carved bone harpoons were used for fi shing in rivers. Few
cooking implements have survived.
Of the stone and bone ornaments that have survived, the
fi gure of a woman’s head with what appears to be plaited hair
found at Brassempouy, France, and dating to around 20,000
b.c.e. and a female fi gure carved from mammoth ivory found
at Lespugue, France, and dating to as early as 25,000 to 18,000
b.c.e. show people making nonessential items for the house-
hold. Th e numbers of surviving pots and fi gurines dating to
4500 b.c.e. or later increase dramatically, as does the sophis-
tication in the design on the pots that have been found.
Changes in household goods appeared with the spread
of agriculture during the Neolithic Period. Bowls from about
4000 b.c.e., such as those from Fussell’s Lodge, Britain, show
simple decorations, while ones from about 600 years later
from a Newgrange megalithic tomb in eastern Ireland depict
more complicated geometric patterns. It also seems probable
that there were many wooden implements from this period
that have not survived.
Th e advent of the Copper Age in Europe, from about
2500 b.c.e. in southeastern Europe and from circa 1900 b.c.e.
in Britain, saw the increasing ease of making purely deco-
rative items such as copper collars worn on ceremonial oc-
casions as well as copper and pottery bowls and pots. Many
artifacts have been found at a Copper Age cemetery in Tisza-
polgár (also called Polgár), Hungary. With so many objects
buried with the dead, it is possible to work out how many
possessions people may have had, with some graves contain-
ing large numbers of artifacts. Indeed, a few of the graves of
children also contain expensive items, suggesting that they
might have inherited them.
Much weaponry and armor of ancient Europe, including
helmets, breastplates, shin plates, spearheads, arrowheads,
and swords, survive from the Bronze Age, with artifacts dat-
ing to about 1800 b.c.e. until 1200 b.c.e. Many urns, pots,
cooking implements, and decorative items have been found.
Although wooden furniture was used, little has survived. At
Cologne, Germany, a small wooden chair and bed were un-
covered in the grave of a boy, and a folding stool from the
Bronze Age was discovered in a grave in Denmark.
Th e Bronze Age was a period of comparative affl uence,
during which many large communities formed. By this time
there were clearly greater contacts between the various peo-
ples of Europe, with trade needed for the acquisition of some
items and commodities, especially tin. Some of these traders
were Phoenicians, who brought with them items to exchange,
and various statuaries from the period have a distinct eastern
Mediterranean style. Although there are local variations, a
greater uniformity in design and similar household items has
been found across the whole of Europe as a result of wide-
spread trade.
One of the more elaborate items of the period is from an
excavation in the Trundholm bog in Zealand, Denmark, in
which was found a model of a horse pulling a partially gold-
plated disc—possibly a mirror—dated to about 1650 b.c.e.
Another signifi cant fi nd is a razor from Solberg, Jutland, that
has been dated to 1000 b.c.e.
Further changes in ancient European household goods
occurred during the Iron Age (1000 b.c.e.–150 c.e.). Many
highly stylized pieces of bronze ware and ironwork from the
fi ft h century b.c.e. survive. Th e appearance of such items
coincided with the introduction of wine into the diet of the
Celts, and the result was the production of many elaborate
fl agons, a type of drinking vessel with a handle and spout
and typically a lid. One discovery from an archaeological
excavation at Basse-Yutz, in the east of France, dated to the
late fi ft h century b.c.e., includes intricate fl agons, involv-
ing bronze work combined with enamel and Mediterranean
coral. Others follow Etruscan (characteristic of the ancient
civilization in modern-day central Italy) or Greek designs,
with a hydria—a vessel for water mixed with concentrated
wine—found at Grächwill, near Bern, Switzerland, showing a
distinct Spartan pattern.
In addition to fl agons, there were many diff erent styles
of drinking containers. One style, a bronze vessel designed
to look like a boot, has been found in Hungary dating to the
third century b.c.e., soon aft er the Celts moved to that region.
Th ere have also been iron frames such as those found at Wel-
wyn, Hertfordshire, England, which were probably used for
holding amphorae (a two-handled vessel with an oval shape
and slender neck) and fl agons. Pottery was also developing
considerably. During work on the Hallstatt Cemetery in Aus-
tria, which was discovered in 1846, many pots were found
along with decorated ritual axes and sword scabbards depict-
ing scenes of battle and everyday life.
Th e infl uence of the Etruscans is clear in many household
items from the fi ft h century b.c.e. until the second century
b.c.e. Th ese items can be seen in the La Tène culture, which
fl ourished at the eastern end of Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
A mirror, following Etruscan designs, was found at La Motte-
St.-Valentin, Haute-Marne, and an Etruscan-style bronze ves-
sel with a tripod was found in the tomb of a Celtic prince at
Bad Dürkheim, in Rhineland, Germany. Gradually, however,
a new style of mirror made from polished metal started to be
produced in workshops in southern England from the fi rst
century b.c.e. until the fi rst century c.e. Th ey were particu-
larly distinguished with an openwork handle and a pattern
that has plain, smooth areas with grooved basketwork-style
motifs, as seen in the Desborough Mirror, which has been
dated to the fi rst century c.e. and was found at Northamp-
tonshire, England, in 1908.
With the rise of the Roman power in Italy, Roman arti-
facts started to be traded throughout the area settled by the
Celts. Th ere were also many more similarities between the
goods in northern France and southern Britain. Th e most
celebrated “fi nd” from this period was the Aylesford Bucket,
found in 1886 at the cemetery of a Belgic tribe that had settled
in Kent, England. Th e “hinges” of the bronze bucket’s handle
show a human face with bulging eyes in a La Tène design.
It seems likely that furniture became more ornate, but being566 household goods: Europe