Anglo-Saxon Crafts (Revealing History

by Kevin Leahy

While the art and craftsmanship of the Anglo-Saxons is much admired, the background to this superb work is little understood. Kevin Leahy, a trained craftsman and archaeologist, looks at how the artifacts were made—at the materials, the tools, and techniques that were used. His survey ranges from casting a brooch to making a sword, from pottery and weaving to woodworking and building.

Genres: History

192 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2003

Reviews

[Aaron Meyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this book might not look exciting but to people like me who like to figure out how our ancestors did things and then try to recreate what they did this is like a gold mine. I already see several projects that I want to try now, can you say Pole Lathe, or making combs? Of course I have strange tastes when it comes to having fun and this book feeds it very much. Inside you will cover Wood and Timber, Bone and antlers, Textiles, Leather, Pottery, Glass, Iron Working and Non-ferrous Metalworking, and Precious Metals. It even has a very short section on Binding but like I said way to short to be of much use. Now that is something I really wished they would of expanded on myself. The least favorite sections of the book were definitely the Pottery and Glass sections. I wish the metalworking sections would of been more detailed, and maybe some actual schematics (what we can feasibly piece together) of the Looms would of been really nice. Always wanted to make one of those too. Overall this is a valuable introduction to what we know that the Anglo-Saxons were able to manufacture, and how they did it, based on the archaeological data and examples we have on hand. A perfect place to start so one can then look to study in more detail the areas they wish to learn.