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6.7 Transport and Movement

  1. Goods and people sometimes moved considerable distances during the Bronze Age. As in the preceding Neolithic, there is evidence that the acquisition and circulation of prestige objects made of exotic materials played an important role. This was particularly the case in the Early and Middle Bronze Ages. Beads manufactured from Baltic amber were included in the Middle Bronze Age Glentrool hoard; the earliest copper objects, like the flat axes from Maidens were sourced from Ireland. Recent developments in the analysis of human skeletal remains have demonstrated that the Beaker-using peoples of the Chalcolithic undertook long journeys in their lifetimes. Sometimes the individuals in question died hundreds, if not thousands, of miles from the places where they spent their early years.  
  1. This level of analysis has not been possible on the kind of skeletal material commonly recovered from South West Scotland. Here, cremation was the dominant mortuary rite. Those bodies which were inhumed as opposed to cremated often have not survived several thousand years buried in harsh soil conditions. To date, most of the surviving skeletal material which has been recovered was excavated during the 19th century and in many cases has now been lost. 
  1. What is quite evident is that maritime and riverine travel continued in importance throughout the Bronze Age. It is also likely that the same locations that originally attracted the attention of early Neolithic and potentially Mesolithic travellers were favoured during the Bronze Age. Luce Bay and Irvine Bay are two such places which have revealed a dense concentration of Bronze Age material culture. This further supports the suggestion that these areas served as a ‘maritime haven throughout an extensive period of prehistory and even later’ (Bradley 2016). 
  1. Although it has been possible to infer that people travelled extensively by boat during the Neolithic and even during the Mesolithic, it is the Bronze Age that has provided the first physical evidence for such a vessel. This comprises a surviving fragment from a dug-out canoe recovered from Catherinefield Farm in the 1970s. Only one end of the vessel was complete, its squared-off shape suggesting that it derived from the stern end. It was dated to 1917 BC ±125, potentially placing it in the Early Bronze Age (Jardine and Masters 1977). 
  1. Another development which is thought to have occurred in the Bronze Age was the first use of the horse for travel and transport. Horses had the potential to transform travel and also warfare: it has been suggested that horses formed part of the wider ‘Beaker’ package, along with archery equipment and the Beakers themselves. More widely, the bones of horses have been found as early as Late Neolithic contexts (Allen and Maltby 2012, 293) but evidence for their use as riding and draught animals is notably lacking. It is only during the Late Bronze Age that items interpreted as harness-fittings make their first appearance, often as inclusions in metalwork hoards. The Parc-y-Meirch hoard from Wales produced a variety of bronze harness-fittings. The Heathery Burn Cave, County Durham, revealed another important group which included objects interpreted as bone bridle cheekpieces and bronze nave bands for the wheels of a cart or chariot. Both finds suggest that the horse was viewed as a prestige item, forming another element of a warrior’s panoply along with swords, spearheads and shields. As yet, we have no evidence which suggests what role horses might have played in the Bronze Age of South West Scotland, and at what point they might have become established here. 

Comments 2

  2. Thanks brendanjoc. These hoards do look like they will be sound for referencing out-of-region horse gear that is a tad closer to the SW! We will adjust this paragraph to include these hoards.Reference

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