Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T06:27:27.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE GOLD AND GARNET CHAIN FROM ISENBÜTTEL, GERMANY: A POSSIBLE PIN SUITE WITH ANGLO-SAXON PARALLELS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 August 2016

Alexandra Hilgner
Alexandra Hilgner*
Affiliation:
Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Archäologie, Ernst-Ludwig Platz 2, 55116 Mainz, Germany. Email: hilgner@rgzm.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The ‘Isenbüttel gold necklace’, now in the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, was found almost a century ago in Lower Saxony, an area with no history of early medieval gold finds or richly furnished burials. As no parallels are known for the object, scholars have long debated the dating, provenance and function of this unique loop-in-loop chain, with its animal-head terminals and garnet cloisonné. Recent excavations of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating to the seventh century have, however, added new finds to the small corpus of objects known as ‘pin suites’, consisting of comparatively short pins perhaps designed to fix a veil or a light shawl in the collar area, with ornate pinheads, linked by chains. This paper focuses on Anglo-Saxon pin suites from high-status burials of the second half of the seventh century and seeks to set the finds group in its wider social and historical context, revealing the far-reaching relationships that existed between early medieval elites.

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 96 , September 2016 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London 2016 

Access options

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

References

Adams, N 2011. ‘The garnet millennium: the role of seal stones in garnet studies’, in C Entwistle and N Adams (eds), Gems of Heaven: recent research on engraved gemstones in late antiquity, AD 200–600, 10–24, Brit Mus Res Publ 179, London Google Scholar
Akerman, J Y 1885. Remains of Pagan Saxondom, John Russel Smith, London Google Scholar
Aufleger, M 1997. Tierdarstellungen in der Kleinkunst der Merowingerzeit im westlichen Frankenreich, Arch Schriften Inst Vor- und Frühgesch, Mainz 6, Mainz Google Scholar
Blackburn, M 2000. ‘The two sceattas of Series B from Grave 18 (objects 1a and b)’, in Penn 2000, 75–76 Google Scholar
Boyle, A, Jennings, D, Miles, D and Palmer, S 1998. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Butler’s Field, Lechlade, Gloucestershire. Vol 1: Prehistoric and Roman Activity and Anglo-Saxon Grave Catalogue, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford Google Scholar
Boyle, A, Jennings, D, Miles, D and Palmer, S 2011. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Butler’s Field, Lechlade, Gloucestershire. Vol 2: The Anglo-Saxon Grave Goods, Specialist Reports, Phasing and Discussion, Oxford Archaeology, Oxford Google Scholar
Brepohl, E 2008. Theorie und Praxis des Goldschmieds, 16th edn, Fachbuchverlag Leipzig im Hanser-Verlag, Munich Google Scholar
Calligaro, T, Colinart, S, Poirot, J-P and Sudres, C 2002. ‘Combined external-beam PIXE and µ-Raman characterization of garnets used in Merovingian jewellery’, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics, 189 (Research B), 320–327 Google Scholar
Calligaro, T, Périn, P, Vallet, F and Poirot, J-P 2007. ‘Contribution à l’étude des grenats mérovigiens’, Antiquités Nationales, 38 (2006–7), 111–144 Google Scholar
Collis, J 1983. Wigber Low, Derbyshire: a Bronze Age and Anglian burial site in the White Peak, University of Sheffield, Sheffield Google Scholar
Crowfoot, E and Hawkes, S C 1967. ‘Early Anglo-Saxon gold braids’, Medieval Archaeol, 11, 42–86 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doppelfeld, O 1960. ‘Das Fränkische Frauengrab unter dem Chor des Kölner Domes’, Germania, 38, 89–113 Google Scholar
Downes, A 2008. ‘SWYOR-72ABC5: an early medieval pin’, Portable Antiquities Scheme, <https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/225323> (accessed 2 June 2016)+(accessed+2+June+2016)>Google Scholar
Eger, C 2012. Spätantikes Kleidungszubehör aus Nordafrika I. Trägerkreis, Mobilität und Ethnos im Spiegel der Funde der späten römischen Kaiserzeit und der vandalischen Zeit, Reichert Verlag Wiesbaden, Wiesbaden Google Scholar
Evans, A C 2000. ‘No. 75, Nornay, Nottinghamshire: early Anglo-Saxon gold and cloisonné garnet boar’s head terminal’, Treasure Annual Report 2000, 53–54 Google Scholar
Fowler, H 2013. ‘CAM-A04EF7: an early medieval assemblage’, Portable Antiquities Scheme, <https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/586813> (accessed 2 June 2016)+(accessed+2+June+2016)>Google Scholar
Freeden, U von 2000. ‘Das Ende engzelligen Cloisonnés und die Eroberung Südarabiens durch die Sasaniden’, Germania, 78, 97–124 Google Scholar
Gaimster, D, Margeson, S and Barry, T 1989. ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1988 (sites and finds)’, Medieval Archaeol, 33, 161–241 Google Scholar
Geake, H 1997. The Use of Grave-Goods in Conversion-Period England, c 600–c 850, BAR Brit Ser 261, BAR Ltd, Oxford Google Scholar
Geake, H 1999. ‘Invisible kingdoms: the use of grave-goods in seventh-century England’, in T Dickinson and D Griffiths (eds), The Making of Kingdoms, Anglo-Saxon Stud Archaeol Hist 10, 203–215, Oxbow, Oxford Google Scholar
Gelichi, S and Hodges, R (eds) 2012. From One Sea to Another: trading places in the European and Mediterranean Early Middle Ages, Brepols, Turnhout CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilg, H A, Kile, D, Liebetrau, S, Modreski, P, Neumeier, G and Staebler, G (eds) 2008. Garnet. Great Balls of Fire, extraLapis Engl 11, Lithography, East Hampton, CT Google Scholar
Graham-Campbell, J 2011. The Cuerdale Hoard and Related Viking-Age Silver and Gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Greiff, S 1998. ‘Naturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zur Frage der Rohsteinquellen für frühmittelalterlichen Almandingranatschmuck rheinfränkischer Provenienz’, Jahrbuch RGZM, 45, 599–647 Google Scholar
Grünewald, C 2004. ‘Archäologie des frühen Mittelalters vom 5. bis zum 9. Jahrhundert in Westfalen – ein Überblick’, in K Günther (ed), Archäologie in Ostwestfalen, 9, 71–86, Verlag für Regionalgeschichte, Bielefeld Google Scholar
Hamerow, H, Byard, A, Cameron, E, Düring, A, Levick, P, Marquez-Grant, N and Shortland, A 2015. ‘A high-status seventh-century female burial from West Hanney, Oxfordshire’, Antiq J, 95, 1–28 Google Scholar
Harhoiu, R 2001. ‘Schatzfund von Cluj-Someşeni, Siebenbürgen / Transsylvanien, Rumänien’, in Wieczorek and Périn 2001, 162–165 Google Scholar
Helmbrecht, M 2007. ‘Figures with horned headgear. A case study of context analyses and social significance of pictures in Vendel and Viking-Age Scandinavia’, Lund Archaeol Rev, 13–14 (2007–8), 31–53 Google Scholar
Hilgner, A 2010. ‘Das Prunkgrab von Planig. Neubearbeitung eines Altfundes’, Mainzer Zeitschrift, 105, 41–86 Google Scholar
Hilgner, A 2015. ‘Eine kommunikative Bilderwelt? Anmerkungen zu einer angelsächsischen Gürtelschnalle aus Burwell (Cambridgeshire / GB)’, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 45 (3), 403–415 Google Scholar
Hilgner, A forthcoming a. ‘Neue Untersuchungen zur Goldkette von Isenbüttel’, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 46 (3)Google Scholar
Hilgner, A forthcoming b. ‘A short history of garnet: the development and chronology of the cloisonné style’, in I Baldini (ed), Oreficeria tardoantica e altomedievale, Ornamenta 6, Ante Quem, Bologna Google Scholar
Hilgner, A forthcoming c. ‘Garnet in Anglo-Saxon England: the meaning, provenance and distribution of garnet-decorated objects from the late 5th to the early 8th century’, PhD thesis in preparation, University of MainzGoogle Scholar
Hills, C 2011. ‘Work boxes or reliquaries? Small copper-alloy containers in seventh-century Anglo-Saxon graves’, in S Brookes, S Harrington and A Reynolds (eds), Studies in Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology: papers in honour of Martin G Welch, BAR Brit Ser 527, 14–19, Archaeopress, Oxford Google Scholar
Hills, C 2015. ‘Work boxes or reliquaries? Small copper-alloy containers in seventh-century Anglo-Saxon graves’, in C Ruhmann and V Brieske (eds), Dying Gods: religious beliefs in northern and eastern Europe in the time of Christianisation, Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung 5, 51–61, Theiss, Hanover Google Scholar
Hines, J 2013. ‘Anglo-Saxon graves and grave goods of the 6th and 7th centuries AD: a chronological framework’ [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor], <doi:10.5284/1018290> (accessed 25 June 2016)+(accessed+25+June+2016)>Google Scholar
Hines, J and Bayliss, A 2013. Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods of the 6th and 7th Centuries AD: a chronological framework, Soc Medieval Archaeol Monogr Ser 33, London Google Scholar
Hodges, R 2012. Dark Age Economics: a new audit, Bloomsbury, London and New York Google Scholar
Hodges, R and Bowden, W (eds) 1998. The Sixth Century: production, distribution and demand, The Transformation of the Roman World 3, Brill, Leiden Google Scholar
Høilund Nielsen, K 2003. ‘Saxon art between interpretation and imitation: the influence of Roman, Scandinavian, Frankish and Christian art on the material culture of the Continental Saxons AD 400–1000’, in D Green and F Siegmund (eds), The Continental Saxons. From Migration Period to the Tenth Century: an ethnographic perspective, Stud Hist Archaeoethnology 6, 193–233, Boydell Press, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Horedt, K and Protase, D 1970. ‘Ein völkerwanderungszeitlicher Schatzfund aus Cluj-Someşeni (Siebenbürgen)’, Germania, 48, 85–98 Google Scholar
Huggett, J W 1988. ‘Imported grave goods and the early Anglo-Saxon economy’, Medieval Archaeol, 32, 63–96 Google Scholar
Hyslop, M 1963. ‘Two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Chamberlains Barn, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire’, Archaeol J, 120, 161–200 (now available via the Archaeology Data Service: Royal Archaeological Institute (2013) The Archaeological Journal [data-set]. York: Archaeology Data Service [distributor], <doi:10.5284/1018054> (accessed 10 June 2016))Google Scholar
Johns, C 2010. The Hoxne Late Roman Treasure: gold jewellery and silver plate, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Johns, C and Potter, T 1983. The Thetford Treasure: Roman jewellery and silver , British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Kidd, D 1995. ‘Il tesoro di Domagnano’, in I Goti a San Marino. Il tesoro di Domagnano, 194–202, Electa, Milan Google Scholar
King, J E 1930. Baedae Opera Historica: historiae ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Loeb Classical Library, Heinemann, London Google Scholar
Koch, U 2001. ‘Katalog’, in Wieczorek and Périn 2001, 88–172 Google Scholar
La Niece, S and Hill, J D 2004. ‘A unique 1st-century BC hoard of gold from southern Britain: an interface between the Celtic and Classical worlds’, in A Perea, I Montero and Ó García-Vuelta (eds), Tecnología del oro antiguo: Europa y América (Ancient Gold Technology: America and Europe), Anejos de Archivo Español de Arqueología 32, 265–274, CSIC, Madrid Google Scholar
Lucy, S, Newman, R, Dodwell, N, Hills, C, Dekker, M, O’Connel, T, Riddler, I and Walton Rogers, P 2009. ‘The burial of a princess? The later seventh century at Westfield Farm, Ely’, Antiq J, 89, 81–141 Google Scholar
Ludowici, B 1999. ‘Der Tumulus von Klein-Vahlberg. Eine Separatnekropole des 6./7. Jahrhunderts aus Ostfalen’, in U von Freeden, U Koch and A Wieczorek (eds), Völker an Nord- und Ostsee und die Franken, Kolloquien zur Vor- und Frügeschichte 3, Mannheimer Geschichstblätter Beiheft Neue Folge 2, 139–152, Habelt, Bonn Google Scholar
Ludowici, B 2005. Frühgeschichtliche Grabfunde zwischen Harz und Aller. Die Entwicklung der Bestattungssitten im südöstlichen Niedersachsen von der jüngeren römischen Kaiserzeit bis zur Karolingerzeit, Leidorf, Rahden/Westfalen Google Scholar
Ludowici, B 2010. ‘Overland routes as markers for central places: the Hellweg between Rhine and Elbe’, in B Ludowici, H Jöns, S Kleingärtner, J Scheschkewitz and M Hardt (eds), Trade and Communication Networks of the First Millennium AD in the Northern Part of Central Europe: central places, beach markets, landing places and trading centres, Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung 1, 335–340, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Marzinzik, S 2003. Early Anglo-Saxon Belt Buckles (Late 5th to Early 8th Centuries AD): their classification and context, BAR Brit Ser 357, Archaeopress, Oxford Google Scholar
Meaney, A L 1981. Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones, BAR Brit Ser 96, BAR Ltd, Oxford Google Scholar
Meaney, A L and Hawkes, S C 1970. Two Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries at Winnall, Winchester, Hampshire, Soc Medieval Archaeol Monogr Ser 4, London Google Scholar
Naylor, J 2012. ‘Coinage, trade and the origins of the English Emporia, c AD 650–750’, in Gelichi and Hodges 2012, 237–266 Google Scholar
Nicolay, J 2014. The Splendour of Power. Early Medieval Kingship and the Use of Gold and Silver in the Southern North Sea Area (5th to 7th Century AD), Groningen Archaeol Stud 28, Barkhuis Publishing, Groningen Google Scholar
NIS Chartham Down 2007. ‘Chartham Down Barrow A: 6. Gold pin with chain’, Novum Inventorium Sepulchrale: Kentish Anglo-Saxon Graves and Grave Goods in the Sonia Hawkes Archive, July 2007, 1st edn, <http://inventorium.arch.ox.ac.uk/gravegood.php> (accessed 3 June 2016)+(accessed+3+June+2016)>Google Scholar
Ogden, J 1992. Ancient Jewellery, University of California Press, Berkeley Google Scholar
Ogden, J 1996. ‘Lost and found’, Jewellery Stud, 7, 87–88 Google Scholar
Ortenberg, V 2001. ‘Virgin queens: abbesses and power in early Anglo-Saxon England’, in R Gameson and H Leyser (eds), Belief and Culture in the Middle Ages: studies presented to Henry Mayr-Harting, 59–68, Oxford University Press, Oxford CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Owen-Crocker, G R 2004. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England, revised and enlarged edn, Boydell Press, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Ozanne, A 1962. ‘The Peak dwellers’, Medieval Archaeol, 6/7 (1962–3), 15–52 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penn, K 2000. Excavations on the Norwich Southern Bypass, 1989–91. Part II: The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Harford Farm, Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk, E Anglian Archaeol Rep 92, Norwich Google Scholar
Périn, P 2009. ‘Une exceptionelle “applique” merovingienne a têtes de sangliers de Francheville (France, Marne)’, Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientiarum Hung, 60, 407–421 Google Scholar
Philipp, H 1981. Bronzeschmuck aus Olympia, DAI Olympische Forschungen 13, de Gruyter, Berlin Google Scholar
Pinar, J, Padró, E and Juárez, T 2006. ‘New data on the role of Mediterranean metalwork workshops in barbarian aristocratic culture: concerning two ancient, scarcely known finds from 5th-century Hispania’, in E Droberjar and O Chvojka (eds), Archeologie barbarů 2006: přiìspěvky z II. protohistorickeì konference, Českeì Budějovice, 21.–24.11.2006, 581–588, Ústav archeologické památkové péče středních Čech, Prague Google Scholar
Pinar Gil, J 2007. ‘Some remarks on early fifth-century gold necklaces with pin-shaped pendants: with regard to an ancient find from La Valleta del Valero (Soses, Lleida, Spain)’, Acta Archaeologica Academiae Scientarum Hungaricae, 58, 165–185 Google Scholar
Pirenne, H 1922. ‘Mahomed et Charlemagne’, Revue belge de philologie et d’histoire, 1, 77–86 Google Scholar
Potratz, H 1943. ‘Die goldene Halskette von Isenbüttel Kreis Gifhorn (Provinz Hannover)’, IPEK, 17 (1943–8), 77–103 Google Scholar
Quast, D 2005. ‘Völkerwanderungszeitliche Frauengräber aus Hippo Regius (Annaba/Bône) in Algerien’, Jahrbuch RGZM, 52, 237–315 Google Scholar
Quast, D 2011. ‘Der Schatz der Königin? Völkerwanderungszeitliche Schatzfunde und weibliche Eliten’, in D Quast (ed), Weibliche Eliten in der Frühgeschichte (Female Elites in Protohistoric Europe), RGZM-Tagungen 10, 121–141, Verlag des RGZM, Mainz Google Scholar
Quast, D and Schüssler, U 2000. ‘Mineralogische Untersuchungen zur Herkunft der Granate merowingerzeitlicher Cloisonnéarbeiten’, Germania, 78, 75–96 Google Scholar
Riemer, E 1997. ‘Im Zeichen des Kreuzes. Goldblattkreuze und andere Funde mit christlichem Symbolgehalt’, in Die Alamannen (museum catalogue, Archäologischen Landesmuseum Baden-Württemberg), 447–454, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Ristow, S 2012. ‘Prunkgräber des 6. Jahrhunderts in einem Vorgängerbau des Kölner Domes’, in E Wamers and P Périn (eds), Königinnen der Merowinger. Adelsgräber aus den Kirchen von Köln, Saint-Denis, Chelles und Frankfurt am Main, 79–98, Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg Google Scholar
Ross, M C 1965. Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Vol II: Jewellery, Enamels, and Art of the Migration Period, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington, DC Google Scholar
Ross, S 1991. ‘Dress pins from Anglo-Saxon England: their production and typo-chronological development’, DPhil thesis, University of Oxford, <http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:3976b772-fccd-41fe-b8c7-f4ae08ac0295> (accessed 3 June 2016).+(accessed+3+June+2016).>Google Scholar
Salin, B 1904. Die altgermanische Thierornamentik. Typologische Studie über germanische Metallgegenstände aus dem IV. bis IX. Jahrhundert, nebst einer Studie über irische Ornamentik, Asher, Berlin and Stockholm Google Scholar
Schmauder, M 2002. Oberschichtsgräber und Verwahrfunde in Südosteuropa im 4. und 5. Jahrhundert. Zum Verhältnis zwischen dem spätantiken Reich und der barbarischen Oberschicht aufgrund der archäologischen Quellen. I: Text, Archaeologia Romanica III, Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest Google Scholar
Schönfelder, M 1998. ‘Zu Fuchsschwanzketten in der Latènezeit’, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 28 (1), 79–93 Google Scholar
Schulze, M 1976. ‘Einflüsse byzantinischer Prunkgewänder auf die fränkische Frauentracht’, Archäologisches Korrespondenzblatt, 6, 149–161 Google Scholar
Scull, C 2009. ‘The human burials’, in S Lucy, J Tipper and A Dickens (eds), The Anglo-Saxon Settlement and Cemetery at Bloodmoor Hill, Carlton Colville, Suffolk, E Anglian Archaeol Rep 131, 385–426, Norwich Google Scholar
Speake, G 1989. A Saxon Bed Burial on Swallowcliff Down, Engl Heritage Archaeol Rep 10, London Google Scholar
Spier, J 2012. Byzantium and the West: jewelry in the first millennium, Les Enluminures, New York Google Scholar
Staves, L 2006. ‘NLM-BE6EF2: an early medieval pin’, Portable Antiquities Scheme, <https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/117939> (accessed 10 June 2016)+(accessed+10+June+2016)>Google Scholar
Steuer, H 1978. ‘Adelsgräber der Sachsen’, in C Ahrens (ed), Sachsen und Angelsachsen, Veröffentlichungen des Helms-Museums 32, Helms Museum, Hamburg Google Scholar
Völling, T 2001. ‘The last Christian Greeks and the first pagan Slavs in Olympia’, in E Kountoura-Galake (ed), The Dark Centuries of Byzantium (7th–9th Centuries), National Hellenic Research Foundation, Institute of Byzantine Research, International Symposium 9, 303–323, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Athens Google Scholar
Walton Rogers, P 2007. Cloth and Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450–700, CBA Res Rep 145, York Google Scholar
Wand, G 1982. ‘Beobachtungen zu Bestattungssitten auf frühgeschichtlichen Gräberfeldern Westfalens’, in H-J Häßler (ed), Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 3, 249–314, Verlag August Lax Hildesheim, Hildesheim Google Scholar
Welch, M 2011. ‘The Mid Saxon “final phase”’, in H Hamerow, D A Hinton and S Crawfoot (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, 266–287, Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Werner, J 1950. Das alamannische Fürstengrab von Wittislingen, Münchner Beitr, Vor- und Frühgeschichte 2, Beck, Munich Google Scholar
Whitfield, N 2006. ‘Dress and accessories in the early Irish tale “The Wooing of Becfhola”’, Medieval Clothing and Textiles, 2, 1–35 Google Scholar
Wickham, C 1998. ‘Overview: production, distribution and demand’, in Hodges and Bowden 1998, 279–292 Google Scholar
Wieczorek, A and Périn, P (eds) 2001. Das Gold der Barbarenfürsten. Schätze aus Prunkgräbern des 5. Jahrhunderts n. Chr. zwischen Kaukasus und Gallien, Konrad Theiss Verlag, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Williams, D and Ogden, J 1994. Greek Gold. Jewellery of the Classical World, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Wood, I 1992. ‘Frankish hegemony in England’, in M Carver (ed), The Age of Sutton Hoo: the seventh century in north-western Europe, 235–241, The Boydell Press, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Yeroulanou, A 2010. ‘Common elements in “treasures” of the early Christian period’, in F Daim and J Drauschke (eds), Byzanz – das Römerreich im Mittelalter / Byzantium – the Roman Empire in the Middle Ages / Byzance – l’Empire Romain au Moyen Age, Monographien des RGZM 84 (1), 337–361, Verlag des RGZM, Mainz Google Scholar