Bronze Age Ireland

Bronze Age Ireland

Early Bronze Age – 1800B.C to 1500 B.C

Middle Bronze Age 1500 B.C to 1200 B.C

Late Bronze Age 1200 B.C to 500 B.C 

     

The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological and genetic evidence; it begins with the first evidence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers settling in Ireland after 8000 BC and finishes with the start of the historical record, around AD 400. The prehistoric period covers the Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age societies of Ireland. For many European countries a historical record begins when the Romans invaded; however, as Ireland was not invaded by the Romans its historical record starts later, with the coming of Christianity.

• Mixing copper and tin to make bronze – more usable and durable than copper
• Ireland was blessed with relatively rich copper deposits, allowing large quantities of bronze to be produced on the island. 
• Movement of people throughout Europe – bringing new cultures, skills and customs to Ireland.
• Most of the tin that was needed to make the bronze seems to have been imported from what is now England.

Four Distinct Groups:

1. The Beaker People                          3. The Bowl Food Vessel People
2. The Food Vessel People                4. The Urn People

EARLY BRONZE AGE

The Beaker people were late Neolithic–Early Bronze Age people living about 4,500 years ago in the temperate zones of Europe.

Bell Beaker People & Beaker Pottery

Form:
The Beaker people get their name from the shape of the pottery that they made. The pots are usually V shaped in section like an upside down bell. Narrow at the bottom and opening out toward the top. Pots were usually 10cm to 20cm tall.
Decoration:
The whole outer surface usually covered with ornate decoration, made by a toothed comb or wheel which produced dotted lines often running parallel to each other. Motifs include herringbone, chevrons and lozenges; bases are sometimes decorated with a cross. The pots usually have raised bands in high relief – a light/shadow effect created by the use of chip carving
Function:
The pots were used as funerary vessels. The ashes of the dead may have been placed in them or the pots may have been placed beside the dead containing food as sustenance for their journey to another world.
Technique:
The pots would have been made using a clay coiling technique. Long sausages of clay would be rolled out and then coiled around slowly building upward. The surface would then be smoothed and rendered with clay working tools.

Bronze Age
      

Wedge Tombs

           

Wedge Tombs consist of a narrowing stone chamber covered by a mound of earth. The single entrance almost invariably faces south-west.

They are found in western Ulster, Connaught and Munster

A wedge-shaped gallery grave or wedge tomb is a type of Irish chamber tomb. They are so named because the burial chamber itself narrows at one end (usually decreasing both in height and width from west to east), producing a wedge shape in elevation.

A distinguishing characteristic of wedge tombs is the double-walling of the gallery. They were often covered by cairns, which could be round, oval or D-shaped, often with a kerbstone to fasten it down. More are low sized, usually about 1.5 metres high, and are generally found on mountainsides, about three-quarters the way up.

Wedge tombs were built between the Irish late Neolithic and middle Bronze Ages (about 2500 to 2000BC). Today, between 500 and 550 known wedge tombs survive in Ireland, and are found predominantly in the West and North West of the island.

                                       

These monuments added social dimensions to the landscape and over time they became permanent, integral part of the landscape. People became engaged in the landscape and the monuments they built became a focal point for their activities.

Housing 

It seems that the Bronze Age Irish lived in houses that were similar to those of the Neolithic; that is, rectangular or circular houses constructed from timber beams with wattle-and-daub walls and thatched roofs made from reeds. The circular houses would have been from 4 to 7 metres in diameter and supported by a central post. Some other houses may have been constructed from sods of earth placed within a wooden frame. Many houses would have had a circular wooden fence making an enclosure in front of the house. There was sometimes a circular ditch around the whole property which was both defensive and kept animals in. 

Agriculture

          

Agriculture continued much as it did in the Neolithic, on a larger scale. More lowland forests were cleared to make farmland which was used for grazing or for growing cereal crops.  

Cooking

 

   

Bronze Age cooking place or fulacht fia was horse-shoe shaped. A wood-lined trough was dug in the ground and filled with water. Beside the trough, a fire was lit and stones heated in the fire. These stones were then thrown into the water. Once it was hot enough, meat could be boiled in the water. The broken, used stones were hurled off to one side and formed, over the course of some years, the distinctive horseshow mound. 1200bc - 500bc

 EXTRACTING ORE FROM ROCK

Evidence from inside the mines indicates that the copper ore was probably extracted by lighting fires inside the mine and then, when the mine walls had become hot, water was splashed onto them, thus shattering the ore which could then be removed. Counties Cork and Kerry, on the south-west tip of the island, produced the bulk of Ireland's copper and it has been estimated.

Ireland exported a lot of copper during the Bronze Age.

Series of steps extracting ore from the rock

1. Light a fire to expand the substance of the rock
2. Throw cold water over the rock – quick cooling causes it to shatter
3. Break down the rock further
4. Small fragments of rock and mineral ore were smelted down to free the metal

                                      

The technology for moulding the bronze improved through the Bronze Age. Initially, items were cast by pouring the bronze into a hollowed out stone. When removed, this axe head would have been attached to a wooden handle at its narrow end, while the wide, curved end would have become the blade.

        

     By the middle Bronze Age, people had invented two-part moulds  where two hollowed stones were put together and metal poured into a gap at the top. This allowed more complex items, such as daggers, to be produced.

By the end of the Bronze Age, people were making wax or fat models of what they wanted to cast, putting clay round them and then heating the clay to melt the wax. They then poured in the metal and chipped away the clay once it had set.

The Bronze Age also saw the first use of gold and there are a number of beautiful examples of gold jewellery and other objects. As gold was useless for any practical purpose, and also because of its beautiful colour and rarity, it quickly became a highly desirable ornamental material. It is for this reason that the period is sometimes called Ireland's first "golden age"

 Metalworking Techniques

Three main metalworking techniques of the Bronze Age Period:

1.    Repoussé - Design beaten in from the back.

Name: Sun Discs

Found: Co. Monaghan – Early Bronze Age

Form: Discs of thin gold, often found in pairs, 11.6cm in diameter

Decoration: Chevrons, zigzags, geometric designs consisting of two rings of chevrons, surrounded by multiple rings of indentations. In the middle of the disc there is a cross with a star like feature at the centre.

Function: Stitched onto garments – It was worn as a representation of wealth or status. The two holes in the middle show that it was possibly sewn onto clothing. Often found in pairs and possibly worn on the chest.
Technique: Circle beaten from plate of gold – decorated by hammering and punching

2.    Incised - Design cut into.

            

Name: Lunulae

Found: Co. Westmeath – Early Bronze Age

Form: Crescent or half – moon. 20cm across

Decoration: Geometrical patterns consisting of chevrons, zigzags. Toward the narrow ends there are four bands of lozenges and zigzags. The outer edge of the whole piece is decorated with lines and lozenges.

Function: Jewellery, worn as a sign of wealth and status around the neck.

Technique: Cut from thin beaten sheets of gold with slightly thicker extensions at the ends for locking. Gold would be hammered till very thin and then cut into the crescent shape. Decoration would be applied using the incision technique.

3. Twisting- Metal twisted.

Name: Gold Ribbon Torc

Found: Belfast, Co. Antrim – Late Bronze Age to Golden Age
Form: Cylindrical bands of gold which are not completely closed.
Decoration: Thin ridges of geometrical patterns flowing around the band. The outer edge of the piece has a raised lip.
Function: Jewellery worn to show wealth and status. These would be worn on the wrist, arm or neck. The design could possibly have originated from protective armour worn by warriors.
Technique: Gold would be hammered until very thin and then cut into a rectangular shape. Then decoration would be applied using the repousse technique. The gold sheet would then be bent around a cylindrical form.

Pre-Christian Ireland In Ireland we split the Bronze Age into three distinct periods

Torcs

                       

Form: Long twisted gold flanged torc with elaborate hook like clasps.

Function: Worn as jewellery around the waist perhaps used to fasten clothing. They were worn as sign of status and wealth.

Decoration: The decoration is attained through the twisting of the flanged gold bar.

Technique:  Firstly a square sectioned piece of gold bar would be hammered out. Then the flat faces of the bar would be hammered to emphasise the corners creating flanges. The bar was then twisted to create the design. The hook clasps were rounded and bent into shape of the design.

Long gold bar torcs

Period : Middle bronze age

Form: Twisted flat gold bar with hook clasps to fasten the piece.

Function: Worn as jewellery around the neck as a sign of status and wealth.

Decoration: Decoration is attained through the uniform twisting of the flat gold bar.

Technique: Firstly a piece of gold would be hammered into a flat thin rectangular strip. The strip would then be twisted uniformly to create the ribbon effect. The ends of the strip would be hammered into rounded hooks for fastening.

Ribbon Torc from Belfast 1400bc - 1200bc is known as the Bishopslands Phase. It gets its name from a great hoard of bronze artefacts dating from around 1400bc - 1200bc found in Bishopsland in Co Kildare. At around this time much of the sheet gold work of the early Bronze Age was replaced by Torcs, ornaments and jewellery made from twisting bars of gold.

Late Bronze Age

Fibula

Form: Two disc or cup like shapes joined together with a gold bow or handle made from approx 1kg of gold.

Function: It is most likely worn as a dress fastener. Due to the weight of this fibula it was not practical for everyday wear and was probably reserved for ritual.

Decoration: The surface is finely polished. There are four rows of concentric circles on three quarters of the cup surfaces containing a single punch mark at each center  The surface of the cups underneath the bow is undercoated but polished. The perimeters of the cups are decorated with rings in a step like fashion where the bow joins the cups there are chevrons and parallel lines encircling it. The bow itself is finely polished without design.

Technique: The piece was cast using the lost wax method. In Bronze Age times animal fat may have been used instead of wax. After casting the piece would have been polished before the designs were made using the incision technique.

Late Bronze Age

Gorget

         

Form: Crescent shaped gold sheet with two attached concave (bowl shaped) gold discs.

Function: Jewellery worn around the neck as a sign of wealth and status.

Decoration: The crescent shaped part is highly decorated with six repousse ridges of rope with rows of beads on either side. The edges are folded backwards to give a clean border. The outer edge of the discs is decorated with repousse beading. There is a row of incised concentric circles with dot marks at the center. At the center of the disc is a large repousse point surrounded by dozens of incised concentric circles followed by rows of repousse beads.

Technique: Firstly gold was hammered in a thin sheet and then cut into the crescent and disc shapes. The discs were hammered into a concave shape. The decoration was added using both the incision and repousse technique before joining the pieces together using a type of biscuit joint and securing with gold wire.

 Biscuit Joining 

Late Bronze Age

Lock Rings

         

      

Material: Gold

Form: Each lock ring consists of two cone shapes of thin gold wire fixed together at the wide end with a pinched narrow bronze sheet creating a ridge. A slit is cut into the form from edge to center. At the center is a cylindrical piece of sheet gold that can rotate freely.

Function: These were probably worn as hair ornaments by a wealthy or powerful member of society. A lock of hair could be pushed through the slit of the cone and the aligned cylinder. The lock of hair could be fixed in place by rotating the cylinder out of alignment.

Decoration: Decoration of the piece is achieved in the very thin and delicate spiral created by this gold wire as it spirals from the center of the cones outward. The edges of the pieces are polished.

Technique: The cones were made by coiling thin gold wire over a cone form. The wire was soldered together to create a rigid cone structure. Each cone was then cut to allow for the slit. The cones were joined together with a band of sheet gold pinch around the edges. A cylindrical tube also with a slit was placed at the center and can move freely. The band and the cylinder were made from gold which was hammered into a sheet and cut to size.

Late Bronze Age

Material: Bronze

Form: Large round cooking pot with large rim and loop handles, 40cm high by 60cm wide.

Function: Used for cooking large quantities of food. A pole may have been put through the handles to suspend the pot over flame and to assist in carrying of the full pot.

Decoration: The structural rivets in the pot are the only decoration on the vessel.

Technique: The pot is made from sheet bronze. Many separate sheets are riveted together. Riveting is done by putting a pin through a hole in both sheets and hammering the rivet from both sides until flattened and rounded, holding both sheets securely.