Independent (London)
Evidence of Dark Age beach parties suggests Celts were connoisseurs of
Byzantine wine
By David Keys Archaeology Correspondent
06 August 2001
Dark-age Celts in Britain at the time of King Arthur were so keen on
Mediterranean wine that they were prepared to swap their most valuable
natural asset to satisfy their sophisticated palates.
Archaeological discoveries in south Devon suggest Celtic aristocrats
were "buying" North African, Palestinian and other eastern Mediterranean
wine by supplying the Byzantine empire with tin.
The discovery of the remains of 10 huge beach parties - thought to have
been held to celebrate the arrival of Byzantine traders - indicates the
existence of a complex commercial arrangement when the rest of the
domestic economy was stagnating.
The find helps to link a West Country Celtic kingdom called Dumnonia -
associated with King Arthur - with the successor to the Roman imperial
era, the Byzantine empire. The finds may also lead to the discovery of a
Celtic palace near by.
Historians had thought that, when the Romans left Britain in AD410,
strong links with the empire were severed. But the scale of contact now
being revealed suggests that close links were re-established with the
empire's Byzantine successor about a century later.
Archaeologists excavating at the mouth of the river Avon in Devon have
unearthed 530 fragments of 6th-century eastern Mediterranean wine
amphorae, mainly from North Africa, Palestine and Turkey, and 2,400
pieces of animal bone - the detritus of the great parties. The evidence
indicates that the hosts and guests sated themselves on beef, pork,
mutton, venison, rabbit, duck and chicken - all washed down with
generous quantities of Byzantine wine.
The archaeologists have also found four open-air camp fires and
fragments of posh Byzantine tableware. It is probable that the
Dumnonians were acquiring Mediterranean wine and Byzantine consumer
durables in exchange for tin. A metal-working hearth has been found as
have 20 fragments of metal slag. And the location is less then a mile
from a probable Byzantine shipwreck site from which divers have
recovered 43 ingots of Dumnonian tin. Evidence shows that the ingots
were made on a sandy surface - potentially the same beach.
The discovery near Bantham, 14 miles south-east of Plymouth, has
produced the second largest quantity of Byzantine-made Dark Age pottery
found in Britain. The only site that has produced more is at Tintagel in
Cornwall - where King Arthur is said to have been conceived.
Tintagel and Bantham were within the Dark Age British kingdom of
Dumnonia which covered what is now Cornwall and Devon. Tintagel is known
to have been of very high status and Byzantine trade was conducted
exclusively with the west of Britain, when the east was occupied by
barbarians from Germany - the Anglo-Saxons. The new discovery is,
therefore, likely to trigger a search for Tintagel-style fortresses or
palaces near by.
The exact nature of the relationship between the Byzantines and
south-west Britain is a mystery. Was it a purely commercial relationship
or did the kingdom of Dumnonia briefly become a semi-detached part of
the Byzantine empire 100 years after the Romans had left?
Peter Weddell, the head of Exeter Archaeology, which is working on the
Bantham site, said: "These very important finds are now being examined
in detail and will no doubt shed crucial new light on Dark Age Britain
and its relationship with the wider world."