The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology MINERVA JANUARY 1990 PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN £2,00/$3.95 USA. VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 IN SEARCH OF AN ETRUSCAN WRECK ICKLINGHAM ROMAN BRONZES CONTROVERSY A GUIDE TO THE MUSEUMS OF LIBYA NIMRUD: A WEALTH OF ASSYRIAN GOLD JEWELLERY ‘GOLD TO THE ALTAR’: CELTIC ART FROM IRELAND AND BRITAIN AN AMERICAN IN JORDAN: DIGGING DIOCLETIAN’S FRONTIER EARLY ANCIENT GLASS IN TOLEDO Detail from Corinthian helmet after conservation, discovered in an Etruscan wreck off the island of Giglio \ ° Mh8 CAVENDISH SQUARE, LONDON WIM 0AJ ‘TEL 01-631 3707 FAX 01-436 5189 Ns ern} Commemorative Seaby Books A major contribution to the Seaby reputation has been made by the publication of leading itles — most of which have become essential companions for collectors around the world. This highly regarded and most readable selection of books written by experts in their respective fields has now been extended to include the long awaited archaeology series. 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Knudsen Conference Review: Roman Frontier Studies David Breeze Coins: New Owls for the Pharaoh Martin Price 7 News 48 Books 42 Stolen Objects 53 Auctions Report 46 Coin News 55 Letters NEXT MONTH ° Anasazi Rock Art * Rose Theatre ym Exhibitions * The Vindolanda Tablets + MINERVA 1 VOLUME 1 NUMBER 1 re: o1- 6313707 Fox O1436 S189 Advertisement sles (except 09) Cake Meats 0 Bowing Green ane, Landon, BC el 0.653 2871 ‘ewth Reve Dave, ‘Bevel ls, {catforis, 90210, ‘en2is) 5501198 Fae(zi3) $50 1995 (ain 630708 $48 ssn 0957 7718 (01989 Asoo. ablations UdEXQUISITE 15TH CENTURY GLASS BEAKER xcavations at Great Tower Street in the City of London have unearthed a delicate 15th century ‘Venetian glass beaker. The beaker, which is 0em. high and 7em. wide at the base, is made of very light glass of a pale amethyst colour which was pro- ‘duced by the presence of manganese, more often used to produce a clear colourless glass. About */4 of the sut- face of the beaker is covered in goldé-leaf, out of which is etched a fine decoration of two bands of wreaths ‘depicting oak and bay leaves separated by horizontal lines. The pattern was emphasised by the application ‘of white dots. Above and below the wreaths are two bands of inscription in an Italian dialect, probably from the Venetian area, which have not yet been fully translated, The beaker is remarkably well-preserved, de- spite being in three fragments. Its ofa slightly curving bartel shape, having been blown in one piece with the base pushed up and in. The style, colour, and method ‘of manufacture of the beaker give it a probable date of the second half of the 1Sth century and @ likely prove- ‘nance of the Venetian area, At present there is no known parallel forthe beaker. While glass bowls and dishes with Latin inscriptions are known to have been made for wealthy families and individuals as love or betrothal gifts, the Tower Street beaker is sufficiently diferent 10 have had possibly another purpose. It was recovered from a medieval cess pit, which pro= ‘tected the glass and accounts for its high degree ot preservation, BOLIVIAN TEXTILE BAN ANCIENT ROMAN DENTIST he US has Imposed a ban civations beneath the temple of Castor and I ca their fn cota E Pollux in the Forum in Rome have revealed ‘ype of texte frm Bolivia the site of a busy dentists surgery. 86 teoth ‘which i vital for religious and so-| | were found in & drain in the middle of a shop floor, Gial ceremonies of the Aymara | { here they were thrown after being pulled. The Culture, The textiles ace made | shop, one of 29 built into the base ofthe temple, is ftom alpaca and vicuna woot in | stuited underneath the main stairway, and measures Coroma in the Andes. They have | | 3m. by 2m, providing well-lit and sheltered premises been woven in the traditionat |_| Just off the Forum, the commercial centre of ancient manner since before the coming | | Rome, Most of the tcth are heavily pitted by cavi of the Incas or the Spanish, in| | tles, and one was so badly decayed that the dentist 1983 the smithsonion Institute] | had had to remove part ofthe jawone too, a treat- organised a traveling exhibition | | ment recommended by Aulus Cornalus Celsus in the ofthe weavings, despite export re. |_| fist Century A.D, for avoiding infection. Other Stuictions imposed by Bolivia in| Roman dental remedies that have come dovn to us 1961, Bolivia estimated that | include that of the Elder tiny: grans of sand ftom about ha ity sacred textiles had | | the horns of a snail should be placed into rotten been smuggled out of Bolivia into |_| teeth asa cure for toothache! American private collections, and submitted a formal request to President Reagan to ban their im- SOVIET BRONZE AGE REVEALED pt tereqct wavevened | | AQ scl wong nh south ofthe the Cultural Property Advisory Chelyabinsk region of the USSR have discov- Committee which comprised ar- ‘ered a Bronze Age settlement covering 20,000 ‘chaeologists, dealers, members of | | square metres, and dating from the second millen- the museum community, and pri-| | nium B.C. The team, from the Ura-Kazakhstan expe- vate citizens. The committee rec-| | dition, has uncovered houses, each of which has a ‘ommended a five year ban that | | well, a hearth and a cellar, and bronze artefacts in a ‘went into effect in March 1989, | | tomb outside the settlement. MINERVA 2Underwater Archaeology THE SEARCH FOR THE GIGLIO WRECK Part One " Mensun Bound The discovery of the wreck on Giglio Island, near Elba off the west coast of Italy, goes back to a blustery day in August 1961 when a British diving instructor, Reg Vallintine, who ran an underwater centre om the island, 00k his students to Campese Bay in search of shelter, There in the Bay he dropped anchor over the ciest of a reef called Secea I Pighocch, a vicious piece of granite that rises like a broken tooth to within only a few feet of the surface, ready to lacerate the hull of any unsus- pecting ship that might be passing. They were al- most at the maximum limit for safe diving, when Reg and two of his students happened upon the wreck. Later, Reg described the discovery in London Diver ; ‘Over a dividing ridge we went and suddenly fon the sandy valley below us were mysterious scat tered objects and amphorae. Every pot, amphora and bow! that we found here was a diferent shape.” The find was reported to the police on the island, but underwater archaeology was then In its infancy and litle could be done. Slowly, word of the dis- covery leaked out, and before long holidaying divers from all over Europe were plundering the site. Horri- fied by what was taking place Reg, with a couple of local friends on the island, set about saving what they could in order to build a collection which they hoped sould become the core of a permanent un: derwater museum on Giglio, that would preserve not just the material from the Campese Bay wreck, but also from others that dotted the seabed around. The artefacts raised were stored in the local School, but when Reg returned to Giglio for the start of the 1962 diving season he found, to his dismay, that all the items he had recovered, except for two large, shield-like slabs of bronze, had disappeared. By the end of the season most of the surface wreckage fn the site had also gone and what had been, ‘an Al- addin’s cave of pots’ was now a featureless sandy slope. When Reg left for England at the end of that summer, he covered over any remaining visible traces, Knowing he would not be retuoning because he was soon to open a diving schoo! in Tunis. The wreck slipped back into history, but Reg never forgot what he had found and all those mysterious shapes In the sand, On a number of occasions in the years MINERVA 3 that followed he attempted to interest the archaeo- logical community, but without success. The story now moves ahead two decades to 1981 when I and my colleague, Joanna Yellowlees, by ‘chance met one of the people who in the early six ties had been taking artefacts from the wrecks around Giglio, From the Campese Bay wreck he had taken an Etruscan amphora handle, and displayed this together with other amphora pieces along the top of a bookshelf in his study. At first I was sceptical about the wreck since divers, like fishermen, are prone to exaggeration, and the seabed of the ‘Mediterranean Is littered with amphorae and other items of rubbish thrown overboard from passing. ships. If wished to learn more, then I would have to talk to the wreck’s discoverer, Reg Vallintine. If this handle was from a wreck proper, and if, Indeed, any- thing of It still survived, then it could be of major ar- chacological importance. Only seraps from wrecks of the Archaic period had previously been found, and if, any large assemblage of timbers survived, then it would be the oldest deep-water merchant hull to be studied by archaeologists. Contact with Reg was ‘made by phone and at our first meeting in London ‘we were both rather cautious, he in particular was determined not to give away anything until he was con vineed that I was not a looter and that my intentions were genuinely archaeological. At last, satisfied, he produced a se- ries of snap-shots showing divers with items that they had just recovered from the site, A glance told me I had indeed stumbled upon something of ‘major archaeological interest. The Old Photographs The first of the photographs (left) showed a man sitting on the rail of a boat with an E uscan amphora on his knee and the top half of a Punic amphora on the deck at hs feet. In his hhand was a large, open bowl‘The second photograph showed a woman with two chalice-like wine-cups called kantharoi. They were Btruscan black bucchero ware. Happily, these two pots were later recovered in England and returned to Italy in 1988 to be with all the other material from the wreck. ‘The thitd photograph was in many ways the most Interesting because it allowed the wreck to be dated with some precision and showed that the vessel had been carrying Greek painted pottery. The pot in the photo was instantly recognisable because of its dis- tunetive body walls and cotton-reel handles; it was a Corinthian kothon, datable to about 600 BC, and usually associated with women’s tolletry. From these photographs and Reg’s recollections we knew that the vessel had been carrying a mixture of luxury and utilitarian goods that came from at least three separate locations in the Mediterranean, Futhermore, it dated from the petiod when the Etr- uuscans were at the peak of their wealth and power. Funding and Strategy It was decided that we would try to mount an expe- dition to Giglio to try to relocate the wreck and es- tablish whether anything had survived. 1 would be the project director and Reg would be chief diver. 1 returned to Oxford with Reg's photographs and im- ‘mediately took them to Professor Sir John Boardman, a highly respected and influential figure at the tnt versity whose help was essential if we were to achieve university backing. He at-once agreed to assist and ‘The Corinthian helmet after conservation Diver ascending with the neck ofan Etruscan ‘amphora MINERVA 4 has been a key figure in this, and all our other mar- itime archaeological projects ever since. The acquist- ton of permits to carry out the search was the first major hurdle, Meetings were held with Tallan archae- ologists and the appropriate authorities, Professor Francesco Nicosia, Superintendent of Archaeology for ‘Tuscany, and Dr Paola Rendini, Archaeological In- spector for Giglio, who at once gave me their support and guided me through the official government com- plexities involved in the granting archaeological It- cences. Without thelr support the project would never have succeeded, Fund raising was a particularly daunting problem: stories of a sunken wreck with Greek painted pottery off some unknown Mediterranean island were hardly creditable, However, the Craven and Meyerstein funds of Oxford, were generous, as later were the Buitish Academy, the Soclety of Antiquarles and the Prehistoric Society. Several private individuals also ‘came to our aid. Nonetheless, there was still a short- fall which we had to fund personally. Tracing the Finds from 1961 To overcome our credibility problem we set about trying to track down people who had been on the is- land in 1961-2 and who might have more informa- ton and photographs. The BBC, In a later documentary, called this the ‘detective story phase of ‘our work’. Usually we did not succeed in our efforts, but on those occasions when we did, it made our fail ures well worth while, Often we had only a diver's christian name, but by cross-referencing the logs with, people's memories we sometimes were able to come ‘up with a full name, city and country from which he or she came. Luckily, some addresses even after twenty years were still good. Several key people had died and one had been killed in a plane crash. Several of the stories involved in this phase of our rescarch deserve to be told. The one item that we were particularly anxious to locate was the Corinthian kothon, because on this piece we were pinning our chronology. Reg’s log recorded that it hhad been found by an En- lish woman called Bogey Kane. Finding her, how- ever, was not so easy be- * cause some years after her diving holiday on Giglio she had dropped the name Bogey in favour of Yasmine. Later she married an Italian. Thanks to the Institute of Oceanography in Monaco, we finally found her in Monte Carlo as Madame Yasmine Antonini. In correspondence she answered all my queries with infinite patience but in cone disturbing paragraph she mentioned that special- ists from a major museum had dated it to some fourhundred years after the chronology that 1 had. pro- The Helmet posed in our fund raising prospectus. Preparations By far the most spectacular item to have come from ‘were at a critical stage and no doubts could be af- the wreck in the early sixties was a Corinthian forded that would threaten the project. The pot had bronze helmet that had been taken to Germany. The to be examined in Monte Carlo. It was, as we log-book record was a fleeting, thumbnail sketch of a thought, a Corinthian kothon of about 600 B.C. The helmet along with the finders first name, Hans. Two clay was the distinctive Corinthian yellow-ochre and German divers called Hans had dived on the wreck, there were traces of a painted chequer design along fone surely must have the helmet. With Reg’s help the apex and decorated panels between the handles. the surnames were obtained and eventually traced to ‘Another item that we were keen to find was an Munich. Both, however, vehemently denied any amphora that Reg remembered having been found knowledge of the helmet by a Londoner, He, however, had died and it had ‘The search for the helmet had become well been inherited by a female relative. We succeeded in known and the next step in the almost three-year finding a phone number for the lady involved but, quest came with a surprise call from a French busi- because it was an unlisted number, we could not rnessman in Marseilles, who declared that he had ac- find an address to go with it. For months we rang quired our helmet some years before on the market. and rang, but there was no answer. Then, one day, From his description I felt sure that he was right, but long after we had given up, we made one more at- when I saw it in his office my heart sank, for it dated tempt. This time we received an answer. It turned to some decades after the wreck and therefore could ‘out that the lady lived abroad and was only back in not possibly have come from the site. London for several days for medical treatment ~ and * Our luck changed when one day on Giglio we yes, she had the amphora. ‘met a German diver in a wheelchair, paralysed from Immediately we dropped everything, grabbed the walst down as a result of the bends, He had been cameras and drawing equipment and drove to on Giglio in 1961 and had a clear recollection of the London. The address we had been given was in helmet’s discovery and what was more important, he London's West End and as soon as the door was remembered the finder’s full name: it was not one of ‘opened we could see the amphora under the stairs. It the two men that I had interviewed in Munich. was not a8 expected, an Euscan amphors instead With the diver’s full name at last, the German it was ftom the island of Samos in the Aegean, Again I dated to about 00 BC. “oe” The Etruscan ‘Doorknob’ ‘One interesting item, thanks to the yy i) &. oN @ television coverage, found us. To- | &¥ phone books were searched for all those of the same surname and initial. Several months later, in Germany with a short list of 13 names, and a bag full of coins for the telephone, we finally caught up with the elusive gether with Reg on that epic first | helmet. dive in 1961 had been a lady called Hans was at Reryl Broomshooft. OF all the dif- first cautious, ferent forms in the sand, one in particular caught = because he was her attention; it was a small, round shape a bit aware of the ob- bigger than a table-tennis ball. She had slipped it ject’s great into her bag and back at the hotel that evening they > value. An ex all puzzled over what it could be. In the end they de- change of letters cided it was an ‘Etruscan doorknob’ and Beryl took it with the univer- back with her to England. As a result of the docu- sity then took mentary coverage, we met Beryl who still had her place, to estab- ‘doorknob’, She explained that she had no idea if it lish my identity ‘was of any archaeological interest but, if it was, then and, after some Two Corinthian she would be glad to give it back so that it could be | ™" Goria” legal documents were signed, permission was re- ‘with all the other material from the wreck. Although (right) with an__ceived to study the helmet, The first view of it left us almost all the paint had flaked away it was, none the olive pip in the dumbfounded..From a single sheet of bronze the an- less, instantly recognisable as a miniature aryballos Pltch just above cient armoursmith had beaten a work of superb from the Greek city of Sparta, or its environs. Today {he ram's artistic and technical achievement. Down the cheek shoulder. Above, ‘this aryballos is back in Italy along with the other "the decoration pleces were etchings of charging boars and across the aryballoi and material from the weeck. Clearly there from this ary- brows were two fork-tongued snakes, poised spring- are more people with items from the wreck and we pie inan ex- \jke, ready to strike. This helmet was a functional hope very much that they, ike Beryl, will one day "#4 drawing tom , but it was also a prestige object of great value, come forward, heralding the owner's importance wherever he MINERVA 5.went. No other helmet I am aware 2 of better embodies Professor Anthony Snodgrass’s as sessment (Early Greek Armour and Weapons, 1964,28), “the Corinthian helmet is one of the great indepen: dent achievements of early Greek technology.” Arrival on Giglio In September 1982 we all assembled on Giglio to begin the search. Most of the team were from the University of Oxford. Our hopes were pinned on three factors: first, the divers who had been on the ‘wreck in the early sixties spoke repeatedly of a cave in the underwater cliff face which they had passed con their way to the site~find the cave and we would be on the route to the wreck; secondly, Reg Vallintine ‘was with us for @ few days and, although after two decades his memory of the submerged terrain was naturally little vague, he none the less felt that he could at least put us in the general vicinity of the site; thirdly, he had always spoken of how the site hhad been littered with large, bronze, shicldlike ob- jects. These we believed to be copper ‘bun’ ingots, and although all the visible examples would have been taken, there might still be some left beneath the sand that would give a strong registration on our un- drwater metal detector. ‘As it happened one of out first finds on the island was not made underwater, but rather In a storage room owned by the local municipality. Soon after ‘our arrival a local resident recognised our talk about the so-called ‘shields’ on the site, and led us to a cellar where, in amongst a pile of boxes and other rubbish, were Reg’s two bronze shields ~ all that r- mained of his attempts to start a museum over twenty years before. As suspected, they were copper bbun-ingots It was to be three years before we found any of these ingots for ourselves on the site. Search For The Wreck The underwater cave in the cliff face was soon found, but it took several days of searching before Reg and I, at a depth of SOm., swam around the end of a line of boulders below the base of the reef and came upon three or four small pottery fragments. The clay was the crude, porous type used in Etruscan amphorae. Obviously we were now inthe near vicinity of the Drawing of the engraved Poars fon the helmets ‘hoekpieces -Mensun Bound fs a Researcher in Maritime Archae- ology at St Catherine's College, Oxford University, and Director of the University's Maritime Archae- ology Unit. He ‘and his team have cared out underwater ‘Marsala, the Lipart islands, ‘and the island of ‘Montecristo MINERVA 6 wreck, but all we could see was the edge of the reef, and a slope of featureless sand that dissolved from ‘view as it tailed away into deep water. With renewed enthusiasm the team, diving in pairs, began systematically to sweep the area with a metal detector in the hope of finding one of the copper ingots, or some other metal artefact that would lead us to the heart of the site. It was several days before two of the divers surfaced and began talking excitedly of a signal they were receiving from a large metallic presence beneath the sand beside a boulder. One of the pait, Dr David Cozps, and myself later dived to examine the contact. Peeling back the sand layer by layer, we at last revealed a large iron concretion from which protruded the handle of an Etruscan amphora identical to the one I had first seen in England, Several years later, near the close of the excavation, we prised this concretion free from the boulder to which it was adhering with a carjack. Underneath was a pair of wooden calipers, the only pair to have survived from early antiquity. That day, while David Corps was photographing the concre- tion, I moved several metres away so as to be out of his way. Waiting for him to finish I aimlessly fanned at the sand with my hand creating sharp little eddies In the water which swept away the grains and silts. Suddenly I found myself looking down into the tiny black mouth of a small pot, It was a black painted Corinthian aryballos of the ‘segment’ class. Although broken in two at its point of maximum girth, one hhalf was still on top of the other. ‘The following day, close by, Hamish Hay uncov- ‘ered a Laconian mug and soon after that Dr Paddy Phillips and Jenny Howarth found an intact ‘Tonian’ bowl sitting upright on a lead ingot. Other finds fol- Jowed. These included fishing weights, a wooden. stopper, fragments from Samian and Etruscan am. phorae and pieces from a figured Corinthian olnochoe. We had found the wreck and clearly there was much more there that the earlier ‘clandestini” hhad missed, Our permits for that year were for survey only, which allowed us to take samples, but not to begin excavation. That would have to wait until the fol lowing year. With proof of the wreck’s existence and importance we were able to put our money and other ‘worries behind us. Now, however, there was a new problem: if word of the finds spread it would only be a matter of time before a new generation of looters would descend on the site. In consultation with the Italian archaeological authorities it was decided to tuy and keep the discovery secret for as long as pos- sible. In 1983 we returned to Campese Bay for thre ‘months with a team of over 100 staff and divers. Part ‘Two will discuss the finds, the raising of the hull, the problems of looters, and the conservation work that is currently being carried out by experts in Florence. Dm S$SMITHSONIAN RETURNS INDIAN REMAINS hhe Smithsonian Institution in Washington has reached a com- | promise with two national Indian organisations in which it has agreed to return the sacred skeletal remains of thousands of In- dans to their tribes for reburial. Robert Adams, secretary of the Smith- sonian, said that an inventory will be taken of the bones, of which there could be as many as"18,600 and which date from prehistoric to ‘tum of the century, and any that can be identified, either by name or by tribe, will be offered to the tribe for reburial. Funerary materials, such as beads, clothing, weapons, tools and ceramics, will also be re- turned on request. Adams said, ‘It is wonderful and Inevitable. We do s0 ‘with some regret, but everyone would acknowledge that when you face 4 collision between human rights and scientific study, then scientific ‘values have to take second place. To do otherwise would be to suppress the record of violence against Indians in the westward movement.’ The ‘announcement has been welcomed by Indlan organisations whose an- cestral remains are held as sacred, Susan Shown Harjo, Executive Director of the National Congress of American Indians, said ‘I am very pleased. It gives all Indian people a renewed sense of hope....Jt comes down to whether Indians are human. That debate remains today. The fact that the Smithsonian has 19,000 of our people is one of the last ‘vestiges of colonialism, dehumanisation and racism against our people.” However the decision has not been received with universal joy. Vo- ciferous opposition Is being expressed by sections of the scientific com- ity against the disbandment of a huge research library of materials which might yleld valuable evidence of the past. Jim Hanson, Director of the Nebraska State Historical Society, said ‘No matter how you sugar- coat it, this is still the destruction of an important scientific collection’ ‘The scholars argue that the skeletons can provide unique evidence in subjects ranging from the organisation of tubal societies to the origins of certain diseases such as rheumatoid artheitis. But Indian organisa- tions believe that many of the remains would not be reclaimed either because of a lack of identification, or because Indian tribes would not ‘want bones that they believe had been desecrated, and so some material ‘would remain for research, The Smithsonian is not the first museum to hnave made such a move. Compromises have been arranged between In- dian groups and individual institutions such as Stanford University, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota and the University of South Dakota, The only state where itis legally binding is Nebraska, ‘where a law passed earlier this year compels the Nebraska State Histor- ical Society to return 200 Native American skeletons and butial objects, to the Pawnee tribe by September 1990, and all Nebraska muscums that receive funds or ‘official’ recogntion from the state or local jurisdictions to return identifiable remains and burial items within one year of a formal request by a relative or a government recognised tribe. The Smithsonian compromise will be part of the legislation establishing new American Indian museum, which would house the Heye Collec- tion now in the Museum of the American Indian in New York. The repatriation Issue has been a major obstacle to making the museum a ppart of the Smithsonian. However the decision is not likely to be the ‘end of the story in a country in which there are an estimated 600,000 Indian remains held in collections nationwide, and in a feud in which conflicting feelings run so high. As Walter Echo-Hawk, sentor counsel for the Native American Right Fund, remarked, the announcement is just the ‘beginning of the end of their spiritual nightmare MINERVA 7 ‘5000 year old timbers from the crannog at Ellean Domhauill in Loch Olabhat, in the Outer Hebrides, which archaeologists from Edinburgh University believe to be the oldest artificial island in Europe. Artificial islands or crannogs from the Bronze and Iron Ages are fairly common in Scotland and Ire- land, but this one dates from the earlier Neolithic period, making it at least 2000 years older than similar sites. The team, from the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology, have discovered ‘su- perbly preserved’ remains of timber structures and a wattle hurdle, as well as decorated pottery, and the leftovers of prehistoric meals, such as hazel routs, winkle shells, and bones. The picture shows possible floor or foundation remains, with the an- sled cut end of one of the timbers clearly visible. EVIDENCE OF TABOO CULT IN ISRAEL he Bible frequently mentions standing stones | as a cult form to be avoided. The 5000 year fold remains of just such a cult have been un+ covered at Hartuy, near Beit Shemesh In Israel, Looking like a little Stonehenge, the row of metre- high stones is believed to be part of a S000 year old cult centre which was at first open-air and later in- corporated into a Canaanite temple, The stones offer a rare view of the transitional stage from nomadism to settlement in agricultural villages. Very little is known about the Early Bronze Age period, 3000 years B.C., when writing was just begin: ning in Mesopotamia and Egypt. At this time peaceful agricultural villages were being established throughout the country which some centuries later ‘would give way to fortified cities, as nations learned | the art of war. Some time after they were erected, the stones at Hartuy were included into an architectural complex Of some 500 square metres. Archaeologists believe that the complex, in the centre of the village, may have served important civic as well as religious fur tons. ‘Source: BIPACCYPRIOT BRONZE AGE INSCRIPTION | Picco stopped, leaving one of the AV How miv y d¢ |eeeeees which was buried in the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D.79 has be schaeologists at Maron! in Cyprus have found a jar with a rare inscription dating | | deemed too difficult and expen from the Bronze Age. The team, from the British School in Athens, supported by the | | sive. In 1752 the first of 2000 car- Leventis Foundation and the Financial Times, discovered the jar while excavating | | bonised papyrus rolls were found the Ashlar Bullding, which was built around 1300 B.C. Examples of Cypriot Bronze Age | |in the library of a house, known writing are extremely rare; only a handful of inscribed clay tablets are known, as well as | | as the Villa dei Papiri in rows on some inscribed clay cylinders or bobbins. Most inscriptions on jars are single letters, pot- | | the shelves, and piled on @ table. ‘marks rather than proper texts, The Maroni jat, however, has more than just a potmark.It| | Although casbonised they are still seems to have been inscribed with seven signs (more may appear when itis mended), with | | in scrolls and are being painstak- two word dividers, vertical bas that served the same function as a blank space in writing | | ingly unrolled at a workshop in today, The script has not yet been deciphered, soit is not known what language the text is| | Naples. Professor Marcello Gi- in. It was inscribed before the fiing of the pot and so may record the name of the potter, or | | gante the director of the un- what the jar was to hold, its capacity, or even the ancient name of the ste. folding operations, recently told The excavation of the Ashlar building has also revealead some superb limestone ashlar | | the Federation Internationale des masonry, and white mud brick walls up to 2m. thick. An olive press found in one of the | | Etudes Classiques that two impor- rooms is probably the oldest in Cyprus, and numerous signs of copper working, such as fur-| | tant discoveries have been made. races, sngots andl scrap, show the Smportance of the Ashlar Bullding’s position; it controlled | | In two of the papytll are 16 fray the valley of the Maroni River and especialy its copper, which was Cyprus's main export in | | ments of Luctetius’s poem ‘De the Bronze Age. The massive building was used for only 100 years before it was abandoned | | Rerum Natura’, (On the Nature of for some unknown reason that was probably connected to changes in society and the | | Things), from which Professor Gi- economy, but which did not affect other centres in south-east Cyprus. Archacologists are | | gante suggests that the library now trying to discover why such a huge and impressive building would have been erected | | contained the entire works of the ‘only to be abandoned after such a short period. One possible clue isa deep pit very carefully | | Epicurean poet. Another scroll has dug, suggesting an important earlier building beneath. It was lined with plaster which | | for the frst time the name of Fub- ‘means that it probably held a liquid such as water or olive oil. Another clue may be the frag-| | tlus Vergilius Maro (Virgil) wholly rents of copper working found in levels predating the Ashlar building, indicating that it| | transcribed into Greek. This sug- may already have been a centre of the metal business, and so an appropriate site for such a | | gests that Virgil, who died in ‘grand and imposing building. ‘Naples, was part of the literary so ciety that gathered at the villa and ——_________ | its trary. Scholars think that the LOOTERS BAFFLED BY ‘DOCTORED’ PHOTOGRAPHS | | library may have been started by ast summer's drought in Britain, which thrilled aerial archaeologists with its wealth | | Julius Caesar's fatherin- lav, who ‘of new sites identified by crop-marks, has at the same time created such problems | | had as his guest a minor poet and ‘with looting that some archaeologists have had to resort to ‘doctoring’ official pho- | |follower of Epicurus called tographs in order to protect the sites. Some of the finest of the aerial photographs, which | | Philodemus who equipped the lk are available for scrutiny in the public record offices, are being quietly ‘censored! by county | | brary with the world’s most com- archacologists, and pictures in official journals are being subtly altered, to disguise any clues | | plete collection of Epicurus's which could be of use to treasure-hunters. Dr Henry Clete of the Council for British | | Works. Horace knew Philodemus ‘Archaeology, commented, ‘It isa problem. There is a danger of detailed photographs getting | | ‘a piglet from Epicurus’s herd’, {nto the wrong hands but county archaeologists are aware ofthis and try to take appropriate | | and he may even have arrived in steps’. Dr. Cleere admitted that he had ‘doctored’ a photograph of the outline of a previ-| | Italy with the 300 volumes of Epi ously unknown Roman villa ia the grounds of Holkham Hall, Norfolk, published in the | | curus's works in his bags. Council’ official newsletter. Something which would be of interest to treasure hunters has | | Professor Gigante would still bbeen omitted’, he acknowledged. The recent controversy over the bronzes that were al-| | like to see another shaft dug to legedly stolen from the ste of the Roman settlement at Iclingham in Suffolk (se page 10) | | the second room of the Mbrary. It has highlighted the problem of looters at unprotected sites, and brought into focus the huge | | WOuld be a tragic loss ifthe poten- task faced by archaeologists in protecting and preserving them the sites. As one senior ar-| | tal of the greatest papyrus Ibrary chaeologist said, t's not just the loss of the artefacts themselves, but the damage to the sites | | outside Egypt was not mined. and the total loss of knowlede that worries us most. There Is so much to learn.” MINERVA 8 a OOOO One eeeeeTLL.TTC“#ETNTT_CCSjungle of Guatemala has radically altered archaeologists’ theories about the end of the Mayan civilisation. Until recently, this highly developed culture which flourished throughout much of Central America from the third to the eighth century AD, was thought to be peace-loving and unwar- like: this made their sudden disappearance all the more myste~ lous. According to Arthur Demarest of Vanderbilt University, the Maya were ‘the most sophisticated, complex people in the New World’; they built huge pyra- mids, created a highly accurate calendar, perfected the art of as- tronomical observation, pro- T he discovery of a fortified Mayan city deep within the duced decorated pottery and carved stone monuments, and established widespread trade routes, And yet this crumbled away completely and suddenly in the ninth century, leaving @ population based in small vil lages, seemingly bereft of all their former talents an skills, Varlous hypotheses have been put forward to explain this extraordinary swing, amongst them the loss of trade routes, al terations in climate, endemic disease, Most, however, agreed on one thing: that the Maya's downfall was not oftheir own making, a5 they were essentially a peaceful people, their warfare being for the most pat ritualstc rather than destructively inter-tibal However all these assumptions have been radically turned on their head with the discovery by a team of American and Guatemalan archaeologists and graduate students from Vander. bit University of a heavily foctified Mayan city deep in the low- land jungle. Richard Demarest of Vandesbilt, the leader of the team, described the city as ‘more massive than a medieval castle. The city, known as Punta de Chimino, is surrounded by hastily built stoneworks that suggest that it was under heavy siege. The ruins are on a peninsula that juts into Lake Petex hatun in north-western Guatemala, and the Mayas dug a huge ditch, 450 feet deep and 50 feet deep, that cut the city off from the mainland, surrounding It completely with water. Punta de CChimino was also completely surrounded by walls to prevent at lack from the water, and it had protected gates by which sup- plies were brought in during a slege. Demarest said, ‘One of the reasons people have used to argue that Mayans were not warlike was the Fact that theie centres were completely indefensible. ‘This isthe exact opposite ofthat. It would have been almost im- possible to take the place, It was really impregnable. Those are terms you don’t normally use in discussing Mayan architecture. os Pilas, a site nearby, has also yielded evidence of a sudden escalation in warfare. The city isa typical Mayan inde. NEW DISCOVERIES CHANGE VIEW OF MAYA’S DEMISE fensible settlement in the middle of the Jungle with easy access {from all sides. But towards the end of the eighth century the in habitants built two concentae rings‘of walls around the centre of the city, defacing monuments and burying important arte {acts ln thelr haste. These new discovers, together with previous excavations in the area suggest that at the height of their power, the Mayans ‘were Involved in fierce internecine warfare that drained their soutces and destroyed the fabric of their civilisation. Although Mayan hieroglyphics depict images of wartors in jaguar skins or bird-like costumes, carrying ‘woven shields and lances, eap- tuting the nobles of other tribes and bringing them back to their ‘own temples for ritualistic bloodletting, removal of their hearts and decapitation, these ‘wars seemed sharply circum- scribed, There are no images of large scale fighting, such as cities under siege or ransacked temples, so the conificts de- picted seem to have been more of a rte of passage for prestige than combat for resources or plunder Demarest has concluded from the evidence that for a pe Hod of 50-60 years, from around 825 AD, warfare and strife spread throughout the area; eventually, the economic system collapsed under the weight of the strain imposed by the intense ‘combat and defensive measures and individual states within the area fell'ike dominoes ‘The reasons for the sudden escalation in warfare are stl a ‘mystery, but researchers believe that they know who started it. Stelae from Dos Pias identify a leades, known as Ruler 2, ‘who appears to be one of the kings from the beginning of the eighth ‘century who embarked on a programme of terttoria conquest, Demarest said, Richard Adams, of the University of Texas at San Antonio, says that around 825 ‘something went terribly wrong’ and kings like Ruler 2 began actual conquest of nearby cities and settlements, By the middle ofthe century, Dos Pilas had ex tended its rule to cover and area of nearly 690 square miles ahuge region compared to that controlled by other Mayan cities- before it eventually collapsed. Demarest described how this affected the whole Maya civilization: “If one group changes the rules [of warfare), other groups have to adopt the new rules land you get a kind of arms race. Intensification of warfare spreads by contagion, and the ultimate result can be regional devastation. In this case, the Dos Pilas hegemony broke up into ‘heavily fortified sites, small independent states warting rather savagely with each other. It may not be the principal cause of the collapse of the Mayan civilization, but It is ceetainly a prin- cipal cause. MINERVA 9(ee The Icklingham Bronzes Nigel Reynolds IN 1982 treasure hunters armed with metal detectors removed 16 Romano- Buitish bronzes from a field in Suf- folk. The pieces are now in ‘America and though taken illegally from a scheduled ancient monu- ‘ment their return may be months fo years away, if at all. What last September became known as the Ieklingham scandal ‘goes beyond the probable loss to British collections of one hoard of artefacts, however. The sorry eplsode highlights weaknesses in both the law and in voluntary codes designed to stop the illegal export of what the legisla tors like to call “cultural property". The impotence, (or unwillingness), of the British authorities to inter- vvene is likely to be repeated. until effective International powers, easily triggered, are agreed for the automatic tution of heritage objects to their country of origi. Though America and Britain share a language, ‘membership of NATO and extradi tion arcangements for criminals, no straightforward mechanismn ex- ists for the seizure and return of each other's “cultural property”. The Icklingham hoard com. prises bronzes ofthe flrst or second century A.D. probably the furnish- ings of a temple, There is a stat- uette of Vulean, Roman god of fire, face masks and bronze heads. Probably of most artistic interest is a six-inch cheetah inlaid with silver spots, valued at $600,000 in 1989, Police believe the pieces were removed from farmland at Ick- lingham in Suffolk owned. by John Browning, almost certataly in Bronze Cheetah Inlaid with silver spots tie Bronze statuette of Viulean, Roman god of Bronze head of deity 1982. His S6-acre farm covers a sprawling Roman settlement. The site, scheduled as an ancient monu- ment in 1974, has never been fully excavated but piecemeal digs have confirmed its importance. In 1977 a Roman villa was found in one of his fields and this century a ceme- tery, a Roman road, three pottery kilns and a religious building of the late fourth, century have been. discovered nearby. ‘Mt Browning has battled alone with legal treasure hunters on his land and. cover the last few years he hhas secured ten convictions, ‘though small fines appear not to Ihave deterred his night-time visl- tors, And the farmer has not caught all the plunderers. It has taken several years to piece together the full story behind the disappearance of the bronzes. In 1982 reports that the sixteen ob- jects were for sale began to circulate among dealers, and photographs of all the pieces were taken into the British Museum for ident fication by Dr lan Long, worth, Keeper of British antiquities, who was not told about their origins or where- abouts. He says now that the objects ap- peared to form one of the most important collections of the period ever found in this country. It was to be six years be- fore the bronzes were heard of again when a number of them MINERVA 10 came Into the possession of a gallery in New York. The British Museum was first alerted when it was shown photographs of the ob- jects by a British bus nessman who hhad been of- fered them. The Getty Museum in California was offered the cheetah for $600,000 but withdrew any interest when it learned of the pos- sibility that the piece had been ex- legally. Oddly, Mr Browning was only alerted when English Heritage wrote to him saying that he should be proud the piece was to find a permanent home at the Getty! The New York gallery has always insisted that it has legal title to the pieces which, I: says, were acquired from Switzerland several years be- fore. It has since offered the objects to the British Museum, but it was fan offer that had to be refused. Mr Browning insisted the objects are his and, although he would like ‘them to be in a public collection in this country, he would also like some moderate recompense, ‘Mr Browning is now alone in his fight to have his bronzes returned Surprisingly, the Foreign Orfice, the Department cf the Environment and the Office of Arts and Libraries say they can do nothing to help. (Officials have said that they remain to be satisfied Mr Browning has title to them and even if and, when this ‘can be provee, they still have no powers to intercede with the Amer- {can authorities to have the items cavatedseized and returned to Britain. Before news of Icklingham was ‘The Government line is that out, Mr Browning says that Mr while the treasure hunters respon- Richard Luce, Minister for the Ars, sible for the original theft can be had said that Britain had little to prosecuted here, thas no authority lose from Joining the treaty coun- abroad, Mr Browning must estab- tries as the Government had suffi lish his own title in the American clent voluntary arrangements with cours. other countries. The Government's Successive government state- Insistence since that it can do litle ments to this effect have provoked exposes this reassurance as a myth, anger from opposition MPs and ar- Mr Browning says now. Britain's Where would they draw the line? Could they protect archaeological remains, like the Icklingham bronzes, which were not even known about until they had turned up in another country? Rigorous export licencing laws already in place “mirror the spirit of the treaty”, one Whitehall offl= al believed; though he confessed this could never apply to owners Chacologsts. They say that Baal’ teasons for holding out on the 9), 44 yp who found ways to remove objets failure to ratify 2 1970 UNESCO treaty ate legion: many signatories BOM Mead Of inegaly. “ficient work by the po- Treaty laying down international do not in fact abide by it oF enforce lice and the customs will probably obligations for counties to return i; the definition of “cultural prop be the only way to stop that hap ‘cultural objects” to their country erty" #8 too wide, there Is no legal pening.” Others believe not of origin has denied the Govern weight behind the treaty; iis a bu- Rescue, the archaeological pressure Iment a critical tool for protecting reaucatic nightmare group, and Mr Mark Fisher, Britain's heritage. Under the treaty, condition of becoming a sig- Tabour’s Arts spokesman, say they signed by America and the majority matory is that Britain must draw up vill continue to press forthe teaty fof Western nations, one govern an inventory of all “cultural prop; to be ratified, Unless the Govern tent Is equired by another to erty” in the country to be covered Nigel Reynolds ment signals to would-be treasure pursue ilegaly exported “cultural by the treaty, whether itis in pri fe Arfs hunters that it means business the objects” and to sue for thelr retuen vate or public hands. Tobe effective ComeaPemdentof drain on Dita’ heritage could be though its own court. Britain has this would have to cover milions ZED” come a haemortnage signed but not ratified the treaty. of objets, say Whitehall officials. 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David Stuatt of Princeton Unk ‘esty claims to have identified sgnatuts of artists In insriptions painted on pottery, carved in stone an writen in barkepaper books His theory is based on a set of hieroglyphics - the | primary standard sequence- which Is commonly found painted on the rm of ceramic vests, The se uence was originally icentfed by Di. Michel Coe of Yale University in 1973, when he interpreted the sequence a being main religious or mythological from its accompanying 2alnted scenes. However Me Stuart has recently shown that the standard se- quence has a diferent interpretation. It often in- cludes two stereotyped gases naming the owner of the vessel and its contents. The third phase seems to name the artists who aainted the inscriptions and seenes on the pot, and includes the hieroglyph that signifies‘ iy, and i translated as “his painting’, followed by a name. Me Stewart used his interpreta tion ofthe ‘a Wb’ phrase to name the painter of a pot fom the citytate of Naranjo a5 He of Maxam, A later part of the text identifies the father of the ants as the ruling Lord 3f Naranjo. Although It had been suspected that some Mayan atss were nobles, no signature, noble or otherwise, had ever before been Kdentified on a wor. Mr. Stewart has aso identified signatures of sculptorsthe names o® two stone carvers, ‘Tun Wits Chaai’ and “Teal Chaak’ on lintels at Ya chilan ia Mexico Both panels portray similar scenes tslumphant lords and kneeling prisoners but ar carved in diferent styles This may be the first time that individual styles in Pre-Columbian art have be linked to named artists. Stewarts theory help to put Mayan writing into its socal context. There wa litle difference between the rulers who otdeted the waiting, and the sclbes who didi, However, Mr Stewarts signatures only appear within a period of about 150 years near the | end ofthe Maya Classic Frio, which ended around 930 AD, and have been found only in the western part of the land in Mesico, Guatemala, and Hon dras that the Mayas once ruled The appearance of mists names Tate in Mayan civilisation seems to have been part ofa larger pat tern of change at the end of tine Clasic Period Mayan texts fist begin 9 mention commoners and there seems to have been an increase in warfare among the rival cysts, After one brie appear ance of signatures, for 150 yeas in a small comner of the Mayan Kingdom, anenyinity reigned again, TASTE FOR SHOES POLLUTED ROMAN LONDON cman desire fr wellmade shocs may have contributed tothe R high level of pollation in fist century A.D. London. Archaco!- ogists at the Walbrook Valley inthe City have uncovered what appears to have been an industrial area based around the teather tanning industry, a proces in which uma urine was the ‘A shoemaker’ workshop dscovered on the site demonstrates one of the uses to which the leather was put. ‘We have found an enor sous quantity of smal bits of lather leftover after soles and uppers were cut from lage pices, sald Mr Duncan Lees of the Museum of London win has been leading the excavation, Is the biggest colle: tion of leather waste fr the production of Roman footwear ever found, The uppers were cut fom two or three peces of leather. Work Sill has to be done on the scrap i se what fype of caval they are for, but they seem to have been hobsnalled leather soles with sandal tippers. As well as scraps, the team have found an upper that had been throven into a drainage channel an! a moceasin cut from one piece of eather, The site was Ideal forthe establishment ofa tannery, a8 Mr Lees explained, “The river provided a ready supply of water and the ste sas sulfclety fr from the Basilica and the Forum on the site of Leadental! Market forthe magistrates and governor, who had his of fice there, not t be troubled by smells’ The urine forthe tanning of the leather sem to have been collected from the pull lavatories in oman London, and the situation became so bad thatthe emperor Vespasan instituted a tax to limit the practice, Sve Riviere, of the Mi seum of London, commented, ‘Plainly green Ises are not new, be cause it seems that the emperor's own son, Ts, objected tothe tax on the grounds that ie offended public sensibilities. The historian Suetonius tell us that in reply Vespasin handed a gold coin, an aw resto his on, remarking that ‘The money does’ smell’ Vernacular alan today stil emembers Vespasan in the Vespasiant an outdoor wna ‘The excavations have shown that this was aot the only example of pollution in Roman Landon: plans ceased to floish, cessptsIn- creased and fouled the Walbrook, vegetation vas cleared, waterways canalisd, with plant and animal remains indicating thatthe water became stagnant and noxious An enormous numberof animals were slavghtered, pouting the river with tei remains A WARNING TO TREASURE HUNTERS! Four men who went down a 18ft. Phoenician well in Tyre, Lebanon, suffocated and died while looking for treasure, A total of ten men discovered and entered the well, which dates from about 3000 B.C., but only six managed to emerge safely. MINERVA 12News Feature Safe Return for Getty Aphrodite year after it was acquired A by the Getty Museum in Malibu, California, thei massive sculpture of goddess has been returned to a new earth- auake-proof place of honau in the Magna Gracia gallery. The statu, whichis of limestone and marble and stands at 7/2 ft high, dates from the late fifth century B.C and is the only cult figure ofthe period to survive neaely intact from head to foot. The statue was acquired in July 1988 from a uro- pean dealer after extensive re- Search into Its antecedents. Several newspapers speculated that it was ‘ald at $20 million. Since then i sation and restoration work, and hhas been reset on a new plinth which experts believe is proof against even the strongest tremor ‘The museums largest and heaviest sculpture now stands on a metal isolator attached by a cable. The ‘Antiquities conservator, Jerry Po dany, descebed how the layered planes ofthe isolator aze designed to move on tracks to counteract horizontal movement and in a scissors action to absorb vertical shock, Rather than waiting for an earthquake to test the mechanism, thas had a rial ran with a stand in sculpture. A lump of cement of approximately the same weight mass and form has been subjected toa simulated earthquake while attached tothe folator, on a com- puter-operated ‘shake table’. The model was hardly affected by a quake that would have measured 68 onthe Richter sale The restoration of the statue similarly tested the museum's e- Sources and ingenuity. It aztived with the bulk of the limestone body in three pleces, with an unattached marble arm and foot, and various fragments. The body was reconstructed for 4 prelimi- nary showing, but two huge cracks and some smaller fissures inter- rupted the flow of the drapery Conservators have now replaced the detached arm (the other Is lost), filled cracks in the drapery, and removed encrustations. The extent of conservation is deter ‘mined by balancing scientific and aesthetic considerations. The mu: seum has developed its own techniques to solve uniqu problems. A paper pulp solution was devised to fill the cracks, and this was painted to blend in with the stone. However the fills are slightly recessed so that the cracks are still visible, but less “obtrusive. Similarly, experiment proved that epoxy was the best ‘way to join the three major pieces of the body. It was cast_to ft into the broken surfaces so that they were not permanently attached, and yet fitted neatly to ensure that the weight was evenly distributed across the horizontally broken planes. The removal of centuries of encrustation was a similar chal- lenge. Wary of chemical solvents that cannot be easily controlled, Podony tested small areas of the statue to determine what lay un demeath. ‘It was a dream surface. Aphrodite's ancient surface was probably well preserved because the figure was made for a temple and protected by an indoor loca- tion,’ Having decided that a com- plete cleaning was needed, a delonised water was used to re- move soft deposits, and the en- crustations were scraped away with surgical scalpels. The process took months of delicate work, One slip of the scalpel could have caused ir- reparable damage to the statue, ‘The special treatment accorded the sculpture by the museum is a reflection of its importance. “The statue isa splendid addition to our collection’, said Dr. Marion True, the Curator of Antiquities. ‘Artist: cally, itis a virtuoso work of stone carving that has all the characteris. tes of classical art, especially in MINERVA 13 Aphrodite stand-in being tested on the ‘shake-table’ rn Pol ety the achievement of a harmonious balance between the serene pose Of the figure and the strong move- ment of the drapery. Technically, It is of great interest because until now, no other example of a com- plete akrolithic statue was known. Historically, itis impor- tant because it is the only known cult statue from the late fifth century that is pre served from head to foot.’ Akrolithic statues are composed from different. types of stone. In this case the head, arm, hhands and surviving foot are of marble, the rest of limestone. Originally, the head would have hhad separately modelled hair and ‘a mantle of drapery. This ex- plains why the face now seems ut of proportion to the mas- sive shoulders and. breasts of the figure. Traces of brilliant pink, red and blue pigments are preserved on the drapery, showing. that the garments were originally brightly painted. Akrolithic sculp- tures are associated particularly with the Greek colonies of Southern Italy and Sicily, which had no local sources of fine ‘marble, In its proportions and ‘wet drapery” style, however, the figure is closely related to sculptures from the Greek mainland, such as the Nike Balustrade, of around 420 B.C. The statue has aroused excep: tional interest among scholars, both for its rarity and complete- ness, and for its. remarkable aes. thetic and artistic merit. Professor Angelos. Delivorrias, the Director of the Benaki Museum in Athens, enthused, ‘It is one of the most Important works of Greek art to have been discovered in Yeats. Its iconogeaphical rarity, the extraordinary quality of the ren~ dezing of the windswept garments and the technical peculiarities of the workmanship place its authen- ticity beyond all question. It is as if the goddess had just arrived on arth.” recentoe aoe work and manuscripts of the me Crear Reece ey eighth-century Ireland and in areas Caer ater at eo eae RCs eer ee ons Cees ns Ree em cnr mun na eter eeu oct eee T anys Coe Roser s TT Poets ee ee ey Cece eee eee eee ee the large design, breaks down into SCR ea Re RC eas and where the part deserves as ree eee Peer See aca a CeCe catS SIUnUm cee ees Doe rece) Pesce een acute Fine metalwork from Susan Youngs Cooeercmecnt ees Pt ar Poem ECCS ENR e eee ees ta eg ee eo ee an mE) enamelled fields of fine metalwork. The dependency Cee a eae a em ed tion of the Book of Durrow, possibly one of the ear the Demnaflan, liest decorated manuscripts to survive and usually Co, Tipperary, Ce ee ee et Me ee See eRe ee ee er Ree eae eee eee ea De eRe CR eee oT ei Ce MINERVA 14 “Gold to the altar and gifts and fine presents to the minstrel” and northern Britain of the sixth to the ninth centuries A.D ae eee) Cenc tne ha Ocoee mcs Sty eee oer techniques as well as decorative mo- eee toa aoe coe eerie from the main strand of ‘Celtic’ art Se eo a eee styles of art which flourished from Ce ata eet Ty the second century A.D. among the Celtic peoples of Europe and de- clined during the Late Roman pe- See en ere! See Ra oem eae of late La Téne art are major compo: Se ee era en ee Rea ee aren Saree eae ‘most invariably seen in combination with patterns Caneuree Cnn nator eens) Mediterranean and contemporary ger- pee Sete Pace eens Rosen ee Presta ttoyaa a core ure Cee Peooeeects reece tiny decorative panel Parco oreo cea Pores am nce) SSR eo eee} with the sinuous, curving patterns familiar from late La Téne work and the gridded and angular ornament which was also characteristic of earlier Celtic at, but Pn noe ee ec Ce ee eee) Se eee ‘mains the dominant metal but the scale of early me- dieval Celtic metalwork is smaller, the penannular Pree ea RC ee Irelandnewly developed forms of dress fastener. Expanded brooch terminals become the field for increasingly elaborate ornament. Fine line, largely two-dimen- sional decoration predominated, the deep repoussé work and heavy mouldings of earlier periods were largely abandoned. Red enamel was still used, but of a slightly different composition; two-part moulds with the possibility of multiple production replaced the lost-wax method of casting. As the seventh century began, new materials came into the workshops, prin- cipally multicoloured glass including millefiort and yellow enamel. In Ireland dress fasteners of many kinds predominate, whether brooches, ‘pins’ or the ‘misnamed ‘latchets’. Although products of the Celtic tradition of ornamental metalwork, these forms are developing and changing, a process which is very dif: ficult to date with precision. The enlargement and claboration of these pieces probably falls within the petiod A.D. $60 to 650. In contemporary Scotland smiths working in or near the Pictish kingdoms were using silver, probably a legacy of the Roman provinces to the south. The contrast of fine-line enamel inlay and plain, bur- nished silver surfaces of the Norrie's Law plaques, for example, had an aesthetic quality readily appreciated in any age, In south-west Scotland, centred on modern Argyll, Irish rulers established the kingdom of Scottish Dal Riada which was to play a major role in the astounding artistic and cultural developments of the later seventh century. It was from a monastery at Iona that Irish clerics, and with them ecclesiastical ‘workshop practices, were introduced into the Anglo- Saxon kingdom of Northumbria begining with ‘Aidan's foundation at Lindisfame. This, in brief, is the historical context of the extraordinary fusion of artistic influences which gave rise to Insular art, best known for outstanding works of the quality and tech~ nical brilliance of the ‘Tara’ brooch, including also the Ardagh chalice and a paten recently discovered at Derrynaflan, A workshop area at the royal stronghold of silt silver with gold {Aligee,slass and amber inlay, front and back views. Found ‘at Bettystown, Co. Meath. Early ‘eighth century. Photo: National Museum of Ireland. Opposite pase: The eighth century Ardagh ‘alice (far ef) ‘and the later ‘chalice from Derrynafian, Both are of silver with siding, gold ft sree, amber, ‘with enamel land rock erystal ‘only on the ‘Ardagh piece Photo: National Museum of Ireland Above right: Silver itt brooch set with gold fligree and ‘amber, from ‘Bunterston, ‘Ayrshire. Late seventh to carly eight century. Photo: National ‘Museums of Scotland ‘The Monymusk reliquary, a house-shaped shrine of wood covered with plates of silver and bronze. Also ‘known as the Brecbennoch of ‘St Columba. Eighth century. Photo: National ‘Museums of ‘Scotland of Dunadd in Scottish Dal Riada has pro- duced germanic, Irish and proto-In- sular material and workshop debris, recently dated to the mid-seventh century. The Anglo- Saxon kingdom of Northumbria extended for much of the period of innovation well into what is now lowland Scotland and even reached beyond Whithorn in Galloway to the west. Given the almost total absence of surviving germanic metalwork from mainland Ireland to serve as exemplars for native craftsmen, one can argue a strong case on historical and now archaeological evidence for Scottish Dal Riada as a centre of innovation and transmission of the new style and new technology. ‘Northumbria included a large population of native British, an underrated factor in the cultural equation which produced the Insular style. There is one large class of purely Celtic-style metalwork, that of deco- rated hanging-bowls whose ornament was very Closely allied to that of the Insular Gospel books. If we are to understand the ornamental affinities be- tween the largest bowl found at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk and the decoration of the Lindisfarne Gospels, then the possible contribution of native British craftsmen ‘must not be overlooked, With minor exceptions all hanging-bowls and detached mounts of pre-eighth century date have been found in Britain and the only evidence for thelr manufacture comes from Pictish Scotland. The diverse richness of their ornament im- plies more than one centre of production, with a hint of some such activity in eastern England where the techniques of enamelling are borrowed by Anglo- Saxon smiths in the sixth century. The reason for stressing the probable British contribution to Insular art Is that the hanging bowl escutcheons also share MINERVA 15the same development of motifs, most particularly the creation of animal terminals to spirals, with con- temporary Irish metalwork as seen, for example, on a buckle from Lagore. ‘This community of style has created a strong pre- sumption of Irish manufacture for the bowls, but it Is pethaps better understood as a result of aristocratic contact and community of taste, as a camman and parallel development prefiguring, and indeed al- lowing, the sudden and dramatic creation of the ‘new hybrid Insular act style. This too was widespread in its fully developed form, a point almost taken for granted In the frequent comparison made between the exquistely detailed ‘Tara’ brooch (in fact found at Bettystown, Co, Meath) and the illumination of the Gospels from Lindisfarne (Holy Island) in Northumberland, The use of discrete panels of ornament, of plain and animal interlace, the imitation or use of inlaid cells in these Insular masterworks are features de- rived from germanic metalwork of the sixth and early seventh century, Coloured inlay, stepped geo- metric cells, fine gold filigree and granulation are all characteristics of the aristocratic jewellery of Kent and East Anglia, much of which has been preserved in richly furnished burials, Representational birds and beasts in Insular art may have been derived from Christian att of the Mediterranean world, while representations of the human form on crucifixion plaques and shrine mounts must come from the same source, albelt stylised and decorated in an un- mistakably Insular manner. A recent discovery of a hoard of handle fittings from some religious fur- nishing combines a three-dimensional lion head de- rived from classical art and elaborate engraved curvilinear ornament of traditional Celtic type. At the same time new types of ob- ject were made by Celtic smiths but decorated modified to suit their own taste, The germanic an- cestry of a buckle from Lough Gara 1s evident from its form but its large enamelled cells are peculiarly and distinctively Irish. Despite the impetus given by the church to cul- tural change and exchange, the new techniques and materials of Insular art were applied from the begin« ring to great brooches for the aristocracy. The mate- rials in use are now predominantly silver and gold, ‘with complex inlays of glass, amber and enamel. In Ireland and its territories overseas an open penan- nnular form is largely superseded by closed or linked Pair of silver plaques inlaid with red enamel from a hoard at Norrie’s Law, Fife, Pictish, sixth to seventh century. Photo: ‘Nationat Museums of Scotland Selection of Pi sh silver from the St Ninntan’s Isle, Shetland, hoard. Eighth century. Photo: National Museums of Scotland MINERVA 16 terminals very elaborately cast, often gilded and with, filigree inlaid as in the Hunterston brooch. The type ‘of brooch elaborated and enriched with a closed or ‘pscudo-annular’ brooch form derived not from the developed zoomorphic brooch typical of sixth to sev- centh century Ireland, but from a type where the ler. minals were divided into separate panels, another Indication perhaps af th Dal Riada, The fineness of gold filigree, its elaborate construction and granulation far surpass most of its germanic models. Brooch pin-heads become elabo- rate multi-part constructions with matching decora- tion. The great Hunterston brooch is a superb example of the new att, fally early in a series of large brooches which continues into the ninth century Like the smaller ‘Tara’ brooch , the back of she Hunterston brooch and several near contemporary pieces are decorated with triskeles and spirals, tradi tional Celtic motifs retained but relegated to an infe- rior position in the decorative scheme, A wide repertoire of styles is seen on the brooches as the eighth century gave way to the ninth. The use Of silver, often debased, and gilding is common to these brooches, some like the Londesborough collec: tion brooch and a brooch from County Cavan are now unique examples of very distinctive forms, others like the Kilamery brooch with its marginal an- mals is one of an interrelated group, a type that Is, copied in base metal. Only one gold brooch has sur- vived, a remarkable find from Loughan, Co. Derry, which has a subtle and restrained ornamentation and, relies on the basic beauty of the metal, {ts allied in form and ornament to contemporary Pictish silver work. After A.D. 800, there were stylistic changes in interlace and animal ornament, in- creasing reliance on amber and a reduction of the amount of filigree work, with a marked decline in quality. The result is often bold and effective but lacking the detailed virtuosity of the previous cen- tury. Brooches are not the only metalwork in Insular style, ornamental harness mounts and other do- mestic equipment in bronze were also manufactured, for affluent patrons. Outside or beyond the main production centres of Insular art, whether in Co. Meath, Scottish Dal Riada ‘or Northumbria, lay the territories of the Picts, where a distinct regional style expressed almost entirely in silver flourished int the eighth ceulury. A great oued found at St Ninian’s Isle, Shetland, helped to identify a substancial group of Pictish pieces. Most of these brooches are distinguished from thelr lish counter- parts by keeping a true penannular form, simple one piece pins, and by the restricted but effective use of inlays. Distinctive profile and three-dimensional beast heads , as well as other detalls of design end decoration are also peculiarly Pictish and link the metalwork to the great sculptured stones. The innowative role af Scattishornament on one of the St Ninian's Isle bowls, for ex: ample, is closely related to that on the Monymusk reliquary, an object whose house-shaped form and construction place it in a small group of otherwise ‘trish’ reliquaries. ‘The finest workmanship of the elghth century was lavished on objects for ecclesias- tical use. The discovery of tiny a! sembly letters In the great Derrynaflan paten confirms the assumption that the silversmith was a literate member of a rell- ‘glous community, a point further underlined by parallel artistic de- velopments of illuminator and sil- versmith. Indeed, some of the sgreat brooches may also have been worn by clerics, perhaps those men recorded in the Irish annals who ruled jointly as King-Abbots. ‘The highly decorated paten from the 1980 Derrynaflan hoard of ec- clesiastic metalwork is complex oth in ornament and construc tion, In many details it matches very closely the Ardagh chalice and they may well have been pro- duced at the same workshop. The paten has twenty-four gold filigree panels of the most delicate con. struction, the design and technical execution of each one shows extraordinary skill and virtuosity, dedicated to flelds measuring roughly two centimetres by one. The foils, studs and wirework in this piece ate also of the highest quality Byen the relatively common shrine-mounts of the eighth and ninth centuries often recovered outside Ireland, from southern England, Italy and Viking ‘graves in Scandinavia, show high standards of design and craftsmanship and a diversity of form. and style. ‘The complete enshrined belt of a saint from Moy- Tough is one end of a range of religious metalwork ‘which includes the fine pair of mounts now at St Ger- main near Paris, probably the gable finials of a mas- sive sarcophagus or shrine, In addition to altar plate, a wide variety of types of fine objects were produced for the church, In particular bosses and fittings for shrines, including the casing for holy bells, book shrines (like that recently received from Lough Ki- nale), croziers, large elaborately decorated and inlaid bosses like that found at Steeple Bumpstead, Essex, which must have been part of cruciform decoration of large scale and brilliance. Many of these odd sur- vivors from sets of bosses are gilded and decorated with spirals and triskeles, as well as animal ornament and coloured inlays.They are tantalising fragments of ‘the treasures of the early medieval period. Bronze crucifixion ‘plague from near Athlone, Co, Westmeath Fighth century. Photo: National ‘Museum of | Ireland Susan Youngs, FSA isa Curator In the Department of Medieval and Later Antiquities in the British Museum and was eavly concemed withthe current ‘major exhibition “The Work of Angels” MINERVA 17 ‘The bold filigree and amber on the chalice recov- ered from Derrynaflan are indicative of a later date than the Ardagh example, perhaps early In the ninth century, It is a dramatic and impressive piece close in form and construction to'the earlier Ardagh chalice, and both distinctively Irish. These large chalices, like other types of Insular ecclesiastical metalwork, appear to be related to, ‘but independently evolved from, the ‘main European and Byzantine tradi- tions, a legacy pethaps of early con- version and a partially isolated church, The strangely stylised cruci- fixion plaque from near Athlone swith its six-winged angels is another example, Of a distinctive group of complete, small portable reliquaries resembling little houses, possibly representing the Temple of Jerusalem, four were found in Ire- land, the Monymusk example prob- ably came from Scottish Dal Rlada or Pictland, two have surfaced in Italy, with further examples from Scandi- navian provenances, all indicative of an Irish source for the type. The small amount of metalwork that sur- vives from contemporary Northum- brla shows a more classicising, representational tendency and rein: forces the impression that whatever their role in the origination of the new Insular style in the decades either side of A.D. 700, aristocratic and church metalworkers of Ireland were producing orig- inal designs of the finest quality from the eighth cen: tury onwards. The kingdoms centred on and around. present Co, Meath seem to have been particularly im- portant centres of fine metalwork production. As Gerald of Wales wrote of an early Irish Gospel book ‘If you take the trouble to look very closely, and pene- trate with your eyes to the secrets of the artistry, you will notice such intricacies, so delicate and subtle that you will not hesitate to declare that all these things ‘must have been the result of the work not of men but of Angels! An exhibition “The Work of Angels’: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th centuries A.D. is on view in the British Museum from 1 December 1989 to 29 April 1990. It will subsequently be seen In the ‘National Museum of Ireland, Dublin and the Royal Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh. The exhibition has been generously supported by the Irish Government and by Aer Lingus. An Hlustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, edited by Susan M. Youngs. British Museum Publica- tons, £12.95.