Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 14

Early Medieval Mortuary Practices

Sarah Semple, Howard Williams, Howard Williams

• Publisher: Oxbow Books
• Year: 2007
• eBook ISBN: 9781782975083
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Archaeology
• Index: Social Sciences

Volume 14 of the Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History series is dedicated to the archaeology of early medieval death, burial and commemoration. Incorporating studies focusing upon Anglo-Saxon England as well as research encompassing western Britain, Continental Europe and Scandinavia, this volume originated as the proceedings of a two-day conference held at the University of Exeter in February 2004. It comprises of an Introduction that outlines the key debates and new approaches in early medieval mortuary archaeology followed by eighteen innovative research papers offering new interpretations of the material culture, monuments and landscape context of early medieval mortuary practices. Papers contribute to a variety of ongoing debates including the study of ethnicity, religion, ideology and social memory from burial evidence. The volume also contains two cemetery reports of early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries from Cambridgeshire.

Appendix 1: Catalogue of Inhumations

Appendix 2: Catalogue of Grave Goods associated with Inhumations

Appendix 3: Catalogue of Cremations and Associated Vessels

Appendix 4: Catalogue of Grave Goods associated with Cremations

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Foreword
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Contributors
• Introduction: Themes in the Archaeology of Early Medieval Death and Burial
• Ethnicity, ‘Race’ and Migration in Mortuary Archaeology: an Attempt at a Short Answer
• Situational Ethnicity and Nested Identities: New Approaches to an Old Problem
• Charting Conversion: Burial as a Barometer of Belief?
• Social Memory, Material Culture and Community Identity in Early Medieval Mortuary Practices
• Early Medieval Burial Studies in Scandinavia 1994–2003
• Beyond Ethnicity: Symbols of Social Identity from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries in England
• Transforming Body and Soul: Toilet Implements in Early Anglo-Saxon Graves
• Early Anglo-Saxon Horse Burial of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries AD
• Soft Furnished Burial: an Assessment of the Role of Textiles in Early Anglo-Saxon Inhumations, with Particular Reference to East Kent
• On Sacred Ground: Social Identity and Churchyard Burial in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, c. 700–1100 AD
• Disturbing the Dead: Urbanisation, the Church and the Post-Burial Treatment of Human Remains in Early Medieval Wessex, c. 600–1100 AD
• Walking with Anglo-Saxons: Landscapes of the Dead in Early Anglo-Saxon Kent
• New Perspectives on Cemetery Relocation in the Seventh Century AD: the Example of Portway, Andover
• De Situ Brecheniauc and Englynion Y Beddau: Writing about Burial in Early Medieval Wales
• Separated from the Foaming Maelstrom: Landscapes of Insular ‘Viking’ Burial
• A Question of Priority: the Re-use of Houses and Barrows for Burials in Scandinavia in the Late Iron Age (AD 600–1000)
• The Garden Gives up its Secrets: the Developing Relationship between Rural Settlements and Cemeteries, c. 750–1100
• Rescue Excavation of an Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Gunthorpe, Peterborough
• Minerva: an Early Anglo-Saxon Mixed-Rite Cemetery in Alwalton, Cambridgeshire
• Appendix 1: Catalogue of Inhumations
• Appendix 2: Catalogue of Grave Goods associated with Inhumations
• Appendix 3: Catalogue of Cremations and Associated Vessels
• Appendix 4: Catalogue of Grave Goods associated with Cremations