Cecily Spall

Abstract

Excavation of the early medieval workshops at the Pictish monastic site at Portmahomack, Ross-shire, has revealed evidence for a range of crafts being practised, dated provisionally to the 7th to 9th century. The crafts of the smith (including glassworking), leather- and wood-workers are recognisable from discarded tools, and raw and waste (including failed) products, recovered mostly from features, fl oor layers and dumps within the main craft-working zone. The working of copper alloys and silver, signalled initially by crucibles, has been confi rmed by a programme of XRF analysis, but to date evidence for goldworking at the site remains elusive. The possibility of early medieval gold-smithing at Portmahomack is examined and discussed in the context of the Tarbat workshops and evidence from contemporary sites in Britain. 

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How to Cite
All that glitters: the case for goldworking at the early medieval monastery at Portmahomack. (2021). Historical Metallurgy, 40(1), 42-48. https://hmsjournal.org/index.php/home/article/view/232
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