Celtic life in Iron Age Britain

The decorated handles of these spoons suggest that they were important objects. People may have dripped a liquid through the hole in one spoon into the other, perhaps using the pattern made by the droplets to make predictions about the future. Spoons like these are a British phenomenon. Only one pair has been found on the Continent.

These small boar figurines would originally have been attached to helmets or buckets. They were buried in a hoard with other model creatures and a model wheel. Depictions of animals are rare in Iron Age Britain and it’s unusual to find a group of animal figurines buried together. Much older objects were found in the same field, suggesting that this was an important site over a long period.

In 2014 archaeologists excavating at Burrough Hill, an Iron Age hill fort in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, discovered a hoard of rare decorated bronze fittings from a chariot. Found at the bottom of a large pit, the Burrough Hill hoard consists of twenty-two items including linch pins, terret rings and iron tools. The pieces had been gathered together in a box, before being placed in the pit and burned, possibly during a religious ceremony.

Twenty gold coins minted in northern France were packed into this cow bone and buried as an offering to the gods or for safekeeping. Normally found in pots, hoards like this are occasionally also found in hollow stones. Coins were not only used for exchange in the Iron Age; they were often used as offerings at sacred sites or on boundaries, and some were buried without being used.

This reconstruction is based on corroded fragments of iron mail armour, found in the grave of a man in Kirkburn, East Yorkshire. It uses a different form of linkage from the chainmail armour worn in the medieval period, but it may have provided a similar form of protection. Iron mail armour is rarely found. Not only does iron corrode faster than other metals but making mail armour also required great skill and knowledge.

Owning finely made weaponry was an important way for Iron Age warriors to show off their status. This scabbard is made from two different copper alloys, creating a pattern in two contrasting colours. It appears dull today, but when it was new the polished surface would have caught the light and drawn attention to the patterns at either end. The central loop suggests that the sword was hung down the centre of the back, rather than from a belt.

Although depictions of people were very rare in Iron Age Britain, several small, chalk human figurines have been found in East Yorkshire. This figurine’s gleaming white appearance would have been very striking when it was first carved. His left hand appears to be extended in a gesture of greeting, while his right hand reaches behind his back, ready to draw his sword.

A bridle bit sits between a horse’s teeth. The reins that riders or charioteers used to guide the animal are attached to either side. This example, which has survived over 2000 years in the ground, is very similar to those in use today. It is decorated with red glass, which would have contrasted with the golden appearance of the bronze. It took time and skill to train horses, and they were expensive to keep. They would have been a sign of wealth and status and were often depicted on coins.

This bronze bangle was found at Pitalpin in Angus, in north-eastern Scotland. The distinctive decoration at the ends evokes an animal with stylised snout, eyes and ears. The type is found only in this region, and an Iron Age woman probably wore it to express her local identity. Similar styles in larger sizes were worn by men. Chunky jewellery like this developed in Scotland after southern Britain came under Roman rule.

Brooches such as this were used to pin clothes together, allowing their owners to show off with a flash of a colour. The decorative brass attachment was once an eye-catching shade of gold.

Iron Age brooches come in many different shapes and styles, sometimes with regional variations. This type, found mainly in Dorset and Somerset, dates to the very end of the Iron Age when the Romans were beginning to arrive in Britain.

Excavated from an Iron Age settlement at Swallowcliffe Down in Wiltshire, this bead is decorated with a distinctive ‘eye’ pattern. Beads in Iron Age Britain were usually glass, but could also be made from other colourful materials such as amber, sandstone and jet. They may have been worn strung on necklaces and are occasionally found in graves, showing that they were important personal objects.

This set of surgical instruments, excavated from a grave in Stanway, Essex, gives a rare glimpse into Iron Age medicine. Among the 13 instruments in the medical kit were scalpels, forceps, needles and a surgical saw. The grave dates to the decades around the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the objects of the medical kit are similar to Roman types. The man or woman buried here may have been versed in Roman medical practices as well as local healing traditions.

This type of large, ceramic cup dates to the very end of the Iron Age and reflects changing dining habits. It was probably used for drinking beer, mead or wine. Some cups were imported from the Continent, while others were made in Britain. This one was decorated by rolling a cylindrical stamp across the surface, a technique called ‘rouletting’.

The textiles used to make clothing and other useful objects were woven on looms. Spinning and weaving would have been time-consuming household tasks. Whorls like these were used to weight the end of sticks called spindles, which hand-spinners used to twist wool into yarn for weaving. These whorls are all made from sandstone, although spindle whorls can also be made from other types of stone, bone or clay.

Excavations of an Iron Age site at Meare in Somerset have produced evidence for weaving woollen cloth, along with an exceptional range of other craft and industrial activities. A large number of bone and antler weaving combs were found, some incised with elaborate designs. Weaving combs are found across Iron Age Britain and were probably used to make woollen straps and decorative clothing accessories.

Living in Iron Age Britain was not all hard work; people liked to have fun too! This reconstruction is based on a game found in a grave in Stanway, Essex, and consists of 26 blue and white glass counters and a chequered board. The absence of dice means that it was probably a game of strategy.

Different types of quernstones were used to grind wheat or barley into flour to make bread, an important staple food. This is the top half of a rotary quern, which once sat on top of another stone. Grain was poured into the hole in the centre and the upper stone was then turned using a pair of wooden handles placed in the holes. The weight of the turning upper stone crushed the grain into flour.

Blow by blow, this boat was worked from a single oak tree trunk. We can still see the axe marks on the sides. Few wooden boats survive from the Iron Age and the two found at Fiskerton were deliberately sunk, perhaps as offerings. This type of boat most likely would have been used to travel along rivers, perhaps transporting objects such as those shown in this exhibition.