The Manufacture and Meaning of Early Medieval Pewter

Principal investigator: Liam
Level: PhD level research

Research Proposal The Manufacture and Meaning of Early Medieval Pewter

The history of pewter, a tin alloy, stretches from the Egyptian New Kingdom to the modern day. With tin and lead found in abundant quantities in the British Isles, pewter was second only to cloth among English exports in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. As such it formed a major constituent to the development of British industry and trade. Although some scholarly attention has focused on Romano-British pewter from such finds as the Appleshaw and Icklingham hoards, and later medieval and early modern pewter objects such as those from the Mary Rose, little attention has been paid to pewter material from the Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Scandinavian periods. Ignored in favour of gold and silver jewellery, if mentioned at all, pewter objects have been dismissed as cheap trinkets, mere imitations of silver counterparts (Wilson 1964). This study seeks to fill this lacuna from both a material and stylistic approach. By examining pewter articles of dress from the early medieval period through both material and stylistic approaches, we hope to understand the technical choices and cultural preferences of both the producers and consumers of these objects, placing them within their cultural context at a time of dynamic social and political change. We also hope to better understand the development of pewter itself by bridging the gap between the Roman world and later production regulated by medieval guilds. Although collections have been identified in the Museum of London, the Yorkshire Museum, and the National Museum, Dublin, recently a significant amount of relevent material has appeared on the database of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. This new material promises to not only change our conception of the consumption and distribution of early medieval pewter dress accessories, but also illustrates the importance of PAS developments in current archaeological research.

The first approach seeks to characterise the alloys used to produce early medieval brooches and beads. As shown by previous studies (Brownsword and Pitt 1983; Pollard 1983; Pollard 1985; Lagen 2007), data from semi-quantitative analyses should suffice to allow us to differentiate discrete workshops using specific alloys, ascertain whether alloy compositions correlate to object type or to workshop preference, and assess the incidence of recycling in early medieval pewter - a practice well documented in the historical period. Whether or not fresh tin was being exploited at this time is still a debated topic as there is little archaeological or historical evidence to give a satisfactory response. A narrow band of compositional ranges would indicate the use primary tin, whereas a broad scatter would suggest a high level of recycling. The identification of workshops, especially when compared to known production sites and moulds in London, Southampton, Ipswich, York, and Dublin, will allow us to identify the extent of Anglo-Saxon trade in this material and highlight regional variability. Already it is known that at least one disc brooch, now in the Museum of London and found in the capital, has a mould match with an example found in Dublin and now in the National Museum (Clark 1989; Murdoch 1991).

Compositional analyses will also allow us to develop a diachronic understanding of pewter as a material. The compositions of these early medieval objects will be compared to Roman and later Guild-regulated recipes. These recipes are known from Classical writers such as Pliny, and later in Theophilus and the Mappae Clavicula in the 12th century, and also from Guild ordinances beginning in the 14th century. In addition to these historic sources, we shall also compare this data to previous scientific analytical work on archaeological material. This will facilitate a fuller understanding in the development of pewter from its first commercial appearance in the Roman world through its heyday in Medieval Europe, filling the current lacuna of some seven hundred years. In the interests of conservation and in respect to the aesthetic appeal of these objects, we suggest the use of portable non-destructive X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). XRF has an established history in the analysis of pewter objects (Brownsword and Pitt 1983; Pollard 1983; Pollard 1985), and our own previous studies (Lagen 2007) reassured us of its suitability for our research questions. Details of our proposed methodology are given below.

The second approach in this project, the stylistic analysis of early medieval pewter, will allow us to develop both a typological chronology of this corpus of material as well as place it in its cultural context. As articles of dress, these objects carried visible codes of belief, class, and ethnicity. It has been argued that these objects imitate counterparts in elite materials, especially silver and gold (Wilson 1964; Hinton 2005). This would suggest a non-elite population aping the styles of the cultural elite. Based on a review of the iconography of Anglo-Saxon jewellery, however, this seems not to be the case, as these objects, especially the brooches, have a range of styles unique to themselves that do not match the known silver jewellery types, although Scandinavian parallels may be occasionally found. If pewter may be indeed taken to be a cheap counterpart to more elite metals, do these objects have stylistic ties with motifs found on other non-elite, quotidian goods such as pottery or antler combs? If so, this may show that rather than imitating the material of the elites, local Anglo-Saxons or Anglo-Scandinavians may have developed a unique non-elite aesthetic. If not, what social dynamics do these objects illustrate?

By combining both the compositional and stylistic analyses, we will gain a better understanding of the producers and consumers of early medieval pewter. Not only may we address patterns of consumption between different economic classes, but we may confront issues of religion and ethnicity as well. Politically and culturally, this period was one of dynamic flux as Scandinavians and the Anglo-Saxons vied for superiority. The nature of this interaction was not at all times bellicose, as the regional art styles of each sphere developed elements of cultural syncretism (Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1980; Wilson 1984; Hadley and Richards 2000). By understanding their motifs, production, and distribution, these objects will ultimately shed further light on the economic, social, and political interaction between Anglo-Saxon, Scandinavian, and Anglo-Scandinavian cultural spheres.

We propose to employ non-destructive pXRF as the main analytical technique to obtain semi-quantitative data on the chemical composition of the pewter objects. In a pilot study of the Cheapside hoard (Museum of London) by the proposed analyst (Lagen 2007), the use of this technique on unprepared pewter objects sufficed to make compositional groups with statistical and archaeological significance, based on Pb/Sn ratios and the concentrations of minor elements such as copper and bismuth.

Although we are aware of the problems of using techniques of surface analysis on corroded metals, we are prepared to compromise data quality to preserve the integrity of the objects, and we will only request the localised removal of corrosion layers on the objects if the preliminary analytical data on unprepared specimens appear highly scattered. Tin alloy patinas are typically thin and stable over time, unlike the thicker and more complex corrosion products of bronzes. Thus, if working at relatively high accelerating voltages, the penetration depth of the X-rays seems sufficient to yield acceptable results. In the study of Cheapside hoard, Lagen (2007) compared the results obtained by SEM-EDS at 20 kV to those from ED-XRF at 40 kV. While the EDS values showed a very large scatter, XRF results formed tight compositional clusters and exhibited an excellent degree of reproducibility. Even though the accuracy of these results cannot be assumed to be as good as data from clean surfaces, they are good enough for our primary purposes, i.e. alloy identification and internal comparisons within and between assemblages.

As noted above, the pXRF instrument at the UCL Institute of Archaeology has been calibrated specifically for this study, and we would prefer to use this instrument for all of our analyses to facilitate data comparability. Based on the satisfactory results of previous collaborations, the Museum of London has already agreed to lend relevant collections to UCL for this project, which are currently nearing completion.

The proposed analyses will therefore be completely non-invasive, and they will not compromise object integrity in any way. Given the nature of analyses and other demands on the pXRF instrument, it is expected that all data would be collected within one calendar year.

Select References:

Brownsword, R. and E. Pitt (1983). "A Note on Some Medieval Pewter Spoon Alloys." Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society 17/2: 119. Clark, J. (1989). From Londinium to Lundenwic. Saxon and Norman London. London, Museum of London: 22. Hadley, D. and J. Richards, Eds. (2000). Cultures in Contact: Scandinavian Settlement in England in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries. Studies in the Early Middle Ages, Brepols. Hinton, D. (2005). Gold and Gilt, Pots and Pans: People and Possessions in Medieval Britain. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Lagen (2007). Method, Manufacture, Meaning (Unpublished). Institute of Archaeology. London, University College London. MSc. Murdoch, T., Ed. (1991). Treasures and Trinkets. London, Museum of London. Pollard, M. (1983). "X-Ray Flourescence Analysis of the Appleford Hoard of Romano-British Pewter." Journal of the Historical Metallurgy Society 17/2: 83-90. Pollard, M. (1985). Investigation of Lead Objects Using XRF. Lead and Tin Studies in Conservation and Technology. UKIC Occasional Paper Number 3. K. Starling. Wilson, D. (1964). Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700-1100 in the British Museum. London, The British Museum. Wilson, D. (1984). Anglo-Saxon Art. London, Thames and Hudson. Wilson, D. and O. Klindt-Jensen (1980). Viking Art. London, Allen and Unwin.

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• Created: 14 years ago
• Created by: D P
• Updated: 14 years ago
• Updated by: D P