SKULLS ON SHOW
Dr Ellen Hambleton
School of Conservation Sciences
1) Introduction
Traditionally animal bone studies in archaeology have focussed on the economic
role of animals, how they were hunted or farmed, and their contribution to
peoples’ diet. However, animal remains can also provide insights into the ritual
and symbolic behaviour of past societies. Evidence for ritual or symbolic
treatment of animal remains has been recovered from many Iron Age
settlements in southern Britain.
Figure 1. Special deposit of
horse skull and mandible at
base of pit at Danebury Iron
Age Hillfort (Source: Cunliffe
1984)
Figure 2. View of Battlesbury Iron Age Hillfort (800-200 BC) on Salisbury Plain (Source: Defence Estates)
2) ‘Special Deposits’
This evidence usually takes the form of ‘special deposits’, groups
of carefully selected objects deliberately placed within pits or
ditches, which often include animal skulls (Figure 1), skeletons or
articulated limbs. Identification of special deposits and
interpretations of the ritual activities they may represent, tend to
concentrate on the significance of their location (in the ground) and
their composition (the types of objects present). Little or no
consideration has been given to the question of whether the
objects themselves had a history of unusual treatment and a
special significance of their own even before they were buried.
Was it the objects themselves rather than their location and
structured burial that held special significance for Iron Age
communities? Research on the animal remains from the site of
Battlesbury Bowl, Hampshire (Figure 2) provided an opportunity to
investigate this question (Hambleton & Maltby unpub.).
Figure 4. Extensive knife cuts on
horse skull.
3) Animal Bone Evidence
One of the Iron Age ditches at Battlesbury Bowl contained a group
of seven cattle and three horse skulls which the excavators had
already identified as being unusual and potentially ‘special’. This
conclusion was drawn because they were a group of similar
objects buried in the same place. However, detailed examination
by zooarchaeologists at Bournemouth University indicated that the
thing that was most important about these bones was actually their
treatment before they entered the ground.
Figure 3. Front and rear views of two well preserved cattle skulls with back
of skull removed.
Figure 5. Gnawed base of cattle
horncore.
•Teeth - the teeth in the skulls are missing which indicates that they were kept
above ground for enough time for these to drop out prior to burial.
•Condition - the lack of weathering and severe dog gnawing indicates that
these skulls were kept off the ground and possibly protected from both
scavengers and the elements prior to burial (Figure 3).
•Skinning/cleaning - fine knife cuts observed on the skulls indicate that they
had been skinned, and in some cases knife marks were excessive indicating
careful cleaning of the skull (Figure 4).
•Horns – in some cases gnawing is restricted to the base of the horn core
where it joins the skull, indicating that the outer horn casing had been left on the
skull (Figure 5).
•Modification - the backs of the skulls had been removed, this may have helped
the skull to lay flat against a vertical surface as if mounted on a wall or post
(Figure 3).
4) Conclusions
It is clear from this research that this group of skulls from Battlesbury Bowl
had a role prior to burial, and the evidence is pointing towards their use as
display objects. The common visual cliché of skulls adorning the walls of
prehistoric houses (Figure 6) may at last have some real archaeological
basis.
Figure 6. Reconstruction of an Iron Age settlement (Source: Cunliffe 1993)
Acknowledgements
Bibliography
This research was carried out with the help of
Mark Maltby of Bournemouth University, and
commissioned as part of a study for Wessex
Archaeology
Cunliffe, B. (1984) Danebury: an Iron Age Hillfort in Hampshire. The excavations 1969-1978,
Volume 2 The Finds. York: CBA
Cunliffe, B. (1993) Danebury London: Batsford/English Heritage
Hambleton E & Maltby M. Unpublished. Animal Bones from Excavations at Battlesbury Bowl,
Wiltshire. Bournemouth University Animal Bone Report for Wessex Archaeology (2004).