Death and Memory in Early Medieval BritainCambridge University Press, 2006 M08 31 How were the dead remembered in early medieval Britain? Originally published in 2006, this innovative study demonstrates how perceptions of the past and the dead, and hence social identities, were constructed through mortuary practices and commemoration between c. 400–1100 AD. Drawing on archaeological evidence from across Britain, including archaeological discoveries, Howard Williams presents a fresh interpretation of the significance of portable artefacts, the body, structures, monuments and landscapes in early medieval mortuary practices. He argues that materials and spaces were used in ritual performances that served as 'technologies of remembrance', practices that created shared 'social' memories intended to link past, present and future. Through the deployment of material culture, early medieval societies were therefore selectively remembering and forgetting their ancestors and their history. Throwing light on an important aspect of medieval society, this book is essential reading for archaeologists and historians with an interest in the early medieval period. |
From inside the book
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Page 11
... of existing Christian cult sites at Repton. This included the reuse of a Mercian royal mausoleum and the overt display of cremation and mound-burial at Ingleby. Together, these were alternative ways of Death, memory and material culture 11.
... of existing Christian cult sites at Repton. This included the reuse of a Mercian royal mausoleum and the overt display of cremation and mound-burial at Ingleby. Together, these were alternative ways of Death, memory and material culture 11.
Page 13
... display in relation to the body (Br ̈uck 2004; Jones 2001a and b; 2002; 2003; 2004). The complex roles of portable artefacts in social remembrance are, however, only beginning to be addressed in archaeological research (Lillios 1999) ...
... display in relation to the body (Br ̈uck 2004; Jones 2001a and b; 2002; 2003; 2004). The complex roles of portable artefacts in social remembrance are, however, only beginning to be addressed in archaeological research (Lillios 1999) ...
Page 15
... display and exchange. What is lacking from this research is a clear attempt to draw upon the rich range of literary and historical evidence for mortuary practices and, more broadly, to see how death and the dying were perceived and to ...
... display and exchange. What is lacking from this research is a clear attempt to draw upon the rich range of literary and historical evidence for mortuary practices and, more broadly, to see how death and the dying were perceived and to ...
Page 18
... display and subsequent destruction of sculptures known as malanggan in the final phases of complex mortu- ary ceremonies that forms the centre - piece of mortuary ' forgetting ' ( Küchler 1988 ; 1999 ; 2002 ) . Therefore, Melanesian ...
... display and subsequent destruction of sculptures known as malanggan in the final phases of complex mortu- ary ceremonies that forms the centre - piece of mortuary ' forgetting ' ( Küchler 1988 ; 1999 ; 2002 ) . Therefore, Melanesian ...
Page 19
... display and destruction. In con- trast, ethnographies from Madagascar illustrate the roles of permanent monuments in the commemoration of ancestors in non-Western societies. Studies of the Merina and Zafinimiry of Madagascar by Maurice ...
... display and destruction. In con- trast, ethnographies from Madagascar illustrate the roles of permanent monuments in the commemoration of ancestors in non-Western societies. Studies of the Merina and Zafinimiry of Madagascar by Maurice ...
Contents
7 | |
Section 2 | 47 |
Section 3 | 53 |
Section 4 | 58 |
Section 5 | 63 |
Section 6 | 70 |
Section 7 | 71 |
Section 8 | 79 |
Section 9 | 92 |
Section 10 | 110 |
Section 11 | 145 |
Section 12 | 164 |
Section 13 | 179 |
Section 14 | 193 |
Section 15 | 203 |
Section 16 | 215 |
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Common terms and phrases
adult female ancestors archaeological archaeologists artefacts associated barrow Beowulf Berinsfield Boddington 1996 bone Bronze Age brooches burial mound burial rites cadaver cairn Carver chapter Christian cists coffin commemoration complex connected consider context corpse cremation Cwichelm dead deceased discussed display early Anglo-Saxon early medieval Britain early medieval burial early medieval cemeteries early medieval graves early medieval mortuary early medieval period elements evidence excavations Filmer-Sankey & Pestell focus focusing funeral funerary furnished burial grave structures Halsall Harford Farm Härke identified identity individuals inhumation instances interred landscape long-cist Lundin Links Martin Carver material culture medieval Britain mnemonic monuments mourners objects past placed Plas Gogerddan portable artefacts posture prehistoric pyre Raunds Raunds Furnells redrawn by Séan remembering and forgetting reuse ritual role Saxon Séan Goddard sequence served settlements seventh seventh-century significance sixth centuries Snape social memory suggests Sutton Hoo Swallowcliffe symbol stones Taplow Court theme transformation weapons
Popular passages
Page 1 - Had they made as good provision for their names, as they have done for their relics, they had not so grossly erred in the art of perpetuation. But to subsist in bones, and be but pyramidally extant, is a fallacy in duration. Vain ashes which in the oblivion of names, persons, times, and sexes, have found unto themselves a fruitless continuation, and only arise unto late posterity, as emblems of mortal vanities, antidotes against pride, vain-glory, and madding vices.
Page 1 - ... and teeth, with fresh impressions of their combustion, besides the extraneous substances, like pieces of small boxes, or combs handsomely wrought, handles of small brass instruments, brazen nippers, and in one some kind of opal. Near the same plot of ground, for about six yards...