This thesis examines the hogbacks and hammerhead crosses of Viking Age Strathclyde and Northumbri... more This thesis examines the hogbacks and hammerhead crosses of Viking Age Strathclyde and Northumbria. Both are Insular forms of carved stone sculpture often found in Christian contexts. This thesis aims to highlight the significance of these carved stones within a contemporary landscape dominated by a complex historical and archaeological narrative, with the overall aim of ascribing them functions, beyond those of funerary. The approach this thesis takes is theoretical in its construct, both methodologically and analytically, and is grounded in the phenomenological principles of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is hoped that this thesis will break down the perceived barrier imposed on research by the modern Scotland-England border, thus potentially alleviate the implied disconnect between Viking Age Strathclyde and Northumbria.
While acknowledging the current art-historical work, this thesis archaeologically reappraises hogbacks and provides an original and detailed archaeological treatise of hammerhead crosses. Additionally, this thesis espouses a conceptual framework for approaching, analysing and interpreting carved stones, which considers the idea of what makes space become a place. This framework involves the adoption of a reflexive phenomenological approach to the recording of carved stone monuments in the landscape, and, in approaching material, the adoption and adaption of the concepts of hybrid practice, supervenience, Deleuzian difference, common difference, the third space, and art and agency. In integrating these approaches and concepts, the idea of place-making emerges, discerned via non-dialectical interrelationships between people, material, and space. It is conceptualised here in abstract form as the person/object/place framework.
In applying this framework to postulate the functions of hogbacks and hammerhead crosses in the landscape, the following, non-mutually exclusive, themes are considered: commemorative space, economic space, biblical space, mythological space, political space, and sacred space. Considering these themes in the application of the conceptual framework to approaching notable carved stones gives rise to the concept of functional landscapes. These abstract landscapes emerge and are understood through a network of functional places, developing out of particular carved stone monuments inhabiting specific spaces. Ascribing functions to Viking Age carved stones allows for interpretation beyond the traditional and uncritical narrative that hogbacks and hammerhead crosses are simply Viking ‘calling cards’ or gravestones. Furthermore, in considering the Christian context and syncretic nature of many hogbacks, this thesis challenges the common idea that their origins and models often lie solely in Scandinavian paganism and culture.
During the Viking Age, the region of Western Scotland between the Firth of Clyde and Solway Firth... more During the Viking Age, the region of Western Scotland between the Firth of Clyde and Solway Firth saw a marked increase in stone sculpture and artefacts of a Scandinavian nature. Much of the material record in this area is the product of the integration and development of both Pagan and Christian ideologies and practices, and therefore is the result of hybrid practice. Through the adoption of a unique theoretical framework, this dissertation will consider hybrid practice and the concept of supervenience, alongside ideas of common difference and the ‘third space’. This dissertation therefore aims to better elucidate the resultant different identities that are manifest and negotiated in a ‘third space’, where these identities are the result of hybrid practice. The theoretical approach adopted in this study highlights the discernible outcome of cultural interaction, resulting from the diachronic relationship between the incoming Pagan Scandinavians and the indigenous Christians of Western Scotland. This dissertation argues that hybrid practice constitutes a conscious social effort of others acting within their new environments, with the primary aim of gaining and exploiting the benefits associated with entering Christendom. To achieve the aims of this study, this dissertation will consider a four hundred and three entry artefact database, as well as numerous stone sculptures including three unique case studies. The latter are the Kilmorie Cross, the Inchmarnock Runic Cross and the Kilwinning Cross. The overall goal of this dissertation is to create an up-to-date and enhanced understanding of the Vikings in Western Scotland.
""This dissertation aims to apply a new theoretical approach for establishing Viking Age identiti... more ""This dissertation aims to apply a new theoretical approach for establishing Viking Age identities in the Irish Sea region, focussing on selected stone sculptures from the larger assemblages within the Isle of Man and Cumbria. An exploration of Hybrid Practice forms the fundamental academic approach of this dissertation. Specific case studies have been chosen to demonstrate an iconography which was created through a fusion of pagan and Christian beliefs. The stone sculptures isolated for consideration within the case study areas are Thorwald‟s Cross, The Heimdallr Cross and Gautr‟s Cross from the Isle of Man, and The Gosforth Cross, The Muncaster Cross and The Dearham Cross from Cumbria.
Kermode, for the Manx evidence (1907), and Collingwood for that of Cumbria (1927), were the first scholars to fully compile sculptural corpora in these areas, and their volumes formed the starting point for this dissertation. A select dataset was derived from these sources.
In order to create a new theoretical approach for establishing identity, the concepts of supervenience and the „third space‟ have been adopted - both detectable through Hybrid Practice. These concepts generate a mechanism for gaining a better understanding of the complex identities which are revealed in Viking Age stone sculpture.""
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While acknowledging the current art-historical work, this thesis archaeologically reappraises hogbacks and provides an original and detailed archaeological treatise of hammerhead crosses. Additionally, this thesis espouses a conceptual framework for approaching, analysing and interpreting carved stones, which considers the idea of what makes space become a place. This framework involves the adoption of a reflexive phenomenological approach to the recording of carved stone monuments in the landscape, and, in approaching material, the adoption and adaption of the concepts of hybrid practice, supervenience, Deleuzian difference, common difference, the third space, and art and agency. In integrating these approaches and concepts, the idea of place-making emerges, discerned via non-dialectical interrelationships between people, material, and space. It is conceptualised here in abstract form as the person/object/place framework.
In applying this framework to postulate the functions of hogbacks and hammerhead crosses in the landscape, the following, non-mutually exclusive, themes are considered: commemorative space, economic space, biblical space, mythological space, political space, and sacred space. Considering these themes in the application of the conceptual framework to approaching notable carved stones gives rise to the concept of functional landscapes. These abstract landscapes emerge and are understood through a network of functional places, developing out of particular carved stone monuments inhabiting specific spaces. Ascribing functions to Viking Age carved stones allows for interpretation beyond the traditional and uncritical narrative that hogbacks and hammerhead crosses are simply Viking ‘calling cards’ or gravestones. Furthermore, in considering the Christian context and syncretic nature of many hogbacks, this thesis challenges the common idea that their origins and models often lie solely in Scandinavian paganism and culture.
This dissertation therefore aims to better elucidate the resultant different identities that are manifest and negotiated in a ‘third space’, where these identities are the result of hybrid practice. The theoretical approach adopted in this study highlights the discernible outcome of cultural interaction, resulting from the diachronic relationship between the incoming Pagan Scandinavians and the indigenous Christians of Western Scotland. This dissertation argues that hybrid practice constitutes a conscious social effort of others acting within their new environments, with the primary aim of gaining and exploiting the benefits associated with entering Christendom. To achieve the aims of this study, this dissertation will consider a four hundred and three entry artefact database, as well as numerous stone sculptures including three unique case studies. The latter are the Kilmorie Cross, the Inchmarnock Runic Cross and the Kilwinning Cross. The overall goal of this dissertation is to create an up-to-date and enhanced understanding of the Vikings in Western Scotland.
Kermode, for the Manx evidence (1907), and Collingwood for that of Cumbria (1927), were the first scholars to fully compile sculptural corpora in these areas, and their volumes formed the starting point for this dissertation. A select dataset was derived from these sources.
In order to create a new theoretical approach for establishing identity, the concepts of supervenience and the „third space‟ have been adopted - both detectable through Hybrid Practice. These concepts generate a mechanism for gaining a better understanding of the complex identities which are revealed in Viking Age stone sculpture.""