Thoughts on razors and male grooming in Earlier Bronze Age Ireland

Razors, unlike most other types of metalwork, are as closely associated with their owners in death as they were in life.

r from Peafield, Co. Limerick. From Stanley 2013.

Fig. 1. Razor from Peafield, Co. Limerick. From Stanley 2013.

My report on a pair of bronze razors found in a pit burial at Peafield, Co. Limerick has just been published in River Road. The Archaeology of the Limerick Southern Ring Road. In this blog I am developing some additional thoughts about the Early Bronze Age razors with a new distribution map that includes the new finds. The discovery of the two Peafield razors and an example found in a house at Carrigatogher, Co. Tipperary, recently discussed by Michael Stanley (2013), now brings the total number of Bronze Age razors known in Ireland to just 47. Compared to some of the other artifact types of the period, such as the axes, razors are quite rare. They differ from axes in other ways as they are usually found in burials and never in hoards. In fact the interesting thing about the razors is that, unlike most other types of metalwork, they are as closely associated with their owners in death as they were in life.

The distribution of Bronze Age razors in Ireland. After Kavanagh 1991 with additions.
Fig. 2. The distribution of Earlier Bronze Age razors in Ireland. After Kavanagh 1991 with additions indicated as stars.

The razors indicate a fashion for the cutting of the beard and hair by some men. Harding (2008) in his paper on razors and male identify in the Bronze Age noted that a number of archaeologists have suggested that in continental Europe razors along with tweezers, spoons for applying make-up, and awls or needles for tattooing, formed toilet sets that were used by men for grooming. This special grooming was intended as a form of display by certain individuals and the association of the toilet sets with graves containing weapons indicates these men were probably warriors. The numbers of razors found in Ireland is quite small in comparison to continental Europe (see Kavanagh 1991 and Fig. 2) and none have been found associated with weapons, so there is no evidence that the Irish men who used razors were warriors. On the other hand razor matrices are found on moulds used to cast weapons such as spearheads, daggers and rapiers so that the razor owners certainly had access to weaponry (Kavanagh 1991, 82-3). Another possibility is that in Ireland razors were used by a small group of men to alter their appearance in order to differentiate themselves from their followers. I am going to call these men community leaders. When imagining the possible appearance of these men the ethnographic example of the Maori Chief springs to mind (Fig. 3).

Portrait of a Maori Chief with topknot and feathers, bone comb, facial tatoo, greenstone earring, tiki and woven flax coat. Partly shaved with small beard and moustache. By Sidney Parkinson the artist of on Captain's Cook first expedition. Source Wikipedia Commons.

Fig. 3. Portrait of a Maori Chief with topknot and feathers, bone comb, facial tatoo, greenstone earring, tiki and woven flax coat. Partly shaved with small beard and moustache. By Sidney Parkinson the artist of on Captain’s Cook first expedition. Source Wikipedia Commons.

Razors were personal to their owners in a way that tools and weapons don’t seem to have been and their consistent association with pottery and sometimes with beads, pins, whetstones and flint, in marked contrast to weapons and tools, indicates that the razors were seen as a domestic item, associated with the home. Although razors could be refashioned from old daggers, once they came into the possession of an individual they may not have been inherited as they are usually found buried with the deceased, and sometimes burnt on a pyre, thereby putting them beyond use (Kavanagh 1991, 79).

The discovery of the house at Carrigatogher Site 3, Co. Tipperary allows us for the first time to look at the type of home associated with the people who had razors. Here a razor was placed into a post hole, along with sherds of two cordoned urns and burnt animal bone, during the construction of the house. This was not a loss or discard but a symbolically significant deposit. The Carrigatogher house at 6.7m x 7m in diameter was large for the period, and was constructed with a bedding trench for the wall and an internal circle of posts. The other significant thing about the house is the presence of a large D-shaped entrance porch constructed with posts and 2 lines of stakes curving around the house from the entrance (Mulcahy and Taylor 2013). The deposition of such a rare artefact type, at a period when metal is rarely found in houses, its occurrence in a symbolic deposit in a relatively large house with an unusually elaborate entrance suggests this may have been the home of a significant community leader.

Razors are a rare artefact type with a restricted distribution and deposition that were closely associated with their owners in both life and death. They are also the only metal artefact that provides a link between the social identity of a small number of men found in burials and a contemporary house type. Because of this the significance of the razors vastly outweighs their small number.

References

Harding, A. 2008. Razors and male identity in the Bronze Age. In F. Verse, B. Knoche, J. Graefe, M. Hohlbein, K. Schierhold, C. Siemann, M. Uckelmann and G. Woltermann (Eds) Durch die Zeiten … ; Festschrift für Albrecht Jockenhövel zum 65. Rahden/Westf.: Leidorf.

Kavanagh, R.M. 1991. A reconsideration of razors in the Earlier Bronze Age”, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 121, 77-104.

Mount 2013. Peafield Bronze razors. In N. Bermingham, F. Coyne, G. Hull, F. Reilly and K. Taylor (Eds) River Road. The Archaeology of the Limerick Southern Ring Road. National Roads Authority, Dublin.

Mulcahy, M. And Taylor, K. 2013. N7 Nenagh to Limerick E3327 Carrigatogher Site 3 Co. Tipperary. Unpublished report for Limerick Co. Council

Stanley, M. 2013. Death with a close shave? Seanda 8, 22-3.

 

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. 2013. Thoughts on razors and male grooming in Earlier Bronze Age Ireland. Charles Mount’s Blog, 20 November 2013. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=1310

 

Irish Early Bronze Age Houses 1.4

The development of Early Bronze Age houses from the oval example at Ross Island to the post-built house at Dogstown and the large wall slot and post-built example at Townparks.

 

In Ireland after 2200/2100 BC copper was alloyed with tin to create bronze and the Early Bronze Age commenced. The Early Bronze Age is distinguished from the preceding Copper Age by a number of factors. These include the use of bronze and the development of cemeteries of pit and cists graves either flat or in barrows and cairns. Other factors are the introduction of Bowl and Vase Food Vessels and later Urns as well the development of the classic Bronze Age settlement feature, the round house. The end of the period saw the transition to the Middle Bronze Age in the years 1600-1500 BC.

At the time of writing just 22 houses from 18 settlements can be confidently said to date to the Early Bronze Age. However, this is more than twice the number discussed by Martin Doody in his review of the houses of the Bronze Age just over a decade ago. Not all these sites are published and as other site reports become available the preliminary scheme presented here may be subject to change. The significant increase in the number of settlements known in comparison with the Copper Age is probably due to the use of larger structural elements such as posts and bedding trenches that have left more substantial remains. The houses don’t occur all over the country but have been found in two main concentrations. Half the sites have been found in north-east Ulster with three around the shores of Lough Neagh. The second group is in the south and east and extends from Ross Island, near Killarney, across Cork, Tipperary and Laois to South Dublin. Throughout the west, midlands and north-west no houses of the period have been identified. The house distribution is much more restricted than the Early Bronze Age burials and is largely a result of development driven investigations.

The houses are discussed within a three phase chronological scheme; EBA I-III using a combination of radiocarbon dates and pottery associations. This phasing has been made possible by the publication of Anna Brindley’s radiocarbon-dated pottery typology that has transformed our understanding of Early Bronze Age chronology.

Early Bronze Age I

In EBA I, which dates from 2200/2100 – 2000/1900 BC, there are seven houses known from four settlements. Only half of these houses are published but there is enough information available to indicate that the houses had a variety of forms ranging from rectangular, to sub-rectangular, oval, horse-shoe shaped and semi-circular. Six of the houses were built with foundation trenches, two of which contained posts and one stakes. Only one house is said to have been built of posts alone. The houses were relatively small or narrow, with diameters ranging from just 2.7-6.09m. Four of the houses were associated with Beaker pottery (which continued in use into the Early Bronze Age) and two with Bowl Food Vessels. House D at the Ross Island copper mine had a nodule of pure cooper in its foundation trench, which is the earliest occurrence of the metal in an Irish house. At three of the sites the houses were arranged in pairs.

Early Bronze Age II

In EBA II, dating after 2000/1900 BC, there was a move from pairs of small houses to single large houses with the development of the classic Bronze Age round house. There are just five houses known from five settlements. These were all single structures constructed with posts or posts and bedding trenches and arrangements of internal posts to support the roof structure. The houses were much larger than the EBA I examples with a diameter range from 6-12.8m. The largest example from Brecart, Co. Antrim was a very large sub-circular structure with a diameter of 11.8 x 12.8m and was constructed with a bedding trench, posts and stakes. The post-built house at Dogstown was associated with sherds of Vase Food Vessel. The post-built house at Ballyveelish is the earliest with a porch entrance feature and it was also used as a mortuary house and probably a dead house.

Early Bronze Age III

IN EBA III, after 1750 BC, the Early Bronze Age entered its final phase ending with the transition to the Middle Bronze Age after 1600/1500 BC. There are nine houses known from seven settlements. Note that refinements in the statistical analysis of radiocarbon dating may move houses discussed here into the Middle Bronze Age and vice versa.

Most of the settlements had pottery associations and Cordoned Urns were the most common type. As in the earlier EBA II period there tended to be one house per settlement. Most houses were built with wall slots or gullies with internal posts to support the roof structure and the diameters range from 4 – 9m. The largest example at Townparks, Antrim appears to have had walls finished with wattle and daub. This phase has the first evidence for house enclosures and two of the houses were set within palisades.

Conclusion

The Early Bronze Age saw significant development in house design. Commencing with a range of shapes the classic post-built round house came into use after 2000/1900 BC in what is often referred to as the Ballyvally stage of the Bronze. This stage also saw the first elaboration of houses with the addition of porches and probably the use of mortuary houses. At the end of the period more elaborate houses with posts and bedding trenches developed and the first enclosed palisaded house enclosures appeared.

Note this summary is based on published and unpublished material as well as accounts from the Excavations Bulletin and may be subject to change as more detailed information becomes available. The Bronze Age houses have not to date been the subject of a statistical radiocarbon analysis and this will probably have a significant impact on the proposed dating sequence. My thanks go to Robert Chapple for allowing me to refer to unpublished material on Brecart, Co. Antrim.

Further reading

Half the sites have already been discussed by Martin Doody (2000) in his review of Bronze Age Houses and he includes a full set of references. The Ross Island houses are discussed by William O’Brien in his monograph on the copper mines. The house at Dogstown is published by Doody (2009) and Townparks by Beverly Ballin Smith et al. (2003).

Doody, M. 2000. Bronze Age Houses in Ireland, in A. Desmond, G. Johnson, M. McCarthy, J. Sheehan and E. Shee Twohig (Eds) New Agendas in Irish Prehistory. Dublin.

Doody, M. 2009. Dogstown, Co. Tipperary. Possible Structure Site 151.3 (E2289), in M. McQuade, B. Molloy and C. Moriarty, In The Shadow of the Galtees: Archaeological excavations along the N8 Cashel to Mitchelstown Road Scheme. NRA Scheme Monographs 4. Dublin.

O’Brien, W. 2004. Ross Island Mining, Metal and Society in Early Ireland. Bronze Age Studies 6, Department of Archaeology. NUI Galway.

Smith B.B., Miller, J. Ramsay, S. 2003. The excavation of two Bronze Age Roundhouses at Townparks, Antrim Town, Ulster Journal of Archaeology 62, 16-44.

About the author

Dr. Charles Mount has been involved in research on the Irish Bronze Age for more than twenty years and has published extensively on the burials, monuments and artefacts of the period. This blog post is based on research he is preparing for a book on the period. You can read more of Dr. Mount’s publications here .

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. Irish Early Bronze Age Houses. The Charles Mount Blog, October 7, 2011. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=580

Version 1.4: revised 7/10/11; 7/11/11; 17/11/11; 22/11/11

Hoards in the Irish Copper and Bronze Ages

Hoard of gold lunulae from Rathrooen, Co. Mayo. Image originally published in Clarke et al. 1985.

Throughout the Copper and Bronze Ages the deposition of hoards fluctuated through cycles of activity driven by religious, social and economic factors. After 1,500 years hoard deposition increased parabolicly in the last few centuries of the period indicating that the economy had boomed to the extent that people were wealthy enough to participate in an unprecedented process of wealth destruction. But this was followed by a complete halt to hoard deposition caused by economic collapse or social and religious changes or a combination of these factors.

Introduction

In Ireland the use of metal commenced with the use of copper and gold from at least 2400 BC in the period known as the Copper Age and continued until the wide adoption of iron technology after 700-600 BC. One of the main themes of the Copper and Bronze Ages are hoards. Hoards are collections of objects that are buried together either in the ground or in bogs or other wetlands like lakes, marshes or rivers. Sometimes large collections of objects from bogs and wetlands that probably accumulated over time are also referred to as hoards. The study of the contents of hoards are important to our understanding of the Copper/Bronze Age as they record which objects were in use at a particular period, tell us about the production and distribution of objects and about contemporary society and religious practices. There are a number of different types of hoards including hoards of scrap metal for recycling and hoards of newly made objects for trade and distribution that were intended for recovery. Personal hoards are made up of sets of ornaments, tools or weapons that represented the personal property of an individual. These may have been deposited with the intention of recovery or they may have been intended as religious offerings never to be recovered. Finally there are large community hoards that are usually found in bog/wetland locations and were offerings deposited as part of religious ceremonies.

The record of hoards

There are more than 230 hoards known from the Copper/Bronze Age that contain more than 2,200 objects. Thirty-eight hoards are known from the Copper Age, 32 from the Early Bronze Age, just 5 from the Middle Bronze Age and 157 from the Late Bronze Age (O’Flaherty 1995, Eogan 1983 and 1994). One of the earliest hoards is the Castletown Roche hoard of four flat copper axes which were found close to the Awbeg River in Cork. Hoards continued to be deposited right into the seventh century BC and possible afterwards. In fact most of the known hoards were deposited in the period from the ninth century BC, known as the Dowris phase after a large bog/wetland hoard found near Birr, Co. Offaly. It was also in the Late Bronze Age that very large community hoards developed at bog/wetland locations like Dowris, Mooghaun, Co. Clare and the Bog of Cullen, Co. Tipperary. A trend throughout the Copper/Bronze Age was the deposition of hoards in bog/wetlands. About a third of the Copper and Early Bronze Age hoards, all the Middle Bronze Age hoards and about half the Late Bronze Age hoards are from bog/wetlands. The defining characteristic of these hoards is that they formed a part of religious ceremonies and were never intended to be recovered.

The Copper Age hoards

From the Copper Age, which commenced by 2400 BC or earlier, there are about 114 objects, mainly flat axes, gold discs and lunulae known from 38 hoards. Gold and copper were usually deposited separately. For example at Clashbredane, Co. Cork 25 flat axes were found in Raheen bog during peat cutting, while at Dunfierth, Co. Kildare 4 gold lunulae neck ornaments were deposited together in a bog. A few other objects like daggers and halberds are mainly found in the bog hoards. The objects in gold hoards were often in pairs and appear to represent personal objects.

The Early Bronze Age hoards

After 2200/2100 BC copper was alloyed with tin to create bronze and the Early Bronze Age commenced. There are about 145 hoard objects known from 32 hoards in this period of over 600 years. There appears to have been a reduction in hoard deposition compared to the Copper Age. Axes were still the most common object included with a few daggers and halberds occurring in bog/wetland contexts. Gold disappeared from hoards and wasn’t deposited again until the Late Bronze Age.

The Middle Bronze Age hoards

After 1500 BC the Bronze Age moved into its Middle phase and hoard deposition went into a further decline. Only three hoards with just 11 objects are known mainly from bog/wetlands in the north-west. These included Spears for the first time with flanged and palstave axes.

The Late Bronze Age hoards

After 1300/1200 BC, in the period known as the Bishopsland phase, gold hoards reappeared for the first time since the Copper Age. Twenty-five hoards of mainly personal ornaments are known that include 130 objects such as torcs, bracelets, rings, ear-rings and hair-rings that were made of gold and were mostly deposited in dry land hoards. The gold objects were all international types that are found throughout Britain, France and Spain. These were the personal property of individuals but appear to have been selected and buried for some special social or religious purpose rather than just concealment.

After 1000 BC there was another brief period of decline in hoard deposition during what is known as the Roscommon phase of the Late Bronze Age. Only 3 hoards containing more than 200 objects are known from this period. The most important find from the period the Roscommon hoard contained more than 200 pieces of broken and possibly scrap bronze. The objects in the hoards are primarily swords, spearheads, axes and other tools.

After 900 BC during the Dowris phase the Bronze Age reached its finale. It is not entirely clear how long this period lasted. There is evidence that iron working had been introduced to Ireland sometime between 800-700 BC. So for part of the Dowris phase both bronze and iron were in use simultaneously. From this short period more than 130 hoards are known containing more than 1,600 objects of bronze, gold, amber, glass, etc. These two or three hundred years saw over three times more objects deposited in hoards than in the proceeding 1,500 years. These hoards also contained the widest range of objects of the Bronze Age with tools such as axes and gouges, weapons such as swords and spear-heads, and razors, rings, containers, musical instruments and personal ornaments and gold rings and gorges, and beads of glass and faience. Most of the hoards are known from bog/wetlands and a number of them like Dowris, Cullen and Mooghaun each contained more than 200 objects which appear to have been deposited over a number of years.

The parabolic increase in hoard deposition indicates that during the Dowris phase the economy had boomed to the extent that many people were wealthy enough to participate in an unprecedented process of wealth destruction through the offering of valuable objects to the gods at ceremonies mostly centred on sacred bog/wetland sites. The large community hoards like Dowris and Mooghaun contained a wide range of objects from cauldrons and swords, to musical instruments, tools and ornaments. These hoards may be the accumulation of annual or episodic ceremonial offerings. There were also hoards of ornaments like the example from a bog at Kilmoyly, Co. Kerry with its gold bracelets and dress fastener deposited in a wooden box. These hoards represent an offering on behalf of wealthy individuals. There are weapon hoards like the example from wetland at Ballycroghan, Co. Down with its three leaf-shaped swords. The weapon hoards probably represent the offerings of individual chieftains. There are also tool hoards like the example from Crossna, Co. Roscommon with socketed axes, a gouge and knife, which probably represent the offerings of wealthy farmers.

Conclusion

The mechanisms behind these wildly fluctuating rates of hoard deposition are still poorly understood. If hoards were being buried as a means of concealment and safekeeping with the intention of recovery we would expect to have found much larger numbers of hoards from the Middle Bronze Age and the early part of the Late Bronze Age and would expect to find gold hoards throughout the period. Instead what we are seeing are cycles of fluctuations in hoard deposition that were driven by religious, social and economic factors. The phases may have lasted for hundreds of years but could have been shorter. The activity also took place at different social scales from the community to the individual level but each would have taken place within a defined social and political context. Some time probably between 600 and 500 BC the deposition of hoards ceased completely as a result of economic collapse or social and religious changes or a combination of these factors. This could have been a slow process or an abrupt collapse in activity. The production and use of bronze alongside iron continued in the succeeding Iron Age but was never again to reach the same scale.

About the author

Dr. Charles Mount has been involved in research on the Irish Bronze Age for more than twenty years and has published extensively on the burials, monuments and artefacts of the period. This blog post is based on research he is preparing for a book on the period. You can read more of Dr. Mount’s publications here .

Further reading

O’Flaherty 1995 discusses the bronze hoards of the Copper and Early Bronze Age. Eogan 1994 discusses the gold hoards of the Copper Age and Bronze Age. Eogan 1983 catalogues the hoards of the Middle and Late Bronze Age. Kristiansen 1998 discusses in detail the social and economic analysis of hoarding throughout Europe.

Clarke, D.V. et al. 1985. Symbols of Power at the time of Stonehenge. Edinburgh.

Eogan, G. 1983. Hoards of the Irish later Bronze Age. Dublin.

Eogan, G. 1994. The Accomplished Art. Gold and Gold Working in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze Age. Oxford.

Kristiansen, K. 1998. Europe before History. Cambridge.

O’Flaherty, R. 1995. An analysis of the Irish Early Bronze Age hoards containing copper or bronze objects. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries 125, 10-45.

Cite this post as:

Mount, C. Hoards in the Irish Copper and Bronze Ages. The Charles Mount Blog, August 25, 2011. http://charles-mount.ie/wp/?p=458