Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium 2010

Proceedings and Review

Editors: Rebecca Boyd, Maureen Doyle, and Sharon Greene

INTRODUCTION

This volume presents the proceedings of the fourth annual Early Medieval Archaeology Student Symposium (EMASS) which was held in Dublin, Ireland, in May 2010. A total of twenty one papers were presented in the eight sessions across the two days of the conference. Over fifty delegates came from across Ireland, the UK, France, Spain, and Sweden and provided us with three days of informed and interesting discussion on everything from Anglo-Saxon perceptions of the past, to kingship and cows in early medieval society (a popular theme!), to experimental reconstructions of bells. Unfortunately, the over-active Eyjafjallajkull volcano meant that EMASSs first delegate from Iceland had to withdraw, and gave us a new meaning for EMASS - Eyjafjallajkull Makes Archaeology Students Swear! Across the three days of the conference, several key themes recurred, but what emerged most vibrantly from the papers, the discussions after each session, and the invaluable networking after the formal close of business each day, was the great variety and vibrancy of new research into the early medieval world. Both speakers and delegates came from all stages of the early career researcher ladder, from Masters students right up to post-doctoral researchers. EMASS continues to go from strength to strength, and we look forward to EMASS 2011 which is being hosted by the University of Glasgow in May 2011. The conference was hosted by the Early Medieval and Viking Age Research Group of UCD School of Archaeology. The Office of Public Works generously sponsored the conference, allowing the incorporation of a day-long field trip at the end of the conference. The presentations were held in the Seminar Room of the 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 south Kildare was guided by Dr. Sharon Greene. Hardworking volunteers from the School of Archaeology looked after the registration desks and the many last minute details, but the final word of thanks must go to the chairs of each session and all the speakers for their enthusiastic contributions to EMASS 2010.

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Rebecca Boyd

Welcome to EMASS 2010

University College Dublin

1 Irish Landscapes
Terry OHagan Sharon Greene Patrick Gleeson The Map Is Not The Territory: Cognitive Approaches to Early Medieval Landscapes Rural Viking Settlement in Ireland A Case for the West Coast? Constructing Kingship: The Poetics of Power and Place University College Dublin University College Dublin University College Cork

2 Defining Place
Michelle Higgins Place-names and Archaeology of Early Ecclesiastical Settlement in Cork and The Decies - Preliminary Results Darrell Rohl Letty Ten Harkel The Antonine Wall and Early Medieval Reception of Roman Remains A Tale of Two Towns: Viking Age Metalwork and Coins from Lincoln and Torksey. University of Durham University of Sheffield University College Cork

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 Chantal Bielmann Top-Down Implications of a Christian Centre: Geneva, AD 350-600 University of Sheffield/ University of Granada University of Leicester

4 The Anglo-Saxon World

Duncan Wright Michael Shapland Kingship in Anglo-Saxon England: Settlement and Landscape Towers of Secular and Religious Lordship: Anglo-Saxon Tower-Nave Churches University College London University of Exeter

5 Personal Ornament
Maureen Doyle Baubles, bangles, bright shiny beads: some thoughts on the meanings of personal ornament in early medieval Ireland Hilary Paterson Morgan Smith Personal Wealth or Personal Adornment? Early Medieval Hoarding, Identity and the Irish Cycles A Beautiful Cloak of Curly Fleece: Textiles and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland University of Sheffield University of York University College Dublin

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. Alison Kyle Ben Jervis Resistance is futile?: Ceramic Regionality and the Question of Choice. Pottery and the Norman Conquest of England. A Case Study from Southampton. University of Glasgow University of Southampton University of Exeter

7 Making Metal
Killian Hopkins A Meeting of Mettle: Metallurgical Practice and Social Exchange between Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Communities in Britain. Paul Stevens For whom the bell tolls; Excavation and Experimental Archaeology on the Monastic Site at Clonfad, Co. Westmeath, Ireland Lena Berg Nilsson Could Two Wrongs Make One Right? - Medieval Ore-Mining in Sweden until 1200 AD. Stockholm University Valerie J. Keeley Ltd. University of Sheffield

8 Life and Death

Alexandra Knox Matt Seaver From the Home to the Grave: a Holistic Perspective on the Mid-Anglo-Saxon Worldview Enclosing the Past and the Present; Early Medieval Cemeteries and Settlement in Ireland University of Reading University College Dublin

Keynote Lecture
Dr. Finbar McCormick The Early Medieval Archaeology Project Queens University Belfast

CONFERENCE REVIEW

With twenty-one papers, eight sessions, fifty delegates, eight posters and one keynote speaker, EMASS 2010 had a lot of ground to cover. A broad variety of topics were covered in the presentations, but a number of common themes and points wound around and through the papers. Some of these arose in the more thematic sessions, but others echoed between different sessions and across the two days of the symposium. Looking back at the first day, if there was a common theme across all the papers it was perhaps in a sense of place within the landscape, either in physical, cognitive or interpretative terms. Terry OHagans delivery of a James Joyce text in a broad Dublin accent, while not exactly early medieval, showed the links between words and views of place a point also touched on by Michelle Higgins. Perceptions of the past, including written interpretations, were highlighted by Darrell Rohl and Sharon Greene, who showed how both early medieval and modern people could overlook or misinterpret evidence which did not fit their received ideas of possible pasts, whether Roman or Viking. Similarly, Jos Carvajal noted that evidence for forms of irrigation and pottery in ninth/tenth century Spain does not reflect historians ideas of periods of conflict, but instead shows change and development over time, suggesting fluid identities. Letty Ten Harkel showed how finds retrieved by metal-detecting, though often unstratified, can provide considerable information on their locality, even where no settlement site has been excavated. The question of the social nature of place, as linked to both social roles and social institutions, was also introduced. Both Duncan Wright and Patrick Gleeson addressed issues of kingship and place. Patrick showed the existence of common features in both royal sites and some early Christian landscapes of Ireland, suggesting a possible transfer of associated ideologies. Duncan discussed AngloSaxon settlement sites and the social role of smiths and cattle as evidenced by this archaeology. Michael Shapland and Chantal Bielmann, too, showed evidence for links between secular elites and Christian foundations, but in two very different locations Anglo-Saxon England and early Christian Geneva. The importance of material culture studies has been somewhat downplayed in the recent past, but with three themed sessions on dress, ceramics and metal, materiality and material studies can be named as the over-arching topic across Day 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, 5

was discussed and linked to ideas of identity of the wearer, or the user, or the maker 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 Imogen Wood, Alison Kyle and Ben Jervis, who linked these very deliberate choices to questions of social identities. The session on metals, in addition to technological approaches, also echoed some earlier topics, with Killian Hopkins considering how the processes of metal production might be linked to ethnic identity. Paul Stevens discussed the evidence for hand-bell manufacture at the monastic site of Clonfad, while Lena Berg Nilsson used her paper to challenge old assumptions that 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. Alexandra Knox argued for the need to integrate burial and settlement evidence in AngloSaxon studies, noting that it was illogical to treat them separately if ideas of the sacred and profane could not be differentiated. A similar integrated approach was evident in Matt Seavers discussion of a newly-recognised form of settlement in early medieval Ireland, the settlement/cemetery, which included evidence from a number of sites with contemporary burials and domestic and industrial activity. Wrapping up the two days, the keynote speaker, Dr. Finbar McCormick of Queens University Belfast, introduced the Early Medieval Archaeology Project currently being conducted under the auspices of UCD School of Archaeology and Queens University Belfast, before delivering a paper on early medieval settlement and farming. In his own phrase, this offered a view of the period through cow-tinted glasses, highlighting the role of cattle in social, religious and economic terms. Ranging from India to Ireland, and from cow goddesses to cattle as a display of wealth, it provided an interesting final talk, after which delegates engaged in more socialising and networking, prior to the Friday field trip.

BUSINESS MEETING

The business meeting was held on the first day of the conference, and the first item for discussion was the venue for next years conference. Alison Kyle and the University of Glasgow volunteered to host EMASS 2011 and the provisional dates for next years conference are 25-27 May 2011. The format of future EMASS conferences was also raised with the possibility of expanding the conference to include parallel sessions, multiple languages, and a longer timeframe, i.e. beyond AD 1200. Some of these issues have been considered at previous meetings and, as always, the deciding factor came down to issues of money and time. As a post-graduate led conference, there is neither the 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 is that it has a smaller and friendlier feel to it than other medieval conferences such as Kalamazoo and Leeds which can be intimidating venues. In keeping the conference as a smaller event, it provides a less daunting and more comfortable venue for new researchers to present their work for the first time. It was felt that if the conference began to run multiple sessions across two or more rooms, some of this feeling could be lost. The end point of EMASSs fourth to twelfth century time frame was also questioned, particularly by delegates who are interested in the Norman and post-conquest periods which begin at the end of. Again, this has been discussed before, and the general consensus was that the timeframe is broad enough as it is. Instead, the suggestion was made that a concerted effort could be made to expand the geographical spread covered and to move out of Britain and Ireland into continental Europe and beyond. It was also felt that the focus of EMASS is the early medieval period, and that the later medieval period is still more successfully catered for by other conferences and organisations. Ultimately however, it is up to the discretion of each conference organising committee to decide how to limit each years conference. Professor Terry Barry of the Society for Medieval Archaeology also sent a message to the business meeting to inform us that the next Society for Medieval Archaeology Post-graduate Conference would not take place until late 2011. At the 2010 SMA Post-graduate Conference, some concern had been raised over having both events close together in the calendar and the overlap between the two 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 medieval for EMASS, and the high medieval period for the SMA. It was also proposed that 7

the two conferences could link up every two or four years to host a larger medieval event. On a more practical note, some concern was expressed at how to promote EMASS and raise awareness of EMASS amongst new researchers and amongst commercial archaeologists. The website is difficult to find and needs to be updated, while the mailing list is under-utilised (although there are now over 160 subscribers to the list). Another concern was the international profile of EMASS, with some of the overseas delegates commenting that they could not find any information about the group other than the conference webpage. Some suggestions were made as to finding a more permanent and accessible home for the website and producing an information leaflet on EMASS which could be sent to all universities, but there are cost implications in both of these and EMASS has little spare money available. The question of publication was also discussed. Some delegates were not aware that there was a series of web-based publications of the conference proceedings available on the website. It was agreed that this years proceedings would also be prepared and made available on the website. One interesting suggestion was that a small volume could be prepared containing a selection of abstracts from across all the previous conferences. This could act as a showpiece to showcase the evolution of EMASS from its beginnings and demonstrate the vitality of the group and its work. Some concern was expressed that one of EMASSs attractions is that it allows delegates to present and receive feedback on work in progress, rather than finished work, and that more formal publication of such work in progress may not be beneficial. Another suggestion was to try to write a co-authored paper on the origin and evolution of EMASS and submit it to a journal to try and raise EMASSs profile as well as demonstrating the commitment which its members have to it. The meeting drew to a close with the following forthcoming conference announcements: Twelfth Medieval Dublin Symposium, Friends of Medieval Dublin/Trinity College Dublin, 22 May 2010 Space and Settlement in the Middle Ages: The Final Frontier, Trinity College Dublin, 28-29 May 2010 Documenting Destruction in Yorkshire: the Dispersal of Monastic Artefacts, 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, University College London, 13-14 November 2010

EMASS FIELD TRIP2010

The EMASS 2010 fieldtrip took in a selection of Irish early medieval sites, both ecclesiastical and secular, in the southern part of Co. Kildare (approximately one hours drive south east of Dublin). Despite its proximity to Dublin (or perhaps because of it!) the impressive sites of this region do not receive the number of visitors, or indeed the research attention, they deserve. For this reason most of the 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 Wicklow mountains and to the east of the River Barrow, which runs southwards to the sea. It is an area of good agricultural land which has been intensively farmed, but despite this a number of significant archaeological sites and monuments have survived. Development in recent years (in particular the construction of the M9 motorway) has also uncovered extensive archaeological evidence for the regions 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 rounded hill about a mile from the River Liffey, which flows to Dublin. It is also very close to the ancient Leinster capital of Dn illine (Knockaulin). The hill was originally called Sliabh Cuilinn Holly Hill suggesting potential pre-Christian religious significance. The site was supposedly founded in AD 438 by St. Patricks companion Iserninus (though is more likely to belong to the preceding mission of Palladius). He was succeeded by Mac Til, St. Patricks bellmaker, nicknamed son 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 of high crosses and the foundations of a church. The church was excavated in 1939, but revealed very little dating evidence. Antiquarian illustrations suggest that it had a Romanesque chancel arch of which nothing survives. The building was destroyed in a battle on the hill in 1798, which also resulted in the reduction of the round tower to its current height. Of the two cross shafts, one bears decorated panels, including a possible depiction of Mac Til. The slopes of the hill around the enclosure are currently in pasture and it is possible to discern additional boundaries and other potential features. The ecclesiastical site appears to have been a focus of settlement for the area until

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

Castledermot The small town of Castledermot appears to have grown up around the early monastic settlement of Dseart Diarmada on the banks of the River Burren. Diarmat was an anchoritic bishop of the Cli D (Culdee) movement, who established a monastery here in c. AD 825. All that remains of the earlier church at this site is a Romanesque doorway which now provides an arch on the approach to the modern church. Two complete high crosses stand to the north and south of the church and there is a round tower attached to its northern side. The graveyard also contains a number of small cross slabs, some of which are probably early and a later medieval recumbent slab believed to be the burial place of tenth century Munster king Cormac Mac Cullenan. The only known Norse hogback stone in Ireland lies close to the Romanesque arch, though in a secondary position - it was found buried in the graveyard in the course of a clean-up in the nineteenth century.

Moone Abbey Min colum cille, also known as Mugna in the sources, is an early monastic site whose 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 which bears decorated panels depicting various biblical stories. Fragments of another cross 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. Excavations revealed that the foundations of the eastern end of the church building in fact belonged to an early stone church associated with the original foundation and the large nave was added on in the thirteenth century when the site was taken over by the Franciscans. There are relatively few annalistic or other references to the early church here, despite the fact that the high crosses suggest a site of some 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 barony boundary. The enclosed early church site is best known for its notable collection of ogham stones, both because of their number (seven) and their location, as they are relatively uncommon outside the south-west of the country. Included in this corpus is an important stone bearing an inscription in both ogham and Latin script, now in the National Museum of Ireland. The origins of the site are somewhat obscure with folklore suggesting it was the burial place of a Munster king named Cormac or alternatively that of an early saint, St. Abban. It was also thought to be the burial place of the first Bishop of Kildare, St. Conleith. The ogham stones are so far the only feature attesting to such early beginnings. Though there is no evidence of a church visible on the site today, historical sources refer to a chapel here in the later medieval period, prior to the Reformation and excavations at the beginning of the 20th century uncovered a stone gable finial believed to date to the tenth century. As well as the ogham stones standing within the enclosed graveyard, there are a number of other uninscribed pillars, a slab bearing a circled cross, a pillar with a portrait of an early ecclesiastic and another pillar indented with the footprint of a dogs paw!

Mullaghmast Secular early medieval sites are more difficult to come by in this region as the predominant site type is the earthen banked ringfort, which, in a quite intensively farmed landscape, has not fared well and often survives only as a crop mark. Some impressive examples remain however, including the large ringfort of Mullaghmast, whose historical significance continued from 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 the River 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, resulting in the loss of any further upstanding features. In the field immediately to the south of the enclosure there were a number of (probably) Bronze Age burial mounds, which were flattened in the nineteenth century. A couple of hundred metres down the road is a standing stone, known as the Long Stone of Mullaghmast. An important highly decorated Late Iron Age pillar stone, which had been reused in the construction of a nearby castle and then was removed by the National Museum, is also from the vicinity of Mullaghmast. This significant site, which was a royal stronghold of the U Muireadig, clearly has prehistoric roots and would be worthy of further research.

Overall, the trip was a great success, made all the more so by the contributions of various delegates who contributed their own particular expertise on aspects that included monastic site location and royal sites. The landowners of Killeen Cormac and Mullaghmast are also to be thanked for allowing us access to their lands and an excellent lunch was provided at the charming and aptly named Moone High Cross Inn. We could not have asked for better weather as we were blessed 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 Medieval Landscapes Terry OHagan, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin Contact: terry.ohagan@ucd.ie Early Irish and British documentary sources show an awareness of, and interest in, the collation and knowledge of distant places of note. Primarily ecclesiastical in nature, the desire to record and engage with such locations at a remove manifests itself in surviving textual portrayals of geographical and topographical data. The absence of visual aids or graphical representations within such sources suggests an alternative textual 'comprehension' and 'mental-mapping' of certain aspects 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 hopes to illustrate possible avenues for the physical and mental distinction between, and appreciation of, an early medieval 'sense of place'. It seeks to offer an alternative interpretation as to the changing archaeological value of such information to the early medieval ecclesiastical identity and mindset on both sides 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 Contact: sgreenedouglas@gmail.com Scandinavian settlement in Ireland during the Viking Age was predominantly urban in character and the question of rural settlement, either Scandinavian or Hiberno-Scandinavian, remains a vexed topic in Irish archaeology. This paper looks at the evidence for such settlement on the Irish west coast, focussing on the province of Connacht, and asks whether the evidence suggests a Scandinavian presence or influence in an area not traditionally associated with Viking activities after the initial raids around the turn of the ninth century.

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Papers by Bradley (1988) and particularly Sheehan et al (2001) were key in opening the discussion on archaeological evidence for Scandinavian activity on the west coast, with Eamonn Kelly taking up the gauntlet for the Connemara coast (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 burial and settlement sites, artefacts, historical references and place names, is considered in the context of Hiberno-Scandinavian and Scandinavian evidence from other rural locations in Ireland and also within the context of the study of the early medieval archaeology of the maritime region of western Connacht in general. Not all of this evidence has been recently found, with some artefacts acquired by the National Museum of Ireland some years ago (e.g. a Mammen-type silver inlaid 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 weights of Hamiltons Class 1 from Inishkea North, Greene 2009, 166). Reinterpretation of Franoise Henrys excavations on Inishkea North (Henry 1945, 1951, 1952) has indicated a Scandinavian settlement on that island, post-dating an earlier monastic settlement (Greene 2009). The first observation to be made of all the data is that there is a relatively small number of actual Scandinavian objects, and the identification of the sites and settlements (except for the Eyrephort burial) has been open to question. What allows for their questionability is the rapid development of the HibernoScandinavian 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 paper indicates a Scandinavian presence and influence that has been underestimated and even ignored for too long. This is a picture that is bound to come into sharper focus now that researchers are open to its potential content.
(Postgraduate research funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social 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 of the early Christian period on Inishkea North, Co Mayo, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 75, 127-55. Henry, F. 1951. New monuments from Inishkea North, Co Mayo, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 81, 65-88. Henry, F. 1952. A wooden hut on Inishkea North, Co Mayo, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 82, 163-78.

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Greene, S.A. 2009. Settlement, Identity and Change on the Atlantic Islands of North-West Co Mayo, c.AD 400-1100. Unpublished PhD thesis, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. Mahr, A. 1938. The Galloglach Axe, Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 18, 66-67. Keeley-Gibbons, E. & Kelly, E.P. 2003. A Viking Age farmstead in Connemara, Archaeology Ireland 63, 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 the Fifteenth 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 Archaeology 10, 93-119.

Constructing Kingship: The Poetics of Power and Place Patrick Gleeson, University College Cork Contact: papgleeson@gmail.com In early medieval Ireland, kingship was vested in places. Royal sites were theatres of performance, hallowed precincts and imagined places, deeply implicated in early medieval spirituality. This paper suggests royal sites were conceived of as a nexus of the planes of existence between c.400-800AD, and accordingly, synergy between potentate and place was paramount in ideologies of kingship. By considering the role of the poet (as a holy man) and some more performative elements of fashioning kingship, it suggests reasons to re-think the materiality of person and place. Scrutinising royal sites reveals a labyrinth of interconnected cultural, architectural, iconographic and spatial motifs, and such iconographic repertoires contributed to the creation, understanding and reimagining of royal sites. By examining the iconographies redolent at royal sites like Clogher, Moynagh Lough and Lagore, and considering their relationship to prehistoric antecedents, this paper suggests more local small-scale kingship was constructed to accord with similar ideologies to those of more prominent institutions, such as the kingship of Tara. It attempts to better comprehend how such places and the practice of kingship were implicated in ideological discourse. By identifying a northeast/southwest axis at royal sites, it suggests early royal sites were conceived as locales where human and divine could co-exist, and consequently, that the early Irish church appropriated and manipulated ideologies and iconographies appropriate to regal space in an attempt to Christianise society, and ultimately kingship. (Original Abstract)

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Session 2: Defining Place (Chair: Terry OHagan)

Place-names and Archaeology of Early Ecclesiastical Settlement in Cork and The Decies Michelle Higgins, Department of Archaeology, University College Cork. Contact: shellhiggins20@hotmail.com This thesis adopts an archaeological approach to place-name studies in a selected area of Munster. In this analysis, the nature of early ecclesiastical sites with different place-name elements will form a central consideration. The fundamental elements which define an ecclesiastical site include its position within a landscape context and the elements within the site, and these principal features are sometimes fundamental to the naming process of both sites and territorial divisions. Taken together, archaeological information and toponymic tradition provide a clearer picture of the impact of the early Irish Church on the community. Place-names offer a valuable insight into the relationship between oral tradition and historical record, between archaeological reality and textual creativity. In archaeological discourse, sites are often considered in terms of their disparate elements, e.g. church, sculpture and enclosure. This study, however, contends that place-name elements themselves constitute a crucial interpretative tool for the evaluation of early ecclesiastical sites in their landscape setting. Although the use of place-names in archaeological studies is not new (Hurley 1982; Cobhin 2009), the systematic examination of these sites in light of their ecclesiastical place-names has not been adequately attempted. Likewise, in the discipline of toponymy (place-name research) the meaning of place-name elements is often presented without further analysis or discussion. Field-work does not normally form part of the methodology in proving or disproving a place-name interpretation. My thesis aims to bridge the gap between the two disciplines. The following ecclesiastical place-name elements will be focussed on: domhnach, cill, dsert, cluain, tech and teampall (though the list may be expanded). The place-names all indicate either a church building or the ecclesiastical context for such a building. An archaeological assessment of these early ecclesiastical sites will determine their differing nature and the variety of landscape in which they occur, allowing further consideration of what distinguishes the various place-name elements applied to the sites. In tandem, data from the two disciplines can clarify varying site function in early medieval Ireland as well as how place-name elements relate to the early medieval landscape.
(Extended Abstract)

References:

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Hurley, V. 1982. The Early Church in the South-West of Ireland: settlement and organisation. In S.M. Pearce (ed.), The Early Church in Western Britain and Ireland, 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 Ring of Kerry. Cork.

The Antonine Wall and Early Medieval Reception of Roman Remains Darrell J. Rohl, Durham University Contact: d.j.rohl@durham.ac.uk The Antonine Wall, a 60km turf-constructed linear boundary on Scotlands ForthClyde isthmus, served as the northwestern-most frontier of the Roman Empire c. AD 140-60. While the monument is demonstrably of Roman construction, early medieval writers attribute it to the work of native Britons. This attribution is based explicitly on its turf rather than stone construction, with Gildas (De Excidio 15) placing construction in the late fourth-century and Bede (Hist. Eccles. 1.12) in the early fifth-century. This paper explores these early medieval accounts, compares them with related accounts of Hadrians Wall and seeks to understand why the authors provide such a contrasting interpretation of the Antonine Wall. Higham (1991) has argued that Gildas invokes the turf wall in order to criticize contemporary earthen dyke construction in the south of Britain, suggesting that the eastern Wansdyke in Wiltshire was constructed in the late fifth or early sixthcentury. More recently, Reynolds and Langlands (2006) have provided sound arguments for a middle Anglo-Saxon construction of Wansdyke, making Highams hypothesis untenable. It may, perhaps, be better to understand the early 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 turf is deemed native and that built of stone, Roman. Is this an example of the if it aint stone, it aint Roman misbelief? Bede repeatedly refers to masonry construction 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 to Britain only in the late seventh-century. Until the Norman Conquest, few stone structures were built for non-ecclesiastical purposes, suggesting period perceptions of stone/timber as sacred/secular materials with ancient Rome deeply associated with the Church (Shapland 2009). The early medieval accounts of the Antonine Wall fit into such perceptions, with turf joining timber as a secular material.
(Extended Abstract)

References:

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Higham, N.J., 1991. Gildas, Roman Walls, and British Dykes. Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 22, 1-14. Reynolds, A. & Langlands, A., 2006. Social Identities on the Macro Scale: A Maximum View of Wansdyke. In W. Davies, G. Halsall & A. Reynolds (eds.) People and Space in the Middle Ages, 300-1300, 13-44. Turnhout. Shapland, M., 2009. The Great Stone Divide: Timber as the Secular Building Material of Anglo-Saxon Society. UCL conference on Woodlands, Trees, and Timber in the Anglo-Saxon World. University College London, 14 November 2009.

A Tale of Two Towns: Viking Age Metalwork and Coins from Lincoln and Torksey Letty Ten Harkel, University of Sheffield Contact: lettyth@gmail.com This paper addresses the significance of small finds assemblages in this case metalwork and coinage for the study of late Anglo-Saxon and Viking Age towns. In the discipline of urban archaeology, finds are often treated primarily as dating evidence, or used to chart the economic growth of individual settlements. Nevertheless, levels of residuality are typically high in urban contexts, questioning the relevance of small finds for dating purposes. What is more, although metalwork and coinage are clearly indispensable for the study of urban growth, an exclusive focus on economic aspects of town development does not use the material to its full potential. For example, previous studies of unstratified assemblages, such as the material from Torksey (Lincs.), which was retrieved almost entirely by metal-detectorists, have revealed that finds assemblages can shed important light on the nature of occupation of a settlement (see Blackburn 2002 and Brown 2006). Through a focus on the (mostly residual) Viking Age unstratified material from Torksey, this paper will demonstrate how such material can shed light on the identities of the inhabitants of Viking Age towns.
(Original Abstract)

References: Blackburn, M. A. S. 2002. Finds from the Anglo-Scandinavian Site of Torksey. In R. Kiersnowski et al. (eds), Moneta Mediaevalis: Studia numizmatyczne I historyczne ofiarowane Profesorowi Stanisawowi Suchodolskiemu w 64. rocznice urodzin, 89-101 and 526-27. Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademiii Nauk. Warshaw: DiG. Brown, H. 2006. Torksey, Lincolnshire, in the Anglo-Scandinavian Period. Unpublished MA dissertation, Centre for Medieval Studies, York.

Session 3: So Close, So Far (Chair: Sharon Greene)

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Fitna: Chaos as a Rule Jose C. Carvajal, University of Sheffield / University of Granada Contact: J.CarvajalLopez@sheffield.ac.uk The purpose of this presentation is that of offering an innovative view of the historical process of the introduction of Islam in the Iberian Peninsula after the Muslim conquest in 711 AD. The general political evolution of al-Andalus is quite well known due to the work of historians, and it still marks the main guideline for archaeological interpretation. Yet it is not everything that there is to it. The archaeological research of al-Andalus has made significant contributions in the last thirty years, but it has failed to shed light on important socio-cultural questions: Islamization is one of them. The Islamization of Hispania is a process of cultural change that is widely unknown, mainly because scholars do not know where to place the focus of change which would lead to the constitution of a completely new identity: the Andalusis. I contend that the locus of this change is difficult to find archaeologically because we approach the material record with concepts drawn from historical sources. The point is not that historical sources are false or valueless, but that we risk making a poorer assessment of the material record if we allow them to force on us any structure in society or in time. This is clearly visible in the explanations of the first fitna, a general uprising at the end of the ninth century which has been interpreted by appealing to differences in religions or in modes of extraction of surplus. However, an analysis of the fitna shows clearly the interaction of many different groups. My conception is that these groups should be understood as intermediate units of political agency between individuals and wider levels of society. Now, are these groups archaeologically visible? Political agency at this scale may not have a direct impact on material culture, but it has a close relation with technological agency. The archaeological record proves that coexistence of different technologies is a fact, as it is their relative melting which provides us with a direction of the flow of history in this concrete frame. Archaeologically, we can build a narrative on the history of technological agencies and then compare them with other narratives such as the history of political agencies. In the case that I am presenting, both narratives present a transition from a state of almost autonomous developments to a state of co-ordination and much more active communication and control. The narratives also offer a view of a fairly easy coexistence between different cultural identities. Later increasing conflict would result in a period of unrest. This would end with the imposition of a much closer control by the Cordobese state.
(Extended Abstract)

References: Ibn Hayyan: Al-Muqtabis III [Spanish translation by J. Guraieb: Al-Muqtabis de Ibn Hayyan, Cuadernos de Historia de Espaa XIII-XXX (1950-1959)]. 19

Acin Almansa, M. 1997. Entre el feudalismo y el Islm. Umar ibn Hafsun en los historiadores, en las fuentes y en la historia. Jan: Universidad de Jan. Carvajal Lpez, J.C. 2009. Pottery production and Islam in south east Spain: a social model. Antiquity 83, 388-98. Jimnez Puertas, M. & Carvajal Lpez, J.C. forthcoming. Opciones sociotcnicas de 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 Contact: cb322@leicester.ac.uk The early medieval period can be regarded as a period of complex transformation and transition rather than decline. Christianisation has been a popular theme within this context but interestingly Switzerland remains an undeveloped region in English studies on late antique and early medieval religious 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 Christianity manifest and develop in Geneva? (2) Did the Burgundians contribute to or hinder the spread of Christianity, considering their Arian heritage, within the region when Geneva became their capital? (3) What impact did Genevas episcopal complex have on the Christianisation of the rural landscape? Methodologically, it was an interdisciplinary work: archaeology and primary sources helped establish the territorys history and transition from a nonChristian landscape to a Christian one. The initial hypothesis was that the development of Christianity here follows a top-down model through the patronage 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 and the spread of Christianity. Only the founders graves (graves built in prominent locations in churches, often prior to a churchs construction) could strongly suggest some sort of patronage (see Effros 2003). And while the hypothesis is still unclear, the research itself could prove useful in understanding the rate at which Christianity grew and spread in the region. Discussion at the conference focussed on baptism. For example, it was suggested that the disappearance of the font in the seventh century could indicate fewer conversions (see Bonnet 2002). Another note was the tie between the Burgundian monarchy and the creation of monasteries. In this comment, an idea was raised perhaps to do a comparative study between monarchs and monasteries in Switzerland and those in Ireland. Some questions arose to the lack of a forum in Geneva, a usual feature of Roman sites even in the provinces, 20

and why the early Church would choose a site with no major Roman administrative features. The result of this discussion was to further the case study on Geneva by comparing it to either a very different region or a similar region in Switzerland.
(Extended Abstract)

References: Bonnet, C., 1987. The archaeological site of the cathedral of Saint Peter (SaintPierre), Geneva. World Archaeology: Archaeology and the Christian Church 18, 330-340. Bonnet, C., 1996. Les installations liturgiques du baptistre et des trois glises piscopales de Genve durant l'Antiquit tardive. Antiquit Tardive 4, 101-103. Bonnet, C., 2002. Topographie chrtienne et dveloppement urbain. Zeitschrift fr Schweizerische Archologie und Kunstgeschichte, 59(3), 143-151. Effros, B., 2003. Merovingian Mortuary Archaeology and the Making of the Early Middle 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 en Suisse occidentale. In : C. Delaplace (ed), Aux origines de la paroisse rurale en Gaule 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 lespace rural. 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 Contact: dww202@exeter.ac.uk Seventh and eighth century Anglo-Saxon written documents reference powerful individuals proclaiming themselves as kings, exercising control over defined administrative 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 researchers persistently back-project the perceptions and structures of later medieval elites onto earlier societies. Archaeologically, the evidence from princely burials of the seventh century such Taplow, Buckinghamshire, substantiate the written data for social stratification. However, this funerary evidence aside, the archaeological indicators for an increasingly complex society are typically seen as unconvincing. With regard to the evidence from settlement archaeology, scholars have struggled to reconcile an apparent dearth of material investment with the elaborate displays of wealth notable in some documents and burials. This situation has previously led to a scholarly neglect of the significance of Anglo-Saxon settlement archaeology. Nevertheless, archaeology is gradually beginning to demonstrate the potential that settlement sites have in demonstrating an increasingly stratified society, with powerful elites employing unprecedented power over people and resources. From the late sixth century, Anglo-Saxon settlements start to feature boundaries and show an increasingly regulated character. Such changes can be linked with changing perceptions of property ownership at all levels of society, a dynamic also manifest in early law codes (Reynolds 2003). At the high-end of society, a number of Anglo-Saxon palace sites have also been identified, the most celebrated of which is Yeavering, Northumbria (Hope-Taylor 1977). Yeavering is renowned for its monumental architecture but detailed archaeological investigation can also demonstrate more subtle expressions of kingship. Excavation of a henge to the south of the palace focus has revealed evidence for Anglo-Saxon metalworking (Harding 1981). It therefore appears that 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 dual status of smiths as both valued and mistrusted by Anglo-Saxon elites is attested in literature and folklore, such as the legend of Welland. A similar landscape positioning of smiths is also evident at Lake Tiss, Denmark, where a smithy was enclosed within the northernmost limit of the high-status enclosure (Jorgensen 2003). This research therefore demonstrates, albeit briefly, that the nuances of Anglo-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 of the character of Early Anglo-Saxon kingship and the processes by which a more stratified society developed.
(Extended Abstract)

References: Crick, J. 2009. Nobility, in P. Stafford (ed.) A Companion to the Early Middle Ages: 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 Society 47, 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 Eleventh Centuries: 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 Seventh Century England, Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 12, 98-136 Yorke, B. 1999: The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: the Contribution of Written Sources, in T. Dickinson & D. Griffiths (eds.) The Making of Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 10, Oxford: Oxford University Committee for Archaeology, 25-29

Towers of Secular and Religious Lordship: Anglo-Saxon Tower-Nave Churches Michael Shapland, University College London Contact: m.shapland@ucl.ac.uk It is received wisdom that no secular standing buildings survive from AngloSaxon England. Tower-nave churches are a small group of free-standing towers whose ground floors served as chapels and which have been suggested as having had a dual ecclesiastical and high-status secular function. It has been previously hypothesised that one of these towers, Earls Barton in Northamptonshire, acted as a defensive tower-chapel within a fortified lordly residence. Many of the others seem also to have stood in apparent locations of power such as adjacent to manorial sites, within Norman castles, at the gates of burhs or overlooking meeting-places and beacon-systems. As part of an ongoing study to establish whether the interpretation made of Earls Barton applies to these other towers several of them have been recorded and placed within their landscape context, the results of which will be presented here. It is hoped that by investigating the standing fabric and social context of these towers that new light can be shed on the embodiment of lordship and authority in the AngloSaxon landscape, and on the union of secular and religious authority in eleventh-century England.
(Original Abstract)

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

Baubles, Bangles, Bright Shiny Beads: Some Thoughts on the Meanings of Personal Ornament in Early Medieval Ireland Maureen Doyle, UCD School of Archaeology 23

Contact: maureen.doyle@ucd.ie Beads are among the most common personal ornaments found on early medieval Irish sites. However there are very few dressed burials from this period, and most personal ornaments either come from settlement sites, or are stray finds with limited provenance. So how can we relate these small items to people? A variety of methods can be used to better understand what beads can say about identity, including statistics, contexts, contemporary written and pictorial references, and theories of dress and identity. The small quantities of beads from most sites may suggest that necklaces (as we understand them) were few; so perhaps we should consider other ways in which beads might have been used, such as on pins, in hair, or sewn on garments. The range of materials utilised goes far beyond the glass beads which are usually referred to; although glass makes up nearly three-quarters of the total, a variety of 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, deliberate choices were involved, and it is possible that particular meanings were associated with different materials, such as bone, which occurs frequently on church/monastic sites and cemeteries. Texts are of little help in deciphering this, as they usually refer only to metallic ornaments, rather than beads and their materials (e.g. ORahilly 1967, 1976; Gray 1982; Whitfield 2006). A tendency to think in terms of high- and low-status materials may also focus too much on glass beads, and overlook the attractiveness of materials like wood or bone (Woolgar 2006; Hurcombe 2007). Patterns of quantities and materials on different sites, moreover, do not suggest a simplistic link between beads and different status levels. Beads might also be indicative of gender, especially linked to women (e.g. Geake 1997; Theden 2008), although the paucity of dressed burials makes this difficult to prove. Early Irish texts show both men and women wearing various ornaments. However, a small number of female burials with beads may particularly link this type with women. More often (but still only in a minority of cases), single beads, and sometimes larger numbers, are found with infants and young children. Amuletic interpretations of such occurrences have been proposed (see e.g. Meaney 1981; OBrien 1999; Borsje & Kelly 2003; Gilchrist 2008); but perhaps these instances may say more about kinship, feelings and the 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.600c.850. BAR British Series 261. Oxford. Gilchrist, R. 2008. Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in Later Medieval Burials Medieval Archaeology 52, 119-159

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Gray, E.A. (ed.) 1982. Cath Maige Tuired. The Second Battle of Mag Tuired. Irish Texts Society (Vol. 52), Naas. Hurcombe, L. 2007. Archaeological Artefacts as Material Culture. London and Routledge, New York. Meaney, A.L. 1981. Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones. BAR British Series 96, Oxford. OBrien, E. 1999. Post-Roman Britain to Anglo-Saxon England: Burial Practices Reviewed. BAR British Series 289, Oxford. ORahilly, C. (ed.) 1967. Tin B Calnge. From the Book of Leinster. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin. ORahilly, C. 1976. Tin B Cailnge. Recension I. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin. Theden, S. 2008. Whos that Girl? The Cultural Construction of Girlhood and the Transition to Womanhood in Viking Age Gotland Childhood in the Past 1, 7893 Whitfield, N. 2006. Dress and Accessories in the Early Irish Tale The Wooing of Becfhola 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 Contact: hp500@york.ac.uk The mixed and coinless hoards of early medieval Scotland and Ireland have long been acknowledged as integral to our understanding of economic development in these areas, and have been intensively studied as such. The depositional context of such collections and their related interpretation as representations of personal wealth has relegated the ornamental metalwork items contained within hoards to mere commodities, effectively negating their potential, as objects of dress, to make statements about personal and social identity. The very nature of hoarding, however, and the well established assumption that such deposits were intended 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 personal ornamentation rather than personal wealth. As such, it will draw upon observations 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 toward recognition of their deposition as part of a more reflexive pattern of reserved use and selective identification.
(Original Abstract)

A Beautiful Cloak of Curly Fleece: Textiles and Identity in Early Medieval Ireland Morgan Smith, University of Sheffield Contact: arkymorgan@gmail.com 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 they may have been constructed? Through the study of descriptive passages and comparing them to the extant textile remains, it could be possible to match weave structures to the described fabrics. It can also be seen that these descriptions often act as markers of social identities, even serving as models for their contemporary audiences. Without large samples of the actual fabrics, the main evidence we rely on are the tools recovered from excavation sites. Through this, we have an informed idea 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 was accomplished, and by whom, offers questions of how, in a society with a sharp divide between the elite and service populations, marginal groups could have been induced to commit energy and resources to create textiles for display and exchange. It is obvious from the literature and the archaeology that weaving and textiles work were part of the feminine sphere of activity, but these sharp divisions of gender should be tempered with the understanding that the creation of cloth was probably a shared task. Men would have raised, cared for, and sheared the sheep, or planted, harvested and processed the flax. The entire community may have had a considerable stake in producing the final product through arranging work loads to accommodate the time-consuming tasks of spinning, dyeing and weaving. If this work was done primarily to clothe the elite, then the creation of complex textiles becomes even more mystifying: why should people pour this kind of effort and energy into a product they would not use themselves? It is therefore not advisable to divorce the practical, material arena of textile manufacture from its more theoretical counterpart. The identities of the weavers are as important as the identities of the wearers. The study of the ways in which the descriptive passages of Irish myths were constructed to include characters with distinctly less refined attributes suggests that the myths were created with a kind of inclusive group identity in which ordinary people could see themselves reflected.

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(Extended Abstract)

Session 6: Making Pots (Chair: Niamh Doyle)

The Entwined Trajectories of Pots and People: Social and Material Culture Change in the Early Medieval Period of Southwest England Imogen Wood, University of Exeter Contact: iw206@exeter.ac.uk This paper sheds new light on a supposedly dark seventh century in the Southwest of England; providing the first material evidence for social change uniquely manifested in the fabric of the everyday pottery. The ceramic evidence reveals the trajectories of both pots and people from the fourth to eleventh centuries, charting the significance of external events on society. The Southwest of England is a region famous for its borders and cultural labels. It is a culturally diverse region whose occupational legacy has formed a confusing melting pot of the clichd Atlantic Celts, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. Archaeological research has 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 differences during the Roman period, similarities can be drawn in their reaction to an event in the seventh century. This is uniquely expressed in the selection of clays for pottery production across the region which shifted from regional to local procurement strategies. Petrological analysis of Cornish pottery demonstrates the response of rural communities to external influences, which may suggest an early medieval society that adhered to regional norms whilst maintaining their local identities and independence. The question of what instigated local change in the seventh century will be approached and new methods of understanding the early medieval period suggested.
(Original Abstract)

Resistance is Futile?: Ceramic Regionality and the Question of Choice. Alison Kyle, Department of Archaeology, University of Glasgow Contact: a.kyle.1@research.gla.ac.uk This paper presents part of my doctoral research which is a broader study of regionality exhibited in the material culture of Ireland and western Britain in the first millennium AD. Initial considerations of the domestic ceramics within this study 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 is strongly 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 organic alternatives, as is all too often the case. Such vessels could not have been used in 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 ceramic vessel. The utilisation of alternative cooking methods would have created a number of regional differences in experience, behaviour, and techniques. Differences in these experiences are likely to have been highly sensory - not only in terms of sight and touch, but also sounds, smells, and flavours. There remains the need to explicitly interrogate the nature of the culinary differences between these regions. These daily, habitual, bodily actions would have created a socially accepted way of doing things, in this case preparing a meal, with the repetitive nature of these daily actions culminating to create a regional cultural marker, an active expression of identity. Through experience and replication the techniques of vessel production and use as socially embedded activities would have acted as a mechanism of social and cultural reproduction, resulting in the transmission of 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, but rather an active choice reflecting the deliberate manipulation of material culture in order to create, maintain, or express identity. Finally, the question will be asked: does the eventual widespread production and use of ceramics, evidenced by its pervasive presence today, suggest resistance is futile?
(Extended Abstract)

Pottery and the Norman Conquest of England: A Case Study From Southampton Ben Jervis, University of Southampton Contact: bpj106@soton.ac.uk 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 studying the effect of Norman influences on the exchange, use and deposition of pottery. The paper focussed on the way that locally produced coarsewares were conceptualised. The two main types of post-conquest coarseware in Southampton are Scratch Marked Ware and Flint Tempered Coarseware, the latter being related to the pottery used in the Saxon period in the town. The distribution of Scratch Marked Ware 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 level of continuity in the types of pottery used in the town, whilst Norman newcomers

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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 the result 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 (where vessels were placed close to the fire). Scratch Marked vessels are generally larger, perhaps related to the larger size of Norman households. Large storage vessels were more common in the west of the town, possibly reflecting the provisioning of richer homes through food rents. Through exchange and use, the types of pottery identified based on production traits remain fairly distinct, although with some overlap between them, demonstrating that these are fuzzy sets, rather than absolute categories. Finally, I considered pottery deposition. In the east, waste was generally dumped 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 a divide in household structure in these different areas of the town, based on wealth and status, as well as the topography of these different areas of the town. It was concluded that the conquest did not have a big impact on the way that most people used pottery. Newcomers did use it in a different way. The more homogenous pattern of usewear in the high medieval period suggests that changes 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 Between Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian Communities in Britain Killian Hopkins, University of Sheffield Contact: KHopkins1@sheffield.ac.uk It is clear from the archaeological record that there is a high degree of social interaction between Norse and Indigenous communities on the British Isles during the Viking Age. This relationship is frequently evidenced through examination of artistic motifs found on jewellery and dress-accessories, creating a model of communication between these culturally specific social groups. This is an inappropriate means of measuring social interaction on its own as it assumes portable items are direct evidence of contact between social groups, coupled with the fact that they are often stray finds. Excavations at Coppergate and Ramsbury have revealed evidence for an intensive metallurgical tradition in both social groups. Rod-shaped iron blanks from an iron-production site at Helg, Sweden exhibit a discrete similarity in composition to types excavated at Coppergate and Ramsbury indicating an exchange of ironworking goods. This

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paper investigates the transmission of metallurgical practices by examining the continuity of metallurgical technology and processes of manufacture including the procurement of ore materials, iron blooming and patterns of smithing techniques between Scandinavian and Indigenous metal-producing groups within Britain. The incorporation of a material-based model of technology exchange produces an alternative means of observing and explaining cross-cultural communication within Viking Age Britain.
(Original Abstract)

For Whom the Bell Tolls: Excavation and Experimental Archaeology on the Monastic Site at Clonfad, Co. Westmeath, Ireland Paul Stevens, Valerie J. Keeley Ltd. Contact: pstevens@vjk.ie Since the discovery and partial archaeological excavation in 2005 of the previously unknown early monastic site at Clonfad, Co Westmeath, new geophysical and experimental archaeological work has taken place. Excavation established three early medieval monastic phases, dated from the sixth century to tenth century AD, with later use of the site as a post-medieval farmstead. During the seventh to ninth centuries AD, the enclosed, tri-vallate monastic site covered an extensive area measuring 180m in diameter, centred on the (unexcavated) church and innermost enclosure. An extensive metalworking area in southeast quadrant of the monastic enclosure was partially excavated for the road scheme. This area centred on a small stream that delimited the southern boundary of the site. In addition, a small section of the outer enclosure ditch to the east was also excavated. Much of the refuse of the earlier phase of the site was dumped into this ditch. Work on this site, which lay outside the new road corridor, included geophysical survey of 2 hectares of adjacent land currently under pasture. This revealed evidence for the continuation of the enclosure ditches, plus new evidence of internal terraces, possible structures, and a second large concentration of metalworking debris to the southwest, along the stream bank. The excavation produced one of the largest metal working assemblages (1.4 tonnes) yet to be recovered from an Irish site of this type and date. Most significantly, Clonfad revealed the unique discovery of evidence for the production of wrought iron hand bells an iconic symbol of the early medieval Celtic church in Britain and Ireland. The evidence revealed the bronze coating was applied using a brazing technique. During 2007-8, a programme of experimental archaeology, undertaken by Dr. T. Young of GeoArch Ltd. in association with the National Museum of Wales, attempted a reconstruction of the brazing technology to create replicas of the wrought iron handbells. As a result of this work, a replica of the hand bells manufactured at this site was also produced.
(Extended Abstract)

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References Egan, O. 2009, Ringing out the old: reconstructing the bell of Clonfad, Seanda 4, 52-3. Stevens, P. 2006, A Monastic Enclosure Site At Clonfad, Co. Westmeath Archaeology Ireland 20, 8-11. Stevens, P. 2007, Clonfad: a unique glimpse into early monastic life in County Westmeath, 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 the National 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 Sweden prior to 1200 A.D. Lena Berg Nilsson, Stockholm University Contact: lena.bergnilsson@ark.su.se The aim of my ongoing doctoral dissertation in archaeology is to shed light upon an early proto-industrial trade in Sweden, namely early ore-mining from c. AD 500 1500, both independently and partly in relation to contemporaneous European mining. In this paper, focus will be placed upon the period prior to AD 1200, which means that two possible inaccuracies will be dealt with, hence the title. 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 little value, as regards content. While the bulk of historical source material of early ore-mining in Sweden dates from the fifteenth century, the earliest evidence involves the Falu Copper Mine in Dalecarlia and places the start in the latter part of the thirteenth century. Archaeological material and excavations of the actual mining fields, and particularly the waste-rock, places the date in the fourteenth century instead. When excavations of blast furnaces -which required mountainore - are taken into consideration, however, the date is moved back to the middle of the twelfth century. Most significantly, if results from geological material 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 the Middle Ages in Sweden is normally defined as the time period after the Viking Age and up until the Reformation, c.AD 1050 -1520. Although there are reasons to 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 that in the mining fields, it is primarily the type of technology used which is discernable, and that did not change appreciably during this period. In conclusion, increasingly more evidence points towards an earlier starting point of ore-mining in Sweden than has previously been accepted. Additionally, the technology and organization utilized place the industry well within the European Medieval framework. Hopefully, I will prove that the subtitle is actually a correct statement, rather than an incorrect one. There are many reasons to be able to discuss ore-mining in Sweden as early as the Viking Age, but term it as Medieval!
(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-AngloSaxon Worldview Alexandra E. S. Knox, University of Reading Contact: a.e.s.knox@reading.ac.uk In recent years there has been a growing interest in the expression of ritual and belief in Anglo-Saxon rural settlements, particularly Helena Hamerows (2006) article on special deposits. The settlement arena may have played an important role, contrasting with Sally Crawfords (2004) proposal that burial was the preferred place for votive deposition. However, although important patterns have been identified, this role is proving difficult to define. This paper argued that these very problems with the archaeological record tell us much more about the worldview of Anglo-Saxons living in rural settlements in the seventh -ninth centuries AD than has previously been understood. Joanna Brck (1999) proposed that the dichotomy between the ritual and the functional, as so often perceived in interpreting the archaeological record, does not have to exist at all. Rather than shifting the focus directly onto settlements, in order to gain an understanding of the Anglo-Saxon worldview in a period with supposedly conflicting belief systems jostling for supremacy it is necessary to examine worldviews from a holistic perspective, drawing together the arenas of life and death, whilst acknowledging the difficulties in ever achieving a fully holistic approach. This research examines the counties of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, comparing features from mid Anglo-Saxon settlements and cemeteries in order to link up these arenas, expanding our knowledge of the worldview of the Anglo-Saxons 32

and the impact the change in ideology to Christianity had at this time. Two case studies were chosen in order to show how this might be done, the sites of Bloodmoor 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, the possible curation of early Saxon and Roman artefacts as amulets at both the Bloodmoor Hill and Gamlingay settlements and cemeteries, and the curious lead discs or weights, possibly loomweights, found at Gamlingay. It was concluded that these brief examinations clearly indicate the potential of comparative analysis between cemetery and settlement in the middle Saxon period. The possible symbolic importance of objects such as lock furniture keys and loomweights is clear even from this brief analysis. Re-examining areas and artefacts previously seen as purely functional might be key to understanding the changing belief systems of the Anglo-Saxons in the seventh -ninth centuries AD.
(Extended Abstract)

References Brck, J. 1999. Ritual and rationality: some problems of interpretation in European archaeology European Journal of Archaeology 2, 31344. Crawford, S. 2004. Votive Deposition, Religion and the Anglo-Saxon Furnished Burial Ritual World Archaeology 36, 87-102. Hamerow, H. 2006. Special Deposits' in Anglo-Saxon Settlements Medieval Archaeology 50, 1-30.

Enclosing the past and the present: early medieval cemeteries and settlement in Ireland Matthew Seaver, UCD School of Archaeology/CRDS Contact: matthew.seaver@crds.ie The unprecedented growth in Irelands built environment has led to the discovery of a bewildering range of early medieval settlement and burial sites. Among these are single or multiple enclosures containing burials and also evidence for settlement in the form of structures, animal husbandry, cereal drying, milling and metalworking. While some have parallels in the spatial layout of ecclesiastical sites they do not contain identifiable church buildings or retain evidence such as cross slabs, holy wells or dedications to saints. They also contrast considerably with other forms of burial site. While varying in scale and content they provide a fascinating body of evidence. Burial on settlement sites is a well attested phenomenon in early medieval Europe, however this group of enclosures appear to differ significantly. While research has begun to address how Irish burial practice relates to documentary sources and how these new sites fit into notions of pastoral care relatively little work has been focussed directly on the ground up archaeological evidence. How can this inform us about strategies for living with and remembering the dead?

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This paper will discuss initial observations on doctoral research undertaken through the Early Medieval Archaeology Project (EMAP), funded by the Irish National Strategic Archaeological Research (INSTAR) Project.
(Original Abstract)

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POSTER ABSTRACTS

Personal Possessions, Security and Identity: Padlocks and Keys in Viking Age Britain and Ireland Kristin Beekman, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin Contact: Kristin.Beekman@ucdconnect.ie Padlocks and keys are two underutilised categories of material goods which provide the opportunity to investigate human agency through the analysis of these objects as cultural signifiers of possession, security and identity. This project will examine Viking Age padlocks and keys as objects in the interpretation of identity, cultural contact, interaction and reaction.
(Original Abstract)

The Hedeby House Project Rebecca Boyd, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin Contact: rebeccaiboyd@gmail.com The Hedeby House Project was an experimental archaeology project undertaken by students at the University of Aarhus and Moesgard Museum, Denmark. The aim of the project was to investigate the environmental and living conditions in the reconstructed Viking Age Hedeby house at Moesgard Museum. The five project members spent four weeks living in the reconstructed house recording the environmental data temperature, light, air pressure, humidity and wood consumption. Using a series of weekly and daily questionnaires, the team also recorded their thoughts, experiences and reflections on life in the house. This poster explores some of the key points of that recording process and reflects on how these 21st-century experimental archaeologists survived living in a reconstructed Viking Age house in February in Denmark.
(Extended Abstract)

The Tempsford Project: Field survey of a riverside enclosure Michael Fradley, University of Exeter Contact: mgf204@exeter.ac.uk Funding from the Society for Medieval Archaeology enabled a detailed analytical earthwork survey to be conducted over the site of a potential early tenth-century 35

Danish fortification at Tempsford in Bedfordshire. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records that a fort was established and subsequently attacked and destroyed by the forces of Edward the Elder, but the site had never been conclusively identified archaeologically. Recently documentary research by Dr. Matt Edgeworth had pinpointed the present survey site as potentially that of the fortification alongside the Great Ouse and its former confluence with the River Ivel, and it was decided to build on this hypothesis by trying to further characterise the site archaeologically as part of a long-term research project. The survey succeeded in demonstrating a range of earthwork features surviving in the eastern section of the site, including a major enclosure ditch, internal settlement features and a series of water-management elements beyond. Although the exact date and function of the site could not be determined through the survey, the identification of specific areas of high archaeological potential will prove invaluable in the future development of the Tempsford Research Project.
(Original Abstract)

Irish Viking Age Silver Hoards Linn Marie Krosgrud, University of Oslo Contact: linn_marie84@hotmail.com 150 silver hoards were deposited throughout Ireland in the Viking Age (AD 8001169/70); they consist of a combination of coins, ingots, arm-rings, and hacksilver derived from arm-rings and ingots. Silver played an increasingly vital role in the Viking trade, and the hoard distribution thus indicates what kind of sites were involved in the silver trade. The following categories of sites can be associated 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 an important role in the silver exchange. The remaining 94 hoards cannot be attributed to settlements, and 24 of these are only provenanced to a county or to Ireland. 70 come from locations that are not known settlements; these are more numerous than those from settlements, making them important in the overall geographical distribution of the material. Most of this research was done as part of my MA-thesis, while additional research was conducted at the National Museum of Ireland and The Royal Irish Academy during spring 2010.
(Extended Abstract)

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A New Early Medieval Cross-slab from Portlick, Co. Westmeath David OReilly, Independent Contact: oreillydv@yahoo.ie The townland of Portlick is located on the eastern shore of Lough Ree four kilometres north-west of Glasson, Co. Westmeath. The area is noted for a small group of monuments including a ringfort, possible bullaun stone, an early medieval cross-slab, a Norman motte, late medieval tower house and the remains 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 to the end of the tenth century, a type common in the Shannon region. The ornamentation 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 a circular expansion at the centre filled with a spiral pattern. This new discovery has prompted fresh research into the old folk tradition that an ancient church site once existed in the Portlick area. This research has identified the most likely location for this early church site through a combination of documentary sources, early maps and placename evidence. In addition to the cross-slab, two rotary quern fragments and a number of early architectural pieces have been discovered at the site. The identification of the early church site at Portlick sheds new light on this interesting group of medieval monuments 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 Middle Ages: the Case of Tirino Valley (LAquila, Abruzzo Central Italy) Carmen Soria, Chieti University, Italy Contact: carmensoria73@gmail.com The Tirino Valley, located at the middle of the Abruzzo (LAquila), has represented, since the Roman period, a very strategic area between the inner and the Adriatic part of Abruzzo. This area, strongly conditioned by the Tirino river, from which it takes its name, has since the Italic period represented a strategic area. Because of its strategic position and particular topography, it has constituted an important natural base of the road network connecting the inner Apennines with neighbouring regions of Adriatic and Tyrrhenian Italy. Important Roman roads (Claudia-Nova and Tiburtina-Valeria), together with the later complex network of tratturi, a typical phenomenon of central-southern Italy, linked the region to Apulia. The whole area of the Tirino Valley, belonging to the Roman 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 (Valvensis Comitatus). 37

Because of this border position, settlements were scattered in small groups. The period between the first half of the ninth and the beginning of the twelfth century was characterized by a local county system. Despite that autarchy, the territory 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 of the saints) shows barbaric influences. For example, just outside the village of Capestrano are S. Pelagia, S. Pancrazio (related to the old road that ran parallel to the diverticulum of Tratturo Magno LAquila-Foggia, linking Abruzzo to Puglia) and S. Vito. These are Byzantine names (third to sixth centuries AD) which spread widely under Norman rule in Italy. The Tirino Valley represents an interesting example that shows how Barbaros represented a more complicated event than a simple domination in Abruzzo, creating a composite, multi-ethnic society.
(Extended Abstract)

The Lovely Bones: Veneration of Corporeal Relics in Early Christian Ireland Niamh Wycherley, University College Dublin Contact: niamh.wycherley@ucd.ie In 2001, three million Irish people turned out at various venues in Ireland to venerate the Relics of St. Thrse of Lisieux. This offers us an insight into the enduring power with which saintly remains have been invested. Relics are a manifestation of the cult of the saints. They can be examined to study hagiography or saints cults but more importantly they should be explored in order to understand the roles of saints remains and the image of saints in society. There has been relatively little research done on the cult of relics in Ireland, considering the comparatively rich examinations carried out on the continent. Some of the foremost scholars of early Christian Ireland have argued that the Irish were slow to adopt relics, in particular that they were not as concerned with venerating bodily remains as their late Roman and Frankish contemporaries. By outlining both the material and written evidence this poster seeks to explore these arguments and disprove them with reference to the earliest sources. It will be shown that the Irish, while different to their European counterparts, were actually more in agreement with continental practice than current historiog.raphic models suggest.
(Original Abstract)

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Sponsored By:

The Office of Public Works UCD School of Archaeology UCD Humanities Institute of Ireland

And Supported By: The Early Medieval Archaeology Project Trowel The UCD Student Archaeology Journal National Museum of Ireland National Roads Authority Four Courts Press Wordwell Books Royal Irish Academy The Discovery Programme Maney Publishing The Society for Medieval Archaeology The Friends of Medieval Dublin

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