A study of the distribution, form and context of Anglo-Saxon vessel glass in 7th-11th Century England

This thesis is a study of all known Anglo-Saxon vessel glass (2847 sherds) found at twenty-three settlement sites in England dating to between the seventh and eleventh centuries. This material reveals new understandings regarding economic and social structures, and identities in Anglo-Saxon England. Data collected from recording glass first-hand was combined with information gathered from publications, archives and personal communication with excavators and specialists to form the first national dataset. Quantification of individual vessel forms, colours and decoration, and mapping the distribution of all vessel characteristics has led to the creation of a new typological and geographical framework for understanding these objects. Glass vessels were used on three principal site types: emporia, monasteries and middle-ranking rural estate centres. Site assemblages of glass vessel fragments can now be characterized and compared to the national corpus to aid interpretation of the nature of the source settlement – and vice versa - because of the discovery that palm-funnel series vessels are much more prevalent at emporia and globular beakers at ecclesiastical sites, showing that glass was being supplied and used in different ways. Seven case studies of intra-site glass distribution revealed that the anticipated pattern of peripheral disposal alongside dining waste is widespread, but exceptions exist at the monastic sites at Lyminge, Kent, and Jarrow, Tyne and Wear. Preliminary study of similar material from the rest of the North Sea zone indicates largely parallel patterns of trade and consumption of glass vessels by the same three site types, with great potential for future work and comparison with English data sets