Cambridge Archaeological Journal ( IF 1.6 ) Pub Date : 2024-07-11 , DOI: 10.1017/s0959774324000180
Jenna Martin
This paper uses material efficacy as an analytical position to consider how silver helped to shape large-scale historical trajectories in Iron Age Scotland. Roman silver entered Scotland as imperial matter beginning in the first century ad and later inspired an assemblage of indigenous wearable silver in the fourth–fifth centuries. I investigate the human–silver collaborations involved in the transition from hoarding Roman silver coins to recycling Roman Hacksilber. By tracing the object trajectory of spiral rings, I show how silver's material properties and entanglements played a role in developing Scotland's earliest silver products. Around the fourth century, a diversity of spiral rings was replaced by a specific style of silver spiral finger ring. Silver brought to Iron Age Scotland by the Romans inspired and afforded individuals in northern Britain a new and empowering regional socio-political identity. Material efficacy, as explored in this case study, has relevance beyond Iron Age/Roman studies to any anthropological investigation of underrepresented human agency.
中文翻译:
铁器时代苏格兰罗马银的功效:螺旋环的物体轨迹
本文以材料功效为分析立场,思考白银如何帮助塑造铁器时代苏格兰的大规模历史轨迹。罗马银从公元 1 世纪开始作为帝国物品进入苏格兰,后来激发了 4 至 5 世纪土著可穿戴银的集合。我研究了从囤积罗马银币到回收罗马哈克西尔伯的过渡所涉及的人银合作。通过追踪螺旋环的物体轨迹,我展示了银的材料特性和纠缠如何在苏格兰最早的银制品的发展中发挥作用。大约在 4 世纪,各种螺旋戒指被一种特定风格的银色螺旋指环所取代。罗马人将白银带到铁器时代的苏格兰,激发并赋予了英国北部的个人一种新的、赋予力量的区域社会政治身份。正如本案例研究所探讨的那样,材料功效的相关性超越了铁器时代/罗马研究,与任何对代表性不足的人类能动性的人类学调查相关。