The Hallaton Ingot: silver in Iron Age Britain
Resource type
Journal article
Creator (person)
Farley, Julia
Date published
2021
Abstract
This article is a case study of the detailed contextual and scientific analysis of a single object, moving beyond a conventional object biography to consider flows of materials and shifts in meaning and value. The object is a simple triangular silver ingot from the Late Iron Age shrine site at Hallaton, Leicestershire, UK. Scientific analysis is used to uncover the biography of the ingot, and the raw materials from which it was created. The results suggest that the metal which eventually formed the ingot circulated through both Iron Age and Roman social networks, being reworked and transformed several times before it was deposited. Silver emerges as a material which mediated between the Mediterranean world and Iron Age communities in Britain, allowing translation and transmutation between different systems of value in conquest-period Britain.
Project(s)
Gold & Silver in Iron Age & Roman Britain: Transformations in Metallurgy & Value
Editor
Farley
Funder
| Funder name | Awards |
Leverhulme Trust | |
Journal title
Oxford Journal of Archaeology
Volume
40
Publisher
Wiley
ISSN
1468-0092
Official URL