Mero-Jewel Production, Materials and Exchange of Merovingian Jewellery (5th-8th centuries)
Financed by the BRAIN-be 2.0 Research Program (Belspo), the general aim of Mero-Jewel is to increase our current knowledge of Merovingian jewelry in North-Western Europe from the last third of the 5th century AD, when they are encountered in large quantities in cemeteries, until the beginning of the 8th century AD, when they are no longer found as funerary objects. By applying an interdisciplinary material-based approach, we will transcend traditional art historical and archaeological approaches that too often only address their chronological and typological aspects. Mero-Jewel will investigate, analyze and document in a comprehensive way several research questions that concern the “chaîne opératoire” and different aspects of the manufacturing processes, use and exchanges of Merovingian jewelry found in Belgium: Which production techniques were applied and using which type of tools? Can we distinguish workshop productions based on the use of certain metallurgical or manufacturing processes, certain materials, particular tools or traditions? Can new and innovative techniques from outside the cultural heartland of Merovingian civilization be discerned? Which materials were used and how were they procured and processed? The core collection used in the framework of Mero-Jewel will be the Merovingian collection of the RMAH, that currently holds more than 150 pieces of jewellery in gold and silver. The corpus will be completed with items from excavated or studied sites in both Flanders and Wallonia. This will allow us to establish a representative research collection that covers the entire Belgian territory and spans the entire Merovingian period from the 5th until the 8th century AD.
Contact
Line Van Wersch, Britt Claes, Leen Wouters
Partners
Projet financé par la Politique scientifique Fédérale (Belspo) dans le cadre de l’appel BRAIN
