- It is likely that on a local and regional level, the Early Iron Age, at least, operated based on gift exchange. The movement of all sorts of goods and materials – whether foodstuffs, labour, objects and raw materials, and probably even people, in the form of marriage partners and potentially, enslaved people – carried with it differing levels of social debt. The transactions involved relationships between people, sometimes on a peer-to-peer basis, sometimes on a hierarchical basis in the form of tribute to a figure of authority.
- At some point the indigenous Iron Age communities came into contact with Rome, which – while perfectly capable of manipulating the traditional methods of gift exchange to achieve political goals through creating alliances – operated largely on commodity exchange. Here, the debt is cancelled at the point of the transaction, with no social relationship required between the two partners.
- Coinage plays an integral role in commodity exchange, but it is hard to quantify from the nature of the evidence occurring across the region, how the two processes of gift exchange and commodity exchange operated over time. It is also hard to identify how much commodity exchange was used and understood across all levels of what appeared to be a tiered and hierarchical society. Evidence that coins were minted by indigenous local leaders during the Iron Age can be found in South East England, where interactions with Rome began at an earlier date, but there is some debate as to how this coinage was used in the indigenous Iron Age context. Did the so-called iron ‘currency-bars’ of southern England perform a similar role to coins? Their uniform size and shape might suggest so. The debate continues in such areas where this evidence occurs, but in South West Scotland, locally produced coinage and currency bars are lacking. Coin finds are not uncommon in South West Scotland, but they are almost invariably of Roman origin and manufacture. There is also an argument – continued from Bronze Age studies – that the presence of ‘scrapped’ and broken objects (like the contents of the Carlingwark Loch hoard) might have been reduced to their intrinsic value and exchanged as bulk metal.
- One particularly interesting find in the region is a coin mould used to produce counterfeit coins from Brighouse Bay in Galloway. The coin type in question was a relatively late one, dating to after AD 288, suggesting that the relative roles of gift and commodity exchange in the Iron Age of South West Scotland varied according to the time and place of the interaction. It is also quite possible that both methods were in use at the same time. Interactions with the Invading Romans, for example, could have been carried out with commodity exchange while those within the local community were still undertaken on a more reciprocal arrangement which involved some degree of social, as well as financial, debt.
- Iron Age society has traditionally been viewed differently to its prehistoric counterparts because there is some literary element attached to it. The Romans left written accounts of the countries they conquered, and much importance has also been attached to a literary tradition which immortalises a mythical ‘Celtic’ past. Such literature must be viewed with a critical eye. These accounts appear to represent the fossilised descendants of a much earlier oral tradition that may even have had origins pre-dating the Iron Age. But the fact that it was set down in its final form at a much later, Early Historic date, means it should be treated with caution. It is perhaps worth noting that a consistent theme in these ‘Celtic’ myths is the significant role – and social status – of the master craftsman. A triad of craft gods is highlighted: these comprise the smith, who works in iron and manufactures weapons in particular; the bronze-worker, who creates decorative metalwork and prestige items; and the wright who handles wood (Gillies 1981, 73).
- ‘Celtic’ mythology has been heavily mined as a potential source for analogy and comparison, but how do such comparisons relate to the physical evidence as it occurs in South West Scotland? The key technological development that defines the Iron Age – and which, indeed, provides the key indicator traditionally separating it from the Bronze Age – is, of course, the widespread adoption of iron. The ability to manufacture iron objects was attained in the closing stages of the Bronze Age, but the circulation and exchange of copper alloy objects remained dominant in the archaeological record at this time (see Chapter 6 Chalcolithic and Bronze Age).
- Unlike bronze, which can be reduced to its molten state at around 900 degrees Centigrade, the melting point of iron is much higher, at around 1538 degrees centigrade. To create liquid iron – and to therefore manufacture cast iron objects – required a level of furnace technology beyond that of Iron Age communities in South West Scotland. Instead, iron ore was heated into a spongy mass known as a ‘bloom’. The impurities, which had a lower melting point, could be drawn off in liquid form and would then resolidify as slags. Early furnaces were bowl-shaped and less efficient; a later form was the stack furnace, which was an upright, chimney-like structure. A hole cut at the base of this structure would allow the liquid slag to be run off or ‘tapped’, leaving the iron ‘bloom’ behind. This was then repeatedly re-heated and hammered to remove more impurities, until it was finally reworked, while still in its heated malleable state, into its desired form.
- Such working was ideal for simple forms of objects like swords, tools, or even bridle-bits and terrets, but at this stage, iron was not a practical choice for decorative metalwork. Complex ornamental castings like the Torrs pony cap, the Balmaclellan mirror and decorative mount and the Bargany scabbard continued to be manufactured from bronze. Gold was also used, particularly for the manufacture of torcs, and horse and chariot equipment was often manufactured from copper alloy, with the rein-rings or terrets, the cheekpieces of the bridle bits and the strap-fittings of the harness often highly decorated. The use of ‘lost wax’ casting – where an initial wax former is used to create a clay-wrapped mould – allowed the creation of complex relief designs familiar to us as the La Tene plastic style (like the Torrs pony cap). Alternatively, sheet bronze could be ‘chased’ using graving tools to create equally complex designs, like those seen on the Balmaclellan mirror and mounts.
- The changing designs and the methods of their execution have been a topic for detailed research and discussion from the time of the early antiquarians onwards. It is also open to debate whether the finest pieces of ‘Celtic’ metalwork recovered from the region were manufactured here, or whether they came into the region from further afield. Certainly, the existence of these spectacular pieces of decorative metalwork supports the possibility that those who crafted in copper alloy, and the impressive objects they created, would have been revered, with the craftsmen occupying a special place in Iron Age society. Whether this place was highly prized, or prized and feared in equal measure, remains open to debate. Evidence from one site, however, might suggest the latter. At the site of Pict’s Knowe, evidence for casting in the form of a crucible was recovered from a former Neolithic henge which was re-cut during the Iron Age (Thomas 2007a). There was evidence for votive deposition on the site during the Roman Iron Age (including a Roman shoe) but, unfortunately, any potential primary evidence for metalworking had been destroyed through the actions of burrowing rabbits. If the interior of the henge had been intact, then the site could, potentially, have revealed evidence of metalworking comparable with Hunterston, an Early Iron Age site described in more detail below.
- What of ironworking? Is it possible to understand the role played by those who undertook humbler – and arguably utilitarian – tasks in Iron Age society? Those who fabricated and repaired the tools and weaponry that were vital to everyday life? Celtic literature and mythology suggest that the smith – the worker of iron – also occupied a special role in society, a possibility widely supported in ethnographic contexts. Finding archaeological evidence to support this is often difficult. Most excavations of sites dating from the Iron Age onwards (such as the Curragh South) often produce varying quantities of slag, but identifying primary production sites where iron was smelted and worked is notoriously difficult. The sites of furnaces are usually quite ephemeral, marked only by heated subsoil, and sometimes vitrified clay and plano-convex lumps of slag interpreted as furnace bottoms. Detailed investigation is required to pinpoint the actual locations where ironworking took place. It requires the identification of minute waste particles like slag spheres and hammerscale, which literally represent the frozen droplets and flakes of molten metal dislodged during the smithing process.
- South West Scotland was fortunate to produce such a primary metalworking site at Hunterston. Here, the by-products of ironworking were identified in association with several roundhouse structures located in a hollow that had been occupied intermittently over thousands of years, beginning in the Neolithic, or possibly even in the Mesolithic. Douglas Gordon, who excavated the site, identified a curious ‘snail-like’ arrangement of screening within one of the roundhouses, associated with a concentration of hammerscale and slag spheres. A similar feature was noted on an early Iron Age site at Bryn y Castell in Ffestiniog, Wales (Crew 1987), and an early Iron Age date was also recovered from this phase at Hunterston. The internal screening evident at Bryn y Castell and at Hunterston would – the excavators of the former argued (Crew 1987) – have aided the ironworker by allowing some control over the air flow within the structure. It would also have reduced the light levels, allowing them to better gauge the temperature inside the furnace, and thus choose the optimum conditions for completing the smelting process (Scott and Cleere 1987).
- The site at Hunterston was located close to the hilltop settlement at Auldhill, which revealed evidence for a vitrified rampart dating to the Iron Age, or even earlier (Caldwell et al 1998). Evidence from sites located further afield (such as Braehead, Renfrew, in the Clyde Valley) suggested that seasonal craft production (in that case, of shale bracelets and armlets) was taking place in specific locales: at Hunterston, the craft in question was iron working. The relationship between the hilltop settlement at Auldhill and the nearby seasonal production of iron at Hunterston was in keeping with a theory put forward by Andrew Heald in his PhD thesis (Heald 2005). Heald suggested that during the early Iron Age, metalworking was considering ambiguous and ritually-polluting. As a result, it had to be separated from the domestic sphere and carried out in a suitable liminal space. The hollow at Hunterston fits the criteria for having been viewed as such a space, and it is perhaps telling that production ceased at the site after the early Iron Age. As the Iron Age progressed, Heald suggests that metalworking lost its ritual significance and ambiguity and became ‘domesticated’. At this point, iron production was drawn within the boundaries of settlement sites, particularly those which were larger and potentially of a higher social status.
- The spectacular copper alloy personal ornaments like torcs and necklets, chariot fittings and scabbard fittings have tended to dominate research into Iron Age material culture and craftsmanship. There were, however, other, more modest items produced by the various local communities. Shale and cannel coal were widely worked into armlets: after being worked into a roughly circular shape, they were then turned on a lathe to remove the central portion and create a hollow ring, then ground and polished to a fine finish. Later in the Iron Age, when contacts with the Romans were established, as well as with other communities which had formed trade networks with the Roman world, more exotic materials could be worked into decorative items. Coloured glass could be turned into bracelets and armlets, though the manner of working would mean the objects were cast in a mould. Glass and enamel, and sometimes imported coral, could also be used as inlay materials in decorative copper alloy items like terrets, bridle bits and armlets.
- The use of coarse stone for everyday objects continued. Arguably, the most important of these was the quern, employed for the grinding of grain into flour. At around 200 BC, the saddle quern which had origins in the Neolithic was replaced by the two-part rotary quern, which was essentially a handmill where the upper stone was rotated against its lower counterpart. Examples of querns were noted during even the earliest investigations, with examples recovered from the crannog at Lochspouts, the small fort at Seamill and the galleried dun at Castle Haven. More recent examples were found at Auchrannie and Boonies. Small decorative items were also produced, with lathe-turned shale, lignite or cannel coal used to create bracelets or armlets. Examples of these decorative items have been found at Harpercroft and Hunterston.
- The manufacture of pottery also continued. Pottery finds are rare on Iron Age sites. Where it occurs, Early Iron Age pottery comprises rough, hand-made wares, plain in form and coarse in texture. A small quantity of pottery sherds was recovered during the excavations at Harpercroft, a hillfort of substantial size, but it is likely that they derived from a single vessel, illustrating the paucity of this material. Adding to the difficulty in identifying early Iron Age pottery is the fact that in many respects, these vessels are indistinguishable from Late Bronze Age forms, which are similarly sparsely represented in the archaeological record. Were wooden vessels being routinely used instead? If so, these would likely have comprised lathe-turned dishes and bowls produced using a similar technique to that employed in the manufacture of shale and cannel coal bracelets. This is entirely possible, as where conditions allow, a range of wooden objects have been recovered from Iron Age sites in the region. Several have been recorded from some crannog sites, and an unusual and interesting assemblage of wooden items was recovered during the excavations at Over Rig, Moffat. Here, in addition to some items of structural woodwork, excavators recovered a wooden container, a handled skillet, and a miniature wooden sword that may have been a child’s toy or practice weapon, a votive offering, or indeed a combination of the two.
- That Iron Age communities had acquired considerable skill in carpentry is also attested by the structural timbers that often survive in good condition on crannog sites. Early on, Robert Munro confirmed evidence for complex carpentry techniques in preserved timbers of crannogs (Munro 1880, 22), with mortised oak beams noted on sites like Dorman’s Island. It should be remembered that crannogs represent complex palimpsests where multiple phases of occupation have occurred. However, the people of the Iron Age were sufficiently competent at working timber to create pile-built crannog structures and to create the logboats which are sometimes found on the same bodies of water where crannogs have been identified. One example, found near a crannog site at Loch Arthur, had a carved animal prow, hinting at an arena for artistry and craftsmanship which has now largely been lost.