Cool video: Iron Age shield made of bark and other organic material, no metal - from the British Museum via Graham Starkey, 13 May 2025

This is such a cool video - thank you so much to Graham Starkey for sharing it. When you have a spare 15 minutes, play it and I hope you find it as fascinating as Graham and I did. It is about a totally unique shield from Iron Age Britain, made entirely of bark and other organic material, no metal at all. The pic is a reproduction and the original is going on display in the British Museum. The work to have made it was quite extraordinary. Sophia Adams is the Iron Age Curator and has a lovely presenting style.

Link to DBMM New Zealand Facebook group 

Link to video on YouTube

Gavin Pearson

Fascinating…I think it is the Dacian list which has a note about shields made of bark.

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Julian Hannam

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would they be painted to you think? Bark coloured seems a bit boring.

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Vincent Cholewa

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A good question! One of the things Dr Adams talks about is the evidence on the original shield of decoration, similar to the reddish patches on the replica.

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Julian Hannam

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Oh right I see now that is a pattern!

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Vincent Cholewa

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Julian Hannam it was suggested ochre had been used to colour geometric patterns on the light-coloured bark.