An Antler Stamp from Melbourne Street, Southampton

A re-evaluation of the antler and bone waste from Melbourne Street in Southampton revealed an antler stamp with circular indentations on two tines. Double-pronged antler stamps are known also from West Stow, and from M0en in Denmark. During the early Anglo-Saxon period antler stamps may have been used to decorate ceramics, although few direct comparisons can be made between stamps and stamp impressions and the correlation between them is general rather than specific. In recent decades the number of antler stamps has increased considerably. There are now nine stamps from Hamwic and ten from other middle and late Saxon sites, against just ten from sites of early Anglo-Saxon date. There is little correlation between stamps and stamped ceramics of the middle and late Saxon periods and it is more likely that these stamps were used to emboss vegetable-tanned leather. During the middle Saxon period antler stamps were also used, alongside other implements, to produce impressions on loomweights and there is a strong correlation with objects used by women. This provides the possibility that the stamps themselves were the possessions of women.