太田述正コラム#14590（2024.11.19）
＜G・クラーク『ユニークな日本人』を読む（その39）＞（2024.2.14公開）

[アングロサクソン文明の誕生を巡って（続x6）]

　六　人間主義「的」性の「維持」

　　上記とコインの表裏の関係にあるのが、表記だ。　

　’The population of Britain increased significantly during the Iron Age＜・・BC800年頃～AD43年（ローマによる征服）（注42）・・＞ probably to more than one million, partly due to improved barley and wheat and increased use of peas, beans and flax.

　（注42）「日本＜の場合、＞・・・弥生時代初期（紀元前10世紀頃）・・・から我が国で鉄器が使用されていた可能性が高くなっている。日本は、弥生時代に青銅器と鉄器がほぼ同時に流入し・・・たため、耐久性や鋭利さに劣る青銅器は祭器としての利用が主となり、鉄器はもっぱら農具や武器といった実用の道具に使用されることとなった。」
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%89%84%E5%99%A8%E6%99%82%E4%BB%A3

　 Most were concentrated densely in the agricultural lands of the South. Settlement density and a land shortage may have contributed to rising tensions during the period.・・・
　・・・warfare and social strife increased in the Late Iron Age, which seems to be fairly well attested in the archaeological record for Southern Britain at least.・・・

⇒大ブリテン島の場合は恐らくは狭義の欧州大陸からの作物新品種群の渡来、日本列島の場合は水田稲作技術を引っ提げた弥生人の渡来、により、それぞれ、農業産出増、人口増、がもたらされ、一層豊かな社会となった一方で、一層農業適地の希少化、が生じ、戦争が起きる頻度が増えた、と考えられる。
　（なお、大ブリテン島の場合、常に暖かいメキシコ湾流に包まれ、ハリケーンや大地震に悩まされることもなく（以上、コラム#省略）、従って、日本列島とは違って、大飢饉や大災害とも無縁だった。（コラム#省略））（太田）

　Defensive structures dating from this time are often impressive such as the brochs of Northern Scotland and the hill forts that dotted the rest of the islands. Some of the most well-known hill forts include Maiden Castle, Dorset; Cadbury Castle, Somerset; and Danebury, Hampshire. Hill forts first appeared in Wessex in the Late Bronze Age but became common only in the period between 550 and 400 BC. The earliest were of a simple univallate form and often connected with earlier enclosures attached to the long ditch systems. Few hill forts have been substantially excavated in the modern era, Danebury being a notable exception, with 49% of its total surface area studied. However, it appears that the “forts” were also used for domestic purposes, with examples of food storage, industry and occupation being found within their earthworks. On the other hand, they may have been occupied only intermittently, as it is difficult to reconcile permanently-occupied hill forts with the lowland farmsteads and their roundhouses found during the 20th century, such as at Little Woodbury and Rispain Camp. Many hill forts are not in fact “forts” at all and demonstrate little or no evidence of occupation.

⇒とはいえ、日本の弥生時代も戦争はほどほどにしか行われなかった（典拠省略）が、大ブリテン島でもそうらしく、砦が盛んに作られるようになったけれど、それらは間歇的に使われるものが大部分であり、全く使われた形跡がないものもある、というのだ。（太田）

　The development of hill forts may have occurred from greater tensions that arose between the better-structured and more populous social groups. Alternatively, there are suggestions that in the latter phases of the Iron Age, the structures simply indicate a greater accumulation of wealth and a higher standard of living although any such shift is invisible in the archaeological record for the Middle Iron Age, when hill forts come into their own. In that regard, they may have served as wider centres used for markets and social contact. Either way, during the Roman occupation the evidence suggests that as defensive structures, they proved to be of little use against concerted Roman attack’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Iron_Age　前掲

⇒よって、砦は、市場用や社交用に用いられた可能性を否定できない。
　いずれにせよ、砦は、ローマ軍の侵攻の際には殆ど役に立たなかった程度の代物だった。（太田）

　以上を踏まえ、（日本列島の弥生人/縄文人が人間主義を基本的に維持したのと似て、）大ブリテン島のブリトン人達は、汎神論的背景下での男女両主神からなる神話に基づく信仰に基づき、人間主義「的」であった、と、私は見るに至っており、彼らの間の戦争があったとしても、それは「可愛いもの」だったのではなかろうか。

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