Bronze Trumpets

Numerous trumpets of cast bronze have been found in Ireland, both in the south and the north. They are rare in Britain. Two or more trumpets have often been found together; eight were found at Dungannon, County Tyrone, in 1713, and thirteen or fourteen near Cork in 1750. The Irish trumpets may be divided into three types—(1) in the shape of a horn, open at both ends, having the mouth-piece and trumpet cast in one piece; (2) of similar shape, but closed at the narrow end, with an aperture for the mouth at the side near the closed end; (3) also horn-shaped, but with a long straight tube attached to the narrow end of the carved portion, the upper end of the tube having four rivet-holes, to which another tube or mouth-piece may have been fixed. There are references in classical authorities to the trumpets used by the Celts. Polybius, describing the defeat of the Celts by the Romans at the battle of Telemon, b.c. 225, speaks of the innumerable horns and trumpets of the Celts (GaesatÆ, Insubres, Taurisci, and Boii).

Dr. F. Behn, of the Mainz Museum, has recently written an account of the music in the Roman army, in which he has brought together much information about the early bronze trumpets; and he includes a short description of the Irish type.[48] The Irish trumpets, which are furnished with the straight tubular piece, much resemble the Roman lituus; and, as a whole, the Irish type is very closely allied to the lituus and carnyx, the difference between the lituus and carnyx being that the expanded end of the carnyx takes the form of some fantastic animal’s head. Trumpets have been found in the Dowris hoard, with socketed spear-heads, and other objects of the late Bronze Age, and they must be dated to that period; on this account the Etruscan lituus can hardly have been derived from Irish trumpets; so that it is probable that the Irish trumpets, like those of Gaul, were derived from the south.

Plate X.

Sickles

Socketed bronze sickles have been found fairly frequently in different parts of Ireland. Those in the National Collection have generally been referred to the late Bronze Age. These sickles are all very small, and it has been thought that the Irish, like the Gauls, cut only the ear of the corn, and burnt the stalk. A recent find of moulds in County Antrim contained a mould for casting a sickle without a socket like the Continental examples, and shows that this type was also known in Ireland in the later Bronze Age (fig. 75). The bronze sickles have an important bearing on the question of agriculture in Ireland. An opinion has recently been expressed that corn was not introduced into England until the Roman invasion, and was introduced into Ireland even later than this.[49] However, there are instances of ears of corn being found within the walls of food-vessels of early Bronze Age date in Scotland; and it is probable that corn was also grown in Ireland during the Bronze Age. There is evidence that the ox was domesticated during this period. The excellence of the metal-casting and the high degree of skill shown in casting implements and weapons during the Bronze Age lead us to believe that the civilization, and with the civilization the art of agriculture and material comfort, had reached a fairly high level.

Disk-Headed Pins

In the late period of the Irish Bronze Age, bronze pins with disk-shaped heads having a conical projection in the centre are fairly common. The disk-heads in many instances are ornamented with concentric circles and other simple kinds of decoration. They are bent at right angles to the pin, though in some cases the pin comes straight from the head. The pins are very long, some measuring as much as 12 inches. In the very interesting find at Armoy, County Antrim (p. 81), it will be remembered that one of these pins was found together with a woollen garment, and there is no doubt they were used to fasten the dress. The fact of a razor being one of the objects of this find indicates that the pins were used by men, though no doubt they may also have been worn by women. The use of such long pins seems to point to the wearing of some kind of cloak-like garment probably fastened in the front; and the ornamental heads of the pins indicate that they were worn in a conspicuous place.

As well as the pins a few bronze buttons have been found consisting of disks with the same conical projection, but having the pin replaced by a small bar at the back. One remarkable example in the National Collection measures 4¾ inches in diameter (fig. 78). This object was probably either attached to a leathern belt or possibly may have been a portion of a horse’s furniture. The smaller buttons have been found on the Continent, and are fairly numerous in the Continental lake-dwellings or finds of the late Bronze Age.

One is tempted to see in the Irish examples a derivation of the button from the pin.