The Bone, Antler and Ivory Objects

Ulster Journal of Archaeology 64 (2005), 176-78

The Coat of Arms, 2011

At least thirty-six medieval sword pommels have been discovered in Norfolk, most since the advent of metal-detecting and the recording of metal-detected finds, for Norfolk that is from the mid-1970s, but including at least three earlier finds. Of five armorial pommels, described and illustrated herein, two display personal arms, while the other three carry versions of royal arms.

The subject of this note is an unfinished, but elaborately decorated, model in lead for a sword-pommel of the late 5th or early 6th century, with ornament in Salin's animal Style I (Figs. 1-2). It was acquired by the British Museum in 1988 and the recent redesign of the Early Medieval room has provided an opportunity of putting it on permanent public display. 1 It was purchased from a London antiquities dealer, who had it among a miscellaneous group of material, partly from the River Thames and partly from an old collection including pieces apparently of Scandinavian origin. But, most regrettably, the findspot of the model was not recorded and it could conceivably, therefore, have come from either region. Consequently its value for establishing stylistic links between Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England in the Migration Period is much reduced. It is, nevertheless, of both art-historical and technical interest as a fine addition to the increasing corpus of lead models that appear to have been used at a stage in the production of certain Early-medieval, precious-metal and copper-alloy artefacts. description Surface metal analysis by X-ray fluorescence in the museum's Research Laboratory showed that the model consists of almost pure lead, with only 0.05% tin and no other metals detected. It is of a narrow boat shape in plan, bifacial, hollow all along and with rounded ends; length, 93 mm; height, 18 mm; width of base, 10 mm (max., although possibly reduced by later compression). It has a low, curved back. The roughness of the main design on both sides (a and b), which shows deep gouges and toolmarks, suggests that, although the basic pattern is essentially complete, the object is either unfinished, or was rejected as defective. It seems most likely that it is a model for use in making a two-piece mould to cast a sword-pommel in a metal such as silver or copper alloy. Interpretation of the ornament of the model is made somewhat difficult by slight lateral distortion, the rough, unfinished state of the decoration, some surface wear, and by damage towards the upper left-hand end and at two other points on side b, near the 1 British Museum registration no. P&E 1988, 3-2, 1 (on display in Room 41, case 43). The museum also possesses three other lead models, of which one is for the chape terminal of a sword-scabbard, possibly from East Anglia (reg. no. P&E OA.10808), which my colleague Leslie Webster kindly informs me has a close parallel in a finished casting from

This paper lays out an agenda for the detailed recording and dissemination of edge damage on Bronze Age weapons, combined with detailed typology and chronology. This approach is applied to swords of Type Chelsea and Ballintober in southern England. Their relationship to other swords of related types in northwest Europe is discussed, where their origin is critically reviewed in light of an earlier emergence under the influence of rod-tanged swords of Type Arco/Terontola. The identification of a number of chronologically significant variants highlights the later modification of Chelsea and Ballintober swords under the influence of early Urnfield and Atlantic swords types, particularly in Ireland and France.

I commenced this survey with the intention of testing a hypothesis that finds of sword pommels, pommel caps 1 and other sword furniture mainly during the 5 th to 7 th centuries may have not been casually or accidentally lost but deliberately removed and buried by their owners possibly as a ritual sacrifice or to distance themselves from previous owners of the sword. 2 If the number of metal detector finds were markedly fewer before the 5 th century and after the 7 th , I thought that would help to support the idea. Parts of the British Isles, particularly large sections of England, began to experience a cultural shift from the 5 th century onwards. During the 7 th century Christianity began to dominate England and again, ideas were altering. I collected data on all sword pommels from the Iron Age to the end of the 11 th century reported by metal detectorists to and published by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) 3 and subjected the information to analysis. I have been unable to support my initial hypothesis but the exercise has resulted in some very interesting data and the intention of this paper is to share it with interested readers to take the discussion further. The collection of material is divided into three main parts; firstly the pommels from the Iron Age to the 4 th century. That is followed by information concerning pommels mostly dating from the 5 th century to the 7 th and finally the later, early medieval examples. Only the last two sets of data, 5 th to 7 th and 8 th to 11 th centuries, are brought together at the end and compared. I have also singled out one form of pommel, Petersen type L, from the later period for special treatment in Addenda 2 for reasons that I will explain there. It is not necessary to read through all the PAS numbers and associated information, they are provided so that interested readers can check the entries for themselves. Illustrations of most of the entries in the 5 th to 7 th century list can be found together on my Academia.edu page as 'Appendix 10, sword pommel detector finds' (https://www.academia.edu/). The analysis and conclusion at the end of this paper can be read without absorbing all the individual entries. Staffordshire Hoard I have not included the pommel entries for the Staffordshire Hoard within the 5th to 7th century list as the PAS entries are incomplete and they have not yet been fully published. The PAS entries were made shortly after their discovery and before conservation and are now outdated. There are now 1 The difference between pommel caps and pommels is that a pommel usually has part of the sword tang peened in the centre of the pommel, whereas a cap is decorative and fits over the true pommel and is fixed at its ends to the top of the upper guard of the hilt. 2 This possibility is discussed fully in Mortimer and Bunker 2019. Some of the finds listed here are from disturbed burials. Most are not, it seems. 3 The PAS website can be found here: https://finds.org.uk/ Finds can be viewed by using the entry number on the PAS website.

finds.org.uk

"This paper consists of two parts. First, Svante Fischer will discuss the question of correlating typology and chronology into typochronology. Second, Jean Soulat will discuss the typology of the Staffordshire pommels and offer a preliminary date for the hoard. The authors are of the opinion that the sword pommels of the Staffordshire date from the early 6th century to the early 8th century. The paper has been financed by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (KVHAA)."

Kľúčové slová: pošva, keltský import, mladšia doba predrímska/raná doba rímska a copper-alloy scabbard with roughly executed open work plate from grave 108 in zemplin, preserved in two pieces. it has a semicircular chape and on the back plate probably was a long rib, going along the whole length, which function was to strengthen. Scabbards of similar construction are known from Bulgaria (Meričleri, Sofia Podueni, maybe Belozem) and the Przeworsk culture (Witaszewice, grave 147/1937). Similar form, but without such long rib represent finds from. Some badly preserved pieces of scabbards from Zaguminki, Lučka and Tuczno could be recognised as possibly specimens of similar type. They are dated to the very beginning of the early Roman Period, are known from Eastern Europe. a special type of metal scabbards decorated with open work plates, originated from celtic tradition and dated to the turn of the 1 st century AD, that is a very end of the phase A3 and beginning of the phase B1 of the Roman Period, were a subject of many analysis and discussion (Böhme. all of them focused mostly on the characteristic ornament: separately mounted plates with open work decoration, made mostly of bronze, rarely silver and exceptionally iron. These ornamental plates were divided into groups and variants based on the differences in details of construction, separate motifs and the way of arranging them. Most of the mentioned above authors distinguished two main groups of these specimens: scabbards decorated with fine elaborated bronze opus interasile and scabbards decorated with simple iron grid pattern. 2 there are also some forms which could not be assigned to any of these groups – honeycomb pattern, or zones of small rectangles (Czarnecka, in print). Most of the studies concerning these specimens focused on decorative plates, the sheaths, on which they were placed, were less important. The scabbards, however, differ in their construction, used material (bronze, iron), form of chapes and suspending loops. decorative plates could have been produced separately, and added later, because they were mounted on various types of scabbards. Most of known specimens, as far as it was possible to establish, are scabbards made of two iron sheets, often with additional bronze sheet in front, and a high, ladder-form chape reaching to circa 2/3 of the whole length. Some of them end in boat-form chape (Fig. 1: 1

Trim Castle, Co. Meath: Excavations 1995-8, by Alan R. Hayden. Dublin, Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Archaeological Monographs Series 6, 2011

2007

Note on an unfinished but elaborately decorated model in lead for a sword-pommel of the late-fifth or early-sixth century, with ornament in Salin's animal Style I, purchased by the British Museum in 1988 from an antiquities dealer.