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 3
... prehistoric pasts, others were to continue and develop into the later Middle Ages. This diversity and com- plexity make the study of early medieval death and burial of key importance in the history of death and society, and makes ...
... prehistoric pasts, others were to continue and develop into the later Middle Ages. This diversity and com- plexity make the study of early medieval death and burial of key importance in the history of death and society, and makes ...
Page 4
... prehistory. Many of these sites attracted early medieval interest and activity for both ritual and more prosaic reasons (Eaton 2000; Williams 1997). Among this rich body of archaeological data are burials, cemeteries and mortuary ...
... prehistory. Many of these sites attracted early medieval interest and activity for both ritual and more prosaic reasons (Eaton 2000; Williams 1997). Among this rich body of archaeological data are burials, cemeteries and mortuary ...
Page 9
... prehistoric contexts - have sought to escape from the polemic of either a purely ' social ' or an overtly ' symbolic ' approach , focussed neither solely on the material itself nor the meanings behind burial rites . Instead , a theme ...
... prehistoric contexts - have sought to escape from the polemic of either a purely ' social ' or an overtly ' symbolic ' approach , focussed neither solely on the material itself nor the meanings behind burial rites . Instead , a theme ...
Page 10
... prehistoric studies of burial data ( see Barrett 1994 ; Chapman 2000 ; Gillespie 2001 ) . However , it is also an issue to consider the agency of non - human agents in mortuary contexts , since , in many societies , death and the dead ...
... prehistoric studies of burial data ( see Barrett 1994 ; Chapman 2000 ; Gillespie 2001 ) . However , it is also an issue to consider the agency of non - human agents in mortuary contexts , since , in many societies , death and the dead ...
Page 22
... prehistory, James Whitley (2002) has strongly cautioned against an over- reliance on and conflation of all mortuary rituals and rituals surrounding monuments to the cult of ancestors. This argument is pertinent for the study of early ...
... prehistory, James Whitley (2002) has strongly cautioned against an over- reliance on and conflation of all mortuary rituals and rituals surrounding monuments to the cult of ancestors. This argument is pertinent for the study of early ...
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...