The Deskford Carynx

The Deskford Carynx was discovered in 1816 by workmen digging in a peat deposit on Leicheston Farm grounds near Deskford, south of Cullen in Moray.

The Carynx is an ancient Celtic war trumpet and its use was quite well recorded. Diodorus Siculus probably refers to it when recording Celtic war horns on the continent in the 1st C BC;

“Their trumpets are of a peculiar barbarian kind; they blow into them to produce a harsh sound which suits the tumult of war”.

The famous Celtic Gundestrup cauldron from Denmark (1st or 2nd C BC) illustrates its use by a group of trumpeters on one of its many finely figured panels.
The scene, with a body being placed ceremonially in a cauldron in front of an armed assembly has been described as an initiation scene, though references to the use of cauldrons in sacrifice in Celtic mythology – often related to “triple deaths” – suggests that here we may actually be looking at a sacrifice to propitiate the Gods and ancestors in advance of war; the bulk of the figures shown are notable for being armed.

Tacitus records such activities in the Agricola in chapter 27. Following the near successful storming of a Roman marching camp the Caledonians - during the winter of 82 AD - prepared for the next seasons campaigning:

“With unbroken spirit they persisted in arming their whole fighting force, putting their wives and children in places of safety, and assembling together to ratify their league by sacrificial rites”.

Fraser has speculated that the sacrifices in question may have been Roman prisoners, a plausible explanation though sacrifice of specially chosen individuals within Celtic society as a religious honour can not be discounted.

Great interest was shown in the Carynx in the mid 1990s when a fine reconstruction was made which, along with the original pieces found, are on show in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The Deskford/ Leicheston Carynx has an animalistic head, usually described as a boars head yet in reality it has the appearance of some fantastical form of sea creature, and imagery of creatures such as this would be a fairly common theme in later Pictish art. Notwithstanding, the images on the Gundestrup cauldron clearly show the Carynx with what appears to be either a boar or horses mane and this is how the reconstruction of the original partial remains have been interpreted.

In an attempt to better understand the manner in which it came to buried excavations of the site took place over several years in the mid 1990’s. Finds appear to have been scanty however environmental analysis of the peat in which it was found suggests that the Carynx was deliberately deposited in a hole dug through the much older peat for the purpose.

The area around has yielded evidence of activity in the area from proto history through the Bronze Age. The Carynx – albeit of bronze construction is usually associated with the late Iron Age Celts and this Carynx plus a fragment of Roman samian pottery were among the few Iron Age artefacts recovered.

The location is generally referred to as a settlement however by the end of the third season’s exploration the archaeologist was forced to concede that earlier interpretations of ditched enclosures were intangible and that the site was probably ritualistic in nature – seemingly over a great span of time as suggested by the nature of the finds - with the Carynx’s deposition probably votive. Could this have been one of the locations where Tacitus’s “sacrificial rites” took place in 82 AD as well as at other times?

Since the reconstruction of the Carynx attempts have been made to recreate the sound it made and trombonist John Kenny has toured widely with the piece demonstrating how it might have sounded.
The Carynx had a hinged timber tongue like “clapper”, which alongside a mouth-like ribbed palate has led Kenny to promote in many instances the animalistic sounding renditions the piece is capable of achieving. This is a stark contrast to the more limited sounds achievable by the untextured throats of now “traditional” wind instruments.
The Celts were noted for the wall of noise they generated prior to battle to both intimidate the enemy and bolster their own morale and courage.

It appears likely therefore that the strange animalistic sound of the Carynx - held high overhead - prompted and orchestrated this roar and in Kenny’s music we can imagine the terrifying mass ululation at Mons Graupius and other conflicts in ancient Scotland at this time as well as the weird wailing backdrop to religious ceremonies.

 

 

©2011 Roman Scotland. All Rights Reserved
First Published January 2011