Anglo-Saxon Stud Archaeol Hist 13

The paper reassesses Victorian Anglo-Saxonism, examining many current assumptions regarding the antiquarianism of this era from an archaeological perspective. The work of the Anglo-Saxon scholar John Mitchell Kemble (1807--1857) is presented a case study of the contribution made by Victorian archaeology to the theoretical development of Anglo-Saxon studies.

The paper presents a detailed comparison of the bracteate discovered at Undley, Suffolk in 1981, with others from Anglian England and from northwest Europe dating to c. AD 400--600, and with the similar distribution pattern of equal-arm brooches, which date to the later-fifth century. The runic inscription on the Undley bracteate is discussed from both a runological and a linguistic perspective.

Investigations of an Early Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bloodmoor Hill revealed the survival of surface deposits, a possible midden deposit and subsurface deposits including the fills of Grubenhäuser and other pits. This provided the opportunity to study aspects of site formation processes. In addition, a small contemporaneous cemetery dating to the seventh century AD was excavated within the area of the settlement, and the site as a whole lies in close proximity to a wealthy barrow burial of the same date located southwest of the excavation and set within a possible earlier fifth- to sixth-century flat cemetery. The excavations provided the opportunity to compare the character of the settlement remains with the rich barrow burial, and raised some questions concerning the identification of high-status Early Anglo-Saxon settlements through the type, size and arrangement of buildings, the material culture and the environmental assemblages. It also provided the opportunity to examine changing social structure and beliefs during a period of cultural and ideological change in the Kingdom of East Anglia.

The paper examines a number of pattern anomalies in the illuminated carpet pages of the Lindisfarne Gospels, and draws attention to earlier Insular parallels in the Book of Durrow and in metalwork from Sutton Hoo. It is argued that what has been interpreted as imperfection is more plausibly interpreted as an aesthetic device aimed at introducing an anomalous or asymmetrical element into an otherwise symmetrical pattern, the resulting play on levels of symmetry and asymmetry having resonance in Anglo-Saxon art. Includes

The author examines the documentary evidence, and the physical evidence of fortifications, to analyze the process by which King Alfred's 'kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons' came about.

Report on the excavation of a Saxon farmstead and cemetery in 1997 to the south of Station Road, Gamlingay. During the Early Saxon period a farmstead was established, enclosed by a large causewayed ditch and accompanied by twelve Grubenhäuser, a small six-post structure and a number of pits. The enclosure ditch was later truncated by a new droveway with a different alignment, which was associated with a substantially rebuilt long timber building and adjacent livestock enclosure. These were all on the same broad axis, distinct from the alignment of the subsequent phase of enclosures. A new enclosure or co-axial field system was later founded on the southern part of the excavated area, truncating the original settlement enclosure and subsequent droveway. During the Middle Saxon period occupation appears to have shifted and become more dispersed, a large Grubenhaus and causewayed enclosure in the northern part of the site indicating a move in this direction; a small Grubenhaus was found to the southwest of the excavated area, and a ditch containing material indicative of grain drying was located to the far south of the site, implying that a division might have existed between the habitation area and that of industrial processing. The two Grubenhäuser were different in layout and construction to the earlier examples, and they and the causewayed enclosure were on a different alignment to the earlier phases of occupation. At some stage after the abandonment of the first phases of Middle Saxon settlement, an inhumation cemetery was established, interment of the bodies being apparently in accordance with Christian traditions and Middle Saxon wares being present in eight grave fills. The cemetery comprised at least 118 separate graves, including six inhumations to the north, outside the main enclosure ditches of the cemetery. A full age-range, and a number of paired burials were evident, although almost no grave goods, fittings or items of personal dress were found. Separately authored contributions and appendices include