Blue Bridge Lane
&
Fishergate House
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A wide variety of stone objects was recovered during excavation at Blue Bridge Lane and Fishergate House. Roman material was represented by a single intaglio recovered residually from Period 3 cesspit F381B, which may relate to the reworking of Roman metalwork or the resetting of old gems. Anglian material included a variety of imported stone objects, mainly several small fragments of imported quernstones, sandstone and schist whetstones, as well as a globular amber bead and large lump of raw amber. The medieval material was represented by devotional objects, including a jet rosary bead and possible rosary cross of inlaid jet, and a cross-marked pebble. A poorly preserved limestone mortar of probable 14th century date was recovered residually, having been reused as wall core material during Period 9B. Post-medieval material was rare and represented by a Victorian button of ornately carved jet with brass eye.
The intaglio (Martin Henig)
The
intaglio (right) is engraved upon a carnelian ringstone, ovoid in shape with
flat upper face and sides bevelled inwards (Henig 1978a, 35, fig.1, shape
F1) measuring 18 x 15 x 2.5mm (Find no 4236). It depicts a youth, standing
in a relaxed posture to the front. His head is turned to the right and he
plays one of a pair of auloi, holding the instrument in his left hand, resting
his left arm upon a low column with a moulded top. He holds the other aulos
in his right hand. He supports his weight upon his left leg; his right is
bent at the knee. The stops of the auloi are well indicated and a feature
of especial interest is that the pipes could clearly be played singly if
desired. The gem is in quite good condition but there is a chip on the right
side which has removed much of the base of the column.
The cutting is crisp, executed in long, confident strokes and the lithe, well muscled torso is excellently modelled. Stylistically the intaglio can be assigned to the Wheel style (Maaskant-Kleibrink 1978, 154-5 and nos 335-40) and is datable to the end of the 1st century BC or possibly very early in the following century. It is unmatched as a genre work, evidently figuring a flute-player. The only gem from Britain in any way comparable in date, quality, subject and style, a green chalcedony intaglio from Chichester, is very different in mood. Here (Henig 1978a, no. App.108; Henig 1978b) a satyr is depicted, seated on the ground, the auloi lying against a rock in front of him. The subject has been interpreted as Marsyas, who dared to challenge the god Apollo to a musical contest, lost and was flayed for his presumption. It is possible that this gem, evidently from a late Roman context, had long been an heirloom but it could have come to Britain during the early days of the client kingdom centred on Chichester. The other representation of a satyr playing auloi, a 2nd century red jasper intaglio from the fort of Newstead in Scotland depicts a somewhat diminutive satyr who is standing beneath a tree and playing his instrument (Henig 1978a, no.179).
Context
Even outside Britain the intaglio is not easily matched. An intaglio depicting a dancing satyr playing the double-pipes from a cache of intaglios and cameos recovered in the House of Pinarius Cerialis at Pompeii, possibly the stock-in-trade of a dealer in gems, may be noted (Pannuti 1983, no.168), as may the very enthusiastic satyr playing the auloi on a gem from Luni (Sena Chiesa 1978, no.27 or another satyr dancing, with his pair of auloi unused at his feet shown on an intaglio in the Kestner Museum, Hanover (Zazoff 1975, no.863). Other representations of satyrs, elderly sileni and maenads playing auloi belong in sacro-idyllic contexts with an image often of the fertility deity Priapus in front of them (Brogli 1996, 190-193, nos 205-222). Most of these are of Augustan date.
Does the Fishergate intaglio belong amongst these? Here it may be recalled that it includes a column in its composition. Essentially that feature may have been derived from the sacred column ubiquitous in the sacro-idyllic world of the satyrs but, without any Priapic image upon it and using it as a support for a human figure, the gem cutter has effectively reinterpreted the theme and so created a lively and independent study of his own. He has conceived the musician not as an uncouth denizen of the wilds but, on the contrary, as an upper-class Greek or Roman youth, stripped and oiled, relaxing in the palaestra after his bath. In fact it belongs within the same milieu as the subject shown on a sardonyx intaglio from North Cerney, Gloucestershire upon which an ephebe partly balances himself upon a herm; this gem is likewise Augustan in date (Trow 1982; Henig 1991, 51 fig. 9). For anyone other than a professional musician, flute playing in Greek and Roman society was an activity strictly associated with leisure (in Latin otium) and one of the later Ptolemies, Ptolemy XII, father of Cleopatra VII, was characterised for his frivolity by his sobriquet, Auletes, the > Flute-player =.
Although the intaglio can be seen as an important and attractive work of art in its own right, there is its context - or rather contexts - to consider. If it was either churned up in rubbish at Fishergate or brought there by an Anglian craftsman who had found it elsewhere in York or its immediate vicinity; it may originally have graved the signet-ring of an officer in the 1st-century Roman Imperial army or else, just possibly, that of a Briton of Romanising tastes in the Brigantian Client Kingdom. More interesting, perhaps, is what it may have meant in a Middle Anglian context. Throughout the Migration period and beyond Roman gemstones were valued and came to be mounted in brooches, pendants and rings. In addition intaglios and cameos were incorporated in splendid jewelled crosses, reliquaries and book-covers (see Sena Chiesa 2002). Alas, none of these wonderful objects has survived from a British context, but at least quite a number of Roman gems set in Anglo-Saxon jewellery have been excavated, for example, a recent find is a cornelian intaglio, depicting a satyr set in a gold pendant, which was excavated from a grave in a 7th-century cemetery at Caistor St Edmund (Henig in Penn 2000, 51 fig. 96; see Henig 1978a, chapter 12 for a number of other examples). No doubt part of the interest to those who re-used these relics from Antiquity lay in the beauty of the stones as objects, but other considerations apart from the aesthetic were involved and the images-and the stones themselves-were undoubtedly endowed with magic qualities (Evans 1922). The interest was widespread even beyond the former Imperial frontiers and Roman gems are recorded as far north as Hon in Norway and Ribe in Jutland (see Henig and MacGregor 1996, 89). That being so it is possible that the Fishergate gem arrived in Britain not in Roman times but later. In the High Middle Ages gemstones were certainly brought to England from southern Europe and even from the Levant. Whatever its source, it is not at all unlikely that it reflects Anglian craft-working and the intention of reusing the intaglio or its setting in an item of contemporary metalwork.
Sixty-one lavastone quern fragments were recovered from Period 3 pits and residually in a range of later features. The fragments are mostly small, undiagnostic and abraded, but are general indicators of links to the Mayen-Niedermendig region of Germany viadirect or indirect trade. The smaller fragments could conceivably relate to on-site manufacture from imported roughouts, or the maintenance of querns, but this remains conjecture.
A few fragments had diagnostic characteristics preserved. Find no 283 is a fragment of upper stone and preserves a tooled grinding surface and thong hole, which passes obliquely from the top of the quern and exits through the side. Find nos 4412 and 911 represent the outer edge of a quern and part of the central hole respectively; the reconstructed diameter of Find no 4412 suggests that the complete examples would have fallen within the normal size of contemporary querns (Mann 1982, 22). Other fragments, Find nos 285 and 4410, preserve the grinding surface and tooling patterns, and the former appears to have been redressed once worn.
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| Find No 283 | Find No 911 |
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| Find No 4412 | |
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| Find No 4410 | Find No 285 |
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| Find No 283 |
Find No 285
The presence of lavastone querns is known at sites throughout Britain (Southampton, London, Winchester and Ipswich), but increasingly from several sites in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. Fragments of lavastone querns have been recovered from Flaxengate, Lincoln (Mann 1982, 47), from several sites in York, including Fishergate and the Lloyds Bank site (Rogers 1993, 1321-1329; MacGregor 1982, 74) and Flixborough (Loveluck 2001, 93).
Five hones and a small assemblage of utilised natural pebbles were recovered from features of Period 3 date (Find nos 4419, 4422, 4428, 4447 and 4448). Two further hones can be allocated to the group: an unstratified example is covered with faecal concretions characteristic of many finds from Period 3 cesspits (Find no 4442); a fragment of hone was recovered from a Period 4 pit at Blue Bridge Lane and is probably residual, since primary Period 4 occupation at the Blue Bridge Lane site was not detected. The hones are all of sandstone with two well-finished examples (Find no 4419, which has clear signs of use for sharpening in the form of metallic residue, and Find no 4434). The other hones are less regular in form and profile and some are not clearly worked but shows signs of use for sharpening.
Hone, Find No 4419
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| Hone, Find No 4428 | Hone, Find No 4434 |
Hone, Find No 4448
Hone, Find No 4419
Hone, Find No 4428
Hone, Find No 4442
Hone, Find No 4434
In addition, a group of natural pebbles were recovered and show signs of use (Find nos 4407, 4423, 4429 and 6123). The stones have polished and smoothed areas and may have been used casually for a variety of purposes. Al least two in the group shows signs of heat reddening and could have been used as smoothing stones for skin processing; along with a possible awl, these provide small hints of leather-working.
Find No 4407; utilised stone
A further fragment of hone, exhibiting clear signs of wear, and made of Norwegian purple phylitte, was recovered from Period 4 SFB Structure 1 at Fishergate House (Dr G. Gaunt, pers.comm.) (Find no 905). Apart from the phylitte, the stones have not been provenanced.
Find 905
Find 905
A large lump of raw amber was recovered from a Period 3 pit and is of note, as it may relate to the working of amber at the site (Find no 4456). While no manufacturing waste has been excavated, the piece must have arrived at the site as an item of trade, not necessarily from the Baltic, but at least from the east coast (Huggett 1988, 64). The object has a sea-worn crust, although a small area of conchoidal fractures suggests the piece had been tested for quality and colour. Amber-working is known from Clifford Street (Waterman 1959, 94-6) and Coppergate (Panter 2000, 2501-2519), but has not been directly encountered at Fishergate, although a small amber bead was recovered from a Period 4z deposit at 46-54 Fishergate (Rogers 1993, 1378). To this a small globular amber bead can be added (Find no 4458). The bead was recovered from Period 3 pit F520B and is lathe-turned in dark brownish-orange amber.
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| Find No 4456 | Find No 4458 |
A small number of medieval stone objects were identified in the assemblage and represent items of devotion and domestic items, which are paralleled on many other sites in Britain.
A small jet pendant, in the form of an equal-armed cross was recovered, probably residually from a Period 7B quarry pit backfill (F198B) (Find no 4238). The object is decorated with possible silver inlay with a central double ring-and-dot motif, surrounded by single ring-and-dot ornament on each arm of the cross. One arm has a drilled perforation for suspension.
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| Find No 4238 | |
The pendant is parallelled on sites throughout Yorkshire, with three examples from Whitby Abbey (Dennison 2002), which represents the likely production centre of these artefacts. Two examples are known from York, both of which were recovered at Coppergate from dumps of 12th century date (Mainman and Rogers 2000, 2590), although the dumps contained a quantity of residual material resulting in some uncertainty about their date. The form of the decoration, and the size of the Blue Bridge Lane pendant, is closest, however, to one of the Coppergate examples.
Mainman and Rogers list three further examples from burial contexts in Yorkshire and Cleveland: from a 12th century burial at St John = s Priory, Pontefract (Bellamy 1965, 93); from a pre-12th century grave at Guisborough Priory (Heslop 1995, 93-4 fig 17.2); from a 10th century burial at Scarborough (Rowntree 1931).
The weight of evidence suggests the Blue Bridge Lane example was residual from Period 6 and therefore of probable 12th century date. One of the examples from Whitby is currently on display as the rosary cross of a jet rosary; this is by no means unlikely, since jet was a popular choice for rosaries, although their more frequent recovery alone within graves shows that they could simply have been worn as pendants.
In addition, a single lathe-turned and highly polished jet rosary bead (Find no 4196) was recovered from a Period 8 pit at Blue Bridge Lane and joins other jet rosary beads from York (Ottaway and Rogers 2002, 2948). An assemblage of 14th century jet rosary manufacturing waste encountered recently at Bishop Lane, Hull, reaffirms the known popularity of this material for rosaries (FAS 2002).
Find No 4196
A number of small abraded fragments of amber were recovered from Period 8A terrace F109B and may represent the remains of an amber bead, but the material is really degraded beyond recognition (Find no 4457). In addition a small lathe-turned globular stone bead was recovered from a Period 7B water collector F150B (Find no 4207). The bead is much abraded, but appears to be made of weathered, pale opaque amber.
A further object of devotion consists of a round smooth chalk pebble with a crude cross scratched on either side (Find no 4421). The object is not easy to date but was recovered from the backfill of a Period 7B quarry pit (F198B). Unmarked smooth white stones are often found in religious contexts, most commonly at sites of early medieval date (Ritchie 1971, 297-301), so it seems likely that the colour of the stone, as well as its markings, may have been significant.
Find no 4421
Find no 4421
A fragmentary stone mortar was recovered reused as wallcore material from a Period 9B context (Find no 4406). Stone mortars are common finds, and several examples have been recovered from York, Hull, and Beverley (Watkin 1987, 190; Foreman 1991 107; Foreman 1992, 123; Foreman 1996, 168-170; Ottaway and Rogers 2002, 2799-2081). Like the Blue Bridge Lane example, broken mortars are often reused as building stone, a phenomenon noted in Beverley, York and Hull (Foreman 1992, 123; Ottaway and Rogers 2002, 2803, FAS 2002). Mortars are thought to have been introduced during the 13th century, and while Find no 4406 was recovered from the make-up of a Period 9B wall, it is likely to date to the 13th to 14th century.
Find no 4406
Four hones were recovered from Period 7 and 8 deposits, and a hone from Period 9A orchard soil is probably residual. Three of the hones are of schist and the fourth of sandstone. Two conjoining fragments of schist recovered from boundary ditch F208B are poorly preserved with only a small area of smooth surface intact (Find no 4413). A complete schist whetstone was recovered from the same feature (Find no 4415) and has an irregular profile common in hones of schist. The third schist hone is long and thin in form and again has an irregular profile (Find no 4431). A fragment of sandstone hone was recovered from Period 8A boundary ditch F219B (Find no 4443). The hones were recovered from soil spreads or boundary feature backfills, but are broadly consistent with the craft-working nature of the monastic precinct.
Find No 4415
Find No 4431
Finally a fragmentary chalk weight was recovered from Period 9B ditch F200B (Find no 4426). The object consists of five conjoining fragments of smoothed chalk with a drilled hole, which form one face of a possible thatch weight; the other side of the object has sheared off.
Find No 4236 residual in Period 3 cesspit F381B C1861B
Oval
carnelian intaglio 18 x 15 x 2.5mm depicting satyr playing auloi, holding
a second and leaning on a pedestal. Damage to one edge presumably from removal
from setting.
Find No 4207 Period 7B water collector F150B C1312B
Small
lathe-turned globular stone bead, possibly pale opaque amber. 4.5 x 4.5mm
Find No 4456 Period 3 pit F388B C1857B
Large piece of raw
amber. Smooth crust with a patch of small concoidal fractures at one end.
Rich orange colour with streaks of opaque material. 95 x 63 x 35mm.
Find No 4457 Period 8A terrace/ditch F109B C1641B
Grains
of fragmented and degraded amber.
Find No 4458 Period 3 pit F520B C1811B
Globular lathe-turned
dark amber bead. 9 x 6.5mm.
Find No 4196 Period 8 pit F122B C1604B
Annular lathe-turned
polished jet rosary bead. 6.5 diameter x 5mm.
Find No 4237 Period 9A soil C1182B
Victorian jet button
with central eight-pointed star in roundel, surrounded by eight three-pointed
crowns. Brass eye intact on reverse. 20mm diameter.
Find No 4238 residual in Period 7A pit F245B C1546B
Equal-armed
jet cross pendant with ?silver inlaid ring and dot on each arm and a double
ring and dot central to cross. 15 x 14.5 x 5mm.
Find No 905 Period 4 SFB F177F C1335F
Fragment of oblong
whetstone. 40 x 13 x 7.5mm.
Find No 4413 Period 7/8 boundary ditch F208B C1767B
Two
fragments of schist probably from whetstone. Not conjoining but probably
from same object, one fragment has worn facet. Fragment 140 x 24 x 10mm,
Fragment 2 32 x 24 x 11mm
Find No 4415 Period 7/8 boundary ditch F208B C1769B
Irregular
rectangular whetstone. 103 x 25 x 20mm.
Find No 4431 Period 9A orchard soil C1166B
Irregular oblong
whetstone. 103 x 15.5 x 13.5mm.
Find No 4407 Period 3 cesspit F381B C1836B
Large pebble
used for smoothing or sharpening with area of metallic residue visible as
well as area of fire-reddening. 197 x 86 x 63mm.
Find No 4419 Period 3 pit F353B C1449B
Complete oblong whetstone.
Metallic residues visible on all sides. 119 x 39 x 27mm.
Find No 4422 Period 3 cesspit F13B C1865B and Find No 4445 F13B
C1065B
Two conjoining fragments of ?rectangular whetstone. Sheared
along bedding plane and discoloured by fire. Fragment 1 46 x 39 x 6mm,
Fragment 2, 75 x 40 x 6mm
Find No 4423 Period 3 cesspit F13B C1064B
Large stone used
for smoothing or rubbing, with area of fire-reddening. 67 x 56 x 45mm.
Find No 4428 Period 3 cesspit F381B C1858B
Small rectangular
whetstone. 63 x 18 x 13mm.
Find No 4429 Period 7A pit F245B C1548B
Small stone used
for smoothing or rubbing, signs of polishing on underside. 60 x 54 x 28.5mm
Find No 4434 Period 4 posthole F256B C1574B
Fragment of
oblong whetstone. 67 x 34 x 24mm
Find No 4442 U/S
Irregular oblong whetstone. 104 x 20 x
19mm.
Find No 4443 Period 8A ditch F219B C1427B
Fragment of whetstone.
99 x 74 x 28.5mm.
Find No 4447 Period 3 pit F458B C2031B
Small fragment of
possible rectangular whetstone. 51 x 33 x 13.5mm.
Find No 4448 Period 3 cesspit F13B C1147B
Small possible
oblong whetstone. 54.5 x 18 x 15mm.
Find No 6123 Period 7B quarry pit F198B C1442B
Stone used
for smoothing or rubbing, broken. 78.5mm diameter, 29mm thick.
Find No 4427 Period 3 cesspit F241B C1526B
Smooth limestone
pebble with areas of wear on both sides.
Find No 5291 Period 7A posthole F516B C2109B
Three fragments
of millstone grit rubber stone, conjoining, 58mm thick.
Find No 283 Period 3 cesspit F13B C1026B
Small piece of
upper stone with thong hole partially intact. 29mm thick.
Find No 285 residual in Period 6 pit F4B C1040B
Fragment
of lavastone quern with roughly tooled grinding surface, other side is worn,
possibly turned over for reuse. 20mm thick.
Find No 286 residual in Period 6 pit F4B C1006B
Eight small
lumps of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 907 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1339
Two small lumps
of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 908 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1344F
Eleven small lumps
of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 909 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1345F
Eight small lumps
of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 911 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1120F
Small lump of lavastone
quern, handle hole partially intact. 25mm thick.
Find No 912 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1120F
Small lump of lavastone
quern, no diagnostic features present. 31mm thick.
Find No 913 Period 3 cesspit F64F C1348F
Small lump of lavastone,
no diagnostic features present.
Find No 914 residual in Period 6 pit F250B C1464B
Small
lump of lavastone quern, no diagnostic features present. 23mm thick.
Find No 4410 Period 3 pit F13B C1881B
Fragment of lavastone
quern with rough tooling and sooting, no diagnostic features present. 22mm
thick.
Find No 4411 Period 3 cesspit F13F C1065F
Thick lump of
lavastone, no diagnostic features present, but minimum of 70mm thick, ?waste.
Find No 4412 Period 3 pit F13B C1881B
Fragment of lavastone
quern with central or handle hole partially intact, some tooling of grinding
surface visible. 25mm thick.
Find No 4425 residual in Period 7B water collector F150B C1335B
Thick
lump of lavastone, no diagnostic features present, but minimum of 77.5mm
thick, ?waste.
Find No 4433 Period 8A landscaping soil C1169B
Two small
lumps of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 4437 Period 3 cesspit F13B C1144B
Ten small lumps
of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 4440 Period 3 cesspit F381B C1851B
Small lump of
lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 6126 Period 9A orchard soil C1255B
Eight small lumps
of lavastone, no diagnostic features present.
Find No 6165 Period 3 pit F546B C2175B
Small lump of lavastone,
no diagnostic features present.
Find No 6166 Period 3 pit F13B C1145B
Small lump of lavastone,
no diagnostic features present.
Find No 4490 Period 3 pit F388B C1845B
Tiny lump of ?iron
pyrites.
Find No 4450 Period 3 pit F520B C1820B
Tiny lump of ?iron
pyrites.
Find No 4406 residual in Period 9B wall make-up F66B C1200B
Fragment
of limestone mortar. Base intact, walls missing, traces of three original
lobes intact. 198.0mm diameter, 91mm in height.
Find No 4426 residual in Period 9B ditch F200B C1387B Find No 4424
F200B C1387B
Five conjoining fragments of smoothed chalk ?weight.
Circular drilled hole at top with signs of wear. 31mm thick; 12mm long;
minimum 108mm wide.
Find No 4421 Period 7B quarry pit F198B C1283B
Smooth chalk
pebble with incised crosses on both sides.
Find No 4416 Period 3 cesspit F381B C2063B
Small rounded
white quartzite pebble.
Find No 4417 Period 3 cesspit F381B C1859B
Small rounded
white quartzite pebble.
Find No 4420 Period 5 pit F555B C2209B
Small red jasper
pebble.
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apc > monographs > blue bridge lane & fishergate house > artefacts & environmental > stone objects