BRITISH IRON AGE ‘HORN CAPS’: PUTTING THE CART BEFORE THE HORSE?

Abstract

SummaryThe function of British Iron Age ‘horn caps’ has puzzled scholars for centuries. These hollow bronze objects were made from at least the fourth century BC and were mounted on thin wooden shafts. Drawing on the contextual evidence for the objects and the small number of comparable continental finds, it is suggested here that the caps were the terminals of the goads used by the drivers of horse‐drawn vehicles. Although the Celtic chariot and the graves in which they were sometimes placed have attracted great attention, the driver and the horses have been largely overlooked. The drivers may well have also been the horses’ grooms and could have been servants.