930 Geschichte des Altertums bis ca. 499, Archäologie
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Research on Bronze Age weapons from wet contexts in northern Europe often interprets those finds as structured deposits of a symbolic nature, placed in liminal environments that had special significance in social and religious terms. Much less consideration is given to direct or indirect connections with war and conflict in the competitive chiefdom polities of the Bronze Age. As territorial boundaries, rivers were obvious settings for conflict, with confrontations at fording points leading to weapon loss in battle. There may also have been intentional deposition connected to the death of a warrior at or near that location. River deposition may also signify the celebration of a military victory, involving a ritualized destruction of the weapons of the vanquished. They may also represent an assertion of territory or an expression of ritualized violence. Such scenarios illustrate how the use of weapons as funerary or votive offerings does not preclude a close association with warfare. The parallel phenomenon of hoarding in the same period may reflect a political climate in which it was necessary to hide valuables. This paper explores possible connections between the deposition of weapons and valuables in wet contexts and the landscape context of war in Ireland during the later Bronze Age, with implications for research in other parts of Europe.
This paper considers archaeological evidence for warfare and conflict in Bronze Age Ireland, with specific reference to the destruction of hillforts during the later second millennium BC. These centres were built at a time of growing militarism, reflected in an increased output of bronze weaponry, including the first use of swords. The indications are of a society obsessed with power and status, with competitive tendencies that on occasion led to open warfare. Recent fieldwork has uncovered evidence of conflict at a number of hillforts across Ireland, the significance of which is considered in relation to the political landscape of the Middle and Late Bronze Age.