| Abstract: |
Imported pottery and glass is of fundamental importance in assessing the chronology and function of sites in Atlantic Britain and Ireland in the period AD 400–800, but these have not previously received detailed publication. This monograph gives an integrated discussion of the finds, covering not just their provenance, typology, dating and distribution, but also their function in society. The text is supplemented by an interactive Web-based database giving full details of all finds, including their stratigraphic context, which will be updated as new finds occur. The study shows that two successive trading systems brought this material to Insular sites. The first of these brought Late Roman amphorae (LR1– 4) and fine red-slipped tablewares from the eastern Mediterranean and north Africa in a restricted period from the late 5th to mid-6th centuries. The second system brought glass vessels, finewares and coarsewares from western France in the later 6th and 7th centuries. Both trading systems were sustained rather than haphazard, but neither seems to have been fully commercial market trading. The Mediterranean trading system shows direct links with Byzantium, and it is suggested that there was Imperial involvement, perhaps centred on the acquisition of tin, lead and silver from mines in south-west England. The later Continental system also has peculiarities which suggests the involvement of Merovingian elites, though the motives are less clear. Material from almost 150 sites is listed, including around 370 Mediterranean and 600 Continental pottery or glass vessels. A new classification of the glass is presented, Groups A–E, which will enable more accurate dating of sites. Scientific analysis suggests that the Continental coarsewares (Class E) were used as transport containers for luxury goods such as purple dyes. Novel methods of analysing small assemblages are introduced (most sites produce only a few vessels), based on taphonomic study of the finds from key sites such as Dinas Powys, Glamorgan, Wales, and Whithorn Priory, Galloway, Scotland. An analysis of the characteristics of all the sites on which imports are found suggests that the main sites were royal, and that the elites on these sites controlled redistribution of exotic luxury goods to their client sites in order to bolster their social position. The nature of the return trade is unclear, but metals and slaves are likely to have been the major goods traded. This book is intended for both British and Continental specialists who wish for full details of the pottery and glass, but also for anyone with an interest in how trade and exchange influenced the development of Insular society at a time of transition from the late Roman/late Iron Age period to the emerging kingdoms of the Middle Ages. |
