"Knowth, Brú na Bóinne (Boyne Valley), Ireland" by profzucker is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Contents
“Knowth, Brú na Bóinne (Boyne Valley), Ireland” by profzucker is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The emergence and spread of certain iconographic symbols, such as that of a snake, or serpent like form, have been with us from at least the Neolithic period. In addition, many less obvious snake-like patterns, such as waves and zig-zags have been related to snake like forms or having been suggested as suggesting similar meanings, including spiritual powers, and heroic or other archetypical traits.
If we look specifically at the iconography of the snake, then we can see that is has been attributed to all parts of the British Isles, with some of the older, more certain forms being found in Ireland:
| Period | Region | Secure evidence of a snake‑idea | Earliest terminus & context | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Late Neolithic (c. 3300–2900 BC) | Ireland | Knowth passage‑tomb kerbstones – multiple Serpentiform grooves that meander across the slabs (e.g., K17, K78, K91). Although Ireland has no native snakes, the artists clearly conceived a sinuous, living creature. | Built during construction of the Boyne Valley passage graves. | (knowth.com, Mythical Ireland) |
| Neolithic–Early Bronze Age (?3000–2000 BC) | Scotland (Argyll) | Loch Nell Serpent Mound – 120 m long Earthwork shaped in a double curve with a Cairn “head”; antiquarians opened a small stone chamber inside the head. | Radiocarbon absent, but environmental work puts the mound within the local cairn‑building horizon. | (The Megalithic Portal, themodernantiquarian.com) |
| Middle / Late Bronze Age (c. 1300–700 BC) | Ireland & Britain | 1. Gold “penannular rings” and coiled torcs whose terminals imitate snake heads (Mooghaun hoard, Co. Clare; Scottish ribbon torcs). 2. Welton (Lincs.) Penannular ring typology shows same date‑range. | Ornament worn by elites; not true naturalism but abstract serpent power. | (lincolnmuseum.com) |
| Early Iron Age (4th–1st c. BC) | Britain | La Tène dragonesque brooches, scabbard slides and enamel mounts with confronting snake‑heads; widely distributed from Thames basin to northern England, proving the motif was fashionable before Rome. | Peak c. 100 BC–AD 50. | (Balkan Celts) |
| Later Iron Age / Early medieval (6th–8th c. AD) | Scotland & Pictland | Class I Pictish “Serpent‑and‑Z‑rod” stones (Aberlemno I “Serpent Stone”, Meigle slabs, Craw Stone). Snakes are rendered naturalistically with jaws, eyes and curved body. | Symbol repertoire begins c. AD 550–600. | (ancient-scotland.co.uk, lizthorne.com) |
| Roman Britain (1st–4th c. AD) | England | Snake‑headed arm‑rings & bracelets – e.g., two gold examples on a child in the Southfleet (Kent) lead coffin; late Roman bronze bracelets at Stanford (Kent). Serpents here symbolise protection and regeneration. | Jewellery fashions span late 1st–4th c. AD. | (Kent Archaeological Society, Kent County Council) |
“Gold ribbon torc from the Stirling Hoard (9476773541)” by dun_deagh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Given the apparent sparsity of early dateable serpentine monuments and objects, another place to look for clues as to the possible spread of this serpent/snake symbology into those early cultures, is to look into the etymology of the names that have naming similarities. Some rivers, for example, wind around in a snake-like way – is that reflected in some local names? When did that name originate? Here’s a few initial ideas:
| Island | Early / traditional toponyms & monuments | Etymological note |
|---|---|---|
| England | River Nadder (Wilts.) & Nadder Valley; Adderley (Shrops. “island of snakes”); Snake Pass (Derbys. – later coaching‑inn sign but perpetuates motif); Rotherwas Serpent Mound (Herefordshire, 60 m long burnt‑stone spine). | OE næddre = snake(Etymology Online, andrewcollins.com) |
| Wales | Llyn Nadroedd (“Lake of Snakes”) on Moel Hebog; stream‑names with Neidr (Welsh “snake”) such as Nant y Neidr (Denbighshire). Folk zoology keeps the term alive in the dragonfly epithet gwas‑y‑neidr (“servant of the snake”). | (raw-adventures.co.uk, WWT) |
| Scotland | Loch Nell Serpent Mound; conjectured Serpent Mound, Greenock; hill Meall‑na‑Nathrach (“hill of the adders”) in Argyll; the Pictish “Serpent Stone”. | G nathair / nathrach = snake. |
| Ireland | Townland names with Nathair (e.g., An tLeacain Nathrach, Clare); folklore claims of “serpent’s path” at the winding River Shannon. Pre‑Christian myth records the monster An Muirdris (sea‑serpent) of Loch Mask. | OE loan‑root absent: Irish retains Old Celtic nathair (Wiktionary) |
Together these datasets show that while Britain and Ireland never teemed with actual snakes, the serpent has slithered through their visual and verbal landscapes for at least five millennia—first as a cosmic, perhaps solar power; then as a protective amulet; finally as a heraldic and folkloric emblem whose trace lingers in streams, passes and sculptured stones.
“Rock Art, Weetwood Moor, England” by rockartmobile is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
Elsewhere in the world, one can clearly see the snake linked to sine-wave or zig-zag symbology within the late Neolithic and beyond. Given we have such early examples in Ireland and Scotland, one wonders why there seems to be a lacking of such symbology at an early date in England and Wales? Part of the issue, is not only with agreement of symbological interpretation, but also, of the date of the artefact itself. And so, to push forward, other, less well known examples need to be identified. Here are some of the more likely, but also, highly debated examples:
| Candidate class | Sites most often cited as “snake‑like” | What they actually show | Why acceptance is weak |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grooved cup‑and‑ring panels (open‑air Atlantic rock art) | Ketley Crag (Northum.), Weetwood Moor, Copt Howe (Cumbria) | Meandering gutters link cup‑marks and sometimes loop back; a few have a “head‑like” widening. | The lines may be drains, paths or purely abstract connections; none is incontestably zoomorphic and there is no eye/jaw detailing. |
| Neolithic passage‑grave art in Britain | Bryn Celli Ddu (Anglesey) has a carved “pillar” with spiral/serpent possibility; Barclodiad y Gawres (Anglesey) shows sinuous bas‑reliefs. | Spirals and lozenges that could evoke coils but also match solar or geometric symbolism. | Most motifs are geometric across the Atlantic façade; only at Knowth do we see a body and tail unmistakably styled as a snake. Dating is secure for the tombs (~3200 BC) but not the meaning. |
| Later prehistoric Earthworks | Rotherwas Ribbon (Herefordshire) – serpentine pebble kerb; Serpent’s Mound, Grampian; a faint “snake” lynchet at Dinedor. | Serpent shape is visible in plan but the symbolic intent is assumed, not recorded in artefacts or myth. Radiocarbon exists only for Rotherwas. | Shape alone ≠ iconography; builders might have sought drainage or processional curves. Absence of accompanying snake ornament leaves the reading speculative. |
| Portable art | Early Bronze‑Age pestles or mace‑heads with S‑curves. | Abstract S‑scrolls (could be water, plants, energy). | No heads, scales or contextual snake paraphernalia. |
“Maesmor Mace Head” by Wolfgang Sauber is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Early Bronze Age mace heads with S-curves, also known as “horned mace heads,” are a distinctive type of artifact found in various regions, including Britain, Ireland, and Scandinavia. These mace heads, characterized by their S-shaped or curved blades, are generally interpreted as symbols of status or ceremonial objects rather than purely functional weapons, though some may have been used in combat.
Shape: The S-curve, or “horned” shape, is the defining characteristic, distinguishing them from more common, simple, or knobbed mace heads.
Construction: Typically made of stone, often flint or other fine-grained rock, they required considerable skill and effort to produce. A central Shaft hole was carefully drilled to allow for hafting the mace head onto a wooden handle.
Symbolic Significance: While some may have been used in combat, their elaborate form and the effort involved in their creation suggest a symbolic or ceremonial function, possibly associated with status or leadership.
Dating: While dating can be challenging, they are generally associated with the Early Bronze Age, with some examples possibly extending into the Neolithic.
Distribution: Finds of these mace heads are concentrated in specific regions, like Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, with evidence suggesting some degree of movement or exchange.
Maesmor Mace Head (North Wales): A well-known example made of white flint, highlighting the skill and effort involved in their creation.
Skara Brae (Orkney): A knobbed mace head was found at this Neolithic settlement, along with other mace head fragments, suggesting their use in the region.
Starrieheugh Farm (Dumfries): A polished, ovoid mace head with an off-centre shaft hole was found at this site.
“Ohio Serpent Mound1 HRoe 2005” by Heironymous Rowe (talk) is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Although their seems to be a dearth of information in relation to the two “serpent” mounds mentioned previously. I thought it might help to better understand them if I contrasted those two with a third, better known, but not obviously connected serpent mounds, that of Ohio, USA. This is by no means any attempt to establish a direct connection, but rather, to try to allow some of it’s characteristics highlight what may be missing from our mindset, when thinking of those of the British Isles.
| Feature | Loch Nell Serpent Mound (Argyll) | Rotherwas “Ribbon”/Serpent Mound (Herefordshire) | Great Serpent Mound (Ohio, USA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form & scale | 120 m long S‑shaped turf‑and‑stone bank ending in a cairn “head”. | ≈ 60–75 m sinuous pavement of fire‑cracked quartzite pebbles, dug into a hillside; no head or tail built of earth. | 411 m long earthen effigy with coiled tail and oval “egg” in its jaws. |
| Dating evidence | Unpublished charcoal & pollen suggest mid–late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age, c. 2600–1800 BC (no direct ^14C yet). (Current Archaeology) | Charcoal beneath the pebble bed gave multiple AMS dates 2100–1700 BC— firmly Early Bronze Age. (Current Archaeology) | Radiocarbon from undisturbed fill argues for 300–100 BC (Adena) with repair c. AD 1070 (Fort Ancient). Debate continues. (Wikipedia, Ohio History Connection) |
| Construction materials | Natural turf, boulders, a chambered cairn; no burning. | Pebbles deliberately heated then laid in alternating red/white colour bands. | Unburnt local earth and stone; placed on crater‑rim ridge. |
| Cultural context | Sits beside chambered tombs around Loch Nell; may be part of a ritual/solar landscape at a time when adders were rare but known. | Built on slope between Iron‑Age hillfort (Dinedor) and River Wye; purpose unknown—processional path, water‑ shrine or symbolic guardian. | Effigy aligns with solstice sunset; overlooks resource‑rich valley; long tradition of Adena & Hopewell mound‑building. |
| Preservation & research | Stone‑robbed and antiquarian‑dug (1870s); scheduled but little modern excavation. | Rescue‑excavated 2007, then re‑buried for protection; visible only in records. | State‑managed park; pathways and viewing tower interpret the monument. |
| Iconographic certainty | Serpent outline plain in L‑iDAR; cairn “head” strengthens reading, but no eyes/tongue carved – still debated. | Name “serpent” coined by media; absence of head/tail means serpent ID remains interpretive, yet sinuous plan and alternating colours persuade many. | Undisputed serpent effigy— head, body, coils are unmistakable; the archetype for all later comparisons. |
Chronology: If Loch Nell’s provisional Neolithic/Bronze‑Age bracket holds, Scotland hosts the earliest British serpent monument, predating Rotherwas by centuries and the Ohio effigy by two millennia.
Material choices: Britain’s serpents rely on stone and burnt pebble mosaics; Ohio’s builder used earth, suggesting different engineering traditions answering a shared impulse to monumentalise the snake.
Symbolic clarity: Only Ohio’s mound is unequivocally zoomorphic. British examples lack sculpted heads or egg motifs, leaving function ambiguous—processional way, boundary marker, or stylised river?
Research gaps: Loch Nell still awaits modern dating and geophysical survey; Rotherwas is known from a single rescue dig; Ohio continues to refine its chronology but benefits from sustained conservation.
While Britain’s two “serpent” mounds hint at a very long indigenous fascination with sinuous, possibly ophidian forms, their scale, certainty and scientific documentation remain modest beside the Great Serpent Mound of Ohio—reminding us how much Early Bronze‑Age ritual topography in Britain still lies in outline rather than sharp relief.
“NMW – Bryn Celli Ddu Stone” by Wolfgang Sauber is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
Open‑air carvings lack sealed contexts – Cup‑and‑ring panels sit on bedrock, eroding for millennia; we get Terminus ante quem only when they are overlapped by later soil.
Serpentine gutters re‑pecked – many grooves show multiple recuts, complicating micro‑erosion or lichenometry.
Symbol vs. form ambiguity – Without definite snake traits (eyes, forked tongue) archaeologists hesitate to label sinuous lines as animals; geometric dates run from 3800 BC to Iron Age.
Ireland ≈ 3300–2900 BC – Knowth kerbstones are snake‑shaped beyond doubt, and the passage‑tomb mound can be radiocarbon‑anchored.
Scotland (Loch Nell) – probably mid‑late Neolithic, but only pollen brackets the build; secure ^14C would refine the claim.
England – Rotherwas Ribbon at 2100–1700 BC remains the earliest dated serpentine construction south of the Wall. No securely carved serpent pre‑dating that is yet accepted.
Wales – still awaits a clearly zoomorphic serpent carved in the Neolithic; The Bryn Celli Ddu pillars remain ambiguous.
Anyone who has studied the serpent in antiquity, will not have missed the prevalence of the serpent in those wider, and perhaps, in some cases, more developed societies. A review of these should reveal some themes that may apply to the use of the serpent in the British Isles. Now that we know, for sure that very lengthy trade and exchange routes existed during this period, we should accept that their may well be conceptual exchange between the wider cultural base.
Recurring images, materials and the ideas they seem to encode:
| Cultural zone (c. 4000–800 BC) | Typical medium & date anchor | Dominant strands of meaning* | Representative examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Atlantic façade (Ireland → NW Iberia) | Deeply pecked serpentiform grooves on megaliths (Knowth kerbstones K17, K78, K91; c. 3300–2900 BC) | • Flowing “life‑force” or calendrical wave (link to solar/lunar count‑spirals carved beside the same lines) • Path of a cosmic river rather than zoological snake (no snakes in Ireland) | Kerbstone 17, Knowth passage tomb . |
| Western Scotland & Isles | Turf‑and‑stone earth effigies such as the Loch Nell Serpent Mound (prob. 2600–1800 BC) | • Landscape guardian marking ceremonial route to adjacent Cairns • Cyclical fertility: cairn “head” contains cremation—death feeding rebirth | Loch Nell serpent mound plan (Wikipedia) |
| North European plain | Coiled or snake‑headed gold torcs & penannular rings (1300–900 BC) | • Protective amulet encircling the body; endless coil = unbroken prestige/frequency • Terminals model snake heads → apotropaic bite against evil | Mooghaun hoard snake‑head torcs |
| Aegean Bronze Age | Faience Snake‑Goddess figurines from Knossos temple repository (c. 1650 BC) | • Female power over household regeneration & chthonic earth‑energies • Raised snakes channel “earth‑up / sky‑down” energy circuit—an early “information flow” motif | Knossos Snake‑Goddess figurine (Wikipedia, Smart History) |
| Nile Valley (Predynastic–New Kingdom) | Gold or copper uraeus cobra worn on royal brow (from c. 3000 BC) | • Sovereignty & instant protective strike (goddess Wadjet) • Snake as vertical axis: kundalini‑like rise of divine energy up the spine of the king | Met Museum uraeus, Third‑Intermediate Period (Wikipedia, The Metropolitan Museum of Art) |
| Central Sahara (Tassili, Libya‑Algeria) | Rock‑painted horned serpents in pastoral scenes (c. 4500–2000 BC) | • Rain‑maker, keeper of hidden water; undulating body = groundwater veins • Opposition symbols: wet vs. dry season, life vs. sterility (Academia, Bradshaw Foundation) |
*Interpretations combine excavation context, ethnographic analogy and, increasingly, cognitive‑archaeology models that read undulating lines as visualisations of periodicity (seasonal water pulse, solar path, “frequencies” of time).
| Motif | Repeats across zones | Probable root idea |
|---|---|---|
| S‑waves / meanders carved in stone | Boyne Valley kerbs · Atlantic rock‑art gutters · early Iberian stelae | Visual shorthand for oscillation—tides, rivers, or celestial cycles; a “wave‑frequency” glyph. |
| Coil or ring you can wear | Gold torcs (Britain, France, Portugal) · copper bracelets Egypt | Endless loop = continuity of authority; when shaped as a snake it adds protective bite. |
| Serpent paired with sun/egg | Knowth wave abutting spiral; uraeus flanking solar disk; (later) Ohio serpent holding “egg” | Snake mediates rebirth: swallows sun at dusk, releases it at dawn / egg as germ of renewal. |
| Horned or crested snake | Saharan “horned serpents” · later Celtic horned‑snake brooches | Amplifies status from earthly reptile to mythic beast controlling rainfall or underworld riches. |
Researchers who model megalithic art as early notational systems point to:
Amplitude‑modulated serpent waves on Knowth K17 that can be counted as 19‑segment lunar cycles. (Mythical Ireland)
Parallel sinuous gutters on Atlantic rock panels whose spacing may encode seasonal beats (fishing runs, tidal windows).
Minoan Snake‑Goddess posture echoing the double helix of DNA/energy rising—later echoed in Greek caduceus.
While still speculative, such readings share a core insight: the snake’s body is a natural graph of periodic motion, so artists borrowed it to carry information about repeating natural events.
North‑African & Eastern Mediterranean early focus (c. 4000–3000 BC): uraeus and horned‑serpent rain symbols fix the snake as a high‑status power emblem.
Atlantic Neolithic (c. 3300 BC): the symbol leaps—perhaps by maritime contact—into megalithic Ireland and Iberia, where it shifts toward abstract wave‑counts.
Bronze‑Age Europe (c. 2000–800 BC): serpents migrate into personal goldwork, marrying frequency coil to elite display/ protection.
Later Bronze–Iron Age: La Tène art and Pictish stones recombine earlier strands (guardian, cosmic wave) into enamelled weaponry and symbol stones, keeping the serpent alive well into the historic era.
Across Neolithic and Bronze‑Age Europe and North Africa the snake became a multi‑layered symbol: At once predator, protector, river, lightning, solar path and invisible life‑current. Whether carved as vast earth undulations or miniaturised in gold coils, the undulating body offered a ready visual metaphor for any phenomenon that moved rhythmically: tides, seasons, kingship’s renewal, even the intangible “frequencies” by which information or power flows. Regional traditions coloured that core with local priorities—rain in the Sahara, royal wrath on the Nile, calendrical precision in the Boyne—and those colours blended repeatedly as seafarers and metal‑traders wove the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds together.
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