A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: Cosmography & Anglo-Saxon Ship Burials
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A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: Cosmography & Anglo-Saxon Ship Burials Jeremy Taylor & Mark Taylor VERSION 2 (2020) A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 1 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM CONTENTS Introduction PAGE 3 to 4 Introductory Concepts PAGE 5 to 14 Context PAGE 15 to 26 Funerary Rites PAGE 27 to 31 The Proposed Solstice Alignment PAGE 32 to 34 Design Principles PAGE 35 to 44 Sutton Hoo PAGE 45 to 55 Snape PAGE 56 to 60 Eastbridge PAGE 61 to 62 Secondary Sites PAGE 63 to 67 Tertiary Sites PAGE 68 to 70 Cosmology PAGE 71 to 79 Golden Gates PAGE 80 to 84 Theories PAGE 85 to 88 Bibliography & Thanks PAGE 89 to 105 A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 2 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM INTRODUCTION The period in Britain between 400 and 600 A.D. is referred to as the Dark Ages; this was because recorded history ceased following the departure of the Romans in 410 A.D. Even though this period spanned eight to ten generations, we barely know a handful of people from this era. Additionally, the written sources that we do have are from the minor fragments forming only two or three written sources [1]. Our modern day skyline is still peppered by the echoes and traces of our ancestors, through their use of temple worship on and in the landscape; however, the absence of any ‘official status’ through an accurate literary record means there is no ‘neat’ formalised account of to whom these temples were built to honour, or clarity behind these old belief systems. “Writing only came with the Church, and the conversion of the Old English had taken place before they were able to put down their ancient beliefs and myths” [2]. “In his parade helmet, friend or foe would recognize this King as a rightful heir of the God Woden” [3]. The above words greet members of the public, and indeed the authors of this paper, as they walk into the museum in Ipswich to view the meticulous life-size replicas of Raedwald’s famous helmet, sceptre and shield that were discovered at Sutton Hoo, from the Anglo-Saxon period some 1,400 years ago. This resonating message, coming from a continually looping television broadcast, only serves to remind us just how little we still know, yet simultaneously how far we have come as a culture. Feeling somewhat impotent, we were reminded that the realm of the human imagination was once considered as important as today’s rational mind [4]. Today’s technology and scientific advances prove ineffective in trying to find answers to the deeper questions about our past, beliefs, values and cultural identity. Anthropological studies have shown that the landscape for many non-Western cultures was alive with stories, myths and memories, all contributing to the identification of those individuals and societies who in turn constructed themselves, mindful of how they related to this wider cosmos [5]. It was consequently the case that we left the museum, the words from the audio reel on loop in our heads, feeling somewhat disconnected and bereft from being able to understand truly or resonate with our Anglo-Saxon past. We were left with the questions of how to answer or understand what others have pondered, namely in ‘Sutton Hoo and its Landscape: the Context of Monuments’, Williamson asks just why was the royal boat burial at Sutton Hoo, “found in this particular place… why was it here, rather than five, ten or more kilometres to the North, East or West?” [6]. The exact explanatory path of power that lay behind the associated supernatural, magical and religious beliefs of the Anglo-Saxons is largely absent, unlike the practices in Classical and Norse mythology. To date, Dark Age studies have been described as “the domain of the serious guess”, a “cat’s cradle of hypotheses” which “must in its nature breed speculation rather than provide assurance”. Despite decades of study, there clearly remains the need for “the creation of new hypotheses, in a sense the creation of new uncertainties” Campbell states in his ‘Sutton Hoo and Anglo-Saxon History’ [7]. Focusing primarily on locations in an area of Suffolk commonly referred to as the Sandlings, the authors of this work wish to elicit further uncertainties. We propose that the locations of the royal boat burials of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in England, 550-625 A.D. were at the sharp end of what would later infuse the planning of early Anglo-Saxon minster sites and their churches, namely “something akin to the geomantic notions of sacred sites as axes mundi” as “centres of a symbolic cosmos, which in other cultures have produced arcane rituals of survey, alignment, and preparation” [8]. They were part of a wider cosmography that enshrined a solar tradition linking the midsummer and midwinter solstices within the Milky Way, with the transformative god Woden in the surrounding georitual landscape. A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 3 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM Such relationships are strengthened when we consider: • The famous sceptre found at Sutton Hoo has been described as an emblem from a Celtic solar cult [9]. • The ancient solar symbol of the swastika features at the royal settlement at Rendlesham and in the grave goods at both the boat burials at Sutton Hoo and Snape (featured in this paper). • For 1,000 years prior to the Christian era, the Celts across Europe orientated their earthworks towards the sun [10]. • According to Norse mythology, Odin arranged the periods of daylight and darkness, placing the sun and moon in the heavens “and establishment of the solar path” [11,12]. • From a study in place names, evidently Woden was the chief Anglo-Saxon god with Woden / Odin associated with the rising sun [13]. • Odin’s horse has been linked with the world tree, the Milky Way, with its branches extending into the heavens through which he has passed [14]. The summer solstice rising sun and winter solstice setting sun symbolically mirror ideas of kingly rule, order, liminality, transformation, death and renewal. These elements, as we will explore, are enshrined in the mythic grave goods of Sutton Hoo, Snape and the surrounding territory. These ideas should not come as a total surprise when we consider that the main Anglo-Saxon festivals took place at the Midsummer and Midwinter Solstices, [15] the primary symbols of the Bronze Age – sun disk, spear and sword - did not disappear from the North and were “still of primary importance in the culture of the late heathen period right up to the Viking Age” [16]. It is also well documented that the ancient cultures of this time seemed to centre on a shamanically inspired vision of life with the fabric of the cosmos understood in distinct realms. The Norse myths contain fragmentary elements indicating that Odin engaged in cosmogenic acts involving the sun and moon while presiding over the dead as they journeyed on the celestial river [17]. At the deepest level, “the journey’s mythic end is the sun… the shaman flies through the sun door” [18] and it is the solstices that act as a conduit in this process, against the horizon. The Milky Way is crossed by the path of the sun, the ecliptic, just twice a year at both the Summer and Winter Solstice; at each crossing point, a pair of zodiacal constellations ‘sit’ on either side of the Milky Way, acting as a ‘celestial gate’. While the father of English history Bede* had no desire to “give detailed instructions about the heathen sacred year… the power unleashed at the midsummer solstice must have been too strong and dangerous” [19] the constellations in the zodiac that “touches the Milky Way” was recorded by him in 725 A.D. [20], and it was believed through these celestial portals, the descent and ascent of souls occurred, a magico-religious tradition spanning thousands of years [21]. Evidence suggests that, over time, these two points in the path of ecliptic, where the Milky Way was crossed, became associated with Gemini and Scorpio “overwhelmingly the symbols of solstice duality,” involving birds and serpents, both highly prominent on the grave goods found at Sutton Hoo [22]. The medium of boat burials combined mythical funerary theatre with the cosmology of traversing the underworld via the Milky Way. Understanding how our Dark Age ancestors may have related to such auspicious transformational moments in time, centring on the movements of the sun, which we will now turn to. Footnote: *An English monk (673 – 735 A.D.) Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede was also an author and scholar often referred to as the father of English history. A RITUAL LANDSCAPE CONSIDERED: V2 (2020) 4 WWW.ARCANELANDSCAPE.COM INTRODUCTORY CONCEPTS “King Henry went over the sea at Lammas; on the second day that he lay asleep in the ship, the day darkened over all the land, the Sun became like a three-day-old Moon, and there were stars around it at midday. Men wondered greatly, and dreaded, and said that a great thing should come thereafter; so it did for that same year the king was dead, the second day after St. Andrew’s Day. Then the land was waste, for every man plundered it over who might.” Anglo-Saxon Chronicle 1133 A.D. [1] When we try to appreciate that sense of ‘awe’ and foreboding described above, we do so knowing that we can land a rover on the surface of Mars. Consequently, our baseline for awe has somewhat shifted. Understanding the power that the natural world and its wonders, the case above involved a total solar eclipse that lasted 4 minutes and 38 seconds, would have held over you if you were alive in Anglo-Saxon England at the time requires a monumental paradigm shift.