Abstract

Traditionally two distinct horizons have been identified in the funerary archaeology of the middle Anglo-Saxon period (c. AD 650-850): the cessation of apparently pagan practices and the beginning of churchyard burial. It is increasingly apparent that churchyard burial did not become the norm until the 10th century and that the most commonly used model for the preceding period - E. T. Leed’s “final phase” model - fails to account for the diverse range of Middle Anglo-Saxon funerary practices and burial locations that are little understood. Previous discussion of Middle Anglo-Saxon burial rites has typically focused on southern England, and is usually limited to specific burial types (e.g. barrow burials) or focussed on a specific issue (e.g. the impact of Christianity). Where synthesis has been undertaken (e.g. by Andy Boddington and Helen Geake) the skeletal data have been neglected, while published site reports rarely exceed comparison of grave-goods with age and sex. The funerary archaeology of the middle Anglo-Saxon period is, thus, in need of an interdisciplinary analysis, integrating a wider range of osteological evidence with study of grave goods, cemetery morphology and landscape setting: the kind of approach which has been successful in earlier and Later Anglo-Saxon research. This will permit new insights into the social strategies of a period characterised by the emergence of more stable social hierarchies and the establishment of the Christian Church. This presentation focussed on the chronological, geographical and theoretical background to my ongoing PhD project, including the methodological approach I intend to take in addressing these issues through a bio-cultural study of burial archaeology of the middle Anglo-Saxon cemeteries of the north-east of England.