EMAP_2012_Report_6_1.pdf (7.3 MB) - The Heritage Council

3.2.4: Motif-pieces
Stone, antler, bone and occasionally wooden motif-pieces are frequently found in metalworking
areas. These are generally regarded as trial-pieces used for practising patterns prior
to reproducing them on metalwork or for circulating designs. Motif-pieces have been recorded
at several sites (See O'Meadhra 1987, 1997); and examples include seven ecclesiastical sites,
one enclosure with burial and settlement, three high status crannogs or settlements, the
Hiberno-Norse towns at Dublin and Waterford and four other settlements (Appendix 1.2).
3.2.5: Scrap metal
Scrap metal has been found on a large number of sites and presumably was destined for
recycling and re-melting, and this is the likely one of the reasons for the presence of stone
ingot moulds on several sites. The importance of scrap and recycling is shown most strikingly
by the metalworker’s hoard from the Shanmullagh, on the River Blackwater (Bourke 1998,
30) which contained a collection of cut-up pieces of ecclesiastical objects. It is possible that
some of the decorated bronze scrap found at Clonmacnoise (King 2009, 343) may also have
come from ecclesiastical objects. Filing from non-ferrous metal at Deer Park farms may have
been placed in a clay ‘package’ for melting which allowed for maximum re-use of resources
(Bayley 2011, 348).
3.2.6: Precious Metals
Gold and silver were also used in ornamental metal-working. Gold was very scarce and was
used sparingly in the form of leaf, gilding, filigree and granulation. There is almost no
archaeological evidence for gold-working in early medieval Ireland as it was too precious a
commodity to be wasted or discarded. Moynagh Lough (Bradley 1993) and Movilla Abbey
(Ivens 1984b, 95) have produced tiny fragments of gold filigree wire and a gold ingot was
also found at the former site. Clogher produced a gold rubbing stone, perhaps used for gold
leaf and a crucible with a gold residue dating from the sixth to eighth century (Craddock
1990, 209-10). Evidence for gold-working was also present at Knowth (Barton and Bayley
2012, 526-33) and Clonmacnoise (Ó Floinn and King 1998, 123). The outer face of the
twisted gold fragment from the latter site was flattened as if gripped by pincers or tongs
(ibid. 123). At Lowpark a folded piece of filigree gold was found within a pit and, although
there is no evidence for non-ferrous metal-working on site, it is likely to have been intended
for re-cycling (Gillespie 2009, 166-167).
Silver was an important currency within early Irish law tracts and was suitable as payment for
specified fines (Kelly 1988, 115). Some have suggested that the term cerd refers to a
silversmith as distinct from a coppersmith (ibid. 63).There is little evidence for silver-working
though surviving objects indicate that the metal became more common during the eighth
century. However, it was the coming of the Vikings in the ninth century that brought a
massive influx of imported silver into Ireland in the form of objects and coin and bullion
hoards (Edwards 1990, 92). Sources of silver of the pre-Viking Age remain to be identified
though native ores may have been exploited. Apart from the traces of silver recorded in
crucibles and heating trays (see above) evidence primarily comes in the form of silver
objects. A silver hoard from Carraig Aille II contained ingots and fragments cut from silver
bracelets and may indicate that it was probably a stock-pile intended for use in the
production of luxury items on the site (Ó Ríordáin 1949a, 62-4). A silver ingot and four
nodules of silver-melt debris were recovered in the topsoil soil at the Hiberno-Scandinavian
longphort at Woodstown, indicating that silver was being worked/smelted and exchanged at
the site (O'Brien & Russell 2005, 119). The site also produced over thirty-six pieces of hack
silver, most of them hacked ingots, from the top soil (ibid. 122). Silvered bronze clippings
were associated with the burial and settlement site at Knoxpark, which appears to have had
Hiberno-Norse activity (Mount 2010, 209, Kelly 2009, 485-497). Excavations at Faughart
Lower, County Louth within a series of enclosures used for settlement and burial found a
stone ingot mould and a matching silver ingot indicates the possibility of silver working on
48