étude archéologique et archéométrique de l'armement du haut Moyen Âge entre Seine et Rhin
Weapon production has long been a contentious issue and remains one to this day; when might makes right, weapons confer power, prestige and legitimacy. Despite (or perhaps because) of this morally dubious quality, weapons are typically some of the most finely wrought objects of their day. In the Early Middle Ages, all kinds of weapons benefited from a wide range of enhancements; from the purely aesthetic like gold or silver inlay and pattern welding, to structural considerations, such as the choice of high quality steel. While the weapons used by Frankish societies between the 5th and 9th centuries have received in depth typological analysis, few of these studies have considered production, provenance or technique. My PhD, Acies Ferri, archaeological and archaeometric study of Early Medieval weaponry between the Seine and Rhine rivers, covers these oft-maligned aspects.
The objectives of my PhD are split into three main categories. The first is identifying the origin of the iron used in Merovingian weapons to better understand the exchange of primary materials in North Western Europe during this period. The second concerns production, ranging from large scale questions, such as the degree of centralisation of weapon production to small scale concerns, like the methods and techniques used during the forging process. Finally, the third category involves establishing weapon typology from both a morphological and technical perspective. Further consideration will see if any identified technical traditions can be correlated with geography and/or social status. Answering these questions requires access to a large corpus, which is guaranteed for this study. This includes weaponry from funerary sites across Northern and Eastern France, Southern Belgium and the Southern Netherlands. Weapons will be sampled and both slag inclusions and metal matrix will undergo in depth analysis using a variety of methods. These include Optical Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy, Laser Ablation ICP Mass Spectrometry and Particle Induced X/Gamma ray Emission
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Projet financé par l’ULiège
