Hooked Tags

Hooked Tags
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This article's completion rating is 2 out of 5. Article structure and content is subject to change as data is still being collected.

This article's completion rating is 2 out of 5. Article structure and content is subject to change as data is still being collected.

Hooked Tags

Art
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Literature
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Archaeology

• Found in English graves of men, women and children from the C7th onwards. Found below the head, over the skull, at the chest, at the hip, under the knees, over the foot and as fill in the grave.

Discussion

As Garter Hooks

Art
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Literature
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Archaeology

• Winchester, (C9th) pair of tags found under the right knee of a skeleton
• Birka (BJ 905) pair of copper alloy hooks, found on the back of a man’s lower leg just below the knee. The tag at Birka was attached to woollen fabric probably from a leg covering. The hooks pointed upwards and hooked into iron rings (not mentioned by Geijer) which were attached to the lower edge of short, linen trousers which reached just over the knee.

Discussion
Owen-Crocker expresses her doubt regarding the use of garment hooks as a method of securing leg bindings due to the flimsiness of the tags and the fact that the points of the tags point inwards towards the body.

As Pouch Clasps

Art
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Literature
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Archaeology

• Rome, a pair found on a pouch containing Anglo-Saxon and other coins. The points faced upwards.

Discussion
Owen-Crocker considers the use of hooked tags used either singularly or in pairs as a mechanism for closing small pouches to their most likely purpose.

Types of Hooked Tags

John Naylor has classified Anglo-Saxon hooked tags into 5 categories :

File:Hooked Tag Class A.jpg 130x150px	Class A: Circular plate
File:Hooked Tag Class B.jpg 130x150px	Class B: Shield-shaped plate
File:Hooked Tag Class C.jpg 130x150px	Class C: Triangular plate
File:Hooked Tag Class D.jpg 130x150px	Class D: Tear-drop shaped plate
No Picture	Class E: Other shapes

Reference

Geijer, Agnes (1938) Birka III - Die Textilfunde Aus den Grabern. [The Textile finds from the Graves] Birka, Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien *

Hagg, Inga (1986) 'Die Tracht'. In Arwidsson, Greta (ed.) (1986) Birka II:2 Systematische Analysen der Graberfunde. [Systematic Analysis of the Graves Findings] Birka, Kungliga Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien: II:2 *

Naylor, John 2006 Anglo-Saxon Hooked Tags (Available Online) *

Owen-Crocker, Gale R. (2004) Dress in Anglo-Saxon England. 2nd ed. The Boydell Press. *