Annular Brooch
Ashok Khare
The annular brooch pictured above is one of several of its type that were found at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at West Stow. It was found among other burial goods, including other types of brooches, girdle hangers, wrist clasps, a beaded necklace, and a variety of utilitarian items.
History
During the Anglo-Saxon period, annular brooches were designed for both fashion and function. They were mostly cast from metal, with iron, copper alloy, and silver being the most commonplace. The particular brooch pictured above, based on its color, was likely constructed from copper alloy. Due to the relative rarity and cost of copper alloy, this brooch would have likely been a higher-status symbol than a similar one made of something like iron. Some annular brooches also featured ornamentation, such as punched stamps or carved lines. Specific patterns, such as the chevron and double-chevron, also suggested the Anglo-Saxon annular brooch had its origins in Scandinavian designs.
In life, annular brooches were mostly worn by women to fasten cloaks and dresses. As such, they were generally worn on the shoulders or chest, sometimes in a pair with one at each shoulder. As a grave good, annular brooches were found in similar positions on the deceased’s body, perhaps in an attempt to mirror how they were used in life. An alternative goal may have been to place them, as status symbols, in a prominently visible position, in the case that the body were to ever be uncovered. Men may have also worn brooches, although due to this trend’s lack of pervasiveness as opposed to female brooch-wearing, it is likely that men’s brooches were a less common sight, perhaps reserved for formal occasions where the brooches served as a marker of status.
Reconstructions
I attempted to recreate the annular brooch both digitally and physically. I made the digital reconstruction using Blender, and made the physical reconstruction out of an air-dry clay. As the original brooch was fairly simple, both processes were pretty straightforward. However, I enjoyed physical modeling much more than digital modeling. Although the digital tools allowed for much more precision in the design, they did not mimic the smoothness and flow of the more natural material, instead creating polygonal shapes with sharp edges. The physical materials, on the other hand, allowed me to more faithfully capture the shapes of the original object, leading to a more accurate reconstruction.
The reconstruction process also provided me with insights on how annular brooches might have been made in the Anglo-Saxon period. Simpler brooches such as the one I was modeling might have been mass-produced in molds; in fact, one of my first instincts when planning a physical reconstruction was to create a mold based on the one-sided patterning, then place other material into the mold to make the brooch. Thus, thinking about how to design a reconstruction put me, in a way, inside the mind of the Anglo-Saxon artisan.
Further Reading
To learn more about the variants of the Anglo-Saxon quoit and annular brooches, see Barry M. Ager’s article from Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History, linked here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Gbf9Z9QH9ySJDL3-PsmjE5yOvAis57ka/view
