Material and Spiritual Engagements: Britain and Ireland in the First Age of Metal
The Rhind Lectures 2011 by Dr Stuart Needham
29th April 2011 to 1st May 2011

Lecture 2: Competing ethea of seniority
The dagger, the most striking metal object regularly encountered in graves, has become the period’s iconic representation of masculinity. It was more than a weapon – its role as regalia being emphasised by frequent embellishment of the hilt. To what extent, though, should we view the dagger as representing a universal warrior status, rather than more generalised expressions of leadership or seniority? This is examined through dagger graves over the timespan 2200–1950 BC, when they are most numerous and widespread. Moreover, contextual differentiation suggests that a series of flint daggers and their bronze counterparts had a background in competing social factions. An earlier contender as the symbol of male authority was the halberd; unlike the contemporary copper dagger, it was the pride of a society that largely rejected the new Beaker burial customs and instead gave primacy to other forms of ritual deposition. This implies not just regional differences of acculturation to Beaker injections, but the rapid emergence of ideological rivalries.

The Lectures
Britain and Ireland abound with burials of the early metal age. Many individuals were accorded special treatment on death, interred in finely constructed chambers or deep graves or honoured by cremation and committal to the ground in highly ornamented pottery vessels. Distinctive or exotic grave goods may accompany the burial and the sites themselves came to be memorialised through the construction of impressive mounds and ring works. These conspicuous and pervasive archaeological contexts have come to define a funerary phenomenon and an era. They give the impression of a society totally preoccupied with the dead and their funerary passage and of a comprehensive burial policy. That funerary practices were endemic in most regions is inescapable, but how many people actually received formal burial, who were they and how were they presented in death? In addressing these questions, we will consider the purpose of this phenomenon and interpret anew the meanings of definable burial modes.

The Lecturer
Following his first degree and postgraduate research at University College, Cardiff, Dr Stuart Needham spent thirty years as Curator of the European Bronze Age collections at the British Museum. He is currently an independent researcher and an Honorary Research Fellow of National Museum Wales.

Recorded at the Royal Society of Edinburgh.