Early medieval stone sculpture

This article explores a meshwork of citations to other material cultures and architectures created by the form and ornament of house-shaped early medieval recumbent stone monuments popularly known in Britain as 'hogbacks'. In addition to citing the form and ornament of contemporary buildings, shrines, and tombs, this article suggests recumbent mortuary monuments referenced a far broader range of contemporary portable artefacts and architectures. The approach takes attention away from identifying any single source of origin for hogbacks. Instead, considering multi-scalar and multi-media references within the form and ornament of different carved stones provides the basis for revisiting their inherent variability and their commemorative efficacy by creating the sense of an inhabited mortuary space in which the dead are in dialogue with the living. By alluding to an entangled material world spanning Norse and Insular, ecclesiastical and secular spheres, hogbacks were versatile technologies of mortuary remembrance in the Viking Age.

During the excavations conducted at Comacchio from 2006 to 2009 in the area adjacent to the cathedral of St Cassiano, researchers found and identified a large quantity of stone artifacts which were subsequently analyzed. The artifacts were all subjected to examination in relation to the area and layers from which they came, without making any distinction favoring one particular typology or function and, on the contrary, included all the chips which could be identified as having a particular function and all the stone fragments which had not been identified with certainty but, in any case, could be interpreted as being part of architectural elements (graph. 1). This method made it possible to evaluate different aspects that were part of the archeological interpretation which was meant to be all-inclusive, from the manufacturing cycles to the dynamics of use, plundering and recycling, displacement, secondary reuse, and others, all of which were passages that were part of the normal activity of the construction sites.

The contexts. Discovery, reuse, provenance
Most of the stone artifacts were found in USM 1438, the eastern perimeter wall of a building which was interpreted as being the Bishop’s Palace and to which a chronology of the 11th-12th century was assigned. (Period 4, Phase 3). The number of artifacts (132) in this case corresponds to 87,41% of the total of all the stone objects found. The artifacts represented a heterogeneous group of materials, mostly fragmentary but in some cases large objects which had been in the foundations in association with bricks which had also been recycled and showing an abundant use of construction mortar. The dimensions of the stone flakes and the elements used in the foundations were of dimensions (cm 80/95) such as to determine an irregular width in some cases double that of the wall. A small quantity of stone artifacts also of a different typology, were found in other contexts (tab. 1). In area 1000, which corresponds to the facade of the cathedral of St Cassiano they found stone artifacts in US 1027 (Period 2, Phase 2, Activity 1); US 1059 (Period 5, Phase 1); US 1074 (Period 3, Phase 1); US 1097 and US 1098 (Period 5, Phase 2). The context of discovery and reuse for most of the artifacts was the same (figs. 2-3-4), however the area in which also the remaining artifacts have been or could have been transferred several times is unique and, on the contrary the context of provenance is diversified and multiple.

The artifacts. Functional identity and production aspects
Late Antique furnishings and architectural elements. This material comes from buildings or phases dated to Late Antiquity. In particular, the breakdown is valid for the fragments (cat. n. 39, n. 40) decorated using a drill, with visible traces pertaining to one or more capitals of a particular typology with acanthus leaves moving in the wind of the “butterfly” type on the rim and an egg-and-dart motif on the abacus (tav. 1), from the period of Theodoric, with an eastern provenance and used in buildings in Ravenna. There are also other fragments from architectural elements (tab. 2) of the same period which can be identified as being part of composite or impost capitals where traces of production that are still visible suggest their identification (cat. n. 38, nn. 42-44). These materials were probably part of a group of fragments from cornices and lintels as well as a number of fragmentary elements for which the demolition activity and recycling have made it impossible to identify with certainty their original function (cat. nn. 104-108). The numerous fragments of columns (tab. 3) coming from large sized shafts some of which are made of polychrome marbles and, in some cases, were imported, had originally been used in Late Antiquity (cat. nn. 54-77; cat. nn. 83-99).
Early Medieval liturgical furnishings and architectural elements. These are mostly materials pertaining to elements from liturgical furnishings (cat. nn. 1-35), from the Early Middle Ages and correspond to 23,17% of the artifacts discovered. Despite the fragmentary state of the artifacts which were small and in some cases, very small sized, in most cases we were able to determine or hypothesize the original function: small pillars with or without grooves meant to hold slabs, pluteus-slabs, with tenon; simple slabs; cornices; trabeations; capitals of different sizes (graph. 2). With these artifacts it was possible to make comparisons with analogous materials which had been published or, in any case, were known, which were useful for the definition of the functions and typological characteristics, technical and production solutions and decorative motifs.

Technological aspects (instruments, techniques and assembly)
The analytical review of the visible traces left from the manufacture on the surface of the artifacts (tabs. 8-9-10) allowed us to determine the use of pointed instruments of different sizes with indirect percussion, used for the preliminary execution of the individual components which in this way were rough-hewed (cat. n. 16; cat. n. 26), as was done for the production of the accommodation slits for slabs in pillars (cat. n. 1; cat. n. 3), trabeation grooves (cat. n. 26), as well as for the preliminary positioning of a lintel fragment (cat. n. 22). Visible traces of a direct percussion tool with a flat cutting edge would seem to suggest a stone-cutter’s axe, while a chisel with a smooth cutting edge was probably used to make the traces which were found also on the artifacts from Comacchio. A tool with a small-sized flat cutting edge was used to make the double-grooved bands, with the triangular section groove made by slanting the instrument with respect to the working surface, as is evident in some of the elements. In a few cases we were able to identify a small cutting tool with a serrated blade which had been used to rectify the surface of some of the slabs (cat. n. 10, blade cm 2-2,5 with at least 4-5 teeth; cat. n. 13).

Appropriation of materials and organization of the construction site
None of the artifacts were found in primary deposits as this rarely occurs for this type of material. On the other hand, in terms of relative chronology, the context offers only the terminus ante quem of the construction of the wall from which most of the artifacts come and the presence of a few artifacts in the leveling layers which pertain to the 10th century.
The presence of fragments to which a particular function cannot be assigned, as well as stone flakes and materials which show no traces of being worked and are reduced to the state of being simple stones, testifies and confirms an activity of demolition and reuse. It is significant that we found all massed together heterogeneous elements from various eras coming from different phases of the same building or from different chronological pha- ses of different buildings. These artifacts were reduced to small fragments by destructive activity as well as by their reuse as construction materials. By making the necessary disaggregations and new aggregations in proceeding with the analysis, this case once again offers the possibility of documenting a common practice which tells us much about the organization of the construction site and the extent of its activity: the materials recovered are rubble. The remnants of materials used for the production of mortars associated with plaster (fig. 7), stone flakes and other materials like bricks which were also produced by anthropic activity and reused on construction sites (fig. 8), also contribute to the definition of the organization of the site.
The reuse of Early Medieval decorative elements together with structural and architectural components from an earlier era has been noted in other cases. We can also cite examples in which a selection has been made of the materials, choosing some of them to be displayed in a recognizable way as a “memory” of a preceding era, while others which were part of the same structure or furnishings, were set aside for use in the construction site, as residue from the production of mortar or components of walls. At Comacchio these materials became rubble because they were probably the remains from baking, presumably in a lime kiln, considering the evident exposure to a source of heat (fig. 9), or else they had been deliberately crushed and broken. These materials in some case continued to circulate and be recycled in the various constructions which took place in the area from the Medieval phase to the Modern Era (fig. 10).

The recent arrival of a growing body of freely available photogrammetric 3D models of early medieval stone sculptures gives educators the opportunity to use a bank of virtual primary sources, either directly as navigable objects or through the medium of film. The research investigates their potential role in schools observing the current national curriculum in England. The curriculum requirements are reviewed, and their implementation investigated through a study of school websites and Ofsted reports in an English shire county. A search is made for online 3d models of suitable stone sculptures, new ones are made where necessary, and the academic literature on the sculptures is reviewed. Lesson plans and resources are created and trialed in three primary schools in a method closely resembling cyclic Lesson Study. The conclusion is that the process has demonstrated the potential for the use of 3D models to serve as the focus of engaging and challenging lessons.

This paper presents a fresh reading of a significant early medieval recumbent stone monument from West Kirby, Merseyside (formerly Cheshire). Rather than being a single-phased hogback, later subject to damage, it is argued that West Kirby 4 might have been carved in successive phases, possibly by different hands. It is suggested that the carvers had different abilities and/or adapted their work in response to the time pressures of a funeral or a shift in the location or function of the stone. While a single explanation for the character of the West Kirby monument remains elusive, the article proposes that, rather than 'clumsy and illogical', the stone was more likely a coherent but experimental, distinctive and asymmetrical, multi-phased and/or multi-authored creation. Through a review of the monument's historiography and a detailed reappraisal of the details and parallels of its form, ornament and material composition, the paper reconsiders the commemorative significance of this recumbent stone monument for the locality, region and understanding of Viking Age sculpture across the British Isles. As a result, West Kirby's importance as an ecclesiastical locale in the Viking Age is reappraised. 'Hogbacks' is an umbrella-term covering a diverse range of recumbent stone monuments broadly dating from the tenth or eleventh centuries AD from northern Britain. 1 These stones feature in many general and popular syntheses of the history and archaeology of Viking Age Britain 2 as well as specialist appraisals of the period's stone sculpture. 3 Lang's seminal studies of the English and Scottish hogbacks saw them as distinctive Hiberno-Norse 'colonial' monuments. 4 Hogbacks find no direct and singular precedent in either the Insular or the Norse worlds, but are widely regarded as reflecting Norse interaction with native Christian communities. 5 Various studies are now questioning not only the attribution of individual recumbent stone monuments to the category of hogbacks, but also the efficacy of the category itself as an index of Norse settlement and/or influence. 6 This is part of a growing trend to critique culture-historic frameworks for interpreting sculpture and instead explore the significance of individual early medieval sculpted stones within specific assemblages and local historical and topographical settings. This trend also reflects the growth of new theoretical approaches to the biographies, materialities and landscape settings of particular monuments and assemblages. 7 Rather than attempting to identify a single prototype or

The monument known as St Vigeans No 1, or the Drosten Stone, is located in St Vigeans Museum, near Arbroath in Angus, Scotland. It is a Pictish cross-slab of approximately 9th-century date and bears both Pictish symbols and a cross. It stands 1740 mm tall, is about 550 mm wide, and roughly 180 mm thick. In its present form, it consists of two pieces of sandstone, St Vigeans No 1 and St Vigeans No 1a (as catalogued in The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland), together with various modern substances employed in the joining and presentation of the monument. This paper contends that St Vigeans No 1 and St Vigeans No 1a are not parts of a single early medieval monument, as is generally accepted, but rather originated as parts of two separate monuments, although the two original monuments may have been products of the same school, possibly the same sculptor, and of similar date. This contention arises from the author's observations of the monument during a visit to St Vigeans in Jul...

Szkic artykułu powstał w 2007 roku. Tematem rozprawy jest kamienne popiersie wielotwarzowej (policefalnej) rzeźby odkrytej w zwieńczeniu wczesnośredniowiecznej rotundy z terenu popołudniowych Moraw. Autor podjął sie wstępnej analizy zabytku na tle kultury materialnej Słowian z terenów centralnej Europy. Rzeźba zdradza uderzające podobieństwa do szeregu obiektów wymienionych przez źródła pisane oraz zabytków znanych ze zbiorów muzealnych. 

The draft of the article was created in 2007. The subject of the paper is a stone bust of a multifaceted sculpture discovered at the top of an early medieval chapel in southern Moravia. The author undertook a preliminary analysis of the monument against the background of the material culture of the Slavs from central Europe. The sculpture bears striking similarities to a number of objects mentioned by written sources and to monuments known from museum collections (in Polish).

The article is dedicated to the analysis and semantic interpretation of a monument referred to as the Zbruch Idol, discovered in 1848 near Liczkowce in the Ukraine. The author offers arguments in favour of the thesis that the artefact is a quadruple female made of stone by the Cumans in the late 13th/ early 14th century, and that the idol is a synthesis of the Turkish sepulchral sculpture.

The part of Scotland inhabited by the Dalriada during the early medieval period is particularly rich in material remains, including a vast corpus of ecclesiastical stone sculpture. In this paper, I examine the cross-marked stones which appear singly in isolated locations throughout Dalriada, and investigate their placement in the landscape. In doing so, I seek to understand the relationship between the ecclesiastical presence in Dalriada and the largely inhospitable landscape of the region. In particular, I consider the purpose of these isolated cross-marked stones, and the reasons for their placement in relation to the landscape and, more importantly, the seascape.

THE LANDSCAPE CONTEXT of the early 9th-century monument known as the Pillar of Eliseg is interrogated here for the first time with GIS-based analysis and innovative spatial methodologies. Our interpretation aims to move beyond regarding the Pillar as a prominent example of early medieval monument reuse and a probable early medieval assembly site. We demonstrate that the location and topographical context of the cross and mound facilitated the monument's significance as an early medieval locus of power, faith and commemoration in a contested frontier zone. The specific choice of location is shown to relate to patterns of movement and visibility that may have facilitated and enhanced the ceremonial and commemorative roles of the monument. By shedding new light on the interpretation of the Pillar of Eliseg as a node of social and religious aggregation and ideological power, our study has theoretical and methodological implications for studying the landscape contexts of early medieval stone monuments.

The latest volume in this well-produced series on jewellery, ornaments and manufacturing techniques in past societies takes gold in religious contexts as its primary focus. Fifteen informative contributions (deriving from a 2012 event in Bologna) explore themes spanning ancient Greek sanctuary offerings to medieval reliquaries; geographically the emphasis is the central and eastern Mediterranean, although two Roman-oriented papers (on gold and Roman society and on gold offering rings to gods) extend into NW Europe, while many of the later papers discuss Italian evidence only. However, the broad timeframe is helpful, enabling links to be drawn between, for example, Byzantine to medieval church reliquary offerings (papers by Pannuti and Porta) and donations of prized dress items to Greek temples (Caliò) in terms of processions, festivals and display; and between Greek temple treasuries (Sassu and Caliò) and early Byzantine church store-rooms or skeuophylakia for sacred treasures (Baldini). Besides the all important reliquaries (Pannuti traces various containers for fragments of the True Cross), triptychs and icons were notable Byzantine devotional objects and papers by Chrysafi and Tarsi respectively examine the representation of archangels (often depicted in imperial attire to symbolise links between heavenly and secular courts) of the 9th–13th centuries and of sceptres (depicted with emperors, empresses and archangels, but present also on crowns and chalices). How precious items such as icons and candelabra were sited in churches, alongside the many other liturgical components (such as hangings, processional crosses and altars) is tidily considered by Beghelli and Pinar Gil, though much more space — a whole volume — is required to debate this. Other papers examine Lombard gold sheet crosses in terms of technology and execution of stamps (Pacini) and in the use of coins as stamps or coinstyle designs (Perassi), while Arslan reveals how weights could form substitutes for gold coin in Germanic funerary contexts. Besides the rather compact length of the papers, the volume’s only real deficiency is the often ungenerous size of the illustrations, due mainly to the series’ A5 format.

Often fragmented and without context, early medieval inscribed and sculpted stone monuments of the fifth to eleventh centuries AD have been mainly studied via their shape, their decoration and the texts a fraction of them bear. This book, investigating stone monuments from Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia (including the important memorials at Iniscealtra, County Clare), advocates three relatively new, distinctive and interconnected approaches to the lithic heritage of the early Middle Ages. Building on recent theoretical trends in archaeology and material culture studies in particular, it uses the themes of materiality, biography and landscape to reveal how carved stones created senses of identity and history for early medieval communities and kingdom. An extensive introduction and eight chapters span the disciplines of history, art-history and archaeology, exploring how shaping stone in turn shaped and re-shaped early medieval societies.