A Sprang Carry-all from Haithabu

As a general rule, I like to minimize my “future creep” at events, and one easy way of doing that has been to use period storage/carrying containers for most of my belongings so that I do not have modern plastic bins or duffel bags to hide. While the “Viking frame purse” based on finds ofContinue reading “A Sprang Carry-all from Haithabu”

9th century Frisian Kit

Most of the time I portray a moderately high-status c.600 CE Langobard man in what is now northern Italy. Where I live in real life, there are very few other people reenacting this particular period, and I am usually the only Langobard at events I attend. On the other hand, there are many, many peopleContinue reading “9th century Frisian Kit”

Iron Age Scandinavian Kit

My greatest love is the late Migration Era, but for this project I wanted to create a full set of soft kit that would be appropriate for a “Roman Iron Age” presentation from Scandinavia in the late 3rd or 4th century CE. The goal was to put together a set of everyday clothing that wasContinue reading “Iron Age Scandinavian Kit”

Pyramidal Scabbard Mounts in Langobard Tombs: Feeling Single, Seeing Double?

I am currently in the process of making a scabbard for a recently acquired spatha, and I will need to suspend it from something. In order to come up with an appropriate belt or baldric based on finds from the Langobard necropolis at Nocera Umbra, I began researching the hardware associated with scabbards and swordContinue reading “Pyramidal Scabbard Mounts in Langobard Tombs: Feeling Single, Seeing Double?”

A most unusual bean: Northfleet Revisited

As a general rule, when reconstructing stamping dies I like to work directly from a photograph of the original pot. Looking at the way light hits a stamp impression is the best way for me to understand the way the die would have been carved: which portions are in higher relief, the order of cuts,Continue reading “A most unusual bean: Northfleet Revisited”