Bhakail Yule A&S Competition-Documentation

The Devotion of an Irish Glass Bead Maker

My name is Aibhilin inghean Ui Phaidin. I am a glass bead maker from early medieval Northeastern Ireland who studies under the tutelage of a master bead maker. I am passionately devoted not only to my art as a glass bead maker but as an Irish bead maker making glass beads native to my homeland. Though many know of bead makers in Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia and Continental Europe, not many know about the beads we are making in Ireland. In addition to bead makers in Northeastern Ireland, there are also bead makers in other areas such as central, eastern and southern Ireland. Like many of my fellow bead makers, I often make glass beads in shades of blue to represent the water and sky of Ireland. We also sometimes use green to represent grass and vegetation and use gray to represent the rocks and cliffs of Ireland. As an Irish bead maker I believe it important to make beads that are known throughout my homeland. I often make blue beads in different shapes such as round or globular, annular, segmented and even a blue on blue spiral bead. I also create beads with decorations such as the mulberry bead and the herringbone bead. As I refine my skills at decorating beads I hope to learn to make a Meare spiral bead.

It is my honor to create beads to be worn by fellow Irishmen as well as Royalty. My beads are not only for adornment but they are also functional. Beads I make may be used to decorate hair or as decoration on a pin or brooch that is used to fasten a garment like a brat or cloak. I also decorate the heads of pins with glass. My beads can be strung together and worn as a necklace. Now that my fellow Irishmen are utilizing the burial traditions of Christianity, my beads are not often buried with their owners as they were prior to Christianity coming to Ireland. Irish bead makers like myself have begun to create beads for ecclesiastical ornaments. There are also glass beads from Anglo-Saxon England and Continental Europe that can be seen in different parts of Ireland.

Today I have brought a display of some of my art including a necklace of several blue beads, one white bead, and a herringbone bead that I made for one of my neighbors in our settlement and a brass pin decorated with a blue annular bead that I made for Royalty. Lastly, I have a collection of beads that represent other types of beads that are often found in Ireland. This varied display of my craft is a true reflection of my devotion not just as a bead maker, but an Irish bead maker creating beads native to my homeland.

Research Notes

The beads, necklace, and pins made for this project are reproductions of artifacts found in different excavations across Ireland. British, Scandinavian and Europeans beads have typically been found in sets or strings in grave sites, as it was the custom to be buried with their finest. However, the Christian Irish utilized unaccompanied burials. The Irish beads were typically found in settlement sites instead of grave sites. These excavations generally did not yield large assemblages of beads. In fact, some beads were originally thought to be lost or strays. Without large assemblages from individual excavation sites, it made researching beads in Ireland difficult and it was necessary to modify the methodology for studying the beads. Irish Archaeologist, Mags Mannion, created a unified classification system to compare beads found across excavation sites in Ireland. Her standardized system classified beads by distinct classes of geometry, form and decoration.

The beads on the necklace were reproduced based on an assemblage of beads found within the bedding in one of the homestead structures at the Deer Park Farms ring fort in County Antrim and have a radiocarbon dating of 660-780 A.D. Though there was no string present archaeologist surmised that beads may have a necklace based on their promixty. The brass pin with an annular blue bead was reproduced based on a bronze pin found at the royal site Lagore Crannóg in County Meath. A similar find from Moynagh Lough, County Meath has a radiocarbon dating of probably the 7^th to 8^th Century A.D. The glass topped pins are a much smaller version of what was found at Deer Park Farms and are dated from mid-7^th Century to late-10^th Century. The collection of beads are reproductions of Irish beads found in a variety of excavation sites such as Lagore Crannóg, Deer Park Farms, Clonmacnoise Ecclesiastical Centre, Garranes Ringfort, and Garryduff 1 Ringfort. Irish beads are dated from 6^th Century to 10^th Century A.D. with the Mulberry bead as late as the 12^th Century A.D.

References:

Hencken, H. (1950, November). Lagore Crannog: An Irish Royal Residence of the 7th to 10th Centuries A.D. [Abstract]. Proceeding of the Royal Irish Academy, 1-151.

Lynn, C., & McDowell, J. A. (2011). Deer Park Farms: The excavation of a raised rath in the Glenarm Valley, Co. Antrim. Norwich: Stationery Office.

Chapters 1, 18, 34 and 35

Mannion, M. (2015). Glass beads from early medieval Ireland: Classification, dating, social performance. Oxford: Archaeopress.