Anglo-Saxon Archaeology
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Anglo-Saxon Archaeology
The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England is the study of the archaeology of England from the 5th century AD to the 11th century, when it was ruled by Germanic tribes known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons. History and overview The Anglo-Saxon period is broadly defined as the period of time from roughly 410 AD to 1066 AD. The first modern, systemic excavations of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries and settlements began in the 1920s. Since then, archaeological surveys of cemeteries and settlements have uncovered more information about the society and culture of Anglo-Saxon England. Reverend James Douglas was the first antiquarian to recognize Anglo-Saxon burials for what they were, and he described his findings in ''Nenia Britannica'' (1793). Interest in Anglo-Saxon materials increased in the 19th century, with scholars like the archaeologist Thomas Bateman and the architect Thomas Rickman producing some of the earliest authoritative texts on the subject. Architecture Anglo-Saxon architec ...
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Hairpin
A hairpin or hair pin is a long device used to hold a person's hair in place. It may be used simply to secure long hair out of the way for convenience or as part of an elaborate hairstyle or coiffure. The earliest evidence for dressing the hair may be seen in carved "Venus figurines" such as the Venus of Brassempouy and the Venus of Willendorf. The creation of different hairstyles, especially among women, seems to be common to all cultures and all periods and many past, and current, societies use hairpins. Hairpins made of metal, ivory, bronze, carved wood, etc. were used in ancient Egypt. for securing decorated hairstyles. Such hairpins suggest, as graves show, that many were luxury objects among the Egyptians and later the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans. Major success came in 1901 with the invention of the spiral hairpin by New Zealand inventor Ernest Godward. This was a predecessor of the hair clip. The hairpin may be decorative and encrusted with jewels and ornaments, or i ...
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Inhumation
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objects in it, and covering it over. A funeral is a ceremony that accompanies the final disposition. Evidence suggests that some archaic and early modern humans buried their dead. Burial is often seen as indicating respect for the dead. It has been used to prevent the odor of decay, to give family members closure and prevent them from witnessing the decomposition of their loved ones, and in many cultures it has been seen as a necessary step for the deceased to enter the afterlife or to give back to the cycle of life. Methods of burial may be heavily ritualized and can include natural burial (sometimes called "green burial"); embalming or mummification; and the use of containers for the dead, such as shrouds, coffins, grave liners, and buri ...
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Angles (tribe)
The Angles (, ) were one of the main Germanic peoples who settled in Great Britain in the post-Roman period. They founded several kingdoms of the Heptarchy in Anglo-Saxon England. Their name, which probably derives from the Angeln peninsula, is the root of the name ''England'' ("Engla land", "Land of the Angles"), and ''English'', in reference to both for its people and language. According to Tacitus, writing around 100 AD, a people known as Angles (Anglii) lived beyond (apparently northeast of) the Lombards and Semnones, who lived near the River Elbe. Etymology The name of the Angles may have been first recorded in Latinised form, as ''Anglii'', in the ''Germania'' of Tacitus. It is thought to derive from the name of the area they originally inhabited, the Angeln peninsula, which is on the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein. Two related theories have been advanced, which attempt to give the name a Germanic etymology: # It originated from the Germanic root for "nar ...
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Cremation
Cremation is a method of Disposal of human corpses, final disposition of a corpse through Combustion, burning. Cremation may serve as a funeral or post-funeral rite and as an alternative to burial. In some countries, including India, Nepal, and Syria, cremation on an Pyre, open-air pyre is an ancient tradition. Starting in the 19th century, cremation was introduced or reintroduced into other parts of the world. In modern times, cremation is commonly carried out with a Crematorium, closed furnace (cremator), at a crematorium. Cremation leaves behind an average of of remains known as ''ashes'' or ''cremains''. This is not all ash but includes unburnt fragments of bone mineral, which are commonly ground into powder. They are inorganic and inert, and thus do not constitute a health risk and may be buried, interred in a memorial site, retained by relatives or scattered in various ways. History Ancient Cremation dates from at least 17,000 years ago in the archaeological record, w ...
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Anglo-Saxon Paganism
Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, or Anglo-Saxon polytheism refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centuries AD, during the initial period of Anglo-Saxon England, Early Medieval England. A variant of Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of beliefs and cultic practices, with much regional variation. Developing from the earlier Iron Age religion of continental northern Europe, it was introduced to Britain following the Anglo-Saxon invasion of Britain, Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid 5th century, and remained the dominant belief system in England until the Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, Christianisation of its kingdoms between the 7th and 8th centuries, with some aspects gradually blending into English folklore, folklore. The pejorative terms ''paganis ...
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Walkington Wold Burials
The Walkington Wold burials in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, comprise the skeletal remains of 13 individuals from the Anglo-Saxon period which were discovered in the late 1960s, during the excavation of a Bronze Age barrow. Subsequent examinations have concluded that they were decapitated Anglo-Saxon criminals, and that the site is the most northerly of its kind known in England. Original excavation Archaeologists Rod Mackey and John Bartlett discovered the burials while excavating the Bronze Age barrow at Walkington Wold, about 2 kilometres (1.25 miles) west of the Yorkshire village of Walkington, from 1967 to 1969. Twelve skeletons were unearthed, ten of which were without skulls, though eleven skulls were also found, most of which were without jawbones. All were buried randomly, though three appeared to have been buried together, with most of the skulls well away from the bodies. Some of the skulls were found at the centre of the barrow mound, while the bodies we ...
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Snape Boat Grave
The Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery is a place of burial dated to the 6th century AD located on Snape, Suffolk, Snape Common, near to the town of Aldeburgh in Suffolk, East of England, Eastern England. Dating to the early part of the Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon Era of English history, it contains a variety of different forms of burial, with inhumation and cremation burials being found in roughly equal proportions. The site is also known for the inclusion of a high status ship burial. A number of these burials were included within burial mounds. The first recorded excavation of the site was conducted by antiquarianism, antiquarians in 1827, with a later, more thorough investigation taking place in 1862 under the control of landowner Septimus Davidson. Artefacts from the earliest excavations soon disappeared, although important finds uncovered from the 1862 excavation included a glass claw beaker and the Snape Ring, now housed in The British Museum, London. During the 20th century, ...
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Royal Saxon Tomb In Prittlewell
The Prittlewell royal Anglo-Saxon burial or Prittlewell princely burial is a high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mounds, Anglo-Saxon burial mound which was excavated at Prittlewell, north of Southend-on-Sea, in the English county of Essex. Artefacts found by archaeologists in the burial chamber are of a quality that initially suggested that this tomb in Prittlewell was a tomb of one of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon Kings of Essex, and the discovery of golden foil crosses indicate that the burial was of an Christianisation of Anglo-Saxon England, early Anglo-Saxon Christian. The burial is now dated to about 580, and is thought that it contained the remains of Sæxa, brother of Sæberht of Essex. In May 2019, some of the excavated artefacts went on permanent display in Southend Central Museum. Excavation In the autumn of 2003, in preparation for a road-widening scheme, an archaeological survey was carried out on a plot of land to the north-east of Priory Park, Southend-on-Sea, Priory ...
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Spong Hill
Spong Hill is an Anglo-Saxon cemetery site located south of North Elmham in Norfolk, England. It is the largest known Early Anglo-Saxon cremation site. The site consists of a large cremation cemetery and a smaller, 6th-century burial cemetery of 57 inhumations. Several of the inhumation graves were covered by small barrows and others were marked by the use of coffins. Extensive excavations of the Early Anglo-Saxon cemetery and part of the associated settlement revealed evidence of Early Prehistoric occupation on the hill top, dating from the Mesolithic to the Early Bronze Age. Excavation of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery also revealed extensive occupation evidence: late Iron Age and Roman enclosures and field boundaries, an early Roman kiln, and a small settlement of ' sunken huts' and post-hole buildings possibly contemporary with the cemetery. Context Spong Hill contains 2259 cremations and 57 inhumations. The site was in use for around 150 years during which 2,500 to 3,000 indivi ...
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Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeology, Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artifacts was discovered. The site is important in establishing the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia as well as illuminating the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation. The site was first excavated by Basil Brown, a self-taught archaeologist, under the auspices of the landowner Edith Pretty, but when its importance became apparent, national scholars took over. The artefacts the archaeologists found in the burial chamber include: a suite of metalwork dress fittings in gold and gems, a ceremonial helmet, a shield and sword, a Anglo-Saxon lyre, lyre, and silver plate from the Eastern Roman Empire. The ship burial has prompted comparisons with the world of ''Beowulf''. The Old Engl ...
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Cookham
Cookham is a historic River Thames, Thames-side village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the north-eastern edge of Berkshire, England, north-north-east of Maidenhead and opposite the village of Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, Bourne End. Cookham forms the southernmost and most rural part of the High Wycombe urban area. With adjoining Cookham Rise and Cookham Dean, it had a combined population of 5,779 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. In 2011, ''The Daily Telegraph'' deemed Cookham United Kingdom, Britain's second richest village. Toponymy It is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as ''Cocheham''. The name may be from the Old English ''cōc'' + ''hām'', meaning 'cook village', i.e. 'village noted for its cooks', although the first element may be derived from the Old English ''cōc(e)'' meaning 'hill'. Geography The parish includes three settlements: *Cookham Village – the centre of the original village, with a high street that has changed little o ...
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