Wooden Matrices in Bracteate Production: An Experimental Approach

The literature on the production of Migration Period (c.400-550 AD) gold bracteates has suggested wood as a possible material to be used for the matrix on which bracteates are made, but only in the production of a single or very few bracteates. This study experiments with how such a matrix could have been made and what part of the wood could have been used. Additionally, it examines the quality changes in serial production.