English: A probable Middle Saxon amulet made from a natural piece of fossilised coral. The fossil is oval in plan and also in section, measuring 92mm in length and 29mm in width. It weighs 179.12g. All sides of the fossil are rough, and all show a dense grouping of corralites. Columns are also visible on one side.

The fossil is a Carboniferous colonial coral of the Lithostrotionidae family (Nudds 1980). It is ferruginised, and thus very heavy. Its origin is Derbyshire or Yorkshire, but it was found at Little Carlton, Lincolnshire. Plausably, its place of discovery could be explained by it having been moved by a glacier or by it being embedded in glacial till. However, the surface of the item is very rough and shows no signs of erosion, which in turn suggests that it was not water-borne nor moved in glacial till. This being the case, it appears likely that it was picked up near its origin, perhaps as an interesting stone, and subsequently transported to Little Carlton. This opens up the question as to whether it was regarded and used as some sort of amulet.

The site on which it was found is now known to have been a major centre in the Middle Saxon period, with strong regional and international trade-links (Townend et al 2016). Some evidence for activity in the sixth-century is also known, and the discovery of cruciform brooches suggest the presence of inhumations.

The use of fossils as amulets in Anglo-Saxon England is well documented (Page 1970, 40-41; Meaney 1981; Wilson 1992, 103-15 and 137-9), including a fossil echinoid bearing an inscription, found in a Middle Saxon context at Exeter Street, London (Brown et al 2001). Local evidence for the amuletic use of fossils can be cited from Urn 364 at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Cleatham, North Lincolnshire, which contained an echinoid thought to have been purposefully placed as an amulet (Leahy 2007).

In consideration of the evidence above, and also acknowledging the important Middle Saxon site on which this was found, this particular colonial coral from Little Carlton is recorded on the probability that it was used as an amulet. A further probable amulet, this time an echindoid, was previously discovered on this site and is also recorded here as LIN-B37563. The similarity of this item to a glass roundel (LIN-252D32) also found on the same site is striking, though any potential association must remain speculative.

References

Brown, G., Okasha, E.; Page, R., and Pickard, C. 2001. 'A Middle Anglo-Saxon Runic Inscription from the National Portrait Gallery and an Inscribed Fossilised Echinoid from Exeter Street, London. Medieval Archaeology Vol.45.

Leahy, K. 2007 'Interrupting the Pots': the excavtion of Cleatham Anglo-Saxon cemetery, North Lincolnshire.

Meaney, A. 1981 'Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones', British Archaeological Reports.

Nudds, J.R. 1980 'An illustrated key to the British Lithostrotionid Corals'. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica Vol. 25, no. 3.

Townend, P., Daubney, A., Willmott, H., and Vickers, G. 2016. 'The Mystery in the Marsh'. Current Archaeology 313 (March).

Wilson, D. 1992 Anglo-Saxon Paganism. London.