Wellmann Imre szerk.: A Magyar Mezőgazdasági Múzeum Közleményei 1971-1972 (Budapest, 1973)
Fenton, Alexander: Early yoke types in Britain
With these thoughts in mind, the remaining British yokes can now be examined. Three from Ireland (Fig. 1. 4—6) appear to be undoubted withers yokes. They are quite short (4: 84 cm.; 5: 84 cm.; 6: 87 cm.), shorter than the majority of withers yokes, but not much shorter than the metre long neck yokes from Finland. 12 Like the head or horn yokes, they have each a central crest, and one or two central, horizontal openings to hold the lashings for a beam or pole. The Fermangh yoke (Fig. 1. 5) has a double crest. The neckpieces are deep and well carved, with a vertical opening at each side. The inner openings, less often the outer ones, are catapult-shaped, i.e. they start as a single opening in the underside of the yoke beam, and split into two openings half way up. The yoke from Enndskillan (Fig. 1. 6) and another from Mayo (Fig. 1. 13) each have two lateral, V-shaped hollows above the neckpieces, the result being the creation of three ridges. When looked at from above, the appearance, with the double openings that come out one on either side of the centre ridge, is remarkably like that of a snake's head. Parallels to these three-ridged neckpieces can be found in the La-Tène period, c. 450 B.C. to the birth of Christ, and earlier in the Hallstatt period, late seventh —early sixth centuries B.C. Particular reference may be made to the two leather covered and bronze-studded yokes found at Hradenin, near Kolin, and at Lovosice, in Bohemia. 13 This group of Irish yokes, therefore, have clear La Tène and Hallstatt period analogies. The same form is also found in Denmark, for example for the yoke from Lundgärdshede in Jutland. 14 Instead of a crest, however, there is a peak, and the outer terminals have horizontal openings into which run vertical openings bored from above. The inner sides of the neckpieces have vertical openings only. Fragments of leather thongs were found in these openings (Fig. 2, 6). This yoke is possibly the only one to have been radio-carbon dated. According to the calculations of the Radio-Carbon Laboratory in Copenhagen, it must be attributed to 330 B.C. J5 It will be important for future investigations of early forms of transport and draught to establish the dates of a further selection of yoke types by the radio-carbon method, especially those found in peat bogs and not stratified or associated with other dateable finds. Two of the other Irish yokes have horizontal openings in their outer terminals. The first (Fig. 1, 7) appears to be unparalleled in form. The surviving outer opening takes the form of a vertical slit, matched on the inner side of the neckpiece by a groove in which the wear-marks of the thongs are readily visible. Seen from above, the neckpieces are not symmetrical, each having a flap at one side. This is almost certainly a head yoke, that had been fastened by thongs to the inner horns, and by straps, if the vertical slot is any criterion, to the outer horns. l^VILKUNA, K. loc. cit. 62. 13FILIP. J. Celtic Civilisation and its Heritage. Prague 1962. 31—32. — PIGGOTT, S. Ancient Europe. Edinburgh 1965. Plate XXXIII. — See also DRACK, W. Wagengräber und Wagenbestandteile aus Hallstattgrabhügeln der Schweiz. Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Archäologie und Kunstgeschichte V: 1958. 18, 12—17 for other possible parallels. l 4 BROJORGENSEN, M. Billeder af Viborg amts Forhistorie. Historisk Samfund for Viborg amt, 1966. 116—118. '•'Tools and Tillage I. 1 1968. 59.
