The carnyx, an animal-headed bronze horn, once echoed across Iron Age Europe. The book presents a full picture of this dramatic instrument for the first time. It considers the rare surviving fragments, with a detailed study of the Deskford carnyx from Banffshire in north-east Scotland (one of the key pieces of Celtic art on display in the National Museum of Scotland), alongside depictions from Iron Age and Classical art.
Research shifts from details of a single carnyx to a European scale in order to obtain a rounded picture of this striking instrument including metalworking technology, Celtic art styles, hoards and sacrificial offerings.
This is once again a living instrument a now iconic reconstruction was made of the Deskford carnyx in 1992 and is widely used for recitals.
Volume 1
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction, background and aims
Chapter 2: The Deskford carnyx
Chapter 3: Discovery and display
Chapter 4: The Deskford carnyx in its landscape and settlement context
Chapter 5: Depositional Traditions in the Scottish Iron Age - metalwork and
other finds
Chapter 6: Celtic art in north-east Scotland and beyond: the massive
metalwork tradition in context
Chapter 7: The carnyx in the Iron Age world
Chapter 8: The carnyx in the Classical world
Chapter 9: Carnyces, Celts and Romans: material culture, ethnicity and
barbarian iconography
Chapter 10: Reconstructing the carnyx - an evocation of Iron Age music
Chapter 11: Conclusions - the carnyx and the study of Iron Age Europe
Volume 2
Appendix 1: Catalog of carnyx depictions
Appendix 2: Details of carnyx depictions
Appendix 3: Uncertain carnyxes
Appendix 4: Falsae
Bibliography
Dr Fraser Hunter did his PhD at the University of Bradford on the topic of the carnyx. He is curator of Iron Age and Roman collections at National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.
