Galloway Picts

Samian ware and E ware sherds from Trusty’s Hill

Alongside the evidence for high status craft working at Trusty’s Hill in the late sixth century AD, the 2012 excavations recovered two sherds of imported pottery – both from France – one a sherd of Roman samian ware and the other a later Merovingian sherd of E ware. Each sherd provides an echo of the status, identity and connectedness of the early medieval household at Trusty’s Hill.

Samian Sherd Find

The Roman pottery sherd is part of a rim of a samian bowl, a type of expensive tableware dating to the second century AD. However, this was the only artefact from Trusty’s Hill dated to this period. Since the stratified context from which this was picked up – a layer of dark soil abutting the interior side of the rampart on the western side of the summit – yielded a calibrated radiocarbon date of AD 533-643, the deposition of this sherd clearly did not take place until at least the sixth century AD. The presence of a Roman pottery sherd in an early medieval context is not uncommon though, with Roman objects also being found at sites like the Mote of Mark and Dumbarton Rock. The samian sherd from the Mote of Mark is in fact quite a close example to Trusty’s Hill. It is similarly rubbed down on one side and both were very likely used as sources for jeweller’s rouge for polishing metalwork. The Roman pottery sherds from Trusty’s Hill and the Mote of Mark indicate active efforts by the Britons of the sixth century AD to import Roman pottery from elsewhere and reuse these in craft working on site.

The only other pottery sherd from the 2012 excavations, from an imported E ware pot from the Loire region of France, is a prime indicator of the status of the early medieval household of Trusty’s Hill. This single E ware sherd (albeit from excavation of only 1% of the site) suggests that the household here was part of an elite redistribution network that linked high status secular and ecclesiastical communities of Western Britain and Ireland with the Continent during the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Membership of this network allowed for the exchange of local goods for exotic imports (it was not the E ware pottery that was important but what the E ware pots contained). Perhaps more importantly for the society of the time, this enabled the gifting of these imports to kinsmen, friends and followers. While the evidence as it stands does not directly implicate Trusty’s Hill as an importation centre, key characteristics of the site (labour intensive defences, high status metalworking and metalwork itself) place the E ware sherd here in the same context as royal centres such as Dunadd, Dumbarton Rock and Dinas Powys. The single E ware sherd connects Trusty’s Hill with a continental trade that seems to have specifically targeted the north Solway Coast with large assemblages recovered from the large scale excavations at Whithorn and the Mote of Mark (in contrast to the absence of such imports in northern Wales, Cumbria and Lancashire). Gaulish merchants were clearly making a beeline for Galloway during the sixth and early seventh centuries AD, but what they were acquiring in return remains a mystery.

E Ware Distribution map

copper-alloy horse mount

Further analysis of the Anglo-Saxon decorated horse mount reveals even more information about how it may have been acquired by the inhabitants of Trusty’s Hill. X-Ray Fluorescence analysis of the mount shows that it comprised of leaded brass with a higher concentration of zinc than found in either the crucibles or moulds from Trusty’s Hill. Leaded brass is more common in Anglo-Saxon England where Roman bronze objects (which were commonly composed of leaded brass) were melted down as a source material for metalworking. Despite the proximity of Trusty’s Hill to the Irish Sea trade networks that could have brought scrap metal to the site, the high lead contents in the crucibles and the lead ingot recovered from the site suggests that the craftsmen here were not re-casting either Roman or Anglo-Saxon metal, but using other sources to produce ornaments of leaded bronze not leaded brass. It seems unlikely therefore that the Trusty’s Hill mount was produced at the workshop at this site.

The Trusty’s Hill mount may have come to the site as part of a complete horse bridle or as an object already removed. There are various explanations: it could have been a gift to the household at Trusty’s Hill, it may have been traded to the smiths here or it may have been looted from a battlefield. Given the damage to the mount, that its gilded and silvered finish has been removed and that there is little other evidence for trade in scrap metal, the last explanation seems perhaps the most likely.

crucible fragments from Trusty's Hill

Alongside the evidence for ironworking, there was a variety of debris associated with non-ferrous metalworking recovered from Trusty’s Hill. XRF analysis of crucible fragments demonstrate that copper, tin, lead and silver were worked. It is notable that a high proportion of the crucibles show a combination of copper, tin and lead, suggesting the production of leaded bronze objects. The very small size of the crucibles indicates that it was very fine objects that were being created. This is supported by the identification of gold and silver on a heating-tray fragment, and three clay mould fragments. These yielded traces of copper, zinc and lead indicating that all three had been used to cast copper-alloy objects. Most likely these were pins and jewellery given the comparisons one can draw between the Trusty’s Hill clay moulds and clay moulds from other sites like the Mote of Mark and Dunadd.

This evidence for the production of fine metalwork, and not simply the mending of objects, is particularly significant to understanding the status of the inhabitants of Trusty’s Hill around AD 600. By instigating and controlling craft production, the inhabitants here had the power of patronage. Early medieval Scotland was a non-monetary economy so the control of production of high status objects was used to tie individuals into wider socio-political relations. In other words, a chieftain or king who could produce fine objects could attract and gather a large following of clients, who in return for his largesse owed him service. With the increased martial power that might come with a larger following of armed supporters and clients, a leader might acquire more resources with which to attract further clients and followers.

clay mould fragments from Trusty's Hill

Inspired and intrigued by Chris Bowles’ talk about Trusty’s Hill at the Scotland in Early Medieval Europe Conference back in February 2013, Richard Strathie went to have a look at the site. We thought the aerial photographs he took of Trusty’s Hill might be of interest, particularly as they show how Trusty’s Hill lies within the surrounding landscape:

Revisited Trusty’s Hill recently with Welsh TV company Cwmni Da, who were making a programme on the ‘Old North’ for the S4C series Darn Bach o Hanes (A little Piece of History). With the fantastic summer weather, the site is looking a little overgrown! Would never have guessed we had opened up a few trenches here, which is probably a good sign that our excavation resulted in no damage to the site. Cwmni Da’s presenter, Dewi Prysor, made a herculean effort to climb the hill, due to his recently broken ankle. But I think he was glad he made it once he had reached the Pictish Carved Stone and heard and seen the evidence for why the elusive Dark Age kingdom of Rheged can now be fixed to the ground somewhere for the first time, that is in Galloway. Look out for the programme on S4C in the Autumn!

Cwmni Da TV filming at Trusty's Hill

Cwmni Da TV filming at Trusty's Hill

Cwmni Da TV filming at Trusty's Hill