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SLATE DISCS AT TINTAGEL CASTLE: EVIDENCE FOR POST-ROMAN MEAD PRODUCTION?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 November 2017

Cameron Moffett
Cameron Moffett*
Affiliation:
English Heritage, Boscobel House, Bishops Wood, Shropshire ST19 9AR, UK. Email: cameron.moffett@english-heritage.org.uk
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Abstract

The excavated evidence of the building on the middle terrace of Site C at Tintagel Castle, in Cornwall, indicates that in the post-Roman period it had been the focus of activity involving the reuse of imported amphorae in conjunction with secondary stone stoppers made at Tintagel. This paper considers the nature of that activity and suggests that mead (fermented honey water) was being made in the building in the fifth and sixth centuries ad and stored in reused amphorae. The role of alcohol and feasting in power structures of the period and in the development of the site’s defences is also discussed.

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 97 , September 2017 , pp. 119 - 143
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London 2017 

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