- Chapter Twelve -
Figure n.I Map showing some of the principal sites mentioned in Chapters 12 and 13.which ornaments, vessels and spindle-whorls were made at Hengistbury Head in
Britain (Cunliffe 1987) (Figure 12.1). Stone was also important for grinding grain.
Waldhauser's (1981) study of rotary querns in Bohemia demonstrates the complex
system of quarrying and trade (Figure 12.2) that brought this important device into
general use during the third and second centuries Be.
Wood was the primary substance for construction of buildings of all kinds, and at
the oppida large quantities of timber were employed for building the walls. Wood
was important for weapons (especially spear shafts and shields), tools, furniture,
vessels and vehicles, including wagons, carts and boats, as well as for sculpture. In
most environments in temperate Europe, wood does not survive from the Iron Age;
only under special circumstances is wood preserved, as in the marshy lakeshore at La
Tene (Vouga 1923).
Clays were extracted from the ground for the manufacture of pottery and for
daub for the walls of buildings, as well as for constructing ovens, kilns and furnaces.
In most regions of temperate Europe, good clays were readily available, and tech-
nical studies (Cumberpatch and Pawlikowski 1988) indicate that most communities
used local clays rather than bringing material in from outside.
In contrast to copper and tin, iron was available locally to most communities in
temperate Europe. In the hilly uplands of central and western Europe that formed
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