Of saints, sows or smiths? Copper-brazed iron handbells in Early Medieval England

Copper-brazed iron handbells were a distinctive feature of monastic life in Early Medieval Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Handbells were used in liturgy, prayer, worship, and later as reliquaries. In England, brazed bells of the 7th to 9th centuries take on a greater range of sizes and forms and are found on a wider variety of sites. As a consequence, their roles within Christianity have been questioned, and associations with animals and itinerant smiths have been emphasised instead. Recent archaeological investigation of an Anglo-Saxon marsh-island at Little Carlton, Lincolnshire has resulted in one of the largest assemblages of copper-brazed iron bells from any site in England, comparable to similar collections from Flixborough and Brandon. Taking into consideration the inclusion of brazen bells in some ritualistic ‘closure hoards’, this paper argues that whilst Anglo-Saxon plain iron bells may have fulfilled a range of profane functions, those that were copper-brazed, regardless of their size, were important objects amongst early Christian communities in England, and the Northumbrian church in particular

On some Irish Maldanidae

Volume: 29Start Page: 209End Page: 23

Nicomache (Loxochona) lokii sp. nov. (Annelida: Polychaeta: Maldanidae) from the Loki’s Castle vent field: an important structure builder in an Arctic vent system

The discovery of the Loki’s Castle vent field at 2,350 m depth on the Arctic mid-ocean ridge in 2008 represents the first known black smoker vent system in the Arctic region. Preliminary results on the benthic invertebrates collected at Loki’s Castle indicate the presence of an endemic fauna dominated by tube-building polychaetes, melitid amphipods and gastropods. Here, we formally describe and investigate the ecological role of a new maldanid species, Nicomache (Loxochona) lokii sp. nov., a species found to be particularly common and regarded as a keystone species in this vent system. The description of the new species is supplemented with a DNA barcode. The subgenus N. (Loxochona) includes at present six nominal species, and the new species described herein is the fourth species associated with reducing habitats. A table with diagnostic characters for all species referred to the subgenus is provided. The new species builds tubes up to a length of 20 cm or more, tightly fastened to the substratum. Together with other tube-building species, N. (L.) lokii sp. nov. form a complex three-dimensional habitat for a number of free-living invertebrates. Based on the morphology of the foregut, the microbial community in the gut and the stable isotope values found for this species, it is concluded that it acts as a grazer in this vent system