Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T21:34:36.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bronze Age Accessory Cups from Lincolnshire: Early Bronze Age Pot?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Carol Allen  and
David Hopkins
Carol Allen
Affiliation:
Oxford Archaeological Unit, Janus House, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0ES
David Hopkins
Affiliation:
Heritage Trust of Lincolnshire, The Old School, Cameron Street, Heckington, Sleaford NG34 9RW
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sixteen accessory or pygmy cups of the Early Bronze Age front Lincolnshire are illustrated and discussed for the first time: many were previously unpublished. The possible origins of the cups are considered and it is suggested that they had organic counterparts in domestic use more suitable for the lifestyle of the early 2nd millennium BC. The use of grog tempered fabrics is considered, leading to the concept of ritual use of the cups in traditional rites connecting society with its past. In the Early Bronze Age it seems very likely that the use of pottery was restricted to special occasions, and the cups in particular were used for drinking and smoking sessions, recognisable as part of both modern and past social gatherings and ceremonies.

Résumé

Pour la première fois on présente et débat de seize coupes accessoires ou pygmées de l'âge du bronze primitif dans le Lincolnshire: beaucoup étaient jusqu'à présent inédites. On examine les origines probables de ces coupes et on émet l'idée qu'elles avaient des contreparties organiques pour l'usage domestique plus appropriées au style de vie du début du deuxième millénaire avant J.-C.. On examine l'utilisation de matériaux gâchés avec des débris, ce qui nous a conduit au concept d'usage rituel des coupes dans des rites traditionnels établissant un lien entre la société et son passé. Au début de l'âge du bronze il semble très probable que l'usage de la poterie était réservé à des occasions spéciales, et les coupes en particulier étaient utilisées au cours de sessions pendant lesquelles on buvait et fumait, activités reconnues comme faisant partie des rassemblements sociaux et des cérémonies à la fois passés et présents.

Zusammenfassung

Sechzehn Zubehör – oder „Pygmäenbecher‟ der Frühen Bronzezeit aus Lincolnshire werden erstmals abgebildet und diskutiert: viele waren bisher unveröffentlicht. Die möglichen Ursprünge der Becher werden berücksichtigt, und es wird vorgeschlagen, daß sie organische Pendants im Hausgebrauch hatten, die für den Lebensstil des frühen 2. Jahrtausends BC besser geeignet waren. Die Nutzung einer Struktur aus Schamottmagerung wird erwogen, und führt zum Konzept der rituellen Nutzung der Becher in traditionellen Riten, die die Gesellschaft mit ihrer Vergangenheit verbinden. In der Frühen Bronzezeit scheint es sehr wahrscheinlich, daß die Benutzung von Keramikgefäßen auf spezielle Gelegenheiten beschränkt war, wobei besonders die Becher für Trink – und Rauchsitzungen benutzt wurden, die sowohl Bestandteil moderner als auch vergangener sozialen Treffen und Zeremonien waren.

Resúmen

Este artículo ilustra y discute por vez primera dieciseis tazas accesorias o “pigmeas” de la Edad del Bronce procedentes de Lincolnshire: muchas de ellas no han sido previamente publicadas. Se consideran los posibles orígenes de las tazas y se sugiere que tuvieron paralelos orgánicos en el uso deméstico más de acuerdo con el estilo de vida de comienzos del segundo milenio a.C. Se reflexiona sobre el uso de materiales templados con grog, que conduce al concepto del uso ritual de las tazas en ritos tradicionales que conectan a la sociedad con su pasado. Parece posible que el uso de cerámica durante la primera Edad del Bronce estuviera restringido a ocasiones especiales, y que las tazas en particular se usasen en sesiones donde se bebía y fumaba, cosa aceptada como parte de reuniones sociales y ceremonias tanto en el pasado como hoy en dia.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 66 , 2000 , pp. 297 - 317
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abercromby, J. 1912. A Study of the Bronze Age Pottery of Great Britain and Ireland, and its Associated Grave Goods. Oxford: Clarendon PressGoogle Scholar
Allen, C. S. M., Harman, M. & Wheeler, H. 1987. Bronze Age cremation cemeteries in the East Midlands. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 53, 187–221CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1988. Bronze Age Pottery of the Second Millennium BC in the East Midlands of England. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis: University of NottinghamGoogle Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1991. Thin sections of Bronze Age pottery from the East Midlands of England. In Middleton, A. & Freestone, I. (eds), Recent Developments in Ceramic Petrology, 1–15. London: British Museum Occasional Paper 81Google Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. & Knight, D. 1995. Breaking the code: a scheme for prehistoric fabric types. The Old Potter's Almanack 3(2) 1–4Google Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1997a. Report on Early Bronze Age Pottery – Dogdyke, Lincs. Unpublished, Fenland Management ProjectGoogle Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1997b. Report on Bronze Age Pottery – Pinchbeck, Lincs. Unpublished, Fenland Management ProjectGoogle Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1997. Report on Neolithic and Bronze Age Pottery from Dowsby, Barrow Site A & Settlement Site B. Unpublished, Fenland Management ProjectGoogle Scholar
Allen, C.S.M. 1999. Oversley Farm, Manchester Airport 2nd Runway: Assessment Report on Bronze Age Pottery and Fired Clay. Unpublished report for Gifford & PartnersGoogle Scholar
Allen, M.J., Morris, M. & Clark, R.H. 1995. Food for the living: a reassessment of a Bronze Age barrow at Buckskin, Basingstoke, Hampshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 61, 157–89Google Scholar
Annable, F.K. & Simpson, D.D.A. 1964. Guide Catalogue of the Neolithic and Bronze Age Collections in Devizes Museum. Devizes: Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History SocietyGoogle Scholar
Arnold, D.E. 1976. Ecological variables and ceramic production: towards a general model. In Raymond, J.S.Loveseth, B.Arnold, C. & Reardon, G. (eds), Primitive Art and Technology. Calgary: University of Calgary Archaeological AssociationGoogle Scholar
Ashbee, P., Bell, M., & Proudfoot, E. 1989. Wilsford Shaft: Excavations 1960–2. London: English Heritage Archaeological Report 11Google Scholar
Baker, F.T. 1954. The Prehistoric Settlement of Lincolnshire. Unpublished M.A. Thesis: University of NottinghamGoogle Scholar
Barclay, G.J. & Russell-White, C.J. 1993. Excavations in the ceremonial complex of the fourth to second millennium BC at Balfarg/Balbirnie, Glenrothes, Fife. Proceedings of the Society of the Antiquaries of Scotland 123, 43–210Google Scholar
Barrett, J.C. 1994. Fragments from Antiquity. Oxford: BlackwellGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R. 1984. The Social Foundations of Prehistoric Britain. London: LongmanGoogle Scholar
Brindley, A.L. 1995. Radiocarbon, chronology and the Bronze Age. In Waddell, J. & Twohig, E. Shee (eds), Ireland in the Bronze Age, Proceedings of the Dublin Conference, April 1995, 4–13. Dublin: Stationery OfficeGoogle Scholar
Brown, N. 1995. Ardleigh reconsidered: Deverel-Rimbury pottery in Essex. In Kinnes, & Varndell, (eds) 1995, 123–44Google Scholar
Burgess, C. 1980. The Age of Stonehenge. London: DentGoogle Scholar
Burgess, C. 1986. ‘Urnes of no small variety’: Collared Urns reviewed. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 52, 339–51Google Scholar
Chowne, P. 1977. Some recent finds of Bronze Age pottery from South Lincolnshire. South Lincolnshire Archaeology 1, 24–5Google Scholar
Cleal, R.M.J. 1995. Pottery fabrics in Wessex in the fourth to second millennia BC. In Kinnes, & Varndell, (eds) 1995, 184–94Google Scholar
Coles, B. & Coles, J. 1986. Sweet Track to Glastonbury. London: Thames & HudsonGoogle Scholar
Davey, P.J. 1973. Bronze Age Metalwork from Lincolnshire. Archaeologia 104, 51–127Google Scholar
Douglas, M. 1978. Natural Symbols. Harmondsworth: PenguinGoogle Scholar
Dudley, H.E. 1949. Early Days in North West Lincolnshire. Scunthorpe: CaldicottGoogle Scholar
Gerloff, S. 1975. The Early Bronze Age daggers in Great Britain. Prahistorische Bronzefunde 6(2)Google Scholar
Gibson, A. 1995. First impressions: a review of Peterborough Ware in Wales. In Kinnes, & Varndell, (eds) 1995, 23–39Google Scholar
Gibson, A. & Kinnes, I. 1997. On the urns of a dilemma: radiocarbon and the Peterborough Problem. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 16, 65–72Google Scholar
Kavanagh, R.M. 1977. Pygmy cups in Ireland. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 107, 61–95Google Scholar
Kinnes, I. & Varndell, G. (eds). 1995. ‘Unbaked Urns of Rudely Shape’. Oxford: Oxbow Monograph 55Google Scholar
Lane, T. 1995. Hoe Hills, Dowsby. In Evans, C. & Hall, D. (eds), Fenland Research 9, 16–20Google Scholar
Longworth, I.H. 1983. The Whinny Liggate perforated wall cup and its affinities. In O'Connor, A. & Clarke, D.V. (eds) From the Stone Age to the 'Forty Five, 65–86. Edinburgh: John DonaldGoogle Scholar
Longworth, I.H. 1984. Collared Urns of the Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland. Cambridge: University PressGoogle Scholar
Lynch, F. 1971. Report on the re-excavation of two bronze Age Cairns in Anglesey: Bedd Branwen and Treiorwerth. Archaeologia Cambrensis 120, 11–83Google Scholar
Manby, T.G. 1995. Skeuomorphism: some reflections of leather, wood and basketry in Early Bronze Age pottery. In Kinnes, & Varndell, (eds) 1995, 81–8Google Scholar
Marjoram, J. 1974. Archaeological notes 1974. Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 9, 17–19Google Scholar
May, J. 1976. Prehistoric Lincolnshire. Lincoln: History of Lincoln CommitteeGoogle Scholar
Mordant, D. & Mordant, C. 1992. Noyen-sur-Seine: a Mesolithic waterside settlement. In Coles, B. (ed.), The Wetland Revolution in Prehistory. Exeter: Prehistoric Society & Wetland Archaeology Research ProjectGoogle Scholar
Morrison, A. 1968. Cinerary urns and pygmy vessels in south-west Scotland. Transactions of the Dumfriesshire & Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society 45, 80–140Google Scholar
Needham, S. 1996. Chronology and periodisation in the British Bronze Age. Acta Archaeologia 67, 121–40Google Scholar
O'Connell, M. 1994. The neolithic environment. In Ryan, M. (ed.), Irish Archaeology, 44–7. Dublin: Country HouseGoogle Scholar
O'Donnabhain, B.O. & Brindley, A.L. 1989–1990. The status of children in a sample of Bronze Age burials containing pygmy cups. Journal of Irish Archaeology 2, 19–24Google Scholar
Phillips, C.W. 1933. The present state of archaeology in Lincolnshire, part I. Archaeological Journal 90, 106–49Google Scholar
Phillips, C.W. 1934. The present state of archaeology in Lincolnshire, part II. Archaeological Journal 91, 97–187Google Scholar
Phillips, P., Field, F.N. & Taylor, G.V. 1990. Bronze Age cemeteries and flint industries from Salmonby. Lincolnshire History & Archaeology 25, 5–11Google Scholar
PCRG, Prehistoric Ceramics Research Group 1997. The study of later Prehistoric Pottery: general policies and guidelines for analysis and publication. PCRG Occasional Papers 1 & 2Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1987. Cups that cheered. In Waldren, W.H. & Kennard, R.C. (eds), Bell-Beakers of the West Mediterranean, 81–114. Oxford: British Archaeological Report S331Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1991. Sacred and profane substances: the ritual use of narcotics in later Neolithic Europe. In Garwood, P., Jennings, D.Skeates, R. & Toms, J. (eds), Sacred and Profane: Proceedings of a Conference on Archaeology, Ritual and Religion, Oxford, 1989, 50–64. Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, Monograph 22Google Scholar
Sherratt, A. 1997. Economy and Society in Prehistoric Europe. Edinburgh: University PressGoogle Scholar
Simpson, D.D.A. 1968. Food Vessels: associations and chronology. In Coles, J.M. & Simpson, D.D.A. (eds), Studies in Ancient Europe, 197–212. Leicester: University PressGoogle Scholar
Smith, G.A. & Simpson, R.D. 1965. Indian Basket Makers of San Bernardino County. San Bernardino: County MuseumGoogle Scholar
Sterner, J. 1989. Who is signalling whom? Ceramic style, ethnicity and taphonomy among the Sirak Bulahay. Antiquity 63, 451–9CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Summers, W.G. 1935–1936. Bronze Age pottery, Grantham Public Library & Museum, 14th Annual Report, 16–7Google Scholar
Summers, W.G. 1938–1939. Bronze Age pottery, Grantham Public Library & Museum, 17th Annual Report, 16–7Google Scholar
Swinnerton, H.H. & Kent, P.E. 1976. The Geology of Lincolnshire: from the Humber to the Wash. Lincoln: Lincolnshire Naturalists' UnionGoogle Scholar
Taylor, J.J. 1980. Bronze Age Goldwork. Cambridge: University PressGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. 1991. Rethinking the Neolithic. Cambridge: University PressGoogle Scholar
Thomas, J. 1999. Understanding the Neolithic. London: RoutledgeGoogle Scholar
Whittle, A., Rouse, A.J. & Evans, J.G. 1993. A Neolithic downland monument in its environment: excavations at the Easton Down Long Barrow, Bishops Cannings, north Wiltshire. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59, 197–239CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodward, A. 1995. Vessel size and social identity in the Bronze Age of southern Britain. In Kinnes, & Varndell, (eds) 1995, 195–202Google Scholar
Woodward, A. 1999. Symbolism, building bridges: Joint PCRG/MPRG Conference, The Old Potter's Almanack 7(2), 2–3Google Scholar