Notices of the Priory of Southwick,in the County of Southampton

In February 1995 Cleveland County Archaeology Section (now Tees Archaeology) carried out a small scale excavation at the rear of 23 Baptist Street on Hartlepool Headland prior to the construction of a garage (Illus. 1). The site lies in the immediate vicinity of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery which contained ‘inscribed stones’ and which is believed to belong to the Anglo-Saxon monastery of the seventh to eighth centuries A.D. (see Daniels forthcoming for the most recent discussion of the monastery and Okasha forthcoming for that of the cemetery). The cemetery was located in the mid-nineteenth century during house construction and there has been no previous opportunity to undertake archaeological investigation in this area. A proposal to build a garage in this area was therefore seized upon as a chance to examine the stratigraphy and establish further details of Anglo-Saxon activity in this area.     

On the Removal and Relaying of Roman Tesselated Floors

An excavation on the southern side of London Road, Staines, in 1999 revealed a dense concentration of ancient features surviving amidst the concrete foundations of a recently demolished office building. These features included a number of Bronze Age pits, many of which were intercut; pits, ditches and a well of late Roman origin; and the remains of approximately thirty inhumation burials, most or all of which were of late Saxon or early Norman origin. The majority, if not all, of the burials were of execution victims. Some of the bodies were face down within the grave, others had been decapitated, and some were in graves containing two or three bodies.

The cemetery shares various characteristics with other excavated execution sites and the evidence from Staines is placed within a regional and national context. The site is one of few execution cemeteries dated by radiocarbon with a chronology spanning at least the eighth to the twelfth century. This longevity adds weight to the case for a centrally organized judicial system during the growth period of the major Early Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.     

Sepulchral Brasses,and Incised Slabs

A Middle Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Chesterton Lane Corner, Cambridge, has been radiocarbon dated to the seventh to ninth centuries with its floruit in the eighth century and evidence that many of the individuals buried there were executed. Intriguingly, there is also a Late Roman decapitation burial at the site. The evidence for Middle Anglo-Saxon Cambridge is reviewed and the relationship between justice and central places is considered.     

An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Greenbank,Darlington

NORTH of the R. Tees pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are only conspicuous by their virtual absence; and, from the ten undoubted examples known,¹ both the quality and quantity of the objects recovered do little to illuminate the Anglo-Saxon element in the culture of Bernicia—a kingdom which probably owed much of its numerical strength to native British survival.² In view of the scant evidence available, it is surprising that the finds from Darlington, the richest cemetery N. of the Tees, have never been fully published before.³ This paper seeks to make good this omission.     

Original DocumentsNotarial Instrument,Dated A.D. 1322, Relating to Saint Nectan’s Chapel,in the Parish of St. Winnow,Near Lostwithiel,Cornwall

Our demographic knowledge of early Anglo-Saxon cemetery populations is highly valuable. This paper will present new demographic data from the Elsham and Cleatham cemeteries, both located in North Lincolnshire. These population structures will be compared with those recorded from contemporary cemeteries, including Sancton and Spong Hill. The observations made in this paper illustrate that the demographic profiles of cremation practicing groups are largely similar in nature. Two intriguing trends are verified by the Elsham and Cleatham assemblages, both of which include the under-representation of infants and males. This enlarged body of osteological data highlights that large amounts of information can be extracted from burned skeletal remains and can enhance our understanding of the demographic structure of cremation practicing groups in early Anglo-Saxon England.     

The Reuse of ‘Antiques’ in Conversion Period Cemeteries

BETWEEN 2005 AND 2007, a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery was excavated at Street House, near Loftus in Cleveland in north-eastern England. The site was discovered during a programme of research into late-prehistoric settlement in the area and hosts a range of monuments dating from 3000 bc to ad 650. In the context of the conversion period, the Anglo-Saxon cemetery is of significant interest due to a range of reused prehistoric and Romano-British objects found as gravegoods. By ad 650, when some of the objects were buried, they were already antiques, and some may have been at least 250 years old when deposited. During the conversion period, furnished burial was a diminishing rite and the placement of objects within the grave may therefore have held a greater significance. This study considers reused artefacts recovered from conversion -period cemeteries. At a time when a number of cemeteries were being founded in relation to earlier monuments, some contained burials that reused artefacts and jewellery of prehistoric and Romano-British date. There is a compelling pattern for this practice at Street House, but this phenomenon also occurred at other sites of a similar date.     

The Subtle Knife: Using Domestic Objects to Access the Middle Anglo-Saxon Worldview

The seventh to ninth centuries AD are understood as a period of changing worldviews with the introduction and embedding of Christianity across the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. In contrast to the attention afforded to the ‘ritual’ or sacred transformations of this period, relatively little has been made of the changing archaeological record of ‘ordinary’ or secular spaces and material cultures in order to understand this historical change in worldview. The use and significance of the domestic Anglo-Saxon knife spans both settlement and cemetery contexts. It is argued that the study of knife use and deposition reveals beliefs and worldviews expressed in everyday activities as well as in those deposits that appear ‘special’.     

Stable Isotope Analysis of Human and Faunal Remains from the Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Berinsfield,Oxfordshire: Dietary and Social Implications

Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope values were obtained from human and faunal bones from the Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery site at Wally Corner, Berinsfield, Oxfordshire, U.K. These values were used to characterize the diet of the burial community as a whole and to analyse dietary patterns within sub-groups determined by sex, age, grave goods, and possible household arrangement. While dietary variability is observed in all sub-groups tested, we identify an apparent distinction between the average diets of individuals classified as “wealthy” and “intermediately wealthy” and those classified as “poor”. A similar dietary difference indicates a status-based age differential between males under and over 30 years old, also reflected in the archaeological record. A notable absence of dietary differentiation was noted between males and females at Berinsfield, indicating that sex-based societal classification did not significantly influence an individual's access to the various food sources available to the Berinsfield community. Conclusions drawn from these isotopic data are of use in adding to the picture of daily life and social structure in early Anglo-Saxon Britain.     

ANGLO-SAXON COPPER ALLOYS FROM LECHLADE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE

Summary. A range of copper-alloy artefacts from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Lechlade were analysed using X-ray fluorescence. There were few pure bronzes or brasses in the assemblage and most alloys contained significant amounts of zinc, tin and lead in variable ratios. In view of the current theory that supplies of new metals and ores were limited and Anglo-Saxon metalworkers normally used scrap metal, the compositions were used to assess the techniques of the craftsmen supplying this community. It is concluded that re-use of copper alloys was prevalent but that metals were selected quite carefully for particular applications, with regard to the metallurgical characteristics required.     

The application of histomorphometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy to the analysis of early Anglo-Saxon burned bone

Macroscopic examination, histomorphometry and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) are applied to the analysis of burned bones from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Elsham in Lincolnshire, UK. These methods were undertaken to gain a greater understanding of pyre conditions from an archaeological context and the effects of burning on bone microstructure. Sixteen samples were employed for thin-section analysis while eight samples were used with FTIR. The results suggest that these methods correspond well with macroscopic examination, though anomalies did occur. The techniques employed in this paper have demonstrated that the temperatures reached on the funerary pyres at Elsham ranged from 600 °C to over 900 °C under oxidizing conditions.     

A 7th-Century Necklace from Hardingstone,Northamptonshire, England

A NECKLACE ASSEMBLAGE from a small Anglo–Saxon cemetery in Hardingstone (Northamptonshire), was discovered during excavations in the 1960s, but until now has remained unpublished. It is an example of a type commonly found in the distinctive well-furnished female graves of the later 7th century in England and is constituted from beads and pendants, some of unusual type. This paper investigates this discovery, individually assessing the component parts of the necklace and presenting qualitative compositional analysis of the silver and glass used in their manufacture. As a case study, the Hardingstone necklace provides an opportunity to explore the meaning of these kinds of jewellery item and to better understand the prominent role of the women who wore them in 7th-century Anglo-Saxon society.     

A leprous skeleton of the 7th century from Eccles,Kent, and the present evidence of leprosy in early Britain

A male skeleton of 7th century date from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eccles, Kent, is described. Certain skeletal changes associated with leprosy are manifest. The disease is discussed in its palaeopathological context and this case in relation to the few other cases of the disease hitherto diagnosed in Great Britain.     

Secondary cancer in an Anglo-Saxon female

A mature/elderly female skeleton from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eccles, Kent, is described. A diagnosis of Paget's disease of the left tibia is made. The macroscopic radiological features of perforating and non-perforating osteolytic lesions in the cranium and femora are described. The differential diagnosis is discussed. The lesions are considered to be due to metastatic carcinoma, possibly from a primary carcinoma of the breast. There is a brief resumé of other recorded examples of metastatic carcinoma in early skeletons.     

An Early Anglo-Saxon Cemetery and Archaeological Survey at Breamore,Hampshire, 1999–2006

A Byzantine pail, datable to the sixth century AD, was discovered in 1999, in a field near the River Avon in Breamore, Hampshire. Subsequent fieldwork confirmed the presence there of an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery. In 2001, limited excavation located graves that were unusual, both for their accompanying goods and for the number of double and triple burials. This evidence suggests that Breamore was the location of a well-supplied ‘frontier’ community which may have had a relatively brief existence during the sixth century. It seems likely to have had strong connections with the Isle of Wight and Kent to the south and south-east, rather than with communities up-river to the north and north-east.     

A Place to Rest Your (Burnt) Bones? Mortuary Houses in Early Anglo-Saxon England

This article presents a fresh interpretation of square and rectangular mortuary structures found in association with deposits of cremated material and cremation burials in a range of early Anglo-Saxon (fifth-/sixth-century AD) cemeteries across southern and eastern England. Responding to a recent argument that they could be traces of pyre structures, a range of ethnographic analogies are drawn upon, and the full-range of archaeological evidence is synthesized, to re-affirm and extend their interpretation as unburned mortuary structures. Three interleaving significances are proposed: (i) demarcating the burial place of specific individuals or groups from the rest of the cemetery population, (ii) operating as ‘columbaria’ for the above-ground storage of the cremated dead (i.e. not just to demarcate cremation burials), and (iii) providing key nodes of commemoration between funerals as the structures were built, used, repaired and eventually decayed within cemeteries. The article proposes that timber ‘mortuary houses’ reveal that groups in early Anglo-Saxon England perceived their cemeteries in relation to contemporary settlement architectures, with some groups constructing and maintaining miniaturized canopied buildings to store and display the cremated remains of the dead.     

On Medieval Earthenware Vessels

Abstract

Anglo-Saxon architecture was first securely identified in the early 19th century, after which its characteristics were progressively defined and discussed. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gerard Baldwin Brown assembled a corpus of the surviving structures, analysing their architectural styles and attempting to date them; this process was continued and refined by Harold Taylor, culminating in his three-volume opus (1965–78). Since then, many new discoveries have been made and detailed studies of individual buildings carried out, together with major excavations at Winchester, Wells, Gloucester, Jarrow, Wearmouth, Barton-upon-Humber and other locations. Research has also been directed towards the remains of painted decoration on stone and plaster, and on the small amount of carpentry surviving from the period. Consequently, the volume of evidence relating to Anglo-Saxon churches, their construction and decoration has increased enormously. In particular, there has been a growing realisation that these churches were not the ‘rude structures’ that they were dubbed by early antiquaries, but sophisticated in design and execution. Moreover, they were highly decorated internally, and probably externally too. This paper reviews some of the evidence gathered over the last forty years, mainly through archaeological investigation, both above and below ground. It concludes that we have hitherto underestimated the physical complexity and the architectonic and artistic qualities of Anglo-Saxon churches. It is now possible to reconstruct from ephemeral evidence a much greater understanding of the three-dimensional form and decoration of these buildings.     

Anglo-Saxon women and the law

Scholarly investigations of Anglo-Saxon social history have usually drawn the conclusion that women during that period enjoyed a favourable position in comparison with their successors in post-Conquest England. The following study aims to qualify this view, by demonstrating that the position of women was more complicated than is usually acknowledged. An examination of the Anglo-Saxon legal documents shows that the position of women varied according to circumstances such as rank, marital status, and geographical location. However, an overall improvement between the early and late period is clear. In fact, this improvement is so considerable that there is a much closer resemblance between the situation obtaining in late Anglo-Saxon England and post-Conquest England than there is between the early and late Anglo-Saxon period. Thus, to describe Anglo-Saxon E England as a time when women enjoyed an independence which they lost as a result of the changes introduced by the Norman Conquest is misleading.     

Icenia: Notices of Roman Remains,and Evidences of Occupation,Discovered in Norfolk

This paper attempts to demonstrate four things: (1) There is no adequate documentary basis for Petrie's ‘Northern’ system of lengths. (2) We do not know of any system into which Anglo-Saxon lengths were organized. (3) The perch of 5.03 m is the only Anglo-Saxon unit of which the length is known. (4) There is insufficient evidence to support the view that the Drusian foot of 33.3 cm was widely used by the Germanic tribes in general or in Anglo-Saxon England in particular. Conversely the modern English foot of 30.48 cm has more to recommend it as Anglo-Saxon than has previously been recognized.     

MORTUARY DISPLAY AND CULTURAL CONTACT: A CEMETERY AT KASTRI ON THASOS

Summary.   This article explores how the patterns of development within the local populations prior to Greek colonization, or even Greek contact, can elucidate the process of Greek colonization. Focusing upon the Thracian Early Iron Age cemetery of Kastri on Thasos, it suggests that past interpretations of such cemeteries as undifferentiated is due to the imposition of modern ideas of value. This article instead uses the criterion of diversity to suggest that the cemetery in fact has clear patterns of social differentiation in the first and last periods of use. Furthermore imports are restricted to graves of highest diversity in the last period of use (the early seventh century BC). This pattern is repeated over Early Iron Age Thrace, and is indicative of a social change within Thrace prior to Greek colonization which saw nascent Thracian elites seeking out imports from many areas in order to bolster their status.     

Ceramic Petrology and the Study of Anglo-Saxon and Later Medieval Ceramics

Abstract

A SURVEY of archaeological ceramic thin sections held by institutions and individuals in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the early 1990s by the City of Lincoln Archaeology Unit and funded by English Heritage. Over 6,000 thin sections of Anglo-Saxon or medieval date (or reports on their analysis) were located. For the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon and the post-Conquest Periods, these studies have confirmed that pottery production was carried out in a limited number of centres and that most pottery, including handmade coarsewares, was therefore produced for trade. The distances over which pottery was carried vary from period to period but were actually as high or higher in the Middle to Late Anglo-Saxon Period as in the 13th to 14h centuries. However, for the Early Anglo-Saxon Period (and the Middle Anglo-Saxon Period outside of eastern England) the evidence of ceramic petrology is equivocal and requires more study. These 6,000–odd thin sections represent a resource which could be used for various future studies, some of which are discussed here, and as an aid to their further use a database containing information on the sampled ceramics, their location and publications of their analyses will be published online through Internet Archaeology.