Transformations of Identity and Society in Anglo-Saxon Essex: A Case Study of an Early Medieval North Atlantic Community presents the results of a comprehensive archaeological study of early medieval Essex (c.AD 400-1066). This region provides an important case study for examining coastal societies of north-western Europe.Drawing on a wealth of new data, the author demonstrates the profound influence of maritime contacts on changing expressions of cultural affiliation. It is argued that this Continental orientation reflects Essex’s longterm engagement with the emergent, dynamic North Sea network. The wide chronological focus and inclusive dataset enables long-term socio-economic continuity and transformation to be revealed. These include major new insights into the construction of group identity in Essex between the 5th and 11th centuries and the identification of several previously unknown sites of exchange. The presentation also includes the first full archaeological study of Essex under ‘Viking’ rule.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Abbreviations
- 1. Introduction
- Topographical background of the Essex region
- The research context
- Group identity
- Trade, exchange, and networks
- Social complexity
- Previous literature on Anglo-Saxon Essex/previous work in the region
- Sources of evidence
- Dress accessories
- Pottery
- Coinage
- The quality of the evidence and limits of inference from excavated and unstratified data
- How this book is structured
- The major themes and findings
- 2. c.400-c.650
- Dress accessories, c.400-c.650
- Dress and identity in the fifth century
- Dress and identity in the early fifth century
- Late Roman military belt fittings
- Fifth-century continental imported brooches
- Dress accessories with Quoit Brooch Style decoration
- Roman fashion
- Patterns of dress and fashion, c.450-600
- Beads
- Metal dress accessories, c.450-c.600
- ‘Saxon’ dress among the ‘East Saxons’
- ‘Anglian’ dress
- Other influences on regional fashion
- Changes in costume, c.600-50: Kentish affiliation and the ‘Final Phase’
- Conclusions
- A new picture of early medieval dress use in Essex
- Coinage use in fifth- and sixth-century Anglo-Saxon Essex
- The earliest evidence of coinage use
- Byzantine coins
- Reuse of Roman coins
- Coinage in Essex, c.500-c.675
- Tremisses and solidi
- Shillings
- Conclusions
- Pottery use in fifth- and sixth-century Essex
- Handmade local pottery
- Fabric, chronology, and distribution
- Form
- Origins
- Imported French pottery
- Summary
- Discussion
- Dress and identity in Essex, c.400-600
- Results from the study of early dress in Essex
- The wider context of the construction of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ costume in the formation of Anglo-Saxon society in Essex
- A middle-way interpretation
- Early exchange systems evidenced by the use of material culture, c.400-600
- Fifth- to mid-seventh-century coastal exchange
- Early exchange and the expression of elite status
- Summary
- 3. c.650-c.800
- Coinage c.650-c.800
- Silver deniers
- English pale-gold coinage
- Coinage in Essex, c.675-c.760
- Primary- and intermediate-phase sceattas, c.675-c.710
- Secondary-phase sceattas, c.710-c.760
- Coinage from Essex
- Coinage from Kent
- Series A
- Series C
- Kentish secondary-phase sceattas
- Coinage from London
- East Anglian coinage
- Mercian coinage
- Northumbrian coinage
- West Saxon coinage
- Continental sceattas
- Frisian
- Danish
- ?French (Quentovic)
- Coinage in Essex, c.760-c.850
- Northumbrian stycas
- English broad-flan pennies
- Mercian coinage: Offa
- Conclusions
- Pottery
- The local-pottery background
- Imported pottery
- Ipswich ware
- Rhenish wares
- French wares
- Conclusions
- Dress accessories, c.650-c.800
- Dress and the reflection of maritime identities
- Conclusions
- Discussion
- The end of regional styles and its implications
- An alternative explanation
- Contemporary landing places and sites of exchange in Essex
- Tilbury
- Barking
- North-west Essex
- Lashley Wood/Green
- Canvey Island/Benfleet Creek
- ?Goldhanger Creek
- Great Bromley
- Bradwell
- Fingringhoe
- Little Oakley, Great Oakley, and the Harwich area
- Summary and conclusions
- The expansion of the coastal network in the seventh and eighth centuries
- The evidence and conclusions from the present study
- Exchange hubs and the relationship between town and country
- Conclusions
- 4. c.800-1066
- Dress in Essex, c.800-1066
- Disc brooches (ninth to eleventh centuries)
- Strap-ends and the adoption of new art styles (ninth to eleventh centuries)
- Lobed disc brooches (eleventh century)
- Scandinavian cultural affiliations
- The first phase of Scandinavian rule, c.877-917
- The second phase of Scandinavian rule, c.1016-42
- Summary
- Coinage c.800-1066
- Coinage c.800-50
- Mercian coinage after Offa, 796-c.850
- West Saxon coinage, c.800-50
- Coinage in Essex, c.850-973
- West Saxon and Danelaw coinage, c.850-c.920
- Coinage in Essex, c.920-73
- Coinage in Essex, c.973-1066
- Summary
- Pottery, c.800-1066
- Earliest imported wares: French wares
- Pottery in Essex, c.850-c.1050
- Local pottery
- Imported pottery
- Thetford ware
- St. Neots ware
- Stamford ware
- Rhenish pottery
- Wares from Flanders/Belgium
- Summary
- Discussion
- The development of a ninth-/tenth-century cosmopolitan culture
- Scandinavian cultural affiliations and practice, c.850-1040
- Phase 1: c.850-917
- Votive deposits
- Viking camps
- Summary, c.850-917
- Phase 2: c.1000-42
- The Viking impact on long-distance trade networks in Essex
- The fate of smaller landing places/sites of exchange
- The development of towns and the urban-rural relationship (ninth to mid-eleventh centuries)
- The Viking impact
- Urban development in Essex
- London-Essex relationship
- Summary
- 5. Summary and conclusions
- The results from dress-accessory data
- Chapter 2 (c.400-c.650)
- Chapter 3 (c.650-c.800)
- Chapter 4 (c.800-c.1066)
- The results from the pottery study
- Chapter 2 (c.400-c.650)
- Chapter 3 (c.650-c.800)
- Chapter 4 (c.800-1066)
- The results from numismatic data
- Chapter 2 (c.400-c.650)
- Chapter 3 (c.650-c.800)
- Chapter 4 (c.800-1066)
- Thematic conclusions in the light of all of the available evidence
- Group affiliation
- The structure and operation of long-distance exchange networks in Essex
- The role of elites in the transformation of Essex
- Appendix: Maps
- Bibliography
- Index
- List of graphs and maps
- Graphs
- Graph 1 Dress accessories by frequency and context (minimum ten finds)
- Graph 2 The frequencies of dress accessories in north-western, central, and south-eastern Essex
- Graph 3 Compositional graph of the coin finds from the ‘productive site’ at Tilbury
- Graph 4 The chronological distribution of the coinage from Barking
- Graph 5 The chronological distribution of the coinage found at ‘north-west Essex’
- Graph 6 Compositional chart of the coinage from ‘north-west Essex’
- Graph 7 Compositional chart of the coinage from Lashley Wood/Lashley Green
- Graph 8 The chronological distribution of the coinage found at Lashley Wood/Green
- Graph 9 Compositional chart of the coinage from Canvey Island and Benfleet Creek
- Graph 10 Chronological distribution chart of finds from Canvey Island/Benfleet Creek
- Graph 11 Chronological distribution of the coinage from the Bromley area
- Graph 12 Compositional chart of the coinage from Great and Little Bromley
- Graph 13 Chronological distribution of coins from Bradwell
- Graph 14 Compositional chart of coins found at Bradwell
- Graph 15 Chronological distribution chart of coinage from Fingringhoe
- Graph 16 Compositional chart of Fingringhoe coinage
- Graph 17 Compositional graph of coinage found in the City of London
- Graph 18 Chronological distribution of coin finds from non-urban sites of exchange
- Maps
- Map 1 Map of the study region and key sites
- Map 2 Late Roman military belt fittings
- Map 3 Supporting-arm brooches
- Map 4 Penannular brooches
- Map 5 Saucer brooches
- Map 6 Button brooches
- Map 7 Disc brooches
- Map 8 Small-long brooches
- Map 9 Cruciform brooches
- Map 10 Annular brooches
- Map 11 Wrist-clasps
- Map 12 Girdle-hangers
- Map 13 Radiate-headed brooches
- Map 14 ‘Anglian’ and ‘Saxon’ dress accessories
- Map 15 Sixth- to early seventh-century Byzantine coinage
- Map 16 Late sixth- to late seventh-century Merovingian gold coinage
- Map 17 Merovingian deniers
- Map 18 Series B
- Map 19 Series S
- Map 20 Series A and C
- Map 21 London sceattas (Series L, O/-4, K/-11, K/32a, K-24/-26, and N)
- Map 22 East Anglian sceattas (Series Z, Q, R, BII, ‘VERNVS’, and ‘SAROALDO’)
- Map 23 Series F
- Map 24 ‘Monitascorum’ sceattas
- Map 25 Series U/23b
- Map 26 Series J
- Map 27 Series E
- Map 28 Series D
- Map 29 Series G
- Map 30 Northumbrian stycas
- Map 31 Pennies minted under the authority of Offa
- Map 32 Pennies of Egbert (782-72) and Æthelwulf (795110)
- Map 33 St. Edmund memorial pennies
- Map 34 English coinage, 9291,110
- Map 35 Grass-tempered pottery
- Map 36 Local sand-tempered pottery
- Map 37 Ipswich ware
- Map 38 Early Merovingian wheel-thrown black ware
- Map 39 Shell-tempered pottery
- Map 40 Thetford ware
- Map 41 St. Neots ware
- Map 42 Pingsdorf ware
- Map 43 Map showing the white transect line, used to examine intraregional variation
- Map 44 Cumulative Scandinavian evidence from Essex, c.756-c.876
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