The Irish "Deer" Series of Cheek-Pieces

Alice Blackwell recently suggested that the terminals of the pseudo-penannular Hunterston, ‘Tara’ and Dunbeath brooches conceal embedded animal heads which flank a Christological symbol on the bridge linking the two terminals. She interpreted this as a motif based on the Canticle of Habakkuk’s statement that Christ would be recognised between two living things. Her argument is based on the shape of the terminals and on the placement of the studs, which she suggested echo the design of filigree animals ornamenting the front surfaces of these brooches. This paper, which is based on detailed study of the brooches and on analytical drawings of their animal ornament, challenges Alice Blackwell’s suggestion, and offers a different explanation for the features that she identified.

The recent discovery of animal carvings in the Early Bronze Age burial cairn at Dunchraigaig (Kilmartin Glen, Scotland) prompts a re-evaluation of current knowledge of rock art in Britain. The deer and other quadrupeds represented in the monument are the first unambiguous depictions of prehistoric animals of prehistoric date in Scotland, and among the earliest identified in Britain and Ireland. This contrasts with the wellknown abstract carvings of rock art in this region, characterized by cup-marks and cup-and-rings. The discovery also reinforces the special character of Kilmartin Glen as one of the most original and remarkable Neolithic-Bronze Age landscapes of monumentality and rock art in Britain. This article describes the process of authenticating the Dunchraigaig carvings as part of the Scotland's Rock Art Project (ScRAP) and discusses their implications for our understanding of prehistoric rock art in Scotland, Britain and Atlantic Europe more widely.

Medieval archaeology: Journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology, 2006

Cervus elaphus is Ireland's only indigenous deer species. It is also unique in being the only native Irish, wild animal to appear frequently in medieval texts, iconography, and archaeological deposits. This paper brings together diverse sources of information to illuminate how early medieval monasteries used red deer to establish an identity for themselves and to conceptualize socioeconomic relationships with others.

Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 95, 1990

The Journal of Irish Archaeology, 2021

Hoards of the Irish Later Bronze Age regularly include different forms of rings and chain links that historically have been identified vaguely as tack components or ‘ornaments’; these occur, too, as stray finds. If, however, they are examined in their wider European context, it becomes clear that some represent components of a hitherto unrecognised class of Irish composite copper-alloy ornament, dating from the tenth–eighth/seventh centuries BC, and exemplified by the Derrane, Co. Roscommon, chain complex.

An Iron Age ringheaded pin found on a recently excavated Early Medieval site in Co. Westmeath provides an opportunity to review the present state of research on this particular type of dress ornament in Ireland and to explore possible explanations for this unusual association. The excavation of an Early Medieval multipenod enclosure at Rochfort Demesne (Channing 2007, Channing 2008), on behalf of V.J. Keeley Ltd, has produced a rare examp an Iron Age ringheaded pin (E3315:59) in addition to the expected range of Early Med artefacts. Besides adding to our knowledge about this type of dress ornament, a radiocarbon for the context of the artefact reveals a curious history for this particular object. These d revealed that the pin had been re-deposited in Early Medieval times, thus raising interest questions regarding depositional practices on such sites. THE SITE The site is located on a glacial hillock on the eastern side of Lough Ennell in Roc townland, Co. Westmeath. Two phases of bank and ditch enclosures of Early Med succeeded by a Post-medieval ditch (Fig. 1 C6). The first enclosure of the site consisted of a single ditch (CIO) with an internal dia 39m. The ditch of the second phase enclosure (CI2) had an internal diameter of its bank survived where it had slipped into the ditch (CIO) of the first enclosure. shared similar entrance orientation with gaps in both the inner (CIO) and outer d their banks forming a causeway on the eastern side of the site (Fig. 1). While the rad from the basal fill of the first ditch CIO indicate a date in the 7-8th centuries A and AD 655-7692), a potentially later date of 7th-9th century AD (AD 690-95 03 from the basal fill of the second ditch CI2, confirmed by the stratigraphic seque in the 18th century, a further ditch and associated revetment wall were constru truncating both Early Medieval enclosures, and screening a small 18th century qu Several small pits were found in the interior of the site: based on the radiocarb date to the 9th-12th century AD. The results of the analysis of the high numbers found in pit and ditch fills indicates the predominant use of cattle on the site, wi deer in phase one and an increase in the amount of sheep/goat bones in the assem two (Svensson 2008,10). However, no evidence for secondary processing of bone on site and it is possible that the large numbers of bones represent feasting activi

Cambridge Archaeological Journal , 2022

The recent discovery of animal carvings in the Early Bronze Age burial cairn at Dunchraigaig (Kilmartin Glen, Scotland) prompts a re-evaluation of current knowledge of rock art in Britain. The deer and other quadrupeds represented in the monument are the first unambiguous depictions of prehistoric animals of prehistoric date in Scotland, and among the earliest identified in Britain and Ireland. This contrasts with the wellknown abstract carvings of rock art in this region, characterized by cup-marks and cup-and-rings. The discovery also reinforces the special character of Kilmartin Glen as one of the most original and remarkable Neolithic-Bronze Age landscapes of monumentality and rock art in Britain. This article describes the process of authenticating the Dunchraigaig carvings as part of the Scotland's Rock Art Project (ScRAP) and discusses their implications for our understanding of prehistoric rock art in Scotland, Britain and Atlantic Europe more widely.

Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 2018

Beglane, F. Baker, K, Carden, R.F., Hoelzel, A.R., Lamb, A., Miller, H., Mhig Fhionnghaile, R., Sykes, N. 2018. ‘Ireland’s fallow deer: their historical, archaeological and biomolecular record’. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Vol. 118C, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.3318/priac.2018.118.01.