Rethinking Celtic Art

by Garrow, Duncan; Gosden, Chris; Hill, J. D.

• ISBN13: 9781842173183
• ISBN10: 1842173189
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-12-30
• Publisher: David Brown Book Co

Summary

The decorated metalwork - often known as Celtic Art - from the later Iron Age and Roman periods has long been acknowledged as an important body of material. However, until now, it has mainly been analysed in terms of its stylistic development and links with continental Europe. The term 'Celtic' has been much discussed, with the notion of 'art' relatively ignored. This volume focuses predominantly on the latter term. Given current interests within archaeology in the material nature of objects and their social effects, there are now many new possibilities for analysis both of the metalwork itself and its place within Iron Age and Romano-British society. The papers in this volume were first given at a workshop in Oxford in November 2006 dedicated to the study of Celtic Art in Britain. The resulting collection makes a unique contribution to the subject, containing a variety of insights into production, art styles, dating and social significances by specialists in those fields. It will be key reading for all interested in the late Iron Age and Romano-British periods, as well as the roles of fine items of material culture in social and cultural forms. Book jacket.

Table of Contents

Introduction: re-integrating 'Celtic' Art	p. 1
The time and space of Celtic Art: interrogating the 'Technologies of Enchantment' database	p. 15
A Celtic mystery: some thoughts on the genesis of insular Celtic art	p. 40
Seeing red: the aesthetics of martial objects in the British and Irish Iron Age	p. 59
Reflections on Celtic Art: a re-examination of mirror decoration	p. 78
What can be inferred from the regional stylistic diversity of Iron Age Coinage?	p. 100
Technologies of the body: Iron Age and Roman grooming and display	p. 113
Celtic Art in Roman Britain	p. 129
Material, style and identity in first century AD metalwork, with particular reference to the Seven Sisters Hoard	p. 146
On the aesthetics of the Ancient Britons	p. 185
Comment I. Contextualising Iron Age art	p. 203
Comment II. The unmaking of Iron Age Identities: art after the Roman conquest	p. 214
Colour Plates	p. 219
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