| Ancient Meols No 8. |
The employment of finger rings is unquestionably very ancient, some I have knowledge of come from the Bronze-age period, one being similar to a triple band, welded together as one, and extremely robust. From the earliest references to them, it would appear that they were used also as badges of office, or marks of government; and they were no doubt employed to seal public documents. Pharoah invested Joseph -- Genisis Xii, Xlii -- with a ring in delegating him authority in Egypt. But at the same period, or shortly subsequent, rings were used as personal decorations. A mummfied hand in Mr Mayer's collection at least until 1870, had a beautiful obelisk for its stone, lying along the direction of the finger.
The nomad people of the Midianites, who were conquered by Moses, and eventually overthrown by Gideon -- numbers xxxi. Judges viii -- possessed large numbers of rings among their personal ornaments. It would appear from the Assyrian sculptures, that finger rings were unknown among these people, their place being supplied by more massive bracelets and armlets, a sort of torc -- if you can get hold of the literiture of "Layards Illustrations of Nineveh" from your local reference library, this would be well worth looking at. With other nations of antiquity they were common, and the collections of our English antiquiries ambrace numerous Roman rings. These are now making constant appearances since the advent of metal detectors.
Some of these are noted in connection with keys; but of Roman ring proper, one intended for the thumb was found at Kirkby Thore, in Westmoreland, in the 19th Century. One had been found along the line of the Roman wall; and one of bronze was found at Caerwent, Wales, pronounced Kyerwent, in what was then Monmouthshire, I think that is as near as I can manage my Welsh. At Uriconium several have been found, and of very varied materials. Near Chilgrove, in Sussex, two rings were found in 1843, supposed to have belonged to Roman Christians, there whereabouts are unknown to me.
At some ancient burial-places at Stanlake, Oxfordshire, a spiral bronze finger-ring was discovered. I mentioned in an earlier bulletin that the finger-ring that I recovered was a Viking triple plaited gold wire. The plait was turned on its side to make the ring appear taller around the finger; the ends of the plaits were intertwined and cold hammered to make the join. It was dated to the 9th century and was declared not treasure trove. Roman rings were first of iron, and the right to wear gold ones was originally restricted to the rich. Hannibal, the rascal, "procured" literally, bushels of rings from the Romans; and among the latter, collections of ring were not uncommon. Of Saxon and many other rings there are numerous examples.
Materials
Gold, of course, was the most valuable material; and the rich wore rings of gold when they could be had. Sometimes, also, rings of inferiormetal were valuable from their structure, decoration, or peculiarity.
A beautiful gold ring of the 15th century was found at Haddon Hall, in Derbyshire, about 1860. It bore the figure of St John the Babtist, with the lamb and from the posy or inscription, was evidently a gift. The inscription was "de bon cour" Rings of silver, bronze, brass, and copper, were common; and also those of lead, amber, glass, ivory, and wood. At Uriconium they have been discovered of silver, yellow bronze, bronze with iron wire, bronze with open work on one side, and a fragment of one manufacture from wood, and at Killarney numerous cheap rings were sold, said to be made of wild deer's hoof. So important a business was the making of rings, that it was separated from the ordinary work of the goldsmith; and the trade of the ANNULARIUS, or ring maker, as it was known, was a distinct one.
Uses
Besides their uses as signets or seals, for which their attachment to the person made them pecularly appropriate, they were always desired as ornaments. In the year 1697, a woman was drowned for theft in the Loch of Spynie, in Morayshire, and in 1811 the skeleton was brought to light with a ring on its finger. In 1862, in some discoveries made at Pompeii, a body was too far decayed to be touched; but liquid plaster of Paris was poured upon it, and a cast was taken, which apparently came out with such accuracy that a ring was found on the finger. In a womans grave at Kingston Down, the analogous case was found, of a brass armilla surrounding the bone of the arm. In the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon burial-place at Harnham Hill, near Salisbury, a silver twisted ring was found on the middle finger of a skeleton.
Peculiar Rings
Some were used as whistles, others have been manufactured to serve as squirts, some I well remember as a lad, always caught with the squirt flower too. Among the Danish rings is one consisting of a thick hoop in amber, with a runic inscription surrounding it. Bronze rings with broad expanded ends overlapping each other; have been found near the spot traditionally known as the burial place of Macbeth. A very peculiar ring of silver wire, half the circle of which is thrown up into peculiar loops, was found on the finger of a skeleton, in 1843, at Barrow Furlong, Northamptonshire. In the Fairford graves, a ring was found with an ear-pick and pins