Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T03:01:30.663Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

EARLY MEDIEVAL GARNET-INLAID METALWORK: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF DISC BROOCHES FROM EARLY WESSEX

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 September 2020

Helena Hamerow ,
Andrew Shortland  and
Esther Cameron
Helena Hamerow
Affiliation:
Helena Hamerow, Institute of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 34–6 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK. Email: Helena.hamerow@arch.ox.ac.uk
Andrew Shortland
Affiliation:
Andrew Shortland, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, Swindon SN6 8LA, UK. Email: a.shortland@cranfield.ac.uk
Esther Cameron
Affiliation:
Esther Cameron, 36 Bertie Road, Cumnor, Oxford OX2 9PS, UK. Email: esthercameron.oxford@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Garnet-inlaid metalwork was an emblem of elite culture in the early medieval North Sea world. This study compares three Anglo-Saxon garnet-inlaid brooches that are exceptionally similar in design and appearance. All three date to the seventh century, a period that saw the emergence of leading families that used such deluxe dress items to enhance their political position. The central hypothesis explored here is that the brooches were produced by the same, or by closely linked, goldsmiths working under the patronage of such a family. Integrated analysis was conducted using microscopy, CT scans, XRF and XRD, in part to establish whether the garnets used came from the same or different sources.

Keywords

Anglo-Saxonmetalworkdress fitmentsarchaeologygarnets
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 101 , September 2021 , pp. 143 - 159
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society of Antiquaries of London

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Adams, N 2011. ‘The garnet millennium: the role of seal stones in garnet studies’, in Entwhistle, C and Adams, N (eds), Gems of Heaven: recent research on engraved gemstones in Late Antiquity, 10–24, BM Res Publ 179, British Museum, London Google Scholar
Avent, R 1975. Anglo-Saxon Garnet Inlaid Disc and Composite Brooches, BAR Brit Ser 11, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Avent, R and Leigh, D 1977. ‘A study of cross-hatched gold foils in Anglo-Saxon jewellery’, Med Archaeol 21, 1–46 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, W J 1994. Anglo-Saxon Oxfordshire, Sutton Publishing, Stroud Google Scholar
Blakelock, E, La Niece, S and Fern, C 2016. ‘Secrets of the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths: analysis of gold objects from the Staffordshire hoard’, J Archaeol Sci 72, 44–56 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coatsworth, E and Pinder, M 2002. The Art of the Anglo-Saxon Goldsmith, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Dickinson, T 1993. ‘Early Saxon saucer brooches: a preliminary overview’, Anglo-Saxon Stud Archaeol Hist 6, 11–44 Google Scholar
Domoney, K 2012. ‘Non-destructive hand-held X-ray fluorescence analysis of Meissen and Vincennes-Sevres porcelain: characterisation, dating and attribution,’ unpublished PhD thesis, Cranfield UniversityGoogle Scholar
East, K 1985. A study of the cross-hatched gold foils from Sutton Hoo. Anglo-Saxon Stud Archaeol Hist 4, 129–41Google Scholar
Goodburn-Brown, D 1988. ‘Metalworking tools and workshop practices: interpretation of worked metal surfaces via silicone rubber moulds’, in Olsen, S (ed), Scanning Electron Microscopy in Archaeology, 55–64, BAR Int Ser 452, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Hamerow, H 2017. ‘The circulation of garnets in the North Sea zone, c 400–700’, in A Hilgner, Greiff, S and Quast, D (eds), Gemstones in the First Millennium AD: mines, trade, workshops and symbolism, 71–86, Verlag des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums, Mainz Google Scholar
Hamerow, H, Byard, A, Cameron, E et al 2015. ‘A high-status seventh-century female burial from West Hanney, Oxfordshire’, Antiq J 95, 91–118 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamerow, H, Ferguson, C and Naylor, J 2013. ‘The origins of Wessex pilot project’, Oxoniensia 78, 49–70 Google Scholar
Huggett, J 1988. ‘Imported grave goods and the early Anglo-Saxon economy’, Med Archaeol 32, 63–96 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, E 1987. ‘SEM-identification and documentation of tool marks and surface textures on the Gundestrup cauldron’, in Black, J (ed), Recent Advances in the Conservation and Analysis of Artifacts, 393–409, Summer Schools Press, London Google Scholar
Leahy, K 2011. ‘Anglo-Saxon crafts’, in Hamerow, H, Hinton, D and Crawford, S (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, 440–59, Oxford University Press, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Lucy, S 2000. The Anglo-Saxon Way of Death, Sutton Publishing, Stroud Google Scholar
Périn, P, Calligaro, T, Vallet, F et al 2007. ‘Provenancing Merovingian garnets by PIXE and µ-Raman spectrometry’, in Henning, J (ed), Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium. Volume 1: the heirs of the Roman west, 69–76, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York Google Scholar
Pinder, M 1995. ‘Anglo-Saxon garnet cloisonné composite disc brooches: some aspects of their construction’, J Brit Archaeol Assoc 148, 6–28 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, M, Bray, P, Gosden, C et al 2015. ‘Characterizing copper-based metals in Britain in the first millennium AD: A preliminary quantification of metal flow and recycling’, Antiquity 89, 697–713 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scull, C 2009. Early Medieval Cemeteries at Boss Hall and Buttermarket, Ipswich, Suffolk, Soc Med Archaeol Monogr 27, Society of Medieval Archaeology, London Google Scholar
Speake, G 1980. Anglo-Saxon Animal Art, Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Hamerow et al. supplementary material

Hamerow et al. supplementary material

Download Hamerow et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 853.4 KB