Present-day Sweden has a large and varied garnet material from the Iron Age. Even if there are finds dating back to the Late Roman Period most objects derive from the 5th to 8th centuries. In Sweden this time period is called the Migration and Vendel Period, and it is characterised by its regional power structures, wealthy burials and far-reaching networks of contacts. Most of the garnets are part of jewellery such as brooches but also adorning high status weaponry etc. Continue reading Garnet Jewellery in Early Medieval Sweden
Category Archives: Subproject
Scientific and Technical Analyses of Garnet Jewellery
Depending on their respective geological origin, the chemical composition of garnets varies significantly. Different areas of origin of ancient garnet can thus be distinguished by scientific analyses.
Analyses into the origins of garnet from the areas on the periphery of the Merovingian Empire, planned to be carried out within the scope of this subproject, will form the basis for an understanding of chronological changes of the distribution routes and recognising possible reasons for the “garnet route in crisis”. Continue reading Scientific and Technical Analyses of Garnet Jewellery
Garnet Cloisonné on the Continent during the 7th and 8th Centuries
The usage of garnets on the continent changed markedly during the final decades of the 6th century. Objects with garnet inlay, which until then had been available to large parts of the population even in remote and rural regions, suddenly became scarce. The two general explanations are that cloisonné had either become unpopular, or that the trade links for the supply of raw material from Sri Lanka and India had been severely disrupted. Continue reading Garnet Cloisonné on the Continent during the 7th and 8th Centuries
Garnets in Byzantine texts
This part of the International Framework focuses on the use and especially on the interpretation of carbuncles in the Byzantine cultural area. The focus of this study is the question of the typically Byzantine simultaneous existence of interpretations in the ancient tradition on the one hand, and in the biblically tradition on the other hand. Furthermore, it is intended to establish the significance of carbuncles (gr. Ἄνθραξ) within a “hierarchy of gems” in Byzantium. Continue reading Garnets in Byzantine texts
Garnet on the North-western Periphery of the Merovingian Empire during the 7th Century
The objective of this subproject is the archaeological and scientific analysis of garnet objects from England, Scotland and Scandinavia. The question is, why objects decorated with garnet went out of fashion on the Continent during the last third of the 6th century, while the style experienced a notable floruit in 7th-century England and Scandinavia. Continue reading Garnet on the North-western Periphery of the Merovingian Empire during the 7th Century
The Perception of Byzantine and Oriental Objects in the Merovingian Empire
The project is focussing on the question, to what extent people wearing garnet jewellery were aware of the exotic origin of the red garnet. Consequently, it concentrates upon the perception of the gem stones, which were evidently imported “en masse” to Central Europe and Western Europe. These imports are not isolated events but testament to the context of an extensive stream of imports from the Byzantine Empire and the Mediterranean continuing throughout the entire Merovingian period. Continue reading The Perception of Byzantine and Oriental Objects in the Merovingian Empire
The Development of Cloisonné between India and the Byzantine Empire
This subproject is concerned with basic research that is to say with the question of origin and stylistic development of cloisonné between India and the Byzantine Empire. Following a careful chronological classification, significant insight will be gained through a combination of published finds and some of the objects from the collections of the RGZM originating in this vast geographic area. Continue reading The Development of Cloisonné between India and the Byzantine Empire
Cloisonné during the Visigothic period in Spain
In the first half of the 20th century, some cemeteries with large amounts of grave goods dating from the early Visigothic period (5th-6th centuries) were discovered and excavated in central Spain. This material included large numbers of clothing accessories decorated in the cloisonné technique. At that time, they seemed to “complete” a general perception of Visigothic-period “minor arts”, joining the cloisonné-decorated crowns discovered in the late 19th and early 20th century at Guarrazar and Torredonjimeno, dating from the 7th century. Continue reading Cloisonné during the Visigothic period in Spain
Towards an Understanding of Anglo-Saxon Stone Names
Garnets are ubiquitous in the material culture of Anglo-Saxon England. They appear on buckles, brooches, shoulder clasps, and sieve spoons. They once lined the wings of a dragon on what is possibly the most famous Anglo-Saxon artefact, the helmet from the Sutton Hoo ship burial. Their beauty was, perhaps, imitated in ink and vellum in images which sought to recreate the beauty of jewels on manuscript. Continue reading Towards an Understanding of Anglo-Saxon Stone Names
Archaeometric Investigation of garnet jewellery
Archaeological material from Hungary (late 6th- and 7th-century)
Deutsche Version | Team | Cooperations
Decorative use of garnet stones on fine metalwork has defined the goldsmith’s art in the Carpathian Basin for three centuries, although with varying intensity. After its main flourish between the early 5th and the middle the 6th century, its dominance was mainly limited to the material of some specific social groups. On the other hand, from the early 8th century, garnet inlay had completely disappeared from the design of fine metalwork. In the project we are focussing on one of the most interesting transitional periods, dated between the late 6th and the late 7th century, which in Hungary is called the Early and Middle Avar Periods. Continue reading Archaeometric Investigation of garnet jewellery
Garnet in South Asia
Historical and Archaeological Sources
The Indological sub-project of the International Framework will concentrate on two thematic foci. The first is the study and translation of textual sources describing pre-modern knowledge about gemstones and their specific effects. Here we deal with diverse texts composed in Sanskrit which not only present various characteristics of gemstones and their astrological, medical and spiritual potency, but which also relay the legends and myths associated with them. Continue reading Garnet in South Asia
Garnet Cloisonné in the Rhinelands
Interdisciplinary Research on Trade, Workshops, Symbolism and Users
The aim of the research project is to examine the Northern Rhineland as a model region for trade and distribution of imported goods by analysing origin, quality of cutting and garnets framing during the Merovingian period. Continue reading Garnet Cloisonné in the Rhinelands