Disc Brooches Research Articles

Überlegungen zur Bedeutung und Gültigkeit des Begriffs „Keszthely-Kultur“ und weitere mögliche Ansätze

This paper addresses the problems of the “Keszthely culture” in the sixth and early seventh centuries in Pannonia. Presented here are other possible readings of the transformations instead of the former static explanations and ethnic constructs about this phenomenon in the Keszthely region in the Early Avar Age. The concept of the “Keszthely culture” traditionally covers four artefacts recovered solely from female graves. Here, I shall demonstrate that these artefacts occur in other regions of Pannonia too and that the former concept of the “Keszthely culture” is no longer tenable. The main question raised here is why exactly the Keszthely region was so intensely used and what is the reason for the concentration of basket earrings, pins, snake-headed bracelets and disc brooches in this region. The central place theory is proposed as an alternative explanation.

Tamdrup – Kongsgård og mindekirke i nyt lys

Tamdrup – Kongsgård og mindekirke i nyt lys

Children's Burials in Fifth-Century Britain and Connections to the Roman Past

This paper considers the relationship between child burials and the way burial parties used them to create connections to the Roman past during Britain's long fifth century, AD 350–550. It examines how both children and adults were buried with late-Roman and early-fifth-century material culture such as bracelets, coins, repurposed Roman curiosities and disc brooches. During the fifth century, though these items were buried with individuals of all ages, the total grave goods assemblage of which they were a part differed for children and adults. Children were usually buried only with Roman material culture, whereas adults were also given items from Anglo-Saxon or other early medieval material cultures. As the chronological distance between a community and the Roman past lengthened, the graves of children – the future of the living community – were used to commemorate or construct connections to the Roman past.

Disc Brooches of Dollkeim-Kovrovo Culture. The Question of the Origin of Ornaments in the Southeast Baltic in the First Centuries AD

Disc brooches of Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture attributed to the Early Roman Period are characterised by the complicated archaeological context. Distant analogies in Roman disc brooches, the different morphology and technique leave open the question of their origin. This article proposes an analysis based on the verification of archival data, publications and surviving archaeological items from the collection of the former Prussia-Museum. Key words: Dollkeim-Kovrovo culture, Roman influence, disc brooches, enamel specimens, openwork ornamentation, Baltic Sea region, Early Iron Age traditions, amber exchange. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15181/ ab.v1i0.1133

A HIGH-STATUS SEVENTH-CENTURY FEMALE BURIAL FROM WEST HANNEY, OXFORDSHIRE

In 2009, a metal-detector find of a rare garnet-inlaid composite disc brooch at West Hanney, Oxfordshire, led to the excavation of an apparently isolated female burial sited in a prominent position overlooking the Ock valley. The burial dates to the middle decades of the seventh century, a period of rapid socio-political development in the region, which formed the early heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. The de luxe brooch links the wearer to two other burials furnished with very similar brooches at Milton, some 10km to the east and onlyc1km from the Anglo-Saxon great hall complex at Sutton Courtenay / Drayton, just south of Abingdon. All three women must have been members of the region’s politically dominant group, known as theGewisse. The burial’s grave goods and setting add a new dimension to our understanding of the richly furnished female burials that are such a prominent feature of the funerary record of seventh-century England.

DISC BROOCHES WITH ANTHROPOMORPHIC DEPICTION GLASS INTAGLIOS IN THE SARMATIAN ENVIRONMENT OF THE GREAT HUNGARIAN PLAIN

A special category of brooches present in the Sarmatian graves of the Carpathian Basin is represented by disc brooches made of silver or bronze plate with central anthropomorphic depiction glass intaglios. They were found in 11 burial assemblages, together with the fashion brought by new ethnic groups arriving towards the end of the 3 rd c. AD in the Great Hungarian Plain. Disc brooches with central glass intaglios are rare in Antiquity. They appear exclusively only in the German and Sarmatian Barbaricum (from the South and Central Hungarian Plain). Their bearers were children and women, especially the rich Sarmatian women, during the second half/end of the 3 rd c. – early-4 th c. AD (stages C2-C3 in the Central European chronology).

The Cross & the Crucible: The Production of Carolingian Disc Brooches as Objects of Religious Exchange?

In this article, aspects of the production and exchange of Carolingian/Ottonian disc brooches are examined through an analysis of 281 brooches selected from collections across The Netherlands. The composition of the brooches was measured with a Hand Held-XRF device and the results showed a sharp deviation from the alloys seen in brooches from earlier periods. The results across all geographic areas consisted of a mixture of copper, zinc and lead, but no tin. If recycling practices were present in the making of these brooches, then you might expect an element of tin to enter the mixture, as bronze items entered the alloy-recycling stream. But this appears not to be the case. This consistency rules out production by travelling merchants, or at domestic households and primitive workshops. The results suggest that production was more likely organised on a regional or even super regional scale. An analysis of production at royal estates, emporia and the great abbeys found the latter to be the most likely source of these objects. Furthermore, the Christian nature of these brooches, if produced within monastic centres, may have imbued them with religious meaning, allow for a fresh interpretation of their methods of exchange.

‘Productive’ Sites in the Polders? ‘Griffin brooches’ and Other Early Medieval Metalwork from the Belgian Coastal Plain

The present paper demonstrates how metal detectorists’ collections potentially form an important addition to the extant corpus of early medieval non-ferrous metalwork. Several sites in the Belgian coastal plain featuring rich metalwork assemblages dated to this period are presented. The important questions raised by these artefacts regarding the chronology, nature and socio-cultural affiliations of settlement in the early medieval coastal plain are discussed. In addition, a previously unrecognised, distinct type of openwork disc brooch is described, dated and framed within technical, typological and artistic developments of late tenth- to early twelfth-century north-western Europe, in particular the North Sea area.

Voldbækgravpladsen – Yngre jernalder, vikingetid og middelalder ved Brabrand Sø

Voldbækgravpladsen – Yngre jernalder, vikingetid og middelalder ved Brabrand Sø

AN ANGLO‐SAXON DISC BROOCH FROM BLETCHINGDON, OXFORDSHIRE, WITH STYLE II ANIMAL ART

Summary. The brooch was found in 2003 near Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire.1 Its gilt Style II animal ornament and garnet setting indicate that it is a high status dress‐fastener, datable to the period AD 575–610. Analysis of its form and ornament suggests that it was a local experiment in the application of a new animal style.

Reaction soldering with copper on an early Medieval disc brooch from Germany

Reaction soldering methods were used for making the lavishly decorated Alemannic disc fibula (‘Scheibenfibel’) of Lauchheim, to provide a beautiful example of very early goldsmith’s work in ‘cloisonné’ and ‘filigree’. The techniques used show superb mastery of the technology of reaction soldering for gold alloys.

Anglo-Saxon Garnet Cloisonné Composite Disc Brooches: Some Aspects of their Construction

AbstractAnglo-Saxon garnet cloisonne composite disc brooches form a small but important group of jewellery, representing an extremely high level of design and craftsmanship. While a good deal has been written about them in various contexts, this paper sets out to analyse the brooches in terms of their construction. All eighteen known examples (with the exception of one now lost) were examined in detail, from a practical manufacturing point of view, and a number of their components classified: cloisonne work, rims, back-plates, brooch fittings and general construction. On the basis of this examination, clear distinctions could be drawn between two groups — those with gold cloisonne work and those with copper-alloy. Within these groups, it is further possible to draw parallels between three sets of brooches (two pairs with gold cloisonne and a trio with copper alloy) which appear likely to have had a common manufacturing source.Very little is known of the Anglo-Saxon jewellers, but there can have been only ...

Richard Duke of York 1411-1460 (review)

Reviews 155 Justinian doing set within a Frankish disc brooch of c. 600 now found at Trier? Literary evidence is also used in suggestive ways: the juxtaposition of the negative evaluation of King Chilperic found in Gregory of Tours with Venantius Fortunatus' panegyric of him, and the discussion of Marculf s formulary are particularly effective. Occasionally Homer nods: the Ostrogoths were sent to Itdy by Zeno, not Anastasius (cf p. 95), and I would prefer to see Parthenius as the grandson, rather than son, of bishop Ruricius (p. 107). But these are smdl qdbbles which in no way diminish the enthusiasm with which this book is to be welcomed. John Moorhead Department of History University of Queensland Johnson, P. A., Richard Duke of York 1411-1460, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1988; pp. xii, 270; R.R.P. A U S $ 95.00. A politicd biography of Richard duke of York has been a desideratum for some time. H e must certdnly rate as one of the most important politicalfiguresof English history to lack any extended biographical treatment. The problem is not stricdy one of documention. There is a great ded of materid that bears, at least obliquely, on his career. The main difficulty is finding evidence about the man himself, or even discerning any clear thread which unifies a public career which began in Normandy and Ireland, included two terms as Protector of the redm, and ended as an uncrowned king at the batde of Wakefield. In this scholarly monograph P. A. Johnson gives Richard, Duke of York the attention that is his due. True enough, he was able to build on the work of others: J. Rosenthd's and C. Ross's surveys of York's estates and finances, R. L. Storey's pioneering use of the King's Benchfiles,and R. A. Griffiths's monumental study of the reign of Henry VI. Still, Johnson has done an impressive amount of research. His careful sifting through the public records, in particular, has added much new detail and precision to York's biography and to English politics in the 1450s. His readings of crucial episodes in York's career, from his shift into opposition in the late 1440s to his bid for the crown in 1460, will not easily be displaced. It must be said that Johnson does not meet all the chdlenges inherent in his subject. His book bears all the hallmarks of an excellent doctoral thesis. Though well polished for publication, it retains some of its original genre. There is an evident lack of balance. Too often Johnson gives cursory treatment to matters which are central to his topic but on which perhaps he feels he has nothing new to contribute. Sometimes, too, his concern to make an original contribution has lead him to adopt a rather negative tone to his predecessors' findings. Yet he rarely moves beyond them in such a way as to offer lines for 156 Reviews reinterpretation. There is no extended or systematic exploration of the key issues regarding York's career; such as, for example, M . K. Jones has recendy provided with regard to the nature of York's bitter feud with Somerset Perhaps Johnson is justified in his scholarly caution. Perhaps, knowing so much, he appreciates better than most both the complexity of the man and the limits to our knowledge of him. Yet he should have made his views on such matters plain. It is somehow symptomatic that his book has neither an introduction nor a conclusion. It begins with a birth in 1411 and ends with a death in 1460. Richard, Duke of York, still awdts his crown. Michael Bennett Department of History University of Tasmania Kendrick, L., The game of love: Troubadour Wordplay, Berkeley, U. of California P., 1988; pp. xiv, 237; 37 plates; R.R.P. ? This is an important book because the author points scholars and students towards a new way of reading troubadour poetry, searching for the equivocd, be it pun, vulgar innuendo, burlesque, rich rhymes, or scribal transcription as discerned in spelling and word division. The scribe, who reproduced a text from aural images which he heard, rather than from visual images which he read, gave...

Les fibules gallo-romaines à disque médian / Gallo-Roman mesial disc brooches

A study of disc brooches of the Augustan period, particularly those from the sites of Central Gaulish oppida, supplements our knowledge of native craft and regional customs. An examination of typological details, geographical and chronological distributions, is essential for the understanding of the function and the purpose of these artefacts.

Early Anglo-Saxon Applied Disc Brooches. Part II: in England

SummaryThe development of the earliest Germanic applied disc brooches is followed from their beginning in the Elbe valley to the fifth century in England. Third-century types constructed with rivets on a flat background were produced in the Elbe valley, giving way in the fourth century to a type soldered on to a concave base, and they spread to the middle and lower Elbe valley, to Holland, the Rhineland, Belgium, and northern France, increasing in numbers at the end of the fourth century, but not surviving the fifth century. The main designs were concentric circles, star, floriate cross, scrolls, and animal ornament.The series goes on in England without any break in continuity of form or decoration, and the earliest types belong to the fifth century, mainly the first half. With the densest concentration in the Upper Thames area, they are otherwise mostly distributed south of the Thames with some along the Icknield Way. As they are associated with a post-Roman stage of metalwork, the Quoit Brooch Style, they must indicate Germanic settlements, no doubt mercenary in the earliest stages.

The Monkton Brooch

SummaryThe Monkton brooch was found in 1971 when mechanical trench digging disturbed a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery north of Monkton village on Thanet, east Kent. It is a large composite disc brooch made of electrum, silver, and gilded bronze, set with garnets, blue glass, and shell Consideration of its design, construction, and very pale, silver-debased, gold suggests that it was made no earlier than c. A.D. 640–50 and is amongst the latest of Kentish composite brooches.

An Anglo-Saxon Disc Brooch from Northamptonshire

A small gilt-bronze disc brooch was found at Little Houghton, Northants., in 1957, a surface find on a Roman site, and was acquired by Northampton Museum (pl. xv b, fig. 1). It is a thin disc, diameter 2·5 cm., tapering at the border, with remains of pin holder and catch at the back and shallow pattern in relief on the front. The gilding has rubbed off the higher parts of the pattern, and has disappeared entirely in places where the brooch has been damaged and bent, possibly by fire. The ornament consists of two Style II animals, identical except for the shape of the jaw. They are S-shaped, turning round to bite their own backs; the body continues directly into the angle of a back leg which crosses the body and ends at the border in the rudiments of a foot; a front limb shoots forward to interlock with the hind curve of the other animal; the head is an eye framed by a right-angle; in one case the upper jaw passes below the body and the lower jaw is short and curves only slightly outwards; in the other the upper jaw again runs below the body, and the lower jaw swings round and seems to meet the upper jaw behind in a complete loop. There is damage at this point, however, and on analogous evidence it is quite likely that the lower jaw did not join the upper, but swept on independently.

The King's School, Canterbury, Disc Brooch

(1960). The King's School, Canterbury, Disc Brooch. Medieval Archaeology: Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 16-28.

The white material in Kentish disc brooches

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Mediaeval Wheel-Shaped Brooches

The most typical form of mediaeval brooch is undoubtedly the ring brooch: found in Saxon England as early as the sixth century,1 by the beginning of the twelfth century it was almost universally worn in western Europe to fasten the dress at the neck.2 Usually the form of the ring was a simple circle, chased, inscribed, or set with jewels; but occasionally, perhaps by analogy with such star-shaped disc brooches as those of the eleventh century in the treasury of the cathedral of Mainz,3 the outer edge of the circle was adorned with radiating projections, so that it resembles a star with a circular orifice in the middle. The finest extant example of this type was in the Londesborough collection and is now in the British Museum (Fig. 2). It is probably English, but possibly French, and dates from the first half of the fourteenth century. The ring is ornamented with four jewels—cabochon emeralds and sapphires—in raised settings, alternating with hollow bosses pierced with cockatrices and dragons. These settin...