Posts in Category: Archaeology

The beginnings of a Merovingian Material Culture Bibliography

On June 29, 2011 by thealater With 3 Comments - Archaeology, Bibliography, Dress and accessories, Gallo-Roman, Merovingian Women, Textiles

This is by no means an exhaustive listing. But it should give you some starting places to begin your research, or to add to your current research. Eventually, I will have this annotated as I get things translated and assimilated.

If you know of any resources that not listed here, please put them in comments. Thanks!

 

  • Aberg, N., (1922). Die Franken und Westgoten in der Volkenwanderungzeit. Uppsala.
  • Aberg, N., (1923). Die Goten und Langobarden in Italien. Uppsala.
  • Aberg, N., (1945). The Occident and the Orient in the Art of the Seventh Century. Vol. 3, the Merovingian Empire. Stockholm.
  • Alduc-Le Bagousse, Armelle (ed.). Inhumations de prestige ou prestige de linhumation? Expression du pouvoir dans l’au-delà (IVe-XVe siècle). Table ronde du CRAHM 4. Caen : CRAHM, Université de Caen Basse-Normandie, 2009. Pp. 464.
  • Böhme, H. W. (1974). Germanische Grabfunde des 4. bis 5. Jahrhunderts zwischen unterer Elbe und Loire: Studien zur Chronologie und Bevölkerungsgeschichte. Munich.
  • Böhme, H. W. (1986). Das Ende der Römerherrschaft in Britannien und die angelsächsische Besiedlung Englands im 5. Jahrhundert. Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Mainz 33: 469-574.
  • Böhner, K. 1958. Die fränkischen Alterthümer des Trierer Landes. Berlin: Verlag. Gebr. Mann.
  • Brugmann, B. 1999. The role of continental artefact-types in sixth-century Kentish chronology. In The Pace of Change: studies in medieval chronology, eds. Hines, J. Høilund Nielsen, K. and Siegmund, F.. Oxford: Oxbow: 37-64.
  • Brulet, R. 1990. Les fouilles du quartier Saint-Brice à Tournai: l’environnement funéraire de la sépulture de Childéric. Louvain-la-Neuve.
  • Carver, M. O. H. (ed). The Age of Sutton Hoo: the seventh century in north-western Europe. Woodbridge: Boydell Press: **
  • Crowfoot, E. and Hawkes, S.C. 1967. Early Anglo-Saxon gold braids, Medieval Archaeology 11, 42-86.
  • Cutler, Anthony. (Oct., 1997). The right hand’s cunning: Craftsmanship and the demand for art in late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. Speculum, 72(4). 971-994.
  • Evison, V. I. 1965. Fifth-century invasions south of the Thames. London: University of London, The Athlone Press.
  • Farrell, R. and Neumann de Vegvar, C., (eds.) Sutton Hoo: fifty years after. American Early Medieval Studies. Oxford, Ohio: 75-81.
  • Ferdiere, Alain. (1984). Le travail du textile en Region Centre de l’Age du fer au haut Moyen-Age. Revue archeologique du Centre de la France. 23(2). 209-275.
  • Fleury, M. (1963). L’anneau sigillaire de la reine Arnegonde, femme de Clotaire I. Annexe aux Proces-verbaux de la Commission municipale du Vieux Paris (séance du 11 fevrier 1963), p. 5-14.
  • Fleury, M. (1963). L’anneau sigillaire de la reine Arnegonde, femme de Clotaire Ier, decouvert a Saint-Denis, Bulletin de la Societe nationale des Antiquaries de France (séance du 20 favrier 1963), p. 34-42.
  • Fleury, M. and France-Lanord, A. (1961). Les bijoux merovingien d’Arnegonde, Art of France, 1, p. 7-18.
  • Fleury, M. and France-Lanord, A. (1979). Bijoux et parures merovingiens de la reine Aregonde, belle-fille de Clovis, decouverts a Saint-Denis, Dossiers de l’Archeologies, n° 32, janvier-fevrier.
  • Fleury, M. and France-Lanord, A. (1998). Les tresors merovingiens de la basilique de Saint-Denis, G. Klopp, Woippy.
  • France-Lanord, A. (1979). La fouille en labratoire: methode de travail. Les Dossiers de l’Archaeologie. 32. 69-91.
  • France-Lanord, A. and Fleury, M., (1962). Das Grab der Arnegundis in Saint-Denis, Germania, 40, 2, p. 341-359.
  • Gaillard de Semainville, Henri (2003). Nouvelle examen de la plaque-boucle merovingienne de Landelelinus decouverte a Ladoix-Serrigny (Cote d’Or). Revue Archeologique de l’Est. 52. 297-327. (French).
  • Hawkes, S.C. and Dunning, G. 1961. A catalogue of animal-ornamented buckles and related belt fittings. Medieval Archaeology, 5: 1-70.
  • Hodges, R. and Whitehouse, D. 1983. Mohammed, Charlemagne and the origins of Europe. London: Duckworth.
  • Hübener, W. 1981. Eine Studie zu den Beilwaffen der Merowingerzeit. Zeitschrift für Archäologie des Mittelalters 8: 65-127.
  • LaPorte, Jean-Pierre. (1985). Tissus medievaux de Chelles et de Faremoutiers. . Tissu & vetement: 5000 ans de savoir-faire. Musee Archeologique Departmental du Val-d’Oise.
  • Leeds, E.T. 1936. Early Anglo-Saxon art and archaeology. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.
  • Legoux, R., Perin, P, and Vallet, F. (2006). Chronologie normalise du mobilier funeraire merovingingien entre Mance et Lorraine, (n° hors serie du Bulletin de liaison de l’Association francaise d’Archeologie merovingienne), AFAM, Saint-German-en-Laye.
  • Legoux, R., Périn, P. and Vallet, F. 2004. Chronologie normalisée du mobilier funéraire mérovingien entre Manche et Lorraine. Paris: Association francaise d’Archeologie merovingienne .
  • Martin, M. (1991). Zur frümittelalterlichen Gürteltracht de Frau in der Burgundia, Francia, und Aquitania, dans DONNAY, G. (ed), L’Art des invasions en Hongrie et en Wallonie, Actes du colloque de 1979, Musee royal de Mariemont, Bruxelles, p. 31-84.
  • Martin, Max.(2001). Early Merovingian Women’s Brooches. In From Attila to Charlemagne. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. 226-241.
  • Marzinzik, S., 2003. Early Anglo-Saxon belt buckles (late 5th to early 8th centuries A.D.) : their classification and context. Oxford: BAR British series 357.
  • Motteau, James. (1985). L’habillement de la sepulture merovingienne de Perrusson (Indre-et-Loire). Revue archeologique du Centre de la France. 24(2). 256-257.
  • Noble, Thomas F. X. Julia M. H. Smith. (1997). The Carolingians: An English Language Bibliography
  • Perin, P., (1991). Pour une revision de la datation de la tombe d’Arego nde, espouse de Clotaire Ier, decouverte en 1959 dans la basilique de Saint-Denis, Archeologie medievale, XXI, p. 21-50.
  • Perin, P., (1991). Quelques considerations sur la basilique de Saint-Denis et sa necropole a l’epoque merovingienne, dans DUVOSQUEL J.-M. And DIERKENS A. (eds), Villes et campagnes au Moyen Age. Melanges Georges Despy, Editions du Perron, Liege, p. 599-624.
  • Perin, P., Calligro, T., avec la coll. De Buchet, L., Cassiman, J.-J., Darton, Y., Gallien, V., Poirot, J.-P., Rast, A., Rucker, C., and Vallet, F. (2007). La tombe d’Aregonde. Ouvelles analyses en labratoire du mobilier metallique et des restes organiques de la defunte du sarcophage 49 de la basilique de Saint-Denis, Antiquites nationales, 37, (2005), p. 181-206.
  • Perin, Patrick (2000). Aspects of late Merovingian costume in the Morgan Collection. In From Attila to Charlemagne: arts of the early Medieval period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art . 242-267.
  • Procopius. History of the Gothic Wars.
  • Rast-Eicher, Antoinette. (2010). Garment for a queen. North European Symposium for Archaeological Textiles X. 208-210.
  • Riché, Pierre, (1996). Dictionnaire des Francs: les temps mérovingiens (Etrépilly). 944.01303 R397D STX.
  • Rogers, P. W. 2007. Cloth and clothing in early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450-700. York: CBA Research Report 145.
  • Roth, H. (1986) Zweifel an Aregunde, Marburger Studien zur Vor- und Fruhgesichichte, 7, p. 267-276.
  • Schulze, M. (1976). Einflusse byzantinischer Prunkgewander auf die frankische Frauentracht, Archeologhische Korrespondanzblatt, 6,2, p. 149-161.
  • Sørensen, P. 1997. Jutes in Kent? Consideration of the problem of ethnicity in southern Scandinavia and Kent in the Migration Period, in Method and Theory in Historical Archaeology (Papers of the ‘Medieval Europe Brugge 1997’ Conference), eds. De Boe, G. and Verhaege, F. Zellik: 165-73.
  • Soulat, J. 2009. Le matériel archéologique de type Saxon et Anglo-Saxon en Gaule Mérovingienne. Paris: Tome XX des Mémoires publiés par l’Association française d’Archéologie mérovingienne.
  • Thillaud, P., (1993). L’Age au deces de la reine Aregonde, espouse de Clotiaire Ier, d’apres, une nouvelle expertise osteoarcheologiques, Cahiers de la Rotunde, 14, p. 169-172.
  • Vielitz, K. (2003). Die Grantscheifibeln der Merowingerzeit, (Europe medievale, 3), Editions Monique Mergoil, Montagnac.
  • Von Armin Volkmann and Theune, claudia. (2001). Millefiori beads from the Merovingian period of middle Europe. Ethnographisch-Archaologische Zeitschrift. 42(4). 521-553. (German).
  • Welch, M. 1991. Contacts across the Channel between the Fifth and Seventh Centuries : a review of the archaeological evidence. Studien zur Sachsenforschung 7: 261-269.
  • Wood, I. 1992. Frankish hegemony in England. In Carver, M. O. H. (ed). The Age of Sutton Hoo: the seventh century in north-western Europe. Woodbridge: Boydell Press: 235-241.

And here’s a gratuitous picture because it’s purty.

Disc brooch from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Merovingian armor

On May 24, 2011 by thealater With 3 Comments - Archaeology, Armor

Since I am considering starting to fight heavy, I though I’d post about armor. Like much of Merovingian material culture, it can be difficult to pin down. Here are some websites with information.


Byzantine Lamellar Armour: Conjectural Reconstruction of a Find from the Great Palace in Istanbul, Based on Early Medieval Parallels

Here’s an image of a young man’s (child’s) helmet found in a burial at Cologne Cathedral.

Here is a MIGRATION PERIOD IRON BANDED HELMET, which you can buy for just $37,500!

Here is a An Exceptional Migration Period (Viking) Bronze and Silver Helmet (5th-6th Century C.E.).

 

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Bathilde’s hair braids

On May 8, 2011 by thealater With 1 Comments - Archaeology, Dress and accessories, Merovingian Women

We are lucky to have a few extant pieces of material from the Merovingian period. At the Albert Bono Museum in Chelles, France (just 15 minutes from Paris) is a wonderful collection of clothing and personal items from two Merovingian woman, Queen Bathilde and Abbess Bertille.

Today, we are looking at the coiffure of Bathilde. She had long blonde hair that was gathered to a single point an the nape, and then divided into two strands. The hair was not braided, but rather wrapped in a silk cord, 4.91 meters long. The silk cord was composed of a central core of reeled silk (not spun), 4.91 meters long, with intervals wrapped by spun (possibly two-ply) silk threads and gold-foil wrapped silk. The colors of the wrapping silk are red, yellow and green.

Here is a conjecture of what it possibly looked like.

Source: J.-P. Laporte: Le Trésor des saints de Chelles (Chelles, 1988)

Here are some images of the actual hair. The first one is a close-up of a wrapped section of the cord.

J.-P. Laporte: Le Trésor des saints de Chelles (Chelles, 1988)

 

This is a section that shows how the hair was gathered and wrapped by the cord.

Source: Author's collection

 

This is a section of the silk fibers with sections wrapped by silk thread and gold-wrapped threads. The gold was crimped around the hair strands to help hold the hair and cords in place.

Source: Author's collection

I’ve read that there have been chemical analyses on her hair, but haven’t been able to find the references in time to add into this post. (I’ll add it when I do find it) I seem to remember the analysis showed the presence of cannabis and chamomile. (I could be confusing Bathilde with Arnegunde who was buried with a hemp cloth). The presence of cannabis in hair does not necessarily mean that she was a toker, although that has been claimed by some. It is possible that cannabis oil and chamomile were used as hair dressing.

Over the hair a veil would have been worn, and that is a topic for another discussion.

 

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Books on Roman textile production

On May 7, 2011 by thealater With 0 Comments - Archaeology, Books, Gallo-Roman, Roman, Textiles

In studying archaeological textiles, it helps to track back the the technology and social influences on your chosen fiber culture. For the Merovingians, their direct descendants were both the vast Roman linen estates in Gaul and the Sassanian silk weaving houses. John Peter Wild wrote a book on Roman textiles and also inspired others to write another book on the influence Roman textiles.

J. P. Wild. (1970) Textile Manufacture in the Northern Roman Provinces. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

and this is the book it inspired…

Penelope Walton Rogers, Lise Bender Jorgensen, Antoinette Rast-Eicher, (2001). The Roman Textile Industry and its Influence. A Birthday tribute to John Peter Wild.   Exeter:  Oxbow Books, 2001.

  • Read a review by Margarita Gleba, Bryn Mawr College, Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology

Going back even further, we have a book on Pre-Roman Italian textile production. (Yes, the author of the previous review)

Gleba, M. (2008): Textile production in pre-Roman Italy. Oxford: Oxbow.

 

And while we’re on the subject of ancient Roman textile production, here’s a decent bibliography which should give you a good start. It’s not exclusively Roman or Merovingian (but we won’t hold that against them!)

and look over there! Sassanian textiles!

A Byzantine shirt construction

On April 17, 2011 by thealater With 2 Comments - Archaeology, Byzantine, Textiles

Contact with the Byzantine Empire was robust, especially during the later part of the Merovingian period. Here is a website that details how to reconstruct an extant Byzantine shirt from an archaeological find in Turkey. I wish we had more extant garments to base our research on.

Byzantine Shirt from Turkish grave site

Byzantine Shirt from Turkish grave site

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La nécropole mérovingienne du “ Poteau ” à Richelieu (Indre-et-Loire) : apports chrono-typologiques

On March 31, 2011 by thealater With 0 Comments - Archaeology

Article in French.

Here’s an abstract. Read more here.

A rescue excavation in advance of road building near Richelieu (department of the Indre-et-Loire) was carried out in October 2002. It brought to light some 35 graves belonging to a Merovingian cemetery. Observations made during the fieldwork allowed the understanding of the chronological and spatial organisation of the remains. They also showed the existence of several types of burials (sarcophagus, wood and mixed stone and wood-lined burial pits) as well as a sort of stretcher used to carry the body.Although many sites of this period have been discovered and published, well studied examples are rare. The dating of the small finds and the comparison with other sites both within and outside of the region have given a better understanding of Merovingian burial practices in this area on the border of Poitou and Touraine.

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