Team Crafts

Overview

Our group provided crafts, games, and cultural insight into Early Medieval England throughout the Making Early Medieval England Festival (MEMEFest). The Anglo-Saxon period was very connected to the creation of crafts, and there is much material evidence of these crafts that have come down to us. Through a variety of activities and learning opportunities, we gave the community many different perspectives on the period based on these crafts, from the smelting process of iron to instruction in classic regional games like Fidchell and Hnefatafl. Our stations included carving, games, calligraphy, casting/smelting, riddles, pottery, and weaving, each of which showed off a unique element of the Anglo-Saxon period.

Carving

At our carving table, we gave the community opportunities to sit and carve runes, with instruction, into pieces of wood, similar to how they likely would have in early medieval England. With the help of a worksheet displaying several different forms of runic language from medieval England, several visitors crafted recreations of their names or other phrases in the materials provided. Each participant added to our collection of runic carvings, providing their own take on reconstruction of early medieval England’s material culture. Similarly, we reenacted the carving/filing of bone into a pin, giving visitors the opportunity to see that medium worked with by one of our reenactors. Overall, this table seemed to draw a lot of interest from passersby and contributed a significant amount to the success of our team!

Carving table
Students enjoying themselves at the carving table

Games

Our games demonstrations consisted of a variety of different activities. Board games included Fidchell (a Celtic/Irish game similar to Chess), Nine Men’s Morris (a Roman game similar to Tic-Tac-Toe), and Hnefetafl (a Norse game similar to Chess). Any of these games might have been played in early Medieval England due to the area’s varying Celtic, Romano-British, and Viking influences. Due to a lack of written rulebooks at our time of study, the rules of many of these games are not fully known and have been partially reconstructed.

The Anglo-Saxon games Fidchell and Nine Men’s Morris
Playing Nine Men’s Morris

Calligraphy

At the calligraphy station, people had the opportunity to learn more about medieval manuscript culture and understand the experience of being a monk. We provided goose feather quills, ink, and animal skin parchment. We did provide some examples of our own calligraphy which were based on extant examples, but people seemed to be more interested in writing their own messages. Names and unsavory notes were the most popular. The table was pretty popular with people, contributing to the recreation of one facet of Early Medieval life in England. Further information regarding The Book of Kells, a Medieval Irish manuscript can be found here.

Calligraphy station, including examples for visitors
A visitor partaking in calligraphy

Casting/Smelting

At the casting and smelting station, students got the opportunity to learn about various aspects of Anglo-Saxon metalworking. The first feature at the station was an overview of a previous iron smelt led by blacksmith Andrew Welton. The overview included a diagram of an Anglo-Saxon bloomery furnace, a collection of fast facts about bloomery furnace smelting, and photos of various stages of the process. The other feature at the station was an opportunity to try ‘casting’ firsthand (using UV-cure resin instead of actual molten metal on account of the logistical issues that would ensue). The goal of this activity was to simulate the casting process from liquid material, and demonstrate the use of molds in Anglo-Saxon metalworking as means of both constructing and copying metal objects. Visitors were offered the opportunity to pour resin into one of several pre-provided molds, or a mold they themselves made from clay provided at the station. Overall, visitors were much more interested in the overview of the smelt as opposed to the pseudo-casting experience. The metalworking station got fewer visitors than other stations like carving and riddles, but those who did visit seemed very engaged and interested in the material, and hopefully came away with a greater understanding of and appreciation for Anglo-Saxon metalworking.

Casting/smelting station instruction
Information on bloomery furnace smelting

Riddles

I have four legs and a hard back. The more people struggle with me, the more they like me. What am I?

I’m the MEMEfest riddle table! Visitors of MEMEfest had the opportunity to solve ten riddles from the Exeter Book. Working as a team visitors solved all ten riddles, successfully placing themselves in the riddle-ravaged minds of the early medieval English. Answers included objects such as a ship, an onion, a fire-poker, and a key.

These riddles tell us a lot about how people in this time period thought, what items and activities would have been commonplace, and what they found novel or funny. The fact that we still found these riddles enjoyable more than a thousand years after their writing is a testament to their value as entertainment. Exeter Book riddles and speculated answers can be found online.

Riddle solving!

Pottery

At our pottery table, we provided an opportunity for visitors to come and create their own miniature pots with clay, as well as to learn about the history of pottery and the creation of pottery in the early Anglo-Saxon period. The history of pottery included a brief history of Roman rule in Britain and how pottery was mass produced and purchased by the Roman British population at various centers of commerce. In the post-Roman period, many of the technologies, like the potter’s wheel and kiln, were lost, leading to the creation of pottery being a more hands-on personal affair (for those interested, more information can be found here), which is the type of process we tried to emulate for visitors at the festival. Alongside clay for visitors to engage with, we provided a sample of an urn reconstruction made by another student hosting MEMEfest, which was an especially engaging example to show off (click here to learn more!) The pottery table did not draw quite as much attention as the carving or games demonstrations, for example, however those who did try to create their own pots seemed to enjoy the experience and take away how simple making pottery from this period really was. I think the hands-on approach to pottery alongside an actual lesson of the history were effectively combined into one, resulting in a positive experience for the visitors and those of us hosting the MEMEfest.

Pottery table

Weaving

At our weaving table, we allowed people to try out the ancient practice of tablet weaving and to learn a bit about the process of fabric production. Participants were given an opportunity to add to a tablet weaving project in process, exploring how to add patterns and getting a feel for how the cards can be manipulated. There were many tangles! A sample of modern tablet weaving was provided for visitors to examine if they wanted to get a feel for what the bands felt like. More information on the process of tablet weaving can be found on the youtube page of Elewys of Finchingefeld linked here.

Links for Further Reading

  • Experimental Archaeologist who built the furnace mentioned in the casting/smelting section (features very interesting posts about the process that goes into these types of projects): https://facebook.com/andrewjwelton/
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