The ancient Celtic world evokes debate, discussion, romanticism and mythicism. On the one hand it represents a specialist area of archaeological interest, on the other, it has a wide general appeal. The Celtic world is accessible through archaeology, history, linguistics and art history. Of these disciplines, art history offers the most direct message to a wider audience. This volume of 37 papers brings together a truly international group of pre-eminent specialists in the field of Celtic art and Celtic studies. It is a benchmark volume the like of which has not been seen since the publication of Paul Jacobsthal’s 'Early Celtic Art' in 1944. The papers chart the history of attempts to understand Celtic art and argue for novel approaches in discussions spanning the whole of Continental Europe and the British Isles. This new body of international scholarship will give the reader a sense of the richness of the material and current debates. Artefacts of rich form and decoration, which we might call art, provide a most sensitive set of indicators of key areas of past societies, their power, politics and transformations. With its broad geographical scope, this volume offers a timely opportunity to re-assess contacts, context, transmission and meaning in Celtic art for understanding the development of European cultures, identities and economies in pre- and proto-history. Essays in honour of Vincent Megaw on his 80th birthday.
Author(s): Christopher Gosden, Sally Crawford, Katharina Ulmschneider (eds.)
Publisher: Oxbow Books
Year: 2014
Language: English, German, French
Pages: 416
City: Oxford
Contributors ix
1. Introduction to Celtic Art in Europe: making connections / Chris Gosden, Sally Crawford and Katharina Ulmschneider 1
2. Once again, Herodotus, the Κελτοί, the source of the Danube, and the Pillars of Hercules / John T. Koch 6
3. The Sheffield origins of Celtic Art / John Collis 19
4. Theorie der keltischen Kunst. Ein Versuch / Felix Müller 28
5. Les codes de représentation visuelle dans l’art celtique ancien / Laurent Olivier 39
6. Hidden faces and animal images on Late Iron Age and Early Roman horse harness decorated using the 'champlevé' technique / Jennifer Foster 56
7. The human masks of unknown provenience / Mitja Guštin 68
8. Heads, masks and shifting identities: a note about some Danubian 'kantharoi' with anthropomorphic decoration / Mariana Egri 73
9. 'Off with their heads...!' once again: images of daggers and severed heads on an Iberian 'falcata' sword / Fernando Quesada Sanz 86
10. A Celtic severed head, or Lazarus in the arms of Abraham? / Natalie Venclová and Jan Royt 96
11. Zur Attachenzier der Schnabelkannen von Basse-Yutz / Otto-Herman Frey 101
12. The not so ugly duckling – an essay on meaning / Flemming Kaul 105
13. Fragments of a 'carnyx' from Leisach (Austria) / Paul Gleirscher 113
14. Between ruling ideology and ancestor worship: the 'mos maiorum' of the Early Celtic 'Hero Graves' / Thomas Stöllner 119
15. Alfred and Alexander / John Boardman 137
16. La fibule de Moscano di Fabriano: un jalon important de l’évolution de l’art celtique au IVe siècle avant J.-C / Luana et Venceslas Kruta 140
17. Zum Wenden: der Halsring aus Gehweiler-Oberlöstern im Saarland / Rudolf Echt 148
18. Late Hallstatt and Early La Tène gold and silver beads in southeast Pannonia / Hrvoje Potrebica and Marko Dizdar 152
19. 'East meets West...': The stamped pottery from the La Tène cemetery at Fântânele-Dealul Popii (Transylvania, Romania) / Aurel Rustoiu 159
20. A vessel with stamped decoration from the Želiezovce collection / Gertrúda Březinová 173
21. Balkan 'Kantharoi' / Petar Popović 177
22. La Tène and Przeworsk strap shield bosses from Poland / Tomasz Bochnak 183
23. De l’anneau en bronze à têtes de béliers de Chermignac (Charente-Maritime) et de quelques pièces de harnais. La Tène finale de Gaule de l’Ouest / José Gomez de Soto 196
24. A mould for Celtic-type rings from Sanzeno in the Valle di Non, Trentino / Franco Marzatico 206
25. 'Leopold Bloom I' and the Hungarian Sword Style / Paul Jacobsthal, with introduction by Katharina Ulmschneider and Sally Crawford 213
26. The Celtic mercenary reconsidered / Jan Bouzek 223
27. The Dragon from Oberleiserberg / Maciej Karwowski 234
28. A l'aube du IIIe s. av. J.-C.: les fourreaux d’épée à décor estampé sur fer / Thierry Lejars 239
29. '...to boldly go where no man has gone before.' Dedicated to Ruth and Vincent... / Boris Kavur and Martina Blečić Kavur 264
30. Art and Craftsmanship in elite-warrior graves: 'from Boii to Parisii and back again...' / Nathalie C. Ginoux and Peter C. Ramsl 274
31. Ascot hats: an Iron Age leaf crown helmet from Fiskerton, Lincolnshire? / Andrew Fitzpatrick and Martin Schönfelder 286
32. Snettisham swansong / I. M. Stead 297
33. The Iron Age open-air ritual site at Hallaton, Leicestershire: some wider implications / Colin Haselgrove and Vicki Score 304
34. Brit-art: Celtic Art in Roman Britain and on its Frontiers / Jody Joy 315
35. Art in context: the massive metalworking tradition of north-east Scotland / Fraser Hunter 325
36. The Torrs 'Chamfrein' or Head-piece: restoring 'A very curious relic of antiquity' / C. Stephen Briggs 341
37. Vincent, in appreciation / Mansel Spratling 356
J. V. S. Megaw: bibliography 361
Colour Plates 373
