‘The wearing of the brooch: Early Iron Age dress among the Irish’, in Scott, B. G. (ed.), Studies on Early Ireland. Essays in Honour of M. V. Duignan (Belfast), 51–73.Google Scholar
Hencken, H. 1978. The Iron Age Cemetery of Magdalenska Gora in Slovenia, Mecklenburg Collections, 11, Amer. School Prehist. Res., Peabody Mus. Arch. & Ethnology, Bull. 32 (Harvard Univ., Cambridge, Mass.).Google Scholar
Henderson, J. 1980. ‘Some new evidence for Iron Age glassworking in Britain’, Antiquity, liv, 60–1.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. 1981. ‘A report on the glass excavated from Meare Village West 1979’, Somerset Levels Pap. vii, 55–60.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. 1982. ‘X-ray fluorescence analysis of Iron Age glass’, unpubl. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. Bradford.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. 1987. ‘The glass’ and ‘Glassworking’, in Cunliffe, B., Hengistbury Head, Dorset, i: The Prehistoric and Roman settlement, 3500 B.C.-A.D. 500, Oxford Univ. Comm. Arch. Monograph ser. 13, 160–3 and 180-5.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. Forthcoming a. ‘Archaeological and technical examination of the glass from Meare East’, in Coles, J. M. (ed.), Somerset Levels Pap. xiii.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. Forthcoming b. ‘Industrial revolution: small-scale industries in the late first millennium B.C. in Britain and Europe’, in Hodgson, J., Mason, P., Palk, N., Pare, C. and Taylor, T. (eds.), Europe in the First Millennium B.C., Recent Work, Oxford Univ. Comm. Arch. Monograph ser.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. Forthcoming c. ‘Electron-probe microanalysis of some mixed alkali glasses from France and Ireland’, Archaeometry, xxx.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. and Cummings, K. In prep. ‘Experimental work with glass bead manufacture’.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. and Warren, S. E. 1981. ‘X-ray fluorescence analysis of Iron Age glass: beads from Meare and Glastonbury Lake Villages’, Archaeometry, xxiii (1), 83–94.Google Scholar
Henderson, J. and Warren, S. E. 1983. ‘Analysis of prehistoric lead glass’, in Aspinall, A. and Warren, S. E. (eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Symposium on Archaeometry (Bradford Univ.), 168–80.Google Scholar
Jansová, L. 1965. ‘Hrazany, Keltské oppidum na Sedlčansku’, Památnfky naši minulosti, Československé akademie věd, III.Google Scholar
Jope, E. M. 1954. ‘An Iron Age decorated sword scabbard from the river Bann at Toome’, Ulster J. Arch. 3rd ser. xvii, 81–91.Google Scholar
Jope, E. M. 1960. ‘The beads from the first-century A.D. burial at “Loughey” near Donaghadee: supplementary note’, Ulster J. Arch. 3rd ser. xxiii, 40.Google Scholar
Jope, E. M. and Wilson, B. C. S. 1957. ‘A burial of the first century A.D. near Donaghadee, County Down’, Ulster J. Arch. 3rd ser. xx, 73–95.Google Scholar
Kramer, W. 1958. Manching: ein vindelikisches Oppidum an der Donau, Neue Ausgrabungen in Deutschland (Berlin), 175–202.Google Scholar
Krämer, W. 1960. ‘The oppidum of Manching’, Antiquity, xxxiv, 191–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kunkel, O. 1961. ‘Zur Frage keltischer Glasindustrie nach einer Manchinger Fundgruppe’, Germania, xxxix (3/4), 322–9.Google Scholar
Lipka, L. and Snetina, K. 1913. ‘Staré Hradisko, gallské oppidum na Morave’, Časopis Moravského musea zemského, Brno, XIII, 112–33.Google Scholar
Macleod, E.T. 1915. ‘Notes on Dun an Iardhard, a broch near Dunvegan excavated by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour, Uiginish Lodge, Skye’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot, xlix, 57–70.Google Scholar
Meduna, J. 1961. Staré Hradisko: Katalog der Funde im Museum der Stadt Boskovice, Fontes Archaeologiae Moravicae, II (Arch. Inst. Brno).Google Scholar
Meduna, J. 1970 a. Stare Hradisko, 11: Katalog der Funde aus den Museen in Brno, Fontes Archaeologiae Moravicae, v (Arch. Inst. Brno).Google Scholar
Meduna, J. 1970 b. ‘Das keltische oppidum Stare Hradisko in Mahren’, Germania, xlviii, 34–59.Google Scholar
Mitchell, A. 1890. ‘Purchases of the Museum’, Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot, Xxiv (1890), 11.Google Scholar
Motyková, K. 1978. ‘Metal, glass and amber objects from the acropolis of Zavist’, Památky Archeologické, lxix, 259–343.Google Scholar
Newton, R. G. 1971. ‘A preliminary examination of a suggestion that pieces of strongly coloured glass were articles of trade in the British Iron Age’, Archaeometry, xiii, 11–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orme, B. J., Coles, J.M., Caseldine, A. E., and Bailey, G. N. 1981. ‘Meare Village West 1981’, Somerset Levels Pap. vii, 12–69.Google Scholar
Peddemors, A. 1975. ‘Lateneglasarmringe in den Niederlanden’, Analecta Praehistorica Leidensia, viii, 93–145.Google Scholar
Pič, J. L. 1903. Čechý na usvitě dějin 11: Hradiště u Stradonic jako historické Maroboduum (Prague).Google Scholar
Pieta, K. 1982. Die Puchov-Kultur, Studia Archaeologia Slovaca, Instituti Archaeologici Academiae Scientiarum Slovacae, 1 (Nitra).Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1972. ‘Some Late La Tene beads from Ireland’, J. Rqyal Soc. Antiq. Ireland, cii, 14–18.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1981. ‘Iron Age burials in Ireland’, in O'Corráin, D. (ed.), Irish Antiquity. Essays and Studies Presented to Professor M. J. O'Kelly (Cork), 173–204.Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1983. A Catalogue of Irish Iron Age Antiquities, Veröffentlichung des Vorgeschichtlichen Seminars Marburg, Sonderband 1 (Marburg).Google Scholar
Raftery, B. 1984. La Tene in Ireland: Problems of Origins and Chronology, Veröffentlichung des Vorgeschichtlichen Seminars Marburg, Sonderband 2 (Marburg).Google Scholar
Raftery, J. 1938-1939. ‘The tumulus cemetery of Carrowjames, Co. Mayo, part I, J. Galway Arch. & Hist. Soc. xviii, 157–67.Google Scholar
Raftery, J. 1940-1941. ‘The tumulus cemetery of Carrowjames, Co. Mayo, part II, Carrowjames II’, J. Galway Arch. & Hist. Soc. xix, 16–188.Google Scholar
Reinecke, S. 1911. Altertiimer unserer heidnischen Vorzeit, v (Mainz).Google Scholar
Rooksby, H. P. 1964. ‘A yellow lead tin oxide opacifier in ancient glasses’, Physics & Chemistry of Glasses, v, 20–5.Google Scholar
Sirelx, M., Sireix, C., and Boudet, R. 1982. ‘Perles et bracelets celtiques en verre coloré dēcouverts à Lacoste, Mouliets-et-Villemartin’, Revue Hist. & Arch. Liboumais & Vallée delaDordogne, 1, no. 186, 141–8.Google Scholar
Tilliard, L. 1986. ‘Perles et bracelets en verre de Levroux (Indre)’, unpubl. conference paper presented at ‘La verrerie protohistorique en Europe occidentale’, held in Lyons Nov. 1986 by l'Association Français pour l'Archéologie du Verre.Google Scholar
Vargin, V. V. 1967. Technology of Enamels (London).Google Scholar
Venclová, N. 1985. ‘Collection of glass from Stradonice in Bohemia’, Annales dug 9e Congres de l'Association Internationale pour l'Histoire du Verre (Liége, 1985), 65–75.Google Scholar
Warner, R. 1976. ‘Some observations on the context and importation of exotic material in Ireland, from the first century B.C. to the second century A.D.’, Proc. Royal Irish Acad. (C), lxxvi, 267–92.Google Scholar
Warner, R. and Meighan, I. G. 1981. ‘Dating Irish glass beads by chemical analysis’, in O'Corráin, D. (ed.), Irish Antiquity. Essays and Studies Presented to Professor M. J. O'Kelly (Cork), 52–66.Google Scholar