Although the Druids lived separately from the rest of Celtic society (see chapter 11), they acted as their advisors, arbitrators, and judges. If it was not because of a shared religious heritage, then what was it about the Druids that accorded them such status? One reason seems to be that they were thought able to foresee the future. Early Irish literature is full of accounts of Druids predicting such matters as military defeats and victories, general calamities or achievements, and plentiful or disastrous harvests. The Greek and Roman writers also refer to this role. Diodorus Siculus describes the Druids as diviners and foretellers of impending events,6 and Hippolytus of Rome tells us, much to his distaste, that “the Celts esteem these [Druids] as prophets and seers.”7 He goes on to explain that their predictions were based on certain mathematical calculations, which the Roman writer Lucan additionally reveals were related to the movement of heavenly bodies.8 Pomponius Mela says the same, explaining that the Druids were able to determine the future and know “the will of the gods” based on “the movement of the heavens and stars.”9 Julius Caesar describes something similar, in that they gained their knowledge from stellar observations.10 In other words, the Druids were astrologers. This might account to some extent for why the Celts, and perhaps others before them, sought their advice. So did stone circles serve as ancient celestial observatories?
After establishing that monoliths of stone circles often align with particularly bright stars at certain times of the year, various researchers have suggested that megalithic rings may have been used for astrological calculations (see chapter 1). However, you wouldn’t actually need a stone circle to perform astrology. As seen from Earth, the stars are unchanging in relation to each other, forming a fixed background against which the sun, moon, and planets move: the moon as it orbits Earth, the planets as they orbit the sun; the sun also appears to move relative to the stars as Earth orbits it. Ancient astrologers of many cultures assumed that the ever-changing positions of these heavenly bodies were signs of divine communication and that their specific locations within the celestial backdrop, as well as their relative positions to one another, had certain meanings on which proclamations concerning future events and human affairs could be made. This was all based on where the sun, moon, and planets happened to be at a particular time, which would not require any kind of Earth-based grid like a circle of stones. It was where, within the constant background of stellar constellations (specifically, in what today we define as the twelve signs of the zodiac), the bodies of the solar system happened to be that was deemed important. And that could be determined simply by gazing at the sky. A decent view of the heavens was all that was required; no stone circle would have been necessary.
There was, however, another role the Druids performed that must have been of far greater significance than their function as astrologers, one that might indeed have necessitated the use of stone circles as stellar observatories: that of healers. We have already seen how early Irish literature portrays healing as the prerogative of the Druids and how archaeology has indicated that these people were indeed physicians. Discoveries of what were clearly surgical instruments found in tombs that seem to have been reserved for Druids, such as the Stanway site, show an astonishing degree of medical knowledge (see chapter 11). There were saws for amputations, scalpels for surgery, various types of forceps for removing foreign objects from the body and to aid in childbirth, pliers for tooth extractions, slender needles for stitching wounds, and many more items. The kind of tombs in which these Druids were buried and such instruments found were not Iron Age innovations but had been constructed for centuries before the Celts arrived in the British Isles: the unusual box tombs.
So far, we only have discussed the late Iron Age examples of box tombs, but similar monuments had been created long before the arrival of the Celts. The word “cairn” refers to the mound of stones used in this later period to cover the burial chamber, but similar box tombs, covered by earthen tumuli, had been built since the earliest Megalithic times. And these too seem to have been used for the exclusive interment of the Druid predecessors. Whether covered by earth or stone mounds, box tombs date from around 3000 BCE until the end of the Iron Age, in fact right through the entire period that stone circles were being built and used. Found throughout the British Isles, they are unlike other contemporary tombs, consisting of a rectangular structure, averaging about 12 feet long and 4 to 6 feet wide, made up of large slabs of rock, about 5 feet high and 6 inches thick, and divided into two parts by a further vertical slab set widthwise across the middle. The body was buried in one section of the chamber, and grave goods were deposited in the other; a series of capstones was then placed over the top, and the entire structure was covered with a circular mound or a pile of stones. The burial chamber is somewhat similar to a Wessex culture cistvaen, but larger and built above ground level rather than being constructed within a pre-dug pit (see chapter 9).
First appearing around the same time as the first stone circles, box tombs continued to be built long after the general population had abandoned dolmen, long barrow, and passage grave burials. Archaeologists surmise that they must have been reserved for leading figures of a particular group of high-status members of society that existed among the original Megalithic culture, a caste that continued to exist throughout the subsequent periods of Beaker, Wessex, Urnfield, and Iron Age Celtic immigrations; in other words, the Druids and those who appear to have been their predecessors. By way of providing some idea of the extensive period over which these box tombs were constructed and their wide distribution throughout the British Isles, here are a few examples:
One of the earliest box tombs is the Teergonean Tomb near the village of Doolin in County Clare, Ireland. Dating from around the same time as the first Maeshowe-style tombs (see chapter 4), it consists of two chambers of average size for such structures, one in surprisingly good condition. However, its mound has eroded away, and its capstones are missing.11
Haco’s Tomb, erroneously named after a much later Viking king, near the town of Largs in North Ayrshire, Scotland. Dating to around 3000 BCE, it is some 20 feet long and 4 feet wide. Two chambers survive, one still covered by a capstone. However, its tumulus was removed in 1772.12
A box tomb known as Five Wells, near Taddington in Derbyshire, originally had two adjoining chambers, one of which is well preserved, the other consisting of scattered stones, which were displaced when its covering mound was removed by antiquarians in the nineteenth century. Dating to about 2500 BCE, the surviving chamber is about 7 feet long, 3.5 feet wide, and 3 feet high, but its capstones now lie among the surrounding rubble.13
One of the best preserved box tombs in the British Isles is Bant’s Carn on the island of St. Mary’s off the coast of Cornwall. It still survives intact beneath a 25-foot-diameter mound. Dating to around 2000 BCE, the chamber is about 15 feet long and 5 feet wide and high, with four large capstones still forming a roof. It was opened and its dividing stone removed during excavations in 1900.14
The remains of a typical box tomb, of average size for such a monument, survive at Curbar Edge in the hilly Peak District of Derbyshire. It dates from around 1500 BCE, and one of its chambers now consists of scattered stones, while the other is partially collapsed. Until the early twentieth century it was covered by a mound, which was removed when the site was excavated in 1913, leaving it in its present dilapidated condition.15
Penywyrlod Cairn, near the village of Llanigon in the county of Powys in Wales, is a mound averaging about 40 feet wide and containing a rectangular chamber in good condition. It is made from sandstone slabs some 6 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 4 feet high. The slightly smaller second chamber is in a ruinous state after its excavation in 1921. Although standing stones in the area have been dated to Neolithic times, the tomb itself dates from about 600 BCE and is one of the earliest examples of a box tomb covered by a stone cairn rather than an earthen mound.16
These are all examples of box tombs constructed of stone, but from the middle Ir
on Age some of them were created from thick wooden boards. Depending on the type of soil, such structures can survive for centuries in remarkably good condition until exposed to the air. Today the timber remains are quickly preserved, but many of these tombs were excavated before the invention of the scientific techniques needed to conserve them, and their wooden chambers have long since decayed. Two such box tombs, thought to date from around 300 BCE, existed near the town of Market Weighton in Yorkshire. Until the nineteenth century they were undisturbed and still covered with stone cairns, each about 30 feet in diameter and over 6 feet high. Between 1815 and 1817, however, the sites were excavated, and the tumuli were found to have covered intact timber box tombs, each measuring about 12 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high, and divided across the center into two chambers. Sadly, nothing now remains of either tomb as the area has since been heavily farmed. In both tombs, one chamber held a single female body, while the other was resplendent with grave goods.17 One was dubbed the Queen’s Barrow and the other the Lady Barrow, although neither was a “barrow” in the modern archaeological sense (see chapter 3).
So these box tombs were divided into two equal-sized chambers, the one side holding the body or sometimes cremated remains, the other containing precious possessions, such as jewelry and amulets, plus a selection of items the individual had used in his or her profession. We have seen how these included what can best be described as medical kits, but there is also evidence of substances extracted from plants likely to have been used for pharmaceutical purposes, such as for their analgesic, antiseptic, and curative properties. This has been determined by scientific analysis of the residual contents of pots and other ceramic vessels found in such tombs. Here are just a few examples:
Dried oil from Chelidonium majus, commonly known as greater celandine, and amentoflavone obtained from juniper plants have been extracted from vessels found in a five-thousand-year-old box tomb close to Maeshowe on the Orkney Isles. A mixture made from the root of the former is an effective gargle for toothache and sore throats, and the latter is known for its disinfectant properties and is widely used as an ingredient in modern antiseptic creams.18
At Ashgrove in the district of Fife, Scotland, a box tomb dating from around 2500 BCE held a pottery vessel containing a substance from the flowers of Tilia cordata, the small-leaved lime or linden tree, used as an infusion to treat high temperatures and break fevers, somewhat like modern acetaminophen, while another similar tomb nearby contained ceramic fragments coated with a residue made from the leaves of Tanacetum vulgare, or common tansy plant, used to treat intestinal parasites and sometimes used in modern deworming veterinary products.19
A cup found in a box tomb at Undy in Aberdeenshire, dating from around 2200 BCE, contained the residue of salicylic acid from the buds of Filipendula ulmaria, the meadowsweet herb, an analgesic, which in the nineteenth century was used to produce the first aspirin.20
An urn discovered during excavations at a box tomb at Fernworthy on Dartmoor in Devonshire, dating from around 1500 BCE, held the remains of the seeds of the Datura stramonium fruit, also known as the thorn apple. Due to today’s cooler climate, it no longer grows naturally in the British Isles. The thorn apple is highly toxic and produces delirium, rapid heartbeat, coma, and death, but if properly prepared, when ingested, it can result in temporary unconsciousness.21 Certain Native American tribes, in areas where the plant still grows, used it to anesthetize those requiring painful procedures such as amputations, and some archaeologists have suggested that this was what the thorn apple was used for by the ancient people of the British Isles. Astonishingly no effective anesthetic was rediscovered in Europe until the synthesis of ether in the nineteenth century.
Pottery excavated in 1921 from the Penywyrlod Cairn in Wales, dating from around 600 BCE, remained in the vaults of the British Museum for decades before being subjected to scientific testing. The results showed that the ceramic fragments contained the residue of a liquid made from stems of Scrophularia nodosa, or figwort herb, used as an effective remedy for treating cuts, sores, and abrasions. Even today, extracts from the plant are used in ointments for the relief of eczema, psoriasis, and hemorrhoids.22
During the long period of time over which these tombs were built, the general population of the British Isles was interred in other ways, such as being placed in unmarked graves or simple stone cists, being laid to rest with a single beaker, or having their cremated remains deposited in urns (see chapter 9). Few burials contained the kind of medicinal plant extracts found in box tombs.23 So were these substances really used for cures?
Box tombs nearly always contain plants that are toxic, foul tasting, or virtually inedible under normal circumstances. You certainly wouldn’t eat them for nutritional purposes or as part of your diet. Most of them even lack narcotic effects that might have led to their use as recreational drugs or to induce visions. Their only conceivable uses, it seems, would have been medicinal. And the box tombs that uniquely contained such materials appear to have been those used exclusively for the interment of Druids and their elite caste of predecessors. If the kind of noxious substances found in their graves were, as seems likely, administered as remedies to be ingested or applied to wounds or abrasions, those who prepared them must have been highly skilled herbalists; otherwise they would have been little more than poisoners. Many of the plant extracts found in these box tombs are highly toxic, and for them to perform their curative functions, they not only needed to be prepared according to a precise and careful formula, but also required being harvested at a very specific time and from specific parts of plants, such as the seeds, roots, leaves, stems, flowers, or buds. Moreover, they would often need to be extracted at a very precise time of year. The chemical continuants of live vegetation alter consistently depending on their annual cycle, and sometimes even depending on the time of day or night.24 You would need to know exactly when to cut or pick the plants and extract the necessary components. It would have taken a great deal of training to become a prehistoric physician, to learn all the plants, their uses, cultivation methods, and times of harvesting. And that’s before you got around to adding other ingredients and making sure they corresponded to the correct measures. Creating these herbal remedies would have been an extremely complex and exact procedure.
Let’s just consider the substances found in the tombs listed above. Figwort stems and leaves, for instance, need to be harvested in July and dried for later use in liquid extracts, tinctures, and ointments. If picked at the wrong time or not desiccated properly, they are useless as an irritant relief; on the contrary, their application results in excruciatingly painful inflammation. Unless the thorn apple is from an older bush and picked within just a few days each year, it can prove fatal, or at the very least induce severe vomiting, convulsions, and delirium. Tansy flowers bloom in July and August, but unless they are cut about halfway through this period, it would not only be intestinal parasites you will end up killing, but the human host as well. Removing the salicylic acid from the meadowsweet herb for its analgesic properties is an intricate process involving the draining of sap from the herb, not only at specific times of the year but also at a particular time of night. Extract from the root of the greater celandine is extremely poisonous even in moderation, unless obtained at a specific time of the winter when the perennial plant is dormant and just before it begins to return to life. If you gargled with an infusion made from the stuff picked even a day or two from the correct time, it would be like rinsing your mouth with cyanide.
The Romans, themselves expert physicians of the time, were impressed by the medicinal skills of the Druids. Julius Caesar, for example, was amazed by how they could cure even “those smitten with the most grievous maladies.”25 Pliny the Elder tells us that the Druids knew the secrets of countless plants and believed that all things that grew were endowed with divine, curative properties that they alone claimed to understand. He mentions mistletoe, for instance, saying how a preparation made from the plant was consi
dered an antidote for many poisons.26 The young twigs, collected just before the berries form and then slowly dried, were then ground into a powder. Modern medicine has used viscin, a sap produced by mistletoe branches, as an anticonvulsive drug to control seizures—often the most life-threatening aspect of poisoning—keeping the patient stable until the toxin is naturally expelled from the body. The physiological effect of the substance is to suppress impulses to the brain that would otherwise trigger convulsions.27 (Mistletoe residue, adhering to pottery fragments, has been found in many box tombs, including the sites at Fernworthy, Penywyrlod, and Ashgrove.) The Druids who acted as physicians were educated for many years and from an early age. Caesar tells us that “some persons remain twenty years under training.”28 Pomponius Mela, who also relates that instruction could take as much as two decades, says they were taught in strict isolation in the Druids’ woodland sanctuaries.29 Without the ancient physicians knowing precisely what they were doing, patients could end up far worse off than they were already and very probably dead. So for goodness sake, do not try preparing such concoctions at home.
Fig. 12.1. Sites discussed in this chapter.
It seems, then, that the elite caste among the ancient inhabitants of the British Isles, known as the Druids by the Celts, would have been indispensable. Most people died as children from maladies that today, in the First World at least, have either been eliminated by vaccines or rendered little more than a nuisance by a whole variety of drugs. The likelihood of the death of a baby or mother during childbirth was high. A chill or common cold could kill anyone of any age, as it frequently developed into pneumonia under the conditions in which these people lived. And even for the able-bodied, life would often have been painful: stomach bugs, intestinal worms, headaches, tooth rot, and arthritis at an early age, to name just a few such ailments. Even something as simple as backache or a sprain could render you unable to work and support your family. Food poisoning must have been a regular occurrence, and a simple cut could result in infection or septicemia. And you could bleed to death from the kind of wounds that the ancients risked every day, let alone if you fought in a battle.
Wisdomkeepers of Stonehenge Page 21