Gabor Thomas

Technology, ritual and Anglo-Saxon agriculture: the biography of a plough coulter from Lyminge, Kent

Abstract The discovery of an unusual early medieval plough coulter in a well-dated Anglo-Saxon settlement context in Kent suggests that continentally derived technology was in use in this powerful kingdom centuries before heavy ploughs were first depicted in Late Saxon manuscripts. The substantial investment required to manufacture the coulter, the significant damage and wear that it sustained during use and the circumstances of its ultimate ritual deposition are explored. Investigative conservation, high-resolution recording and metallographic analysis illuminate the form, function and use-life of the coulter. An examination of the deposition contexts of plough-irons in early medieval northern Europe sheds important new light on the ritual actions of plough symbolism in an age of religious hybridity and transformation.

The Symbolic Lives of Late Anglo-Saxon Settlements: A Cellared Structure and Iron Hoard from Bishopstone, East Sussex

This paper examines the character and significance of a cellared structure discovered during recent excavations on the site of a later Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bishopstone, East Sussex. The structure in question formed a focal element within an estate centre complex administered by the Bishops of Selsey from c. AD 800, otherwise surviving in the celebrated pre-Conquest fabric of St Andrews parish church. The excavated footprint of this cellared structure is examined in detail and conjectural reconstructions are advanced on the basis of comparative evidence garnered from historical and archaeological sources. The collective weight of evidence points towards a tower, possibly free-standing, with integrated storage/cellarage accommodated within a substantial, 2 m-deep subterranean chamber. This could represent a timber counterpart to excavated and extant masonry towers with thegnly/episcopal associations. The afterlife of this structure is also considered in detail on the grounds that it provides one of the most compelling cases yet identified of an act of ritual closure on a Late Anglo-Saxon settlement. Alongside being dismantled and infilled in a single, short-lived episode, the abandonment of the tower was marked by the careful and deliberate placement of a closure deposit in the form of a smiths hoard containing iron tools, agricultural equipment and lock furniture. One of the few such caches to be excavated under controlled scientific conditions, it is argued that the contents were deliberately selected to make a symbolic statement, perhaps evoking the functions of a well-run estate centre.

Reflections on a `9th-century' Northumbrian Metalworking Tradition: A Silver Hoard from Poppleton, North Yorkshire

Abstract A HOARD of Late Saxon ornamental metalwork, comprising two matching sets of four strapends each and four fragments of an openwork silver disc, was discovered in the parish of Upper Poppleton, on the outskirts of York. Particular emphasis is laid on the date, function, manufacture and localisation of the strap-ends, which rank amongst the most accomplished examples yet discovered of this ubiquitous class of Late Saxon ornamental metalwork. On the basis of close stylistic links drawn to other artistic media from the north of the Humber, it is argued that these strap-ends occupy a focal point in the definition of a 9th-century Northumbrian metalworking tradition embodying a regional version of the Trewhiddle style.

Carolingian Culture in the North Sea World: Rethinking the Cultural Dynamics of Personal Adornment in Viking-Age England

AbstractBoosted by a proliferation in metal-detected finds, categories of personal adornment now constitute a vital archaeological source for interpreting Viking-age cultural interaction in the North Sea region. Previous research in England has explored the potential of this metalwork in relation to the formation of ‘Anglo-Scandinavian’ identity, but without due consideration of a wider spectrum of cultural influences. This article redresses the balance by shifting attention to twenty-eight belt fittings derived from richly embellished baldrics, equestrian equipment, and waist belts manufactured on the Frankish continent during the period of Carolingian hegemony in the later eighth and ninth centuries ad. The metalwork is classified and then contextualized in order to track import mechanisms and to assess the impact of Carolingian culture on the northern peripheries of the Frankish empire. The main conclusion is that the adoption, adaptation, and strategic manipulation of Carolingian/northern Frankish ide...

Religious Transformations in the Middle Ages: Towards a New Archaeological Agenda

UNDERSTANDING RELIGIOUS CHANGE between the collapse of the Roman Empire and the Reformation forms one of the cornerstones of medieval archaeology, but has been riven by period, denominational, and geographical divisions. This paper lays the groundwork for a fundamental rethink of archaeological approaches to medieval religions, by adopting an holistic framework that places Christian, pagan, Islamic and Jewish case studies of religious transformation in a long-term, cross-cultural perspective. Focused around the analytical themes of ‘hybridity and resilience’ and ‘tempo and trajectories’, our approach shifts attention away from the singularities of national narratives of religious conversion, towards a deeper understanding of how religious beliefs, practices and identity were renegotiated by medieval people in their daily lives.

Martin Carver, Justin Garner-Lahire & Cecily Spall. Portmahomack on Tarbet Ness: changing ideologies in north-east Scotland, sixth to sixteenth century AD. 2016. 552 pages, numerous colour and bw 978-1-190833-209-7 hardback £30.

be advised to come armed with a map and some amount of patience, but the rewards will merit the effort. The excavation of Dublin’s extraordinary early medieval remains at Wood Quay, and the associated sites, was a landmark achievement of north European archaeology. The first-hand synthesis of these excavations in a book of impressive detail, keen observation and insightful discussion is another major accomplishment, the result of decades of scholarship and endeavour. The work of an astute copy-editor would have been a comparatively small additional investment and is greatly missed. It is rare these days even for key scholarly monographs to appear in revised editions; one hopes that the enduring interest in the archaeology of Dublin will make this book an exception.

Debby Banham & Rosamond Faith. Anglo-Saxon farms and farming . 2014. xv+336 pages, numerous colour and bw 978-0-19-920794-7 hardback £65.

There are also factual mistakes that affect the overall argument. For example: the brick-stamps found used in the honorific bases on the south side of the Forum are not necessarily post-Diocletianic (p. 49); the prefect Paulinus dedicated the equestrian statue of Constantine on behalf of the Senate, when he was already a consul (p. 58); CIL VI 36952 was dedicated by a financial officer of equestrian (perfectissimus, and not clarissimus) rank, making no reference to Constantine’s financial policies (p. 60); CIL VI 1195 (the statue of Honorius) does not survive because it is the same dedication as CIL VI 1731 (the statue of Stilicho), hence the same text (p. 90); the statuebase reused by Probianus in front of the basilica Iulia was not addressed by a successful senator to Constantine I (p. 106), but by an official of equestrian rank (perfectissimus) to Constantine II when he was Caesar (CIL VI 1156a); the wall separating the tabernae from the aula of the basilica Aemilia was only restored during the Tetrarchy, and not built ex novo (p. 112).

Tradition and Transformation in Anglo-Saxon England. ByOosthuizen Susan. 222mm. Pp xii + 251, 12 b&w maps and figs.Bloomsbury,London,2013.isbn9781472507273. £55 (hbk).

landscape were viewed, ascribed meanings and used by early medieval communities. As such it goes beyond landscape studies into the archaeologies of belief and psychology. It will, rightly, become a fixed reference point for researchers and a primary source for students. Chapter 1 sets out the intellectual background and context. This is followed by three chapters which, broadly speaking, examine relationships between early medieval communities and earlier monuments through patterns of spatial proximity in the archaeological record and naming. This delivers a nuanced and regionally sensitive analysis of the reuse of monuments in mortuary geography; an assessment of the ways in which landscape, landscape features and monuments may or may not have structured the spectrum of ritualised social behaviours from cult through assemblies to military conflict; and a clear-sighted analysis of the relationship between early churches and pre-Christian monuments which challenges some easy assumptions. Chapters 5 and 6 deal respectively with the meanings and significances accorded monuments and landscape elements in place names and literature, and with the place of monuments in constructions of religious and jurisdictional theatre and landscapes of administration in the Middle and Late Anglo-Saxon periods. Chapter 7 provides a lucid summary and overview, and there are four appendices of supporting data. The text is well supported by illustrations in monochrome and colour. The main conclusions may be summarised by emphasising two points: the ways in which early medieval communities used and reacted to earlier monuments and landscape features were complex; and their meanings and resonances changed over time. There is no single simple pattern of spatial association: reuse was selective, varied by region, locality, physical landscape and sphere of social activity, and analysis must take account of context and situation, both physical and ideational. It is clear, however, that from the eighth and ninth centuries attitudes shifted from a mindset in which association with monuments from the past might be affirmative to one in which some were attributed negative associations of death, hell and judgement. The ways in which the spectrum of different resonances was utilised and renegotiated to help establish landscapes of authority in the Late Anglo-Saxon period provide important insights into the psychologies of power, rulership and the ruled. It is, of course, possible to take issue with some elements of intellectual history, perspective and argument. There is no doubt that the past fifteen to twenty years have seen a massive increase in scholarship in this area but (contra the statement on p 2) debates about the use of the ancient landscape – with contributions from, for example, Brian Hope-Taylor, Richard Bradley and Richard Morris – were current well before 1992. The emphasis is on the prehistoric (in the modern sense – there is no suggestion of an AngloSaxon concept of prehistory rather than of the past) but early medieval communities reacted with all elements of the inherited landscape; similarly, in privileging the use of the past and the landscape in social construction and reconstruction there is a danger that the contemporary, the innovative and other media are downplayed, leaving an anachronistic picture of societies living their lives in dialogue with the past rather than with the exigencies of subsistence, health, social relationships and rulership in the here and now. In fairness, though, these points are acknowledged. The analysis throughout is alert to the pitfalls of speculation, recognising the limitations of the evidence and of the analytical approaches available, and explicit about contingent argument and model-building. The only serious criticisms to be levelled at this monograph must be aimed at the publisher rather than the author. The hardback cover price will discourage most of the target audience and even as a loss-leader for a subsequent paperback edition it is hard to see the business justification. Just as seriously, although the book is physically well produced there are slipshod errors that should have been eradicated by competent copyediting and quality control during production. These include inconsistencies between citations in the text and in the bibliography, elisions in the bibliography whereby publications are attributed to the wrong author, erratic text layout at the foot of some pages, and an apparent loss of text at the foot of page 212 which leads to a conflation of Edgar’s consecration at Bath in 973 with the ‘submission at Chester’. At this price from Oxford University Press one expects better.

Britons and Anglo-Saxons: Lincolnshire AD 400–650. ByGreen Thomas. 245mm. Pp xvi + 320, 48 b&w ills. Studies in the History of Lincolnshire 3,History of Lincolnshire Committee,Lincoln,2012.isbn9780902668256. £17.95 (pbk).

It is notoriously difficult to gain any clear impression of the realities of sub-Roman Britain given gaping holes in the archaeological record and the smokescreen of centuries of myth-making and historical invention. Green’s book represents an engaging and readable interpretation of what may have happened in the region we know as Lincolnshire in the shadowy period between AD 400 and 650. Through considerable dexterity and the integration of a wide array of historical, linguistic and archaeological sources, the author conjures a lively hypothetical narrative of the transformation of a Late Roman province into the historically attested Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindissi. The book commences by highlighting the vitality of the Lincolnshire region in the late Imperial world of the fourth century, a vitality which the author suggests may have sustained Romanised ways of life somewhat later here than in other regions of Britannia. In this version of events, the fall of the Imperial administration did not so much result in political implosion as in mutation: by the fifth century what had been the northern part of Civitas Corieltavorum had re-emerged as the lost British kingdom of *Lindēs, inheriting much of the organisational infrastructure of its predecessor, including the provincial capital of Lincoln, which persisted as a centre of political and episcopal authority. As portrayed, this post-Imperial polity was sufficiently robust and cohesive to influence the inflow of Anglo-Saxon immigrants, orchestrating the controlled settlement of Germanic enclaves in regions distant from the British nerve-centre of Lincoln. Ultimately, however, British resistance collapsed, paving the way for the formation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindissi, which first emerged into clear historical light in the seventh century. According to Green, this new political formation drew heavily upon its British precursor: it was similar in geographical extent; the Lincoln region continued to function as a ‘core territory’; and other component parts of the kingdom (including those named in the Tribal Hidage) and their central places can invariably be shown to reference the Late Roman past in their siting and configuration. Green is not afraid to stick his neck out and make some brave assertions on the basis of what he readily admits is a very difficult and incomplete evidential base. While speculative, his analysis is nevertheless critically informed in relation to general academic discourse on Dark Age Britain and contributing fields of study. There are some, however, who may find the book’s conceptual framework (not unreminiscent of Alcock’s Arthur’s Britain) somewhat outdated. In the final analysis, this is a familiar account of Britons versus Anglo-Saxons. Although there is acknowledgement that these were fluid categories with significant evidence for British populations acculturating to AngloSaxon norms and, to a more limited extent, vice versa, the dynamic is still interpreted in binary terms: depending upon context, one identity is proclaimed in opposition to, or subsumed by, the other. There is no space here for the cultural blurring and complexity known from betterdocumented post-Imperial domains (such as Gaul) or that might otherwise be inferred from migration theory. If you can forgive these absences of nuance, then prepare to be stimulated by a valuable contribution to Dark Age studies written in the traditional mould.

Re-evaluating base-metal artifacts: an inscribed lead strap-end from Crewkerne, Somerset

Abstract Strap-ends represent the most common class of dress accessory known from late Anglo-Saxon England. At this period, new materials, notably lead and its alloys, were being deployed in the manufacture of personal possessions and jewellery. This newly found strap-end adds to the growing number of tongue-shaped examples fashioned from lead dating from this period. It is, however, distinctive in being inscribed with a personal name. The present article provides an account of the object and its text, and assesses its general significance in the context of a more nuanced interpretation of the social status of lead artefacts in late Anglo-Saxon England.