Anglo-Saxon pagan funerals were open and public, similar to contemporary South Asian practices. Alongside inhumation, it was common for early Anglo-Saxons to cremate their dead by burning the corpses and then burying the cremated remains within an urn. Mortuary rituals in Anglo-Saxon England have been a source of information that permeates almost every part of our understanding of the period. Dr. Thompson examines these practices in the context of confessional and penitential literature, wills, poetry, chronicles, and homilies to show that mortuary practices were mechanisms for the construction of memories and identities during the turbulent period.
Anglo-Saxons were frequently buried with material artefacts, such as pots, clothing, jewelry, and food items, while the funeral ritual involved nourishing and hydrating the cremated dead. Alcoholic drinks may have been shared by mourners and placed on the pyre, but the process of cremation was not always straightforward. The Anglo-Saxons disposed of their dead either through cremation, depositing the ashes of the deceased in highly ornate urns, or inhumation, usually in the form of barrows.
Cremation rites declined in the seventh century, but throughout that century remained a viable form of burial at sites like St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton. Following cremation, the dry, fragmented, distorted, and shrunken human bone was retrieved, collected into urns, and supplemented with grooming implements. Most of the funeral rites preserved are cremations, with three being ship cremations in or on the edge of water.
In Anglo-Saxon England, the main ways of dealing with the dead were burial and cremation. The dead of Anglo-Saxon tribes were either cremated or buried, and a great deal of evidence available for the Anglo-Saxons’ way of life comes from their burial practices.
📹 UNDERSTANDING ANGLO SAXON BURIAL PRACTICE PATTERNS THROUGH RADIOCARBON DATING
With the influx of European migrants from 500 to 800 AD, southern England endured major political and religious conflict.
What is considered an Anglo-Saxon honorable death?
In Anglo-Saxon culture and literature, a hero was considered strong, intelligent, and courageous. They were willing to face any odds and fight to the death for their glory and people. The Anglo-Saxon hero was able to be humble and kind while still displaying these characteristics. Beowulf is an example of an Anglo-Saxon hero, with his unparalleled strength and courage.
Strength and physical appearance are essential to the Anglo-Saxon warrior, as Beowulf is described as having the strength of “thirty men” in just one of his arms. When he first arrives in the land of the Danes, the coastguard praises him as a mightier warrior than many corrupt warriors around him. However, strength alone is not enough to define a hero. Beowulf shows that every hero must have courage. In an argument with Unferth, Beowulf says that fate often saves an undoomed man when his courage is good.
Fate, which was thought to be unchangeable, seems to bend for a hero who has enough courage. Beowulf tells Hrothgar and the Danes that he will kill Grendel without his sword, showing his courage and honor. He then speaks inspiringly to the thanes in the mead-hall, demonstrating that strength and courage are essential for a hero to be recognized and respected.
What is the oldest death ritual?
The oldest intentional human burial occurred around 100, 000 years ago in a cave in Qafzeh, Israel, where the remains of up to 15 early Homo sapiens were discovered. The oldest deliberate human burial in Africa was discovered in 2013 near Kenya’s coast, where a small two-and-a-half- or three-year-old child was placed in the fetal position and laid to rest in a shallow grave. These burials are intriguing for their age and as early examples of a familiar ritual that we continue to practice today.
However, Pettit argues that the act itself isn’t as remarkable as people might think. He believes that other hominins, including Homo naledi, may have participated in the practice, and that the simple process of burial isn’t as unique as it may seem.
What was the worst Anglo-Saxon punishment?
Anglo-Saxon society had violent legal methods, including mutilation and execution. Execution, often in the form of hanging, was used for serious crimes like murder or treason against the king. Mutilation was used for lesser crimes like stealing, such as slicing an ear or hand. Execution was rarely used, often to set an example or to show a criminal’s mistake in public. Mutilation was carried out when an initial warning was not followed and the person reoffended.
Before execution or mutilation, a trial by jury was used, where community members decided a person’s guilt or innocence based on personal circumstances and previous societal conduct. If the jury couldn’t decide, a trial by ordeal may be ordered.
What cultures bury their dead within 24 hours?
The Islamic funeral ritual in Iran is a lengthy process that involves nine washes, a white shroud, and cords. This ensures that the body is buried within 24 hours of death, in accordance with Islamic teachings.
What is Anglo-Saxon called now?
The term Anglo-Saxon was first used by Continental writers in the late 8th century to distinguish the Saxons of Britain from those of the European continent, who St. Bede the Venerable called Antiqui Saxones (“Old Saxons”). The name was part of a title, rex Angul-Saxonum (“king of the Anglo-Saxons”), sometimes used by King Alfred of Wessex. By the time of the Norman Conquest, the kingdom had become known as England, and Anglo-Saxon as a collective term for the region’s people was eventually supplanted by “English”.
Anglo-Saxon persisted as an informal synonym for English, but its use diminished as emigrants from Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and other areas further reshaped Britain’s ethnic composition. “Anglo-Saxon” continues to refer to a period in Britain’s history, generally defined as the years between the end of Roman occupation and the Norman Conquest.
What are the most humiliating punishments in history?
Capital punishment is a controversial issue, with arguments that it is more expensive and the government has been wrong in past cases. However, these arguments may not be enough to qualify for the government’s tests, which could be considered arbitrary. Capital punishments have been deliberately cruel, painful, and degrading throughout history. Examples include breaking wheel, hanging, drawing and quartering, mazzatello, boiling to death, death by burning, drowning, feeding alive to predatory animals, starvation, immurement, flaying, disembowelment, crucifixion, impalement, crushing, execution by elephant, keelhauling, stoning, dismemberment, sawing, slow slicing, blood eagle, bamboo torture, and necklacing.
In 2008, Michael Portillo on the show Horizon argued that to ensure an execution is not cruel and unusual, criteria must be met: quick and painless death to prevent suffering for the person being executed; medical education provided to the executioner to prevent error-related suffering; death not to be gory to prevent suffering for those carrying out the execution; and no cooperation from the person being executed to prevent inaction, distress, and suffering caused by the prisoner participating in their own execution.
How did Anglo-Saxons bury their dead?
Anglo-Saxon communities often used inhumation as a method of disposing of their dead, as it was a quicker and more efficient method than cremation. Inhumations are an invaluable resource for understanding Early Medieval society, as they provide valuable information about the individual’s biological sex, age, health, and lifestyle. The size of graves for inhumations varied, from shallow scoops to large pits with regular sides. Multiple burials were common, often containing a couple, usually an adult and a child. In some rare cases, three or more individuals were buried in a single grave.
The bodies in Anglo-Saxon inhumations were found in various positions, such as supine, front, or one side. Legs could be arranged straight out, crossed at the lower leg or ankle, slightly bent, or pulled up to the chest in a foetal position. Archaeologist David Wilson suggests that the “usual orientation” for pagan inhumations was with the head to the west and feet to the east, although there are many exceptions. Overall, inhumations provide valuable insights into early medieval society and the burial practices of the time.
Why 49 days after death?
Won Buddhism is a spiritual practice that aims to help the soul achieve nirvana by guiding it through a 49-day ritual held every seven days. The ritual begins with the First Deliverance and ends with the Final Deliverance. Won Buddhists believe that the soul is in a transitional state for 49 days, and the funeral rites guide the soul to have a pure mind and break attachments to reach Nirvana. The first six ceremonies are performed every seven days, and the final Deliverance on the 49th day sends the soul off.
The rituals include opening, entering Samadhi, reading Ceremonial Text 25 from the Canon of Propriety, donations to increase the soul’s worthiness in the next life, affirmations and Ceremonial Text 24, bowing, reciting the Buddha’s mantras, reading Ceremonial Texts 4 and 5, and reciting the Irwonsang Vow and Ceremonial Text 29. The final ceremony is the Final Deliverance, which sends the soul off.
What were the burial rituals of the Anglo-Saxons?
Early Anglo-Saxons used cremation as a form of burial, alongside inhumation. Cremation rites declined in the seventh century but remained a viable form of burial at sites like St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton. Archaeologists Audrey Meaney and Howard Williams suggested that cremation was performed to release the spirit from the body after death, while pyre sites are rarely archaeologically identifiable.
The method of Anglo-Saxon cremation is still debated, with Calvin Wells suggesting that bodies were laid out on the ground, with a pyre built on top before being set alight. However, Jacqueline McKinley argued that Anglo-Saxon cremation pyres were likely a criss-cross of timbers filled with brushwood, with the corpse laid on top. The process of cremating the body would likely have been visible to onlookers, creating a connection between living and dead.
After cremation, ashes and remains would be collected and placed within an urn. It is unknown how long the urn was kept before being buried, but it is possible that it was stored above ground for long periods. Urns were most often upright when buried, although in rare cases they were inverted. At times, urns were buried individually in their own pit, or clustered together in a burial pit.
What did the Anglo-Saxons believe about death?
The Anglo-Saxon pagans worshipped various gods and goddesses, each with their own area of expertise. They believed in going to the afterlife after death and taking buried items with them. Christianity gained popularity, leading to the conversion of temples into churches and changes in festivals and feast days. Traditions and ritualistic behavior merged and adapted over time. The Pioneer Helmet, owned by a warrior with pagan beliefs, is a prime example of a transition from pagan to Christian beliefs. The Coppergate Helmet, found in York 100-200 years after the Pioneer Helmet, features a cross and a Latin prayer inside, indicating the wearer’s Christian beliefs.
How did Anglo-Saxons view death?
Archaeological evidence from Anglo-Saxon graveyards and Norse texts suggest that ancient Anglo-Saxons likely had a rich belief in an afterlife. Many modern Heathens believe that they will have a choice of where they wish to go after they die, provided they have committed no hideous crimes. This belief may have been a question asked by Heathen missionaries fourteen hundred years ago, as it may have caused them to avoid converting to Christianity.
An example of this is Radbod of Frisia, who was baptized but asked about his dead ancestors in Hell. The Christian missionary, Wolfram, replied that he would rather live there with his ancestors than go to heaven with beggars. Wolfram and his missionaries were expelled, and Radbod narrowly escaped sacrifice to the Heathen Gods.
These tales demonstrate that Christians must have hidden the truth about their afterlife from those they were converting. King Edwin’s men remarked about Heathen belief and the afterlife, comparing the present life of man to the swift flight of a sparrow through a room during winter. If the new doctrine contains something more certain, it seems justly to deserve to be followed.
📹 The Anglo-Saxon Graveyard Buried In Lincolnshire | Time Team | Timeline
The team investigate a possible fifth century cemetery in a ploughed field, where they find a metal shield boss. One male skeleton …
I love this man’s documentaries. He’s always so enthusiastic. Unfortunate the government doesn’t protect a land that clearly deserves to be fully excavated. There is so much to learn from the past. Everything from what they did, what they wore, what they ate, their health/age/gender, their ceremonies, and their stories. I guess we are lucky enough to know this little bit.
Recreating the shield was brilliant – especially seeing how it held up to different blows. Truly remarkable the skill they had to create such things. I was especially amazed with how simple it was to make glue! We’re so used to picking up such things from the store, already made and bottled, that I’d never even wondered where it came from. Very well done presentation. Always enjoy this team!
I went to elementary school in the southwest United States, (an area with extensive archeological history) and on recess for fun, we scoured the playground for pottery shards which were numerous. Years later during construction for enlarging the school, a small ancient pueblo was found on site. I felt quite bothered knowing dozens of us perhaps had bits and bobs of archeological evidence that might have been useful. Ugh. Fortunately the site was deemed common to the area…
I love these digs. The people doing the heavy lifting with both knowledge and muscle power are the best. They draw the watchers in and we want to be involved. And these people who’ve been dead for so many years…I’m made to feel them perusal over shoulders, too. I love these programs! Thank you all for what you do.
I’m just gonna keep saying it!! I am obsessed with the Anglo’s,Saxon’s and the Vikings! I really think I was a britt in my past life…..ever since I was a child in school I always wanted to learn more about it but in America at that time we weren’t taught any of this!! I don’t know why..maybe it was because I went catholic school or something..I don’t know!! But I’m always here for these articles!!! Your country is beautiful ❤
Greetings from France ! Your show is very interesting and pleasant to watch, i like the atmosphere. It made me realise how useful metal detectorists can be when declaring potentially interesting finds to archeologists and showing the right spot to scan and “dig”. The legislation in france encourages to declare finds but also represses the use of metal detectors “in the aim of finding artefacts that could represent interest for history, arts, archeology” which leads to the paradoxal situation where detectorists can’t risk declaring important finds and being sued for clandestine plunder. If well organized and supervised, metal detectorists and archeologist could work together and encourage a better knowledge of our land and history and decrease illegal looting of artefacts.
Loved it! Extremely interesting. I’m wondering if the drinking vessel held by the one skeleton could have been a sign that that man was the maker of “beer” rather than just a drunkard. Also, wondering why, in the beginning of the 1st day’s activities, they sent folks to do a walk-over of the area, but NOT equip any of them w/ metal detectors to more definitively identify potential finds of metal items. And then, they just started digging a trench based on a pretty vague location by the original finder. Just seems like they wanted to start digging and the where didn’t matter quite so much… Although, maybe I missed something re. those decisions.
I am curious about something. When something like this is found in a farmers field, what happens to the farmers interests? Are they forced to allow excavation?? Are they allowed to continue farming in that area?? I haven’t ever heard of that being addressed, and think it would be interesting t learn about.
A ‘heroic’ mission, an in-the-nick-of-time saving a site from an upcoming plowing (a site that has been plowed for centuries)! Fantastic series, the only downside being the trying-to-spin-drama-out-of-very-little obsession. History and Archeology are fascinating subjects that do no really need any more hyperbole.
Did you know that the ancient Armenian language had the word “hundj” which meant “a bunch” “a group”. Actually we in Armenia have another multimillennial megalithic monument, consisting of large stones oriented precisely to specific stars and constellations, also East, West, North and South and it called Karahundj which is literally the same as Stonehenge Kar-stone, Hundj-group. It is around 7500years old, so basically having monuments with literally the same name suggests the possibility of relations between ancient Armenians and Celts.
England always amazes me. As someone from the middle of the USA, while it is possible to run across something Native American, the land is so big and there were so relatively few Native Americans, that the chances of it are incredibly small. A person could randomly go into fields every day their entire life, and dig holes, and never come across anything related to humans. Not so in England, where any random field might hold the graves of Anglo-Saxon peoples, for instance.
45:13 When I saw this illustration of the barrow, I had a flash back to visiting France when I was 12 and seeing this impossibly unnatural and steep grassy hill in the middle of a farmer’s field. I climbed through the fence to see it and the French kids I was with tried to yell to me in the English they knew that I had to come back because it was dangerous or I’d get in trouble, but I climbed it by grabbing handfuls of grass and pulling myself up to the top. It was really pretty small but very tall. Now I wonder if it was something like this.
This was a great article. It demonstrated the scientific use of evidence to the limits of proof, suggestion, and hint without making leaps to appeal to a popular audience’s desire for quick and dramatic results. I am a history teacher in America, with two degrees. Medieval history was my first love, as it is commonly left out of the standardized texts. I am also a bit of a experimental historian, who tries to understand how things were made by making them using period materials and tools; and how they were used through simulated use. A center-grip shield like this would not be expected to serve as a wall of defense such as their experiment suggests. Rather, it rotates on the axis of the grip to deflect. It didn’t need to soak a spear thrust like this, and that is why they had to put it on a tripod to brace it…And to my American compatriots, there is at least as much history under our feet as there is in Europe; only it is indigenous history, and the study and appreciation of it brings up America’s general amnesia of colonization and genocide. It is easier to say we don’t have that kind of record in the soil here, than to deal with what happened in that narrative.
Margaret loves to bring up her grandfather’s entrenching tool to argue against a warrior. She’s done it more than once. Let me tell you something as a person that grew up in a tribal society, with me being Native American. You WILL NOT get away with accolades, privileges and symbols you did not earn. This isn’t a modern monarchy where some prince puts on a military uniform blaring in the sun with unearned medals. These were warriors who’s right to rule was determined by how many men swore allegiance to them. No one is swearing obedience to Noble McFancypants in a society constantly under threat of war. So yes. He WAS a warrior. Think about the past in the context of the past. Not now.
1 year since this article was uploaded… I have a request to the Time Team… please revisit every site you dug all those years ago, make a “since then” report (as cheaply as possible – use as much of the old footage as you can) – and make a documentary over what happened afterwards till “today” Where are the “goodies” you found and what has been done at the site and show us what happens to the items… Also the replicas that have been done during those 3 days. And the pictures… those are art in them selves.
They were buried with items in the belief that their existence on a “spiritual” plane would give them comfort or assistance in the afterlife. What if their understanding of life after death was correct? Now you’ve taken their things away, and even worse, you’ve taken their bones away – from the land that connects them to a time and place and those who loved them, to be shoved into a drawer.
They are doing my favorite thing, playing with soil. Thanks to modern technology and combination of old maps, it really makes things much easier nowadays. (I really want to say: all hail metal detectors. 😂) Great documentary. Before the modern technology. My great uncle would have spend months if not years, relies only of the old maps. Just to know the story of this site. Plantation on top of a ancient farm, an ancient grave on top of a most ancient burial mound. I guess this is one of the mind blowing rarest finds.
I never understood why they were limited to three days. Was it money or was it a way to bring drama into the show. Just think of how more they could have found if they had been able to work as long as then needed. I also find it interesting that they don’t lay out their digs the way most archeologist do. No grids, no layers, no record of soil colors, or soil names. I’m sure if you did a dig in the US like they do you wouldn’t be invited back to do an other one. It is fun to see what find. One of the oldest sites near where I live was carbon dated to 12,400 to 12,600 BP.
I will say. How many of my ancestors graves have been unearthed for progress. They won’t do that here in America. They don’t want people to know exactly what they did. I’m not against different races I just have a problem when they glorify something but yet hide another thing. Growing up see that a corporation ran a crossed a Native burial grounds or a sacred sites it was a problem for their pocket book. I’m Native American and Scandinavian I want to see all of it preserved not bulldozed over just for a profit.
When things of this nature are found in the U.S., in and on the fields of land privately owned by farmers, the entire site is taped off in yellow police tape and the owner/ farmer isn’t allowed on that particular piece of land, in Wisconsin or Minnesota, that he owns and found the artifacts on. The entire affair is taken over by investigators and so called historians, and the owner has no rights to claim what he found while plowing his land. And that’s all we hear of it. The officials even go so far as to play it off as nothing happened but nothing could be farther from the truth. Rather, one would think it is subject to the investigation of a crime scene. Perfect examples are Viking artifacts such as swords and coins that are never to be seen again. The farmer is not allowed to continue plowing his field! What’s worse is they keep rehashing the same incident every couple of years claiming it’s new. The U.S. really puts the cart before the horse in these instances, seemingly uninterested in their historical significance to the rest of the world.
I wonder how much is Lost because of that farming. That’s only a small part they got to search throughout. I wonder too how many times farmers find things etc. And continue on because they know if not there work well stop. It’s something we don’t really think of but sure we’re all walking on all sorts of history that’s came before us. It’s so neat and interesting 🤔.
The only complaint I have about being American is that we don’t have ancient history. I can’t imagine living in the UK. It seems like England, Ireland and Scotland have ancient ruins, castles and what-not, all over the place! How exciting that would be to explore! The most I could hope for would be finding an Indian arrowhead.
I was born in the south of Persia and I am 50 years old. During these 50 years I have dreamed more than 30 times that people in my dream have asked me about my race and origin and I have given them only one answer in my dream that I am Saxon. I have never known or heard anything about the Saxons. Do you think there is a message in my dreams?
The barrow was more likely an animal pen. They found, oh my, animal bones in it. You could have guessed the graves bordered the road, because people still do that. Education doesn’t mean better tactics. An experienced excavation contractor could have given similar land evaluation. Where the archeologists shine is artifact interpretation.
It looks more like a site of battle. Perhaps a market that came under attack then some areas burned. The positioning of remains are laying where they died. 2 have knives in them. The circles could be pools or baths or cooking or something? It doesn’t look like a planned cemetery. They lay where they perished.