Table Of ContentFROM GENESIS TO PREHISTORY
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From Genesis to
Prehistory
The archaeological Three Age System and its
contested reception in Denmark, Britain, and
Ireland
PETER ROWLEY-CONWY
1
3
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Preface
ThisbookhascomeaboutastheresultoftwodiVerentthings.Oneis
an accident of birth and upbringing, the fact that Iwas brought up
bilingualinEnglishandDanish.ThisplacedtheScandinavianarch-
aeological literature within my reach, including the early publica-
tions of the Three Age System, and I started reading these simply
for fun. As a student in Cambridge in the 1970s I had attended
lectures by that great raconteur of archaeological history, Glyn
Daniel, and subsequently explored his writings and those of others
ontheearlyhistoryofarchaeology.ComparingthesewithwhatIwas
encounteringasIreadtheoriginalmaterial,Icametorealizethatthe
historyofarchaeology presentedinEnglishlanguagetextbooksisat
theveryleastincomplete;oftendownrightwrong.Quitealotofwork
has been done over the years by Scandinavians interested in the
history of their archaeology, and this has provided considerable
insights to those who can read Danish or Swedish. Not much of
thishasbeenpublishedinEnglish,however,andagreatdealremains
to be done in general. The Scandinavian chapters of this book
are therefore an attempt to redress the balance, and present a
more comprehensive picture of the crucial period in Scandinavian
archaeology.
The other major impetus was the realization that we know even
lessaboutthehistoryofBritishandIrisharchaeology,atleastsofar
asthe adoptions of the Three Age System is concerned. Histories of
archaeology have, understandably and correctly, tended to concen-
trateonthegreatmovesforward—thediscoveryofhumanantiquity,
orthedeciphermentoflong-forgottenscriptsexcavatedfromancient
cityruins.ButhowtheBronzeAge,forexample,becameanaccepted
unitoftimehasreceivedmuchlessattention.Itsometimesseemsto
be thought that, after its initial promulgation in Copenhagen and
Lund, there is hardly any story worth telling. The Scottish pioneer
DanielWilsonisjustlyportrayedasamajorWgure,butfewothersare
ever discussed. This was thrown into sharper focus by the research
project in the Department of Archaeology in Durham University,
vi Preface
run and carried out by Dr Pam Graves and Dr Anne O’Connor, on
William Greenwell. This led to my exploring him and many of the
other Wgures of nineteenth-century English, Scottish, and Irish
archaeology. This led once again to the realization that there was a
huge untold story out there. The later chapters of this book are
thereforeanattempttotellthisstory,andtoseewhy thingsworked
outsoverydiVerently inLondon,Edinburgh,andDublin.
The raw data for this book are purely and simply the books and
papersthatpeoplewroteatthetime.Allthisliteraturehascomefrom
avarietyofsources,andIhavepleasureinacknowledgingthevarious
libraries.FirstmustcomeDurhamUniversityLibrary,whichhousesa
substantialselection of theearly materials;a lotof itemsitdoesnot
contain were obtained for me by Judith Walton of the inter-library
loans department. I also thank the libraries of Queen’s University,
Belfast(SpecialCollections);theBritishLibrary;CambridgeUniver-
sity Library; Glasgow University Library; Leeds University Library
(theBrothertonLibrary);NewcastleUniversityLibrary(theRobinson
Library);andtheNationalLibraryofScotland.Butagreatdealofthe
material consulted had to be bought, which involved a lot of time
searching antiquarian lists on the web. The major search engines I
haveusedare<http://www.antikvariat.net/>,<http://www.eurobuch.
com/>,and<http://www.bookWnder.com/>. Alotoftimehasalso
been spent in conventional bookshops; I am particularly grateful to
John Turton and Ben Bainbridge of Turton’s Bookshop, Willington,
Co.Durham;andinCopenhagentoChristianWestergaardofLynge
& Søn and Anders Stensager of Kaabers. JSTOR is an invaluable
web source for many of the early journals, as is the Thomson Gale
database ECCO (Eighteenth Century Collections Online) for many
eighteenth-century sources; and the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland,aseverthemostprogressiveinBritain,hasplacedtheentire
contents of Archaeologica Scotica and Proceedings of the Society of
Antiquaries of Scotland on the web. By these various means it is
possible now to obtain in half a dozen years a library that formerly
could not have been built up in a lifetime. But inevitably, it is not
possible to locate every item one would like. In this book, if a cited
work appears in the list of References it has been examined by the
author; if not, the secondary source is quoted. When repaginated
reprints are quoted, this is indicated in the text, e.g. (Rask 1818
Preface vii
[1993:ii–iii]).Whenfacsimilereproductionshavebeenconsultedthis
isindicatedinthereferences.
InDurham,numerouscolleagueshaveputupwithhavingtheirears
bentbyexcitingdiscoveriesaboutnineteenth-centuryarchaeology,and
despite this have been happy to oVer assistance, advice, and encour-
agement. Pam Graves and Anne O’Connor have already been men-
tioned; in addition I thank in particular Chris Brooks, Chris Caple,
Margarita Diaz-Andreu, Derek Kennet, Dave Webster, Mark White,
andtheentireDepartmentofArchaeology.JeVVeitchproducedsuperb
scans from often very poor nineteenth-century original illustrations.
Outside Durham, numerous people have helped greatly, including
Stephen Briggs, James Graham-Campbell, Jytte Høstmark of the
KongeligenordiskeOldskriftselskab,LeifFredensborgNielsen(awalk-
ing dictionary just an email away), Poul Otto Nielsen, Pa´draig O´
Macha´in, Ian McBride, Tim Murray, and Kristian L. R. Pedersen.
DavidBoyesreadthemanuscriptandsuggestedmanyimprovements.
Two reviewers made suggestions which have substantially improved
this book. Oxford University Press’s Ask Oxford were able to tell me
whatSirWilliamWilde’spampooteeswere.Thedrawingsofskullsin
Wgure3.3arereproducedfromthearticlebyEschrichtinDanskFolk-
eblad,3,15September1837,bykindpermissionoftheBritishLibrary
(AC.9056 vol. 3 part28–29;facing pp. 111 and115). The letter from
Greenwell to Lubbock quoted in chapter 7 (Add MS 49641/84–7) is
quoted by kind permission of the British Library. The letter from
GreenwelltoEvansquotedinchapter7(JE/B/1/7)isquotedbykind
permissionoftheAshmoleanMuseum,UniversityofOxford.Bothof
these were drawn to my attention by Dr Anne O’Connor. I thank
the Arts and Humanities Research Board for an award under the
Research Leave Scheme (APN 15880, AN 1759); and research leave
givenbytheDepartmentofArchaeologyalsoplayedasigniWcantpart.
AndWnallyIoweahugedebtofgratitudetomywifeDebbie,who
putupwithmethroughthewritingofthisbookandproofreadmuch
ofit,andtomydaughtersGabrielleandEleanor,andtoEddie.They
haveallhadafargreaterexposuretonineteenth-centuryarchaeology
thananyoneshouldbeaskedtotolerate.
PR-C
Durham2006
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Contents
ListofIllustrations xi
ListofAbbreviations xix
1. ChronologiesinConXict 1
2. TheConstructionofPrehistory:Copenhagento1836 21
3. TheThreeAgeSystemasPredator:Copenhagenand
Lund1836–1850 48
4. TheDisinterestedGentlemen:Englandto1860 82
5. Scotland:TheCreationofaNation’sPrehistory 137
6. Ireland:RealmoftheFourMasters 177
7. FightingitThrough:England1860–1880 235
8. Aftermath 286
APPENDICES
1. TranslationofMu¨nter’sProposalof1807 295
2. TranslationofThomsen’sLettersof1825to
J.G.G.Bu¨sching 298
3. TranslationofEschricht’s(1837)PaperonCrania 302
4. Prichard’sDiscussionoftheThreeAgeSystemin1841 311
5. TranslationofWorsaae’sLetterof1847onIrishPolitics 316
References 319
Index 351
