BOX

Six copper-alloy fragments of an Early Medieval (Anglo-Saxon) reliquary box, dating to AD 650-700. The fragments refer to the main body of the box, the handle and the two lids. The main body consists of a thin sheet of metal that has been folded to take a cylindrical shape and then secured with two copper-alloy rivets, which are still visible along the overlapping edges; the line of junction was once covered by the handle, now detached. The bottom edge of the box is bent outwards at right angle to the body, creating a flange which was once soldered to a similar flange on the lid. The upper edge of the box has a band, which retains the original golden patina in contrast with the blackish green colour of the rest of the box. The aforementioned band suggests that the upper lid had a lower circumferential extension fitting around the edges of the main body of the box. The large part of the outer face of the body is plain with only a narrow incised band along the lower edge, which depicts an interlaced motif. 

The handle consists of two tongue-shaped sheet of metal, which have been riveted together with two copper-alloy rivets at the curved outer end, and with three rivets at the straight inner end; aligned with the latter three rivets there is a fourth perforation, which probably was a failed attempt because is open on one edge. The straight ends of the handle were then attached to the main body with three rivets for each sheet; the remains of the attachment are still in place and. The handle has two further perforation on its upper edge, close to the inner end; the wider of which still retains a fragment of a possibly copper-alloy rivet. The latter perforations might have housed a chain or a thin ring, which might have been used to secure the lid when it was hanging open. The outer faces of the handle have an identical decoration, consisting of a double line of repoussé dots along the border and an interlaced of snake forms in the field. The animals head terminates with a forked end and they have two ring-and-dots motifs for eyes; the field around the animals outline have an incised lattice pattern. The rounded end of the handle is heavily bent in a U-shaped form. The surfaces retains patches of the original copper-alloy patina, although large part of the handle has green areas of metal corrosion. 

The lids were circular and survive in two pairs of joining fragments; they are slightly curved in profile and bear one complete edge, which is bent outwards in order to be fitted and soldered with the main body of the box; in the case of the upper lid the edge would have been soldered with the lower extension discussed above. The conjoining fragments have an identical decoration depicting two outer bands of two interlaced lines with a further lattice pattern in the field; the bands are alternated with three pairs of circular grooves. The centre of the lids is plain but one of them has a circular perforation; which might have been used to attach the lid to the handle by means of a thin chain. The fragments have several breaks and damages; the surfaces are green in colour with golden patches where the original colour has survived. 

Cf OXON-1A54A6 on this database.

Main body:

Length (unfolded): c. 79.88 mm. Height: 47.26 mm. Thickness: 0.56 mm. Weight: 27.89 g.

Lids fragments (joining fragments are 1&2, 3&4):

1. Length: 38.35 mm. Width: 36.35 mm. Weight: 3.83 g. Thickness: 1.06 g.

2. Length: 27.92  mm. Width: 16.84 mm. Weight: 0.99 g. Thickness: 0.93 g.

3. Length: 40.94 mm. Width: 24.08 mm. Weight: 1.85 g. Thickness: 0.55 g.

4. Length: 27.84 mm. Width: 25.23  mm. Weight: 1.77 g. Thickness: 0.73 g.

Handle:

Length (unfolded): 68.80 mm. Width at the inner end: 28.29 mm. Width at the outer end: 16.26 mm. Thickness: 2.07 mm. Weight: 11.80 g.

Discussion

These containers are often described as "work boxes" or "relic boxes" and their function is still disputed. They have been found in female graves and their different collocations inside the burial doesn't help to understand if they were actually hung to the belt or a woman's girdle as it has been suggested. In fact a box retrieved from a burial in Bulford, it was found placed next to the woman's head and other examples have been found by the wearer's legs or waist. When deposited in the burials these boxes were probably wrapped in cloth or placed in bigger wooden boxes suggesting their relatively fragility and an attentive care reserved to them. The distribution of these boxes has been studied by Helen Geake (Geake 1997) and Gibson (2014, unpublished list) and tend to follow the distribution of the 7th century burials in England (Kent, Yorkshire, Central England, Norfolk, Wiltshire, Derbshire). Some boxes contained pieces of fabric, thread, seeds and other objects described as pins or needles and that is why they were initially identified as workboxes. Other kind of contents such as organic fragments or good-quality textile have parallels with similar continental boxes which are more clearly identifiable as private reliquaries. A wide range of objects could be venerated as relics, a piece of a Saint’s clothing for instance or a cloth dipped in water that had washed the Saint, or soil for the Holy land and so on. They belong to the phase of Christianization when new artefacts were imported from the Mediterranean to increase the understanding of Christian religion, although a version of the religion which had kept earlier pagan practices. Many of these Anglo-Saxon boxes are decorated with a cross at one or both ends and even if the religious link is not always confirmed, the widespread motif of the equal-armed cross in brooches and coins during the eighth-century often have a Christian significance.

Bibliografy:

Catherine Hills, 2015, Work-boxes or reliquaries? Small copper-alloy containers in seventh century Anglo-Saxon graves. In Studies in Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology, papers in honour of Martin Welch, eds Brookes, Harrington and Reynolds.

Unpublished sources:

T. Gibson, unpublished (a): Corpus of Relic Boxes

T. Gibson, unpublished (b): Corpus of Relic Boxes