Early Medieval Mortuary Practices

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.

Table of Contents

Introduction (Howard Williams)

I: New Perspectives in Early Medieval Mortuary Practices
Ethnicity, 'Race' and Migration in Mortuary Archaeology: An Attempt at a Short Answer (Heinrich Härke)
Situational Ethnicity and Nested Identities: New Approaches to an Old Problem (Susanne E Hakenbeck)
Charting Conversion: Burial as a Barometer of Belief? (Rik Hoggett)
Social Memory, Material Culture and Community Identity in Early Medieval Mortuary Practices (Zoë Devlin)
Early Medieval Burial Studies in Scandinavia 1994-2003 (Martin Rundkvist)

II: Studying Early Medieval Graves
Beyond Ethnicity: Symbols of Social Identity from the Fourth to Sixth Centuries in England (Rebecca Gowland)
Transforming Body and Soul: Toilet Implements in Early Anglo-Saxon Graves (Howard Williams)
Social Memory, Material Culture and Community Identity in Early Medieval Mortuary Practices: Early Anglo-Saxon Horse Burial of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries AD (Chris Fern)
Soft Furnished Burial: An Assessment of the Role of Textiles in Early Anglo-Saxon Inhumations, with Particular Reference to East Kent (Susan Harrington)
On Sacred Ground: Social Identity and Churchyard Burial in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, c. 700-1100 (Jo Buckberry)
Disturbing the Dead: Urbanisation, the Church and the Post-Burial Treatment of Human Remains in Early Wessex, c. 600-1100 AD (Annia Kristina Cherryson)

III: Death, Burial and the Early Medieval Landscape
Walking with Anglo-Saxons: Landscapes of the Dead in Early Anglo-Saxon Kent (Stuart Brookes)
New Perspectives on Cemetery Relocation in the Seventh Century AD: The Example of Portway, Andover (Nick Stoodley)
De Situ Brecheniauc and Englynion y Beddau: Writing About Burial in Early Medieval Wales (David Petts)
Separated from the Foaming Maelstrom: Landscapes of Insular 'Viking' Burial (Stephen Harrison)
A Question of Priority: The Re-use of Houses and Barrows for Burials in Scandinavia in the Late Iron Age (AD 600-1000) (Eva Thäte)
The Garden Gives Up its Secrets: The Developing Relationship between Rural Settlements and Cemeteries, c. 750-1100 (Dawn Hadley)

IV: Excavating the Dead
Rescue Excavation of an Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Gunthorpe, Peterborough (Philippa Patrick, Charles French and Christine Osborne)
Minerva: An Early Anglo-Saxon Mixed-Rite Cemetery in Alwalton, Cambridgeshire (Catriona Gibson)