TM
8-1 CEANIA BRITANNICA. [CHAP. V.
Alexandria, whence they were distributed by tlie Phoenicians and other traders over the greater
part of the ancient world*.
Britain was celebrated among the ancients for its jet, gagates nigro splendors,—st^ a
valuable product of the Yorkshire coast t. Prized, not merely for its brOliant blackness, but
also for the wonderful properties attributed to it, such as that of driving away serpents, it was
peculiarly eligible as a personal ornament in the eyes of polished as weU as barbarous nations t
Necklaces and rings of this substance, the latter probably intended for amulets, are frequently
found -n-ith sepulchral remains of the British period, in various parts of England, Scotland and
Wales. Jet beads were often worn as neck and breast ornaments in combination with rhomboidal
discs of the same substance, having much resemblance to those of amber already described,
and like them perforated edgewise §. The beads have the form of double truncated cones, and
have evidently been made by hand: the ornamentation of the discs is of a rude zigzag kind, such
as favovu-s the idea of their native manufactm-e, in imitation probably of the exotic coUars of
amber. Mr. Bateman has pointed out that the perforations in the discs and beads were never
carried through from one end, but have been bored each way towards the centre, as if a rude handdrm,
and not a lathe, had been employed 1|. That these brilliant black ornaments were of native
manufacture and of the fine jet or coarser "jet-wood" of the Yorkshire coast, rather than of the
bituminous shale of Dorsetshire, called Kimmeridge coal, seems evident, not only from their
appearance, but also from their being more frequently found in the barrows of Derbyshire, in the
north of England and in Scotland, than in the tumuU of South Britain. Large cii-cular buttons
of jet, of somewhat conical form, more than two inches in diameter, and ingeniously perforated
at the back, were worn as ornaments and fastenings of the dress, probably of the sagnni, or the
girdle of the vest or tunic If.
twining them, having been manufactured probably with express
reference to the Druidical superstition. Lhwyd describes
one bead " that had nine small snakes upon it."—Thoresby's
Correspondence, I. 41.3.
* " Sidon artifex vitri," Pliny, hb. v. § 17. In Plmy's
age, the manufacture of glass had been introduced into Gaul,
and some of the glass beads found in Britain may be of
Gauhsh manufacture. The art, however, as practised in Gaul,
was probably derived immediately from Italy, and the glass
beads of Gallic origin found in this country are generally perhaps
such as are associated with relics of the Roman period.
f. Solinus, c. 23. Priscianus, Perieg. v. 282. Isidorus,
lib. xiv, c. 6.
t Pliny, lib. xxxvi. § 34. Beda, Hist. Eccl. Ub. i. c. 1.
Henry of Huntingdon, Hist. Aug. lib. i.
^ Hoare, "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 46. plate 3. Archffiologia,
vol. viii. p. 429. pi. 30. fig. 6 ; vol. xv. p. 125. pi. 2.
fig. 1. pi. 4. fig. 4. Bateman, "Vestiges of Antiquities of
Derbyshire," 1848, p. 89, 92 j and "Descriptive Catalogue of
Museum," 1835 (figures), p. 10, 11, 14, 20, 23, 25. Archa;-
ologia Scotica, vol. iii. p. 49. Description of Ancient British
Skull from Barrow at Arras, post. Wilson, " Archieology of
Scotland" (figures), p. 294. Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries
of London, vol. i. p. 34. This example was from Anglesey.
Journal of the British Archseological Association,
vol. vi. p. 4 (figure). Large rings of jet, curiously perforated
hke p\illeys, and perhaps intended for suspension as amulets,
are sometimes met with. Some of these will be found under
the references given in this and in a subsequent note. See also
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, vol. iii. p. 58.
II Journal of the British Archajological Association, vol. ii.
p. 235. The band-drill may have been made of bronze, possibly
even, as Mr. Bateman conjectures, of flint.
^ In one instance a stud of amber of the same form was
discovered. Bateman, "Vestiges," &c. p. 69, 77; and Catalogue
of Museum, p. 8, 18. Hoare, " Ancient Wilts," vol. i.
p. 118, 172, 239. plates 19, 34. Wilson, "Archaeology o.
Scotland," p. 295. The bituminous shales called Cannel coal
and Kimmeridgc coal, which are coarser substances than jet, and
much less beautiful, may also have been used for ornaments by
the Britons, though the extensive manufacture of the latter
by means of the lathe must have belonged to Roman times.
Some writers, as Mr. Bateman and Mr. H. Syer Cuming
(Journal of the British Archseological Association, 1856, vol.
xii. p. 166), seem to overiook the comparative abundance of
the true gmjat or jet on the Yorkshire coast; and hence regard
the ancient British ornaments of this class as almost or
quite exclusively of Kimmeridge shale. True jet retains its
brilliancy after ages of inhumation, and, when pulverized, is of
a reddish brown hue. Kimmeridge shale, on the contrary, assumes,
under similar conditions, a dirty brown colour, splits into
flakes, and entirely loses its brilliancy and polish.
CHAP. V.] HISTORICAL ETHNOLOGY OE BRITAIN. 85
As with barbarous tribes at the present day, natural objects, such as stone, the bones, shells,
and teeth of animals, were perforated and worn as ornaments or amulets; and really elegant
necklaces formed of the shells of the Nerita littoralis, and of a species of Bentalium, have been
exhimied from British tumuli*. It is also probable, though direct proof is wanting, that the
Britons wore as ornaments the pearls of their mountain streams, for which the country had
become celebrated prior even to the days of Julius. Suetonius asserts that the pearls of Britain
were one of the inducements which led to the invasion of the island t , which seems to imply
that their use and value were well known to the Britons, by whom they had probably been offered
for sale to the merchants who visited them.
JRMOUR AND MILITARY EQVIPMENT.
Our knowledge of the weapons of the Britons is less exact than could be desired. Cajsar
gives only incidental notices, and these refer almost exclusively to the missile weapons, " tela,"
which, thrown from the hand, were by the Britons no less than the Gauls, chiefly relied on in
fight; it being their policy to trust to the violence of their first onset, and avoid as much as
possible a close encounter with the sword i ; which weapon, though not named by Caesar, is
probably implied in his narrative. Whether during the period of more than one hundred and
twenty years which elapsed after the time of Csesar before the next contemporary account of the
arms of the Britons, they underwent much change, is an inquiry which involves various minute
archaeological questions, and requires a precise reference to dates and localities. In the accounts
left to us of the struggles with Caractacus (A.D. 50) and with Boadicea (A.D. 61), the missile
weapons or javelins are those stiH most prominent. Boadicea is described as carrying a spear :
but there is no mention whatever of the form of the swords. Tacitus says tliat at this time the
Britons had no breast-plates or helmets; so that such defences were not among the arms, of the
possession of which Caractacus boasted to Claudius. Boadicea too is represented as asserting that
the shields of the Britons were a better defence than the complete armoui- of the Romans §. In
the brief description by Tacitus of the arms of the Caledonian Britons under Galgacus, A.D. 84, in
addition to missile weapons, " tela," in great numbers, they are described as using large swords,
not sharpened to a point {"ingentes" vel " enormes," " gladiisine mticrone"), which could be of
little service in a close engagement. Eor defence they carried small targets (" Ireves cetrce"—
* Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 1838, p. 189.
Hoare, "Ancient Wilts," vol. i. p. 114. pi. 13. Necklaces of
more common shells perforated, the Patella mdgata, Cardium
commune, and even the common oyster, have been found.
Wilson, "Archseology of Scotland," &c., p. 158. The curious
stone ornaments found in British barrows are referred to
in a previous note (p. 80 | ) , as resembling in their form certain
ornaments of gold, intended for suspension from the neck.
t Suetonius, hb. i. c. 46, 47.
X Cffisar, B. G. lib. iv. c. 24, 26, 32, 33. It is likely
enough that with many of the Britons, the javelin {telum) was
the only weapon, as the framea clearly was with most of the
ancient Germans :—" Rari gladiis aut majoribus lancéis utuntur.
. . . eodem telo, prout ratio poscit, vel cominus vel eminus
pugnant."—Tacitus, Germ. c. 6.
§ Tacitus, Ann. lib. xii. c. 35 ; lib. xiv. c. 37. Dion apud
Xiph. lib. Ixii. c. 5. Boadicea seems to admit that some of
the Britons were furnished with body armour—helmets, breastplates,
and greaves. The faulty construction of this part of
the original of Xiphilinus, as now admitted by critics, has
already been referred to {supra, p. 71, note The use of the
helmet, by some of the British princes as a mark of distinction,
may be conceded, without impugning the general accuracy of
the historians. On some of the coins of Cuuobelin, a helmeted
head, intended probably for that of this prince, is distinctly represented.
Mon. Hist. Brit, plate 1. figs. 18, 22. Akerman,
"Coins of Hispania, Britannia," &c. plate 24. fig. 2, 8.
Though these helmets do not exhibit any striking appendages
of horns and animal heads, as described by Diodorus on the
brazen helmets of the Gauls, and by Plutarch on those of the
Cimbri, they may have been worked in relief with the faces of
birds and beasts, as the former describes.