From bronze to iron: the occurrence of iron in the British Later Bronze Age

Abstract

The primary aim of this thesis is to provide a list of the occurrence of iron, both artefacts and metallurgical d6bris, in secure Later Bronze Age contexts in Great Britain, the equivalent material from Ireland having been omitted on account of Dr B. Raftery's recent research. Such a list was compiled by means of a thorough search through eighty-five national and county journals, followed by examination of the material so extracted in museums throughout Britain. The contexts, identifications and dates of the material listed in the resultant "Primary Catalogue" are thus assured, spurious evidence having been relegated to the Secondary lists to be found at the end of the thesis.

For the purposes of this study Britain has been divided into thirteen areas, such units being intended to represent later prehistoric cultural entities; of these, all but two - the Upper and Middle Thames Valley and the Fenland area - contain evidence of the manufacture or use of iron between the ninth and seventh centuries B. C., the densest concentrations of finds occurring in North Wiltshire, Dorset and Hampshire, North Somerset and the Cotswolds, Kent and East Yorkshire. Both decorative and functional artefacts were produced throughout this period, the latter being in the majority, while evidence of ironworking is likewise found on sites of all three centuries; the manufacture of large tools and weapons however, would appear to be confined to the seventh century.

In the third section, the significance of the data set out previously is examined, due consideration first being given to the constraints which limit, and the biases which confuse, such interpretation. Two points emerge from this discussion, first, that iron was manufactured and used at a constant level throughout the ninth to seventh centuries and second, that such activity occurred in areas close to sources of iron ore - and it is upon these that the hypothesis ventured in the concluding part of that section is built. It is suggested that the adoption of iron in Britain occurred in three stages, the first, the inception of the technology, taking place in the later second millennium and the third, that in which iron became the dominant metal for edge tools, occurring in the sixth century B. C. The second stage, that upon which the present study concentrates and which is described as a phase of transition or "semi-dormant technology", sees the manufacture of iron and bronze occurring symbiotically in certain regions of Southern Britain, the occurrence of the former being argued to permit the continuance of the latter during the seventh century B. C.