A halberd is a two-handed polearm that came to prominent use from the 13th to 16th centuries. The halberd consists of an axe blade topped with a spike mounted on a long shaft. It can have a hook or thorn on the back side of the axe blade for grappling mounted combatants. The halberd was usually 1.5 to 1.8 metres long.
Brân the Blessed is a giant and king of Britain in Welsh mythology. He appears in several of the Welsh Triads, but his most significant role is in the Second Branch of the Mabinogi, Branwen ferch Llŷr. He is a son of Llŷr and Penarddun, and the brother of Brânwen, Manawydan, Nisien and Efnysien. The name "Brân" in Welsh is usually translated as crow or raven.
Corvidae is a cosmopolitan family of oscine passerine birds that contains the crows, ravens, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, jays, treepies, choughs, and nutcrackers. In colloquial English, they are known as the crow family or corvids. Currently, 135 species are included in this family. The genus Corvus containing 47 species makes up over a third of the entire family. Corvids (ravens) are the largest passerines.
The Australian raven is a passerine bird in the genus Corvus native to much of southern and northeastern Australia. Measuring 46–53 centimetres (18–21 in) in length, it has all-black plumage, beak and mouth, as well as strong grey-black legs and feet. The upperparts are glossy, with a purple, blue, or green sheen, and its black feathers have grey bases. The Australian raven is distinguished from the Australian crow species by its throat hackles, which are prominent in adult birds. Older adult individuals have white irises, younger adults have white irises with an inner blue rim, while younger birds have dark brown irises until fifteen months of age, and hazel irises with an inner blue rim around each pupil until age two years and ten months. Nicholas Aylward Vigors and Thomas Horsfield described the Australian raven in 1827, its species name (coronoides) highlighting its similarity with the carrion crow. Two subspecies are recognized, which differ slightly in calls and are quite divergent genetically.
The little raven is a species of the family Corvidae that is native to southeastern Australia. An adult individual is about 48–50 cm (19–19.5 in) in length, with completely black plumage, beak, and legs; as with all Australian species of Corvus, the black feathers have a grey base, and the iris of the adult bird is white . Although the little raven was first named by Gregory Mathews in 1912, it was only in 1967 that there was consensus to separate it from the Australian raven as a distinct species.
A torc, also spelled torq or torque, is a large rigid or stiff neck ring in metal, made either as a single piece or from strands twisted together. The great majority are open at the front, although some have hook and ring closures and a few have mortice and tenon locking catches to close them. Many seem designed for near-permanent wear and would have been difficult to remove.
The Urnfield culture was a late Bronze Age culture of Central Europe, often divided into several local cultures within a broader Urnfield tradition. The name comes from the custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which were then buried in fields. The first usage of the name occurred in publications over grave sites in southern Germany in the late 19th century. Over much of Europe, the Urnfield culture followed the Tumulus culture and was succeeded by the Hallstatt culture. Some linguists and archaeologists have associated this culture with a pre-Celtic language or Proto-Celtic language family. By the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Urnfield Tradition had spread through Italy, northwestern Europe, and as far west as the Pyrenees. It is at this time that fortified hilltop settlements and sheet‐bronze metalworking also spread widely across Europe, leading some authorities to equate these changes with the expansion of the Celts. These links are no longer accepted. The Italic peoples, including the Latins, from which the Romans emerged, come from the Urnfield culture of central Europe.
Irish stew or Stobhach is a stew native to Ireland that is traditionally made with root vegetables and lamb or mutton, but also commonly with beef. As in all traditional folk dishes, the exact recipe is not consistent from time to time, or place to place. Basic ingredients include lamb, or mutton, as well as potatoes, onions, and parsley. It may sometimes also include carrots. Irish stew is also made with kid.
Irish stew is a celebrated Irish dish, yet its composition is a matter of dispute. Purists maintain that the only acceptable and traditional ingredients are neck mutton chops or kid, potatoes, onions, and water. Others would add such items as carrots, turnips and pearl barley; but the purists maintain that they spoil the true flavour of the dish. The ingredients are boiled and simmered slowly for up to two hours. Salt can be added before or after the cooking. Mutton was the dominant ingredient because the economic importance of sheep lay in their wool and milk produce and this ensured that only old or economically non-viable animals ended up in the cooking pot, where they needed hours of slow cooking. Irish stew is the product of a culinary tradition that relied almost exclusively on cooking over an open fire. It seems that Irish stew was recognised as early as about 1800.
Perforated baton, bâton de commandement or bâton percé are names given by archaeologists to a particular type of prehistoric artefact made from antler from Prehistoric Europe, whose function remains debated. The name bâtons de commandement was the name first applied to the class of artefacts, but it makes an assumption of function, as a ceremonial object or insignia held by leaders. The name bâton percé, meaning "pierced rod", or "perforated baton" is a more recent term, and is descriptive of form rather than any presumed function.
The Atlantic Bronze Age refers to a cultural complex of the Bronze Age period in prehistoric Europe, spanning approximately 1300–700 BC. This complex includes various cultures in Britain, France, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
Corvus is a widely distributed genus of passerine birds ranging from medium-sized to large-sized in the family Corvidae. It includes species commonly known as crows, ravens, and rooks. The species commonly encountered in Europe are the carrion crow, hooded crow, common raven, and rook; those discovered later were named "crow" or "raven" chiefly on the basis of their size, crows generally being smaller. The genus name is Latin for "raven".
The prehistory of Ireland has been pieced together from archaeological evidence, which has grown at an increasing rate over the last decades. It begins with the first evidence of permanent human residence in Ireland around 10,500 BC and finishes with the start of the historical record around 400 AD. Both the beginning and end dates of the period are later than for much of Europe and all of the Near East. The prehistoric period covers the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age societies of Ireland. For much of Europe, the historical record begins when the Romans invaded; as Ireland was not invaded by the Romans its historical record starts later, with the coming of Christianity.
Bronze Age Britain is an era of British history that spanned from c. 2500–2000 BC until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1,700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the period of Iron Age Britain. Being categorised as the Bronze Age, it was marked by the use of copper and then bronze by the prehistoric Britons, who used such metals to fashion tools. Great Britain in the Bronze Age also saw the widespread adoption of agriculture.
The Little Thetford flesh-hook is a late Bronze-Age artefact discovered in 1929 in Little Thetford, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. A flesh-hook is a metal hook with a long handle used to pull meat out of a pot or hides out of tan-pits. This particular find is one of 32 other such archaeologically significant finds, scatters, and excavations within 1 square mile (2.6 km2) of Little Thetford.
Flesh-hook is a term for a variety of archaeological artifacts which have metal hooks and a long handle, or socket for a lost wooden handle. Though the term may be applied to objects from other times and places, it is especially associated with the European Bronze Age and Iron Age. The metal shaft divides to form between two and five hooks with some sort of sharpened end. The purposes of the objects probably include pulling meat out of a pot or hides out of tan-pits.
Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort straddling the border of the counties of Surrey and Hampshire in southern England. The fort straddles the borough of Waverley in Surrey and the borough of Rushmoor and the district of Hart, both in Hampshire. Caesar's Camp is a Scheduled Ancient Monument with a list entry identification number of 1007895. It lies approximately 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of the town of Farnham, and a similar distance west of Aldershot. The hillfort lies entirely within the Bourley and Long Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest. Caesar's Camp is a multivallate hillfort, a fort with multiple defensive rings, occupying an irregular promontory, with an entrance on the south side. The site has been much disturbed by military activity, especially at the southeast corner. The remains of the hillfort are considered to be of national importance.
The Dowris Hoard is the name of an important Bronze Age hoard of over 200 objects found in Dowris, County Offaly, Ireland. Items from the deposit are currently split between two institutions: the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin and the British Museum in London.
The Caergwrle Bowl is a unique object dating to the Middle Bronze Age, c. 1300 BC, originally manufactured from shale, tin and gold, and found in Caergwrle, Flintshire, north east Wales. It is thought to represent a boat, with its applied gold decoration signifying oars and waves, and either sun discs or circular shields. At both ends of the boat is a pair of oculi or 'eyes'.
The Battersea Cauldron is a large bronze cooking vessel, dated to 800 BC to 700 BC. It was found in 1861 from dredging in the River Thames near the new Chelsea Bridge, which connects Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank. It was bought by the British Museum from William Godwin shortly after it was discovered. It is one of over 60 examples of similar Late Bronze Age and Iron Age cauldrons found in Great Britain and Ireland.
The Prosperous Crozier is a late 9th-century or early 10-century Irish Insular type crozier that would have been used as a ceremonial staff for bishops and high-status abbots. Its origins and medieval provenance are unknown until it was found fully intact by turf cutters c. 1831 near Prosperous, County Kildare. It but did not receive attention from antiquarians until 1851, but is today identified as one of the earliest fully extant and thus perhaps the most historically important European crozier.
