The Deskford carnyx is the head of an Iron Age trumpet. Found in
the north-east of Scotland around 1816, it is a masterpiece of
early Celtic art, shaped to resemble a wild boar with its upturned
snout and decoration mirroring the folds of skin around a boar’s
face. It is a complex composite construction, wrought from sheet
bronze and brass. This helps us date it, because brass is not
native to Scotland: it represents recycled Roman metal. Along with
other evidence, this suggests a date between c. AD 80 and 250 for
its construction. Today only the head survives: it lacks the erect
crest, ears, enamelled eyes, wooden tongue and long cylindrical
tube which it once had. For evidence of these we must turn to other
examples.
Above: Watercolour of the carnyx painted
about fifty years after it was found.
Where were carnyces used?
The carnyx was once widespread throughout much of Europe,
although only a dozen or so fragments are known to us. It
flourished between 300 BC and AD 200 in western and central Europe
and beyond. Bands of Celtic mercenaries took it on their travels;
carnyces were present at the attack on the Greek sanctuary at
Delphi in 279 BC; carnyces defied Julius Caesar in Gaul; carnyces
faced Claudius when he invaded Britain. They are even shown on a
Buddhist sculpture in India, proof of the far-flung connections of
the Iron Age world. Yet they are not a purely Celtic instrument:
they were also used among the Dacians, in modern Romania. “Celtic”
is a complicated term. The idea of a pan-European Celtic culture is
a myth: instead, aspects of art and technology were shared over
wide areas among diverse cultures. The carnyx was one example of
this.
Above: Gaulish coin showing a warrior
carrying a carnyx, boar standard and severed head.
Above: Selection of Roman Republican coins
showing captured carnyces.
Above: Carnyces and other Celtic weapons
on the Arc d’Orange in southern France.
Above: Carnyx and shield on a Roman altar
from Nîmes.
Above: Carnyces and other Dacian weaponry
on the base of Trajan’s Column in Rome.
Above: Captured Dacian woman with a carnyx
and other weapons, from Rome.
The carnyx can only be understood in this international context.
It is to Europe and beyond that we turn for parallels. Yet this is
a specifically Scottish variant. The decoration is typical of
metalwork in north-east Scotland at the time, where there was a
flourishing tradition of fine bronze-working.
The local context can also help us understand the fate of the
Deskford carnyx.
What is the story of the Deskford carnyx?
The minister of the parish at the time of the carnyx’s discovery
records it was found at the bottom of a peat moss. Excavations by
the National Museum of Scotland in the 1990s examined this
findspot. This showed that the carnyx ended its life as a
sacrifice, a votive offering to some unknown god.
Above: Aerial view of the site in
Deskford where the carnyx was found. Image © Aberdeenshire
Aerial Surveys.
There was a widespread belief in the Iron Age that wet locations
were sacred places where you could contact the gods. Valuable finds
often occur in peat bogs as gifts to win a deity’s favour. Deskford
produced evidence of a series of offerings made in pits cut into
the peat: smashed pottery, joints of meat, and a cache of
charm-stones. These are the offerings of the everyday, the tokens
of a farming people asking their gods for good weather or thanking
them for a fine harvest.
Above: Piece of Roman samian pottery found at Deskford.
The carnyx was more than this: it must have been a spectacular
sacrifice, at a time of great danger or great celebration. Before
being offered to the gods it was “killed” by dismantling it;
perhaps only the head was placed in the bog. It seems an
appropriately grand end for such a fine piece of craftsmanship.
How was the replica carnyx created?
The impetus for the research into the carnyx came from Dr John
Purser and his desire to build a new carnyx to bring the music of
the past alive. With funding from the Glenfiddich Living Scotland
Awards, the Hope-Scott Trust and the National Museum of Scotland,
this was carried out by John Creed. The missing parts were
reconstructed from parallels elsewhere in Europe.
Above: Reconstruction of the Deskford
carnyx created by John Creed.
Although surviving examples are few, there are many depictions
of carnyces, especially on Roman triumphal sculpture and coinage:
the legions encountered it in battle, and thought it so strange
that they used it as an emblem of the tribes they fought. This
gives us a wide range of comparative material. Some elements are
inevitably speculative: the original length and diameter of the
tube, for instance, is unknown, although the dimensions fall within
the known range. However, the reconstruction is as accurate as we
can make it on current knowledge.
Above:
Metalsmith John Creed working on the reconstruction of the carnyx.
Nearly all the tools used in the reconstruction process would have
been used by Iron Age craft workers.
What did we learn from reconstructing the carnyx?
We learned that a combination of archaeology, craftsmanship and
music is a powerfully creative one in deciphering such fragments.
We learned about the effort involved in making these instruments –
it took four hundred hours to craft the reconstruction, showing
what prized possessions they must have been. And we know something
of what it sounded like. A reconstruction can never recreate the
sounds of the past: apart from imponderables in the instrument
design, we know nothing of Iron Age views of music. However,
musician John Kenny has shown what could have been played on such
instruments, and the possibilities are greater than anyone could
have believed. It makes a fitting tribute to the craftsmen and
musicians of almost 2000 years ago.
You can hear a sample of John Kenny playing the carnyx here.
Sound file courtesy of Carnyx and Co.