(Ad)Dressing the Anglo-Saxon body: corporeal meanings and artefacts in early England (original) (raw)

2014, Blinkhorn, P and Cumberbatch C. (eds.) 2014. The Chiming of Crack’d Bells: Recent Approaches to the Study of Artefacts in Archaeology. British Archaeological Reports (International Series) 2677). Oxford: Archaeopress.

Abstract

Early Anglo-Saxon dress, particularly that of women, could be an elaborate affair, often comprising several layers of undergarments, dresses, cloaks, mantles and headdresses, all held in place with elaborate brooches, girdles and belts, complemented by various pendants, purses and other accessories, and festooned with strings of beads. For all the many typological, chronological and technical studies of Anglo-Saxon dress objects, there has been almost no work looking at their use in structuring perceptions of feminine and masculine bodies. In this paper, I consider how different styles of dress current in the fifth and sixth centuries AD created different bodies, and how these manners of dressing guided movement, posture, gesture as well as emphasised different anatomical aspects of the male and female bodies differentiated by age and perhaps even ethnic identity. The core idea of this paper is that by bringing the body into the framework of artefactual analysis, we gain a more holistic comprehension of how objects and people work together to create identity.

Figures (5)

Fic 1. ANGLO-SAXON FEMININE GARMENTS. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: PEPLOS, SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAK, DUAL-FASTENED CLOAK. DRAWING BY LYNNE MARTIN

Fic 1. ANGLO-SAXON FEMININE GARMENTS. FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: PEPLOS, SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAK, DUAL-FASTENED CLOAK. DRAWING BY LYNNE MARTIN

Fic 2. THE MAIN TYPES OF EARLY ANGLO-SAXON BROOCH. (A) GREAT SQUARE-HEADED BROOCH FROM LAKENHEATH, SUFFOLK. (B) CRUCIFORM BROOCH FROM WEST STOW, SUFFOLK. (C) SMALL LONG BROOCH FROM GREAT CHESTERFORD, ESSEX. (D) SAUCER BROOCH FROM WELFORD, BERKSHIRE (PAS FIND NUMBER BERK-A6EC93). (E) BUTTON BROOCH FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT (PAS FIND NUMBER IOW-FOC2AS). (F) Disc BROOCH FROM BUTLER’S FIELD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. (G) ANNULAR BROOCH FROM EMPINGHAM IT, RUTLAND. (H) PENANNULAR BROOCH FROM BROUGHTON LopGe, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. ALL DRAWINGS BY T. F. MARTIN.

Fic 2. THE MAIN TYPES OF EARLY ANGLO-SAXON BROOCH. (A) GREAT SQUARE-HEADED BROOCH FROM LAKENHEATH, SUFFOLK. (B) CRUCIFORM BROOCH FROM WEST STOW, SUFFOLK. (C) SMALL LONG BROOCH FROM GREAT CHESTERFORD, ESSEX. (D) SAUCER BROOCH FROM WELFORD, BERKSHIRE (PAS FIND NUMBER BERK-A6EC93). (E) BUTTON BROOCH FROM THE ISLE OF WIGHT (PAS FIND NUMBER IOW-FOC2AS). (F) Disc BROOCH FROM BUTLER’S FIELD, GLOUCESTERSHIRE. (G) ANNULAR BROOCH FROM EMPINGHAM IT, RUTLAND. (H) PENANNULAR BROOCH FROM BROUGHTON LopGe, NOTTINGHAMSHIRE. ALL DRAWINGS BY T. F. MARTIN.

Fic 3. Earty ANGLO-SAXON FEMININE BODY LOCATIONS HIGHLIGHTED BY JEWELLERY. (A) PEPLOS FASTENERS AND WRIST-CLASPS. (B) SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAK AND WRIST-CLASPS. (C) DUAL-FASTENED CLOAK AND WRIST-CLASPS. DRAWING BY T. F. MARTIN.

Fic 3. Earty ANGLO-SAXON FEMININE BODY LOCATIONS HIGHLIGHTED BY JEWELLERY. (A) PEPLOS FASTENERS AND WRIST-CLASPS. (B) SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAK AND WRIST-CLASPS. (C) DUAL-FASTENED CLOAK AND WRIST-CLASPS. DRAWING BY T. F. MARTIN.

Fic 4. RATES OF DIRECTIONAL BROOCH USE AMONG 54 WOMEN WEARING SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAKS DRAWN FROM THE FOLLOWING CEMETERIES: MorNING THORPE (GREEN ET AL 1987), EMPINGHAM II (TimBy 1996), CASTLEDYKE SOUTH (DRINKALL AND FOREMAN 1998), SewerBy (Hirst 1985), BERGH APTON (GREEN AND ROGERSON 1978), GREAT CHESTERFORD (EVISON 1994), FINGLESHAM (HAWKES AND GRAINGER 2006) AND WESTGARTH GARDENS (WEST 1988).

Fic 4. RATES OF DIRECTIONAL BROOCH USE AMONG 54 WOMEN WEARING SINGLE-FASTENED CLOAKS DRAWN FROM THE FOLLOWING CEMETERIES: MorNING THORPE (GREEN ET AL 1987), EMPINGHAM II (TimBy 1996), CASTLEDYKE SOUTH (DRINKALL AND FOREMAN 1998), SewerBy (Hirst 1985), BERGH APTON (GREEN AND ROGERSON 1978), GREAT CHESTERFORD (EVISON 1994), FINGLESHAM (HAWKES AND GRAINGER 2006) AND WESTGARTH GARDENS (WEST 1988).

Ficure 5. A SET OF THREE SPANGLES ON A DRESS PIN FROM CARLTON Scroop, LINCOLNSHIRE (LCNGR:1995.3509). PHoTo By T. F. MartIN, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM LINCOLN COLLECTION.

Ficure 5. A SET OF THREE SPANGLES ON A DRESS PIN FROM CARLTON Scroop, LINCOLNSHIRE (LCNGR:1995.3509). PHoTo By T. F. MartIN, REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION FROM LINCOLN COLLECTION.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

References (74)

  1. Ad)dressing the Anglo-sAxon Body: CorporeAl MeAnings And ArtefACts in eArly englAnd Bibliography
  2. Barrett, J.C. 1988. 'Fields of discourse: reconstructing a social archaeology'. Critique of Anthropology, 7(3), 5-16.
  3. Bayley, J. and Butcher, S. 2004. Roman Brooches in Britain: A Technological and Typological Study Based on the Richborough Collection. Society of Antiquaries of London: Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London 68.
  4. Brundle, L. 2013 (in press). 'The body on display: exploring the role and use of figurines in early Anglo- Saxon England'. Journal of Social Archaeology.
  5. Brunning, S. 2013. The "Living" Sword in Early Medieval Northern Europe: An Interdisciplinary Study. PhD thesis, University College London.
  6. Butler, J. 1990. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge.
  7. Butler, J. 1993. Bodies that Matter: On the Discursive Limits of 'Sex'. Routledge.
  8. Clarke, G. 1979. Pre-Roman and Roman Winchester, Part II: The Roman Cemetery at Lankhills. Clarendon Press.
  9. Crawford, S. 1993. 'Children, death and the afterlife in Anglo-Saxon England' Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 6, 83-91.
  10. Cunningham, C.E. 1973. 'Order in the Antoni house' in Needham, R. (ed.) Right and Left: Essays on Dual Symbolic Classification, 204-238. University of Chicago Press.
  11. Curta, F. 2007. 'Some remarks on ethnicity in medieval archaeology' Early Medieval Europe 15(2), 159-185.
  12. Dickinson, T.M. 2004. 'An early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Quarrington, near Sleaford, Lincolnshire: report on excavations, 2000-2001' Lincolnshire History and Archaeology 39, 24-45.
  13. Dickinson, T.M. and Härke, H. 1992. 'Early Anglo-Saxon shields' Archaeologia, 110, 1-94.
  14. Douglas, M. 1970. Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo. Penguin Books.
  15. Douglas, M. 2003. Natural Symbols: Explorations in Cosmology (reprint of 2nd edition). Routledge.
  16. Drinkall, G. and Foreman, M. 1998. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Castledyke South, Barton-on-Humber.
  17. Sheffield Academic Press: Sheffield Excavation Reports 6.
  18. Evison, V.I. 1994. An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Great Chesterford, Essex. Council for British Archaeology: CBA Research Report 91.
  19. Felder, K. forthcoming. A Key to Early Anglo-Saxon Identities? Girdle-hangers in 5th and 6th Century England. DPhil thesis, University of Cambridge.
  20. Fisher, G. and Loren, D.D. 2003. 'Introduction to special section Embodying Identity in Archaeology', Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 13(2), 225-30.
  21. Gilchrist, R. 1997. 'Ambivalent bodies: gender and medieval archaeology' in Moore, J. and Scott, E. (eds.) Invisible People and Processes: Writing Gender and Childhood into European Archaeology, 42-58. Leicester University Press.
  22. Gilchrist, R. 2000. 'Unsexing the body: the interior sexuality of religious medieval women' in Schmidt, R.A. and Voss, B.L. (eds.) Archaeologies of Sexuality, 89-103. Routledge.
  23. Green, B. and Rogerson, A. 1978. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Bergh Apton, Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeological Unit: East Anglian Archaeology Research Report 7.
  24. Green, B., Rogerson, A. and White, S.G. 1987. The Anglo- Saxon Cemetery at Morning Thorpe, Norfolk. Norfolk Archaeological Unit: East Anglian Archaeology Research Report 36.
  25. Hamilakis, Y., Pluciennik, M. and Tarlow, S. 2002. 'Introduction', in Hamilakis, Y., Pluciennik, M. and Tarlow, S. (eds.) Thinking Through the Body: Archaeologies of Corporeality, 1-21. Kluwer/Plenum.
  26. Härke, H. 1990. '"Warrior graves"? The background of the Anglo-Saxon weapon burial rite', Past and Present 126, 22-43.
  27. Haseloff, G., 1981. Die Germanischen Tierornamentik der Völkerwanderungszeit. Studien zur Salin's Styl I. De Gruyter: Vorgeschichtliche Forschungen 17.
  28. Hawkes, S.C. and Grainger, G. 2006. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Finglesham, Kent. Oxford Institute of Arcaeology: Oxford University School of Archaeology Monograph 64.
  29. Hedeager, L. 2011. Iron Age Myth and Materiality. Routledge.
  30. Henderson, J. 1989. 'Pagan Saxon cemeteries: a study of the problems of sexing by grave goods and bones' in Roberts, C.A., Lee, F. and Bintliff, J. (eds.) Burial Archaeology. Current Research, Methods and Developments, 77-83. British Archaeological Reports (British Series) 211.
  31. Hertz, R. 1973. 'The pre-eminence of the right hand: a study in religious polarity' in Needham, R. (ed.) Right and Left: Essays on Dual Symbolic Classification, 3-31. University of Chicago Press.
  32. Hines, J. 1997. A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches. Boydell Press.
  33. Hirst, S. 1985. An Anglo-Saxon Saxon Inhumation Cemetery at Sewerby East Yorkshire. Department of Archaeology, University of York: York University Archaeological Publications 4.
  34. Janes, D. 1996. 'The golden clasp of the Late Roman state' Early Medieval Europe 6(2), 127-153.
  35. Joyce, R.A. 2005. 'Archaeology of the body' Annual Review of Anthropology 34, 139-158.
  36. Kershaw, J. 2013. Viking Identities: Scandinavian Jewellery in England. Oxford University Press.
  37. King, J.M. 2004. 'Grave goods as gifts in early Saxon burials (ca. AD 450-600)' Journal of Social Archaeology 4, 214-238.
  38. Knüsel, C. and Ripley, K. 2000. 'The berdache, or man- woman in Anglo-Saxon England and early medieval Europe' in Frazer, W.O. and Tyrell, A. (eds.) Social Identity in Early Medieval Britain, 157-191. Leicester University Press.
  39. T. F. MarTin
  40. Leeds, E.T. 1912. 'The distribution of the Anglo-Saxon saucer brooch in relation to the Battle of Bedford' Archaeologia 63, 159-202.
  41. Leeds, E.T. 1945. 'The distribution of the Angles and Saxons archaeologically considered' Archaeologica 91, 1-105.
  42. Lucy, S.J. 1998. The Early Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of East Yorkshire: An Analysis and Re-Interpretation. British Archaeological Reports (British Series) 272.
  43. Lucy, S. and Reynolds, A. 2002. 'Burial in early medieval England and Wales: past, present and future' in Lucy, S. and Reynolds, A. (eds.) Burial in Early Medieval England and Wales, 1-23. Society for Medieval Archaeology: SMA Monograph Series 17.
  44. Martin, T.F. 2011. Identity and the Cruciform Brooch in Early Anglo-Saxon England: An Investigation of Style, Mortuary Context, and Use. PhD thesis, University of Sheffield, http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/2369 (accessed 8/2/2013).
  45. Martin, T.F. 2012. 'Riveting biographies: the theoretical implications of early Anglo-Saxon brooch repair, customisation and use-adaptation' in Jervis, B. and Kyle, A. (eds.) Make-do and Mend: Archaeologies of Compromise, Repair and Re-Use, 53-65. British Archaeological Reports (International Series) 2408.
  46. Martin, T.F. 2013. 'Women, knowledge and power: the iconography of early Anglo-Saxon cruciform brooches' Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 18, 1-17.
  47. Mathews, S. 2005. 'The materiality of gesture: Intimacy, emotion and technique in the archaeological study of bodily communication'. Published online by 'Semioticon: the Open Semiotics Resource Centre', http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/archaeology/ materiality.pdf (accessed 8/2/2013).
  48. Mauss, M. 1973. 'Techniques of the body' Economy and Society 2, 70-88.
  49. Meskell, L. 1996. 'The somatization of archaeology: institutions, discourses, corporeality' Norwegian Archaeological Review 29(1), 1-16.
  50. Meskell, L. 2000. 'Writing the body in archaeology' in Rautman, A.E. (ed.) Reading the Body: Representations and Remains in the Archaeological Record, 13-21. University of Pennsylvania Press.
  51. Moreland, J. 2001. Archaeology and Text. Duckworth.
  52. Moreland, J., 2010. Archaeology, Theory and the Middle Ages. Duckworth.
  53. Myres, J.N.L. 1969. Anglo-Saxon Pottery and the Settlement of England. Clarendon Press.
  54. Nordbladh, J. and Yates, T. 1990 'This perfect body, this virgin text: between sex and gender in archaeology' in Bapty, I. and Yates, T. (eds.) Archaeology After Structuralism, 222-237. Routledge.
  55. Owen-Crocker, G. 2004. Dress in Anglo-Saxon England: Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boydell Press.
  56. Pader, E.-J. 1982. Symbolism, Social Relations and the Interpretation of Mortuary Remains. British Archaeological Reports (International Series) 130.
  57. Perry, E.M. and Joyce, R.A. 2001. 'Providing a past for "Bodies That Matter": Judith Butler's impact on the archaeology of gender' International Journal of Sexuality and Gender Studies 6(1/2), 63-76.
  58. Pohl, W. 2002. 'Ethnicity, theory and tradition: a response' in Gillett, A. (ed.) On Barbarian Identity: Critical Approaches to Ethnicity in the Early Middle Ages, 221-239. Brepols.
  59. Ravn, M. 2003. Death Ritual and Germanic Social Structure (c. AD 200-600). British Archaeological Reports (International Series) 1164.
  60. Reiter, R.R. 1975. 'Men and women in the south of France: public and private domains' in Reiter, R.R. (ed.) Toward an Anthropology of Women, 252-282. Monthly Review Press.
  61. Rissman, P. 1988. 'Public displays and private values: a guide to buried wealth in Harappan archaeology' World Archaeology 20, 209-228.
  62. Rosaldo, M.Z. 1974. 'Woman, culture, and society: a theoretical overview' in Rosaldo, M.Z. and Lamphere, L. (eds.) Woman, Culture and Society, 17-42. Stanford University Press.
  63. Salin, B., 1904. Die Altgermanische Thierornamentik. Wahström and Widstrand.
  64. Sherlock, S.J. and Welch, M. 1992. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Norton, Cleveland. Council for British Archaeology: CBA Research Report 82.
  65. Stoodley, N. 1999. The Spindle and the Spear: A Critical Enquiry into the Construction and Meaning of Gender in the Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Rite. British Archaeology Reports (British Series) 288.
  66. Strathern, M. 1980. 'No nature, no culture: the Hagen case' in MacCormack, C. and Strathern, M. (eds.) Nature, Culture and Gender, 174-222. Cambridge University Press.
  67. Suzuki, S. 2008. Anglo-Saxon Button Brooches. Typology, Geneaology, Chronology. Boydell Press.
  68. Timby, J.R. 1996. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Empingham II, Rutland. Oxbow.
  69. Turner, T.S. 1980. 'The social skin', in Cherfas, J. and Lewin, R. (eds.) Not Work Alone: A Cross-Cultural View of Activities Superfluous to Survival, 112-140.
  70. Sage. Walton Rogers, P. 2007. Cloth and Clothing in Anglo- Saxon England AD 450-700. Council for British Archaeology: CBA Research Report 145.
  71. Watt, M. 1999. 'Kings or gods? Iconographic evidence from Scandinavia gold foil figures' Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 10, 173-183.
  72. Weetch, R. forthcoming. A cultural biography of brooch use in England and Northwest Europe, AD 700-1100. PhD thesis, University of Reading.
  73. West, S.E. 1988. Westgarth Gardens Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Suffolk: Catalogue. Suffolk County Planning Department: East Anglian Archaeology Research Report 38.
  74. Yates, T. 1994. 'Frameworks for an archaeology of the body' in Tilley, C. (ed.) Interpretative Archaeology, 31-72. Berg.