Updown Early Medieval Cemetery
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Updown early medieval cemetery in
Eastry Eastry is a village and civil parish in the Dover district, in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The parish includes the hamlets of Heronden and Selson. In 2011 the parish had a populatio ...
,
Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, United Kingdom, was used as a burial place in the 7th century. Eastry was an important administrative centre in the
Kingdom of Kent The Kingdom of the Kentish (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed i ...
. Updown was one of four cemeteries in and around Eastry. The cemetery measures roughly and may have encompassed around 300 graves. The site was rediscovered in 1973 in the grounds of Updown House, from which the cemetery took its name. Part of it was protected as a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
two years later. Excavations followed in 1976 by
Sonia Chadwick Hawkes Sonia Chadwick Hawkes (5 November 1933 – 30 May 1999) was a British archaeologist specialising in early Anglo-Saxon archaeology. She led excavations on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Finglesham in Kent and Worthy Park in Hampshire. She was desc ...
and 1989 by Brian Philp, both times ahead of development plans in the area: first a pipeline and then a bypass. A total of 78 graves were investigated.
Ancient DNA Ancient DNA (aDNA) is DNA isolated from ancient sources (typically Biological specimen, specimens, but also environmental DNA). Due to degradation processes (including Crosslinking of DNA, cross-linking, deamination and DNA fragmentation, fragme ...
from five of the burials was tested in the 2020s. This led to the discovery that one of the individuals in the cemetery, dubbed Updown Girl, had mixed European and West African ancestry.


Background

Eastry Eastry is a village and civil parish in the Dover district, in Kent, England, around southwest of Sandwich. It was voted "Kent Village of the Year 2005". The parish includes the hamlets of Heronden and Selson. In 2011 the parish had a populatio ...
was part of the
Kingdom of Kent The Kingdom of the Kentish (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed i ...
, and the archaeologist Martin Welch described it as "an important regional centre". The kingdom was established in the 5th century. Eastry developed as a royal
vill Vill is a term used in English, Welsh and Irish history to describe a basic rural land unit, roughly comparable to that of a parish, manor, village or tithing. Medieval developments The vill was the smallest territorial and administrative unit†...
and likely had a royal hall by the 6th century; the archaeologist
Sonia Chadwick Hawkes Sonia Chadwick Hawkes (5 November 1933 – 30 May 1999) was a British archaeologist specialising in early Anglo-Saxon archaeology. She led excavations on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Finglesham in Kent and Worthy Park in Hampshire. She was desc ...
suggested that the presence of a cemetery indicates that Eastry was an important royal residence, possibly with an associated township. The Updown cemetery is one of four early medieval burial (mostly 6th or 7th century) sites in and around Eastry: *Eastry I – Buttsole cemetery to the east of Eastry, with activity focused on the 6th century; discovered in 1792 *Eastry II – a single burial at Eastry House; discovered in 1970 *Eastry III – the Updown cemetery with 78 graves excavated; discovered in 1973 *Eastry IV – four burials at Eastry Mill; discovered in 1969 Eastry III was discovered in the grounds of Updown House in Eastry and was named after the house. The Updown cemetery is located in Sangrado's Wood, a kite-shaped field south of Eastry. The area was covered by woodland in the late 19th century. 85% of the early medieval cemeteries (5th–11th centuries) in Kent were built within of a
Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
. The Updown cemetery was among this group and it was established close to a road connecting the Roman forts at
Richborough Richborough () is a settlement north of Sandwich on the east coast of the county of Kent, England. Richborough lies close to the Isle of Thanet. The population of the settlement is included in the civil parish of Ash. Although now some dist ...
and
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
. The cemetery may have been established as a replacement for Buttsole cemetery, possibly as part of the process of converting to Christianity and to be separate from pagan burials. The Updown cemetery was used in the 7th century, and based on the dating of grave goods found with the bodies, activity at the site can be split into two broad phases. The first phase dates to the first half of the 7th century; this covered approximately thirteen burials, mostly on the south side of the cemetery. Around 28 burials belong to phase 2, spanning the middle and later part of the 7th century and distributed over a broader area than those from the earlier phase.


Cemetery features

The cemetery occupies an area roughly and has an estimated 300 burials. Across two excavation campaigns in 1976 and 1989, 78 graves were investigated. Evidence of wooden coffin-like features were found in 27 graves. Nineteen penannular ditches (circular ditches with a segment missing so the circle does not close) were discovered through excavation, each one surrounding at least one burial. The material from the ditches when they were dug was likely used to create an earthwork feature in the enclosed area, possibly a low mound. Burials marked in this way may have been more important than those without a ditch and earthwork. The graves are exclusively
inhumations 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 ...
(burials) and
aligned ''Aligned'' is a 2023 drama film written and directed by Apollo Bakopoulos. The film had its world premiere at the Brooklyn Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is a ...
east–west, consistent with Christian burial practices. In Welch's opinion, the burials that have been excavated " epresenta community that is comfortably off, though not outstandingly wealthy". With around a quarter of the site excavated, the date range during which the site was used is uncertain, and could extend into the 6th or 8th centuries. No buildings or associated settlement have been found in association with the cemetery.


Discovery and excavation

The site was discovered in 1973 through the use of
aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...
.
Kenneth St Joseph John Kenneth Sinclair St Joseph, (13 November 1912 – 11 March 1994) was an English archaeologist, geologist and Royal Air Force (RAF) veteran who pioneered the use of aerial photography as a method of archaeological research in Britain and Ire ...
suggested that the cluster of rectangular features around long and roughly aligned east to west was likely to be a cemetery. The site was designated a
scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...
in 1975. Three years after the cemetery was discovered, part of the site was at risk due to plans to lay a pipeline through the area. The landowners, Arthur James and Mary James, commissioned a
rescue excavation Rescue archaeology, sometimes called commercial archaeology, preventive archaeology, salvage archaeology, contract archaeology, developer-funded archaeology, or compliance archaeology, is state-sanctioned, archaeological survey and excavation ca ...
to record archaeology which may be affected; the dig was led by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and funded by the Southern Water Board, the
Kent Archaeological Society The Kent Archaeological Society was founded in 1857 to promote the study and publication of archaeology and history, specifically that pertaining to the ancient county of Kent in England. This includes the modern administrative county as well as ar ...
, and the landowners. Mary James had participated in excavations at other early medieval cemeteries at Worthy Park in Hampshire and
Finglesham Finglesham is a village in the civil parish of Northbourne, and near Deal in Kent, England, which was the location of the Finglesham Anglo-Saxon cemetery, site of a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon archaeology find known as "Finglesham man," as descr ...
, both directed by Hawkes. The work involved excavating 36 graves and established the cemetery extended further than identified through aerial photographs. The burials were dated to the 7th century. Mary James died in 1976 which may have removed the prospect of future excavations by Hawkes. Instead, Hawkes focused on the post-excavation work and began publishing the results. In 1989, proposals for a new bypass passing through Eastry led to further rescue excavations. Led by Brian Philp, the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit dug in September and October. They excavated along the route of the proposed bypass, partly intersecting with the area excavated by Hawkes in 1976, uncovering 41 new graves. While no buildings or settlement have been discovered associated with the cemetery, Hawkes hypothesised that Eastry Court (an 18th-century house build on the local on an earlier house dating from the Middle Ages) may be on the site of a settlement contemporary with the Updown cemetery. Excavations by Christopher Arnold in 1980 and ''
Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...
'' in 2005 in Eastry did not find evidence of a settlement.


Updown Girl

Grave 47 from the 1989 excavation contained the remains of a girl aged around 10 or 11 years. The individual has become known as 'Updown Girl' in scholarship and media reports after the term was used in a special issue of ''
Current Archaeology ''Current Archaeology'' is a British monthly archaeology magazine. Summary ''Current Archaeology'' describes itself as the "United Kingdom's best selling archaeology magazine", a claim substantiated by British Archaeological Jobs and Resources o ...
'' published in 2022. A project profiling the
genome A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...
s from 460 individuals from medieval north-west Europe sampled 5 individuals from the Updown cemetery, including Updown Girl. The analysis found that the people buried in eastern England had about three-quarters of their ancestry "from the continental North Sea zone", and in early medieval England there was "complex, regionally contingent migration with partial integration that was probably dependent on the fortunes of specific families and their individual members". The analysis of Updown Girl's DNA indicated that she had mixed European and West African ancestry. She had a West African male ancestor who lived in the 6th century. The investigating team suggested that "the movement of the Updown Girl's ancestors was presumably linked to ...
Late Antique Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodization has since been wide ...
trading routes". The research also showed that Updown Girl was buried close to relatives, possibly great aunts, who had a largely Continental Northern European ancestry (Dutch, Danish, and northern German). The similarity of burial between Updown Girl and her nearby female relatives suggests that the burial practice – the use of grave goods, orientation, and proximity to relatives – was meant to show "a shared regional identity".


See also

*
Finglesham Anglo-Saxon cemetery Finglesham Anglo-Saxon cemetery is a place of burial that was used from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE. It is located adjacent to the village of Finglesham, near Sandwich in Kent, South East England. Belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period, i ...
– a nearby cemetery also excavated by Hawkes *
Polhill Anglo-Saxon cemetery Polhill Anglo-Saxon cemetery is a place of burial that was used in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. It is located close to the hamlet of Polhill, near Sevenoaks in Kent, South-East England. Belonging to the Middle Anglo-Saxon period, it was ...


References


Footnotes


Bibliography

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External link


Entry in the Historic Environment Record
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Kent Scheduled monuments in Kent 1973 archaeological discoveries