421 (10)

394

IJress Accessories

Variations between/within object categories

A number of different object categories were    The number of analyses of each object category

included in the analytical programme to inves-    included and the metals represented are as

tigate whether any alloys were specifically follows: associated with indiyidual object categories.

object category	no. of analyses	copper	brass	gunmetal	bronze	lead	tin	pewter	gold	silver
buckie	137	15	45	36	17	_	13	4	-	1
strap end	147	10	81	27	15	-	5	4	-	-
mount	116	13	40	19	6	1	30	5	-	-
brooch	57	3	4	13	4	1	1	27	-	4
button	18	-	5	2	5	-	5	1	-	-
lace chape	53	-	39	8	6	-	-	-	-	-
hair accessory	14	-	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
pin	20	-	13	3	1	-	-	1	-	2
bead	3	-	-	-	-	-	3	-	-	-
Chain	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
finger ring	50	2	12	3	2	1	1	15	5	-
beli	27	1	8	1	-	-	15	1	-	-
mirror case	9	-	1	1	-	-	-	6	-	1
comb	2	-	-	-	2	-	-	-	-	-
cosmetic set	14	5	5	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
needlecase	3	1	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
total	649	51	269	117	59	3	73	64	6	7

For some object categories there does seem to be correlation with a specific alloy typc, eg copper-alloy bells are predominantly brass with little or no tin or lead (though the majority of bells were pure tin). There are clusters of a limited rangę of compositions for copper-alloy brooches, buttons, and pins. Other object types, particularly buckles, mounts and strap-ends, are found in a much wider rangę of copper alloys, (lace chapes havc a relatively wide variation within brass and bronze) often containing significant ąuantities of tin and less zinc. However, the object categories showing a greater variation in composition tend to be those objects which were analysed in greater numbers, and it is difficult to go further than to suggest the possible existence of a morę res-trictcd pattern of alloy usage for objects that were analysed in smaller numbers (this was due to their infrequent occurrence rather than any other sam-pling bias).

Variations in the metals and alloys found site by site were investigated, but no coherent pattern emerged; an archive text outlining ratios for the copper alloys analysed for each of the rnain object categories is held at the Ancient Monuments Laboratory (Heyworth 1989).

General discussion

The generał picture which emerges from the attempts to correlate the pattern of alloy usage with the archaeological information regarding datę, category of object and spatial distribution is that a rangę of alloys were available and widely used throughout the late 12th to early 15th centuries in London. Very few comparable analyses of similar objects of the same datę are available from Britain, but those that are pub-lished (eg Brownsword 1987, 169-74) suggest that brass was the most widely used copper alloy, which fits well with the analyses of the London dress accessories.

The rangę of alloys between and within object categories suggests that the metalworkers were happy to use any available scrap metal, and had no particular reąuirements for pure metals or par-ticular compositions. This was confirmed by a study of some buckles and strap-ends of compo-