- Ironworking in the Celtic World -
oppida, perhaps 300 tons in the case of Manching, provide proof enough of that.
Nor is there any reason to question the profound effect this increase in production
would have had on all aspects of Celtic life. Not only was it now possible for iron
to be used for such basic agricultural implements as ploughshares, but there was a
great increase in the availability of all kinds of tools, although it is clear that it was
still necessary for the metal to be used economically. This is seen in the smith's own
tools. Anvils are still relatively small, while tongs have a simple jaw form which
enabled them to be used for most work, unlike the more specialized forms, which
appear later, and which were designed for the efficient execution of a limited range
of tasks. Similarly, some of the more massive tools are multifunctional. Thus anvils
and sledge hammers may have grooves on them to enable them to be used as swages
for forming round-sectioned rods, a tradition which can be traced back to the Late
Bronze Age. That such multipurpose tools were used throughout the Celtic world is
shown by the discovery of virtually identical hammers with swage grooves from
Waltham Abbey, near London and the Nikolausberg in Austria.
It is at this time that the absolute ascendancy of iron as the metal for weapons,
tools and fittings was established in the Celtic world, and the technical ability of the
Celtic smith becomes fully apparent. The consummate skill of the weapons smiths
is obvious, and their pride is shown by the custom, derived from the classical world,
of stamping the maker's mark or name on some of the finest pieces. The advances
in offensive weapons are paralleled by the development of the mail shirts known
from a few prestige burials and from sculpture. The technical skill shown by such
pieces fully matches the more flamboyant craftsmanship seen in the contemporary
bronzework. It is probably inevitable that our appreciation of the work of the Celtic
blacksmith should be dominated by those pieces which were intended for patrons of
the highest social levels, work which includes not only weapons and armour, but the
elaborate firedogs and cauldron chains which were a necessary adjunct of the Celtic
feast from Wales to Czechoslovakia. But these prestige pieces should not blind us to
the fact that it was in the application of iron to more utilitarian objects that the new
metal had its greatest effect on the whole Celtic world. It was this which must have
revolutionized most aspects of life by making a wide range of functional tools and
implements available to all levels of society. The more spectacular achievements of
the later Celtic world were firmly underpinned by their ability to produce and work
iron on a vast scale.
FURTHER READING
On the Technology of Working Iron
Ehrenreich, R.M. (1985) Trade, Technology and the Ironworking Community in the Iron Age
of Southern Britain, Oxford.
Scott, B.G. and Cleere, R.E (eds) (1984) The Craft of the Blacksmith, Belfast.
Tylecote, R.E (1986) The Prehistory of Metallurgy in the British Isles, London.
--(1992) A History of Metallurgy (2nd edn) London.
Tylecote, R.E and Gilmour, B.J.]. (1986) The Metallography of Early Ferrous Edge Tools and
Edged Weapons, Oxford.