Mobile carvers and mobile monuments: A geochemical study of early medieval cross-slabs from Clonmacnoise and outlying sites, Ireland

Clonmacnoise has one of the largest collections of early medieval (c. 400–1200 CE) carved stone monuments in northwest Europe. The presence of Clonmacnoise-style cross-slabs at outlying church sites within and beyond the immediate hinterland of the site provides an unmatched opportunity to investigate how stone-carving could be used to shape relationships with subsidiaries and affiliates. Geochemical analysis of a dataset collected using p-XRF demonstrates that craftspeople sometimes travelled considerable distances to carve cross-slabs at outlying sites using local stone. It also found evidence to suggest that some Clonmacnoise-style cross-slabs were carved at or near the site itself before being transported upstream via the Shannon to islands in Lough Ree and to a site immediately beyond the lake. This provides new insights into the complexity and variety of the relationships within early ecclesiastical networks, the organisation of the craft of stone-carving, and the mobility of carvers.