Early medieval brickmaking: a cross-Channel perspective based on recent luminescence and archaeomagnetic dating results

The integration of dating methods in building archaeology has resulted in an advance in the qualitative and quantitative information available for the study of the history of architecture and building techniques. To examine the question of the origin of post-Roman ceramic building materials, archaeological studies of early medieval buildings in France and England have been combined with scientific dating methods and applied to their component tiles and bricks. The latter were sampled and analysed using luminescence dating techniques. The results show that, as well as the practice of reusing bricks or tiles salvaged from abandoned Roman sites, brickmaking was not a forgotten skill in north-western France and appears to have been continuously practised in the region. At the same time in England, the use of ceramic spolia was the rule and the reintroduction of post-Roman bricks in the island appears to be relatively late, although recent luminescence results indicate that this was earlier than the arrival of Cistercian builders in the late 12th century. Finally, the combined application of archaeomagnetism and luminescence to the dating of bricks has revealed unexpected and systematic evidence of an early medieval brickmaking process in north-western France.