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Irish Bronze Age Horns and their relations with Northern Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2014

John M. Coles
John M. Coles
Affiliation:
Faculty of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge
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Extract

One of the features of the Irish Late Bronze Age is the appearance of wind instruments, commonly called ‘Trumpets’, often found in groups and only rarely in association with other material. Being conical and curved, these are therefore members of the horn family, to which the other large musical group of the Bronze Age, the north European lurer, also belong.

The Irish horns have attracted the attention of antiquarians for over 100 years, with the principal collection and listing of these beginning in 1860. Evans devoted a section of his 1881 book to the ‘trumpets’, and was followed by Day, Allen and Coffey. The latest treatment, which brought together most of the previous lists of horns, was by MacWhite in 1945. All of these later works were primarily concerned with the typology of the horns, and attention was paid neither to their actual production nor to their music. In the present study, all previously published horns have been examined where possible, as well as a number of unpublished finds, and an attempt will be made not only (i) to describe the typological variations and dating of the horns, but also (ii) to discuss their production as objects from Late Bronze Age workshops and (iii) to consider for the first time their musical potential.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 29 , December 1963 , pp. 326 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1963

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References

page 326 note 1 ‘Ancient Irish Trumpets’, Ulster J. Arch. VIII (1860), 99Google Scholar; an earlier list was published in the Dublin Penny Journal (1833–1884), 27Google Scholar.

page 326 note 2 Day, R., ‘Irish Bronze War Trumpets’, J. Royal Hist. & Arch. Assoc. Ireland 4 III (1875), 422Google Scholar; Evans, J., Ancient Bronze Implements (1881), 357Google Scholar; Allen, J. R., ‘List of Bronze War Trumpets’, Reliquary and Illustrated Archaeologist V (1899), 119Google Scholar; Coffey, G., The Bronze Age in Ireland (1913), 85Google Scholar.

page 326 note 3 MacWhite, E., ‘Irish Bronze Age Trumpets’, J.R.S.A. Ireland LXXV (1945), 85Google Scholar.

page 328 note 1 MacWhite, op. cit. fig. 2.

page 328 note 2 Class I = MacWhite A1 A2 A-B1 AS A-BS and unclassifiables.

page 330 note 1 Class II = MacWhite B1 B2 BS and unclassifiables.

page 332 note 1 The positioning of these holes varies greatly, and this has been useful in deciding on pairings of curved pieces and tubes.

page 332 note 2 Evans, op. cit. 358; not without exceptions, e.g. Kanturk.

page 332 note 3 Confirmation of this suggestion has since been obtained by reference to the original report of the Carrigogunnel find, published in 1788. Describing a Class II tube, the author states, ‘At each end, it has four holes, corresponding to four in (the) trumpet, through which two pins or pegs fastened the instrument … the pins were lost’ (Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., II, 1788, part 3, p. 4Google Scholar).

page 332 note 4 Cowen, J. D., ‘Two Bronze Swords from Ewart Park, Wooler’, Arch. Ael. 4th Ser. IX (1933), 197Google Scholar; also see P.S.A.S. XCI (1958), 183Google Scholar.

page 332 note 5 Coffey, op. cit. 81.

page 332 note 6 Also from Brockagh, Co. Westmeath, , P.R.I.A. XXXVI C (1922), 145Google Scholar.

page 333 note 1 Macalister, R. A. S., The Archaeology of Ireland (1949), 221Google Scholar; recent dating by Hawkes, C. F. C. and Smith, M., ‘On Some Buckets and Cauldrons of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages’, Ant. J. XXXVII (1957), 131CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 333 note 2 I am grateful to Dr J. Raftery for information about this find. Radiocarbon dates from Lough Gara suggest that a form of late Bronze Age culture persisted in at least this area of Ireland as late as the 3rd or 2nd century B.C., J.R.S.A. Ireland, XCIII (1963), 110Google Scholar.

page 333 note 3 e.g. Reach Fen, Cambs., Invent. Arch.: GB 17, 6; Burton, Lincs., GB 23, 8.

page 333 note 4 Coles, J. M., ‘Scottish Late Bronze Age Metalwork’, P.S.A.S. XCIII (1960), 44Google Scholar, with references.

page 333 note 5 Broholm, H. C., Larsen, W. P. and Skjerne, G., The Lures of the Bronze Age (1949)Google Scholar, pl. 22.

page 333 note 6 MacWhite, op. cit. 93; von Merhart, G., ‘Studien über einige Gattungen von Bronzegefässen’, Röm.-Germ. Zentralmus. Festschrift II (1952), 1Google Scholar.

page 333 note 7 Broholm, op. cit. (1949), plate 19.

page 333 note 8 Hawkes and Smith, op. cit. fig. 10 and page 186.

page 334 note 1 Maryon, H., ‘The Technical Methods of the Irish Smiths in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages’, P.R.I.A. XLIV C (1938), 181Google Scholar; Hodges, H. W. M., ‘Studies in the Late Bronze Age in Ireland’, Ulster J. Arch. XVII (1954), 62Google Scholar; Tylecote, R. F., Metallurgy in Archaeology (1962)Google Scholar.

page 334 note 2 Numbers refer to the Catalogue, page 349.

page 334 note 3 Wooden models for other Irish Late Bronze Age material have survived, Hodges, op. cit. (1954), fig. 3. Metal horns could also serve as models, although the copy would be slightly smaller than the original.

page 334 note 4 Most of the Dowris horns have thicker walls than this, and the Roscrea horn (31) is 3.5 millimetres thick.

page 335 note 1 Moss of Lochlundie, Aberds., Marischal College 257; P.S.A.S. XXVI (1892), 182Google Scholar.

page 335 note 2 Coles, J. M. and Livens, R. G., ‘A Bronze Sword from Douglas, Lanarkshire’, P.S.A.S. XCI (1958), 182Google Scholar, X-ray: pl. xxviii.

page 338 note 1 Kirby, P. R., The Musical Instruments of the Native Races of South Africa (1934)Google Scholar; Sachs, C., The Rise of Music in the Ancient World (1944)Google Scholar; Sachs, C., The History of Musical Instruments (1940)Google Scholar.

page 338 note 2 Day, op. cit. (1875), 431, also considered this necessary: ‘Mouthpieces must in such instances have been used; they were probably made of some destructible material, such as wood, bone, or ivory’.

page 338 note 3 ‘And it is a melancholy fact, that the loss of this gentleman's life was occasioned by a subsequent experiment of the same kind. In the act of attempting to produce a distinct sound on a large trumpet … he burst a blood-vessel, and died a few days after’. Ulster J. Arch. VIII (1860), 101Google Scholar.

page 340 note 1 van Lennep, H., ‘De midwinterhoorn: een oud Nederlands instrument’, Honderd Eeuwen Nederland (1959), 292Google Scholar.

page 340 note 2 Horn 16A has a broken mouthpiece which prevents production of f.

page 341 note 1 The degree of competence of Bronze Age musicians is of course not possible to estimate exactly, but it is believed that a compromise has been reached here. The author does not claim to reach the standards of a professional trumpeter (as were the players of the Nordic lurer), but nevertheless has had some experience of wind instruments of this type. The view that this position is the only certain way to approach the problem of competence is shared by other parties interested in primitive musical instruments.

page 341 note 2 Except for one of the Dowris horns (14F). It is interesting to note that the silver and bronze trumpets from the tomb of Tut-Ankh-Amen' are also limited to two notes, and show the same lack of attention towards a proper mouthpiece, Kirby, P. R., ‘The Trumpets of Tut-Ankh-Amen and their Successors’, J.R.A.I., LXXVI (1947), 33Google Scholar.

page 342 note 1 Smith, , History of the County of Cork (1750), II, 406Google Scholar; reported in Ulster J. Arch. VIII (1860), 102Google Scholar. This sober view contrasts remarkably with contemporary accounts of the enormous Celtic horns of Ireland: ‘The finder, as soon as he had cleared the tubes of the moss which they contained, applied the smaller end of the larger joint to his mouth, and blew a blast, which immediately arrested the attention of the inhabitants of several adjacent townlands, who hurried to the spot’, ibid 103.

page 342 note 2 The pibcorn or hornpipe is only a slight development of the primitive pipe made of a small reed, partly slit to form a vibrating tongue and closed by a node. A pibcorn from Anglesey has a reed pipe with finger-holes, a bell of horn and a horn mouth-piece (recently figured in P.S.A.S. LXXXIV (1950), 174Google Scholar, in relation to the Scottish stock-and-horn). The use of a large mouth-piece or chamber which covers the reed enables the performer to inhale through the nose and blow with the mouth into the instrument simultaneously (Balfour, H., ‘The Old British “Pibcorn” or “Hornpipe” and its affinities’, J. Anth. Inst. XX (1891), 142)Google Scholar. In the East, the gourd can be used for this wind-chamber protecting the reed, and in western Europe this was replaced by an animal horn. And from the pibcorn stage it is a simple matter to substitute a bag for the mouth-piece horn-cover, resulting in the bagpipe (Baines, A., ‘Bagpipes’, Pitt-Rivers Occas. Paper on Technology IX (1960), 27)Google Scholar.

page 342 note 3 Materialy i Issledovaniia po Arkheologii SSSR no. 110 (1963), 107Google Scholar, fig. 18, 1; reconstruction fig. 18, 4. Thanks are offered to Professor Grahame Clark for drawing my attention to this find.

page 343 note 1 Sachs, op. cit. (1944).

page 343 note 2 The other Irish Late Bronze Age ‘musical instrument’ is the crotal (Evans, op. cit. (1881), fig. 446). Practically all of these come from the Dowris hoard, and are generally of one size, although several smaller versions do exist (Armstrong, op. cit. (1922), figs. 2 and 3). Their use is unknown, but they probably served some function as bells or rattles. There is no reason to assume that horn and crotal were played together; the two instruments are unlikely pairings by present standards. If more were known of the circumstances of the Dowris find perhaps some positive theory could be advanced.

page 343 note 3 Schmidt, H., Praehistorische Zeitschrift VII (1915), 108Google Scholar.

page 344 note 1 Oldeberg, A, ‘A Contribution to the History of the Scandinavian Bronze Lur in the Bronze and Iron Ages’, Acta Archaeologica XVIII (1947), 1Google Scholar.

page 344 note 2 H. C. Broholm, op. cit. (1949).

page 344 note 3 Vogt, E., ‘Der Beginn der Hallstattzeit in der Schweiz’, Vierzigstes Jahrbuch der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte XL (1949–1950), 209Google Scholar, abb. 2.

page 344 note 4 Sprockhoff, E., Jungbronzezeitliche Hortfunde. Der Siidzone des nordischen Kreises (Periode V) (1956), vol. I, 248Google Scholar.

page 344 note 5 Oldeberg, op. cit. (1947), II, also notes a fragment from Latdorf, a short bronze tube with turned rim, which might belong to this Wismar group.

page 345 note 1 Hammerich, A., ‘Studier over Bronzelurerne i Nationalmusaeet i Kjøbenhavn,’ Aarbøger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie 2, VIII (1893), 141Google Scholar.

page 345 note 2 Kroman, K., Aarbøger 2, XVII (1902), 79Google Scholar; 2, XIX (1904), 65.

page 345 note 3 Schmidt showed that the chaplets in the Daberkow lur were of an alloy with less tin, higher melting point, than the metal of the lur body; he believed this to be necessary to prevent the chaplets melting and releasing the core. Broholm does not consider this necessary, as the thin casting would cool so rapidly that the chaplets would not be in any danger.

page 345 note 4 Oldeberg, op. cit. (1947), fig. 66.

page 345 note 5 Schmidt (1915), Oldeberg (1947), Broholm (1949).

page 345 note 6 Broholm, op. cit. (1949), fig. 24, Hove.

page 345 note 7 Broholm, op. cit. (1949), fig. 18, Midskov.

page 346 note 1 Stenberger, M., Sweden, (1962), 103Google Scholar.

page 346 note 2 Grinsell, L. V., ‘The Kivik Cairn, Scania’, Antiquity XVI (1942), 160CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 346 note 3 e.g. Seddin, Brandenburg; Ebert, M., Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte XI, 444Google Scholar.

page 346 note 4 Boholm, H. C., Danske Oldsager III (1952)Google Scholar, no. 253.

page 346 note 5 Broholm, , Danske Oldsager IV (1953)Google Scholar, nos. 105–105a; cf. Vikso, , Acta Archaeologica XVII (1946), 99Google Scholar.

page 346 note 6 A date in Period III is not excluded, but better dating evidence is needed.

page 346 note 7 Hammerich: ‘It seems like a messenger from quite another culture, more developed, finer, as from a people whose taste for the beautiful was at such a pitch that it tried to realize it not only visually, but also audibly’. Eichenauer commented that we cannot deny our Germanic forefathers the possibility even then of experiencing a musical thrill of the most profound kind; Oldeberg, op. cit. (1947), 5–9.

page 346 note 8 In Broholm, op. cit. (1949), 121.

page 346 note 9 In general, the longer the tube is in relation to the width, the more easily can the notes be sounded. Hammerich's musicians, by modern blowing techniques, could produce up to sixteen partials.

page 346 note 10 Moser, H. J., Geschichte der deutschen Musik, I (1920)Google Scholar, considered that the players answered each other alternately.

page 347 note 1 Broholm, op. cit. (1949), pl. 28.

page 347 note 2 Unfortunately misprinted B2 in his paper, op. cit. (1945), 93.

page 347 note 3 Hencken, H., ‘Palaeobotany and the Bronze Age’, J.R.S.A.I. LXXXI (1951), 57Google Scholar; other authorities have dated the cist by the lurer.

page 347 note 4 Stock descended from these survive today in parts of Europe. The Jersey, Alpine and Shorthorn are forms of Bos longifrons, while Hungarian, Scottish Highland and Italian Longhorns are developments from Bos primigenius. Zeuner, F. E., A History of Domesticated Animals (1963), 215Google Scholar; Oldeberg op. cit. (1947), 44, commented on this problem.

page 348 note 1 Norling-Christensen, H., ‘The Vikso Helmets. A Bronze Age Votive Find from Zealand’, Acta Archaeologica XVII (1946), 99Google Scholar.

page 348 note 2 Zeuner, op. cit. (1963), fig. 8: 21.

page 348 note 3 Oldeberg, op. cit. (1947), 83.

page 348 note 4 Hencken, op. cit. (1951), 58.

page 348 note 5 Sachs, op. cit. (1940), 146.

page 348 note 6 Piggott, S., ‘The Carnyx in Early Iron Age Britain’, Antiquaries Journal XXXIX (1959), 24Google Scholar.

page 348 note 7 e.g. Kirby, op. cit. (1934), pl. 30A.

page 348 note 8 Macalister, , The Archaeology of Ireland (1928)Google Scholar considered these to originate in a cow-horn plus a wooden plug, but a side-perforated horn, with tip still solid like most African side-blow horns, needs no plug to render it playable. The knobbed end of the Irish metal horns must be designed to carry the loop or ring-holder present on almost all of these horns.

page 349 note 1 Sprockhoff, op. cit. (1956), 253. The European distribution of Bronze Age horns, including lurer, is like that of beaten bronze shields, except for the British Isles, where horns are Irish and shields are British. Both forms probably have something to do with ceremonial use, and in one case it is possible that a lur and shield were associated (Lommelev, Denmark) although the circumstances are not precise enough to be certain.

page 349 note 2 This piece consists of part of the large central boss, which was surrounded by at least three ribs each separated from the others by double rows of small bosses, in general effect rather like the Danish Lommelev shield (Coles, , ‘European Bronze Age Shields’, PPS XXVIII (1962)Google Scholar, pl. XXX, list page 187 to which the Nyirtura shield should be added). The shield was found with fragments of other Urnfield objects including socketed axes, sickles and sword; the sword pieces and the axe form are matched in the Podcrkavlje and Slavonski Brod group, the sickle pieces perhaps in the Tenja hoard, from Croatia (Holste, F., ‘Zur Chronologie der süd-osteuropäischen Depotfunde der Urnenfelderzeit’, Vorgeschichtlichen Seminar der Philipps-Universität Marburg (1962)Google Scholar, taf. 12 and 15). I am indebted to Dr A. Mozsolics of Budapest, and Dr I. Hasek of Prague for assistance in regard to shields and horns in eastern Europe. Professor Piggott has drawn my attention to a recent find of a V-notched shield from Old Paphos, Cyprus, which might also be included in the shield catalogue. This fragmentary example has been dated by association to the early 7th century B.C. (Karageorghis, V., ‘Une Tombe de Guerrier à Palaepaphos’, Bulletin de Correspondence Hellénique, LXXXVII (1963), 265)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 349 note 3 Sprookhoff, , Zur Handelsgeschichte der Germanischen Bronzezeit (1930), 49Google Scholar; von Merhart op. cit. (1952), map 1, 3, 6. The relationship of North European and British-Irish shields and horns with comparable material of Etruscan origin is difficult to define. In general these latter are considered to be little earlier than the 6th century B.C., thus too late by North European dating, although not necessarily so in regard to the British-Irish material, to allow of any close or direct connection. The combination of the two forms, shield and horn, in these distinct areas, however, suggests that some relationship may have existed, and if so, one would assume this to be running south to north and west notwithstanding the divergent dating.

page 350 note 1 This find is mentioned by Wilde in three separate contexts, each time differently, but it seems reasonably certain to include Wilde's numbers 6, 13 and 14 in this find, while his 15, included by MacWhite, may not be associated. Note also that the illustrations in MacWhite's paper are incorrect for this find. The National Museum numbers are W6;D652, W13;D651 and W14;D650.

page 353 note 1 This horn is listed in the Catalogue of the Day collection sale under Lot 334 as ?Dunmanway. It was purchased by a private collector in Paris, as reported by Fitte, P. in Bull. Soc. Préh. Française, XLVI (1949), 382Google Scholar. There is no doubt that the horns as illustrated in the sale catalogue, and the Bulletin, are one and the same. Apparently there remains part of a label attached to the horn, which reads … WRIS. It seems quite possible, then, that this horn is from the Dowris find, and if so, then doubt must be cast on the other ?Dunmanway object, a Class II tube purchased from the Day collection and at present in the Ulster Museum (20). This too may well be from Dowris.

page 353 note 2 Some confusion exists over this find. MacWhite lists four horns, three of the end-blow type and one side-blow. One of the first references to the find (Ulster J. Arch. VIII (1860), 100Google Scholar) describes two horns, one end-blow and one side-blow, both from the Jas. Bell of Ballymoney collection and then (1860) in the newly-formed Bally-money Museum. The report continues, ‘These trumpets were found, with two others precisely similar, in the year 1840, in Drumbest bog, in the parish of Kilraughts (County Antrim). The other two … have been sold in London’. These latter two are now in the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Farnham, and consist of one end-blow and one-side-blow. Another end-blow, as illustrated in the original report, must have gone from the Ballymoney museum via the Bateman collection to the National Museum of Ireland (1893.17). The other horn figured in i860 is a side-blow; MacWhite's composition of the hoard must therefore be wrong. This horn was one of the Ballymoney collection. In 1867 or 1877 G. A. Robinson, Esq., obtained a bronze horn from the Ballymoney collection and donated it to the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society; through the kindness of Mr George Willmot, F.S.A., Keeper of the Yorkshire Museum I have been allowed to examine this horn, and it matches in almost every detail that of the 1860 illustration, and is close in size and style to the other side-blow horn from this find now in the Pitt-Rivers Museum. The Yorkshire Museum horn is provenanced parish of Kelraughts, Co. Antrim; it must without doubt be one of the four horns found at Drumbest in this parish.

page 354 note 1 The original 1835 find seems to have consisted of a number of horns, some of which were in 1860 in collections in Cork, including one owned by a J. Windele, while several were purchased by Lord Londesborough. A number of horns, perhaps of this find, were exhibited at the Cork Industrial Exhibition in 1851. The present composition of the find under number 24 is not certain; 24B is from the Londesborough Collection, while 24C and 24D, the latter from the Evans Collection, are registered Killarney 1886. It is quite possible that 47 and 48 from Cork Public Museum, belong to this find, also that 11A and 11B, registered by the National Museum in 1888 as from the Londesborough Collection, are part of this hoard.

page 355 note 1 MacWhite's illustration of this find links 29A and 29D together, but the positioning and number of holes on these pieces do not fit. 29B and 29D form one instrument.

page 355 note 2 These three horns were obtained by the National Museum from the Perry Collection, and are listed by Coffey (op. cit. 87, no. 26) as an associated group. There is no certainty of this.