The Witham Shield is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ...

decorative bronze shield facing of

La Tène style Celtic art is associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and styli ...

, dating from about the 4th century BC. The shield was discovered in the

River Witham The River Witham is a river almost entirely in the county of Lincolnshire in the east of England. It rises south of Grantham close to South Witham at , passes through the centre of Grantham (where it may be closely followed using the Riversi ...

in the vicinity of

Washingborough Washingborough is a village in the North Kesteven district in Lincolnshire, England. Located east of Lincoln and from Sleaford. The population in the 2001 census was 3,356, increasing to 3,482 at the 2011 census. It is situated on the lower ...

and Fiskerton in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1826. Further excavations at a nearby site have revealed posts interpreted as the foundation for a causeway, as well as artefacts including a sword, spears and part of a human skull with a sword fragment lodged within. The shield is now in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

.Witham Shield
accessed August 2010

Appearance

The Witham Shield is an example of the style of Celtic art known as La Tène. The bronze facings show evidence of having been reworked. The most noticeable feature is the central dome which would have been required for functional reasons as it allowed the owner to hold the shield close to its centre of gravity. Originally a leather silhouette of a long-legged

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The species i ...

would have been riveted to the shield around the central dome, as indicated by small rivet holes and staining of the shield. The pattern of discolouration was very clear when the shield was recovered from the River Witham (see 1863 drawing below). Although it is still possible to see the discolouration under certain lighting conditions, the boar design is no longer easy to make out. The boar may have been a tribal emblem or represented the prowess of the shield's owner, but could also have been a representation of the Celtic god Moccus. The shield also has a number of birds and animals incorporated into the design. The roundels at each end are inspired by the heads of birds, which are supported by horses with wings for ears. Birds similar to crested grebes are engraved on the central spine and this completes the engraving work elsewhere.''Early Celtic Art in Britain''
Ruth and Vincent Megaw, p.29, accessed 16 August 2010 Witham Shield drawing of 1863

Construction

The shield was made principally from wood, now perished, to a design later known as a "Gaulish Shield" that originated in the seventh century BC. What remains is an almost complete facing that had been made to cover its surface. The sheeting is 0.2-0.3 mm thick and was designed to be applied to a wooden backing estimated at 8 mm thick. There are two main sheets that meet at the midpoint of the shield. Each of these sheets is just over one metre long. The join is not neat, and it is hidden from view by a covering strip. The shield is decorated with a central spindle boss, on which are pieces of red coral that are thought to have come from the Mediterranean area."The Witham Shield"
E. M. Jope, ''British Museum Quarterly'', Vol. 35, No. 1/4 (Spring, 1971), pp. 61–69,

, accessed 16 August 2010

Importance

The shield has been described as a "tour de force" of beaten bronze work. There are no other complete bronze facings that survive in Europe. This is partially due to their rarity, as Celtic shields were normally constructed from unsheathed wood. The idea of covering a shield with bronze may indicate Greek and Etruscan influence. The shield is comparable with other shields found in Britain dating from the same period, such as the Chertsey Shield and the

Battersea Shield The Battersea Shield is one of the most significant pieces of ancient Celtic art found in Britain. It is a sheet bronze covering of a (now vanished) wooden shield decorated in La Tène style. The shield is on display in the British Museum, an ...

which were also found in rivers.

Ownership

The shield entered the collection of Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick (1783–1848), a noted collector of arms and armour, and after his death the shield and other items of Iron Age armour were left to his cousin, Lt. Colonel Augustus Meyrick, who disposed of them between 1869 and 1872. The shield was purchased by Augustus Franks, an independently wealthy antiquarian who worked for the British Museum. In 1872 Franks presented the shield to the British Museum, one of over 20,000 objects that he donated to the museum during his lifetime or by bequest at his death. itham Shield - BM registration number - 1872,1213.1

Related finds

An unusual triple headed dress pin was also found in 1826. This pin set was also found in the River Witham near Fiskerton. This is described as the only surviving set of triple dress pins and has been dated as 8th century and Anglo-Saxon. The pin set is also held in the British Museum. In the 20th century a series of posts were found together with an early to mid Iron Age

sword A sword is an edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter blade with a pointed ti ...

when a dyke was being cleaned near Fiskerton, near where the Witham Shield had been found. Excavations in 1981 revealed the posts to be a wooden

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet Tr ...

which dendrochronologists dated to a period between 457 and 300 BC. It appeared to have been repaired and added to every eighteen years or so during that period, even though the construction and maintenance of a walkway on such a scale at that time would have been a major feat of engineering. Hundreds of artifacts were also found around the causeway, including eleven

spear A spear is a pole weapon consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastene ...

s, six swords, woodworking and metalworking tools, as well as part of a

human skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...

which had a crescent-shaped chop mark, probably inflicted by a sword; this injury is unlikely to have killed the man.Field, Naomi and Pearson, Mike Parker, 2003 ''Fiskerton: An Iron Age Timber Causeway with Iron Age and Roman Votive Offerings'', (Oxbow Books, Oxford). Twenty years later, during further excavations at the site, more sections of the causeway were dug out, some of them containing posts several metres long, plus a complete spear, a

currency bar A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general def ...

, a sword, a

dagger A dagger is a fighting knife with a very sharp point and usually two sharp edges, typically designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon.State v. Martin, 633 S.W.2d 80 (Mo. 1982): This is the dictionary or popular-use def ...

and some bronze fittings, all of which appeared to have been deliberately damaged before their burial.Kennedy, Anra
"Treasures of the Celtic Causeway - The Fiskerton Log Boat"
''Culture24'', 26 March 2002. Accessed 20 August 2010 The most important discovery was two Iron Age

votive A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

boats. One of these boats, as well as other artifacts from the site, can be seen at The Collection in Lincoln. The area around the site of the causeway was opened as a

nature reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological o ...

managed by the

Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust The Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust, (part of the The Wildlife Trusts, Wildlife Trusts partnership), covers the whole ceremonial county of Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1948 as a Volunteering, voluntary charitable organisation dedicated to ...

in 2006.

References

External links

British Museum page on the Witham Shield
{{DEFAULTSORT:Witham Shield Individual shields Iron Age Britain Iron Age Europe Ancient Celtic metalwork Celtic warfare Celtic archaeological artifacts Archaeological sites in Lincolnshire Prehistoric objects in the British Museum