Gender and Religion in a Shifting Social Landscape: Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Practices, AD 600-700

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Undergraduate Honors Theses

2018-04-23

Caroline Palmer

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Gender and Religion in a Shifting Social Landscape

Final Phase Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Practices A.D. 600-700

Caroline Palmer

Submitted to Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of graduation requirements for University Honors

Anthropology Department Brigham Young University June 2018

Advisors: Miranda Wilcox and Jaime Bartlett

Honors Coordinator: Charles Nuckolls

ABSTRACT

GENDER AND RELIGION IN A SHIFTING SOCIAL LANDSCAPE: FINAL PHASE ANGLO-SAXON MORTUARY PRACTICES 600-700 AD

Caroline Palmer Anthropology Department Bachelor of Art

My thesis examines seventh-century East Anglian mortuary practices and cross- correlates grave goods and human remains to determine whether there was an expression of sexual division of labor during this period of social and religious change. I argue that gender roles changed as a result of adopting kingdoms and Christianity. Prior to this time period, Anglo-Saxons were primarily pagan and were buried with extensive burial goods.

In addition to changes in religious and burial practices, during the Final Phase (600-700

AD) there appears to have been a division of labor that was not as dichotomous in the

Migration Phase (450-600 AD). I examine graves of different statuses through reports to determine whether this change in division of labor occurred in different classes. I also incorporate religious burial sites into my analysis (Westfield Farm and Trumpington) to see whether there was a distinct difference in monastic life. The cemeteries I consider in detail are Edix Hill, Westfield Farm, Melbourn, and Trumpington. Because of the poor preservation of skeletal remains in Bloodmoor Hill, I incorporate this data only in the discussion section. My conclusions place my work in the wider context of current research being done on this topic, reveal the relationship between grave goods and arthropathies in the seventh-century, and address the future implications of my work.

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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES viii

I. INTRODUCTION 1 I.A DEFINITIONS OF KEY TERMS 2 I.B MIGRATION PHASE BURIALS 4 I.C FINAL PHASE BURIALS 5

II. EDIX HILL 9

II.A HUMAN REMAINS 10 II.B GRAVE GOODS 15 II.B.I FEMININE GRAVE GOODS 15 II.B.II MASCULINE GRAVE GOODS 16 II.B.III NEUTRAL GRAVE GOODS 17 II.C SUMMARY 18

III. WATER LANE, MELBOURN 19 III.A HUMAN REMAINS 20 III.B GRAVE GOODS 21 III.B.I FEMININE GRAVE GOODS 21 III.B.II MASCULINE GRAVE GOODS 22 III.B.III NEUTRAL GRAVE GOODS 23 III.C SUMMARY 24

IV. WESTFIELD FARM 24 IV.A HUMAN REMAINS 25 IV.B GRAVE GOODS 26 IV.B.I FEMININE GRAVE GOODS 26 IV.B.II MASCULINE GRAVE GOODS 27 IV.B.III INDETERMINATELY SEXED GRAVE GOODS 28 IV.C SUMMARY 28

V. TRUMPINGTON 29

V.A HUMAN REMAINS 30 V.B GRAVE GOODS 30 V.B.I FEMININE GRAVE GOODS 30 V.B.II NEUTRAL GRAVE GOODS 31 V.C SUMMARY 31

VI. BLOODMOOR HILL 32 VI.A HUMAN REMAINS 33

VI.B GRAVE GOODS 34 VI.B.I FEMININE GRAVE GOODS 34 VI.B.II MASCULINE GRAVE GOODS 34 VI.B.III NEUTRAL GRAVE GOODS 34 VI.III SUMMARY 35

VII. DISCUSSION 36

VII.A RELIGION AND STATUS 36 VII.B BED BURIALS 38 VII.C GENDER INDICATIVE GRADE GOODS 29 VII.D HUMAN REMAINS 42

VIII. CONCLUSION 43

IX. BIBLIOGRAPHY 46

X. APPENDIX A 48

XI. APPENDIX B 58 XI.A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS 58 XI.B PRIMARY DATA 59

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List of Figures and Tables

FIGURE 1. MAP OF EDIX HILL BARRINGTON A IN ITS SURROUNDINGS...... 49 FIGURE 2. PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF VERTEBRAL OSTEOARTHRITIS IN EDIX HILL...... 50 FIGURE 3. DISTRIBUTION OF NON-SPINAL OSTEOARTHRITIS IN EDIX HILL...... 51 FIGURE 4. CHART OF DENTAL DISEASES IN EDIX HILL...... 51 FIGURE 5. MELBOURN IN THE CONTEXT OF ITS SURROUNDINGS ...... 52 FIGURE 6. POPULATION AFFECTED BY OSTEOARTHRITIS IN MELBOURN...... 53 FIGURE 7. LOCATION OF WESTFIELD FARM IN CONTEXT ...... 54 FIGURE 8. GRAVE LOCATIONS IN WESTFIELD FARM ...... 55 FIGURE 9. PATHOLOGY DISTRIBUTION IN WESTFIELD FARM...... 55 FIGURE 10. GRAVES OF THE TRUMPINGTON CEMETERY ...... 56 FIGURE 11. LOCATION OF BLOODMOOR HILL, LOWESTOFT IN CONTEXT ...... 56 FIGURE 12. FINAL PHASE (A) AND MIGRATION PHASE (B) FEMALE DRESS STYLES ...... 57

TABLE 1. CHANGE IN GRAVE GOODS FROM THE MIGRATION PHASE TO THE FINAL PHASE...... 48 TABLE 2. GRAVE GOODS IN EDIX HILL...... 52 TABLE 3. SEX AND JOINT AREA DISTRIBUTION OF OSTEOARTHRITIS ...... 53 TABLE 4. BURIAL DATA FROM EDIX HILL, MELBOURN, WESTFIELD FARM, TRUMPINGTON, AND BLOODMOOR HILL CEMETERIES...... 59 TABLE 5. SELECTED GRAVE GOODS FROM EDIX HILL, MELBOURN, WESTFIELD FARM, TRUMPINGTON, AND BLOODMOOR HILL CEMETERIES...... 66

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I. Introduction

Female gender roles in East Anglia changed during the seventh-century AD with the emergence of new social institutions—kingdoms and monasteries. In this thesis, I provide evidence of this change through an analysis of grave goods and human skeletal remains from seventh-century graves excavated in five cemeteries. Through through a case-by-case analysis, I determine some of the effects of social status and religion on changing gender roles. I examine human remains from graves for trends in work-related characteristics and correlate these with gender-indicative grave goods.

Beginning with an overview of early Anglo-Saxon history and archaeology, I provide definitions of key terms and a chronology of both Migration and Final Phase burials. The “Final Phase” refers to the end of grave goods in England and the conversion to Christianity. For Final Phase burials, I begin with the largest cemetery. I focus on the topics of human skeletal remains, gender indicative grave goods, religion and status, and bed burials. I consider these topics in a wider context on how they relate to each other and research previously done. My primary data can be found in tables in Appendix B, which includes the original figures I use for my statistical analysis.

I limit my analysis to cemeteries in East Anglia. I pay particular heed to bed burials found in these cemeteries. Bed burials are rare in England. Only 17 have been found, of which 16 are of adult females. Bed burials appear only in the Final Phase and are clustered in East Anglia. I do not discuss all 17 bed burials here, but I did consider them in my research. Because of the general lack of grave goods in most Final Phase burials that are distinctively masculine, my analysis privileges female grave goods.

After the Final Phase, burials largely became shroud burials, or simple burials where the body was covered by a veil or cloth. During the Final Phase in Anglo-Saxon

England (AD 600-700),1 high-status individuals began to accept Christianity, and this eventually brought about a shift in burial practices and gender roles as a reflection of the adoption of Christian practices. This change can be seen across England—showing both the influence of emergent state societies and the adoption of Christianity (Hoggett 2010,

108).

I infer the sexual division of labor between men and women for my sample for the

Final Phase using standard methods of skeletal analysis designated in reports. I examine the skeletal remains reported for each burial site in my East Anglia burials sample for arthritis and other bone degeneration that could have occurred as a result of gender- related work or occupations to infer the sexual division of labor from AD 600-700.

I.a Definitions of Key Terms

Because I rely on concepts that have different definitions, I include definitions for the key terms relied on in my research. I consider sex to be biologically male or female.

1 The exact dates of the Final Phase are somewhat contested. Thanks to the work of John Hines and Alex Bayliss, the Final Phase has shifted from being defined as AD 600-700 to AD 600-680, although this new chronology is currently under review due to the assumptions they made (Bayliss et al 2013, 470-471). For now, however, no better unifying time chronology exists for England, and Hines and Bayliss’s chronology is generally accepted. In this thesis I focus on the period from AD 600-700 because the graves I study do not fit perfectly into the parameters of the Hines and Bayliss chronology, or AS-FD (approximately the 630s-640s) and AS-FE (approximately the 650s-670s) (Bayliss et al 2013, 540-541). Bayliss in his framework states that grave goods go out of use around AD 680, twenty years earlier than the previously accepted estimate. I do not use this framework because a coin found in Grave 1 of the Westfield Farm cemetery dates to after AD 680. I follow the old phasing of AD 600-700. 2

In contrast, gender is culturally male or female. I limit my analysis of gender to a dichotomous definition because, although gender might have been fluid in seventh- century England, we only know of two distinctive genders for this period. Three centuries after the Final Phase, Ælfric wrote in his Old English glossary of the genders only in terms of two (Klein 2012, 39).

Archaeological traces of mortuary rituals can reveal past societal gender expressions. As Julian Richards discusses (1992, 135), “Mortuary ritual reinforces cultural differences and helps classify Anglo-Saxon society. It provides a means of describing social identity.” Gender is defined by society and conveyed to its members, who, in turn, project gender norms back on society. This is the method I follow to approach mortuary practices in this thesis.

Gender roles are behaviors determined by the prevailing cultural norms learned as appropriate to a person’s sex. I attempt to provide a deeper insight into Anglo-Saxon gender roles through a consideration of grave goods and work-related physical trauma evident on human bones for Final Phase graves in East Anglia.

Grave goods are the items deliberately placed with a body in a grave.

Pathologies are indicators on skeletons that show wear and stress on the bones. In my analysis, I specifically consider stress indicators such as osteoarthritis as evidence of a sexual division of labor.

Specialized burials are burials that are distinctive in some way or another. In this thesis, specialized burials refer to distinctively religious burials. Bed burials are interments in which the subject was buried on a bed in the grave.

I.b Migration Phase Burials

To provide deeper understanding on the change in burials from the Migration

Phase to the Final Phase, I briefly review important elements from the antecedent time period. After Rome withdrew from England around AD 400-450, there was a great influx of Northern Germanic tribes (such as the Angles and the Saxons) into England

(Brugmann 2011). The influx of ideas and nationalities can be seen in goods placed in graves of this period, which are heavily Germanic (see Table 1). Religiously, this period was dominated by a pagan belief system. Politically, there was a great power vacuum after the fall of Rome, and for a period of time people lived in relatively stable and individualized autonomous communities and maintained some trade networks without a clear hierarchy of power.

As can be seen in Table 1, grave goods changed between the two phases. During the Migration Phase, non-perishable grave goods were salient features, and there was an emphasis on male princely burials. In contrast, in the Final Phase non-perishable grave goods were no longer in every grave, and an increased emphasis was placed on female burials rather than male burials.

In addition to grave goods, the relative frequencies of bone pathologies also changed. In the Migration Phase there was a great change from the Roman period. The examination of teeth and other bones shows that there was a greater lifestyle change after the Roman period than between the Migration and Final phases. For example, after the

Roman period the number of caries (the destruction of enamel, dentine, and the creation of pits resulting from the fermentation of dietary carbohydrates) decreased significantly, but there was no perceptible diet change after the Migration Phase, showing that diet was

relatively stable (Caselitz 1998; Hassell and Harris 1995; Hillson 2005, 290-302; Hillson

2001; Klingle 2011, 156; and Larsen 2003: 65-76; Shuler 2001). During the Migration

Phase, females exhibited significantly higher rates in joint pathologies; however, this relationship was reversed in the Final Phase, with females exhibiting lower rates in joint pathologies than males, showing a change in sexual division of labor between the two periods.

I.c Final Phase Burials

Although fewer goods were buried in individual graves during the Final Phase than in graves during the Migration Phase, grave goods nevertheless provide clues about early Christian communities. It is very difficult to distinguish between “pagan” and

“Christian” burials from the Final Phase in Britain, as it had not yet become common practice to bury people in churchyards, and, other than crosses, overt religious symbols are not often found in surviving grave goods for the Final Phase.

Early Christian and late pagan burials were similar during the Final Phase. Both

Christians and pagans chose to bury their dead in and around prehistoric landscape markers and not in the center of settlements—a practice that became the norm later

(Carver 2003, 231). Burials tended not to cut through each other during the seventh- century, suggesting that graves were marked on the surface (Carver 2003, 262). The fact that burials were likely marked shows that mortuary practices could have been reverential in some way towards the dead. The homogeneity of burial expression, in general, implies that disposal of the dead was actively controlled and managed, and perhaps even involved burial specialists (Carver 2003, 260-261). With the exception of bed burials and explicit

Christian references, a clear differentiation between Christian and pagan burials is difficult to determine.

Based on grave goods and later historical documents, gender in the Final Phase appears to have been an essential characteristic of individuals, especially of women. The increased emphasis on female gender expression in Final Phase burials shows a distinct difference between men and women, generally, and between pagan and Christian women, in particular. According to Joanna Sofaer and Marie Louise Stig Sørensen (2013, 527), gender was expressed primarily in “how the deceased body carries the imprint of life” and secondarily from the performance of gender and identity onto a deceased individual from their kin group during burial ceremonies. A primary example would be skeletal bone wear. A secondary example would be the clothing and goods chosen to be interred with the deceased individual. I infer gender roles in the Final Phase based on this logic.

During the Final Phase, aspects of grave goods changed. According to Dawn

Hadley (2004, 301), in this period gender, age, and social status took priority over ethnicity. Gender, age, and social status expressions in grave goods were likely more prevalent and important for higher status individuals. Female grave good assemblages appear to have gained importance, whereas non-perishable masculine grave goods became less prevalent and “archaeologically invisible” during the Final Phase (Geake

1996, 116-117; Hadley 2004, 303; Hoggett 2010, 105). In a recent paper by Helena

Hamerow on furnished female burials in the Final Phase, she refutes the most prevalent theory on the shift in focus from male to female burials. She shows that the changes in burial practices were not simply “culturally appropriate” between the phases. In her conclusions, she argues that this shifting emphasis was an embodiment of spiritual power,

rather than a substitution for male weapon burials (Hamerow 2016, 426). These theories—that gender, age, social status, and spiritual power were of paramount importance in expressing identity in and through the dead—is one that I adhere to in my research. My sample applies Hamerow’s and Hadley’s theories in a region that has not been researched for this purpose. As Hamerow mentions, these changes can be seen more evidently in well-furnished female burials, which she and Hines and Bayliss classify as high-status according to grave goods and artifact types (Bayliss et al. 2013, 538).

Elements that are included in the shift in grave good focus in East Anglia during the Final Phase include changes in assemblages from the Migration Phase to Final Phase

(see Table 1), such as the decreasing frequency of brooches and the introduction of pins and chains. In addition, necklaces changed in fashion as did girdle assemblages. The traditional girdle assemblages placed in graves in the Migration Phase changed to include iron latch-lifters, T-keys, small iron spoons, toilet assemblages, amulets, suspension devices, bags or pouches, and small bronze workboxes. Knives and shears were often found in connection with chatelaines (assemblages with an iron link chain that was worn around the waist and hung down, often associated with or part of girdle assemblages)— an addition from the Migration Phase burial assemblages (Geake 1999, 204).

During the eighth century, there are several texts that refer metaphorically to men as “spears” and women as “spindles,” such as in the will of King Alfred.2 Standardized texts referring to men and women in terms of associated artifacts supports the relationship of objects in graves to specific genders during the Final Phase.

2 In his will, Alfred states “on þa sperehealfe næs on þa spinlhealfe” (or “on the spear side, not on the spindle side”) to explain the lineage of his inherited land (Klein 2012, 41). 7

A third, or neutral category—based on unidentifiable skeletal remains as to sex or non-gender-specific grave goods—is the most commonly found Final Phase burials.

Situations that create distorted or minimal information on gender are poor preservation, grave robbing, plowing, and animal burrowing. Due to these disturbances, several graves considered in my study include only a couple of bones. Additionally, the sex of an individual is not usually identified as male or female until puberty by archaeologists. This and the disturbances affect the number of individuals included in this group. A significant number of the graves I consider lack non-perishable goods and/or are determined to be indeterminately male or female, based on standard skeletal indicators. Therefore, I classify them as gender neutral. Because unidentifiable skeletal remains are different from neutral assemblages, however, I separate the two subcategories in my case study analysis into neutral good assemblages and indeterminate skeletal sex.

The proportionately high total number of neutral goods found in seventh-century graves could have been due to a more fluid conception of gender, or gender may not have been as important of a social marker for this particular group of people. Even within neutral good assemblages, there are changes in this time period from the preceding

Migration Phase. According to Helen Geake (1999, 204), major changes occurred in neutral assemblages. The interred grave goods generally became more finely crafted than those of preceding neutral assemblages from the Migration Phase. Examples of these changes are the shift in bronze buckets to iron buckets and bronze bowls, the shift from

Germanic buckles to Romanesque single disc brooches, the addition of a new comb style

(humped-back comb), and the disappearance of glass vessels in graves.

It is interesting to note that the highest concentration of gender-specific grave goods was found in burials of young-adults and adults. This concentration may show that young adults and adults were a greater loss to their families than were young children or old people—assuming that the burial of valuable objects with the dead was a calibrated symbol of the social value of the deceased. Additionally, display of gender during particular parts of the individual’s lifecycle might have been more important during the

Final P hase to both the individual and the family, thereby explaining the appearance of more gender-indicative grave goods for the young-adult to adult age group. In contrast, graves of children generally lack non-perishable burial goods. As remarked upon by

Stoodley (2000, 465), the child burial assemblage

is made up of small spears and knives, pots, bracelets and beads/small necklaces. This suggests that although sub-adults were perceived as having had a different status from adults, the use of similar (albeit smaller or less durable) items, and not different goods altogether, suggests that a symbolic connection existed between the two.

The lifecycle continuity of grave goods from young and old females “suggests that a single social status was being signaled, one which had its origins in early life” (Hoggett

2010, 107).

II. Edix Hill

The first of the five cemetery sites to be examined in this paper is Edix Hill,

Barrington, Cambridgeshire. This site, located south west of Cambridge, is the largest of the sites examined, and dates from the late Migration Phase to early Final Phase. Edix

Hill Barrington A is an extensive cemetery site that has only been about 50% excavated and with at least 148 individuals. Of this minimum number of individuals, 40 have been

determined to be female (including two bed burials), 48 are male, 14 are possibly female based on grave goods, 5 are possibly male based on grave goods, and 41 are undetermined.

The layout of the cemetery suggests some familial patrilocal clustering (Malim

1998, 311). Examples of clustering are seen in paired male-female Burials 46 and 53, and

33 and 60 where neither woman is genetically related to associated skeletons, but the males are (Malim 1998, 311). Genetically similar or familial clustering is seen more strongly in supposedly wealthier families, as wealthy interments were related to each other and the bed burials3 in Edix Hill. The relationship of the two bed burials to other graves that all seem to surround the burials is indicative of the importance of these burials.

The combination of burial assemblage descriptions and an extensive osteology report at Edix Hill was essential to reconstructing and understanding gender roles in the society represented by the burials in this cemetery. Due to preservation limitations previously mentioned, an examination of both grave goods and human skeletal pathologies is essential.

II.a Human Remains

Out of the 148 skeletons recovered in the cemetery, there were 619 occurrences of pathologies manifested on bone (Malim 1998, 165). Within the wide range of pathological conditions, 40.5% relate to arthropathies (joint diseases) and 33.3% relate to

3 For a further discussion on what bed burials looked like and their importance, see Malim 1998, 261-268, and the discussion section of this thesis. 10

dental disease (Malim 1998, 165), together making up more than two-thirds of all known pathologies for this cemetery population. I also examine indicators of stress and physical activity.

There are several different types of arthropathies. Osteoarthritis, the most common of all the arthropathies, is a chronic, progressive pathological condition characterized by joint lesions (Jurmain 1999, 11-14; Klingle 2011, 171; Lieverse et al

2007; Rogers and Waldrom 1995, 32-45; Waldron 1993; Weiss and Jurmain 2007). Of all the pathologies I include in my analysis, this is the only type I explore in depth. At Edix

Hill, there were 179 cases of osteoarthritis found in 38 individuals (19 males, 16 females, and 3 unspecified). I distinguish between spinal and non-spinal osteoarthritis. Spinal osteoarthritis is found in 85% of cases reported (Malim 1998, 169). The difference in the occurrence of spinal osteoarthritis between men and women is statistically significant. I first looked at individual sections of the spine (lumbar, etc.—see Figure 1) and then an aggregate of all spinal osteoarthritis in a series of T-tests. The two individual sections that were found not to be significant concerned cervical and sacral spinal osteoarthritis.

Thoracic, lumbar, and the aggregate spinal T-tests were all significant for men, showing more osteoarthritis in the spine. The same test was used for non-spinal osteoarthritic change, or degeneration (see Figure 2 for the original data).

Men “have both more osteoarthritic change and more Schmorl’s nodes [or indentations in vertebrae], up to 78% [263 affected and 338 sites] in the lumbar spine compared with the women’s 56% [182 affected and 327 sites], a similar pattern to that found at Castledyke” (Malim 1998, 168). The pattern of degenerative bone disease between men and women found elsewhere during the same time period could be the

result of a consistent division of labor, with men taking jobs that were harder on the spine, such as farm labor where several hours a day would have involved bending over and carrying heavy burdens.

Different work tasks may also be seen from the prevalence of arthritis in different parts of the body. Among the males in Edix Hill, the right elbow, foot, hip, and hand phalanges show significant wear. The palmar surfaces of the phalanges of many males also have enthesopathies, which are indicative of repetitive maintenance of a strong grip, something that may be considered common amongst males in a rural society (Malim

1998, 170). The arthropathies found in the hands, elbows, and shoulders of many men of this time period indicate a lifestyle in which men did heavy lifting and performed repetitive actions that damaged the arm joints, such as farm work.4

Dental diseases are other common pathologies. In the Final Phase, caries were still a common occurrence but were less common than during the Roman occupation, likely due to the removal of refined sugar from the diet (Malim 1998, 171). Compared to

Roman cemeteries, there were fewer caries per capita found in Edix Hill, with 51 caries discovered among 1600 teeth and 106 out of 1500 sockets with ante-mortem tooth-loss

(Roberts 2003, 190, 192). Dental health itself does not particularly reveal gender distinctions in society in the Final Phase (compared to the Roman period), beyond the observation that males and females had very similar diets and dental hygiene.

Stress indicators on bones are relatively common at this time and can be seen in teeth and bones. Males buried in Edix Hill had more severe examples of hypoplasia than did females, “suggesting that they were exposed to greater physiological stress in

4 For a further look into male-female pathologies, see Figures 1 and 2. 12

childhood or, probably, were more susceptible to those stresses,” as well as possible physical stresses such as malnutrition or fevers (Malim 1998, 175). Due to the known sensitivity of males to physiological manifestations of environmental stress, it is difficult to determine how much of the difference of hypoplasia in men and women was due to men actually having more stress than women had. It can be assumed, however, based on evidence provided by Malim (1998, 175-176), that stress indicators followed an average distribution amongst males and females and that the record was not biased by environment in the Final Phase.

Seven individuals show os acromiale (failure to fuse the acromiale in the shoulder), of which half are female (Malim 1998, 187). Os acromiale is either indicative of particularly heavy lifting or of particularly gracile bodies (Malim 1998, 187). It is likely a combination of both. The skeletons of three women were frail, shorter than average, and show several instances of arthritis, particularly in the shoulder area (Malim

1998, 187). Accordingly, their skeletal frames likely began to exhibit wear from normal activity more quickly than for persons with robust skeletal frames. This condition of the women contrasts with the four diagnosed men, as they were all robust men and in the 20-

35 age range (Malim 1998, 187). Therefore, os acromiale in males is indicative of harder than average manual labor.

Adolescent males were affected with osteochondritis dissecans (blood deprivation to a joint causing cracks and other damage in the cartilage and bone) in the elbow and knee more than other age or sex groups, something that could have been activity-related stresses on growing bones (Malim 1998, 187). Osteochondritis dissecans could possibly show the role of young males in Final Phase Anglo-Saxon society—from a young age

they put significant stress on their skeletal frames by lifting heavy objects and participating in repetitive movements that wore out in the knees and elbows.

The two bed burials found in Edix Hill, Graves 60 and 18, were both of females in the “prime” of their lives. These burials only loosely follow the general framework I just described. Skeleton 183 (Grave 60) was between 25-32 years old at the time of death, and skeleton 42B (Grave 18) was between 17-25 years old (Malim 1998, 52, 67). Both were taller than average (1.69 and 1.70 meters) (Malim 1998, 52, 67). Their height may be indicative of good health and lower-than-average environmental stress. Height may have at this time been indicative of wealth. There were not as intense physical stresses placed on these women from an early age as placed on women in the general population. The height of these women supports the theory that bed burials were reserved for high-status individuals.

It is interesting to note that Grave 18 was for a leper who died in the early stages of leprosy (Malim 1998, 176). A rare disease, leprosy is evidenced on a skeletal level from the degrading of phalanges and bone structure on the face during life. According to a comprehensive review of health and disease in Britain, leprosy has only been discovered in a few, isolated incidents for this time period (Roberts 2003, 219).

Nevertheless, the bodies themselves of lepers were not ostracized in death. In contrast, the other bed burial, Grave 60, was pre-mortem healthy besides some arthritis and dental disease, which was common in the Final Phase (Malim 1998, 68).

II.b Grave Goods

In my analyses, I consider grave goods in the order of feminine, masculine, and neutral/ambivalent. Grave goods at Edix Hill, for the most part, followed a male-female dichotomy. There is one grave that does not conform to the usual understanding of grave goods. Grave 23 was determined to be a male, but he was buried with a spindle whorl and other traditionally feminine goods (Malim 1998, 55). This grave is very poorly preserved, however, and represents the only deviation from the norm presented in the evaluation of

Malim and Hines.

The burials considered here are from the entire site rather than just the Final Phase interments because “the shallowness of burial at Edix Hill generated little vertical stratigraphy” which makes it very difficult to date the individual graves (Malim 1998,

23). My examination of grave goods still shows the shift in gender roles late Migration to early Final Phase.

II.b.i Feminine grave goods

Standard goods generally included in female graves are traditionally thought to be those in which jewelry such as beads and brooches are present; however, there are many other items that have been considered to be associated with females. There are 46 burials where grave goods are thought to be indicative of the feminine gender at Edix Hill

Barrington A, of which 12 are of unknown sex and 33 have been identified as female

(with one exception, previously mentioned). Of this number, only five or six female graves can be dated definitely to the Final Phase based on their grave goods, eight to ten if dating based on stratigraphy is added (Malim 1998, 282). There is a burial of an 18- year-old individual that is thought to have been a shroud burial in this category.

Bed burial, Grave 18, had a fossilized sea urchin included among her goods

(Malim 1998, 52); its presence is suggestive of trade with more coastal communities, and, this, indicative of influence and wealth. The number of grave goods she had was also indicative of her wealth and high status. There is evidence that a barrow or burial mound of some kind once covered Grave 60. The mound is assumed because the natural burial is too shallow to have supported a bed burial without a covering mound (Malim 1998, 68).

The employment of a burial mound shows the importance of this individual.

II.b.ii Masculine grave goods

Masculine grave goods associated with male skeletons were present in 26 burials.

Masculine assemblages are the least revealing of social norms of the three categories of grave goods and are generally scarce in the Final Phase. Six to eight graves have been determined to date to the Final Phase (Malim 1998, 283). Two of three possible shroud burials are male, ages 35 and 15. Both of these burials had grave goods, and all three of the shroud burials evidenced post-mortem movement, during or after decomposition, indicative of shifting burial practices from coffin to shroud burials. Beyond shroud burial during the Final Phase, male burials at Edix Hill conform to the idea of what a male burial consists of: only adult males have spearheads (although not all adult males have spearheads), and there is a loose association between spearheads and shields. Male burial goods consisted predominately of weapons and buckles, although they included occasional combs and other miscellaneous items. In general, the grave goods at Edix Hill reflect a pattern similar to those identified at other cemetery sites in much of the Final

Phase. Because of this consistency, gender roles can be generalized throughout the region.

II.ii.c Neutral Grave Goods

The largest grave group of grave goods at Edix Hill belong to the gender neutral category, with 75 associated burials. Of this, nine burials are female (6% of the cemetery), 23 are male (16% of the cemetery), and 42 are of indeterminate sex (29% of the cemetery). These graves are characterized not by their lack of grave goods but by the ambiguous nature of the included goods.

Characteristic of female neutral grave goods are iron knives—only three of these graves lack them. Of those three, two are entirely unfurnished. Knives were common—

63 total knives were interred with skeletons at Barrington A. Knives appear in graves of young people (Stoodley 2000, 465), suggesting that knives were something given to a person at a young age. Knives were most likely a commonly-kept item on the waist, where most of the knives at Edix Hill are found. Knives could be indicative of some kind of responsibility, which would have been shared between men and women.

Beyond the common presence of knives, the burials do not share many other kinds of grave goods. This may be due to a general absence of grave goods in burials.

Interestingly, the individuals in “neutral” graves were above 30 years old, with one exception, thereby raising the question of age in relation to neutral burials. Although these burials do not include all mature female burials, almost all mature females are in this group. This pattern of mature female burials classified as neutral grave assemblages might be indicative of the roles that these females had in society. After childbearing age ended, women may have adopted other, less gender-specific roles in society. Mature females may also have not been as essential as younger women to their family’s continued status in death, and therefore did not receive the same gender-indicative grave

goods as younger interred females. It is possible that there was a portion of society that assumed a role that does not focus on gender as being a big part of identity.

Male burials likewise were not classified neutral simply based on a lack of grave goods, although there was certainly a reduction of surviving grave goods compared to

“masculine” assemblages. Unfortunately, several of these graves had been robbed, plowed through, or subjected to various other disturbances. As such, few burials of this group actually have preserved goods that can be examined. The surprising number of disturbed burials leads me to conclude that the 23: 9 ratio of males: females in Edix Hill is not an inaccurate indicator of the original interments. I believe that the ratio was likely much more even.

Burials of indeterminate sex (or unspecified sex) with neutral goods are a somewhat miscellaneous grouping of skeletons, of which about four have been determined to date to the Final Phase. Thirty-one of the 42 graves are severely damaged.

The individuals in this neutral category represent a variety of ages, with the consistent disturbance of graves making them difficult to interpret.

II.c Summary

Edix Hill is a large cemetery of 148 graves that dates from the end of the

Migration Period to the mid-Final Phase and is therefore a good place to look for a shift in burial practices and societal norms from one period to the next. Of the five cemeteries discussed here, Edix Hill is the largest and provides most of my sample. The cemetery has a similar representation of each sex and age group to England’s seventh-century averages. The two bed burials reveal possible attitudes about leprosy and the display of

wealth. Beyond these two, the distribution of seventh-century goods among its dead generally followed wealth displays one would expect of a cemetery that spanned both

Migration and Final Phase burials. General pre-mortem health at Edix Hill was also relatively good and could be indicative of a division of labor between men and women, where men did a lot of heavy lifting associated with farming.

III. Water Lane, Melbourn

Located eight miles south of Cambridge and four to five kilometers south of Edix

Hill, Melbourn is closely linked to Edix Hill in many regards. Melbourn provides a basis to evaluate hypotheses based on data from Edix Hill. The large amount of grave disturbance found at Melbourn makes it difficult to analysis this cemetery effectively in isolation. The 90 burials (30 from a 1952 investigation) found here are thought to have been interred from between AD 575 and 675, according to Hines and Bayliss, with stratigraphy and typological dating supporting this range (Duncan et al. 2003, 122).

Melbourn matches with the distribution other seventh-century cemeteries and is therefore seen to be a representative sample. There was an age distribution among the recovered burials that mirrors that described for Edix Hill. In addition, there was a clustering of interments that appears to be familial grouping, much like the clustering of burials in Edix Hill. There also appears to have been some form of regularity in original grave digging and in surface marker placements, both of which are indicative of an organized burial system. Organized burials could be a religious signal, as religion would have influenced burial practices.

III.a Human Remains

The average infant mortality calculated for the burial population at Melbourn was about the same as for Edix Hill. Only 30% of the known population at Melbourn was identified, of which 11 are immature adults (18.3%, 21.7% if the three sub-adults are also included), and there was only one neonate discovered, buried with its mother (Duncan et al 2003, 96). Of the population 28 were adults (49.2%), comprising of 18 males (plus the subadult), 10 females, and one individual of undetermined sex had signs of osteoarthritis

(Duncan et al. 2003, 98; see figure 6).

Frequencies of pathologies between the sexes may suggest a gender division of labor. A little over half of the total population (26 individuals, or 57.8%) exhibited vertebral osteoarthritis (Duncan et al. 2003, 98). This is a lower percentage than at Edix

Hill and indicates heavy lifting among males in Edix Hill, more so than at Melbourn. Of the total burial population at Melbourn, 28 individuals (47.5%) were affected by non- vertebral osteoarthritis—32 cases found for 28 individuals (Duncan et al. 2003, 98). The shoulders, elbows, and wrists of the elderly were the most affected, with all other individuals from the population possessing fewer than five instances of non-vertebral osteoarthritis (Duncan et al. 2003, 99). The instances of osteoarthritis appear to support the findings from Edix Hill that men exhibit osteoarthritis in joint locations that are commonly associated with a rural lifestyle.

The burial population at Melbourn exhibits average percentages for caries and ante-mortem tooth loss. Caries were most likely due to the generally coarse diet in the

Anglo-Saxon time period, with grit from grain grinding creating abscesses (Duncan et al

2003, 100). Ante-mortem tooth loss was within the range of average Anglo-Saxon tooth

loss but slightly above average, with tooth loss recorded for 23 out of 49 mandibles

(46.9%) and 140 of 1253 (11.2%) of all teeth (Duncan et al. 2003, 100). The types and frequencies of dental disease suggests that the people of Melbourn did not have any unusual diets, health-related stress, or habits that would otherwise separate them from people of other villages.

Of the stress indicators mentioned, cribra orbitalia (pitting in the orbital sockets usually as a result of anemia) was the most prevalent, with 16 individuals (34.8%) visibly affected—twice the percentage noted for Edix Hill (Duncan et al. 2003, 100). Cribra orbitalia was likely due to infection.

III.b Grave Goods

III.b.i Feminine Grave Goods

Of the feminine burial goods, girdle assemblages were associated with five interments, of which four individuals were 20-35 years old at time of death (Duncan et al

2003, 118-119). The presence of girdles in these graves could have been a continuance and adaptation of girdle assemblages from the Migration Phase, where girdles had a ritualistic meaning associated with the female identity. The age range of these five interments is compatible with the age range of most females with girdle assemblages in the Migration Phase, which to me suggests a continuance and gradual adaptation of the girdle assemblage during the Final Phase. Dating from stratigraphy and by assemblage style shows the continuance and adaptation of girdle assemblages from the Migration

Phase to the Final Phase. An example of the evolution is the disappearance of girdle- hangers and the introduction of latch lifters and T-keys. Prominent items in Final Phase

girdle assemblages include slip-knot and wire rings as well as keys and padlocks (Duncan et al 2003, 111, 117). Of the keys, there were three slide keys (or padlock latch lifters) and two T-keys (Duncan et al 2003, 117) found.

Carry-overs from the preceding phase were spindle whorls (spindle whorls were common in both phases). There were two instances of spindle whorls being found in the pelvis areas of two females at Melbourn (Duncan et al. 2003, 118). Spindle whorls and girdle assemblages stand out as a symbolic (or otherwise) representation of female identity. Women were in charge of domestic life and likely all that went on within the home as the keeper of the keys and other associated domestic artifacts (such as toilet sets), evidenced from items on girdle assemblages. As previously mentioned, women described in Anglo-Saxon literature were often associated with domestic objects and domestic authority.

III.b.ii Masculine Grave Goods

There were few “masculine” grave goods recovered from Melbourn, upholding the pattern of little-to-no grave goods for male skeletons. The two kinds of objects that did reoccur in the 22 male graves were knives (16 out of 30 total knives were associated with masculine burials) and buckles (10 out of 15 total were associated with masculine burials). Knives were commonly associated with both male and neutral or unspecified grave goods (23 out of 30 total occurrences). Buckles appear to have been a common expression of male identity at Melbourn, although buckles were not found to be statistically significantly associated with males in my entire sample. Knives additionally were not statistically significantly associated with male graves in Melbourn or the other sites considered here.

III.b.iii Neutral Grave Goods

Ambivalent graves and neutral grave goods make up a significant portion of the

Melbourn cemetery. Of the 22 male graves, five lacked grave goods. Of the 12 female graves, five lacked grave goods or had neutral goods. There were also three sub-adults and four sub-juveniles whose sex could not be determined. The proportion of graves determined to be neutral (or ambiguous) at Melbourn was about 17 out of 41 total graves, or about 41%. While it is likely the case that a high level of disturbance has led to a decrease in overall grave goods, the number of “neutral” graves is too high a proportion for all of these graves to have been classified as ambivalent graves purely from disturbances.

Neutral grave good assemblages could show several things. First, the existence and frequency of neutral assemblages could mean that in the Final Phase gender was not considered to have been as important of an expressive marker in graves among a certain class of people as those with male or female highly gendered graves. Second, gender ambivalent assemblages could have signaled to their contemporaries a separation in life beyond gender lines, such as occupation or socioeconomic significance and/or standing within the community. Finally, the neutral graves could be revelatory of a general shift away from placing grave goods with burials in the Final Phase, regardless of any of the aforementioned possibilities. Most likely, what was found at Melbourn was a combination of all three possibilities. It is likely that in the shift away from strong expression of identity in grave goods during the Migration Phase to no goods that the poorer class discontinued the practice of gendered grave good interments first, with the wealthiest the last to discontinue the practice of grave goods during the Final Phase.

III.iii Summary

Water Lane, Melbourn, is a typical 7th century site, with a few exceptions. The

Anglo-Saxons of Melbourn were unusually tall, although they are within a standard deviation of the distribution of stature for this period (Duncan et al 2003, 96). Tall stature could be indicative of religion, as explained in my discussion at the end of this thesis.

There was one abnormal burial at Melbourn, a man was buried with a slip-knot, a traditionally feminine object (Duncan et al 2003, 95). The information from Melbourn generally supports the findings from Edix Hill with regards to general health and expressions of gender.

IV. Westfield Farm

The Westfield farm site lies southwest of Ely (see Figure 7). Westfield Farm is a small cemetery site of only 15 burials (vs. 148 burials of Edix Hill). The Westfield Farm burials appear to have been centered around one, central burial (see Figure 8). The

Westfield Farm cemetery was organized with “graves of females (or those with female- associated assemblages), those of individuals aged under twenty years, and those with grave goods are all more likely to be found to the north west of Grave 1, while unfurnished graves and burials of males are more likely to be found to its south east”

(Lucy et al. 2009, 129). Westfield Farm has a mixed burial population, with the interred individuals generally in the younger age ranges (the youngest aged four to five years)

(Lucy et al. 2009, 129).

IV.a Human Remains

The cemetery population evinces few pathological conditions. Osteological studies have revealed that the individuals had above-average pre-mortem health. Isotopic analysis of skeletons from this site revealed that little of their food was imported, beyond some marine animals (Lucy et al. 2009, 109, 119).

The most common skeletal pathology identified in the Edix Hill and Westfield

Farm burial populations was arthropathies (see Figure 9), with six cases out of 15 individuals being discovered at Westfield Farm, or 40% of the population. Spine and arm joints seem to have been the loci of arthropathic concentration, likely owing to lives of manual labor and heavy lifting. In the Westfield Farm burial population there was a similar distribution of bone disease between the sexes (see Figure 9).

The skeletons from Westfield Farm show a remarkably low rate of dental disease for the Final Phase, suggesting that there was a low consumption of starches and sugars.

There was not much difference in dental wear in the wealthier burials of males and females. The comparable amounts of wear indicate that the dental hygiene and diet were about the same between males and females, and they were also similar between persons of different social classes (Malim 1998, 116). Because individuals of lower socioeconomic status would not have had the means to import their food and the population, the population likely subsisted on local resources. This inference could support a specialized religious burial site hypothesis, as monasteries would have been self- sufficient during the seventh-century.

IV.b Grave Goods

IV.b.i Feminine Grave Goods

Grave goods in this cemetery reveal much of interest. Graves 1 and 2 are especially rich in burial goods for the ages of the interred individuals. The burial in Grave

1, a juvenile 10-12 years, was found with several artifacts. These include a coin dating to

AD 685-690, glass palm cups, necklaces of gold, silver, and garnet, a padlock latch-lifter key, and a large bowl (Lucy et al. 2009, 88). The individual in Grave 1 may have worn a veil (“the metalwork at the right hip was sandwiched between a lightweight fabric, almost certainly a long veil or mantle, and a heavier wool textile, probably the fabric of a dress”

Lucy et al. 2008, 128), but beyond this rarity, she appears to have been dressed according to general standard Final Phase burial dress (Malim 1998, 128). The possible veil may be indicative of a Christian affiliation, which would make this an early Christian burial. This burial could shed light on the roles of women in early Christianity. When paired with the rich female burial recovered at Trumpington (described below), these burials suggest that young wealthy women were important in early Christianity, or at least visually important.

The individual in Grave 2 was likewise young, being 15-17 years of age and tentatively identified as female (Lucy et al. 2009, 91). Grave 2 had several beads, a

Roman brooch, and a spindle whorl, amongst other goods. The Roman brooch was likely an heirloom; as it does not match the Final Phase era costume5 with which Grave 2 is associated. Grave 2 was to the north-west of Grave 1 (see Figure 8).

5 Items of dress evinced from archaeological evidence of brooch style and contextual evidence from later drawings show a change in style from the Migration Phase to the Final Phase. Females in the Migration Phase probably wore a tubular gown secured at the shoulders with paired brooches, similar to the Greek peplos (Owen-Crocker 2011, 98). This garment “could be worn over a sleeved garment and under a cloak, shawl or cape” 26

Of the remaining 13 burials at Westfield Farm, four were females. These were all located in the northern half of the circle surrounding Grave 1. They did not have many surviving grave goods. There are no commonalities in the types of grave goods found in the four individual graves. One female had no grave goods. The lack of similarity in grave furnishings might suggest that these women were not buried with markers that revealed common roles in society. These women may have occupied different social roles than the average female in society (perhaps a monastic society, as is suggested in Lucy et al. 2009, 135), or perhaps evidence of the grave goods have simply been lost to us.

IV.b.ii Masculine Grave Goods

There were six males buried at Westfield Farm, providing an even distribution of the sexes (6:6). All the male graves were located to the south of the female graves and had few grave goods. Three of the six male graves were without goods. The only shared characteristics among the three male graves with goods were iron knives found in Graves

6 and 13 (Lucy et al. 2009, 99, 105). The male graves, unfortunately, do not reveal discernable gender roles or attitudes, beyond perhaps the layout of the cemetery. The fact that the men were all to the south, scarcely buried with anything, and surrounding the

(Owen-Crocker 2011, 98). The tubular gown is presumed to have been ankle length based on later depictions of Anglo-Saxon dress (see figure 12, costume b). Girdle hangers and girdles generally were important markers of dress and identity to East Anglian females, and was the most salient regional difference found from general Anglo-Saxon costume (Owen-Crocker 2011, 100). In the Final Phase, the paired brooch fashion was replaced by small annular, penannular, and round brooches. Ornamentation became more simple, largely consisting of neck ornaments slung from shoulder to shoulder (see Figure 12, costume a). Additionally, signs of Christianity began to appear, such as crosses. Dress during the early Anglo-Saxon period (the Migration Phase and Final Phase inclusive) was highly gendered, with female identity emphasized through elaborate costume (Owen- Crocker 2011, 103). Male identity was “occasionally stated by belt equipment, but more often by weapons,” showing a more utilitarian view of male dress (Owen-Crocker 2011, 103). 27

southern half of a rich female grave is interesting. The layout of Westfield Farm cemetery could be indicative of a separation in life where men were to the south and women to the north. This physical distinction was built into the layout of cloisters, where women occupied the northern cloister and men the southern cloister. If the Westfield Farm site was a convent created by a wealthy family, it makes sense that there would have been a few rich female graves and other individuals of a lower class (see below).

During the Final Phase in East Anglia, the advent of monastic life was largely spearheaded by women from wealthy families. Examples of women leading the way can be seen in the story of St. Æthelthryth and her sister St. Seaxburh, two East Anglian

“princesses” who founded the monastery in Ely and who were the first abbesses during the seventh-century. Because Westfield Farm is located in Ely (see Figure 7) and these princesses would have been contemporary with the individuals found in the Westfield

Farm cemetery, this example is particularly relevant.

IV.b.iii Indeterminate Sexed Grave Goods

Three burials were of indeterminate sex. Two of these interments were sub-adults and the other was an old infant. The infant was buried with one red and one green glass bead, which are unique to that grave (Lucy et al. 2009, 101). The young adults of indeterminate sex were both buried with knives (Lucy et al. 2009, 94, 97).

IV.c Summary

Westfield Farm is a small Final Phase cemetery, composed of one central barrow burial surrounded by 14 other graves relatively evenly divided between males and females. Through the examination of human remains, it is clear that the individuals in this

cemetery had above average health and did not suffer from as many bone pathologies as did the people buried in the Edix Hill cemetery. The two most common pathologies at

Westfield Farm were arthropathies and anemia, which may have been caused by repeated illness rather than by poor diet. The goods found in graves, and the design of the cemetery, suggest that this cemetery served a religious population. Thanks to Carver

(2003, 256), we know that “women were among the first members of the royal house to have a prominent role in the promotion of Christianity.” This observation supports the idea presented in the report that Westfield Farm was a possible monastic cemetery. Grave

1 was a centrally located grave for a wealthy female burial. There was a distinct separation of sex between north and south of her burial, which may have mimicked the separation of men and women within a double house, a pattern known for later, Medieval monastic cemeteries (Gilchrist & Sloane 2006, 58-59). Members of the Westfield Farm site may have served both the monastic and lay population at Ely during the seventh century.

V. Trumpington

The unpublished site of Trumpington has four burials of special interest; see

Figure 10. This site is located at TL439539, in Trumpington, Cambridge. Four definite seventh-century burials, with a possible fifth, were found tightly clustered together in a row, but date to different times (Evans et al., in preparation).

V.a Human Remains

Due to poor preservation of the human remains, it is impossible to make a comprehensive analysis on these burials. In Grave 1, the preservation affected confidence in sexing the skeleton, a situation that also applies to Graves 3 and 4, with a possible

Grave 5 not containing any human bones at all. Almost no pathologies were identified on individuals from this site; “little, if anything, survives in the thoracic area or of the extremities or joint surfaces. Where bone survives it is split and abraded; the cortical bone is either completely absent or rugged and perforated. Any pathological lesions that may have affected the cortical bone and/or the joints of limbs will have been obscured”

(Evans et al., in preparation).

Luckily, the teeth survived remarkably well, and analysis of them allows for a close aging of the individuals based on enamel wear. Grave 1, a bed burial, appears to have been an individual between 14-18 years old—thus similar in age to bed burial Grave

18 in Edix Hill (Evans et al., in preparation; Malim et al. 1998, 52). Graves 2, 3, and 4 appear to have been young adults or older sub-adults. The only bone pathology evident is in Grave 1, where cribra orbitalia is present in both orbital roofs, suggesting “that this individual suffered from iron deficiency, the result either of a diet low in iron, parasitic infection, infectious disease or excessive blood loss” (Evans et al., in preparation).

V.b Grave Goods

V.b.i Feminine Grave Goods

The bed burial (in Grave 1) had a gold and garnet pectoral cross, which appears to have been placed around the neck of the individual. Other items of note associated with

the individual in this grave were gold and garnet linked pins, also originally around the neck. An iron knife and a bone or antler comb (originally around the waist), and a chatelaine with textiles still preserved date the interment to the late seventh century. The chatelaine is evidence at least symbolically of ownership and that the female in this grave was the head of a household. The chatelaine, in addition to the gold and garnet pectoral cross and the bed burial, reveal that this individual was a high-status Christian and head of household. These roles could have been manifested by being the head of a religious house. Grave 1 also had iron bed fittings, indicative of a high-status bed burial.

The individual interred in Grave 2 had two copper alloy buckles, both found in situ on the right side of the pelvis, and a worked antler bone pin.

Grave 3 had a slip knot, a T-key, and a knife, all found in the left arm area. On the right side, a pair of iron shears was found on top of the elbow. In addition, an iron rivet, which may be indicative of a casket, was found on the left side of the leg.

V.ii.b Neutral Grave Goods

There are two burials that fall under this classification of indeterminate or missing assemblages, Grave 4 and the possible Grave 5. Grave 4 had no associated grave goods.

The possible fifth grave would have been a child’s grave due to grave size but is too degraded to provide much detail. There were no remaining bones, and the only grave good found was a piece of corroded metal.

V.iii Summary

Trumpington is an interesting site for various reasons. One of the big questions still surrounding this site is whether or not Trumpington was an undocumented monastic

site directed by a high-status female. The authors of the Trumpington report believe that this was likely the use of the site, and I am persuaded by their argument. The monastic theory would explain the overt religious symbols in the grave goods, such as the gold- and-garnet pectoral cross found in Grave 1. It would also explain the general lack of pathologies (in the preserved bone, not in the total number as there was poor preservation), because below-average pathological conditions were something found in

Westfield Farm as well.

Another feature that makes Trumington interesting is that, although the associated settlement site was used in all three major Anglo-Saxon phases, the burials uncovered all occured within the same century and were found roughly in a line (see Figure 10). The spatial arrangement of the burials suggests that Trumpington was a well-planned burial site. Planned cemeteries were something that began to occur during the Final Phase. If this were planned cemetery, then some kind of markers were likely placed over these graves to make them more evident on the landscape.

VI. Bloodmoor Hill

The last of the five sites in my sample is Bloodmoor Hill. This cemetery, located in Lowestoft (see Figure 11), cannot be examined in depth due to the poor preservation of human remains there. This site may have been a religious site in the seventh century, as was Westfield Farm. Bloodmoor Hill has 28 graves; however, human bone was only recovered for 18 individuals due to acidic soil (which degrades bone material more quickly than does chalk). There is evidence of post-depositional disturbances for 12 graves, with at least four attempts of plundering likely from the Medieval period. The

unknown degree of past disturbances makes the recovered artifacts difficult to interpret

(Lucy et al. 2009, 387). The extensive disturbances found at some of the sites examined in this sample is indicative of the unreliable amount of grave good data that is available.

Additionally, evidence of previous plundering indicate that these graves were once prominent parts of the associated landscape. Bloodmoor Hill was in operation from the middle until the late 7th century, and it may have been an “estate centre with associated high-status burial and industrial activity” (Lucy et al. 2009, xii).

VI.a Human Remains

Of the 28 graves in two locations found at Bloodmoor Hill, 9 of them are interpreted as graves but contain no bones or scraps of bone (Lucy et al. 2009, 388).

Human bones were recovered for 18 individuals, of which 11 were adults, three were sub-adults, and four were juveniles. Based on grave goods (for probable female) and grave size (for probable child), the rest of the burials can be identified as probably female or probably juvenile. Twelve graves show evidence of post-depositional disturbance, and four graves appear to have evidence of robbery attempts. These data, combined with the generally poor bone preservation at the site due to soil acidity, make an analysis of the burials based on human remains difficult.

From what remains of human bone, there is one instance of Schmorl’s nodes, two cases of enamel hypoplasia, and one case of anemia. There is a significant amount of general dental wear on surviving teeth, although the sandy environment may skew the results of these teeth because of faster erosion in sandy conditions.

VI.b Grave Goods

VI.b.i Feminine Grave Goods

In Bloodmoor Hill’s interments, girdle complexes were found in at least five graves (Lucy et al. 2009, 408). Girdle assemblages appear to have evolved slightly from the Migration Phase, as previously mentioned. Simple design latch lifters were found in

th Bloodmoor Hill, common for wealthy female burials of the mid- or late-7 century (Lucy et al. 2009, 408).

Two possible crosses in grave goods were found in biologically unsexed graves

(one interment did not have any surviving bone, and the other was of a juvenile), but the grave goods associated indicate a feminine gender. The presence of these two crosses could be indicative of a religious site, as suggested for Trumpington and Westfield Farm.

In addition, the presence of religious paraphernalia associated with female graves supports the findings from other cemeteries that women displayed more overt religious identity than men did, possibly due to their active role in religion in this time period.

VI.b.ii Masculine Grave Goods

Bloodmoor Hill does not provide much in terms of masculine grave goods. All the males with grave goods were buried with a knife or knife tools, such as sharpeners; however, some women were also interred with knives. The rarer weapon assemblages such as spears and shields were distinctively male, but there are only a few surviving occurrences of them in this cemetery. In Bloodmoor Hill, as with the other sites previously examined, male grave goods were not as salient as female grave goods.

VI.b.iii Neutral Grave Goods

Most of the graves in this category of Bloodmoor Hill were grouped together

because of poor preservation and loss of information from grave robbing. Therefore, I did not consider these interments because they are not representative of Bloodmoor Hill as a whole. From the undisturbed graves with human remains, there are only a few “neutral” assemblages, and they are mainly classified in this category due to a lack of grave goods.

VI.c Summary

Bloodmoor Hill is an important site for confirming patterns of female burial assemblages in a wider East Anglian context than Cambridgeshire. Bloodmoor is the only site of my sample outside of modern-day Cambridgeshire, but it confirms that trends found in Cambridgeshire evinced a wider East Anglian trend. There was a definite alignment of graves in this cemetery. The absence of masculine grave goods in this and other cemeteries could indicate that familial expressions of wealth shifted from men to women during this period. If so, then this would have been one of the largest changes from Migration to Final Phase burial practices.

This site could have been a single estate complex, with the wealthiest, core family buried separately from the rest of the interments in the cemetery, or the burial pattern could have been indicative of a religious site (Lucy et al. 2009, 426). All of the females in this cemetery were high status, and there are more female than male interments, which could all point to an early convent founded by high status females. If this were the case, then Bloodmoor Hill would provide an important link to Westfield Farm and

Trumpington.

VII. Discussion

From the analysis of these cemetery sites, major themes and questions can be addressed. I explore the relationship between religion and status, and then consider bed burials and gender-indicative grave goods within the context of religion and status. The human remains in these graves are then discussed as important to understanding symbolic expressions in the context of the sexual division of labor, health, and other status-related elements.

VII.a Religion and Status

Christianity was brought to England by Bertha, a Frankish princess who married

Æthelberht, a Kentish king, in AD 580. Christianity was then taken to the rest of England by missionaries, such as Augustine, beginning in AD 597 (Sims-Williams 1990, 98). The aristocracy and high-status individuals quickly became attached to Christianity in their respective areas in imitation of Kentish aristocracy, as seen in both the display of religion

(to be discussed with gender-indicative grave goods) and the founding of religious institutions (Wormald 1978, 57). Centrally-located monasteries were founded and maintained by high-status individuals, and these became centers of political power, as well as home to craft specializations, such as book binding (Foot 2006, 151; Sims-

Williams 1990, 395).

From the layouts of the cemeteries examined in this study, it appears that there was an emerging distinction between lay and monastic burials during the 7th century.

Edix Hill was most likely a cemetery meant to serve an entire community, whereas

Westfield Farm appears to have been only for a very small, localized group of people.

Westfield Farm is an unusual Final Phase cemetery, as it is smaller and more specialized than most cemeteries. This elite burial site is not representative of the Final Phase East

Anglian population and, therefore, is considered with Edix Hill to provide more general context. The graves in Westfield Farm were separated by gender with women on the north and men on the south, and their graves surrounded the central and richest grave (see

Figure 8). The layout of Westfield Farm could be indicative of a monastic society. Men and women in later double-house monasteries were segregated into north and south. A monastic life would explain the religious grave goods found in Westfield Farm previously discussed (i.e., crosses).

A monastic cemetery would be congruent with Ely’s history, as the first monastery there was a double house built in AD 672 (Foot 2006, 166). Monastic burials in later periods in England show a pattern of sex-segregated burials in double-houses, a trend for which Westfield Farm could have been one of the pioneering cemeteries

(Gilchrist & Sloane 2006, 58-59).

The placement of graves at Edix Hill and Melbourn appears to have been more random than those of Westfield Farm, with familial and patrilocal clustering around some of the wealthier graves. Edix Hill appears to have generations of families buried close together. The Melbourn cemetery functioned for a shorter time period than Edix Hill, and the graves there are clustered mainly around a “founder” grave (interred definitively before any of the other graves and in the center), which may have been a familial link to the clustered graves. It is unlikely that the clustering was the result of a random allotment. The close proximity of these previously mentioned cemeteries with different apparent purposes suggests that, even from the beginning of the seventh century, there

was a separation of specialist burials from lay burials.

VII.b Bed Burials

Something that ties Edix Hill and Trumpington together is the ostentatious practice of bed burials. The three bed burials (two from Edix Hill and one from

Trumpington) included in this study were all of young women who appear to have been wealthy, observations that conform to the general trend for bed burials (Evans et al., in preparation).

The Trumpington burial had a gold-and-garnet cross, one of five discovered in

Britain thus far. The cross ties this burial to religious life (Evans et al., in preparation).

The age the individuals were interred is a similarity among the three bed burials.

Although not exclusively found among youth, five out of the nine bed burials were determined to be younger than 25 years old (only nine bed burials may be assigned an age based on human remains; Evans et al., in preparation). The young age of the individuals in several of these burials is likely indicative of inherited and honorific status in their communities. It is also clear that there was a relationship between these women and Christianity. While it could be argued that these women were buried only with religious paraphernalia because of their wealth, Geake shows in her research that the inclusion of Christian symbols in graves constituted “a trend that is now generally seen as signaling elite status and an allegiance to new systems of power, rather than the adoption of Christianity per se” (Hamerow 2016, 427; Geake 1999, 212). It is well documented that women played a dynamic role in the early Christian church in England (Blair 2005,

174-175).

The individuals in the two bed burials found at Edix Hill were unusually tall compared to other females buried in same the cemetery. Tall height was found in other bed burials (Evans et al., in preparation). The uniformly tall height of individuals in other bed burial interments may help to confirm that these burials were monastic individuals, as the tallest population groups in East Anglia during the Final Phase were those from monastic houses (Anderson 2011, 86-87).

VII.c Gender-Indicative Grave Goods

One idea of why young adult and adult women were buried with more non- perishable goods than anyone else is that some women had important performative roles in tying families together and were symbols of land power (Arnold 2001, 159; Hadley

2004, 320; Hamerow et al. 2015, 15). I explore this idea as a possible explanation of the emergence of high-status female burials in the Final Phase.

Keys and girdles were important gendered grave artifacts during the Final Phase where there was a general decrease of grave goods. I consider keys and girdles as indicators of changes in symbolic gender role divisions. Girdle assemblages found with females point to a possible carry-over of tradition and pagan culture. Girdles have been shown to be possibly either religious and/or a symbol of female authority (Felder 2014).

The presence of keys and girdles only in female graves in all five cemeteries appears to reveal social messages that were openly portrayed among social groups. In Westfield

Farm, the wealthiest burial had a girdle and padlock key (Lucy et al. 2009, 122). The wide display of girdles with keys in East Anglia during the Final Phase seems to me to be indicative of some type of role that women played in society that was simultaneously tied

to an aspect of monastic life performing supervisory and administrative roles. This supports Nick Stoodley’s hypothesis (2000, 466) that women performed caretaker, household supervision, and/or religious duties during the Final Phase. Early roles that many religious houses played in the lives of the people around them were not entirely religious, but they involved supervision and care taking duties (such as caring for the sick and poor).

The dual character of secular and religious grave goods would explain the presence of girdles and keys in monastic and non-monastic cemeteries. Early monastic leaders would also have been in charge of both the religious and secular household and have been highly regarded in society, thereby supporting the Aristocracy-Christianity link hypothesis mentioned previously (Blair 2007, 144).

The presence of keys in exclusively female graves may be indicative of increased importance placed on personal property, especially when considering the increased distinction between display and concealment within graves, such as the open display of girdles vs. concealment of pouches—the same can also be seen with jewelry display vs. chests concealment. Several of the female graves examined in this study had some items of concealment—whether it was a box, a bag, or from locking the casket where the body was interred. Padlock keys as symbols for concealment are suggested in the Westfield

Farm report, which states “The inclusion of the padlock key with the girdle-group emphasizes, along with the locking of the casket, the personal ownership of the items buried inside it” (Lucy et al. 2009, 123). I believe that personal ownership, household supervision, and more elevated social status were all aspects of this tradition of concealment and display and became important markers of female gender.

Girdles, keys, brooches, chatelaines, and beads were found exclusively or almost exclusively in female graves. I found the distribution of combs to be statistically significant in female rather than male graves (two-tailed T-tests, see Appendix B for method). All spearheads were found in male graves. Other grave good items I thought might show a gender significance for males, such as buckles and knives, were found not to be significant (p=0.968 for buckles, p=0.612 for knives; Appendix B). From this analysis, I deduce that in the Final Phase the display of feminine identity was more important than masculine identity with non-perishable goods.

Indicative of the sociopolitical climate in 7th century East Anglia, the perceived importance of gender role display showed the shift in dominate displays in militaristic power to religious and secular authority between the Migration and Final Phases. The presence of several high-status female graves in the Final Phase—with no comparable high-status male graves—was a reversal from the previous pattern of numerous princely burials with weapon assemblages. As remarked about Westfield Farm and Bloodmoor

Hill, the advent of a monastic system and the Christian church in England was a period of top-down social change that was largely represented by female nobility. The early display of wealth and religious symbols of Christian affiliation with female graves was an expressive form of what was happening with all wealthy burials. Specific families (such as those clustered around the bed burials or the founder graves) may have been trying to assert some form of social dominance by association with the main burials, whilst the living relatives of interments with religious memorabilia may have been trying to assert religious dominance.

VIII.d Human Remains

Ideas about gender and gender roles inferred from cemetery layouts and grave goods with burials can be evaluated through the analysis of human remains. From osteology reports of these cemeteries it is evident that the individual burials in the

Westfield Farm, Melbourn, Edix Hill, Bloodmoor Hill, and Trumpington cemeteries experienced above average health in life, especially in Westfield Farm. The bone health among the burials in all five cemeteries is suggestive of nutritional equality between males and females and persons of different socioeconomic statuses.

From an analysis of human remains, however, it appears as though Final Phase men shouldered heavier burdens than did the women. Pronounced arthritis in the spine, elbows, shoulders, and wrist is commonly noted in male burials from three of the cemeteries. Through a series of T-tests at 95% confidence intervals (see data in Figures 2 and 3, and Table 3), I found that men had significantly more pathologies in their elbows, feet, and spines than did females. In contrast, females had significantly more wrist pathologies, with inclusive results for most other pathologies, partially due to problems with the data set (certain sites had poor preservation, making the distinctions difficult to determine). This analysis points to a division of labor in which men did more manual labor than women did, a trend seen even in the subadults.

The observed sex-segregation of arthritis is only minimally verified in the

Westfield Farm burial population, a cemetery in which men and women had an equal number of arthropathies. This apparent equality of bone trauma may be due to sampling a small cemetery and its population or with different work tasks associated with monastic life. The relationship of arthropathies and biological sex in the Westfield Farm skeletal

data supports the monastic hypothesis that men and women performed the same or similar kinds of labor in monasteries and to similar degrees. The relationship between skeletal pathologies and grave goods in Westfield Farm was the inverse of the general relationship between the two in the Final Phase for other sites. The Trumpington site was also presented as an anomaly because the cemetery did not have any identifiable male interments and, therefore, was not included in this analysis.

VIII. Conclusion

Graves in seventh century Cambridgeshire provide an interesting window into gender expression. It is evident that men performed different, more labor-intensive tasks than women did in East Anglia during the Final Phase. Through an analysis of grave goods, different roles of women in society were revealed, of which there were different expressions. One of these expressions was the display of girdles and keys. Based on a comparison of graves from Edix Hill, Melbourn, Westfield Farm, and Trumpington, I postulate that deceased persons interred with girdle assemblages once held positions in society that may have been linked to care-taking, supervision, and autonomy. All of the women with girdles and keys were younger and wealthier than those without. Girdles may have been associated with childbirth roles, or some other role that wealthy women performed. With higher status and land ownership during this period came increased autonomy and independence for women, and these may be evident in the presence of keys in these girdle assemblages.

Another distinctive group was linked to religious associations. The two wealthy burials in the Trumpington cemetery, and Grave 1 in Westfield Farm, seem to have been

similar in that they were of wealthy young women who were buried with metal crosses

(one of them incredibly rare). Possession of these crosses, coupled with the general layout of the Westfield Farm cemetery and the tall stature of these individuals, show the relationship between wealth and religion. Recently, a trend between wealthy and religious burials in the Final Phase has been discovered and sheds light on other possibly high-status burials that did not have overt demonstrations of religion associated with them (Anderson 2011, 86-87). The tall stature of the females in the bed burials in East

Anglia may indicate they were directly tied to Christianity.

An association of wealthy males with religion is not indicated in either of these cemeteries. Indeed, in the possible monastic burials of Westfield Farm, none of the male burials appeared to be particularly wealthy. There do not appear to have been any wealthy male burials in Edix Hill either; The absence of such burials may indicate the decline of rich male grave goods and, therefore, of more political stability, in which ostentatious displays of militaristic power were no longer necessary for men.

The relationship between female influence and Christianity examined here was opposite from modern views of “traditional” Christian gender roles, casting doubt on the conservative culture that has characterized Christianity in recent history.

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X. Appendix A

Table 1. Change in grave goods from the Migration Phase to the Final Phase. Gender of Time Period Burials Migration Phase (AD 450-600) Final Phase (AD 600-700) Masculine “Princely” burials; Almost no goods; Full weapon assemblages; Knives; Some boat burials Seax (from France); Helmets? Feminine More symbolic objects such as Pendants; crystal balls and girdle- More functional objects such as hangers; iron spoons, workboxes, and Girdle group (including the toilet sets; girdle hanger key); New girdle group (including Shorter necklaces; the latch lifter and T-key); Germanic brooches; New bead type (amethyst and Amber, crystal, and glass shell beads, beads made of polychrome beads bronze, silver, or gold); Longer necklaces; Pins/brooches (see below) Neutral Bronze buckets; Iron buckets; Germanic brooches; Disc brooches; Double-sided comb Double-sided and humped back comb; Pins

Figure 1. Map of Edix Hill Barrington A in its surroundings (Malim 1998, 5, with my annotation).

Percent Bones Affected 20

0 … … … … … … All o/a All Nodes All Body o/a Sacral Nodes All Sacral o/a Females all cervical o/a Lumbar Nodes All Lumbar o/a Thoracic nodes Sacral Body o/a All Thoracic o/a Sacral Facet o/a Lumbar Body o/a Lumbar Body o/a All Sacral o/a and Cervical body o/a Cervical facet o/a Lumbar Facet o/a All o/a and Nodes Thoracic body o/a Thoracic body o/a Males Thoracic Facet o/a All Lumbar o/a and Sacral Body o/a and All Thoracic o/a and

Thoracic Rib Facet o/a Vertebral Disorders

Figure 2. Percentage Distribution of vertebral osteoarthritis in Edix Hill.

40 35 30 25 20 15 10

Number of Individuals 5 0

Non-spinal osteoarthritis

Male Female Neutral

Figure 3. Distribution of non-spinal osteoarthritis in Edix Hill.

60 50 40 30 20

Percent Affected 10 0 Female Male Sex n/d Average Sex

Caries Abscesses Ante-mortem tooth loss

Figure 4. Chart of dental diseases in Edix Hill.

Table 2. Grave goods in Edix Hill.

Figure 5. Melbourn in the context of its surroundings (Duncan et al. 2003, 58).

% affected 57.8 57.1 49.2 47.5 8.5 7.5

WHOLE ADULTS VERTEBRAL NON- NON- VERT. SCHMORL'S VERTEBRAL JOINT NODES REGIONS

PERCENT POPULATION AFFECTED AVAILABLE

OSTEOARTHRITIS

Figure 6. Population affected by osteoarthritis in Melbourn.

Table 3. Sex and joint area distribution of osteoarthritis (Duncan et al 2003, 99).

Figure 7. Location of Westfield Farm in context (Lucy et al 2009, 82).

Figure 8. Grave locations in Westfield Farm (Lucy et al 2009, 83).

1 Nmber of Individuals

0 Male Female Indeterminate

Anemia Arthropathies Other

Figure 9. Pathology distribution in Westfield Farm.

Figure 10. Graves of the Trumpington cemetery (Evans et al., in preparation).

Figure 11. Location of Bloodmoor Hill, Lowestoft in context (Lucy et al 2009, 2).

a b

Figure 12. Final Phase (a) and Migration Phase (b) female dress styles (Owen-Crocker 2011, 98).

XI. Appendix B

XI.a Statistical Analysis

For all of my tests, I performed a two-tailed T-test in Excel using the formula p=T.TEST(array 1, array 2, tails, type) at 95% confidence. Array 1 was designated to be female, array 2 was male, and there were always two tails. Type referred to the specific type of T-tests available, and for the purpose of these tests, I chose the third type, or a two-sample unequal variance (heteroscedastic) test. The data I used for grave goods may be found in the tables below. I separate different types of grave goods that I thought might be possibly gender-indicative. The skeletal remains from my T-tests may be found in Appendix A, specifically in Figures 2, 3, and Table 3. From these tests, I found that girdles had a p-value of 0.0000000135, because they were exclusively found in female graves. The p-value was so small because the difference between males and females associated with girdles was so large. Keys, beads, chatelaines, and brooches all likewise had similar small p-values because they are all found only in female graves. Spearheads and shields exhibited similar findings for men. Combs, which had a p-value of 0.0134, were significant for females. Because it was a two-tailed T-test of difference, the smallness of the p-value shows a significant difference between men and women in the types of goods included in graves. Buckles (0.968) and knives (0.612) were both found to not be statistically significant for a difference between males and females.

XI.b Primary Data

Table 4. Burial data from Edix Hill, Melbourn, Westfield Farm, Trumpington, and Bloodmoor Hill cemeteries.

EDIX HILL BURIALS Grave Burial Height Age Range Skeletal Sex Sex by Grave Good 1 2 1.63 35-39 F 2 3.1.1 F? 2 3.1.2 M? 2 3.2 1.69 23-59 M 2 3.3 1.79 18 M M 3 4 1.61 25-35 F F 4 8 M? M? 5 9 1.66 25-29 F F 6 10.1 6 F 6 10.2 4 7 11 1.72 25-35 M M 8 12 4 9 13.1 1.61 45+ M M 9 13.2 17 M 10 16.1 1.65 30-34 F 10 16.2 15-16 F 11 17 1.6 45+ M? 12 19 1.83 20-24 M M 13 20.1 13 20.2 1.66 25 F F 14 29 35-45 F F 15 31 12 F 16 33 25-35 M 17 41 18 42.1.1 3 18 42.1.2 18-25 F? 18 42.2 1.7 17-25 F F 19 44.1 1.69 18 F F 19 44.2 35 F F 20 45 1.56 19 F F 21 46

22 47 23 48 25-35 M? F? 24 49 M? 25 50 18-23 26 51.1 15 26 51.2 45+ M 27 52 1.74 45+ M M 28 57 1.7 35-45 M M 29 58.1 1.75 M M 29 58.2 F 30 100 17 31 103 1.66 45+ M 32 110 1.77 45+ M 33 112 1.74 18-25 M M 34 117 1.66 18-25 M M 35 119 1.67 19-35 F 36 125 1.72 18-23 M M 37 126 1.64 45+ F F 38 127.1 35-45 F F 38 127.2 2or3 39 128 16-17 F 40 130 15-16 41 133 6or7 42 135 1.64 50 F 43 136.1 43 136.2 5 44 137 1.72 35 M 45 139 46 146 1.84 23-59 M M 47 147.1 16-17 M 47 147.2 26-70 F F 48 148 1.76 25-35 M M 49 149 1.61 25-35 F F 50 150 1.73 45+ M 51 151 1.74 19-25 M M 52 155 53 156 1.68 25-29 F F 54 161 1.57 23-35 F F 55 171 1.58 21-25 F

56 172 8 57 175 4-5m 58 177 59 178 3or4 60 183 25-32 F F? 61 184.1 1.57 25-35 F F 61 184.2 10m 62 188 16 M 63 198 1.75 22-25 M 64 201 65 300.1 1.77 35 M 65 300.2 2 66 322.1 1.77 M M 66 322.2 1.66 25 F F 67 352 3or4 68 354 45+ F F 69 359 1.61 18 F F 70 362 1.71 40-44 M? M 71 367.1 25-35 M 71 367.2 18-25 72 369.1 F 72 369.3 16 73 372 1.74 17-25 M 74 401 <7 F? 75 402 76 405 15 M 77 423 18-25 M M 78 424 14 F 79 428 1.61 30-34 F F 80 430.1 18-25 M 80 430.3 <12 81 431 1.68 45-49 M 82 432.1 1.71 F? F 82 432.2 3or4 83 436 1.71 17-25 F F 84 440.1 1.58 25-35 F F 84 440.2 perinatal 85 447.1 25-35 M 85 447.2 6or7

86 450 45+ 87 451.1 1.81 50-59 M 87 451.2 15-16 88 453.1 1.71 18-25 M M 88 453.2 35-45 M 89 455 17-18 90 458 1.56 60+ F 91 459 18 F 92 466.1 M 92 466.2 93 526 1.62 35-45 F F 94 529 9 95 530 1.65 52-59 F F 96 547.1 1.66 25-35 F F 96 547.2 10or11 F 97 551 1.74 20-30 M 98 553 1.72 45+ M M 99 576 1.75 45+ M 100 578 1.75 19-25 M 101 584 3 F 102 586 10or11 103 587 8 104 591 7 105 592 1.66 52-59 F 106 626.1 1.63 18-20 F F 106 626.2 1.77 18 M M 107 632 5 M 108 679 F 109 683.1 F 109 683.2 35-45 F F 110 687.1 1.51 25 F F 110 687.2 1.63 25-29 F F 111 688 1.65 45+ M M 112 719.1 1.77 25-35 M 112 719.2 7to12 112 719.3 113 725.1 25-35 F 113 725.2 M 114 726 1.63 17-25 F F

115 727 1.79 20-24 M M

MELBOURN BURIALS Grave Burial Height Age Range Skeletal Sex Sex by Grave Good 1013 1015 3.7-6.3 1019 1021 172.2 21-30 F 1399 1400 3.7-6.3 1181 1184 45-57 M 1194 1348 170.9 23-57 M 1412 1544 214 213 25-35 M 1310 1322 ?M 1309 1325 208 205 13 1163 1165 162.9 25-35 F 1144 1145 177.3 23-57 M 1369 1370 176.9 20-25 ?F 1385 1386 170.4 35-57 M 1291 1293 25-35 F 1385 1388 178.9 25-35 M 1303 1305 156.6 60-87 F 1050 1052 175.2 35-40 M 1046 1045 165.6 35-39 M 1029 1032 182.4 35-45 M M 1009 1012 183.4 25-46 M M 1306 1307 45+ 1288 1289 3to4 1205 1204 18.5-20 M 1222 1189 157.7 33-46 F 1219 1188 179.6 60-70 M 1222 1203 0 1172 1187 175.8 60+ M 1226 1224 7.5-12.5 1227 1229 159.4 19-25 F F 303 305 185.3 55-65 M 314 316 14-15 1122 1124 186.9 45-57 M 1119 1121 17-25

1166 1169 17-25 ?F 313 312 169.9 45+ M 1269 1271 25-30 F 1006 1008 169.6 23-30 M 1299 1301 30-35 ?F 1319 1321 17-25 1131 1132 25-35 F 1039 1041 60+ 1036 1038 45+ 1198 1199 162.4 F 1175 1176 45+ F 1033 1034 35-39 ?M 1026 1028 2.5-4.5 1407 1016 1017 15 1258 1259 21-25 F 1261 1263 155.9 17-25 ?F 1000 1002 187.7 45-66 M 1265 1267 168.4 17 F 1382 1384 178.3 30-44 M 1396 1398 45-87 F 1311 1312 185.9 35-57 M 1402 215 217 175.5 34-86 M

WESTFIELD FARM BURIALS Grave Burial Height Age Range Skeletal Sex Sex by Grave Good 1 51 10to12 F 2 45 161 15-17 ?F 3 28 14-16 4 36 5 66 170 ?M 6 63 177 M 7 60 169 F 8 32 166 F 9 57 10 25 173 F 11 38 165 F 12 54 169 M

13 48 170 ?M 14 39 31-35 M 15 42 M

TRUMPINGTON BURIALS Grave Burial Height Age Range Skeletal Sex Sex by Grave Good 1 3083 14-18 ?F F 2 3087 F 3 3123 4 3163 ?M

BLOODMOOR HILL BURIALS Grave Burial Height Age Range Skeletal Sex Sex by Grave Good 1 2 2304 ?M 3 1440 ?M 4 1520 ?F 5 2283 ?M 6 2388 7 2272 8 2269 ?F 9 2278 7to11 10 11 2302 F 12 2261 ?F F 13 14 2420 3.5-6.5 15 2428 16 17 18 9 20 21 22 2280 25-35 F 23 24 2260 25 2259 ?F 26

27 2549 28 3417 28 3419

Table 5. Selected grave goods from Edix Hill, Melbourn, Westfield Farm, Trumpington, and Bloodmoor Hill cemeteries.

EDIX HILL GRAVE GOODS Beads Beads Grave Comb Buckle Amb. Gl. Brooch Girdle Chatelaine Key Shield Spearhead 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 1 3 2 30 2 1 4 5 5 61 6 1 6 7 1 1 1 8 9 1 1 9 2 1 10 10 15 1 2 1 1? 3 11 12 1 1 2 13 1 13 1 35 1 3 1 2 14 1 5 7 15 9 4 16 17 18 18 18 1 1? 1 1 1 19 1 14 1 1 19 2 52 22 2 1

20 12 1 1 1 21 22 23 1 24 25 26 26 27 1 1 28 1 1 1 29 1 29 1 3 11 2 30 31 32 33 1 1 1 34 1 1 35 36 2 1? 1 37 1 38 24 1 1 38 39 2 2(3) 1 ? 40 41 42 1 43 43 44 45 46 1 1 1 47 1 47 1 1? 48 1 1 1 49 1 1 50 1 51 1 1 52 53 1 26 2

54 1 1 1 55 56 57 58 59 1? 60 2? 1 1 61 17 5 61 62 1 1 63 1 64 65 65 66 1 1 1 66 1? 72 1 2 1 67 68 1? 18 2 1 ? 69 1 1 1 70 1 71 71 72 10 72 73 74 75 76 1 1 77 1 1 78 1 11 1 1 1 3 79 2 145 12 2 1 4 80 80 81 1 82 1 10 82 83 1 3 11 1 1 3 84 1 29 2 84

85 85 86 87 87 88 1 1 1 88 89 90 91 1 7 1 92 92 93 18 2 94 1 95 1 45 18 2 96 12 2 1 96 2 97 1 1 98 1 1 99 100 101 1 102 103 104 105 1 106 1 167 11 2 106 1 107 1 1 108 1 14 109 1 2 109 1 1 1 1 110 2 110 4 111 1 1 112 112 112 113

113 114 17 115 1 1

MELBOURN GRAVE GOODS Beads Beads Grave Comb Buckle Amb. Gl. Brooch Girdle Chatelaine Key Shield Spearhead 1013 1019 1 1399 1181 1194 1412 214 1310 1309 1 ? 208 1 1 1 ? 1163 1 10 1144 1 1369 1 1 2 1385 1 1291 3 1385 1303 1050 1046 1 1029 1 1009 1 1306 1 12 57 3 1288 1205 1 1 1222 1219 1 1222 1172 1 1226 2 1227 1 1 1 1 1 1 303 1 1 314

1122 1 1119 1166 313 1269 6 36 1006 1 1 1299 1 1319 1131 1 1 1039 1036 3 1198 1175 1033 1026 1407 1016 1258 1261 1000 1 1 1265 1 1 1382 1396 1 1311 1402 215

WESTFIELD FARM GRAVE GOODS Beads Beads Grave Comb Buckle Amb. Gl. Brooch Girdle Chatelaine Key Shield Spearhead 1 1 1 1 2 1 3 1 4 5 6 1 7 1 8 1 9 2

10 1 11 12 13 14 15

TRUMPINGTON GRAVE GOODS Beads Beads Grave Comb Buckle Amb. Gl. Brooch Girdle Chatelaine Key Shield Spearhead 1 1 4 1 2 2 3 1 4

BLOODMOOR HILL GRAVE GOODS Beads Beads Grave Comb Buckle Amb. Gl. Brooch Girdle Chatelaine Key Shield Spearhead 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 2 1 1 2 12 1 1 13 1 14 15 1 1 16 17 18 9 20 21 1 22 4

23 1 1 24 25 26 27 28 28