British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

British Academy/Royal Irish Academy Joint Symposium

Anglo-Saxon/Irish Relations before the Vikings

Anglo-Saxon, Irish and British relations: hanging-bowls reconsidered

Susan Youngs (London)

These distinctive metal bowls have attracted scholarly attention for over a century, not only because some are luxury items from a period not readily associated with fine living, but because the archaeological evidence for their distribution is largely at odds with the techniques of manufacture and style of ornament. The 'Anglo-Saxon hanging-bowl' of the Anglo-Saxon archaeologist is also the 'Irish hanging-bowl' of Irish scholars, while there are competing arguments for British origins. All these views show how we use, edit and manipulate information to suit traditional ideas and methodologies, but old arguments and new bowls suggest that we should look again at interaction between these three cultural zones.