Brittany's Cultural Links Along the Atlantic in the Later First Millennium BC

BARRY CUNLIFFE
BRITTANY AND THE ATLANTIC RIM IN THE LATER FIRST

MILLENNIUM BC
Summary. Recent work on the Iron Age of Brittany, in particular on the
ceramics and the decorated stone stelae, has emphasized the distinctive nature
of Armorican culture while demonstrating links with Continental Europe. We
argue that it is possible to recognize changing axes of communication between
the Atlantic facade and more easterly areas first along the Loire, later along
the Seine and finally, as the result of Greek exploration, along the Garonne.
These changes are considered against the background of the developing
socio-economic systems of west central and Mediterranean Europe.
In 1882 M. de Coatgoureden discovered a finely decorated pottery jar while levelling a
barrow in his field at Saint-Pol-de-Leon in Finiste`re (Figure 1). After a somewhat chequered
history the vessel was eventually donated to the Museum of Morlaix where it has since occupied a
place of honour, apart from its not infrequent appearances at national and international exhibitions
as the prime exemplar of Armorican Celtic art. This remarkable find was presented to the
archaeological world in Revue Archeologique (Du Chatellier 1891). Du Chatellier was familiar
with decorated pottery of this kind having recovered a similar vessel at Kelouer in Plouhinec at
about the same time as the Saint-Pol-de-Leon pot came to light (Du Chatellier 1883). Republishing
both together in his La Poterie aux epoques prehistorique et gauloise en Armorique (Du Chatellier
1897, pl. 14), in the context of an array of comparable Iron Age decorated wares from Henon and
elsewhere, he concluded that the pots were local products copying imported metal vessels from the
east par quelque navigateur contournant les Cotes dArmorique, peut-etre, pour aller chercher de
letain aux les Cassiterides (ibid., 22). As to the decoration of the Saint-Pol-de-Leon vessel he
drew attention to the finely decorated metalwork from northern France and the Low Countries
identifying, in particular, the close parallels provided by the helmets from Amfreville and Berru
and the fittings from Eigenbilsen and the vehicle burial of La Bouvandau. Thus, by the end of the
nineteenth century Du Chatellier had firmly established, not only the remarkable flowering of La
Te`ne art in western Armorica but also the close links that must then have existed between the
extremity of the peninsula and innovating schools of metalworkers who were serving the elite of
the Marne region and thereabouts in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC. That trade in tin
may have been a causative factor linking distant regions he was prepared to consider.
There the matter rested. Dechelettes Manuel reminded the world of the decorated La
Te`ne wares from Brittany illustrating the notable vessels from Saint-Pol-de-Le`on, Plouhinec,
Henon and Primelin and others and making general comparisons with the decorated wares of
OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY 19(4) 367386 2000
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK
and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. 367
south-western Britain (Dechelette 1914, 14679). Meanwhile Reginald Smith, reporting on a
decorated bronze vessel (then thought to be a hanging bowl) found at Cerrig-y-Drudion in north
Wales in 1924, drew attention to the close similarities of the design to the Breton pottery
vessels (Smith 1926, 279). Twenty years later a further array of decorated sherds was illustrated
in Wheelers Pottery scrapbook appended to the report of his fieldwork campaigns in north-
western France (Wheeler and Richardson 1957, figs. 2830). From the mid 1950s, largely as
the result of work of Pierre-Roland Giot and his colleagues, many assemblages of Iron Age
pottery found during salvage excavations were published in the pages of Annales de Bretagne
(Vols. 5980) and in the two volumes of the Travaux of the University of Rennes (Giot, Le
Roux and Onnee 1968; Giot, Lecerf and Onnee 1971). The 1971 publication illustrated in full,
for the first time, the assemblage from La Blavet, Henon (CdA) which included the elaborately
decorated bowls referred to in passing by Du Chatellier, Dechelette and others.
Figure 1
The pottery vessels from Saint-Pol-de-Leon, Finiste`re (left) and Kelouer, Plouhinec, Finiste`re (right) in the original
illustration published by Paul du Chatellier in La Poterie aux epoques prehistorique et gauloise en Armorique
(Rennes 1897).
BRITTANY AND THE ATLANTIC RIM
OXFORD JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGY
368 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000
The first systematic review of the La Te`ne style decorated wares from Brittany was
published in 1969 by Frank Schwappach based on a literature survey and museum visits in
1963 and 1964 (Schwappach 1969). Schwappach brought together material from 44 sites and
systematized it into four stylistic groups:
I The Final Hallstatt group from the end of the sixth or the beginning of the fifth centuries.
Characterized by horizontal bands of repetitive stamped geometric motifs, rarely
curvilinear, with occasional vertical bands (Figure 2). The closest parallels appear to lie
in the north-west Alpine region and northern Italy.
Figure 2
Stamped pottery of Hallstatt date from Brittany: 1 Bagatelle, St. Martin-des-Champs, Finiste`re; 2 Roz-an tre-men,
Finiste`re; 3 Kervellec, Morlaix-Ploujean, Finiste`re. 1 and 2 after Wheeler and Richardson 1957, fig. 26, 3 after Le
Goffic 1996, fig. 47. Scale
1
4
.
CUNLIFFE
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2000 369
II The transitional group, dating to the second half of the fifth century. Decoration is again in
bands with plain zones between. New motifs, including interlocking arcs, reflect
inspiration of the eastern Celtic province of the La Te`ne A.
III The arc style (Bogenstil), from the beginning of the fourth century until the second half of
the fourth century. Horizontal bands of decoration incorporating a variety of arc motifs in
various combinations. Characteristic of La Te`ne A and B1 in eastern areas of the La Te`ne
province.
IV The metal style (Metallstil) from the beginning of the fourth century until the second half of
the fourth century. Decorated with elaborate curvilinear motifs derived from La Te`ne
metalwork (Figure 3). Two sub-groups were identified, a southern group (to which the
vessel from Plouhinec belongs) which can be compared to motifs used in central Europe
and a northern group (including the vessels from Saint-Pol-de-Le`on, Henon, etc.) which
has very close parallels with the high quality metalwork of west central Europe and in
particular the Marne region, as Du Chatellier had already noted.
The particular value of Schwappachs survey was his systematic presentation of the
considerable array of decorative motifs adopted and his thorough assessment of comparable
designs from the rest of Europe. In what amounts to a review article of Schwappachs work
Giot, while accepting the utility of the classificatory scheme, was cautious of assigning such
precise dates to the different styles (Giot 1971).
In the 30 years following the appearance of Schwappachs work much new material
has been published. Assemblages from 12 sites were collected in the Travaux (Giot, Lecerf and
Onnee 1971) and major collections from new excavations have more recently been published in
full most notably Le Braden, Quimper (Le Bihan 1984), Le Moulin de la Rive, Locquirec (Giot,
Daire and Querre 1986), LIle des Ebihens, Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer (Langouet 1989), La
Boisanne, Plouer-sur-Rance (Menez 1996), Kervellec, Morlaix-Ploujean (Le Goffic 1996),
Bellevue, Augan (Hinguant et al. 1997) and Keralio, Pont-LAbbe (Hinguant and Le Goff
Figure 3
Pottery decorated in the vegetal style: 1 and 2 Blavet, Henon, Cotes-dArmor. After Wheeler and Richardson 1957,
fig. 30. 3 Pendreff, Commana, Finiste`re. After Le Roux and Giot 1965, fig. 4. Scale
1
3
.
1998). By far the greater part of the pottery published since 1970 has been of Late Iron Age
date (with the important exception of the cemetery of Kervellec). A thorough overview of all
Late Iron Age pottery from Armorica prepared by Marie-Yvanne Daire, surveying finds from
some 96 sites, now ensures that a wide range of data is accessible in the context of a coherent
discussion (Daire 1992). Pottery of the Early and Middle Iron Age has also received attention
recently in a paper dealing with Armorican burials of the ninth to third centuries (Milcent
1993). Milcent, in studying both the rim form and decoration of Armorican pottery, has
suggested that the vessels may be divided into six successive chronological groups spanning the
period from the end of the sixth century to the beginning of the third century. In this scheme the
first interlocking arc motifs appear at the beginning of group IV (La Te`ne A) in the mid-fifth
century while the classic Metallstil decoration is characteristic of group V (La Te`ne B1) dating
to the first half of the fourth century. The sequence and its chronology are based entirely on
typological and stylistic arguments but it is internally consistent and provides a convenient
scheme for ordering the decorated wares.
In the second edition of Prehistoire de la Bretagne Giot provides a useful and well-
illustrated survey of Armorican Iron Age pottery development (Giot, Briard and Pape 1995,
30548) summing up much of what had gone before.
A second body of evidence, the famous stelae of Brittany, are of direct relevance to the
present discussion. Once more it was Du Chatellier who was first to present the potential of the
Iron Age stelae to the archaeological world with his publication of the now-famous engraved
stone from Kermaria, Pont-LAbbe (F) (Du Chatellier 1898) (Figure 4). Giots review of the
engraved stelae (Giot 1952) and his later overview of the entire class of monuments (Giot 1959)
provided the essential basis for further study. Since then many new discoveries have been made
and regional reviews have been published for Leon (Daire and Giot 1989) and western
Morbihan (Tinguy 1997). The recent discovery of two decorated stelae in well stratified
archaeological contexts, at Kerviguerou, Melgven in 1991 and Keralio, Pont-LAbbe in 1995
(Figure 5), both in Finiste`re, has reopened the debate about the date and origins of these
remarkable monuments and has led to an important review of the entire question (Daire and
Villard 1996).
It is now possible to list 11 decorated stelae, 9 of which occur in a restricted area of
south-west Finiste`re. Leaving aside for the moment one of the outliers, the stone at Saint-Anne,
Tregastel (CdA), the stelae share the same basic decorative concept that of overall decoration
divisible into three broad zones which may be characterized at top, shaft and base. The top and
base zones comprise horizontal bands of repetitive motifs which usually include Greek key and
running spirals but may also involve chevrons. The shafts between are variously treated with
vertical bands, zigzags and chevrons. The squat stela from Kermaria, Pont-LAbbe conforms to
the same broad scheme but the shaft, in this case much foreshortened, is ornamented with four
differently patterned quadrilateral panels. The stela from Saint-Anne, Tregastel differs in that
the main decorative panels are vertical and incorporate complex free-flowing curvilinear
motifs.
In their discussion of the schemes adopted by the Armorican stone carvers, Daire and
Villard draw together a range of comparanda which demonstrate the Europe-wide occurrence
of the various motifs found on a variety of materials usually of Late Hallstatt and Early La Te`ne
date (Daire and Villard 1996, 14753). The most thought-provoking is the very close parallel
provided by the Ionic columns of Temple D at Metapontum on the Gulf of Taranto in southern
Italy. In considering the chronology of the stelae they suggest a fifth century BC date on the
CUNLIFFE
Figure 4
Stela from Kermaria, Pont-LAbbe, Finiste`re. From the original photograph published in du Chatellier 1898.
basis that the decorative style has certain similarities to the stamp-decorated pottery of the Late
HallstattEarly La Te`ne transition. The Saint-Anne stela is allowed to be a little later since its
free vegetal style of decoration is more comparable to the metal style pottery of the fourth
century.
There can be little doubt that the decorated stelae, and the broadly related fluted stelae
(ste`les a` cannelures longitudinals), which concentrate in much the same region of southern
Finiste`re, constitute a notable regional phenomenon raising many intriguing questions. The
obvious parallel is with the fluted columns of the Greek Mediterranean and it would be possible
to construct a simple scenario for the inspiration having arrived along the Atlantic sea-ways in
the wake of the tin trade or in the context of early voyages of exploration from the
Mediterranean, but such claims may stretch our credulity and it may be simpler to view the
development as an essentially local phenomenon arising from deeply rooted tradition. After all,
Figure 5
The decoration on the stela from Kerviguerou, Melgven, Finiste`re. Redrawn after Daire and Villard 1996, fig. 2.
CUNLIFFE
the concept of the standing stone has a long ancestry in Armorica. So too does the tradition of
covering the surfaces of stones with carving. It may even be worth mentioning in this context
that running spirals and chevrons were favoured motifs in the Irish passage graves. Could it not
be that, in the broad Atlantic tradition, there existed a repertoire of symbols, embedded in a
continuum of beliefs, which from time to time emerged into archaeological visibility. At other
times these symbols may have been kept alive in a variety of visual media like painting,
weaving or body decoration. This said, the emergence of the decorated stelae in the fifth
century at just about the time that pottery was fast developing as a medium for visual display
suggests that new social forces were at work which deserve further consideration.
Before looking at the evidence from Armorica in any detail it is necessary to say
something of developments in other parts of Gaul and western Europe.
In the Late Hallstatt period there developed, in west central Europe, an elite system
characterized as a prestige goods economy, which occupied a broad arc of territory north of the
Alps extending from Burgundy to southern Germany. This zone may most conveniently be
called the West Hallstatt Chiefdoms (Cunliffe 1997, 5163). Geographically it occupies the hub
of western Europe encompassing the upper reaches of all the major river systems the
RhoneSaone, the Seine, the Rhine and Moselle and the Danube. Thus, all the major routes
passed through the zone: those who commanded the routes were able to dominate the flow of
commodities. That exchange of goods took place at an elite level is clear from the quantity of
Mediterranean products (Attic pottery, Greek and Etruscan bronzes and Massaliot wine) that
found its way into burials and settlements of the West Hallstatt chieftains. What commodities
passed from west central Europe to the Mediterranean is debatable. Among those that have
been suggested, metals, furs and slaves are the most likely. While the dating of this
development cannot be precise, it is generally agreed the major phase of activity lay within the
bracket 540450 BC.
During the fifth century the centre of power and innovation shifted northwards in a
broad arc stretching from the Seine to the Danube with foci of elite power developing in the
Marne, Moselle and Bohemia. These systems were at their most intense in the period 450400
BC after which there is evidence of increasing dislocation associated with movements of
population, usually referred to as the Celtic migrations (Cunliffe 1997, 6890).
The shift in the focus of innovation and power, from the Burgundysouthern Germany
zone in the late sixth and early fifth centuries to the MarneMoselle region in the middle of the
fourth century, is a matter of some potential interest to the present discussion if it is accepted
that the innovating centres stimulated long-distance exchanges. We will argue that this was so
and that, in the desire of these polities and others to obtain tin from Brittany and Cornwall, a
succession of trade routes developed that reflected the changing political geography of western
central Europe.
Some indication of the importance of tin is provided by the classical sources. The
scarce details have frequently been rehearsed and pored over with much scholarly attention
(Maxwell 1972; Hawkes 1977) though it should be stressed that, given the partial, ambiguous
and downright muddled nature of the references, the ancient texts are insufficient to sustain a
complex or elaborate edifice of interpretation. The relevant quotations are few. Pliny the Elder,
writing in the first century AD, makes brief reference to a Carthaginian explorer, Himilco, who
at about the time of Hannos supposed circumnavigation of Africa, probably towards the end of
the fourth century, went to sea to explore the parts beyond Europe (extera Europae) (Nat.
Hist. II, 169). Himilcos voyage is referred to in the Ora Maritima, a poem written by Avienus
in the fourth century AD liberally quoting from much earlier sailing manuals going back to
perhaps as early as the sixth century BC. Mention of gens Hiernorum (Irish people) and insula
Albionum (Britain) gives some indication of the possible northern extent of Himilcos voyage.
Avienus also notes that Tartessians and Carthaginians used to sail the Atlantic sea-ways to the
isles of the Oestrymnides a location often taken to be the south-west coastal region of
Armorica though more probably to be identified with Galicia. Thus, the texts of Avienus and
Pliny imply that Mediterranean sailors were familiar with the Atlantic routes and may on
occasions have directly participated in trade and exploration. It should, however, be stressed
that as a source the scraps of information offered by Avienus cannot be used with any
chronological confidence: indeed they are little better than dissociated anecdotes.
Rather more assurance can be placed on the voyage of a Greek sailor, Pytheas,
undertaken towards the end of the fourth century. It is frequently referred to by Strabo using a
number of earlier sources and later writers like Pliny appear to have had access to data derived
from Pytheas original work (Roseman 1994). Among the places identified en route is the cape
Kabaion, usually identified with La Pointe du Raz in the extreme south-west of Finiste`re, and
Ouxisama thought to be the Isles of Ouessant off the north-western coast of Finiste`re. Pytheas
journey took him much further north around the coasts of Britain.
The interest of Mediterranean seamen in the Atlantic coastal routes in the late fifth and
fourth centuries is likely to have been motivated by the desire to acquire commodities for trade,
in particular tin from Armorica and Cornwall. It is possible that knowledge of tin coming from
those areas lay behind the rather hazy stories of the distant tin-producing islands of the
Cassiterides mentioned by Herodotus in the fifth century (Hist. III, 115) and Strabo in the first
century (Geog. 3.5.11) though with little geographical precision. It is clear from other sources
that Cornish tin was readily accessible. Pliny, using Pytheas, gives some details of the nature of
the trade (Nat. Hist. IV.30.16) but there seems to have been much mystery about it. Strabo,
quoting Polybius, tells us that Scipio could glean little information about Britain from traders
questioned at the ports of Massalia, Narbo and Corbilo (Geog. 4.2.1). This would have been
about 135 BC and may reflect little more than the natural secrecy of those who were benefiting
from this specialist knowledge of the sea lanes. In another anecdote Strabo refers to the
strategies used by Publius Crassus, probably at about this time, in his attempts to discover the
routes by shadowing the ships of Phoenician traders (Geog. 3.5.11).
Although the emphasis of the classical sources is upon tin as the highly desirable
product of these western regions we should not overlook the other commodities that were
potentially available. In addition to tin, found both in veins and in alluvial gravels, Armorica is
rich in copper and in alluvial gold (Briard 1965, 1525). Cornwall and Devon also had good
sources of arsenical copper as well as gold (Penhallurick 1997) while gold was available in
south Wales and southern Ireland (Eogan 1994, 812). Copper was also to be had in central and
northern Wales (Ixer and Budd 1998) and south-western Ireland (OBrien 1994). Thus, taking a
broader view than that of the classical writers, we should see Armorica as simply one of the
many regions comprising a central Atlantic-facade metal-rich zone. It differed from the other
regions only in that it was the one most easily accessible to the main consumer centres in
Transalpine and Mediterranean Europe. To sum up the discussion so far, we have established
four broad themes:
G The peninsular regions of the central Atlantic facade were a potential source of tin, copper
and gold for the consuming areas of Europe.
CUNLIFFE
G The three principal consuming areas were the West Hallstatt Chiefdoms, the MarneMoselle
region and the Mediterranean.
G Armorica occupied a focal position between producers and consumers.
G The archaeological record in Armorica reflects changes brought about by long-distance
contact in the sixthfourth centuries BC.
We must now consider the Armorican archaeological record in a little more detail in the context
of the possible trade routes which developed during this time.
In the period c.540450 BC, when the prestige goods economy of the West Hallstatt
Chiefdoms was at the height of its development, an isolated focus of power arose in the vicinity
of Bourges at the confluence of the Auron and the Ye`vres, a tributary of the Cher which flows
into the Loire down river from modern Tours. Bourges, in fact, occupies a vital position
commanding the short land route between the upper reaches of the Loire, and thence the Rhone
Saone system and the lower course of the river leading to the Atlantic. Within a radius of 3 km
around Bourges four rich cemeteries have so far been identified producing an array of
Mediterranean imports including three beaked flagons, two stamnoi and parts of three cordoned
buckets as well as a number of fibulae (Gran-Aymerich 1995; Bouloumie 1973; 1976). From the
town of Bourges excavations since 1984 have yielded a significant collection of imported Black-
and Red-figured Attic pottery of the period 530460 BC as well as a number of Massaliot
amphorae (Gran-Aymerich 1995, 513). Taken together the evidence from the cemeteries and
settlement leaves little doubt that the elite of the Bourges area had ready access to Mediterranean
trade goods probably as the result of their ability to command supplies of metals and other
commodities coming from the productive Atlantic zone. The question which then arises is can
this exchange system be recognized in the products available to the Armorican elite? A number
of exotica do indeed occur in reliable archaeological contexts and may for convenience be listed:
Spezet, Kerleonet (F)
Two bronze situlae (now lost), one inside the other, found in 1893 with a hoard of 89
Breton axes.
Du Chatellier 1901, 185203; Anon 1893, xxvxxvi; Briard 1965, 244; Bouloumie
1977, 812.
Crossac (LA)
Bronze situla found in 1843 together with a hoard of the Late Bronze Age, an antennae
hilted sword of Iron Age date and more recent items.
Briard 1965, 245; Bouloumie 1977, 35.
Le Rocher, Bono, Plougoumelen (M)
Cemetery comprising a number of burials two of which were furnished with imported
bronze vessels.
Tumulus 1. Bronze cauldron found in 1867 associated with bones and two iron
bracelets. The cauldron is of a west central European type dating to the end of the sixth and
beginning of the fifth centuries.
Lukis 1867; Du Chatellier 1907, 5960; Bouloumie 1977, 20; Chateiguer 1990a, 69;
Milcent 1993, 19, 323, pl. 2.
Tumulus 2. Bronze situla covered by a bronze flanged basin found in 1872. The situla
contained cremated bones and an iron bracelet.
The situla is of the RhineTessin type of late sixthearly fifth century date. The basin
which covered it had a flange stamped with a recurring S-motif. It is likely to be of Etruscan
origin manufactured in the late seventh or sixth century.
Galles 1873; Du Chatellier 1907, 5960; Bouloumie 1977, 1920; Chateiguer 1990a,
69; Milcent 1993, 19, 32, pls. 2 and 3.
Ty-Neuziganned, Caudan (M)
Ribbed bucket in bronze with an iron handle (now lost) found in 1822 in a dolmen.
Imported from central Europe or the Mediterranean. Probably of sixth century date. Marsille
1913; Chateiguer 1990a, 68; Milcent 1993, 20; Giot 1995, 229.
Kernavest, Quiberon (M)
Iron dagger in a scabbard decorated with a highly ornamented bronze mount. Found in
a cist with an inhumation under a tumulus. Probably fifth century in date. It is not clear whether
it is a local product or an import from west central Europe.
Revelie`re 1894.
Kerity, Penmarch (F)
Fibula. Hallstatt leech-shaped type. ?Seventh century.
Giot 1973; Duval, Elue`re and Mohen 1974, 51.
Tronoan, Saint-Jean-Trolimon (F)
Two fibulae, one serpentiform and one leech-shaped. ?Seventh century.
Duval, Elue`re and Mohen 1974, 224.
Saint-Aignan (LA)
Fibula. Etruscan type. ?Late seventh century.
De Lisle du Dreneuc and Durville 1903, pl. 14.
Nantes (LA)
Fibula, leech-shaped. Eighth to seventh century.
Duval, Elue`re and Mohen 1974, 45.
In addition to the items listed above we should note the 12 or so small bronze figurines
mostly from Finiste`re, which are usually described as Etrusco-Celtic or Italic (Chateiguer
1990a; Jannot 1995). Some or all of these may be genuine ancient imports but dating and place
of manufacture are in some doubt. We should also mention in this context the knobbed
CUNLIFFE
bracelets found at Saint-Galles, Arradon (M), Le Rocher, Bono, Plougoumelen (M), Lande de
Meslan, Lizio (M), and Kerviltre, Saint-Jean-Trolimon (F) which are either imports from west
central Europe or local copies.
Of the imports listed here the situlae from Spezet and Crossac and the fibulae from
Kerity, Tronoan, Saint-Aignan and Nantes were probably made in the seventh century BC. The
bronze basin from Le Rocher could be as early as this but was found with a situla of the late
sixthearly fifth century type. The cauldron from Le Rocher and the ribbed bucket from
Caudan probably belong to this later date bracket.
The imported material has a distinctly southern Armorican bias which is reflected in
the concentration of stamped pottery of the sixthfifth centuries (Figure 6) though stamped
pottery is also found at a few locations along the north-west coast of Leon and Tregor.
Taking the various strands of evidence together the southern coastal zone of Armorica
stands out as an innovating region during the sixth and fifth centuries BC. The distribution of
stamped pottery provides the most convincing evidence of cultural cohesion throughout the
region showing that skilled potters had access to models presumably in the form of decorated
metal vessels the decorative motifs of which provided them with their inspiration. We need
not suppose that the hypothetical models were all entirely of bronze. As the vessel from
Molinazzo dArbedo (Jacobsthal 1944 no. 395) reminds us turned wooden vessels with applied
bronze strips offer quite convincing parallels for Breton ceramic vessels like that from Kerviltre,
Saint-Jean-Trolimon. The dagger sheath from Kernavest is a local example of the effective use
of applied decorative bronze sheetwork. Nor are actual imported bronze vessels entirely lacking
as an array of forms from Spezet, Crossac, Bono and Caudan amply demonstrate.
It is tempting to suggest that the development of the stamped pottery and the small
collection of imported metalwork concentrating in southern Armorica is the direct result of
sustained contact, via the Loire and the elite centre at Bourges, with the West Central Hallstatt
Chiefdoms. The readily available alluvial tin of southern Armorica, and perhaps the gold of the
interior, must surely have been the prime cause for the development of this axis of exchange. If
Hawkes (1977) is correct in arguing that the famous tin-producing islands the Oestrymnides
referred to so obscurely in the Massaliote Periplus, are likely to have lain along the r as of
Galicia in north-western Spain and are not, as Schulten and others following him thought, to be
conflated with the Ostidaioi reported by Pytheas at the end of the fourth century, and which can
be accepted to be in the extreme west of Armorica, then the Loire route may have been the
main, and perhaps only, axis along which tin reached the Mediterranean through the West
Hallstatt intermediaries in the sixth and fifth centuries. If the elite of Bourges maintained a
monopolistic control of the exchange network by commanding the portage route, their ability to
acquire Mediterranean luxury goods is convincingly explained.
It is, perhaps, worth pausing at this point to consider briefly the broader implications of
these interpretations. What we are suggesting is that at this period the Mediterranean world
acquired its west European tin through two entirely separate systems: from Armorica and
Cornwall via the LoireRhone axis to Massalia and from Galicia via the Atlantic coast of Iberia
to Gadir (modern Cadiz). Thus the one source passed through Greek control, the other through
Phoenician. The significant difference between the two was that while the Phoenicians were
able, if they wished, to deal direct with the suppliers, the Greeks had to trade through
middlemen and may well have had very little knowledge of the ultimate source of the metal.
Against this background subsequent developments, discussed below, may be more easily
understood.
Figure 6
Selected distributions of Iron Age material in Brittany.
CUNLIFFE
If we accept that, in the sixth and fifth centuries, the communities of southern
Armorica were engaged in intensive systems of exchange channelled along the Loire it is
necessary to ask what changes, if any, can be observed in Armorican society. Given the current
state of archaeological research the question is not easy to approach but two developments can
be described: a degree of hierarchization in burial rite reflecting the emergence of local elites;
and the clearer definition of ethnic identity manifesting itself in highly decorated ceramics
and the remarkable group of decorated stelae concentrating in south-western Finiste`re. It may,
eventually, be possible to give a greater regional precision to these developments through a
more detailed assessment of pottery decoration but in the meantime the decorated stelae of the
south-west and the rich burials of the Morbihan point to two distinct polities.
In the fifth century the geopolitics of western central Europe underwent a major
upheaval which saw the demise of the old chiefdoms and the emergence of a new zone of
power to the north stretching from Bohemia to the Marne. In the second half of the fifth century
the Marne and the Moselle regions emerged as centres dominated by warrior elites who
provided patronage for skilled craftsmen among them the innovative metalworkers who
developed a highly distinctive repertoire known as the La Te`ne art style (Megaw and Megaw
1989, 51106).
These events find a reflection in Armorica, most spectacularly in the appearance of
pottery decorated in a curvilinear style which was so evidently inspired by Early La Te`ne
metalwork (Schwappachs Metallstil). The most elegant of those vessels from Saint-Pol-de-
Leon, Kelouer (Plouhinec), Pendreff (Commana), Blavet (Henon) and Litiez (La Feuillee) have
a distinctly northern Armorican distribution extending as far east as the Rance estuary and it
may not be irrelevant that the one stela decorated with carving in the curvilinear vegetal style,
from Saint-Anne, Tregastel, comes from the same general region.
The close similarities between the style of decoration of the Armorican pottery and
elite metalwork found in or close to the Marne region have long been recognized and were
considered in some detail by Schwappach (1969). That the Armorican potters gained their
inspiration from the highest quality metalwork produced by the Marnian masters is not in doubt
and since it can be shown that the pottery was a local product the implication is that high
quality metalwork was in circulation in Armorica in the late fifth and early fourth centuries
much of it coming ultimately from the Marne region or beyond. The virtual absence (to date) of
any bronze metalwork of this period in Armorica, whether imported or local, need occasion no
surprise given the rarity of large-scale excavation and the general acidity of the soil but finds
from western Britain and Ireland provide some idea of the kind of items in circulation (Figure
7). The most relevant of the British finds is the bronze vessel (or vessels) found in a stone cist at
Cerrig-y-Drudion, in Clwyd (north Wales). Whilst it is likely that the piece was made in Britain
(Stead 1982) the decoration strongly suggests that the British craftsman, and the creator of the
Saint-Pol-de-Leon pot, were inspired by the same repertoire of motifs originating in the Marne
or Ardennes and now circulating in the Atlantic zone. A further link between potters and bronze
workers in the west is demonstrated by the very close parallels in form between bowls like the
decorated vessel from La Blavet, Henon, with its internally channelled rim ornamented with a
wavy line, and a series of bronze bowls from western Britain and Ireland most notably
Keshcarrigan (Co. Leitrim), Rose Ash (Devon), Youlton (Cornwall), Birdlip (Glos.) and
Bulbury (Dorset) (Cunliffe 1990). There can be little doubt that pottery bowls of the La Blavet
type, of which there are many in north-western Armorica, were directly inspired, in form and
decoration, by bronze bowls circulating widely in the Atlantic zone.
The exact date range of these metal-inspired ceramics is still a matter of debate but on
stylistic grounds those with curvilinear motifs are most likely to have been made in the first half
of the fourth century but once established, vessel form and elements of the decoration could
have continued well into the third century.
The other outstanding artefact of this period is the decorated helmet discovered by Du
Chatellier at Tronoan, Saint-Jean-Trolimon (F) in 1895. The helmet was made of iron,
decorated with embossed bronze sheeting further enhanced with engraving and coral inlay
(Schaaff 1974; Schwappach 1977). It is one of a small group of decorated iron helmets found in
northern Italy and France dating to the Early La Te`ne period. Whether or not the Tronoan
helmet was made in Armorica is a matter of debate. It is however an item of considerable
prestige. The exact context in which the helmet was deposited is unclear but, having reviewed
the full range of other finds from Tronoan, Duval has suggested that the site may have been a
temple in use throughout the La Te`ne period (Duval 1990). If so then the helmet, together with
a large number of swords and spears found during the excavation, may be seen as votive
deposits. The helmet need not, therefore, have originated locally.
The north Armorican bias to the distribution of the La Te`ne-inspired pottery may be
fortuitous but it could imply that the axis of contact with the innovating centre of Europe had
Figure 7
Comparison between metal and pottery vessels of the mid La Te`ne I period. 1 Bronze bowl from Keshcarrigan, Co.
Leitrim, Ireland; 2 Bronze bowl from Rose Ash, Devon, England; 3 Pot from Blavet, Henon, Cotes-dArmor,
Brittany; 4 Pot from Hennebont, Cotes-dArmor, Brittany.
CUNLIFFE
now shifted from the Loire corridor to a more northerly route making use of the Seine to link
the consuming area of the Marne direct to the Atlantic sea-ways (Figure 8). From the mouth of
the Seine it was a comparatively short distance around the Cotentin to the coast of Tregor or
Leon or even shorter if the Cotentin was crossed. A reorientation of this kind would be entirely
consistent with the shift in the centre of power to the Marne. That the Marne was, in some way,
in contact with northern Armorica is implied by the local pottery developments. It could,
further, be argued that a development of this kind may well have stimulated local cycles of
exchange, linking Armorica with south-western Britain, Wales and Ireland, bringing more
commodities into circulation.
The development of an axis along the Seine in the late fifth and early fourth centuries
need not have led to a cessation of trade along the Loire but it could well have caused
significant diminution. These are matters difficult to examine further in the present state of
evidence, nor is it possible to judge how long a Seine route may have been in operation, but it is
probable that the dislocations caused by demographic readjustments associated with large-scale
folk movement in the MarneMoselle region brought intensive contact to an end after the
middle of the fourth century.
Figure 8
The main routes of communication between Brittany and adjacent areas in the Iron Age.
The disruption caused by the Celtic migrations to established patterns of exchange
must have reverberated throughout Europe and sources of supply, upon which the
Mediterranean world had relied, may have become inaccessible as traditional networks were
severed. The remarkable voyages of the Greek explorer and astronomer Pytheas about 325 BC
may perhaps be seen in this context (Hawkes 1977). It will be argued elsewhere that he may
have reached the Bay of Biscay overland along the AudeGaronne route not, as is usually
believed, by ship sailing around Iberia. At any event he seems to have begun his northern
exploration from the Gironde estuary. From here it was three days sail to south-western
Armorica (Ouexisame) and a further day to Cornwall (Belerion) before pushing northwards on
the first leg of the circumnavigation of Britain.
Pytheas voyage firmly established the existence and exact location of the tin-rich area
of Armorica and Cornwall and their proximity to the Gironde. In doing so he may have been
responsible for opening up the direct route overland from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic
making Cornish and Armorican tin more readily accessible to Massalia than at any time
hitherto. By the beginning of the first century BC the route had been long established.
Posidonius, writing c.90 BC, quoting the work of Pytheas, was probably the source for the
descriptions of the British tin trade repeated by Diodorus Siculus and Strabo.
From the third century BC it is likely that regular systems of exchange linked the
communities of the Atlantic west to the Mediterranean. These systems probably changed little
until Caesars conquest of Gaul and the economic reorientation which followed. Some
reflection of the axis across Gaul via the AudeGaronneGironde route may be seen in the
development of the monnaie-a`-la-croix coinages throughout the area, based on Greek
prototypes (Allen 1980, 539). Further to the west in Armorica and south-western Britain there
is little to indicate contact apart from a handful of Mediterranean coins though they are very
rarely found in well-stratified contexts (Milne 1948).
The development of the trade in wine, following the annexation of the Provincia by the
Romans about 120 BC, introduced a new and archaeologically durable indicator of exchange
into the record. The distribution of Dressel 1A amphorae common in the late second and early
first centuries BC provides a clear picture of the Atlantic routes at the time (Cunliffe 1997, map
28) a picture which in all probability had changed little, except perhaps in intensity, over
200 years since Pytheas had opened up the direct route to the west.
Institute of Archaeology
36 Beaumont St
Oxford
OX1 2PG
REFERENCES
ALLEN, D.F. 1980: (ed. by D. Nash) The Coins of the Ancient Celts (Edinburgh).
ANON 1893: Note in Bull. Soc. Archeol. Finiste`re 20, xxvxxvi.
BOULOUMIE, B. 1973: Les oenochoes en bronze du type Schnabelkanne en France et en Belgique. Gallia
31, 135.
BOULOUMIE, B. 1976: Les cistes a` cordons trouvees en Gaule/Belgique, France, Suisse. Gallia 34, 130.
BOULOUMIE, B. 1977: Situles de bronze trouvees en Gaule (VII
e
IV
e
sie`cles av. J.-C.). Gallia 35, 338.
CUNLIFFE
BRIARD, J. 1965: Les depots Bretons et lAge du Bronze Atlantique (Travaux du Laboratoire
dAnthropologie: Rennes).
CHATEIGUER, C. 1990a: Repertoire des importations etrusques et italiques en Gaule 22: Bretagne.
Caesarodunum Supp. 59: Repertoire des importations etrusques et italiques en Gaule III, 5773.
CHATEIGUER, C. 1990b: Les importations etrusco-italique en Bretagne. Caesarodunum Supp. 59:
Repertoire des importations etrusques et italiques en Gaule III, 7484.
CUNLIFFE, B. 1990: Social and economic contacts between western France and Britain in the Early and
Middle La Te`ne Period. In La Bretagne et lEurope Prehistoriques. Memoires en hommage a` Pierre-
Roland Giot (Rev. Archeol. de lOuest, Supp. 2), 24551.
CUNLIFFE, B. 1997: The Ancient Celts (Oxford).
DAIRE, M.-Y. 1992: Les ceramiques Armoricaines de la fin de lAge du Fer (Travaux du Laboratoire
dAnthropologie: Rennes).
DAIRE, M.-Y. and GIOT, P.-R. 1989: Les ste`les de lAge du Fer dans le Leon (Patrimoine Archeol. de
Bretagne: Rennes).
DAIRE, M.-Y. and VILLARD, A. 1996: Les ste`les de lAge du Fer a` decors geometriques et curvilignes. Etat
de la question dans lOuest armoricain. Rev. Archeol. de lOuest 13, 12356.
DECHELETTE, J. 1914: Manuel darcheologie prehistorique, celtique et gallo-romaine. II Archeologie
celtique ou protohistorique. Troisie`me partie: Second Age du Fer ou epoque de la Te`ne (Paris).
DE LISLE DU DRENEUC, M.P. and DURVILLE, G. 1903: Catalogue du Musee archeologique de Nantes
(Nantes).
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1883: Nouvelles explorations dans les communes de Plozevet et de Plouhinec
(Finiste`re). Revue archeologique 1883(2), 119.
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1891: Vase trouve dans un tumulus a` Saint-Pol-de-Leon (Finiste`re). Revue
Archeologique 1891(2), 3838.
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1897: La poterie aux epoques prehistorique et gauloise en Armorique (Rennes/Paris).
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1898: Pierre gravee de Kermaria, Pont-LAbbe (Finiste`re). Bull. Soc. Archeol.
Finiste`re 25, 31020.
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1901: Exploration des tumulus des Montagnes Nares (Finiste`re). Bull. Comite Trav.
hist. (1901), 185203.
DU CHATELLIER, P. 1907: Les epoques prehistoriques et gauloises dans le Finiste`re (Rennes/Paris).
DUVAL, A. 1990: Quelques aspects du mobilier metallique en fer anciennement recueilli a` Tronoen, en
Saint-Jean-Trolimon (Finiste`re). Rev. Archeol. de lOuest Supp. 3, 2345.
DUVAL, A., ELUERE, C. and MOHEN, J.-P. 1974: Les fibules anterieures au VI
e`me
sie`cle avant notre e`re
trouvees en France. Gallia 32, 161.
DUVAL, A., LE BIHAN, J.P. and MENEZ, Y. 1990: Les Gaulois dArmorique (Rev. Archeol. de lOuest Supp. 3:
Rennes).
EOGAN, G. 1994: The accomplished art. Gold and goldworking in Britain and Ireland during the Bronze
Age (Oxford).
GALLES, L. 1873: Decouvertes de sepultures de lepoque du bronze au Rocher en Plougoumelen;
materiaux pour lhistoire primitive. Bull. Soc. polymathique du Morbihan (1873), 23644.
GALLIOU, P. 1990: Commerce et Societe en Armorique a` lAge du Fer. In Duval, Le Bihan and Menez
(eds.) 1990, 4752.
GIOT, P.-R. 1952: Quelques ste`les gauloises gravees ou inscrites. Annales de Bretagne 59, 21321.
GIOT, P.-R. 1959: Les ste`les armoricaines de lAge du Fer. Actes du Congre`s prehistorique de Monaco,
XVIe`me session, 57885.
GIOT, P.-R. 1971: Ombres et Lumie`res sur la Chronologie de la ceramique Armoricaine de lAge du Fer.
Annales de Bretagne 78, 7392.
GIOT, P.-R. 1973: La fibule halstattienne de Penmarch. Bull. Soc. Archeol. Finiste`re 101, 201.
GIOT, P.R., BRIARD, J. and PAPE, L. 1995: Protohistoire de la Bretagne (Rennes).
GIOT, P.-R., DAIRE, M.-Y. and QUERRE, G. 1986: Un habitat protohistorique le Moulin de la Rive en
Locquirec (29) (Travaux du Laboratoire dAnthropologie: Rennes).
GIOT, P.-R., LE ROUX, C.-T. and ONNEE, Y. 1968: Ceramique Armoricaine de lAge du Fer (Travaux du
Laboratoire dAnthropologie Prehistorique: Rennes).
GIOT, P.-R., LECERF, Y. and ONNEE, Y. 1971: Ceramique Armoricaine de lAge du Fer II (Travaux du
Laboratoire dAnthropologie Prehistorique: Rennes).
GRAN-AYMERICH, J. 1995: Les importations etrusques au coeur de la Gaule: Le site princier de Bourges et
les nouvelles decouvertes a` Lyon et Bragny-sur-Saone. In Swaddling, J., Walker, S. and Roberts, P.
(eds.), Italy in Europe: economic relations 700 BCAD 50 (Brit. Mus. Occ. Paper 97: London), 4574.
HAWKES, C.F.C. 1977: Pytheas: Europe and the Greek Explorers (The Eighth J.L. Myres Memorial
Lecture: Oxford).
HINGUANT, S. and LE GOFF, E. 1998: Un site de lAge du Fer stratifie en milieu rural: Lestablissement de
Keralio a` Pont-LAbbe (Finiste`re). Rev. Archeol. de lOuest 15, 59114.
HINGUANT, S., LE GOFF, E., JEAN, S. and MARGUERIE, D. 1997: Le site gaulois de Bellevue a` Augan
(Morbihan). Rev. Archeol. de lOuest 14, 5780.
IXER, R.A. and BUDD, P. 1998: The mineralogy of Bronze Age copper ores from the British Isles:
implications for the composition of early metalwork. Oxford Journ. Archaeol. 17, 1542.
JANNOT, J.-R. 1995: Peut-on parler de commerce etrusque en Gaule du nord-ouest? In Swaddling, J.,
Walker, S. and Roberts, P. (eds.), Italy in Europe: economic relations 700 BCAD 50 (Brit. Mus. Occ.
Paper 97: London), 7587.
LANGOUET, L. 1989: Un Village Coriosolite sur lIle des Ebihens (Saint-Jacut-de-la-Mer) (Centre
Regional dArcheologie dAlet: Saint Malo).
LE BIHAN, J.P. 1984: Villages gaulois et parcellaires Antiques au Braden en Quimper (Cahiers de Quimper
Antique 1: Quimper).
LE GOFFIC, M. 1996: Le cimetie`re de lAge du Fer en Kervellec, Morlaix-Ploujean, Finiste`re (Conseil
General du Finiste`re: Brest).
LE ROUX, C.-T. and GIOT, P.-R. 1965: Fouille dun souterrain de lAge du Fer a` Pendreff, en Commana.
Annales de Bretagne 72 (1965), 95113.
LUKIS, G. 1867: Rapport sur un tumulus de lAge du Bronze au Rocher, commune de Plougoumelen. Bull.
Soc. polymathique du Morbihan (1867), 11012.
MARSILLE, L. 1913: Les depots de lAge du Bronze dans le Morbihan. Bull. Soc. polymathique du
Morbihan (1913), 49109.
MAXWELL, I.S. 1972: The location of Ictis. Journ. Royal Inst. Cornwall 6, 293319.
MEGAW, R. and MEGAW, V. 1989: Celtic Art (London).
MENEZ, Y. 1996: Une ferme de lArmorique gauloise Le Boisanne a` Plouer-sur-Rance (Cotes-dArmor)
(Doc. Archeol. Francaise: Paris).
MILCENT, P.-Y. 1993: LAge du Fer en Armorique a` travers les ensembles funeraires (IX
e
III
e
sie`cles avant
J-C). Antiquites Nationales 25, 1750.
MILNE, J.G. 1948: Finds of Greek coins from the British Isles (Oxford).
OBRIEN, W. 1994: Mount Gabriel. Bronze Age mining in Ireland (Galway).
CUNLIFFE
PENHALLURICK, R.D. 1997: The evidence for prehistoric mining in Cornwall. In Budd, P. and Gale, D.
(eds.), Prehistoric extractive metallurgy in Cornwall (Truro), 2333.
REVELIERE, J. 1894: Note sur un couteau gauloise trouve a` Quiberon. Bull. Soc. polymathique du
Morbihan (1894), 15766.
ROSEMAN, C.H. 1994: Pytheas of Massalia: On the Ocean (Chicago).
SCHAAFF, U. 1974: Keltische Eisenhelme aus vorromischer Zeit. Jahr. Rom.-Germ. Zentralmus. Mainz 21,
149204.
SCHWAPPACH, E. and F. 1977: Fragments of the Tronoan helmet? Archaeologia Atlantica 2, 8793.
SCHWAPPACH, F. 1969: Stempelverzierte Keramik von Armorica. In Frey. O.-H. (ed.), Marburger
Beitrage zur Archaologie der Kelten (= Fundberichte aus Hessen, Beiheft 1: Bonn), 21387.
SMITH, R.A. 1926: Two Early British Bronze Bowls. Antiq. Journ. 6, 27683.
STEAD, I.M. 1982: The Cerrig-y-Drudion hanging bowl. Antiq. Journ. 62, 22134.
TANQUY, D. 1997: Les ste`les de lAge du Fer dans le Morbihan. Les arrondissements de Lorient et Pontivy
(Patrimoine Archeol. de Bretagne: Rennes).
WHEELER, R.E.M. and RICHARDSON, K.M. 1957: Hill-Forts of Northern France (Soc. Antiq. Res. Rep. 19:
London).

Brittany's Cultural Links Along the Atlantic in the Later First Millennium BC

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Brittany's Cultural Links Along the Atlantic in the Later First Millennium BC

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

BARRY CUNLIFFE

BRITTANY AND THE ATLANTIC RIM IN THE LATER FIRST

You might also like