The Yetholm-type shield is a distinctive type of shield dating from 1200-800 BC (
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
). The known
shield
A shield is a piece of personal armour held in the hand, which may or may not be strapped to the wrist or forearm. Shields are used to intercept specific attacks, whether from close-ranged weaponry or projectiles such as arrows, by means of a ...
s come from Britain and Ireland, excepting one from
Denmark
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...
. Their modern name comes from
Yetholm in southern
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
where a
peat bog
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; a ...
yielded three examples. Twenty two examples are known, although some of these are fragmentary, and a further seven or eight are known from written sources but are lost today. The shields vary significantly in size, but are otherwise similar.
Rock carvings from this period made in Southern Scandinavia include depictions of shields decorated with concentric rings or rings of dots. The artist could not hope to show the fine detail of a Yetholm-type shield, but the similarity is striking.
The impressive shields would have indicated high social status.
Construction
The shields are made of a copper alloy sheet about 0.6 mm thick. The alloy is a high-tin
bronze:
copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
with 11-14%
tin
Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal.
Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...
. They are round with a central domed
boss
Boss may refer to:
Occupations
* Supervisor, often referred to as boss
* Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier
* Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization
* Fire boss, ...
created by hammering out from the back. The shield face is covered in raised ridges in concentric rings, each a couple of millimetres high. Between the ridges are rings of small hemispherical bosses about 4 mm across. Decoration was formed by hammering from the reverse (
Repoussé).
The outer edge of the shield has been folded back and hammered down to form a strong rim. A handle is riveted across the open bowl of the boss, made from a thicker piece of sheet bronze folded over; also attached are a pair of metal tabs for a carrying strap.
Rivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed, a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite to the head is called the ''tail''. On installation, the rivet is placed in a punched ...
heads are on the front for fitting attachments, but are similar to the decorative raised bosses and difficult to identify.
Probably a flanged punch created the bosses to a uniform size and depth, although no contemporary tool has been found to accomplish this. The
embossing would probably require the work piece to be supported, conceivably by a bed of
pitch or
lead
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
. Some eye-judgement was required, which is revealed in the detail of the spacing of the bosses. As the craftsman came to complete a ring, the spacing would be changed slightly so as to ensure an even design and make the starting place inconspicuous. The shields show a high degree of accomplishment and, given the degree of similarity, it is likely that all were made in the same workshop by a few craftsmen.
Variations
The shields vary in size and in the number of embossed rings, but the size of the embossed features is consistent. The largest shield (found at
Ayrshire) has twenty nine circular ridges and twenty nine rings of bosses; the smallest (originally thought to have been from
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...
but actually from The River Thames) has eleven ridges and rings.
The overall design, and especially the tabs, indicate that the shield did not have a wooden backing or other reinforcement, though one shield from Lough Gur is believed to have been backed with leather (which was initially written off as dried peat). The embossed design and folded rim impart some stiffness, but some have suggested that the shields were too flimsy for combat. In a 1952
archaeology experiment by John Coles, a reconstruction was made from copper hardened to match a Yetholm-type shield, and it was hit with a replica bronze sword. The shield was cut in two by a single stroke. However, experiments by Barry Molloy and Kate Anderson have pointed out that bronze, the original material used, is substantially harder than even the hardened copper used by Coles, and that he appears to have used a much thinner sheet of copper than in the original designs. Additional design features such as small handles with only about 110 mm for the fingers to grip, have also been cited as evidence that the shields were not used for combat.
Some shields have damage likely to have occurred as a part of a sacrificial ceremony. The South Cadbury specimen was laid in a ditch and stabbed three times with a wooden stake.
Its discovery prompted metallurgical analysis of this and other examples by Peter Northover, strongly suggesting that, rather than the accepted range of 1000 to 800 BC, these shields were manufactured in the 12th century BC. Carbon dating implied that the South Cadbury example was deposited in the mid 10th century BC.
However, one shield from
Long Wittenham
Long Wittenham is a village and small civil parish about north of Didcot, and southeast of Abingdon. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, and from the former Wallingford Rura ...
in
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...
has two lozenge-shaped perforations, interpreted as piercings caused by a spearhead, and other piercings hammered flat to close the gap, suggesting that the shield was a veteran of several combat encounters.
With the exception of the specimen found at
South Cadbury
South Cadbury is a village in the civil parish of South Cadbury and Sutton Montis, in the South Somerset council area of the English county of Somerset. The parish includes the village of Sutton Montis.
It is famous as the location of the hill fo ...
by
archaeologist Josh Williams, all were found in wet contexts. They formed part of a widespread practice of placing valuable objects in wet places. Presumably, this practice was motivated by religious beliefs, the details of which are unknown - although other ancient societies such as the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
had similar practices.
References
Notes
General references
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External links
The South Cadbury Bronze Age Shield, Museum of SomersetImage from Archaeologia Scotica circa 1871Archaeologia Scotica, See: Notes on Ancient Shields and Highland Targets..., JAMES DRUMMOND, 1871 (PDF)*
ttps://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_prb/b/bronze_shield.aspx British museum.br>
Late Bronze Age shield from Beith, Ayrshire, c 1300–1100 BC, bronzeBronze Age shield, from Sutton, Norfolk.*Needham, Stuart & Northover, Peter & Ucklemann, Marion & Tabor, Richard. (2012)
South Cadbury: The last of the Bronze shields? Archaologisches Korrespondenzblatt. 42. 473.
Shields
Archaeological artefact types
Germanic archaeological artifacts
Bronze Age Europe
Bronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Scotland
{{Use British English, date=October 2010