The Hanney Brooch belongs to a small group of composite Anglo-Saxon brooches from mid-seventh century. New research argues the brooches witness to the important role of a group of women in the consolidation of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
A High Status Seventh-Century Female Burial, West Hanney, Oxfordshire
By Helena Hamerow et al.
In: The Antiquaries Journal. Published online: 04 March 2015
The Antiquaries Journal / FirstView Article© The Society of Antiquaries of London 2015
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0003581514000742.
Abstract
In 2009, a metal-detector find of a rare garnet-inlaid composite disc brooch at West Hanney, Oxfordshire, led to the excavation of an apparently isolated female burial sited in a prominent position overlooking the Ock valley. The burial dates to the middle decades of the seventh century, a period of rapid socio-political development in a region, which formed the early heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
The Hanney Brooch belongs to a select group of 19 other composite disc brooches of which 13 have been found in Anglo-Saxon graves in Kent. They constitute an elaborate form of the more ordinary disc brooches, which were widely worn as an emulation of Frankish fashion. The Hanney burial as well as the brooch is presented in detail in a recent article.
The de luxe brooch links the wearer to two other burials furnished with very similar brooches at Milton, some 10km to the east and only c 1km from the Anglo-Saxon great hall complex at Sutton Courtenay / Drayton, just south of Abingdon. All three brooches were recently treated to a full composition analysis and CT-scan. This documented the likelihood of the three brooches having been made in the same workshop and – perhaps – with copper alloy from the same source.
In the article it is argued that all three women must have been members of the region’s politically dominant group, known as the Gewisse. The burial’s grave goods and setting add a new dimension to our understanding of the richly furnished female burials that are such a prominent feature of the funerary record of seventh-century England and which was prominent at the same time as Anglo-Saxon women were seen to play significant roles as both landowners as well as managers in the new large monastic institutions.
It also helps to contextualize the Staffordshire Hoard, which consists of nothing but martial – male? – artefacts.
The article is an important presentation of the Hanney burial and its context.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS:
Helena Hamerow, FSA, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
Anni Byard, Museums Resource Centre, Cotswold Dene, Standlake, Witney OX29 7QG, UK.
Esther Cameron, FSA, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
Andreas Düring, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
Paula Levick, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK.
Nicholas Marquez-Grant, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, Swindon SN6 8LA, UK.
Andrew Shortland, FSA, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, Swindon SN6 8LA, UK.