A brief introduction to circle-based symbols, their form and meaning, that are found as historic graffiti and also on objects in the PAS database.

Historic graffiti refers to marks, scratches or carvings throughout history that have been made illicitly on a surface and usually in a public place.  They are being found, and recorded, in many settings including churches, houses, barns, caves, and on rocks. Much of it is memorial or ‘tourist’ graffiti, that is, in the form of initials names and or dates. However, a significant amount of historic graffiti is in the form of symbols, images or pictograms. Many of these images are also found in formally commissioned art and architecture and occasionally on portable objects.

PAS objects are frequently known to have formal images carved, cast or stamped onto them, but is there any connection between images found as informal graffiti the as on these portable objects, and is their meaning the same? A couple of good articles have already been blogged by Simon Nicholson of Derbyshire PAS on their county blog page, and they are both informative:

‘Ampullae and Graffiti’ added 22^nd April 2020 and ‘Token Protection?’ posted 24^th October 2019. Simon also wonders if there is a link between the symbols found on PAS objects and graffiti found in churches and secular buildings, and if they have the same meanings. The short answer is… ‘possibly-maybe’!

PAS is very good at setting standards for, and providing guides on, the practicalities of describing portable objects. Historic graffiti studies much less so, as there are no universal typologies for naming or interpreting their meaning. This may be due to most historic objects having been studied formally and extensively over many centuries, whereas informal graffiti much less so until fairly recent times. Nevertheless, the PAS guide to terms used for describing decoration are often general, so that many of the descriptions are not always precise or consistent, nor always equivalent to historic graffiti of the same name or shape.

Circles and arcs

CIRCLES, arcs and other symbols derived from them are the first group of symbols that I will present in this introductory blog. The table at the end covers the basic circle-based graffiti types, and some of the meaning(s) currently proposed.

Much modern thinking believes a lot of these symbols were (or still are) apotropaic images. In simple terms this means they ward off evil, bar the entry of evil (spirits, demons, witches etc), or invoke protection (e.g. from the Virgin Mary). Many of the ones found in buildings appear to have been created as if with a pair of compasses, although other tools may have substituted for example scissors or shears or a rase (aka race) knife.

Searching the database using the word ‘circle’ returned 26,000 results; using ‘arc’ returns over 1,600. Circles are ancient symbols and, depending on the many references available online, are often said to represent one or more of these meanings: the sun and/or moon, unity, wholeness, infinity, fertility, or simply as a geometric decoration. Clearly links to the context, culture and era may influence the interpretation.

LANCUM-F47427 https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/LANCUM-F47427 is a Late Iron Age to Roman mount, where the inner concentric circles simply follow the overall shape of the object. Here the circles are partly functional, in this case for encapsulating a ring of inlay, and a central circular hole possibly for attachment. If the overall shape and circle design had any other meaning to the maker or wearer remains unknown.

Quatrefoils

QUATREFOILS are not uncommon in churches, and the above example is from Benington All Saints Church in Lincolnshire.  It forms a symmetrical cross, and was probably created as a Christian consecration cross, with all the meaning of this                                 widespread symbol.

Quatrefoils come in different styles in architecture and art; a PAS database search using ‘quatrefoil’ produced over 14,000 results of which 12,547 were medieval and 9,333 were on coins. In Christian symbolism, the quatrefoil clearly represents the cross.

However, PUBLIC-21FA9D https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/PUBLIC-21FA9D and    PUBLIC-320EC0 https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/PUBLIC-320EC0, shown here, have a symbol or shape defined as a quatrefoil that is quite different from that of the graffiti quatrefoil earlier …

These two examples are dated to the medieval period, so it’s fairly likely that the strikingly different quatrefoil designs were deliberately included to Christianise these objects.

Coincidentally the quartered circle commonly found on medieval coins is closer to a symbol known as a ‘suncross’, an ancient pre-Christian symbol that also resembles the Celtic Cross, and persists through the medieval right up to today.

The circle containing cross is most widely seen on PAS coins, such as the short- and long-cross coins of the medieval period. In such examples the cross Christianises the coin. The circle simply follows the shape of the coin, although it begs the question as to why are most coins, in most cultures, circular? It’s likely that there are practical historical reasons for this including the observation that pressing molten metal will cause a more circular shape, no rough corners, roundness conveys ease of stacking, storage and containment. The long cross replaced the short cross to dissuade clipping of the outer edge.

Hexfoils

HEXFOIL graffiti are slightly more complex, aka hexafoils, daisywheels or rosettes, and are a very common historic graffiti symbol especially in churches. They are generally believed to have an apotropaic meaning.

However, its distribution as a term on the PAS database is limited to only 2 results from a search. Even when I used hexafoil or daisywheel as separate search items they only returned 38 and 2 items respectively. There seems to be a significant difference, between objects and graffiti, in the occurrence of this symbol. This is likely to be because the PAS term usually used for a 6-foil object or pattern is ‘sexfoil’, see later.

Stating hexafoil as a PAS database search description is SUR-DDEE36, https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/SUR-DDEE36, a lead post-medieval token with a clear hexafoil, that compares favourably with the graffiti example. But yet again, it is difficult to prove that this similarity of form means the same that it (might have) had in prehistory, Roman, Medieval and/or modern times.

Perhaps it’s all down to terminology confusion? Basic terminologies / typologies are used in heritage studies, but often there is no direct cross-over between disciplines. Furthermore, contemporary written evidence to support a direct link between an image and most symbol graffiti is almost entirely lacking.

A PAS database search using ‘sexfoil’ is much more productive than the ‘hex(a)foil’ term, used by many students of historic graffiti, in producing over 2,000 results. A harness pendant from Lincolnshire, LIN-E1C01E, https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/632609 , demonstrates another form of 6-foil pattern described as “ [ … ] sexfoil with a pellet at the centre.”

Thinking laterally, there is yet another term for a multifoil pattern, namely rosette. This has been used for centuries in art and architecture to describe a flower-like circular form. These usually have internal radiating lines, curves or points surrounding the central point. Famously there are many glorious circular church windows with variations on this theme, all named ‘rose windows’, with great variety of detail and petal numbers. The petal number may reflect the religious or secular interpretations placed on numbers; e.g. 5 wounds of Christ, 12 disciples etc.

Searching the database with the word ‘rosette’ proved much more productive, having 6,431 results and 4,674 images. But (and isn’t there always a ‘but’) there is a great variety of forms using the term rosette on PAS and elsewhere. It is often linked to the term ‘rosette-mascle’ (= ‘rose-leaf’) coin issues of King Henry VI, as below in HAMP-0CB631  https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/HAMP-0CB631

A different style of rosette, comprising a central dot with circles of dots surrounding it, is seen on e.g. the Iron Age silver coin PUBLIC-8D0A7E https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/PUBLIC-8D0A7E

On the medieval jetton SUR-D13CF1 https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/SUR-D13CF1 we see yet another style of rosette, the most life-like as each has 5 petals around the centre as does the wild rose.

Now we can see that there are many varieties of rosettes, many which bare only scant likeness to graffiti hexfoils, or even each other!

Trefoils

The last group of circle/arc-based symbols I want to mention, albeit briefly, are those based on having three rotationally symmetrical curved or spiral petals (aka legs or arms) namely the various forms of trefoil, triquetra, triskele and triskelion. These terms are frequently used for each other with scant regard for purists of terminology.

Unsurprisingly, in recent Christianity they are said to relate to the Holy Trinity, but meanings of earlier examples are uncertain. The graffito example at Lincoln Cathedral is representative of the form.

PAS objects with these ‘triple forms’ include an early medieval silver sceat SUR-C26B50 https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/SUR-C26B50, with a triquetra on both sides; and LIN-65EE1A part of an early medieval hanging bowl,  https://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/LIN-65EE1A

Summary

All the examples shown above add to the confusion of naming, and searching, for items of graffiti and PAS sharing features and symbols that are common in shape, meaning and interpretation. Nevertheless, it is probable that votive objects, such as the small ampullae recorded on PAS, and the cross-shapes, do indeed have the same or similar meaning, to equivalent graffiti symbols in religious contexts. As for the rest, the jury is still out.

• The naming of symbols is not consistent;
• One type of symbol can have more than one meaning;
• Different symbols can have the same meaning;
• Some examples almost certainly show a link in symbolic meaning between historic graffiti and symbols on PAS objects – other examples do not.
• In each case be mindful of culture, context and chronology.
• More research required!

Future articles will aim to compare other types of symbols that appear to be common to PAS objects and historic graffiti.

Useful references / links:

Basic Interpretation of types of Graffiti: http://www.medieval-graffiti.co.uk/page8.html

Champion, M., 2015, Medieval Graffiti – The Lost Voices of England’s Churches.

Dean J. & Hill N., 2014, Burn Marks on Buildings: Accidental or Deliberate?, Vernacular Architecture, 45:1, 1-15.

Gardiner, M., 2005, Graffiti and their Use in Late Medieval England, Conference ‘Arts and Crafts in Medieval Rural Environment’ Ruralia VI, Hungary. (This paper contains 45 references over the period from 1909 to 2005.)

Hutton, R. (ed.), 2015, Physical Evidence for Ritual Acts, Sorcery and Witchcraft in Christian Britain.

Pacey, A., 2007, Medieval Architectural Drawing.

Wright, J., 2015, Ritual protection marks and witchcraft at Knole, Kent
https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/ritual-protection-marks-and-witchcraft-at-knole-kent

Wright, J., 2017, Cultural anxieties and ritual protection in high status early modern buildings.
http://www.academia.edu/32506183/Hidden_Charms_Proceedings                    (This appears in a collection of papers from last year’s Hidden Charms conference at Norwich which featured a whole host of other related lectures.)

Symbols and meanings:

Christian:

Friar, S., 2003, ‘The Sutton Companion to Churches’ pp103-108 et al

General:

https://www.ancient-symbols.com/symbols-influence-on-history.html

Categories: Finds, Identification

Tags: circle, graffiti, symbol