The Dating of Food Vessels and Urns in Ireland

This is an investigation of the chronology and development of the decorated pottery found in graves of the early bronze age in Ireland. Its purpose is to date the pottery and identify the sequence of development of each type with a view to constructing an absolute chronology for use in further research into this period. The pottery belongs to the Bowl, Vase, and Collared and Cordoned Urn Traditions. The early bronze age is defined by the use of this pottery and dated by radiocarbon to 2220 and 1500 BC. The basic chronology and the major developments of the early bronze age as reflected by the patterns of associations, developmental sequences and the place of Irish material in the broader insular (Ireland and Britain as a unit) and sometimes continental chronology, have been understood for many decades. But, as many recognise, this approach has not been particularly rewarding in Ireland because of the relatively few hoards, the absence of a rich grave ritual and the dearth of short-term settlements and well-stratified deposits. As a result, rather less is known of the fine chronology of events and their synchronisation, in some cases even agreement about the sequence of particular events. The aim of this study is to contribute to the absolute chronology of the period by combining the results of an extensive narrowly focussed radiocarbon dating project with the refined analysis of the highly decorated grave pottery in order to map its development. Introduction 1 Acknowledgements 8 Part 1. Background 10 1. Terminology and definition 11 2. Radiocarbon dating 19 3. Food vessels and urns in the 20th century 28 Part II. The radiocarbon database 50 4. Radiocarbon dates for bowls 51 5. Radiocarbon dates for the Vase Tradition: vases 77 6. Radiocarbon dates for the Vase Tradition: encrusted urns 103 7. Radiocarbon dates for the Vase Tradition: vase urns 117 8. Radiocarbon dates for collared urns 132 9. Radiocarbon dates for cordoned urns 142 10. Radiocarbon dates for miniature vessels 154 Part III. Description and analyses of the development of food vessels and urns 159 11. The typology of the bowls 165 12. The typology of the pottery of the Vase Tradition: vases 178 13. The typology of the Vase Tradition: encrusted urns 192 14. The typology of the Vase Tradition: vase urns 201 15. The typology of the collared urn 212 16. The typology of the cordoned urn 221 17. Miniature vessels 230 Part IV. Absolute chronology of food vessels and urns 236 18. Dating the development of the pottery of the Bowl Tradition 238 19. Dating the development of the pottery of the Vase Tradition: vases. 252 20. Dating the development of pottery of the Vase Tradition: encrusted urns 267 21. Dating the development of pottery of the Vase Tradition: vase urns 275 22. Dating the development of the pottery of the Collared Urn Tradition 282 23. Dating the development of the pottery of the Cordoned Urn Tradition 287 24. The dating of miniature vessels 293 Part V. The wider context of the pottery and the absolute chronology of the early bronze age 296 25. Ireland and her neighbours in the early bronze age 297 26. Summary, conclusions and synchronisation 326 Appendix A: Catalogue of vase urns 336 Appendix C: Other relevant Irish dates 370 Appendix B: Catalogue of 14C dates on cremated bone from Wales and other miscellaneous dates from England 361 Appendix D: The chronology of the bronze age in Britain, NW France and the Netherlands 375 Bibliography 385