Description

Summary: 1 gilt copper-alloy scabbard mouth band, decorated with two tabs, from Grave 22, from the pagan Saxon cemetery called 'Black Patch' at Blacknall Field, Pewsey, Wiltshire, excavated by Ken Annable and the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1969-1976.

Research results

The gilded copper alloy fittings from around the mouth of a scabbard, excavated with an older aldult male in grave 22 of the Blacknall field cemetery, Pewsey, by Ken Annable and the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, 1969-1976. The scabbard fitting is decorated in Salin's style I, a decorative style which depicts highly stylised animals and human faces, and which ultimately originated in Southern Scandinavia. The fitting is divided into a pannels, with the low containing two peaked heads facing inwards towards a central face-mask.

This object was examined by Leah Moradi of the University of Exeter as part of her study investigating shamanistic and totemic practices and beliefs in fifth to seventh century Wessex and East Anglia through depictions of humans and animals on contemporary grave goods. Her study found that anthropo- and zoomorphic decoration was most often found with mature women between the ages of around 25 and 40, suggesting that some members of this group may have held a special status. She also notes that anthropomorphic depictions and the use of gold or gilding was more common in the wessex region, whilst depictions of certain animals, especially horses and birds, were far rarer; this may imply regional variation in belief structures, or the traditions of display through which they were presented.