Sutton Hoo sceptre

From my roving reporter:

Replica of King Raedwald’s sceptre unveiled [Link includes pics]

IT is one of Britain’s most iconic archaeological sites and a new project has helped complete another piece of the Sutton Hoo puzzle.

The ancient Anglo-Saxon burial ground was uncovered in 1939 and to mark the 70th anniversary a Suffolk craftsman was commissioned to create an exact replica of the sceptre, one of a range of stunning artefacts found at the site.

The sceptre has been described by British Museum staff as “unique, and one of the most extraordinary objects made in the earl Anglo-Saxon period”.

Although not as famous as the shield and helmet discovered at the site, and not made of gold, such as the treasures recently discovered as part of the Staffordshire hoard, the sceptre is still of exceptional workmanship.

Suffolk stonemason and sculptor Brian Ansell was challenged by the National Trust back in February to carve a replica of the sceptre.

Mr Ansell used basic tools and traditional methods to create the sceptre, and said he had learned a lot about how it had been crafted.

Mr Ansell said: “We have gained insights into the mind of the original carver and his patron. The quality of work is extremely accomplished and during the process I have learned to respect my fellow mason who carved the original, over 1,000 years ago.

“I have used a basic kit of masonry tools to complete the task in hand, including a handful of fine carving chisels for the more delicate work.

“It’s a tool kit that would have been used by the Romans and therefore fairly authentic to what would have been used to make the original sceptre.”

The sceptre is seen as an emblem of power – a fitting tribute to Anglo-Saxon King Raedwald, who is thought to have been buried at the site

It was formally handed back to “King Raedwald” yesterday and he then presented it to the National Trust. It now takes pride of place in the burial chamber recreation at the Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre.

Jonathon White, property manager at Sutton Hoo, said the project, funded by the Sutton Hoo Society, had helped to shed light on how skilled Anglo-Saxon craftsmen were.

He said: “For years we had a very poor quality replica made of resin and we have taken that out now and replaced it with this very accurate replica and it looks like a real ceremonial piece – it looks fit for a king.

“We have found out through the making of it that it was perhaps produced by a stonemason who was schooled in Roman techniques and knew what he was doing.”

Further reading:

Cohen, S. L., 1966, ‘The Sutton Hoo Whetstone’, Speculum 41

Enright, M.J., 2006, The Sutton Hoo Sceptre and the Roots of Celtic Kingship Theory

Enright, M.J., 1982, ‘The Sutton Hoo whetstone sceptre: a study in iconography and cultural milieu’, Anglo Saxon England 11 : 119-134

Evison, V. I. 1975, ‘Pagan Saxon Whetstones.’ Antiquaries Journal 55 : 70–85
Simpson, J., 1979, ‘The King’s Whetstone’ Antiquity 53 : 96-101

Llanbedr-goch, Ynys Môn, another large early medieval whetstone. It is 267mm in length (about half the size of Sutton Hoo), of fine grain sandstone of square section, tapered at the lower end. Little used as a whetstone, Dr Mark Redknap has interpreted it as a symbol of rank, reminiscent of the sceptre whetstone from Sutton Hoo. Some whetstones had a more symbolic significance than being merely functional objects.

Gold and garnet sword fitting

Gold and garnet sword fitting

Originally uploaded by portableantiquities

Dagger Hilt

Dagger Hilt

Originally uploaded by portableantiquities

Exquisite Bodies

Exquisite Bodies Exhibition

Wellcome Collection 30 July-18 October
In the 19th century, despite the best efforts of body snatchers, the demand from medical schools for fresh cadavers far outstripped the supply. One solution to this gruesome problem came in the form of lifelike wax models. These models often took the form of alluring female figures that could be stripped and split into different sections. Other models were more macabre, showing the body ravaged by ’social diseases’ such as venereal disease, tuberculosis and alcohol and drug addiction.

Sad news

This weekend I heard sad news that Dr Margaret Gelling had died on Friday.

Dr Gelling is particularly noted, in certain academic circles, for finding an association between Anglo-Saxon place-names and landscape features.

For anyone who is interested in English place-names there is The English Place-Names Society website

Guardian Obituary

Bronze Age migrants

Could Welsh star Stanley Baker’s ancestors be Bronze Age copper miners from Spain?

EVER wondered where the Welsh get their dark, swarthy looks from?
The brooding looks of Welsh characters like Sir Stanley Baker and Richard Burton are well known – and now new research aims to prove that the genetic make-up may come from the Spanish and Portuguese.
The researchers believe Wales became home to an influx of migrant workers from the Iberian Peninsula and the Balkans 4,000 years ago that helped shape the biological construction of modern Wales.
Academics at Sheffield University want to show the genetic traces of migrants who came to work in Bronze Age copper mines on Llandudno’s Great Orme and at Parys Mountain, on Anglesey, can still be found.
They are hoping men whose families have lived near the mines for generations will help them establish a genetic link back to the migrants.
They are looking only at male DNA, because men’s Y chromosomes carry their genetic heritage from father to son.
The research builds on previous work which showed a sample of people in Abergele, North Wales, had a genetic signature found in the Balkans and on the Iberian Peninsula.
Dr Bob Johnston, a lecturer in landscape archaeology, said: “Our plan is to sample enough people so we can say whether it’s a genuinely unusual (genetic) signature in Britain.
“If it is then we need to go to archaeological and historical data to look for information as to why that might be the case.”
Dr Johnston says during the Bronze Age there was strong contact along the Atlantic coastline between North Wales, south-west Scotland, Cornwall, the Irish coast and the Iberian peninsula.
The Sheffield academic added: “If there has been an early Bronze Age immigration then one suggestion might be that it’s connected to the copper sources.
“They were extremely important to Britain and Ireland in the early part of the Bronze Age. A lot of the copper used in bronze objects at that time came from the copper mines in North Wales.”
Last year professor John Koch suggested the Welsh could trace their ancestry back to Portugal and Spain.
His work debunked the century-old received wisdom that our forebears came from Iron Age Germany and Austria. In the late 19th century Sir John Rhys established the idea that we originally came from central Europe.
Sir John believed the Celts were the remnants of a great culture that extended here from modern-day eastern France, Switzerland, southern Germany and Austria.
But Professor Koch, of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies, in Aberystwyth, says archaeological inscriptions on stones show we came from southern Portugal and south-west Spain.
He has said: “Celts are said to come from west central Europe – Austria, southern Germany, eastern France and that part of the world.
“That’s been the theory that everybody has grown up with for at least 100 years.
“There is evidence that the Celtic languages were spoken there because of place names and people’s names.
“But the assumption was that was where they came from. I think they got there later.
“There is evidence in Spain and Portugal indicating they were there 500 or more years before.”
Expert on Welsh history and archaeology Dr Raimund Karl, says there is biological and genetic evidence to link the Welsh to the Iberian peninsula.
He said the population of the western part of the British Isles can trace its genetic origins to Brittany, northern Spain, Portugal and the French Atlantic coast.
But he said trying to locate the origins of any particular people to a specific place and point in time is meaningless because human populations are constantly moving and mingling.
The Bangor academic said: “It’s about demonstrating significant cultural influence rather than any genetic connection as such. ”
Anyone willing to be included in Dr Johnston’s study will need to provide a cheek swab sample so that their DNA can be analysed.
All the samples will be anonymous.

Update 15 may 2009 : I’ve managed to get someone of excellent Anglesey pedigree interested in taking part in this study. Sheffield University Project : The Bronze Age Copper Mines of North Wales: searching for genetic evidence of the prehistoric settlement of the British Isles

Person Richard Burton

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Handel’s Messiah

Handel’s Messiah performed by the King’s College Choir, the Academy of Ancient Music and conducted by King’s Director of Music Stephen Cleobury, marked the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death and also celebrates the 800th anniversary of the University of Cambridge.

Ailish Tynan soprano
Alice Coote mezzo-soprano
Allan Clayton tenor
Matthew Rose bass

brilliant trumpet! The Trumpet Shall Sound! The Baroque trumpet that was played was valveless, with only two finger holes which the trumpeter closes and opens with the thumb and little finger of the right hand for finer pitch control.

Saw it, heard it, yesterday evening. Wonderful!

Person Stephen Cleobury

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More Vikings….as losers

I went to see this on Friday. It’s the story of a viking re-enactor, who’s marriage is threatened by his total immersion in his escapist hobby. Quite predictable ending – after all, in rom-coms, the underdog has to find a way of winning back his ladylove, but good fun.

Misunderstood Vikings

Found by my roving Antiquarian reporter :-

When those Vikings were sent packing

Public apologies being all the rage these days, it is perhaps not over the top for an entire weekend conference at Cambridge University to have been devoted to effectively apologising to the Vikings.

It appears that in the 793 edition of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – obviously a scurrilous rag of the worst sort – Viking raiders were blamed for ‘lamentable havoc in the church of God . . . by raping and slaughter’.

Thus they gained a reputation for rape and pillaging that has stuck with them ever since, whereas it turns out that they behaved like perfect gentlemen, who probably came ashore only for a glass of water.

Over now to the Customs shed at Tilbury, where a party of Norsemen have just docked.

‘Good morning, sir. Is this your longboat? Any weaponry on board?’

‘Just a couple of swords, spiked shield, bludgeon, helmet with sharpened wings and a battle-axe for my own use.’

‘And what is the purpose of your visit?’

‘Just to sketch a few priories and abbeys. And we thought we’d try to get a couple of tickets for Egbert, King of Wessex’s coronation.’……………

WW1 records

Piecing together the past [BBC video link]

Historian Peter Barton explores the archives
Peter Barton was commissioned to carry out research into the identities of World War I casualties discovered in a mass grave at Fromelles in France.
He was given access to the basement of the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva.
There, he was allowed to examine records that have lain virtually untouched since 1918.
He estimates that there could be 20 million sets of details, carefully entered on card indexes, or written into ledgers.

They deal with the capture, death, or burial of servicemen from over 30 nations drawn into the conflict; personal effects, home addresses and grave sites cover page after page.
All were passed to the Red Cross by the combatants; volunteers logging the information by hand before sending it on to the soldiers’ home countries.

According to Peter Barton, the UK’s copies no longer exist, but the originals are still here and are immensely important.
“To a military historian, this was like finding Tutankhamen’s tomb and the terracotta warriors on the same day,” he told me.
“I still can’t understand why no-one has ever realised the significance of this archive – but the Red Cross tell me I’m the first researcher who has asked to see it.”
The records could potentially reveal the whereabouts of individuals whose remains were never found, or never identified. Grave after grave in the World War I cemeteries mark the last resting place of an unknown soldier.

But that presents the Red Cross with an unprecedented challenge; the paper records must now be conserved, and digitised. More than £2m has already been set aside for a project that will begin this autumn, and which is likely to involve experts from all over Europe.
The Red Cross hope to have the archive online by 2014, 100 years after the start of World War I. They believe that the care and patience of their volunteers during the conflict coupled with today’s technology will provide a key to unlock the past.

Some of the records refer to other mass graves, with exact directions as to where they were dug, and the identities of the soldiers who were buried. Where possible, the registers include home addresses and next of kin.

In the World War I cemeteries, headstone after headstone marks the last resting place of an unknown soldier.
The names of the missing line the walls of memorials across France and Belgium, and until now, the trails followed by new generations ended with family histories still incomplete.

But that’s only the start; the careful record-keeping extended through World War II, and on to more recent conflicts.
I was shown the rows of metal shelves which contain millions more personal stories; more index cards neatly packed into boxes. Public access here would require significantly more effort, and more cash which is simply not available at this stage.
Back in the World War I archive, Peter Barton was leafing through page after page of handwritten names – all men who had died on the first day of the Battle of the Somme – lives ended far from home, but, thanks to the patience and care of Red Cross staff all those years ago, their stories may soon be told.

I hope that in 2014, I will be able to find out what happened to my Great Uncle and where he was buried.

War Graves & Battlefield Heritage