Reconstructing the Deskford Carnyx *
John Creed
My field of activity as a professional silversmith is
to create original work, an idiom of our day, for-
mulating concepts which embrace client/object
requirements, reappraisal of past practices, innova-
tion of skills and design.
Principle techniques still used by the artist-
craftsman today are millennia old assisted only by
conveniences such as the electric motor.
When asked by John Purser if I would become
the tool to reconstruct this thing called a Carnyx, I
had strong misgivings. I usually refused when pre-
viously asked to recreate historic objects. Study
them for academic and technical knowledge, yes,
but to make, no. But of course this was different,
very different. Of all the considerations of design
for an item of silverware; shape, feel, balance,
weight, function, this required an additional one,
SOUND. I soon realised that this project was very
special. It would tax many of my skills as a silver-
smith, it would require considerable research of a
period of art which I had previously only drawn
inspiration from for my own creative work, a col-
laborative project and exciting because music is a
central input in my life. The reason to be involved
was now clear, a challenge to make something
totally new. It was the start of an exciting journey,
with the destination unknown…
The project was, and continues to be, collabo-
rative, with John Purser the initiator, musicologist
and advisor, Fraser Hunter, archaeologist at the
National Museums of Scotland (NMS), John
Kenny, musician, and myself as creative craftsman.
Dr. Murray Campbell, of Edinburgh University,
made acoustic tests on the brass prototype and
later on the first reconstruction and version no. II.
This in turn benefited the successive work and
aided comparative analyses.
After my first meeting with John Purser in
1991, the NMS soon made their commitment,
though it was to be 2 1⁄4 years until the first recon-
struction was completed. We met with Fraser
Hunter and Mike Spearman of the Museum to
make essential decisions regarding the shape and
size of the missing parts and overall dimensions of
the original. The length and diameter of the non-
existent vertical tube for instance was crucial, and
the size and purpose of the missing part between
head and back plate, the mouth piece, were not yet
much discussed. Very little contemporary data was
available, and often the accuracy could only be
supposition such as the imagery on the Gunde-
strup Bowl (see fig. in J. Purser’s paper, this vol-
ume). What was particularly interesting for me
were the debates concerning the need to achieve
archaeological and historic accuracy for the
requirements of a musical instrument still to be
heard, which needed to be integrated by me.
I felt a full-size pre-reconstruction prototype
of the head should be made early by me in order to
understand the assembly of the numerous parts
and to evaluate the working parts of the head, the
counter-balanced jaw and springing arrangement
of the tongue. Inconveniently the Deskford relic
was on exhibition loan in Italy at the time. I used
photographs of it to recreate the original in brass
(brass, only because I had this available at that
time). The dimensions of this could not be accu-
rate but were good enough for the purpose, and it
gave a fair overall impression of the head.
The history, known research, theories, techni-
cal information and photographic records of the
Carnyx were supplied to me by John Purser and
Fraser Hunter. This continued throughout the
project and to this day as more evidence comes to
light by their ongoing searches.
Six months from the start of the project I was
able to make a firsthand detailed study of the
Deskford Head. Accurate templates were made of
the repoussé work and of all dimensions. I
designed the missing snout, crest and ears using
observations of live boar together with studies of
metalwork of the time in order to understand the
Celtic approach to design. All separate compo-
nents of the head were analysed for their alloy by
energy-dispersive X-ray microanalysis. Each part
* Concerning the carnyx see also the contributions of M.
Campbell, Th. MacGillivray, F. Hunter, J. Kenny and J.
Purser in this volume.
348 John Creed
gave a quite different reading with the copper con-
tent varying from 79.1% > 91.1 %. To have a
foundry specially alloy each component for the
reconstruction would have been too expensive.
There were essentially two variable alloys used
which approximately compared to those available
today, off the shelf, one tin-rich for which we used
bronze PB 102 (10 % tin), the second, zinc-rich, a
brass. The alloy known as gilding metal in the UK,
with 12–15 % zinc was the appropriate choice. We
used whichever of the two alloys matched most
closely the original part. This gave a subtle and
pleasing colour variation throughout. To enrich
the surface colour and give depth to the repoussé
work and deep modelling, the entire object was
treated with liver of sulphur and lightly sealed
with a mixture of carnauba and bees’ wax. The
metal gauge used was 0.65 mm for version no. I
which represented an average of the thicknesses
found on the head. For version no. II, the gauge
was reduced to 0.5 mm. This improved the instru-
ment’s responsiveness and increased its range by
about one octave to 5.
The thickness of metal used was a particular
challenge to me. For normal silverware, a gauge of
0.9 is standard and safe to work. Sheet thinner
than this successively becomes more difficult to
shape. Specific areas worked in relief by repoussé
considerably thins the metal and the highest points
are those surfaces most vulnerable to wear as
found around the eyes. This is demonstrated on
the original fragment where the majority of these
areas are worn through.
The construction of the three interlocking ver-
tical tubes were influenced by the finds from Dur-
nau and Tattershall and the four knops placed at
the junctions were developed from the one exist-
ing example on the Loughnashade Trumpet. Each
knop diminishes in size very slightly to harmonise
with the tubes as they increase upwards. The shape
at the lower end of the tube equals those of the
instruments represented on the Gundestrup Bowl.
A number of turned mouthpieces for insertion
into this end were made as an extra, in order that
the musician could select the one most suitable.
A number of special tools had to be made. For
instance, parallel mandrels for the three straight
tubes were turned in steel in order to achieve accu-
racy in length and section (21.6 mm, 23.0 and 24.4
dia.). A curved tapered former in steel over which
to shape the upper tube was forged and carefully
ground to the profile (21.8 mm > 50 mm dia. at the
head end). Two curved formers to make the play-
ing end were made in a similar manner (20.2 mm
dia). The upper curved tube was sunk, raised and
planished in two parts: the inner seam tapered and
lapped, the outer left with a flange in which to
attach the crest with rivets. The one seam for each
of the parallel tubes and the lower curved one
were also lapped . The solder used throughout was
a lead alloy to mimic traces found on the original.
There was a lot of work in the head to fit the
separate parts together, decide on the procedure
for assembly, work out details of missing parts,
hinging of the jaw and method of counterweight-
ing, modelling the relief work by repoussé to
achieve dimensional accuracy with the original.
New tools were made for this such as a snarling
iron in order to stretch the metal from below
within a confined space. Detailing of the eyes and
mode of fixing was worked out. These were
pressed into a hemisphere with a flange and vitre-
ous enamelled by Keryn Evely, a specialised artist.
The design and making of the ears was particu-
larly demanding. For visual reasons they needed
to be three dimensional, integrate well with their
method of attachment to the head and the edges
wrapped to avoid unpleasant rawness.
The joining of parts by riveting was one of the
Celts preferred methods. This is a neat, precise
technique which allows the rivet head to become a
decorative part of the whole object and a very
practical method when repair is needed. The vari-
ous parts of the head are fixed in this way. I made a
beading to cover the external flanges and their riv-
ets used to join the main sections. This visually
completed the junctions and mimicked flesh folds
of the boars head.
The tongue was carved from sycamore and a
natural dye used to create colour. There is a
strongly held view that the tongue could be acti-
vated by the pressure of air when blown. I tried a
number of experiments using various types of
spring arrangements held in the throat. Even when
using mechanically blown air, the desired effect
could not be achieved. Research on this continues.
It is an ongoing enthralling project, where
archaeology, history, musicology, ritual, drama
craft and science meet. What other project
encompasses so much? For myself, consider-
able technical innovation and artistic input has
been necessary to complete the work. It is
compelling not only because of this challenge
but also because of the enthusiastic teamwork
of all concerned in order to achieve a perfec-
tion of what this unique instrument could be.
As a visual artist, it has a particular attraction
for me, as being the only instrument I know of
where visual appearance is as important as
sound (Fig. 1).
Each version developed and made stands
alone in its own right. As theories and new evi-
dence of past work emerge, archaeological and
musical aspirations can be realised in the future
through the development of succeeding instru-
ments.
 Reconstructing the Deskford Carnyx 349

Specification: Length: ear-tip to mouthpiece = 1625 mms. ( 64’’ )

a) Initial full-size mock-up of the head in brass.
Complete September 1991.
b) Full reconstruction Version 1. Complete March
1993. Weight = 3003 grms.
c) Full reconstruction Version 11. Complete January
1998. Weight = 2300 grms.
Materials for versions I and II = Bronze sheet,
10% tin. Gilding Metal. Sycamore. Enamel.
Approximate time to make one reconstruction =
400 hours. This excludes initial research, design
development, brass mock-up and tool making.
350 John Creed

Fig. 1 Technical drawing of carnyx replica, by John Creed.