- Museum number
- ML.1576
- Description
-
Iron band-shaped umbo with square wings, from a wooden shield. Reconstructed with plaster, some incorrectly positioned but rectified in the drawing. Now in two fragments. Its length was probably 273 mm, the dome is 123 mm long at the side, The wings were perhaps slightly flared. A nail head, 27 mm diameter, has survived in one wing and the shank of a nail in the other, visible on X-rays. Wood traces on the upper surface of the dome, grain vertical along the length of the grave.
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 27 millimetres (nail head)
-
Length: 123 millimetres (dome)
-
Length: 273 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Stead and Rigby 1999
Findspot: Somsois ‘Perriere-la-Guilliere’ (Marne)
For this, his first excavation, Morel published a detailed account and a plan of the cemetery. He read his report to the Société des Sciences et Arts de Vitry-le-François on 3 August 1865 and published it in the first volume of their transactions (Morel, L., 1867, Cimetière galuois de Somsois, ‘Bulletin de la société des sciences et arts de Vitry-le-François’ (1861-7), 169-86); the same paper was read at the annual meeting of the Sociétés Savantes des Départements at the Sorbonne on 4 April 1866, and then published in two different journals (Morel, L., 1866a, Cimetière gaulois de Somsois, RA, 14, 23-34 and Morel, L., 1866b, Cimetière gaulois de Somois, ‘Mémoires lus à la Sorbonne (Archéologie)’, 177-87). The contribution to Morel 1898 (83-93) was thus the fourth publication of this excavation report. Two versions (Morel 1866a and 1867) are identical, although the illustrations are taken from different blocks and vary slightly; there is one figure in the text and two plates (a plan of the cemetery and a selection of grave-goods). The final version (Morel 1898) is almost the same as Morel 1866b, which varies slightly from the 1866a and 1867 versions. Likewise, the plan, Morel 1898, pl. 28, is very similar to Morel 1866b, pl. vii, although it was not taken from the same drawing and has had lists of grave-goods added. The plan in the other two publications is different and much cruder. The orientation of burials and their overall positions relative to one another is identical on both versions, but the distances between burials varies considerably from one plan to the other: e.g. grave 16 and grave 19 seem to be about 5 m apart on the one plan (Morel 1866a and 1867) but only about 1 m apart on the other (Morel 1866b and 1898). Neither plan has a scale, and one version (Morel 1866b and 1898) lacks a north point. Smith, R.A., 1925, ‘A guide to the antiquities of the Early Iron Age’ (second edition), London, 72-3.
The cemetery was found when seven or eight graves were disturbed in the course of road-works. Morel started an excavation in September 1863 at the side of the road and into the adjoining field. The cemetery was on the slope of a hill and covered an area 21 by 12 m. Below 0.4 m of topsoil there was a compact layer of chalk, 0.6 m, before the 0.2-0.3 m of terre noire covering each skeleton. There was no consistent orientation of the graves, which were on average 2 m long, 0.85 m wide and 1.3 m deep, and no suggestion of coffins. All burials were extended inhumations: one (grave 25) had the hands crossed on the pelvis, two (graves 10 and l4) had the legs crossed, and the others were fully extended with the arms by the sides; one skeleton (grave 23) faced downwards. This cemetery was regarded as exceptional in that all the graves were intact (Morel 1898, 184).
Grave-goods found by the road-workers included: four bracelets (one of glass); four anklets; a torc; two belt chains; three brooches; a finger ring; and two amber beads.
Grave 2: Upper part cut by the road, but grave-goods survived (ML.1569, ML.1570, ML.1576 and ML.1577).
Context: Shields; Band-shaped umbo with square wings.
Remains are limited to iron fittings from wooden shields: handles, binding and band-shaped umbos.
Band-shaped umbo with square wings: (Rapin type I, in Brunaux, J.-L., and Rapin, A., 1988, ‘Gournay II: boucliers et lances, dépôts et trophées’, Paris, 79)
Mineral-replaced wood traces with the grain vertically (along the length of the shield) and nails that have been driven into solid wood.
Bibliography: Morel, L., 1898, ‘La Champagne souterraine’ Reims, pl. 18, fig. 8 = L 230 mm according to the scale, shown complete. The binding that Morel illustrates alongside this umbo does not survive.
Another umbo of this type (said to be from Marson 'Montfercaut') is recorded by Morel (measurements in the text L 290 mm, wings L 120 mm, and according to the scale of the illustration L 276 mm, wings L 126 mm) but it is not correlated in the Register. The closest piece in the collection is ML.1576 above, allegedly from Somsois, whose measurements do not correlate with those taken from Morel's scale drawing of the Somsois umbo. Morel 1898, 8, pl. 1, fig. 4; Smith, R.A., 1925, ‘A guide to the antiquities of the Early Iron Age’ (second edition), London, fig. 68, 1; Charpy, J.-J., and Rapin, A., 1991, La sépulture celtique de Marson ‘Montfercault’ (Marne), ‘Mémoires de la société d’agriculture, commerce, sciences et arts du department de la Marne’ (106), 7-23, 17, fig. 3.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- ML.1576
