While most observers now agree that the Gundestrup cauldron originated on the Continent within a Celtic context and dates to the period 100-50 BC (Klindt-Jensen, 1960, 50; Powell, 1971, 205; Allen, 1971, 20, 23) its fantastic motifs have, despite Hatt’s (1965) imaginative rendering, remained enigmatic to most commentators. ‘The Gundestrup artists were influenced by strangely archaic, Oriental imagery and mode of composition’ (Klindt-Jensen, 1959, 167), which is a pronounced element of this unusual piece whatever its exact geographical origin.

The earliest finds of copper objects in the Vinča group were made as early as the first half of this century, during the excavation of the eponymous site of Vinča-Belo Brdo, near Belgrade. Amongst other objects, a small group of oval beads was found at a depth of 6-6m, in a habitation level representing the beginning of the Vinča-Plocnik, or late, phase of this group (Vasić 1936, 43).

Between 1795 and 1974 early Indian iron may be said to have had three separate phases of research. The first phase lasted from 1795 to about the middle of the 19th century. There were two types of writings in this period. The first type represented the metallurgical experiments on pre-industrial Indian steel called wootz, the term which is derived from the Canarese term ukku meaning steel, having been introduced into the English language by Pearson in 1795 (Yule and Burnell, 1903).