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Newer qualitative approaches

9 Postmodern influences on society and qualitative research

10 Autoethnography

11 Poetic inquiry

12 Ethnodrama and performative art

13 Cyber ethnography and e-research

Part 4
Analytic approaches for existing documentation

14 Structuralism and poststructuralism

15 Semiotic structural and poststructural analysis (deconstruction)

16 Content analysis of texts

17 Content analysis of visual documents

18 Narrative analysis

19 Conversation analysis

20 Discourse analysis

Part 5
Data management using qualitative computer programs

21 Coding

22 An overview of qualitative computer programs

Part 6
Interpreting and presenting qualitative data

8
23 Theorising from data

24 Writing up and innovative data display

Glossary
Index

Solutions to the exercises and PowerPoint slides for lecturers are available
at www.sagepub.co.uk/grbich2

9
About the author
Dr Carol Grbich is a Professor in the School of Medicine at Flinders
University in South Australia. She is an Epidemiologist and Sociologist
and is the author of a number of textbooks on Qualitative Research
including Qualitative Data Analysis: An Introduction 1st Edition (Sage,
2007), New Approaches in Social Research (Sage, 2004) and Qualitative
Research in Health: An Introduction (Allen and Unwin, 1999), as well as
authoring several texts on the Sociology of Health and Illness.

She is also Foundation Editor of the International Journal of Multiple

Research Approaches.

10
 PART 1

General approaches to collecting and analysing

qualitative data

The processes of data analysis in qualitative research are complex. It is not

simply a matter of choosing and applying an accepted process such as
thematic analysis.
A combination of three key areas is involved:
the first is to do with you, the researcher – your views and choices in the
research journey and the impact of these on the data you collect and
analyse
the second relates to the design and methods used, the quality of the
data you have gathered and how you have managed it, and
the third involves your display of findings and your theoretical
interpretation of your analysed data, presented for the reader to assess.
The three Ps – Person, Processes and Presentation – are key issues here.
This book starts from the premise that these three elements are essential
to any undertaking of qualitative data analysis, and the examples and
strategies presented attempt to indicate how they integrate.
Part 1 introduces you to the background information required for
understanding qualitative research. The first chapter deals with research
characteristics, investigative areas of research and the role of the
researcher, together with his/her influence on the data and finishing with a
brief review of the major paradigms that have underpinned qualitative
research. The chapter concludes with the important issue of how to
evaluate qualitative research.
The second chapter introduces you to the main tools for data collection,
transcription and preliminary data analysis – the analysis you undertake
while you collect your data. The four most common analytic approaches
are then discussed and the range of methodologies currently available for
you to choose amongst is displayed. The third chapter deals with one of

11
the newer trends in research: the mixing of qualitative and quantitative
approaches, termed multiple or mixed methods.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 Design methodologies, data management and analytical
approaches
Chapter 3 Incorporating data from multiple sources: mixing methods

12
ONE
Introduction

When you undertake a qualitative research study, there are a number of

prior aspects that will need addressing: your proposed topic area, is it
suitable for the collection of qualitative data?; then yourself, what impact
will your prejudices have on the research and how will you treat your
potential readers?; and finally, which paradigm would best fit your
research question: Realism/postpositivism, Critical theory,
Interpretivism/Constructionism, Postmodernism, Poststructuralism or
Mixed/multiple methods? Then, having dealt with these decisions, it is
always useful to know how to evaluate a piece of qualitative research in
order to ensure that your design ticks all the right boxes.

KEY POINTS
The characteristics of qualitative research
The best topic areas for qualitative research investigations
Issues you need to think about prior to commencing research
Research paradigms
How to evaluate qualitative research

Introduction

13
Qualitative research is a fascinating topic. It provides detailed information
and can progress knowledge in a variety of areas: it can help assess the
impact of policies on a population; it can give insight into people’s
individual experiences; it can help evaluate service provision; and it can
enable the exploration of little-known behaviours, attitudes and values.
Knowledge is a key term here. This can take a variety of forms, and in
most cultures there are various claims to knowledge:

1 The first is tenacity – this refers to a belief that has been held for a long time,
for example doing good to others is viewed as the right thing to do because
eventually this good will be reflected back to you; there may be no evidence
to prove this is true but we still tenaciously claim that this is so.
2 Intuition or our gut feeling is another source of knowledge – for example, we
may feel that in a particular situation X is the best thing to do or the right
answer; there may again be very little evidence that this is so but if it feels
right, we tend to follow that particular path.
3 Authority – in particular religious or legal authority provides directions for the
way we ought to behave in order to lead a ‘good’ life … but good for whom?
In addition, would another way be more beneficial to us as individuals or as
part of a group?

Research tries to step back from knowledge claims developed through

tenacity, intuition and authority, by carefully constructing a question and a
study design in order to provide the best views of a particular issue so that
conclusions can be derived from available evidence. Sometimes findings
will challenge the other three sources leading to conflict; for example,
when scientists said the earth was not flat but round there was a huge
uproar as traditional beliefs about falling off the edge of the world were
challenged.
In doing research we try to advance knowledge by aiming to get closer
to the ‘truth’ of the matter while realising that truth is a very elusive
concept, which shifts depending on whose truth is being portrayed and
whether that ‘truth’ is:
Subjective (your own view)
Relative (your view compared to others)
Objective (taking a distant perspective)
Absolute (as in philosophical arguments).
So rather than getting too caught up in the notion of ‘truth’ and the bases
of various claims to knowledge in research, instead we seek to reduce
uncertainty by using the best and most transparent approaches available.

14
 There are two important aspects to any kind of research: the first is that
your data should be collected from the real world … from situations or
people involved in whatever the defined research problem is. This real
world evidence is termed empirical data. Understanding the nature of this
data is an ontological process and is related particularly to the wider
structural and cultural issues that influence claims to truth. Then these
understandings need to be further interpreted in a more abstract way using
existing theories of knowledge – epistemology – to explain your findings
about the world and to enable your interpretations to be more globally
applied. For example, I might research the experience of being blind by
interviewing people who are blind (empirical data). Understanding their
experiences would require knowledge of the culture and the health system
and other supports available for these people (ontological) while
interpreting their experiences might lead me to use the concepts of stigma
or normal versus abnormal (epistemology) to make sense of their
experiences.

What are the characteristics of qualitative research?

Qualitative research favours certain styles of design, collection and
analytic interpretation. The underpinning ideology or belief system asserts
that:
subjectivity has value (meaning that both the views of the participant
and those of you the researcher are to be respected, acknowledged and
incorporated as data, and the interpretation of this data will be
constructed by both of you (the researcher is not a distant neutral being)
validity (trustworthiness) is seen as getting to the truth of the matter,
reliability (dependability) is viewed as a sound research design and
generalisability is local and conceptual only
power lies predominantly with the researched (who are viewed as being
the experts on the research topic)
an holistic view is essential (so the structures impacting on the setting
such as policies, culture, situation and context need to be included)
every study is time- and context-bound (so that replication and
generalisation are unlikely outcomes).

Which areas are best for researching?

Qualitative research can best help us explore or assess:
culture

15
 phenomena
structural processes
historical changes.
In more detail, culture could involve anything from investigating the
behaviours and rituals of a particular tribe or group of people in a
particular setting (street kids, pupils or staff in a classroom, patients or
clinicians in a hospital ward or an individual in a particular cultural
context). Phenomena involves detailed investigations over time of a
particular experience (for example, marriage breakdown, illness etc.).
Structural processes might involve investigating policy change and its
impact on a specified setting or group (such as increasing taxes or closure
of mental institutions). And historical changes might involve documented
changes in discourses (ways of communicating over time; for example,
changes in treatment of an illness as recorded in medical journal articles).
The question focus is usually the what, how, when, where or why aspects
of the chosen topic.
One important issue the qualitative researcher needs to consider prior to
commencing research is the choice of research paradigm to work within.

Research paradigms
As researcher, you can choose which of the available broad paradigms
(worldviews of beliefs, values, and methods for collecting and interpreting
data) that you would prefer to work within. There are five options:

1 Realism/postpositivism (expert researcher documenting reality from a centred

position).
2 Critical theory (with a focus on class, power and the location and
amelioration of oppression).
3 Interpretivism/Constructionism (mutual recognition and use of symbols and
signs in reality construction).
4 Postmodernism and poststructuralism (the questioning of ‘truth’ and ‘reality’
and the sources of ‘knowledge’).
5 Mixed/multiple methods (using the best set of tools for the job).

Let us explore each of these in a little more detail.

1. Positivism to realism (postpositivism)

The eighteenth century in Europe was an era, termed the Enlightenment,

16
when positivism (the School of Philosophy that asserts that reality lies
only in things that can be seen with the naked eye), optimism, reason and
progress became the dominant discourses (ways of thinking, speaking and
writing) and all knowledge was believed to be accessible through
processes of reason. The ‘rational man’ was believed to have the capacity
to uncover a singular knowable reality through pure understanding and
rigorous intellectual reasoning. These processes of broader reason, needed
to gain knowledge, included a focus on observation in order to gain ‘facts’
via scientific deduction. Scientific knowledge gained from observation and
based in logical thought processes was seen as having the potential to
displace ignorance and superstition, which were the tools of power of the
church. Scientific knowledge was seen as having the capacity to facilitate
freedom from religious influences and to lead the way to a New World
built on the notions of progress and a universal foundation of knowledge.
However, researchers’ ability to provide predictable and replicable
outcomes and to control variables came under debate as Einstein’s theory
of relativity and later Heisenberg’s theory of uncertainty challenged these
views and postpositivism eventuated … The assumption that a world that
could be precisely measured and documented exists independently just
waiting for us to gain sufficiently sophisticated tools to discover it, was
questioned, and the belief that absolute, knowable truth existed became
sidelined and provisional truths became a more likely outcome. The
ultimate essence of external reality was also challenged by Sigmund
Freud’s exploration ([1900]1913) of the unconscious mind as a source of
reality construction. He suggested that ‘reality’ was not only constructed
from internal as well as external sources but that this reality changed
continually in interaction with the environment, especially in interaction
with others, and that what had previously been considered as externally
and objectively ‘real’ was also closely linked to the maintenance of power.
More recently within postpositivism it has been argued that scientists are
inherently biased by their education and life experiences and that their
observations are value-laden and fallible, making errors likely. Our ability
to know reality with certainty is thus problematic and no findings can be
viewed as absolute or universally generalisable. This has led some posi-
tivists to the modified epistemology of realism. Realism asserts that
structures creating the world cannot always be directly observed and when
and if they are observable their genesis is not always clear; thus we also
need our creative minds to clarify their existence and then to identify
explanatory mechanisms. For example, we cannot see gravity but we know
it exists and that it requires a mixture of intuition, various intellectual

17
processes, and the laws of physics in order to clarify the workings of this
force. The focus for research in a realist approach involves the
identification of the linking of different realisms, for example in nursing,
the biological and psychosocial models of nursing can be linked to a
biopsychosocial model that has bridging links to interpretations of
biological mechanisms and to the psychosocial empirical world as well as
to patients’ and researchers’ influences on these.

Types of research In terms of qualitative research, both postpositivism

and realism draw from positivism in that the researcher is seen as
occupying a pseudo-objective distant neutral role where their influence in
the construction of reality is seen as minimal.
Classical ethnography (see Chapter 4) and Straussian grounded theory (see
Chapter 7) are sometimes seen as fitting in to this orientation. Careful
description, truthful depiction, studies with clear aims, objectives, a
reliable design, a focus on neutrality, objectivity and theory-testing
characterise these approaches.

2. Critical emancipatory positions

Changes in the economic system through industrialisation around the turn
of the twentieth century led to Karl Marx’s critique ([1867]1999) of
capitalist exploitation, profit, power and class conflict, being recognised.
The outcomes of such economic change became viewed as resulting in
societal fragmentation. During the 1960s and 1970s social critics such as
feminists identified power imbalances and pointed to the long-term
oppression of women by men, while others pointed to inequalities in social
justice. Reality was now being viewed as power directed and multiply
constructed. The origins of ‘truth’ were seen as lying in obscure history
and/or layered aspects of the present and access required a range of
approaches including those beyond the scientific. The simplicity of such
notions as the integration of the individual, the power of the author, the
universality of knowledge and concepts of uniqueness and originality,
came under question.

Types of research In research, critical positions view reality not as

existing ‘out there’ but as being produced by particular exploitative social
and political systems comprising competing interests where knowledge is
controlled to serve those in power. Issues of race, gender, poverty, politics
and culture are seen to shape individual identity. Researchers attempt to

18
identify those who are powerless (usually exploited by those in powerful
positions) in order to document their unequal situation and to bring about
change through an active process of emancipation through knowledge-
sharing or the transformation of society. Any qualitative approach that has
taken a critical stance, including grounded theory, phenomenology,
ethnography, hermeneutics, sociolinguistics, narratives, and feminist
research (see later chapters for these) can fit into the critical emancipatory
grouping.

3. Constructionism/Interpretivism
These positions assume that there is no objective knowledge independent
of thinking. Reality is viewed as socially and societally embedded and
existing within the mind. This reality is fluid and changing, and knowledge
is constructed jointly in interaction by the researcher and the researched
through consensus. Knowledge is subjective, constructed and based on the
shared signs and symbols that are recognised by members of a culture.
Multiple realities are presumed, with different people experiencing these
differently. The research focus is on exploration of the way people
interpret and make sense of their experiences in the worlds in which they
live and how the contexts of events and situations and the placement of
these within wider social environments have impacted on constructed
understandings. The understandings researchers construct and impose
through interpretation are seen as limited by: the frames derived from their
own life experiences; subjectivity (the researcher’s own views and how
they have been constructed); and intersubjectivity (reconstruction of views
through interaction with others through language and written texts).

Types of research Qualitative methodologies including grounded

theory, phenomenology, ethnomethodology, ethnography, hermeneutics,
sociocultural narratives, and feminist research (see Chapters 4–20 for more
on these approaches).

4. Postmodernism and poststructuralism

As we moved through the last decades of the twentieth century, unified,
powerful, centred individuals with an authoritative point of view became
rejected in favour of anti-heroes and complex multidimensional
individuals (see Chapters 9 and 14 for more detailed explanations of
postmodernist ideas and applications). Literature began to mirror the

19
changes in the economy, science, art and architecture by portraying reality
as shifting and uncertain rather than set, and by incorporating multiple
perspectives from a range of disciplines such as music, philosophy,
psychology, sociology and drama as well as including visual possibilities.
Postmodernism views the world as complex and chaotic and reality as
multiply constructed and transitional – unable to be explained solely by
grand or meta narratives (such as Marxism and Buddhism, which make
universal claims to truth). Postmodernism is very sceptical of such
narratives, viewing them as containing power-laden discourses developed
specifically for the maintenance of dominant ideas or to enhance the power
of certain individuals. The search for reality ‘out there’ is qualified by the
understanding that society, laws, policies, language, discipline borders,
data collection and interpretation are culturally and socially constructed. In
recognition of this socially constructed world, disruption, challenge and a
multiplicity of forms are essential in order to pull these constructions apart
and to expose them for what they are. Meaning rather than knowledge is
sought because knowledge is limited by ‘desire’ (lack of knowledge or the
imperative to bring about change) and constrained by the discourses
developed to protect powerful interests and to control the population’s
access to other explanations. Truth is multifaceted and subjectivity is
paramount.
Poststructuralism, with its emphasis on the fluidity of language and
meaning, forms an important subset of postmodernism. It developed as a
reaction to structuralism, which sought to describe the world in terms of
systems of centralised logic and formal structures. In structuralism,
patterns provided meaning and all words were seen as having recognised
meanings that could be learned. Language was seen as a system of signs
and codes, rules and conventions – and the deep structures that enable a
language to operate within a cultural system – were sought.
Poststructuralism (see Chapter 14) seeks the deconstruction of the
discourses (ways of thinking, speaking and writing) that have been
established to control ways of thinking.

Types of research Most forms of qualitative research now have an

established postmodern position: for example, ethnography, grounded
theory, action, evaluation research, phenomenology and feminist research.
Postmodernism favours descriptive and individually interpreted mini-
narratives, which provide explanations for small-scale situations located
within particular contexts where no pretensions of abstract theory,
universality, or generalisability are involved. Within structuralism and

20
poststructuralism two data analytic approaches have become popular and
are available for use by qualitative researchers. The first is discourse
analysis, where the dominant ways of writing and speaking about a
particular topic become set in place over time and require historical
tracking back to identify who has benefited from one particular discourse
and how other competing discourses have been marginalised. The second
analytic approach is deconstruction, where words are viewed as containing
power-laden discourses with multiple meanings requiring careful
deconstruction in order to break down artificially constructed boundaries
before putting the text back together in transitional form.

5. Mixed/Multiple methods
This is the most recent approach and follows postmodernism’s exhortion
to cross barriers and to break down boundaries. The two approaches,
qualitative and quantitative – for decades seen as poles apart – have now
become integrated into mixed/multiple method studies (sometimes called
the third wave/third movement). In this situation, they are seen less as two
approaches ideologically poles apart and more as an eclectic set of tools
which you the researcher – very like the bricoleur (creative handyman) of
postmodernism – can use to provide the best answers to your research
question. Clearly the issues involved in utilising these very different
approaches can be somewhat thorny but this has not prevented researchers
from tackling these issues head on and providing ways of dealing with
them. The changes in classical physics which provide the underpinning for
quantitative approaches, particularly the movement into chaos and
complexity theory, have reflected many of the postmodern thought
changes seen in qualitative research (Grbich, 2004) and these changes may
have facilitated this cooperation. The ensuing paradigm has often become
termed ‘pragmatism’ – a mix of postpositivism and social constructivism,
a leaning toward postmodernism, and an emphasis on empirical
knowledge, action, triangulation and the changing interaction between the
organism and its environments (see Chapter 3 for more detail regarding
mixed methods).

Example of paradigm choice

Let us take a research topic, ‘An exploration of the lives of young people
who are homeless’, and see how your position as a researcher would differ
in each of the above five paradigms:
Realism/postpositivism (expert researcher documenting reality from a

21
 centred position). Here an authoritative researcher would assume that
truth can be found by gathering detailed accurate observational and
interview data of the lives of young people living on the street.
Critical theory (with its focus on class, power and the location and
amelioration of oppression). Here the interpretation of the data you
collect would focus on power – where does it lie? And the assumption
would be that the structures of society (education, health and the
socioeconomic influences of the culture) would be determining aspects
for a situation where young people became homeless. Action research –
working with the homeless to bring about change – might be an
outcome.
Interpretivism/Constructionism (mutual recognition and use of symbols
and signs in reality construction). Both the aspects of individual choice
and lack of choice would be taken into account here as each individual
case is explored by you in conjunction with a homeless person.
Postmodernism and poststructuralism (the questioning of ‘truth’ and
‘reality’ and the sources of ‘knowledge’). Previous explanations would
be rigorously questioned and the discourses of ‘homelessness’,
‘begging’, ‘mental illness’ etc. examined and deconstructed. Your
assumption would be that the reasons young people are homeless are
individual, complex and always changing and no one solution will fit
all.
Mixed/Multiple methods. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be
needed to see broader aspects of individual circumstances within policy,
practice and the views of the wider community.

Evaluation of qualitative research

How can we assess the quality of our qualitative research and that of
others? The techniques by which quantitative research are evaluated are
not appropriate but sets of guidelines for evaluating qualitative research
have been suggested (Kitto et al., 2008) and these guidelines are detailed
below seven headings to show the essentials that need to be accounted for
in a good piece of qualitative research:

Clarification
What is the research question/s?
What are the aims of the research?
What did the researcher seek to investigate?
Does the research question reflect what has been investigated?
Have the aims been translated into the design so that all of them have

22
 been accounted for?

Justification
Why is a qualitative approach the best option to answer this question?
Why was the particular qualitative research design chosen?
Why was the study undertaken the way it was? Are the questions, aims
and design a perfect match?
Were any forms of data triangulation evident? For example, multiple
sources, i.e., documents, interviews, survey data, observation; multiple
methods, i.e., mixing methodologies such as ethnography and
phenomenology; and multiple theories, where multiple theoretical and
conceptual frames have been applied to the research to enhance insights
into phenomena.

Process
Has ethics approval been obtained?
Have the techniques of data collection been clearly documented?
How were participants/settings accessed?
What sampling techniques have been used to answer the research
question?
Who was interviewed/observed? How often? And for how long?
What interview questions were asked?
What was the purpose of any observation/s?
Which existing documents were accessed? And how were they
assessed?
How was collected data managed?
Are all the forms of data analysis completely transparent?
What were the major outcomes of the analytical process in terms of
findings?
In more detail, the exposure of what the researcher actually did needs to be
very explicit.
How were participants accessed?
Who were these participants?
How was rapport achieved?
Were any sampling techniques used?
What data collection techniques were used?
How did interviews occur? Face to face? Telephone? Focus group?
Teleconference? Video conference? Email? Skype?
Who was observed? When? How often? For how long? For what

23
 purpose? What existing sets of documentation were collected?
How was data managed?
What forms of data analysis were undertaken – transparency of process
is essential here.

Representativeness
Notions of comprehensiveness and diversify of results is sought in
qualitative research in preference to conformity and homogeneity. An
audit trail, monitoring changes and decisions taken in the project, should
be recorded in the researcher’s diary and made transparent where
applicable. In addition:
Have all the results been reported? Display of results is one aspect of
this, and hypertexts to the original data set so the reader can see where
your quotes have come from is becoming common.
Has a holistic answer to the research question been achieved?

Interpretation
Has a conceptual discussion of the results and linkage to existing
theory/new theory/ models of practice been developed to explain the
relevance of findings to a targeted audience or discipline?

Reflexivity
Has a clear statement of the impact of the researcher’s views upon the
data and the methods chosen been included?
How has researcher position and perspectives shaped the vision, slanted
the design and questions and affected the interpretation of results? Has
the researcher changed previous views on this topic? And has the
researcher provided a critique of her/his self in the research process
regarding their own history, culture, class, experiences and level of
empathy?
Diversity of process, capacity to connect and intertextuality (connections
with other relevant sources of influence) as well as the researcher’s own
epistemological positioning and ongoing response to research outcomes,
should also be evident.

Transferability
Has a critical evaluation of the application of findings to other similar

24
 contexts been made?
How do results match/contradict others on this topic?
Has the relevance of these findings to current knowledge, policy, and
practice or to current research been discussed?
To what extent are findings applicable to other similar settings,
situations and experiences? And to what extent has this study
successfully contributed to knowledge?

Newer ethnographic approaches

The newer ethnographic practices (documented in Chapters 10–13) are
very challenging to evaluate, assess and/or review as few established
criteria exist. The simplest assessment would be a personal one:
Do you feel that you as the reader have been brought as close as is
possible to the voice or images perceived or heard by the researcher?
OR, Do you feel you have been led into a mish-mash or collage of bits
and pieces so that you are no closer to experiencing the feelings and
emotions of others than you would reading a dry academic text centred
wholly in the authoritative voice of the researcher?

Researcher position
Subjectivity is crucial here.
What have been the experiences of the researcher? Exposure of who the
author actually is (past influences, beliefs, values and experiences as
well as their responses in all situations) should be available.
Has the researcher been highly involved as a participant in his/her own
right or what has been her/his position?
How close to the participants’ view, voices, emotions and feelings is the
display of data and how much ‘shaping’ (changing or manipulating) has
the researcher been involved in?

Process
If the design involved small-scale mini-narratives where reality is seen as
multiply constructed, multiple methods (both qualitative and quantitative)
are often needed to present a holistic view of any situation or experience.
Juxtaposition will often be called upon to identify voices/perspectives that
have previously been marginalised or silenced by powerful discourses. The
emphasis will be on the complexity of both situations and language – in
particular via double coding, irony, paradox, the longevity of particular

25
 Another Random Document on
Scribd Without Any Related Topics
 Fig. 244.—Warriors of the Iron Epoch.

Next to the tombs of Hallstadt, we must mention the tombs

discovered on the plateau of La Somma, in Lombardy, which have
contributed a valuable addition to the history of the earliest period of
the iron epoch.
On this plateau there were discovered certain tombs, composed of
rough stones of a rectangular form. In the interior there were some
vases of a shape suited to the purpose, containing ashes. The
material of which they were made was fine clay; they had been
wrought by means of the potter's wheel, were ornamented with
various designs, and also provided with encircling projections. On
some of them, representations of animals may be seen which
indicate a considerable progress in the province of art. The historic
date of these urns is pointed out by fibulæ (clasps for cloaks), iron
rings and bracelets, sword-belts partly bronze and partly iron, and
small bronze chains. The tombs of La Somma belong, therefore, to a
period of transition between the bronze and iron epochs. According
to M. Mortillet, they date back to the seventh century before Christ.
Under the same head we will class the tombs of Saint-Jean de
Belleville, in Savoy. At this spot several tombs belonging to the
commencement of the iron epoch have been explored by MM. Borel
and Costa de Beauregard. The latter, in a splendid work published in
Savoy, has given a detailed description of these tombs.[41]
Some of the skeletons are extended on their backs, others have
been consumed, but only partially, like those which we have already
mentioned in the tombs of Hallstadt. Various objects, consisting
chiefly of trinkets and ornaments, have been met with in these
tombs. We will mention in particular the fibulæ, bracelets and
necklaces made of amber, enamelled glass, &c.
In figs. 245 and 246 we give a representation of two skeleton arms,
which are encircled with several bracelets just as they were found in
these tombs.
Fig. 245.—Fore-arm, encircled with Bracelets, found in the Tombs of Belleville
(Savoy).
 Fig. 246.—Fore-arm, encircled with Bracelets, found in the Tombs of Belleville
(Savoy).

The lacustrine settlements of Switzerland have contributed a

valuable element towards the historic reconstruction of the iron
epoch.
In different parts of the lakes of Bienne and Neuchâtel there are
pile-works which contain iron objects intermingled with the remains
of preceding ages. But there is only one lacustrine settlement in
Switzerland which belongs exclusively to the earliest period of the
Iron Age—that of La Tène on the Lake of Neuchâtel.
Most of the objects which have been met with in this lacustrine
settlement have been recovered from the mud in which they had
been so remarkably preserved, being sheltered from any contact
with the outer air. There are, however, many spots in which piles
may be seen, where objects of this kind have not been found; but if
subsequent researches are attended with any results, we shall be
forced to attribute to the settlement of La Tène a considerable
degree of importance, for the piles there extend over an area of 37
acres.
The remains of all kinds which have been found in this settlement
are evidently of Gallic origin. It is an easy matter to prove this by
comparing the weapons found in this settlement with those which
were discovered in the trenches of Alise-Sainte-Reine, the ancient
Alesia, where, in its last contest against Cæsar, the independence of
ancient Gaul came to an end.
M. de Rougemont has called attention to the fact that these
weapons correspond very exactly to the description given by
Diodorus Siculus of the Gallic weapons. Switzerland thus seems to
have been inhabited in the earliest iron epoch by Gallic tribes, that is
to say, by a different race from that which occupied it during the
stone and bronze epochs; and it was this race which introduced into
Switzerland the use of iron.
Among the objects collected in the lake settlement of La Tène,
weapons are the most numerous; they consist of swords and the
heads of spears and javelins. Most of them have been kept from
oxidation by the peaty mud which entirely covered them, and they
are, consequently, in a state of perfect preservation.
The swords are all straight, of no very great thickness, and perfectly
flat. The blade is from 31 to 35 inches in length, and is terminated
by a handle about 6 inches long. They have neither guards nor
crosspieces. Several of them were still in their sheaths, from which
many of them have been drawn out in a state of perfect
preservation, and even tolerably sharp.
Fig. 247 represents one of the iron swords from the Swiss lakes,
which are depicted in M. Desor's memoir.
 Fig. 247.—Iron Sword, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.

On another sword, of which we also give a representation (fig. 248),

a sort of damascening work extends over almost the whole surface,
leaving the edges alone entirely smooth.
 Fig. 248.—Sword with Damascened Blade, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.

M. de Reffye, the archæologist, accounts for this fact in the following

way:—He is of opinion that the body of the blade is made of very
hard unyielding iron, whilst the edges are made of small strips of
mellower iron which have been subsequently welded and wrought
by the hammer. This mode of manufacture enabled the soldier, when
his sword was notched, to repair it by means of hammering. This
was a most valuable resource during an epoch in which armies did
not convey stores along with them, and when the soldier's baggage
was reduced to very little more than he could personally carry.
Several of these damascened blades have been found in the
trenches of Alise.
The sheaths, the existence of which now for the first time comes
under our notice, are of great importance on account of the designs
with which they are ornamented. Most of these designs are
engraved with a tool, others are executed in repoussé work. All of
them show great originality and peculiar characteristics, which
prevent them from being confounded with works of Roman art. One
of these sheaths (fig. 249), which belongs to M. Desor's collection
and is depicted in his memoir, represents the "horned horse," the
emblem of Gaul, which is sufficient proof of the Gallic origin of the
weapons found in the Lake of La Tène. Below this emblem, there is
a kind of granulated surface which bears some resemblance to
shagreen.

Fig 249.—Sheath of a Sword, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.

This sheath is composed of two very thin plates of wrought iron laid
one upon the other, except at the base, where they are united by
means of a cleverly-wrought band of iron. At its upper extremity
there is a plate, on one side of which may be seen the designs which
we have already described, and on the other a ring, intended to
suspend the weapon to the belt.
The lance-heads are very remarkable on account of their
extraordinary shape and large size. They measure as much as 16
inches long, by 2 to 4 inches wide, and are double-edged and
twisted into very diversified shapes. Some are winged, and others
are irregularly indented. Some have perforations in the shape of a
half-moon (fig. 250). The halberd of the middle ages was, very
probably, nothing but an improvement on, or a deviation from, these
singular blades.

Fig. 250.—Lance-head, found in one of the Swiss Lakes.

Fragments of wooden staves have been met with which had been
fitted into these spear-heads; they are slender, and shod with iron at
one end.
The care with which these instruments are wrought proves that they
are lance-heads, and not mere darts or javelins intended to be
thrown to a distance and consequently lost. They certainly would not
have taken so much pains with the manufacture of a weapon which
would be used only once.
It is altogether a different matter with respect to the javelins, a
tolerably large number of which have been found in the lacustrine
settlements of La Tène. They are simple socketed heads (fig. 251),
terminating in a laurel-leaf shape, about 4 to 5 inches in length.

Fig. 251.—Head of a Javelin, found in the Lacustrine Settlement of La Tène

(Neuchâtel).

It appears from experiments ordered by the Emperor of the French,

that these javelins could only have been used as missile weapons,
and that they were thrown, not by the hand merely grasping the
shaft (which would be impossible to do effectually on account of
their light weight), but by means of a cord or thong, which was
designated among the Romans by the name of amentum. These
experiments have shown that a dart which could be thrown only 65
feet with the hand, might be cast four times that distance by the aid
of the amentum. There probably existed among the Gauls certain
military corps who practised the use of the amentum, that is to say,
the management of thonged javelins, and threw this javelin in the
same way as other warriors threw stones by means of a sling. This
conclusion, which has been drawn by M. Desor, seems to us a very
just one.
Javelins of the preceding type are very common in the trenches of
Alise. In this neighbourhood a large number of iron arrows have also
been found which have never been met with in the lacustrine
settlement of La Tène.
War was not the only purpose for which these javelins were used by
the men of the iron epoch. Hunting, too, was carried on by means of
these missile weapons. The bow and the thonged javelin constituted
the hunting weapons of this epoch. We have depicted this in the
accompanying plate, which represents the chase during the iron
epoch.
 Fig. 252.—The Chase during the Iron Epoch.

Next to the weapons come the implements. We will, in the first

place, mention the hatchets (fig. 253). They are larger, more solid,
and have a wider cutting edge than those used in the bronze epoch;
wings were no longer in use, only a square-shaped socket into which
was fitted a wooden handle, probably made with an elbow.
Fig. 253.—Square-socketed Iron Hatchet, found in one of the Lakes of Switzerland.

The sickles (fig. 254) are likewise larger and also more simple than
those of the bronze epoch; there are neither designs nor ornaments
of any kind on them.
 Fig. 254.—Sickle.

With the pruning-bills or sickles we must class the regular scythes

(fig. 255) with stems for handling, two specimens of which have
been discovered in the lake settlement of the Tène. Their length is
about 14 inches, that is, about one-third as large as the scythes
used by the Swiss harvest-men of the present day. One important
inference is drawn from the existence of these scythes; it is, that at
the commencement of the iron epoch men were in the habit of
storing up a provision of hay, and must consequently have reared
cattle.
 Fig. 255.—Scythe, from the Lacustrine Settlements of Switzerland.

The iron fittings at the ends of the boat-hooks used by the boatmen
on the lake are frequently found at La Tène; they terminate in a
quadrangular pyramid or in a cone (fig. 256). Some still contain the
end of the wooden pole, which was attached to it by means of a
nail.
 Fig. 256.—Iron Point of Boat-hook, used by the Swiss Boatmen during the Iron
Epoch.

Next in order to these objects, we must mention the horses' bits and
shoes; the first being very simply constructed so as to last for a very
long period of time. They were composed of a short piece of iron
chain (fig. 257), which was placed in the horse's mouth, and
terminated at each end in a ring to which the reins were attached.

Fig. 257.—Horse's Bit, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel.

The fibulæ (fig. 258), or clasps for cloaks, are especially calculated
to attract attention in the class of ornamental objects; they are very
elegant and diversified in their shapes, their dimensions varying from
2½ to 5 inches. They are all formed of a pin in communication with
a twisted spring bent in various ways. They are provided with a
sheath to hold the end of the brooch pin, so as to avoid any danger
of pricking. A large number of them are in an excellent state of
preservation, and might well be used at the present day.

Fig. 258.—Fibula, or Iron Brooch, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel.

These brooches, which we have already called attention to when

speaking of the tombs of Hallstadt, were also used by the Etruscans
and the Romans; their existence in the pre-historic tombs tends to
prove that, like the above-named nations, the Swiss and Germans
wore the toga or mantle. These fibulæ have a peculiar character,
and it is impossible to confuse them with the Roman fibulæ. They
are, however, similar in every way to those which have been found
at Alise.
There have also been found in the Swiss lakes, along with the
fibulæ, a number of rings, the use of which is still problematical.
Some are flat and others chiselled in various ways. It is thought that
some of them must have been used as buckles for soldiers' sword-
belts (fig. 259); but there are others which do not afford any
countenance to this explanation. Neither can they be looked on as
bracelets; for most of them are too small for any such purpose.
Some show numerous cuts at regular intervals all round their
circumference; this fact has given rise to the supposition that they
might perhaps have served as a kind of money.

Fig. 259.—Iron Buckle for a Sword-belt, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel.

In the lake-settlement of La Tène (Lake of Neuchâtel), iron pincers

have also been found (fig. 260), which were doubtless used for
pulling out hair, and are of very perfect workmanship; also scissors
with a spring (fig. 261), the two legs being made in one piece, and
some very thin blades (fig. 262), which must have been razors.

Fig. 260.—Iron Pincers, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel.

 Fig. 261.—Iron Spring-Scissors, found in the Lake of Neuchâtel.

Fig. 262.—Razor.

The specimens of pottery belonging to this date do not testify to any

real progress having been made beyond the workmanship of the
bronze epoch; the clay is still badly baked, and of a darkish colour. It
certainly is the case, that along with these remains a quantity of
fragments of vessels have been picked up, and even entire vessels,
which have been made by the help of the potter's wheel and baked
in an oven, and consequently present the red colour usual in modern
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