Approaches to History: Archaeology Burials: Identity and Status
Jan 15, 2016
Approaches to History: Archaeology
Burials: Identity and Status
What can burials tell us about status and power in early medieval Europe?
• What determined social status? Gender, age-grades, descent, etc. – not profession or ‘class’
• Early medieval social structure: written sources
• The importance of gift-giving and portable wealth in a non-monetised society
Earliest Frankish laws: the Lex Salica
Conspicuous consumption of surplus through gift-giving:
The Staffordshire Hoard: c 7th century
Conspicuous consumption of surplus: the Kingston brooch
Case Study I: The burial of Childeric I(Merovingian ‘king’, d. 481-2)
Stilicho, leader of the western Roman army: nb crossbow brooch
Childeric’s signet ring: ‘Childerici regis’, a ‘long-haired king’
Childeric: Romanitas
5th-century horse sacrifices near Childeric’s grave
(St Brice, Tournai)
Early Anglo-Saxon ‘kingdoms’
Case Study II: Sutton Hoo, SE Suffolk (R. Deben)
Plan of the Sutton Hoo cemetery: 16 burial mounds (barrows)
The Sutton Hoo ship burial (Mound 1) under excavation, 1939
3 symbolic categories of finds hold the key to ‘reading’ the status of ‘Mound 1
Man’ (Maybe Redwald d. 624-5?):
• Feasting and drinking equipment: symbolic of the provision of hospitality/gifts
• Roman/Byzantine objects & imitations: symbolic of ‘Romanitas’
• Objects symbolizing international connections
Byzantine silver bowls: for washing?
Preparing the feast: the cauldron
The drinking horns
Sutton Hoo: the drinking set
The drinking set: The burr wood cups
Sutton Hoo: the ‘tub’
Sutton Hoo: reconstruction of the lyre
Gifts of gold: the great gold buckle
‘Romanitas’: The ‘Coptic’ bowl from the Eastern mediterranean
The ‘Anastasius’ dish
The Sutton Hoo Helmet
Late Roman helmets
Mound 1 Man
8th-century genealogy of the East Anglian kings
International connections: the purse-lid, coins and blanks
The Sutton Hoo ship: links to the Svea region of Sweden (a link to the Wylfings?)
The Sutton Hoo ship: half-size replica
Case Study III: Late Saxon execution burials
Late Saxon Execution Burials placed near prehistoric/pagan Saxon burial
mounds
Execution burials near boundaries