Ph. D. Department of Archaeology University of Sheffield January 2004
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A Social and Anthropological Analysis of Conversion Period and Later Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire Volume II Joanne Louise Buckberry Ph. D. Department of Archaeology University of Sheffield January 2004 Chapter 7: Cemetery Analysis 2- Ethnicity, Stature, Stress Markers and Status This chapter will outline how Scandinavian burials of the 9th and 10th centuries have been traditionally identified in the archaeological record. It will then discuss how osteological and stable isotope data can be used to identify immigrant people, and their potential for identifying Scandinavian burials not marked out by the use of material culture. The chapter goes on to discuss methods of stature estimation, and how estimates of stature have been used both to identify immigrants and investigate past health. Subsequently, stress markers will be introduced, and this discussion will highlight how the prevalence rates of stress markers can be used to investigate health status and potentially social status. In addition, skeletal pathology will also be briefly introduced, and the burial treatment of individuals with severe skeletal pathologies in the early medieval period will be discussed. Finally, the results of a stress marker study for two of the cemeteries discussed in detail in Chapter 6 (Swinegate and Barrow-on-Humber) will be presented, establishing the potential of using stress markers to investigate if social status influenced burial provision in the late Anglo-Saxon period. 7.1 Identifying Scandinavian burials One of the more difficult and contentious aspects of early medieval archaeology is the identification of migratory people. Generally speaking, the migrations of Germanic people in the 5th and 611,centuries has attracted more interest and research than the settlement of parts of England by Scandinavians in the 9th and 10th centuries. However, it is the identification of Scandinavian settlers in the burial record that is more important for the present study. The historical and archaeological evidence of Germanic and Chapter 7: Cemetery Analysis 2 237 Scandinavian migrations, and the possible numbers of people involved, are discussed in Sections 2.2 and 2.2.3 respectively (see above). Traditionally, migratory people have been identified by the types and styles of artefacts found in their graves (see Section 1.3, above). This is especially true for the late Anglo-Saxon period, when the inclusion of any grave goods whatsoever (be these Scandinavian or British in origin) at a time when grave good deposition was unusual, has been enough for some researchers to identify graves as those of Scandinavians (see Section 1.5.2, above). However, a more rigorous interpretation of the evidence suggests that grave good deposition did continue, albeit occasionally, in the late Anglo-Saxon period, and that the deposition of grave goods (either Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian in style) does not necessarily indicate that the individual in the grave was of Scandinavian descent (Halsall 2000: 262-268). In addition, less than 25 burial sites dating to 800-1000 AD have been identified, so far, as Scandinavian (Richards 2002: 156). This small group of Scandinavian burial sites includes many isolated burials, for example at Romanby near Northallerton and Camp Hill4l in Carthorpe parish (both N. Yorks. ), or are single 'Scandinavian' graves within late Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, for example the sword burial at Heysham (Lancs.) and a burial containing a knife and a necklace at Saffron Walden (Essex) (Richards 2002: 156). If this small number of burials is representative of the number of Scandinavian immigrants, it 'would reduce the Micel Here to almost "Magnificent Seven" proportions' (Halsall 2000: 269). It is apparent that many of the Scandinavians who eventually settled in northern and eastern England must have been buried in Christian style graves in established cemeteries (Halsall 2000: 270; Richards 2000: 151). If many Scandinavians were not buried in a distinctive manner, and the few distinctive graves containing grave goods were not necessarily those of Scandinavians, then any attempt to identify the burials of Scandinavians in the archaeological record must utilise lines of evidence other than the form and character of burials. The other evidence present in the graves that could 41 This cemetery is also known as Bedale Chapter 7: Cemetery Analysis 2 238 be potentially used to identify immigrants are the skeletons themselves. Thus future study could take the form of a bio-anthropological analysis of the skeletal morphology of different populations, or a chemical analysis investigating the elements incorporated into the body during childhood, or a biomolecular study of their genetic affinities. The potential of using biodistance studies and isotopic analysis to identify the graves of Scandinavians will now be discussed. 7.1.1 Biodistance studies and the identification of migratory populations Measures of biodistance can assess the similarity of two or more skeletal populations and can be calculated using both metric and non-metric data (Mays 2000: 279; Tyrrell 2000b: 301). These methods assess aspects of skeletal variation that are highly influenced by genetic inheritance, and thus can be used to investigate the biological relationships between different skeletal samples. Thus biodistance studies may be usefully employed to research the impact of population migration (Mays 2000: 285). It should be noted that biodistance studies cannot be used to investigate ethnicity: ethnic groups are socially defined and constructed, and can be adopted, manipulated and changed by individuals (Tyrrell 2000a: 142). 7.1.1.1 Metrical analysesof biodistance The measurement of bones, and skulls in particular, have played a central role in the identification of past populations (Brothwell 1972: 73; Mays 2000: 277). Initial studies focussed on simple indices or ratios between two (usually linear) measurements, used to quantify differences in bone shape (Brothwell 1972: 88-91) and later developments of the method utilised multivariate analyses of multiple measurements (Brothwell and Krzanowski 1974). These indices were applied to both cranial and post cranial bones, although craniometrics were used more frequently in the study of population history (Brothwell 1972: 88-91; Mays 2000: 277). This is partly due to the general preoccupation with skulls in the 18th and 19th centuries, but more Chapter 7: Cemetery Analysis 2 239 importantly this is because the shapes of skulls are less likely to be influenced by environmental factors than post cranial bones, making cranial measurements more appropriate for the study of biodistance and genetic inheritance (Brothwell 1972: 73; Mays 2000: 278). Craniometric analyses fell out of favour following the rejection of the invasion hypothesis in the 1960s (Clarke 1966; Mays 2000: 277), and the justifiable abhorrence of determinist views and the study of human 'races' (Tyrrell 2000a: 141). However, craniometric studies are not necessarily 'politically questionable' and can shed valuable light on biological relationships between past populations (Mays 2000: 278-279). Any biodistance (or other population genetic) study would have to utilise large, valid sample sizes, and compare archaeologically justifiable populations - either from the same period but a different geographical area or cemetery, or from different time periods but a similar geographical area - to reduce the chances of misinterpreting the results of the biodistance study. Previous studies have usefully shown that skull shape changed dramatically from the Neolithic to the Bronze Age in Britain (Brothwell 1972: 88-9; Brothwell and Krzanowski 1974: 255-6; Mays 2000: 281, see Figure 7.1); that skulls associated with the Iron Age Arras Culture in East Yorkshire were different from Bronze Age, Roman and Anglian material in Yorkshire (although the Yorkshire material was not compared with Iron Age skulls from elsewhere in Britain) (Mays 2000: 284); that Iron Age and Roman skull shapes were similar, supporting the interpretation of a high level of population continuity in the Roman period (Brothwell and Krzanowski 1974: 256); and that skull shape changed from the Anglo-Saxon to the Medieval period (Brothwell and Krzanowski 1974: 257-8). Little craniometric work has been undertaken to investigate Anglo-Saxon migrations (Mays 2000: 285), however it has been used to investigate a supposedly Scandinavian cemetery at Repton (Derbs. ) (Biddle and Kjolbye-Biddle 2001: 77-8). The craniometric analysis showed that the individuals buried in the charnel deposit Chapter 7: Cemetery Analysis 2 240 (interpreted as members of the 'great heathen army') had different skull morphology from individuals buried around in the churchyard of St Wystan's (the broadly contemporary cemetery believed to contain the burials of indigenous and Scandinavian people, see Figure 7.2), but showed some similarities with contemporary Scandinavian populations (Biddle and Kjolbye-Biddle 2001: 77). It should be noted that the results of any craniometric analysis of the Scandinavian population were not incorporated into the relevant figure or presented in the text, but were merely alluded to by the authors: 'parallels to the mound ratios can be found in Scandinavian Viking-Age populations' (Biddle and Kjolbye-Biddle 2001: 77). However, the craniometric evidence was used by the authors to support the suggestion that the individuals in the charnel deposit were of Scandinavian descent (Biddle and Kjr lbye-Biddle 2001: