Early Mdvl Archaeology Symposium Dublin

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Early Medieval Archaeology Student

Symposium

2010

Proceedings and Review

Editors:

Rebecca Boyd, Maureen Doyle, and Sharon

Greene


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INTRODUCTION

This volume presents the proceedings of the fourth annual Early MedievalArchaeology Student Symposium (EMASS) which was held in Dublin, Ireland, inMay 2010. A total of twenty one papers were presented in the eight sessionsacross the two days of the conference. Over fifty delegates came from acrossIreland, the UK, France, Spain, and Sweden and provided us with three days ofinformed and interesting discussion on everything from Anglo-Saxon perceptionsof the past, to kingship and cows in early medieval society (a popular theme!),

to experimental reconstructions of bells. Unfortunately, the over-activeEyjafjallajkull volcano meant that EMASSs first delegate from Iceland had towithdraw, and gave us a new meaning for EMASS - Eyjafjallajkull MakesArchaeology Students Swear!

Across the three days of the conference, several key themes recurred, but whatemerged most vibrantly from the papers, the discussions after each session, andthe invaluable networking after the formal close of business each day, was thegreat variety and vibrancy of new research into the early medieval world. Bothspeakers and delegates came from all stages of the early career researcher

ladder, from Masters students right up to post-doctoral researchers. EMASScontinues to go from strength to strength, and we look forward to EMASS 2011which is being hosted by the University of Glasgow in May 2011.

The conference was hosted by the Early Medieval and Viking Age ResearchGroup of UCD School of Archaeology. The Office of Public Works generouslysponsored the conference, allowing the incorporation of a day-long field trip atthe end of the conference. The presentations were held in the Seminar Room ofthe Humanities Institute of Ireland who also provided a wine reception. Dr.Finbar McCormick of Queens University Belfast and the Early Medieval

Archaeology Project kindly gave the keynote lecture. The field trip to southKildare was guided by Dr. Sharon Greene. Hardworking volunteers from theSchool of Archaeology looked after the registration desks and the many lastminute details, but the final word of thanks must go to the chairs of each sessionand all the speakers for their enthusiastic contributions to EMASS 2010.


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CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Rebecca Boyd Welcome to EMASS 2010 University College

Dublin

1 Irish Landscapes

Terry OHagan The Map Is Not The Territory: Cognitive

Approaches to Early Medieval Landscapes

University College

Dublin

Sharon Greene Rural Viking Settlement in Ireland A Case forthe West Coast?

University CollegeDublin

Patrick Gleeson Constructing Kingship: The Poetics of Power and

Place

University College

Cork

2 Defining Place

Michelle Higgins Place-names and Archaeology of Early

Ecclesiastical Settlement in Cork and The

Decies- Preliminary Results

University College

Cork

Darrell Rohl The Antonine Wall and Early Medieval Reception

of Roman Remains

University of

Durham

Letty Ten

Harkel

A Tale of Two Towns: Viking Age Metalwork

and Coins from Lincoln and Torksey.

University of

Sheffield

EMASS BUSINESS MEETING

3 So Close, So Far

Jose Carvajal Fitna: Chaos as a Rule. The Complex Mosaic of

Identities and Technologies in Early Islamic

Spain

University of

Sheffield/ University

of Granada

Chantal

Bielmann

Top-Down Implications of a Christian Centre:

Geneva, AD 350-600

University of

Leicester

4 The Anglo-Saxon World

Duncan Wright Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: Settlement

and Landscape

University of Exeter

Michael

Shapland

Towers of Secular and Religious Lordship:

Anglo-Saxon Tower-Nave Churches

University College

London


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5 Personal Ornament

Maureen Doyle Baubles, bangles, bright shiny beads: some

thoughts on the meanings of personal ornament

in early medieval Ireland

University College

Dublin

Hilary Paterson Personal Wealth or Personal Adornment? Early

Medieval Hoarding, Identity and the Irish Cycles

University of York

Morgan Smith A Beautiful Cloak of Curly Fleece: Textiles and

Identity in Early Medieval Ireland

University of

Sheffield

6 Making Pots

Imogen Wood The Entwined Trajectories of Pots and People:

Social and Material Culture Change in the Early

Medieval Period of Southwest England.

University of Exeter

Alison Kyle Resistance is futile?: Ceramic Regionality and

the Question of Choice.

University of

Glasgow

Ben Jervis Pottery and the Norman Conquest of England. A

Case Study from Southampton.

University of

Southampton

7 Making Metal

Killian Hopkins A Meeting of Mettle: Metallurgical Practice and

Social Exchange between Anglo-Saxon andScandinavian Communities in Britain.

University of

Sheffield

Paul Stevens For whom the bell tolls; Excavation and

Experimental Archaeology on the Monastic Site

at Clonfad, Co. Westmeath, Ireland

Valerie J. Keeley

Ltd.

Lena Berg

Nilsson

Could Two Wrongs Make One Right? - Medieval

Ore-Mining in Sweden until 1200 AD.

Stockholm

University

8 Life and Death

Alexandra Knox From the Home to the Grave: a Holistic

Perspective on the Mid-Anglo-Saxon Worldview

University of

Reading

Matt Seaver Enclosing the Past and the Present; Early

Medieval Cemeteries and Settlement in Ireland

University College

Dublin

Keynote Lecture

Dr. Finbar

McCormick

The Early Medieval Archaeology Project Queens University

Belfast


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CONFERENCE REVIEW

With twenty-one papers, eight sessions, fifty delegates, eight posters and onekeynote speaker, EMASS 2010 had a lot of ground to cover. A broad variety oftopics were covered in the presentations, but a number of common themes andpoints wound around and through the papers. Some of these arose in the morethematic sessions, but others echoed between different sessions and across thetwo days of the symposium.

Looking back at the first day, if there was a common theme across all the papersit was perhaps in a sense of place within the landscape, either in physical,cognitive or interpretative terms. Terry OHagans delivery of a James Joyce textin a broad Dublin accent, while not exactly early medieval, showed the linksbetween words and views of place a point also touched on by Michelle Higgins.Perceptions of the past, including written interpretations, were highlighted byDarrell Rohl and Sharon Greene, who showed how both early medieval andmodern people could overlook or misinterpret evidence which did not fit theirreceived ideas of possible pasts, whether Roman or Viking. Similarly, JosCarvajal noted that evidence for forms of irrigation and pottery in ninth/tenth

century Spain does not reflect historians ideas of periods of conflict, but insteadshows change and development over time, suggesting fluid identities. Letty TenHarkel showed how finds retrieved by metal-detecting, though often unstratified,can provide considerable information on their locality, even where no settlementsite has been excavated.

The question of the social nature ofplace, as linked to both social roles andsocial institutions, was also introduced. Both Duncan Wright and Patrick Gleesonaddressed issues of kingship and place. Patrick showed the existence of commonfeatures in both royal sites and some early Christian landscapes of Ireland,

suggesting a possible transfer of associated ideologies. Duncan discussed Anglo-Saxon settlement sites and the social role of smiths and cattle as evidenced bythis archaeology. Michael Shapland and Chantal Bielmann, too, showed evidencefor links between secular elites and Christian foundations, but in two verydifferent locations Anglo-Saxon England and early Christian Geneva.

The importance of material culture studies has been somewhat downplayed inthe recent past, but with three themed sessions on dress, ceramics and metal,materiality and material studies can be named as the over-arching topic acrossDay 2. This is a field of study which is clearly experiencing a resurgence of

interest and its potential is only beginning to emerge. Materiality in dress,whether displayed through glass or bone beads, metal ornaments or textiles,


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was discussed and linked to ideas of identity of the wearer, or the user, or themaker of the objects by Maureen Doyle, Hilary Paterson and Morgan Smith.Many of the themes raised during Day 2 echoed some of the points from Day 1,where, for example, the different uses and perceptions of stone, turf and wood

in building had been raised by both Darrell Rohl and Chantal Bielmann.

The use of local fabrics in pottery and their meanings were discussed by ImogenWood, Alison Kyle and Ben Jervis, who linked these very deliberate choices toquestions of social identities. The session on metals, in addition to technologicalapproaches, also echoed some earlier topics, with Killian Hopkins consideringhow the processes of metal production might be linked to ethnic identity. PaulStevens discussed the evidence for hand-bell manufacture at the monastic siteof Clonfad, while Lena Berg Nilsson used her paper to challenge old assumptionsthat mining only began in Sweden in the mid-twelfth century by presenting

geological evidence for pre-twelfth ore-mining.

The final session took a holistic approach to issues of life and death. AlexandraKnox argued for the need to integrate burial and settlement evidence in Anglo-Saxon studies, noting that it was illogical to treat them separately if ideas of thesacred and profane could not be differentiated. A similar integrated approachwas evident in Matt Seavers discussion of a newly-recognised form ofsettlement in early medieval Ireland, thesettlement/cemetery, which includedevidence from a number of sites with contemporary burials and domestic andindustrial activity.

Wrapping up the two days, the keynote speaker, Dr. Finbar McCormick ofQueens University Belfast, introduced the Early Medieval Archaeology Projectcurrently being conducted under the auspices of UCD School of Archaeology andQueens University Belfast, before delivering a paper on early medievalsettlement and farming. In his own phrase, this offered a view of the periodthrough cow-tinted glasses, highlighting the role of cattle in social, religiousand economic terms. Ranging from India to Ireland, and from cow goddesses tocattle as a display of wealth, it provided an interesting final talk, after whichdelegates engaged in more socialising and networking, prior to the Friday field

trip.


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BUSINESS MEETING

The business meeting was held on the first day of the conference, and the firstitem for discussion was the venue for next years conference. Alison Kyle and theUniversity of Glasgow volunteered to host EMASS 2011 and the provisional datesfor next years conference are 25-27 May 2011.

The format of future EMASS conferences was also raised with the possibility ofexpanding the conference to include parallel sessions, multiple languages, and a

longer timeframe, i.e. beyond AD 1200. Some of these issues have beenconsidered at previous meetings and, as always, the deciding factor came downto issues of money and time. As a post-graduate led conference, there is neitherthe money nor the time available to expand the scope of the conference greatly.The point was also made that one of the reasons EMASS has been so popular isthat it has a smaller and friendlier feel to it than other medieval conferencessuch as Kalamazoo and Leeds which can be intimidating venues. In keeping theconference as a smaller event, it provides a less daunting and more comfortablevenue for new researchers to present their work for the first time. It was feltthat if the conference began to run multiple sessions across two or more rooms,

some of this feeling could be lost.

The end point ofEMASSs fourth to twelfth century time frame was alsoquestioned, particularly by delegates who are interested in the Norman andpost-conquest periods which begin at the end of. Again, this has been discussedbefore, and the general consensus was that the timeframe is broad enough as itis. Instead, the suggestion was made that a concerted effort could be made toexpand the geographical spread covered and to move out of Britain and Irelandinto continental Europe and beyond. It was also felt that the focus of EMASS isthe early medieval period, and that the later medieval period is still more

successfully catered for by other conferences and organisations. Ultimatelyhowever, it is up to the discretion of each conference organising committee todecide how to limit each years conference.

Professor Terry Barry of the Society for Medieval Archaeology also sent amessage to the business meeting to inform us that the next Society for MedievalArchaeology Post-graduate Conference would not take place until late 2011. Atthe 2010 SMA Post-graduate Conference, some concern had been raised overhaving both events close together in the calendar and the overlap between thetwo events. One suggestion made was that the two conferences could run

together, but focus on each end of the medieval period, i.e. the early medievalfor EMASS, and the high medieval period for the SMA. It was also proposed that


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the two conferences could link up every two or four years to host a largermedieval event.

On a more practical note, some concern was expressed at how to promote

EMASS and raise awareness of EMASS amongst new researchers and amongstcommercial archaeologists. The website is difficult to find and needs to beupdated, while the mailing list is under-utilised (although there are now over160 subscribers to the list). Another concern was the international profile ofEMASS, with some of the overseas delegates commenting that they could notfind any information about the group other than the conference webpage. Somesuggestions were made as to finding a more permanent and accessible home forthe website and producing an information leaflet on EMASS which could be sentto all universities, but there are cost implications in both of these and EMASShas little spare money available.

The question of publication was also discussed. Some delegates were not awarethat there was a series of web-based publications of the conference proceedingsavailable on the website. It was agreed that th is years proceedings would alsobe prepared and made available on the website. One interesting suggestion wasthat a small volume could be prepared containing a selection of abstracts fromacross all the previous conferences. This could act as a showpiece to showcasethe evolution of EMASS from its beginnings and demonstrate the vitality of thegroup and its work. Some concern was expressed that one of EMASSsattractions is that it allows delegates to present and receive feedback on work in

progress, rather than finished work, and that more formal publication of suchwork in progress may not be beneficial. Another suggestion was to try to write aco-authored paper on the origin and evolution of EMASS and submit it to ajournal to try and raise EMASSs profile as well as demonstrating thecommitment which its members have to it.

The meeting drew to a close with the following forthcoming conferenceannouncements:

Twelfth Medieval Dublin Symposium, Friends of Medieval Dublin/TrinityCollege Dublin, 22 May 2010

Space and Settlement in the Middle Ages: The Final Frontier, TrinityCollege Dublin, 28-29 May 2010

Documenting Destruction in Yorkshire: the Dispersal of MonasticArtefacts, Society for Church Archaeology, 17-19 September 2010

Crisis, what Crisis? Collapses and Dark Ages in Comparative Perspective,University of Cambridge, 24-26 September 2010

Local Churches and Lordship in the European Middle Ages, UniversityCollege London, 13-14 November 2010


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EMASS FIELD TRIP2010

The EMASS 2010 fieldtrip took in a selection of Irish early medieval sites, bothecclesiastical and secular, in the southern part of Co. Kildare (approximately onehours drive south east of Dublin). Despite its proximity to Dublin (or perhapsbecause of it!) the impressive sites of this region do not receive the number ofvisitors, or indeed the research attention, they deserve. For this reason most ofthe delegates, from both home and abroad, were seeing them for the first time.

The rolling landscape of south Kildare is located immediately west of the Wicklowmountains and to the east of the River Barrow, which runs southwards to thesea. It is an area of good agricultural land which has been intensively farmed,but despite this a number of significant archaeological sites and monumentshave survived. Development in recent years (in particular the construction of theM9 motorway) has also uncovered extensive archaeological evidence for theregions settlement history. The sites visited were predominantly ecclesiastical,an accident of survival common to most parts of Ireland.

Old Kilcullen

The early monastic site of Old Kilcullen is situated on top of a prominent roundedhill about a mile from the River Liffey, which flows to Dublin. It is also very closeto the ancient Leinster capital of Dn illine (Knockaulin). The hill was originallycalled Sliabh CuilinnHolly Hill suggesting potential pre-Christian religioussignificance. The site was supposedly founded in AD 438 by St. Patrickscompanion Iserninus (though is more likely to belong to the preceding mission ofPalladius). He was succeeded by Mac Til, St. Patricks bellmaker, nicknamedson of adze (his father was a carpenter), who died in the mid-sixth century AD.

Within the circular graveyard stand the remains of a round tower, two shafts ofhigh crosses and the foundations of a church. The church was excavated in1939, but revealed very little dating evidence. Antiquarian illustrations suggestthat it had a Romanesque chancel arch of which nothing survives. The buildingwas destroyed in a battle on the hill in 1798, which also resulted in the reductionof the round tower to its current height. Of the two cross shafts, one bearsdecorated panels, including a possible depiction of Mac Til.

The slopes of the hill around the enclosure are currently in pasture and it ispossible to discern additional boundaries and other potential features. Theecclesiastical site appears to have been a focus of settlement for the area until


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the bridge across the River Liffey was constructed in AD 1318 leading to theformation of the modern town of Kilcullen. Despite this and earlier attacks by theVikings in the tenth century, the church appears to have remained in use as aparish church into the later medieval period at least.

Castledermot

The small town of Castledermot appears to have grown up around the earlymonastic settlement ofDseart Diarmada on the banks of the River Burren.Diarmat was an anchoritic bishop of the Cli D (Culdee) movement, whoestablished a monastery here in c. AD 825. All that remains of the earlier churchat this site is a Romanesque doorway which now provides an arch on theapproach to the modern church.

Two complete high crosses stand to the north and southof the church and there is a round tower attached to itsnorthern side. The graveyard also contains a number ofsmall cross slabs, some of which are probably early anda later medieval recumbent slab believed to be theburial place of tenth century Munster king Cormac MacCullenan. The only known Norse hogback stone inIreland lies close to the Romanesque arch, though in asecondary position - it was found buried in the

graveyard in the course of a clean-up in the nineteenthcentury.

Moone Abbey

Min colum cille, also known as Mugna in the sources, is an early monastic sitewhose establishment on the River Greese in the sixth century is attributed to St.Columcille. It is best known for the exceptionally tall granite high cross whichbears decorated panels depicting various biblical stories. Fragments of anothercross also on display are remarkable as a rare example of a holed high cross.Both crosses are now exhibited within the walls of the church. Excavationsrevealed that the foundations of the eastern end of the church building in factbelonged to an early stone church associated with the original foundation andthe large nave was added on in the thirteenth century when the site was takenover by the Franciscans. There are relatively few annalistic or other references tothe early church here, despite the fact that the high crosses suggest a site ofsome importance.


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Killeen Cormac

Killeen Cormac is located close to the River Greese, which forms the boundary

between counties Kildare and Wicklow and also acts as a parish and baronyboundary. The enclosed early church site is best known for its notable collectionof ogham stones, both because of their number (seven) and their location, asthey are relatively uncommon outside the south-west of the country. Included inthis corpus is an important stone bearing an inscription in both ogham and Latinscript, now in the National Museum of Ireland. The origins of the site aresomewhat obscure with folklore suggesting it was the burial place of a Munsterking named Cormac or alternatively that of an early saint, St. Abban. It was also

thought to be the burial place of thefirst Bishop of Kildare, St. Conleith.

The ogham stones are so far theonly feature attesting to such earlybeginnings. Though there is noevidence of a church visible on thesite today, historical sources refer toa chapel here in the later medievalperiod, prior to the Reformation andexcavations at the beginning of the20th century uncovered a stone

gable finial believed to date to thetenth century. As well as the oghamstones standing within the enclosed graveyard, there are a number of otheruninscribed pillars, a slab bearing a circled cross, a pillar with a portrait of anearly ecclesiastic and another pillar indented with the footprint of a dogs paw!

Mullaghmast

Secular early medieval sites aremore difficult to come by in this

region as the predominant sitetype is the earthen bankedringfort, which, in a quiteintensively farmed landscape, hasnot fared well and often survivesonly as a crop mark. Someimpressive examples remainhowever, including the largeringfort of Mullaghmast, whosehistorical significance continuedfrom the early medieval period


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right up to the nineteenth century.

Mullaghmast or Maistiu, is located on high ground looking eastwards over theRiver Greese valley.The site now consists of a large earthen bank with the

remains of an external ditch standing in a field that has been ploughed, resultingin the loss of any further upstanding features. In the field immediately to thesouth of the enclosure there were a number of (probably) Bronze Age burialmounds, which were flattened in the nineteenth century. A couple of hundredmetres down the road is a standing stone, known as the Long Stone ofMullaghmast. An important highly decorated Late Iron Age pillar stone, whichhad been reused in the construction of a nearby castle and then was removed bythe National Museum, is also from the vicinity of Mullaghmast. This significantsite, which was a royal stronghold of the U Muireadig, clearly has prehistoricroots and would be worthy of further research.

Overall, the trip was a great success, made all the more so by the contributionsof various delegates who contributed their own particular expertise on aspectsthat included monastic site location and royal sites. The landowners of KilleenCormac and Mullaghmast are also to be thanked for allowing us access to theirlands and an excellent lunch was provided at the charming and aptly namedMoone High Cross Inn. We could not have asked for better weather as we wereblessed with a particularly warm sunny day, which along with the forget-me-nots

and primroses had the sites looking their best!


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SPEAKERS ABSTRACTS

Session 1: Irish Landscapes (Chair: Andrew Reynolds)

The Map Is Not the Territory: Cognitive Approaches to Early MedievalLandscapes

Terry OHagan, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin

Contact:[email protected]

Early Irish and British documentary sources show an awareness of, and interestin, the collation and knowledge of distant places of note. Primarily ecclesiasticalin nature, the desire to record and engage with such locations at a removemanifests itself in surviving textual portrayals of geographical and topographicaldata. The absence of visual aids or graphical representations within such sourcessuggests an alternative textual 'comprehension' and 'mental-mapping' of certainaspects of the early medieval world.

This paper will explore cognitive approaches to understanding the arrangement

and portrayal of early medieval landscapes as 'encoded' in textual form. It hopesto illustrate possible avenues for the physical and mental distinction between,and appreciation of, an early medieval 'sense of place'. It seeks to offer analternative interpretation as to the changing archaeological value of suchinformation to the early medieval ecclesiastical identity and mindset on bothsides of the Irish Sea.

(Original Abstract)

Rural Viking Settlement In Ireland A Case for the West Coast?

Sharon A. Greene, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin


Scandinavian settlement in Ireland during the Viking Age was predominantlyurban in character and the question of rural settlement, either Scandinavian orHiberno-Scandinavian, remains a vexed topic in Irish archaeology. This paperlooks at the evidence for such settlement on the Irish west coast, focussing onthe province of Connacht, and asks whether the evidence suggests aScandinavian presence or influence in an area not traditionally associated withViking activities after the initial raids around the turn of the ninth century.
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Papers by Bradley (1988) and particularly Sheehan et al(2001) were key inopening the discussion on archaeological evidence for Scandinavian activity onthe west coast, with Eamonn Kelly taking up the gauntlet for the Connemaracoast (Keeley-Gibbons & Kelly 2003; Kelly 2010), and my own research looking

at the Mayo coastline.In this paper the evidence, which includes a small number of excavated burialand settlement sites, artefacts, historical references and place names, isconsidered in the context of Hiberno-Scandinavian and Scandinavian evidencefrom other rural locations in Ireland and also within the context of the study ofthe early medieval archaeology of the maritime region of western Connacht ingeneral.

Not all of this evidence has been recently found, with some artefacts acquired bythe National Museum of Ireland some years ago (e.g. a Mammen-type silverinlaid axehead from Ballina, Co Mayo found in the 1930s, Mahr 1938) and other

artefacts have been awaiting identification (e.g. a series of steatite loom weightsof Hamiltons Class 1 from Inishkea North, Greene 2009, 166). Reinterpretationof Franoise Henrys excavations on Inishkea North (Henry 1945, 1951, 1952)has indicated a Scandinavian settlement on that island, post-dating an earliermonastic settlement (Greene 2009).

The first observation to be made of all the data is that there is a relatively smallnumber of actual Scandinavian objects, and the identification of the sites andsettlements (except for the Eyrephort burial) has been open to question. Whatallows for their questionability is the rapid development of the Hiberno-Scandinavian culture once the Scandinavians began settling here in the ninth

century, making it difficult to define how Scandinavian or Irish a site may be.That said, even the relatively small amount of data considered in this paperindicates a Scandinavian presence and influence that has been underestimatedand even ignored for too long. This is a picture that is bound to come intosharper focus now that researchers are open to its potential content.

(Postgraduate research funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities andSocial Sciences.)

(Extended Abstract)

References:

Bradley, J. 1988. The Interpretation of Scandinavian Settlement in Ireland, in J.Bradley (ed.) Settlement and Society in Medieval Ireland, Kilkenny, 49-78.

Henry, F. 1945. Remains ofthe early Christian period on Inishkea North, CoMayo,Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland75, 127-55.

Henry, F. 1951. New monuments from Inishkea North, Co Mayo,Journal of theRoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland81, 65-88.

Henry, F. 1952. A wooden hut on Inishkea North, Co Mayo,Journal of the RoyalSociety of Antiquaries of Ireland82, 163-78.


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Greene, S.A. 2009. Settlement, Identity and Change on the Atlantic Islands ofNorth-West Co Mayo, c.AD 400-1100. Unpublished PhD thesis, School ofArchaeology, University College Dublin.

Mahr, A. 1938. The Galloglach Axe,Journal of the Galway Archaeological andHistorical Society18, 66-67.

Keeley-Gibbons, E. & Kelly, E.P. 2003. A Viking Age farmstead in Connemara,Archaeology Ireland63, 28-32.

Kelly, E.P., 2010. The Vikings in Connemara, in J. Sheehan & D. Corrin(eds.) The Viking Age: Ireland and the West. Papers from the Proceedings of theFifteenth Viking Congress, Cork, 18-27 August 2005. Four Courts Press, Dublin,174-187.

Sheehan, J., Stummann Hansen, S. & Corrin, D. 2001. A Viking Age

Maritime Haven: A Reassessment of the Island Settlement at Beginish, Co.Kerry, The Journal of Irish Archaeology10, 93-119.

Constructing Kingship: The Poetics of Power and Place

Patrick Gleeson, University College Cork


In early medieval Ireland, kingship was vested in places. Royal sites weretheatres of performance, hallowed precincts and imagined places, deeply

implicated in early medieval spirituality. This paper suggests royal sites wereconceived of as a nexus of the planes of existence between c.400-800AD, andaccordingly, synergy between potentate and place was paramount in ideologiesof kingship. By considering the role of the poet (as a holy man) and some moreperformative elements of fashioning kingship, it suggests reasons to re-think themateriality of person and place. Scrutinising royal sites reveals a labyrinth ofinterconnected cultural, architectural, iconographic and spatial motifs, and suchiconographic repertoires contributed to the creation, understanding and re-imagining of royal sites. By examining the iconographies redolent at royal siteslike Clogher, Moynagh Lough and Lagore, and considering their relationship toprehistoric antecedents, this paper suggests more local small-scale kingship was

constructed to accord with similar ideologies to those of more prominentinstitutions, such as the kingship of Tara. It attempts to better comprehend howsuch places and the practice of kingship were implicated in ideological discourse.By identifying a northeast/southwest axis at royal sites, it suggests early royalsites were conceived as locales where human and divine could co-exist, andconsequently, that the early Irish church appropriated and manipulatedideologies and iconographies appropriate to regal space in an attempt toChristianise society, and ultimately kingship.

(Original Abstract)
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Session 2: Defining Place (Chair: Terry OHagan)

Place-names and Archaeology of Early Ecclesiastical Settlement in Corkand The Decies

Michelle Higgins, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork.


This thesis adopts an archaeological approach to place-name studies in aselected area of Munster. In this analysis, the nature of early ecclesiastical siteswith different place-name elements will form a central consideration. Thefundamental elements which define an ecclesiastical site include its position

within a landscape context and the elements within the site, and these principalfeatures are sometimes fundamental to the naming process of both sites andterritorial divisions. Taken together, archaeological information and toponymictradition provide a clearer picture of the impact of the early Irish Church on thecommunity. Place-names offer a valuable insight into the relationship betweenoral tradition and historical record, between archaeological reality and textualcreativity. In archaeological discourse, sites are often considered in terms oftheir disparate elements, e.g. church, sculpture and enclosure. This study,however, contends that place-name elements themselves constitute a crucialinterpretative tool for the evaluation of early ecclesiastical sites in theirlandscape setting.

Although the use of place-names in archaeological studies is not new (Hurley1982; Cobhin 2009), the systematic examination of these sites in light oftheir ecclesiastical place-names has not been adequately attempted. Likewise, inthe discipline of toponymy (place-name research) the meaning of place-nameelements is often presented without further analysis or discussion. Field-workdoes not normally form part of the methodology in proving or disproving aplace-name interpretation. My thesis aims to bridge the gap between the twodisciplines. The following ecclesiastical place-name elements will be focussed on:domhnach, cill, dsert, cluain, tech and teampall(though the list may beexpanded). The place-names all indicate either a church building or the

ecclesiastical context for such a building. An archaeological assessment of theseearly ecclesiastical sites will determine their differing nature and the variety oflandscape in which they occur, allowing further consideration of whatdistinguishes the various place-name elements applied to the sites. In tandem,data from the two disciplines can clarify varying site function in early medievalIreland as well as how place-name elements relate to the early medievallandscape.

(Extended Abstract)

References:


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Hurley, V. 1982.The Early Church in the South-West of Ireland: settlement andorganisation. In S.M. Pearce (ed.), The Early Church in Western Britain andIreland, 297-332. British series, BAR 102. Oxford.

Cobhin, B. 2009.The Early Ecclesiastical Toponymy of Ubh Rthach. In J.Crowley & J. Sheehan (eds.) The Iveragh Peninsula : A Cultural Atlas of the Ringof Kerry. Cork.

The Antonine Wall and Early Medieval Reception of Roman Remains

Darrell J. Rohl, Durham University


The Antonine Wall, a 60km turf-constructed linear boundary on Scotlands Forth-Clyde isthmus, served as the northwestern-most frontier of the Roman Empire c.AD 140-60. While the monument is demonstrably of Roman construction, earlymedieval writers attribute it to the work of native Britons. This attribution isbased explicitly on its turf rather than stone construction, with Gildas (DeExcidio 15) placing construction in the late fourth-century and Bede (Hist.Eccles. 1.12) in the early fifth-century. This paper explores these early medievalaccounts, compares them with related accounts of Hadrians Wall and seeks tounderstand why the authors provide such a contrasting interpretation of theAntonine Wall.

Higham (1991) has argued that Gildas invokes the turf wall in order to criticizecontemporary earthen dyke construction in the south of Britain, suggesting thatthe eastern Wansdyke in Wiltshire was constructed in the late fifth or early sixth-century. More recently, Reynolds and Langlands (2006) have provided soundarguments for a middle Anglo-Saxon construction of Wansdyke, makingHighams hypothesis untenable. It may, perhaps, be better to understand theearly medieval misattribution of the Antonine Wall by considering this periods(mis)perceptions of Roman engineering.

The crucial element in these accounts is building material: the Wall made of turfis deemed native and that built of stone, Roman. Is this an example of the if itaint stone, it aint Roman misbelief? Bede repeatedly refers to masonryconstruction as being in the manner of the Romans,morem Romanorum (e.g.Hist. Eccles. 5.21), and it is widely accepted that stone construction returned toBritain only in the late seventh-century. Until the Norman Conquest, few stonestructures were built for non-ecclesiastical purposes, suggesting periodperceptions of stone/timber as sacred/secular materials with ancient Romedeeply associated with the Church (Shapland 2009). The early medievalaccounts of the Antonine Wall fit into such perceptions, with turf joining timberas a secular material.

(Extended Abstract)

References:


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Acin Almansa, M. 1997. Entre el feudalismo y el Islm. Umar ibn Hafsun en loshistoriadores, en las fuentes y en la historia. Jan: Universidad de Jan.

Carvajal Lpez, J.C. 2009.Pottery production and Islam in south east Spain: asocial model.Antiquity83, 388-98.

Jimnez Puertas, M. & Carvajal Lpez, J.C. forthcoming. Opciones sociotcnicasde regado y secano. El caso de la Vega de Granada, in F. Sabat Curull,Arqueologia Medieval: Els Espais del Sec. Lleida: Universidad de Lleida.[Translation into English available on request to authors].

Simonet, F.J. 1983 [1897-1903]. Historia de los mozrabes de Espaa. Madrid:Ediciones Turner.

Top-Down Implications of a Christian Centre: Geneva, AD 350-600

Chantal Bielmann, University of Leicester


The early medieval period can be regarded as a period of complextransformation and transition rather than decline.Christianisation has been apopular theme within this context but interestingly Switzerland remains anundeveloped region in English studies on late antique and early medievalreligious transformation, despite extensive excavations, especially in Geneva(see Charles Bonnet 2002, 1996, 1987; Jean Terrier 2007, 2003). Three

questions on that city and its region frame this paper. (1) How did Christianitymanifest and develop in Geneva? (2) Did the Burgundians contribute to orhinder the spread of Christianity, considering their Arian heritage, within theregion when Geneva became their capital? (3) What impact did Genevasepiscopal complex have on the Christianisation of the rural landscape?Methodologically, it was an interdisciplinary work: archaeology and primarysources helped establish the territorys history and transition from a non-Christian landscape to a Christian one. The initial hypothesis was that thedevelopment of Christianity here follows a top-down model through thepatronage of elites - primarily landowners, bishops, and the local monarchy.However, the result of the analysis demonstrated that without the appropriate

documentation, it was difficult to ascertain a definitive link between elites andthe spread of Christianity. Only the founders graves (graves built in prominentlocations in churches, often prior to a churchs construction) could stronglysuggest some sort of patronage (see Effros 2003). And while the hypothesis isstill unclear, the research itself could prove useful in understanding the rate atwhich Christianity grew and spread in the region.

Discussion at the conference focussed on baptism. For example, it wassuggested that the disappearance of the font in the seventh century couldindicate fewer conversions (see Bonnet 2002). Another note was the tie betweenthe Burgundian monarchy and the creation of monasteries. In this comment, anidea was raised perhaps to do a comparative study between monarchs andmonasteries in Switzerland and those in Ireland. Some questions arose to thelack of a forum in Geneva, a usual feature of Roman sites even in the provinces,


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and why the early Church would choose a site with no major Romanadministrative features. The result of this discussion was to further the casestudy on Geneva by comparing it to either a very different region or a similarregion in Switzerland.

(Extended Abstract)

References:

Bonnet, C., 1987. The archaeological site of the cathedral of Saint Peter (Saint-Pierre), Geneva. World Archaeology: Archaeology and the Christian Church 18,330-340.

Bonnet, C., 1996. Les installations liturgiques du baptistre et des trois glisespiscopales de Genve durant l'Antiquit tardive.Antiquit Tardive 4, 101-103.

Bonnet, C., 2002.Topographie chrtienne et dveloppement urbain. Zeitschriftfr Schweizerische Archologie und Kunstgeschichte, 59(3), 143-151.

Effros, B., 2003. Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the EarlyMiddle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press

Liebeschuetz, J., 2000. Ravenna to Aachen. In G. Ripoll & J. M. Gurt (eds),Sedes regiae ann. 400-800. Barcelona: Reial Acadmia, 9-30.

Terrier, J., 2003. Bilan des recherches archologiques sur les glises rurales enSuisse occidentale. In : C. Delaplace (ed),Aux origines de la paroisse rurale enGaule meridionale IVe-IXe siecles, (Actes du colloque international de Toulouse,21-23 March 2003). Paris : ditions Errance, 72-81.

Terrier, J., 2007.Lglise de la Madeleine Genve. In: L. Chrzanovski & P.Kaiser (eds), Dark Ages? Licht im Mittelalter/L'eclairage au moyen age. Olten:Historisches Museum Olten, 271-272.

Terrier, J., 2007b.Une archologie pour aborder la christianisation de lespacerural. Gallia 64, 75- 81.

Session 4: The Anglo-Saxon World (Chair: Imogen Wood)

Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: Settlement and Landscape

Duncan Wright, University of Exeter


Seventh and eighth century Anglo-Saxon written documents reference powerfulindividuals proclaiming themselves as kings, exercising control over definedadministrative areas or kingdoms. Such documents have been the single most

significant influence upon scholarly attitudes of early Anglo-Saxon kingship,despite their inherent biases (Crick 2009; Yorke 1999). The historical evidence


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provides only an idealised image of self-proclaimed kings and researcherspersistently back-project the perceptions and structures of later medieval elitesonto earlier societies. Archaeologically, the evidence from princely burials of theseventh century such Taplow, Buckinghamshire, substantiate the written data

for social stratification. However, this funerary evidence aside, the archaeologicalindicators for an increasingly complex society are typically seen as unconvincing.With regard to the evidence from settlement archaeology, scholars havestruggled to reconcile an apparent dearth of material investment with theelaborate displays of wealth notable in some documents and burials.

This situation has previously led to a scholarly neglect of the significance ofAnglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Nevertheless, archaeology is graduallybeginning to demonstrate the potential that settlement sites have indemonstrating an increasingly stratified society, with powerful elites employingunprecedented power over people and resources. From the late sixth century,Anglo-Saxon settlements start to feature boundaries and show an increasinglyregulated character. Such changes can be linked with changing perceptions ofproperty ownership at all levels of society, a dynamic also manifest in early lawcodes (Reynolds 2003). At the high-end of society, a number of Anglo-Saxonpalace sites have also been identified, the most celebrated of which isYeavering, Northumbria (Hope-Taylor 1977).

Yeavering is renowned for its monumental architecture but detailedarchaeological investigation can also demonstrate more subtle expressions ofkingship. Excavation of a henge to the south of the palace focus has revealedevidence for Anglo-Saxon metalworking (Harding 1981). It therefore appearsthat the smith, who was likely part of the entourage of the peripatetic king, was

located within a prehistoric monument away from the elite centre. The dualstatus of smiths as both valued and mistrusted by Anglo-Saxon elites is attestedin literature and folklore, such as the legend of Welland. A similar landscapepositioning of smiths is also evident at Lake Tiss, Denmark, where a smithy wasenclosed within the northernmost limit of the high-status enclosure (Jorgensen2003). This research therefore demonstrates, albeit briefly, that the nuances ofAnglo-Saxon kingship are detectable in the archaeological record of settlements.Whilst the occupation evidence is rarely as elaborate as the burial material,settlement archaeology provides a valuable contribution to our understanding ofthe character of Early Anglo-Saxon kingship and the processes by which a morestratified society developed.

(Extended Abstract)

References:

Crick, J. 2009. Nobility, in P. Stafford (ed.)A Companion to the Early MiddleAges: Britain and Ireland c.500-c.1100, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 414-431

Harding, A. F. 1981. Excavations in the Prehistoric Ritual Complex near Milfield,Northumberland, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society47, 87-135

Hope-Taylor, B. 1977. Yeavering: An Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria,London: Department of the Environment Archaeological Reports 7


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Jorgensen, L. 2003.Manor and Market at Lake Tiss in the Sixth to EleventhCenturies: The Danish Productive Sites, in T. Pestell & K. Ulmschneider (eds.)Markets in Early Medieval Europe: Trading and Productive Sites, Macclesfield:Windgather Press, 175-207

Reynolds, A. 2003. Boundaries and Settlements in Later Sixth to SeventhCentury England,Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History12, 98-136

Yorke, B. 1999: The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: the Contribution ofWritten Sources, in T. Dickinson & D. Griffiths (eds.) The Making of Kingdoms:Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History10, Oxford: Oxford UniversityCommittee for Archaeology, 25-29

Towers of Secular and Religious Lordship: Anglo-Saxon Tower-Nave

Churches

Michael Shapland, University College London


It is received wisdom that no secular standing buildings survive from Anglo-Saxon England. Tower-nave churches are a small group of free-standing towerswhose ground floors served as chapels and which have been suggested ashaving had a dual ecclesiastical and high-status secular function.

It has been previously hypothesised that one of these towers, Earls Barton inNorthamptonshire, acted as a defensive tower-chapel within a fortified lordlyresidence. Many of the others seem also to have stood in apparent locations ofpower such as adjacent to manorial sites, within Norman castles, at the gates ofburhs or overlooking meeting-places and beacon-systems. As part of an ongoingstudy to establish whether the interpretation made of Earls Barton applies tothese other towers several of them have been recorded and placed within theirlandscape context, the results of which will be presented here. It is hoped thatby investigating the standing fabric and social context of these towers that newlight can be shed on the embodiment of lordship and authority in the Anglo-Saxon landscape, and on the union of secular and religious authority ineleventh-century England.

(Original Abstract)

Session 5: Personal Ornament (Chair: Letty Ten Harkel)

Baubles, Bangles, Bright Shiny Beads: Some Thoughts on theMeanings of Personal Ornament in Early Medieval Ireland

Maureen Doyle, UCD School of Archaeology


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Beads are among the most common personal ornaments found on earlymedieval Irish sites. However there are very few dressed burials from thisperiod, and most personal ornaments either come from settlement sites, or arestray finds with limited provenance. So how can we relate these small items topeople? A variety of methods can be used to better understand what beads cansay about identity, including statistics, contexts, contemporary written andpictorial references, and theories of dress and identity.

The small quantities of beads from most sites may suggest that necklaces (as weunderstand them) were few; so perhaps we should consider other ways in whichbeads might have been used, such as on pins, in hair, or sewn on garments. Therange of materials utilised goes far beyond the glass beads which are usuallyreferred to; although glass makes up nearly three-quarters of the total, a varietyof other materials was also used. The next most frequent materials are bone, at

fifteen per cent of the total, and amber at nine per cent. Clearly, deliberatechoices were involved, and it is possible that particular meanings wereassociated with different materials, such as bone, which occurs frequently onchurch/monastic sites and cemeteries. Texts are of little help in deciphering this,as they usually refer only to metallic ornaments, rather than beads and theirmaterials (e.g. ORahilly 1967, 1976; Gray 1982; Whitfield 2006). A tendency tothink in terms of high- and low-status materials may also focus too much onglass beads, and overlook the attractiveness of materials like wood or bone(Woolgar 2006; Hurcombe 2007). Patterns of quantities and materials ondifferent sites, moreover, do not suggest a simplistic link between beads anddifferent status levels.

Beads might also be indicative of gender, especially linked to women (e.g. Geake1997; Theden 2008), although the paucity of dressed burials makes thisdifficult to prove. Early Irish texts show both men and women wearing variousornaments. However, a small number of female burials with beads mayparticularly link this type with women. More often (but still only in a minority ofcases), single beads, and sometimes larger numbers, are found with infants andyoung children. Amuletic interpretations of such occurrences have beenproposed (see e.g. Meaney 1981; OBrien 1999; Borsje & Kelly 2003; Gilchrist2008); but perhaps these instances may say more about kinship, feelings andthe loss of a child.

(Postgraduate research funded by UCD Ad Astra Research Scholarship)

(Extended Abstract)

References:

Borsje, J. & Kelly, F. 2003.The Evil Eye in Early Irish Literature and Law,Celtica 24, 1-39

Geake, H. 1997. The Use of Grave-Goods in Conversion-Period England, c.600-c.850. BAR British Series 261. Oxford.

Gilchrist, R. 2008.Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in LaterMedieval Burials Medieval Archaeology52, 119-159


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Gray, E.A. (ed.) 1982. Cath Maige Tuired. The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. IrishTexts Society (Vol. 52), Naas.

Hurcombe, L. 2007.Archaeological Artefacts as Material Culture. London andRoutledge, New York.

Meaney, A.L. 1981.Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones. BAR British Series96, Oxford.

OBrien, E. 1999. Post-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Burial PracticesReviewed. BAR British Series 289, Oxford.

ORahilly, C. (ed.) 1967. Tin B Calnge. From the Book of Leinster. DublinInstitute for Advanced Studies, Dublin.

ORahilly, C. 1976. Tin B Cailnge. Recension I. Dublin Institute for AdvancedStudies, Dublin.

Theden, S. 2008.Whos that Girl? The Cultural Construction of Girlhood andthe Transition to Womanhood in Viking Age GotlandChildhood in the Past1, 78-93

Whitfield, N. 2006.Dress and Accessories in the Early Irish Tale The Wooing ofBecfhola Medieval Clothing and Textiles 2, 1-34.

Woolgar, C.M. 2006. The Senses in Late Medieval England. Yale University Press,New Haven and London.

Personal Wealth or Personal Adornment? Early Medieval Hoarding,Identity and the Irish Cycles

Hilary Paterson, University of York


The mixed and coinless hoards of early medieval Scotland and Ireland have longbeen acknowledged as integral to our understanding of economic development inthese areas, and have been intensively studied as such. The depositional contextof such collections and their related interpretation as representations of personal

wealth has relegated the ornamental metalwork items contained within hoardsto mere commodities, effectively negating their potential, as objects of dress, tomake statements about personal and social identity. The very nature ofhoarding, however, and the well established assumption that such deposits wereintended for retrieval, offers a unique opportunity to look at them not as goods,but as intermittently active social indicators through biographies of their use,deposition and reuse.

This paper seeks to explore the active roles of hoarded objects as personalornamentation rather than personal wealth. As such, it will draw uponobservations on the Irish reallocation of Viking silver hoards to look at the

changing uses of hoarded materials as markers of ethnic identity and affiliation.References from the Irish literary cycles will also be employed in considering the


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intentionality and exclusivity afforded to the practice of hoarding dress items,going beyond their roles in facilitating economic exchange, and towardrecognition of their deposition as part of a more reflexive pattern of reserved useand selective identification.

(Original Abstract)

A Beautiful Cloak of Curly Fleece: Textiles and Identity in Early MedievalIreland

Morgan Smith, University of Sheffield


Can we take the material from Irish mythology and combine them with

archaeology to discover what early Irish textiles looked like, as well as how theymay have been constructed? Through the study of descriptive passages andcomparing them to the extant textile remains, it could be possible to matchweave structures to the described fabrics. It can also be seen that thesedescriptions often act as markers of social identities, even serving as models fortheir contemporary audiences.

Without large samples of the actual fabrics, the main evidence we rely on arethe tools recovered from excavation sites. Through this, we have an informedidea of the techniques and technologies in place by the Late Iron Age in Ireland,where closely-woven plain weaves and twills were well within the weaving

repertoire. More complex effects, e.g. the shaggy or heavily fringed garments,would also have been part of the textile vocabulary. How this work wasaccomplished, and by whom, offers questions of how, in a society with a sharpdivide between the elite and service populations, marginal groups could havebeen induced to commit energy and resources to create textiles for display andexchange.

It is obvious from the literature and the archaeology that weaving and textileswork were part of the feminine sphere of activity, but these sharp divisions ofgender should be tempered with the understanding that the creation of clothwas probably a shared task. Men would have raised, cared for, and sheared thesheep, or planted, harvested and processed the flax. The entire community may

have had a considerable stake in producing the final product through arrangingwork loads to accommodate the time-consuming tasks of spinning, dyeing andweaving. If this work was done primarily to clothe the elite, then the creation ofcomplex textiles becomes even more mystifying: why should people pour thiskind of effort and energy into a product they would not use themselves?

It is therefore not advisable to divorce the practical, material arena of textilemanufacture from its more theoretical counterpart. The identities of the weaversare as important as the identities of the wearers. The study of the ways in whichthe descriptive passages of Irish myths were constructed to include characterswith distinctly less refined attributes suggests that the myths were created with

a kind of inclusive group identity in which ordinary people could see themselvesreflected.


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(Extended Abstract)

Session 6: Making Pots (Chair: Niamh Doyle)

The Entwined Trajectories of Pots and People: Social and MaterialCulture Change in the Early Medieval Period of Southwest England

Imogen Wood, University of Exeter


This paper sheds new light on a supposedly dark seventh century in theSouthwest of England; providing the first material evidence for social change

uniquely manifested in the fabric of the everyday pottery. The ceramic evidencereveals the trajectories of both pots and people from the fourth to eleventhcenturies, charting the significance of external events on society. The Southwestof England is a region famous for its borders and cultural labels. It is a culturallydiverse region whose occupational legacy has formed a confusing melting pot ofthe clichd Atlantic Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. Archaeological researchhas generally emphasised the differences rather than looking for the similarities.This is most evident in the depiction of Cornwall in comparison to its neighbours.However, my research has demonstrated that despite their assumed differencesduring the Roman period, similarities can be drawn in their reaction to an eventin the seventh century. This is uniquely expressed in the selection of clays for

pottery production across the region which shifted from regional to localprocurement strategies. Petrological analysis of Cornish pottery demonstratesthe response of rural communities to external influences, which may suggest anearly medieval society that adhered to regional norms whilst maintaining theirlocal identities and independence. The question of what instigated local changein the seventh century will be approached and new methods of understandingthe early medieval period suggested.

(Original Abstract)

Resistance is Futile?: Ceramic Regionality and the Question of Choice.

Alison Kyle, Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow


This paper presents part of my doctoral research which is a broader study ofregionality exhibited in the material culture of Ireland and western Britain in thefirst millennium AD. Initial considerations of the domestic ceramics within thisstudy area are discussed, focussing on areas of difference and similarity namely ceramic versus aceramic regions.

Within this study area the distribution of areas engaged in ceramic production isstrongly regional. The differences in cooking vessels between ceramic and


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aceramic regions must be viewed as more than a simple question of materiality.It is not enough to dismiss aceramic regions as having used organicalternatives, as is all too often the case. Such vessels could not have been usedin the same manner as their ceramic cooking pot equivalent it is obvious that a

leather vessel cannot be placed directly in the fire in the manner of a ceramicvessel. The utilisation of alternative cooking methods would have created anumber of regional differences in experience, behaviour, and techniques.Differences in these experiences are likely to have been highly sensory - notonly in terms of sight and touch, but also sounds, smells, and flavours. Thereremains the need to explicitly interrogate the nature of the culinary differencesbetween these regions.

These daily, habitual, bodily actions would have created a socially accepted wayof doing things, in this case preparing a meal, with the repetitive nature of thesedaily actions culminating to create a regional cultural marker, an activeexpression of identity. Through experience and replication the techniques ofvessel production and use as socially embedded activities would have actedas a mechanism of social and cultural reproduction, resulting in the transmissionof a regional cultural identity from generation to generation.

This role of ceramics in the expression of identity raises the question of choice.The resistance or adoption of ceramics should not be viewed as passive, butrather an active choice reflecting the deliberate manipulation of material culturein order to create, maintain, or express identity.

Finally, the question will be asked: does the eventual widespread production anduse of ceramics, evidenced by its pervasive presence today, suggest resistance

is futile?(Extended Abstract)

Pottery and the Norman Conquest of England: A Case Study FromSouthampton

Ben Jervis, University of Southampton


The impact of the Norman conquest on pottery traditions is not well understood.Many of the characteristics of post-conquest pottery have late Saxon roots.Here, I moved away from a discussion of pottery production, instead studyingthe effect of Norman influences on the exchange, use and deposition of pottery.The paper focussed on the way that locally produced coarsewares wereconceptualised.

The two main types of post-conquest coarseware in Southampton are ScratchMarked Ware and Flint Tempered Coarseware, the latter being related to thepottery used in the Saxon period in the town. The distribution of Scratch MarkedWare is focussed on the merchants quarter in the west of Southampton, whilst

the Flint Tempered Ware is more prevalent in the east. This demonstrates a levelof continuity in the types of pottery used in the town, whilst Norman newcomers
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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to the settlement, and those associated with them, used a new type of pottery.This pottery was still produced in the local tradition and would appear to be theresult of local potters adapting to the needs of new consumers.

Usewear analysis shows a different style of cooking in the west of the town(where vessels were generally suspended above a fire) to the east (wherevessels were placed close to the fire). Scratch Marked vessels are generallylarger, perhaps related to the larger size of Norman households. Large storagevessels were more common in the west of the town, possibly reflecting theprovisioning of richer homes through food rents. Through exchange and use, thetypes of pottery identified based on production traits remain fairly distinct,although with some overlap between them, demonstrating that these are fuzzysets, rather than absolute categories.

Finally, I considered pottery deposition. In the east, waste was generallydumped onto a midden prior to redeposition on gardens, a continuation of a late

Saxon trend. In the west, waste was dumped directly into pits. This illustrates adivide in household structure in these different areas of the town, based onwealth and status, as well as the topography of these different areas of thetown.

It was concluded that the conquest did not have a big impact on the way thatmost people used pottery. Newcomers did use it in a different way. The morehomogenous pattern of usewear in the high medieval period suggests thatchanges occurred at a later date, perhaps following the anarchy.

(Extended Abstract)

Session 7: Making Metal (Chair: Brian Dolan)

A Meeting of Mettle: Metallurgical Practice and Social Exchange BetweenAnglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Communities in Britain

Killian Hopkins, University of Sheffield


It is clear from the archaeological record that there is a high degree of socialinteraction between Norse and Indigenous communities on the British Islesduring the Viking Age. This relationship is frequently evidenced throughexamination of artistic motifs found on jewellery and dress-accessories, creatinga model of communication between these culturally specific social groups. This isan inappropriate means of measuring social interaction on its own as it assumesportable items are direct evidence of contact between social groups, coupledwith the fact that they are often stray finds. Excavations at Coppergate andRamsbury have revealed evidence for an intensive metallurgical tradition in bothsocial groups. Rod-shaped iron blanks from an iron-production site at Helg,

Sweden exhibit a discrete similarity in composition to types excavated atCoppergate and Ramsbury indicating an exchange of ironworking goods. This


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paper investigates the transmission of metallurgical practices by examining thecontinuity of metallurgical technology and processes of manufacture includingthe procurement of ore materials, iron blooming and patterns of smithingtechniques between Scandinavian and Indigenous metal-producing groups within

Britain. The incorporation of a material-based model of technology exchangeproduces an alternative means of observing and explaining cross-culturalcommunication within Viking Age Britain.

(Original Abstract)

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Excavation and Experimental Archaeology onthe Monastic Site at Clonfad, Co. Westmeath, Ireland

Paul Stevens, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd.


Since the discovery and partial archaeological excavation in 2005 of thepreviously unknown early monastic site at Clonfad, Co Westmeath, newgeophysical and experimental archaeological work has taken place.

Excavation established three early medieval monastic phases, dated from thesixth century to tenth century AD, with later use of the site as a post-medievalfarmstead. During the seventh to ninth centuries AD, the enclosed, tri-vallatemonastic site covered an extensive area measuring 180m in diameter, centredon the (unexcavated) church and innermost enclosure. An extensive

metalworking area in southeast quadrant of the monastic enclosure was partiallyexcavated for the road scheme. This area centred on a small stream thatdelimited the southern boundary of the site. In addition, a small section of theouter enclosure ditch to the east was also excavated. Much of the refuse of theearlier phase of the site was dumped into this ditch.

Work on this site, which lay outside the new road corridor, included geophysicalsurvey of 2 hectares of adjacent land currently under pasture. This revealedevidence for the continuation of the enclosure ditches, plus new evidence ofinternal terraces, possible structures, and a second large concentration ofmetalworking debris to the southwest, along the stream bank.

The excavation produced one of the largest metal working assemblages (1.4tonnes) yet to be recovered from an Irish site of this type and date. Mostsignificantly, Clonfad revealed the unique discovery of evidence for theproduction of wrought iron hand bells an iconic symbol of the early medievalCeltic church in Britain and Ireland. The evidence revealed the bronze coatingwas applied using a brazing technique. During 2007-8, a programme ofexperimental archaeology, undertaken by Dr. T. Young of GeoArch Ltd. inassociation with the National Museum of Wales, attempted a reconstruction ofthe brazing technology to create replicas of the wrought iron handbells. As aresult of this work, a replica of the hand bells manufactured at this site was alsoproduced.

(Extended Abstract)


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References

Egan, O. 2009,Ringing out the old: reconstructing the bell of Clonfad, Seanda4, 52-3.

Stevens, P. 2006,A Monastic Enclosure Site At Clonfad, Co. WestmeathArchaeology Ireland 20, 8-11.

Stevens, P. 2007,Clonfad: a unique glimpse into early monastic life in CountyWestmeath, Seanda 2, 42-3.

Stevens, P. 2010,For whom the bell tolls: the monastic site at Clonfad 3, Co.Westmeath, in M. Stanley, E. Danaher & J. Eogan (eds)Creative Minds:production, manufacturing and invention in ancient Ireland. Archaeology and theNational Roads Authority, 85-98. National Roads Authority, Dublin.

Websites:

http://www.nra.ie/Archaeology/ArchaeologyIrelandArticles/

http://www.nra.ie/Archaeology/Seanda-NRAArchaeologyMagazine/

http://www.GeoArch.co.uk/experimental/bell.html

Can Two Wrongs Make One Right? - Medieval ore-mining in Swedenprior to 1200 A.D.

Lena Berg Nilsson, Stockholm University


The aim of my ongoing doctoral dissertation in archaeology is to shed light uponan early proto-industrial trade in Sweden, namely early ore-mining from c. AD500 1500, both independently and partly in relation to contemporaneousEuropean mining. In this paper, focus will be placed upon the period prior to AD1200, which means that two possible inaccuracies will be dealt with, hence thetitle.

The first discrepancy involves the actual starting point of ore-mining in Sweden,

which is generally viewed as being placed sometime in the twelfth century AD.Consequently, discussions of ore-mining prior to AD 1200 are brief and of littlevalue, as regards content. While the bulk of historical source material of earlyore-mining in Sweden dates from the fifteenth century, the earliest evidenceinvolves the Falu Copper Mine in Dalecarlia and places the start in the latter partof the thirteenth century. Archaeological material and excavations of the actualmining fields, and particularly the waste-rock, places the date in the fourteenthcentury instead. When excavations of blast furnaces -which required mountain-ore - are taken into consideration, however, the date is moved back to themiddle of the twelfth century. Most significantly, if results from geologicalmaterial and sedimentary analyses are used, evidence of ore-mining in Sweden

can actually be placed as early as in the eighth century AD.


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Secondly, this early ore-mining should not be regarded as medieval since theMiddle Ages in Sweden is normally defined as the time period after the VikingAge and up until the Reformation, c.AD 1050 -1520. Although there are reasonsto divide the time period up with regard to some aspects, this division cannot be

applied when dealing with the physical remains from mining. The reason is thatin the mining fields, it is primarily the type of technology used which isdiscernable, and that did not change appreciably during this period.

In conclusion, increasingly more evidence points towards an earlier starting pointof ore-mining in Sweden than has previously been accepted. Additionally, thetechnology and organization utilized place the industry well within the EuropeanMedieval framework. Hopefully, I will prove that the subtitle is actually a correctstatement, rather than an incorrect one. There are many reasons to be able todiscuss ore-mining in Sweden as early as the Viking Age, but term it asMedieval!

(Language revised by Alecia Irons Lindqvist.)

(Extended Abstract)

Session 8: Life and Death (Chair: Denise Keating)

From the Home to the Grave: A Holistic Perspective on the Mid-Anglo-Saxon Worldview

Alexandra E. S. Knox, University of Reading


In recent years there has been a growing interest in the expression of ritual andbelief in Anglo-Saxon rural settlements, particularly Helena Hamerows (2006)article on special deposits. The settlement arena may have played an importantrole, contrasting with Sally Crawfords (2004) proposal that burial was thepreferred place for votive deposition. However, although important patternshave been identified, this role is proving difficult to define. This paper arguedthat these very problems with the archaeological record tell us much more about

the worldview of Anglo-Saxons living in rural settlements in the seventh -ninthcenturies AD than has previously been understood. Joanna Brck (1999)proposed that the dichotomy between the ritual and the functional, as so oftenperceived in interpreting the archaeological record, does not have to exist at all.Rather than shifting the focus directly onto settlements, in order to gain anunderstanding of the Anglo-Saxon worldview in a period with supposedlyconflicting belief systems jostling for supremacy it is necessary to examineworldviews from a holistic perspective, drawing together the arenas of life anddeath, whilst acknowledging the difficulties in ever achieving a fully holisticapproach.

This research examines the counties of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, comparingfeatures from mid Anglo-Saxon settlements and cemeteries in order to link upthese arenas, expanding our knowledge of the worldview of the Anglo-Saxons


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and the impact the change in ideology to Christianity had at this time. Two casestudies were chosen in order to show how this might be done, the sites ofBloodmoor Hill, Carlton Colville, Suffolk, and Station Road, Gamlingay,Cambridgeshire. Several themes were examined: the significance of lock and

key furniture found within the settlement and cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill, thepossible curation of early Saxon and Roman artefacts as amulets at both theBloodmoor Hill and Gamlingay settlements and cemeteries, and the curious leaddiscs or weights, possibly loomweights, found at Gamlingay. It was concludedthat these brief examinations clearly indicate the potential of comparativeanalysis between cemetery and settlement in the middle Saxon period. Thepossible symbolic importance of objects such as lock furniture keys andloomweights is clear even from this brief analysis. Re-examining areas andartefacts previously seen as purely functional might be key to understandingthe changing belief systems of the Anglo-Saxons in the seventh -ninth centuriesAD.

(Extended Abstract)

References

Brck, J. 1999.Ritual and rationality: some problems of interpretation inEuropean archaeologyEuropean Journal of Archaeology2, 31344.

Crawford, S. 2004.Votive Deposition, Religion and the Anglo-Saxon FurnishedBurial RitualWorld Archaeology36, 87-102.

Hamerow, H. 2006.Special Deposits' in Anglo-Saxon SettlementsMedievalArchaeology50, 1-30.

Enclosing the past and the present: early medieval cemeteries andsettlement in Ireland

Matthew Seaver, UCD School of Archaeology/CRDS


The unprecedented growth in Irelands built environment has led to thediscovery of a bewildering range of early medieval settlement and burial sites.

Among these are single or multiple enclosures containing burials and alsoevidence for settlement in the form of structures, animal husbandry, cerealdrying, milling and metalworking. While some have parallels in the spatial layoutof ecclesiastical sites they do not contain identifiable church buildings or retainevidence such as cross slabs, holy wells or dedications to saints. They alsocontrast considerably with other forms of burial site. While varying in scale andcontent they provide a fascinating body of evidence. Burial on settlement sites isa well attested phenomenon in early medieval Europe, however this group ofenclosures appear to differ significantly. While research has begun to addresshow Irish burial practice relates to documentary sources and how these newsites fit into notions of pastoral care relatively little work has been focussed

directly on the ground up archaeological evidence. How can this inform usabout strategies for living with and remembering the dead?


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This paper will discuss initial observations on doctoral research undertakenthrough the Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP), funded by the IrishNational Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Project.

(Original Abstract)


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POSTERABSTRACTS

Personal Possessions, Security and Identity: Padlocks and Keys inViking Age Britain and Ireland

Kristin Beekman, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin


Padlocks and keys are two underutilised categories of material goods which

provide the opportunity to investigate human agency through the analysis ofthese objects as cultural signifiers of possession, security and identity. Thisproject will examine Viking Age padlocks and keys as objects in theinterpretation of identity, cultural contact, interaction and reaction.

(Original Abstract)

The Hedeby House Project

Rebecca Boyd, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin


The Hedeby House Project was an experimental archaeology project undertakenby students at the University of Aarhus and Moesgard Museum, Denmark. Theaim of the project was to investigate the environmental and living conditions inthe reconstructed Viking Age Hedeby house at Moesgard Museum. The fiveproject members spent four weeks living in the reconstructed house recordingthe environmental data temperature, light, air pressure, humidity and woodconsumption. Using a series of weekly and daily questionnaires, the team alsorecorded their thoughts, experiences and reflections on life in the house. Thisposter explores some of the key points of that recording process and reflects on

how these 21st-century experimental archaeologists survived living in areconstructed Viking Age house in February in Denmark.

(Extended Abstract)

The Tempsford Project: Field survey of a riverside enclosure

Michael Fradley, University of Exeter


Funding from the Society for Medieval Archaeology enabled a detailed analyticalearthwork survey to be conducted over the site of a potential early tenth-century
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Danish fortification at Tempsford in Bedfordshire. TheAnglo-Saxon Chroniclerecords that a fort was established and subsequently attacked and destroyed bythe forces of Edward the Elder, but the site had never been conclusivelyidentified archaeologically. Recently documentary research by Dr. Matt

Edgeworth had pinpointed the present survey site as potentially that of thefortification alongside the Great Ouse and its former confluence with the RiverIvel, and it was decided to build on this hypothesis by trying to furthercharacterise the site archaeologically as part of a long-term research project.The survey succeeded in demonstrating a range of earthwork features survivingin the eastern section of the site, including a major enclosure ditch, internalsettlement features and a series of water-management elements beyond.Although the exact date and function of the site could not be determinedthrough the survey, the identification of specific areas of high archaeologicalpotential will prove invaluable in the future development of the TempsfordResearch Project.

(Original Abstract)

Irish Viking Age Silver Hoards

Linn Marie Krosgrud, University of Oslo


150 silver hoards were deposited throughout Ireland in the Viking Age (AD 800-1169/70); they consist of a combination of coins, ingots, arm-rings, and hack-

silver derived from arm-rings and ingots. Silver played an increasingly vital rolein the Viking trade, and the hoard distribution thus indicates what kind of siteswere involved in the silver trade. The following categories of sites can beassociated with the silver hoards

Ecclesiastical sites (27 hoards) Secular Irish sites (21 hoards) Hiberno-Norse towns and trading sites (8 hoards)The settlement hoards show that a considerable amount of the provenanced

silver ended up in Irish hands. Monasteries and church sites also played animportant role in the silver exchange. The remaining 94 hoards cannot beattributed to settlements, and 24 of these are only provenanced to a county orto Ireland. 70 come from locations that are not known settlements; these aremore numerous than those from settlements, making them important in theoverall geographical distribution of the material.

Most of this research was done as part of my MA-thesis, while additionalresearch was conducted at the National Museum of Ireland and The Royal IrishAcademy during spring 2010.

(Extended Abstract)


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A New Early Medieval Cross-slab from Portlick, Co. Westmeath

David OReilly, Independent


The townland of Portlick is located on the eastern shore of Lough Ree fourkilometres north-west of Glasson, Co. Westmeath. The area is noted for a smallgroup of monuments including a ringfort, possible bullaun stone, an earlymedieval cross-slab, a Norman motte, late medieval tower house and theremains of a late medieval cross and cross-base.

In 2009 a second, previously unrecorded, cross-slab was discovered at Portlick.This cross-slab is of Clonmacnoise type, dating from the later ninth century tothe end of the tenth century, a type common in the Shannon region. Theornamentation on the cross-slab consists of a partial inscription and the upper

half of a three-line Latin cross with expanded semi-circular terminals with acircular expansion at the centre filled with a spiral pattern.

This new discovery has prompted fresh research into the old folk tradition thatan ancient church site once existed in the Portlick area. This research hasidentified the most likely location for this early church site through acombination of documentary sources, early maps and placename evidence.

In addition to the cross-slab, two rotary quern fragments and a number of earlyarchitectural pieces have been discovered at the site. The identification of theearly church site at Portlick sheds new light on this interesting group of medievalmonuments and adds to our current knowledge of early ecclesiastical sites in Co.

Westmeath and the Irish midlands.(Original Abstract)

Place-names in Adriatic Italic Area between Late Antiquity and MiddleAges: the Case of Tirino Valley (LAquila, Abruzzo Central Italy)

Carmen Soria, Chieti University, Italy


The Tirino Valley, located at the middle of the Abruzzo (LAquila), hasrepresented, since the Roman period, a very strategic area between the innerand the Adriatic part of Abruzzo. This area, strongly conditioned by the Tirinoriver, from which it takes its name, has since the Italic period represented astrategic area. Because of its strategic position and particular topography, it hasconstituted an important natural base of the road network connecting the innerApennines with neighbouring regions of Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Italy. ImportantRoman roads (Claudia-Nova and Tiburtina-Valeria), together with the latercomplex network oftratturi, a typical phenomenon of central-southern Italy,linked the region to Apulia. The whole area of the Tirino Valley, belonging to theRoman Regio IV(from the late sixth to the first half of the ninth century) was

the limit of the Duchy of Spoleto to the border with that of Benevento (ValvensisComitatus).


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Because of this border position, settlements were scattered in small groups. Theperiod between the first half of the ninth and the beginning of the twelfthcentury was characterized by a local county system. Despite that autarchy, theterritory keeps many residual alloctons place-names Byzantine, Lombard and

Norman making it an area of great historical and archaeological interest.Indeed, analysis of more than 100 toponyms, especially agiotoponimi(names ofthe saints) showsbarbaric influences. For example, just outside the village ofCapestrano are S. Pelagia, S. Pancrazi

Documents

Early Mdvl Archaeology Symposium Dublin