VESSELS, CALDRONS, ETC.
Of the various forms of fictile vessels which were in use at the same period as daggers and other weapons formed of bronze, it is not the place here to speak. Much has already been written on the subject, not only in various memoirs which have appeared in the proceedings of our different Antiquarian and ArchÆological Societies, but also in several standard archÆological works. For the pottery found in the tumuli of this country I would more particularly refer to Canon Greenwell’s “British Barrows,” and to Dr. Thurnam’s “Paper on the Barrows of Wiltshire,” published in the ArchÆologia.[1587] Both these authors agree that none of the pottery from the barrows has been made upon the wheel. The greater part of the fictile ware with which we are acquainted was used for sepulchral purposes, and there appears good reason for supposing that much of it was manufactured expressly for the dead, and not for the living. Still there are a certain number of examples known of what has been termed culinary pottery, some of which have been found in barrows, and some in the remains of dwellings of the Bronze Period. This pottery, unlike the sepulchral, is devoid of ornament, and is well burnt, “plain, strong, and useful,” but it is also made by hand. Some of the pottery from the Swiss Lake-dwellings is, however, ornamented in various ways, but the potter’s wheel does not seem to have been in use.[1588] And yet, in more than one instance, there have been found in barrows in the South of England weapons of bronze, accompanied by vessels of amber and of shale, which have all the appearance of having been turned in a lathe. Of some of these vessels I have given figures in my “Ancient Stone Implements,”[1589] and also stated the particulars of the discoveries. I have also mentioned the discovery of a gold cup in a barrow at Rillaton, Cornwall, which was accompanied by what appears to have been a bronze dagger.[1590] As this vessel is of metal, I have here reproduced the cut as Fig. 509. It seems to me probable that the same kind of vessel which was made in the nobler metal may also prove to have been made in bronze, although as yet no examples have been discovered. The hanging cups of bronze of which many have been found in Scandinavia, and at least one example in Switzerland, are at present not known to have been discovered within the British Isles.
Bottom of cup.
Fig. 509.—Golden Cup. Rillaton. Height, 3¼ inches.
It was probably not until nearly the close of the Bronze Period that the art was discovered of hammering out bronze into sufficiently large and thin laminÆ for the manufacture of cups and vessels. It would be impossible to cast the metal so thin as even that employed for shields, and before ingots or flat plates, like those already mentioned at page 402, could be thus drawn out, an acquaintance with some process of annealing must have been gained. It is a remarkable fact that the same process which has the effect of hardening steel has exactly the contrary effect on copper, and to some extent on bronze. Steel when heated to redness and then dipped in cold water becomes so intensely hard, that tools treated in this manner have to be somewhat tempered, or softened by heat, before they can safely be used; while to soften copper the usual method adopted is to make it red-hot and dip it in cold water. In whatever way the metal was drawn out, some of the large vessels of the transitional period between Bronze and Iron, such as those from Hallstatt, are wonderful examples of skill in working bronze.
Almost the only bronze vessel found in a barrow in England had an iron handle to it, showing that it could not belong to the Bronze Age properly so called. It is, indeed, somewhat doubtful whether it accompanied an interment. In the centre of a low mound near Wetton,[1591] Staffordshire, about a foot below the surface, Mr. Bateman found “two very curious vessels,” one about four inches high, and of rather globular form, carved in sandstone, and at the distance of a foot from it the other, “a bronze pan or kettle four inches high and six inches in diameter, with a slender iron bow like a bucket handle. It has been first cast and then hammered, and is very slightly marked with horizontal ridges.” It was inverted, and above it were traces of decayed wood. There appear to have been some remains of burnt bones near the surface of the ground. This bronze vessel is somewhat like the lower part of an ordinary flower-pot in form. In Mr. Bateman’s Catalogue[1592] there is a note to the effect that this object is “probably Romano-British,” but I have thought it best to cite it.
Several caldrons made of thin bronze plates riveted together have been found in Scotland, in some instances in company with bronze weapons.
In Duddingston Loch,[1593] near Edinburgh, together with swords and spear-heads, were some bronze rings and staples similar in character to those attached to the rim of a large bronze caldron found at Farney,[1594] Ulster, but there is no record of any caldrons. Others of these rings are in the Antiquarian Museum at Edinburgh, two of which were found with the large caldron here figured (Fig. 510) in the Moss of Kincardine,[1595] near Stirling, in the year 1768. In this case no weapons appear to have been found. At the side is a broad band embossed with circles. This vessel is of large size, being 16 inches high, 16 inches across the mouth, and 25 inches in extreme diameter.
An imperfect caldron, with handles of the same kind, was found at Kilkerran, Ayrshire, with socketed celts and fragments of swords.
Fig. 510.—Kincardine Moss.
Others of these caldrons, but little differing in form from those found with bronze relics, have been accompanied by various tools formed of iron, as, for instance, those found at Cockburnspath, Berwickshire; and in Carlinwark Loch, Kelton, Kirkcudbright. There can, indeed, be little doubt that such vessels, if belonging to the Bronze Age, are to be assigned to the close rather than to the beginning or even middle of that period.
Several such caldrons have been discovered in Ireland.
That shown in Fig. 511 is about 21 inches in diameter and 12 inches high.[1596] It is composed of a number of pieces of thin bronze, each averaging 3¼ inches broad and decreasing in length near the bottom. “These plates bear the marks of hammering, and are joined at the seams with rivets averaging about half an inch asunder. These rivets have sharp conical heads externally, and some were evidently ornamental, as they exist in places where there are no joinings, and in the circular bottom portion they are large and plain. The upper margin of this vessel is 2½ inches broad,” and corrugated. “Its outside edge next the solid hoop has a double line of perforations in it.” It was in a vessel of this kind that part of the great Dowris hoard of bronze antiquities was deposited.
The metal is said by Mr. McAdam, in a paper on “Brazen Caldrons,” published in the Ulster Journal of ArchÆology,[1597] to be thinner than anything of the kind used in our modern cooking vessels, while the surfaces are almost as even and level as that of modern sheet brass.
Another caldron from Dowris, more nearly hemispherical, also with two rings, is in the collection of the Earl of Rosse. A specimen from Farney has been already mentioned. It resembles Fig. 511.
In the collection of Mr. T. W. U. Robinson, F.S.A., is a remarkably fine and perfect caldron, closely resembling Fig. 511, found in the parish of Ballyscullion, Co. Antrim, in June, 1880. The following are its dimensions:—
| Diameter at top | 18 | inches. |
| Width of rim | 2? | ” |
| Extreme diameter | 24 | ” |
| Height | 16 | ” |
| Outside diameter of rings | 4¼ | ” |
The rings are about ? inch wide and of this section .
Although no such vessels have been found in barrows in England, they are not entirely unknown in this country.
A very fine caldron of this character, about 21 inches in extreme diameter and about 16 inches in height, was dredged up in the Thames near Battersea, and is now in the British Museum. It is formed of two tiers of plates above the concave bottom, and has had two rings at the mouth, one of which, about 5 inches in diameter, remains. The rings are of this section , which combines great strength with economy of metal.
The expanding rim of the mouth is supported on four small brackets, pierced so as to leave a saltire ornament in each. The rivet-heads are about ¼ inch in diameter. From these brackets two strips of thin brass run down about 3 inches, each ornamented with a fern-leaf pattern.
The bottom of another caldron, from Walthamstow, of about the same size, is also in the same collection. The metal is remarkably thin.
The two rings of such a caldron, 5¼ inches, of this section , found near Ipswich, are in the British Museum. The semi-cylindrical beaded brackets through which they pass and a part of the rim are still attached. Another ring was found with a hoard at Meldreth, Cambs.
In some vessels very large sheets of bronze have been used. That shown in Fig. 512, also from Wilde,[1598] is 18½ inches deep, but was formed of three plates only, one for the circular bottom and two for the remainder of the vessel. At the neck is a stout bronze ring, over which the plates are turned. “It originally stood on six feet, each forming an inverted cup.” It has suffered much from wear, and has been carefully patched in several places. The metal is very tough and of a rich golden colour. It is composed of—
| Copper | 88·71 |
| Tin | 9·46 |
| Lead | 1·66 |
| Iron | Trace |
| ——— |
| 99·83 |
Among three bronze vessels from the Dowris find now in the British Museum is one of the form of Fig. 512, 16 inches high.
The form is almost identical with some of the bronze urns from the cemetery at Hallstatt, of which several appear to be of Etruscan fabric.
Another vessel of the same character was found in a tumulus in Brittany,[1599] and contained burnt bones.
In the collection of Canon Greenwell, F.R.S., is a vessel of hammered bronze of the same character as the figure, but of rather broader proportions, being nearly 17½ inches high and about 16 inches in diameter; at the shoulder the neck contracts to 13 inches. It has the usual two massive handles; and at the bottom is a flat ring with arms across it like a four-spoked wheel, rather more than 9 inches in diameter. The arms are ribbed longitudinally, and the ring has concentric ribs upon it, except at the junction with the arms, where there are cross-ribs. There are five rivets in it, one in the centre and four in the ring opposite each end of the arms. This vessel, which has been patched in more than one place, was found with numerous other bronze objects in the Heathery Burn Cave, already so often mentioned.
A remarkably fine specimen of a vase of this character, found in Capecastle Bog, near Armoy, Co. Antrim, is in the collection of Mr. T. W. U. Robinson, F.S.A. It formerly belonged to Mr. William Gray, of Belfast, who kindly allowed me to engrave it as Fig. 513. Its dimensions are as follows—
| Height | 17½ | inches. |
| Diameter of mouth | 13 | ” |
| Diameter at shoulder | 15½ | ” |
| Diameter at bottom | 7¼ | ” |
The weight is 5 lbs. 9 ozs. The plates of which it is formed are carefully riveted together, and are of large size. Some holes which have apparently been worn by use have been carefully patched. All the upper part of the vessel above the shoulder is decorated by small raised bosses produced by means of a punch applied on the inside of the vessel, and below the shoulder is a series of triangles embossed in a similar manner forming a kind of vandyke collar round the vessel. This character of ornamentation is very characteristic of the Bronze Period, and though not uncommon on urns formed of burnt clay, has not, I think, been before observed on those made of bronze.
Fig. 513.—Capecastle Bog.
The bottom of the vessel is secured by a ring and cross piece of bronze forming a kind of four-spoked wheel, as shown in the lower figure. The rings for suspension are solid, and hang towards the inside of the vessel.
As will be seen, there is much analogy between this Irish vessel and that from the Heathery Burn Cave last described. The latter, however, is without ornament.
These conical vessels are probably earlier in date than the spheroidal caldrons.
Whether either were actually manufactured in Britain and Ireland is an interesting question. There can, I think, be little doubt that the conical form originated among the Etruscans, whose commerce certainly extended to the northern side of the Alps.[1600] One of the upright vases found at Hallstatt[1601] has animal figures upon it almost undoubtedly of Etruscan work, though showing some signs of Eastern influence in their style, and bronze helmets bearing Etruscan inscriptions have been found in Styria. On the other hand, M. Alexandre Bertrand and some other antiquaries are inclined to believe in a more direct commerce with the East along the valley of the Danube or Dnieper. The finding of vessels of the same form in Brittany, England, and Ireland seems to point to a more western course of trade, always assuming that these objects were imported. That some of them may have come from abroad appears in the highest degree probable. Not impossibly the Æs importatum of CÆsar may refer to a continuance of such a trade. But whether there were no bronze-smiths in the British Isles capable of imitating such products of skill is doubtful. The bronze shields which are of essentially indigenous character exhibit an amount of dexterity in producing thin plates of bronze quite sufficient for the manufacture of such vessels. Moreover, the handles of these British and Irish vessels are formed by rings, while those of the vessels from southern countries are loops like the handles of pails or buckets. The spheroidal caldrons are also of a form and character which appears to be unknown on the Continent, and are therefore, in all probability, of indigenous manufacture.
The careful manner in which some of the vessels are mended affords an argument that such utensils were rare and valuable; but it also shows that the native workmen understood how to make thin plates—unless these were portions of other vessels—and at all events how to rivet plates together.
