11 - The Iron Age

The lack of burials in the Iron Age has made it difficult to support the chronology of the period with grave-goods as it was possible to do in the Bronze Age. In the past the burials that do exist have been taken as unequivocal evidence of Continental invasion.

For a group of burials known as the Arras Culture in the Yorkshire Wolds region, students pointed to similarities with the area of Champagne, north-east of Paris, which also has square-ditched barrows, the burial of chariots and a particular type of horse bit. These similarities are undeniable but the only actual imports found in Yorkshire are fragments of coral used as inlay.

The Arras burials have many insular features and are located in groups within blocks of land that are defined by linear dykes. The earliest burials date to the fifth century BC and are large, square barrows. Later barrows were smaller, had deep, central pits and these continued to the first century BC. The burials under these later barrows were either orientated north-south and crouched or extended east-west with different grave goods. Brooches and sheep-bones were common with the crouched burials while swords, spears, tools and pig-bones characterised the extended burials. Some corpses had been speared as part of the burial ritual. The chariot (cart) burials included some decorated metalwork along with the dismantled vehicle and include the only example of a mail tunic from the whole later-Iron Age world.

There are a number of scattered burials from the south of England such as a 'warrior' grave from Owslebury in Hampshire with sword and remains of shield but the main group of burials are in the Home Counties and are known as the Aylesford-Swarling Group, named after two Kentish cemeteries and belong to the last century or so of the Iron Age and are evidence of contacts of that part of the country with the Roman world in Gaul.

Probably most archaeological effort has been put into the study of agriculture of the Iron Age as a result of excavations like those on the hillforts of Owslebury and Danebury and on a number of settlement sites like Stansted.

A useful technique used in this study is flotation which retrieves carbonised plant remains and has now been introduced as a standard technique on excavations. Various phases of grain processing can now be recognised from the chaff and weed remains and two types of husbandry of grain have now been recognised. One was intensive, probably based on heavy manuring and spade cultivation and produced emmer wheat and barley, and the other was extensive using a plough with little weeding of the crop with barley and rye as the main crops.

Where animal bones are preserved it is possible now to go beyond simple identification of species. It is possible to say something about age of death and about the percentages of various animals on the site. Aging is done mainly by the study of the teeth.

Experimental archaeology has made a major contribution to our understanding of Iron Age agriculture. On his experimental station at Butser Ancient farm, Peter Reynolds has demonstrated the viability of a number of the techniques suggested by archaeologists and the non-viability of others.

Experiments with ploughing are done using Dexter cattle that approximate to the size of animals of the Iron Age, the bos longifrons which are now extinct. The ard (the plough) can either be attached to a yoke at the neck or by the horns. The ard cultivated the top nine inches of the soil which is the growing zone and the seed was planted into it after the clods had been broken up, perhaps with a hoe. Barley was a common crop, along with emmer and spelt wheat, Celtic beans (Vicia faba minor) and fat hen (melde). Also grown were vetch for cattle food and woad for dyeing. Fields were probably manured by the cattle after harvest and from the farmyard manure heap since sherds from broken pottery are a common find on Iron Age fields.

Soay sheep are bred at Butser. They are a breed that has survived on the remote island of St Kilda and are of the prehistoric type, much smaller than modern domesticated sheep, similar to goats and with wool that has to be plucked off. They will provide milk but are not big enough to be a good source of meat.

Horses in the Iron Age only appear in special contexts like the pits at Danebury, not on farms, but Caesar describes how they were harnessed in pairs in chariots for warfare and horse equipment is found in Arras graves. Representations of them appear on Iron Age coins. They were the size of an modern Exmoor pony but there is no evidence of them having been used for agriculture.

Pigs were common animals in the Iron Age and the wild boar may have been a cult animal for it is represented on metalwork and by small metal models. The animals were always food animals and may have been used by farmers to tear up grassland in preparation for planting crops. Pig bones or tusks appear in some of the Arras graves and these deposits could have had ritual significanace.

Another animal that may have had some ritual significance was the dog for dog burials appear in places like the entrances to settlements and hillforts and they are often found in farming communities. Strabo, the Roman writer, tells us that the British exported 'clever hunting dogs' which presumably means that they were specially trained.

The method of storing grain in pits has been extensively experimented with at Butser. The theory of storing grain in pits is straightforward. Sprouting grain uses up oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide in its normal respiration. If the grain is put inside a sealed container it will quickly use up all the oxygen present. Then it stops growing and becomes dormant until more oxygen is introduced. The storage pit works like that, keeping the grain in a sterile atmosphere.

A hole is dug into the rock (usually chalk) sometimes up to two metres in depth and a metre in diameter. It is filled with grain and a seal of moist clay covered by loose soil put on the top. The loose soil keeps the clay moist and stops any penetration by rain. Inside the pit bacteria and fungi have been trapped with the grain but they will not survive if deprived of oxygen which happens as soon as the pit is sealed.

Experiments have shown that grain stored in this way will still grow extremely well and is also edible. But, during the Iron Age, the food corn is likely to have been stored in above ground granaries because it was not wise to keep on re-opening the pit. Beans might have been stored in the same way in pits and perhaps other foodstuffs as well. Silage could have been made in these pits; grass piled inside and covered with stones to compress it would soon 'cure'. And of course pits of this sort could become rubbish pits or loo pits.

Other work done at Butser has involved studies of cloth-production using wool as the textile. Wool from Soay sheep works very well for this purpose. It was spun using a spindle with a clay or stone weight on the end called a whorl and the weaving done on an upright loom. The archaeologist often finds loom weights which were used to stretch the vertical warp threads. The weft threads were woven between these with wool attached to the spindle. To make it quicker a heddle (a horizontal wooden rod) was attached to alternate warp threads and was pulled forward to allow the spindle to pass through between the alternate warp threads. Skilled weavers can work by firelight and probably usually did so in winter evenings in the Iron Age huts.

We have a range of iron tools from Glastonbury (so-called) Lake Village excavated from a waterlogged context that has preserved the iron extremely well. These tools are immediately recognizable as carpenters' tools because they are exactly the same as modern tools. Some of the woodwork was preserved in the same contexts and show that the Iron Age carpenter was just as skilled as modern day craftsmen, perhaps more so, because he did not have the benefit of power tools. He was capable of making joints and building large structures like revetments for ramparts and houses.

Charcoal was produced by local blacksmiths for smelting iron and perhaps was used for domestic fires as well since it produces great heat without much flame, something which would be suitable for interior fires in the timber and thatch houses of the time. We have no evidence for charcoal-making beyond the fact that we know that it was done.

All this knowledge is beginning to flesh out our picture of the Iron Age settlement. An example of a classic early Iron Age Site is Little Woodbury which has become the type-site on the chalk of southern England. It lies a little to the south of Salisbury in Wiltshire. The site was discovered by aerial photography and is a large enclosure, part of which was excavated just before the Second World War. In the excavation was discovered a large circular hut with a diameter of 13.7m built in the traditional way with wattle-and-daub and thatch on a timber framework. Alongside was a smaller hut which may have been the residence while the larger hut functioned as a barn. Also, inside the 130m diameter stockade were storage-pits, four-poster granaries and two-posters that were thought to be drying racks for hay, perhaps.

Finds included animal bones of the usual domestic animals and evidence suggests that wheat and barley, at least, were grown. Similar settlements have been excavated at Pimperne in Dorset, West Brandon in County Durham, Staple Howe in Yorkshire, West Plean in Stirlingshire either with or without the large huts and they can be found in the west of Britain with walls built of stone instead of wattle-and-daub as at the extensive settlement on Holyhead Mountain. And, of course, there is the marsh village in the Somerset Levels at Glastonbury.

The type of farming carried on in these settlements varies, of course, with the ecology and different emphasis is placed on the balance between grain and pastoral husbandry. Storage pits are restricted to the drier and warmer south of England where the greatest amount of grain was grown. Domestic animals were universal with perhaps goats appearing on some sites. Sites near the coast probably got a proportion of their food from the sea as at Jarlshof and Clickhimin in Shetland and in areas along the eastern and so southern coasts where the beaches were gently sloping, fisher families could involve themselves in making salt during the summer months.

These sites might be thought of as the 'undefended' sites of the period. But there are a variety of sites where defence seems to have been one of the preoccupations of the inhabitants. In south-western Wales, for example, raths were built. The best excavated is Walesland Rath in Dyfed which consisted of an oval-shaped area, 50m by 65m, enclosed by a bank and ditch with two entrances, one of which had a massive gate of three pairs of timbers which supported a tower. The other entrance was flanked by drystone walling with its gateway set back in the rampart. Inside there were six circular timber huts and a possible granary. Occupation started in the first century BC and continued into the Romano- British period like many other settlements in western Britain.

In North Wales, ramparted sites can range from homestead-sized like Castell Odo with two ramparts and eight huts to hillforts like Tre'r Ceiri which could house up to 400 people. Houses were stone-built, circular, and the ramparts were normally drystone walls.

In the south-western peninsula, a characteristic site, apart from hillforts and cliff castles, are 'rounds' like Carn Brae and Trevisker in Cornwall, consisting of simple banked enclosures with a few huts built up against the rampart. At Carn Brae, a souterrain or weem, as they call them in Cornwall, led from one hut under the rampart to a spot outside the settlement. Chycauster is an example of another type of settlement, the courtyard village, consisting of a number of stone-built houses. Each house has a stone-paved courtyard surrounded by rooms and byres, the whole complex enclosed within a stone wall. Outside are the stone-walled fields belonging to the settlement.

Glastonbury is representative of settlements built on the raised bog of the Somerset Levels. They appear to have been the homes of people who were making a living from the marsh itself as well as raising some cattle and perhaps crop cultivation on higher ground. The latest interpretation of Glastonbury suggests that the earliest structures on the site were rectangular, later becoming circular, some buildings being farmhouses and others the huts of boneworkers, carpenters, metalworkers and potters. Remains of over 5000 pots were discovered in the excavation. The village was situated on a crannpg surrounded by a palisade and it is believed to have been occupied by five or six families from about 100BC to AD50.

The sites at Meare are now interpreted as seasonal markets or fairs, held on marginal land as boot sales are held today on commons. An amazing variety of materials, both local and non-local were both worked and sold or exchanged at Meare and are represented in the archaeological record. Included are copper, tin, bronze, lead, iron, stone, flint, shale, jet, glass, amber, wood, clay, antler and bone.

The north of Scotland has a number of types of site that are not found elsewhere in Iron Age and early Roman Britain. They seem to succeed the stone-built round houses at Jarlshof in Shetland mentioned above. Built on top of one of these houses at Jarlshof and another at Clickhimin are brochs.

A broch is a dry-stone tower, some 14 to 22m in diameter, serving as a fortified homestead. The hollow walls are between 3.5 and 4.5m in thickness and contain chambers and a staircase to an upper floor or roof walk. The central court, up to 10.5m in diameter is open to the sky and contained lean-to buildings of timber against the interior wall which could be up to 12m high. Nearly four hundred of these have been recorded, more or less ruined, in the north and west of Scotland but the best-preserved example is the Broch of Mousa in Shetland.

Wheelhouses appear to be roughly contemporary with brochs. They are circular stone-built huts, the interior of which is divided by radial stone piers projecting from the wall but leaving the middle of the hut clear. These piers presumably supported a timber and turf roof. In some examples, the piers are free-standing but are joined to the outer walls by lintels. These are called aisled wheelhouses. A good example is at Clettraval in the Hebrides.

Duns, which are associated with brochs, are small dry-stoned walled enclosures seldom exceeding 370 square metres in internal area. The walls, originally about three metres high, were normally solid but some were provided with mural galleries or cells. The name is also used to describe a class of monuments called galleried duns which are circular or oval homesteads with a drystone wall perhaps 3.5m thick containing passages and galleries the function of which is mainly structural. The top of the wall can be reached by steps either in the wall or on its inner face. Inside were timber buildings in an area of perhaps c30m across. This type of dun is common in Ireland. A larger type falls into the class of hillfort.

Blockhouses are unusual structures. An example is at Clickhimin. Originally, it would have been three storeys high with an attached timber-built range behind. At ground level a central passage was provided in the masonry leading to the dwelling space behind while at first-floor level a door led between the rooms of the timber range and mural cells constructed within the thickness of the blockhouse masonry; the second floor was probably a wall-walk to provide a vantage-point. I owe this description to Professor Barry Cunliffe. A few other examples can be found elsewhere in Shetland.

Our best picture of the warlike side of the Britons comes from the account written by Julius Caesar about his two expeditions to Britain in 55 and 54BC. Although he gives the impression that they were reconaissances, it is fairly clear that on the second visit he was determined on the conquest of Britain which, however, was not carried through.

He tells us something of what he knew of Britain. 'The central regions of Britain are inhabited by a people who claim to have originated there, on the coast live the immigrant Belgae, who came to plunder and fight, but stayed to cultivate the land. The population is very large; they have many houses rather like those in Gaul(France) and large herds. They use bronze or gold coins or, as an alternative, iron rods of fixed weight. Tin is found inland and small quantities of iron near the coasts but they import their copper. Apart from the beech and fir, there are trees of every kind as in Gaul. They think it is wrong to eat hares or chickens or geese but they breed them as pets. As the cold is less severe, the climate is more temperate than in Gaul.

The island is triangular, and one side, about 175 (Roman) miles long, is opposite Gaul. Kent forms one corner and nearly all the ships from Gaul land there. This side point east while the other points south. Another side looks west towards Spain; the Britons reckon it is roughly 665 miles long. In this direction is Ireland which they reckon is about half the size of Britain and about the same distance away from it as Gaul. In the middle of the Irish Channel is the Isle of Man; they think there are a number of smaller islands off the coast. Some geographers have written that in midwinter in these islands ther are about thirty days continual darkness. Though I made enquiries, I could find nothing about this, but we did discover from accurate measurement by water-clock that the nights are shorter than on the Continent. The third side, thought to be 760 miles long, looks north with no land opposite, but one corner points roughly towards Germany. The circumference of the whole island measures 1,900 miles.

The most civilised people are those in Kent which is entirely a coastal area; they have much the same customs as the Gauls. Most of those living further inland do not sow corn but live on milk and flesh and wear clothes of animal skins. All the Britons, though, dye their skins with woad which produces a blue colour and thereby look all the more terrifying in battle. They do not cut their hair but shave all the rest of the body except the head and upper lip. Wives are shared between groups of ten or twelve men, usually made up of brothers or fathers and suns. The children are reckoned as belonging to the man each girl marries first.'

This account suggests that what Caesar sees with his own eyes is properly reported but that he has been told some rather fanciful stories as well. For example, he has this to say about Ireland. 'I have nothing very certain to say about this island except that the inhabitants are less civilised than the British, for they eat great quantities of food - and men as well. Moreover, they consider it an honourable thing, when their fathers die, to eat them....'

Caesar set sail from Boulogne with some ten thousand men in eighty transports at about midnight on the 25th August 55BC. The cavalry were to embark from a spot further north and follow the main fleet. Caesar reached the British coast at about nine o'clock in the morning under the cliffs of Dover. Above him he could see the British forces so he dropped anchor and waited for the whole fleet to gather together. At about 3.30 they moved off northwards along the coast and found a suitable landing place somewhere between Deal and Walmer.

But the British had followed him along the coast and were there to greet him with their cavalry and war chariots and the Roman infantry were reluctant to land until a standard-bearer jumped into the surf and started to wade towards the beach. A fierce fight developed and the Romans only got ashore with difficulty but, when the British did run off, Caesar was unable to chase them because his cavalry had still not arrived. However, some of the British had second thoughts and came back and offered to co- operate with the Romans.

Caesar spent the next two days waiting for the cavalry. Their ships met with a tremendous storm on the crossing and thought it safer with the horses on board to return to France. The storm had a disastrous effect on Caesar's camp which he had constructed on the shingle foreshore. The warships had been beached and these were damaged togther with the transports which were riding at anchor a little way out.

The British took advantage of this mishap by ambushing the Seventh Legion which had been sent out to reap the Britons' harvest in the fields. A fight started and Caesar had to march to the rescue with reinforcements and drive the British off. The British force had hidden in a wood with their chariots and Caesar gives a description of how they attacked his troops. 'They began by driving all over the field hurling javelins then they worked their way between their cavalry units where the warriors jumped down and fought on foot. Meanwhile the chariot drivers retired a short distance from the fighting and stationed the carsin such a way so that their masters, if outnumbered, had an easy means of retreat to their own lines. In action, therefore, they combined the mobility of cavalry with the staying power of foot soldiers. Their skill may be judged by the fact that they control the horses at full gallop on the steepest incline, chjeck and turn them in a moment, run along the shaft, stand on the yoke and get back again into the chariot quick as lightning.'

A few days later the British gathered a large force and attacked the Roman camp but were driven off and the Romans chased them, as well as they could, with the few horses that they had, killed the stragglers and burnt several houses. Later that day, British envoys arrived to make peace. Caesar demanded that hostages be brought over to Gaul, decided to make the best of a bad job and set off back to Boulogne. Before leaving for Italy, he decided to make a full attempt at conquest next year and left orders that preparations should be made.

Next year he repeated the voyage, with 800 ships this time and 2000 cavalry and built a camp, probably in the same place as the previous year. There he received news that the British force had withdrawn from the beaches to a fortified place at Bigbury Woods, some distance inland, not far from present-day Canterbury on the River Stour. Leaving ten battalions and 300 cavalry to guard the camp, Caesar set off inland, following the track that led to the crossing of the River Stour.

He arrived there to find that Bigbury was a strongpoint overlooking the crossing-place and that the Britons were pouring down the slope with their cavalry and war-chariots to bar his passage of the river. However. he managed to cross and attacked Bigbury which had its entrances blocked with masses of felled trees. The troops of the Seventh Legion, working under cover of interlocked shields, piled up branches against the fortifications, stormed the position and drove the Britons out at the cost of a few minor casualties.

The Romans spent the rest of the day building a marching camp. Next morning Caesar sent out a light force of infantry and cavalry in three parties to overtake the Britons. Just as they were leaving, a messenger arrived from the Roman camp on the seashore with the news that an overnight storm had wrecked nearly all the ships! After what happened last year, this was incredible news. It shows how little the Romans had learnt from that experience. So, there was a delay of ten days during which time the camp was refortified and the ships beached inside it.

When he got back on the road to Bigbury, Caesar found that the British had offered the leadership of their disparate forces to Cassivellaunus, king of the Catuvellauni, whose territory lay beyond the Thames in the region of Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. He began to attack the legions on the march and a running fight developed. When the Romans entrenched for the night the Britons attacked the outposts. Heavy fighting developed and the Britons were only driven off after reinforcements had been brought up. Next morning the fight was resumed.

After a concerted effort by the legions and the cavalry the Britons withdrew and Caesar was able to resume the march. They reached the River Thames at present-day Brentford. This must have been anticipated by Cassivellaunas who had sharpened stakes stuck into the river bed beneath the water and on the banks. On the other bank was the British army.

The Romans' blood was up. Without delay they dashed across the river and scattered the enemy. When all his troops were across, Caesar set out for Cassivellaunus' stronghold at Wheathampstead near present-day St Albans. All along the line of march he was under attack from the British cavalry and chariots. Whenever he sent out patrols or cavalry to plunder the countryside, they were cut off and attacked. On this march envoys arrived from the Trinovantes whose territory lay in southern East Anglia. Their king had been assasinated by Cassivellaunus and his son had fled to Gaul to seek help from Caesar. In return for hostages and a promise to submit to his orders, Caesar sent the young man back to his people with the envoys.

As a result of this decision, Caesar received offers of help and friendship from five more tribes in southern and western Britain. This heartened the Roman force and when they reached Wheathampstead, the oppidum was immediately attacked from two sides and, after, a brief resistance, the Britons retreated. Caesar says that great quantities of cattle were found there.

Meanwhile, Cassivellaunus had instructed four of the Kentish leaders to make a surprise attack on the Roman HQ on the coast, In the engagement one of the Kentish leaders was killed and the rest driven off.

Caesar tells us that he decided at this point to winter in Gaul so he demanded hostages from the Britons, fixed an annual tribute to be paid to Rome (acting as though he had conquered the country) and forbade Cassivellaunus to interfere with the Trinovantes. He then marched back to the coast and, after some problems due to a shortage of transports, managed to load up his army and returned to Gaul. He never came back to Britain.

Archaeological evidence for these expeditions is very sparse. The site of Bigbury is known. It is situated on the Downs on the North Down trackway overlooking the route which Caesar took on his way to the Thames. The main earthwork consists of a rampart 2.4m high and an outer ditch some 5m wide and encloses some 3.2 hectares. There are two entrances and an annexe on the north-west. The interior has been vandalized by gravel digging during which a good many finds have been made including a fire-dog, cauldron hooks, ploughshares, horse-bits and a slave-chain with a barrel padlock.

From the Thames at Brentford has come one of the stout stakes sunk into the river. At Wheathampstead, the Devil's Dyke and another earthwork called the Slad together enclose about 36 hectares. The Devil's Dyke is massive, some 457m long, 12.2m deep and nearly 40m wide at the top. The Slad may be natural. So far efforts to find traces of Caesar's camps have been unavailing. The site known as Caesar's Camp in Surrey is an early Iron Age hillfort.

The Iron Age warriors had a fearsome reputation and we can see that they wee able to put up a good show even against Caesar's highly trained professional army. As mercenaries they were employed as far afield as Greece and it was the warriors returning to Gaul after the terminations of their contracts who brought with them their pay in the form of Macedonian staters who provided the prototypes for the Gallic staters minted by various Iron Age chieftains. These coins were also copied in Britain.

It is clear from what Caesar says that the use of chariots in warfare was old-fashioned at the time but this did not prevent them being very effective against the Roman infantry and they were only overcome when Caesar was able to deploy sufficient cavalry on his second expedition. The problem with all ad- hoc forces which are only brought together on specific occasions is their lack of training. Cassivellaunus, however good a soldier he was in native warfare, would have found that at such short notice it was was virtually impossible to control his troops tightly enough to win against a professional army.

It seems clear that, by the end of the campaign, Caesar was as anxious for peace as Cassivellaunus, and it is probable that it was he who proposed a settlement to Cassivellaunus since it was Commius, Caesar's ally, who conducted the negotiations. The situation in Gaul had become so dangerous at the time that it took Caesar three years hard fighting to put down the several rebellions that broke out in the winter of 54BC so he never had time to consider a third expedition to Britain.

There is no doubt that he had failed in his second expedition and that Rome knew this as well as he did. Though he had in fact met and defeated far larger forces than in his first campaign when a public thanksgiving was decreed for twenty days and triumphal gateways set up, no thanksgiving was decreed this time. The feeling of disappointment with the outcome of the expedition is summed up in a letter written by Cicero to a friend in Greece. 'On October 24th I received a letter from my brother Quintus and from Caesar, sent from the nearest point on the shore of Britain on September 25th. They have settled affairs in Britain and taken hostages: there's no booty, though they have imposed a tribute; they are bringing the army back from the island.'

The warriors who confronted Caesar in their chariots were the aristocrats. They were able to afford the equipment, the chariot and the driver, a magnificence at odds with what little we know of their rustic homesteads. Their martial tradition must have been a strong one, judging from the fact that in the Arras culture, many were buried with their weapons and some with their chariots but it is difficult to know how the tradition arose. It may be that it has its origin in the Late Bronze Age when the leaf-shaped swords and the horned helmets were in vogue and so martial activity had a pedigree of several hundreds of years.

It gives us an insight into the society of the time which we can broaden by adding to the picture the Druids, the guardians of the social and religious traditions of the period and we can also add the new industrial traditions that were growing up at the time and base them all on the age-old tradition of agricultural production which was the bedrock of Iron Age society.

10 - After 700BC
Contents
12 - From Caesar to Claudius