As we have seen many scholars believe that the Iron Age site assemblages of south-east Scotland are largely impoverished. But as Hunter (2009) reminds us it is salutary to remember that the occupants of these sites, at least in the latter stages of the first millennium BC and into the first millennium AD, are contemporary with some of our finest metalwork and this mis-match should be a reminder of how partial our settlement evidence is. Hunter (2007) has stressed that importance of the BC/AD turning point to be an approximate boundary in our discussions, with an explosion of non-ferrous metalwork after this broad date – what went before is of a different character.
First Millennium BC
Decorative metalwork is rare prior to the first century AD and much of what survives was imported, such as the Snettisgham-style torc from Netherurd, Peebleshire (MacGregor 1976). Thus, identifying indigenous regional metalwork styles in the first millennium BC is tricky, particularly in south-east Scotland. Discussions more recently have, therefore, relied on finds from excavated sites, which are equally rare.
Aside from Traprain Law there are few copper alloy objects from the area. Broxmouth (Hunter 2013) only has 15 demonstrable Iron Age copper alloy objects with the majority from the later phases, the finest example a strap junction. Other finds include a swan’s neck ring-headed pin, a penannular brooch, a spiral finger ring and various strips and offcut. The strap junction is an impressive find and it is rare for such an object to be deposited on an Iron Age settlement site, and its context, within an artefact-rich pit, suggests a ritual act.
Away from Broxmouth copper alloy objects are equally scarce. Although copper alloy objects from the TLEP project are small in number many are significant. An enamelled stud was found at Whittingehame and a spiral finger ring and decorated sheet object at Knowes (Haslegrove 2007; Hunter 2007). The latter is particularly of note suggesting that decorated sheet metalwork may have been more common than surviving finds would indicate. There is too small a dataset for discussion of decorative metalwork but at the very least the few recovered from excavations do show an emerging tradition worthy of further study.
First Millennium AD
Things change dramatically around the start of the first century AD with an explosion of metalwork in different regional traditions, which can be broadly divided into a ‘massive metalwork’ tradition (between the firths of Moray and Forth’ and a ‘central British style zone’ which stretches from the Forth to the Humber. These traditions encompass many of the icons of ‘Celtic Art, much of which was created after the conquest – Dungworth’s (1996) analytical work shows that much of the central British ‘Celtic’ material re-uses Roman metal. The Central British material is diverse and covers horse harness, personal ornaments and weaponry. Central British material also comes from a range of contexts: stray finds, hoards and Iron Age and Roman sites (Stevenson 1966; Piggott 1950; Hunter 2007; Harding 2017). The period ends, of course, with the deposit in the early years of the 5th century of the famous hoard of late Roman silver (Curle 1923).