page_title: Prehistoric art in Scotland
section_title: Iron Age
hierarchical_section_title: Prehistoric art in Scotland / Iron Age
caption_attribution_description: English: Leichestown Deskford carnyx &amp; reconstruction. Museum of Scotland
context_page_description: Prehistoric art in Scotland is visual art created or found within the modern borders of Scotland, before the departure of the Romans from southern and central Britain in the early fifth century CE, which is usually seen as the beginning of the early historic or Medieval era. There is no clear definition of prehistoric art among scholars and objects that may involve creativity often lack a context that would allow them to be understood.
  The earliest examples of portable art from what is now Scotland are highly decorated carved stone balls from the Neolithic period, which share patterns with Irish and Scottish stone carvings. Other items from this period include elaborate carved maceheads and figurines from Links of Noltland, including the Westray Wife, which is the earliest known depiction of a human face from Scotland.
  From the Bronze Age there are examples of carvings, including the first representations of objects, and cup and ring marks. Representations of an axe and a boat at the Ri Cruin Cairn in Kilmartin, and a boat pecked into Wemyss Cave, are probably the oldest two-dimensional representations of real objects that survive in Scotland.
context_section_description: The Iron Age began in Scotland from about the seventh century BCE. From this point there are the first finds of iron artifacts in hoards that are consistent containing other items that are consistent with Bronze Age practice. there is also evidence of smithing and smelting on some settlement sites. Iron Age society in Scotland shared many traits with Southern Britain, Ireland and in some cases continental Europe. These included roundhouses and enclosed and fortified settlements, but it also contained elements of independent development.
  From the early part of the period there is relatively little metalwork and a larger amount of ceramics. The assemblage of early Iron Age ceramics from Atlantic Scotland is large compared with the rest of Britain. There are a wide variety of forms and styles, some which resemble those of southern Britain, particularly those with incised geometric ornament.
  By this period Scotland had been penetrated by the wider La Tène culture, which is named after the archaeological site of La Tène on the north side of Lake Neuchâtel in Switzerland. The Torrs Pony-cap and Horns are perhaps the most impressive of the relatively few finds of La Tène decoration from Scotland, and indicate links with Ireland and southern Britain. The Stirling torcs, found in 2009, are a group of four gold torcs in different styles, dating from 300 BCE and 100 BCE. Two demonstrate common styles found in Scotland and Ireland, but the other two indicate workmanship from what is now southern France, and the Greek and Roman worlds.
  There are surviving ring-headed pins, which were probably made locally and not imported, and appear to be part of a British and Irish type that was not part of the La Tène culture. There are also spiral finger rings, glass beads and long-handled combs, which are found across Britain, but have local characteristics. The bronze Stichill collar is a large engraved necklace, fastened at the back with a pin. The Mortonhall scabbard, probably from the first century CE, is elaborately decorated with trumpet curves and "S"-scrolls. Further north there are finds of massive bronze armlets, often with enamelled decoration, like the ones found at Culbin Sands, Moray. One of the most impressive items from this period is the boars head fragment of the Deskford carnyx, a war-trumpet from Deskford in Banffshire, probably dating from the first century CE. Similar instruments are mentioned in Roman sources and depicted on the Gundestrup Cauldron found in Denmark.
  In stone carving there are a number of simple stone heads from Scotland, like that found at Coupar Angus in Perthshire, that may date from the Iron Age. They are similar to those found across Great Britain and Ireland, although they are difficult to date and may have been made much later.
caption: The Leichestown Deskford carnyx and reconstruction, probably dating from the first century CE
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