​Though widely regarded as poor in early Anglo-Saxon (5-7th century) burial archaeology, the West Midlands is home to some spectacularly furnished burials, most of which, excavated prior to modern archaeology and with finds not on public display, remain obscure even to specialists. During this series we have explored a particular zone -- the Warwickshire Avon Valley — which is unusually rich in cemetery archaeology, representing an 'Anglo-British' community at a crossroads between different cultural zones, and living at a time when, in surrounding kingdoms, early medieval kingdoms were beginning to form.  

Previous chapters have explored the archaeology of the particularly fascinating and well-studied cemetery at Wasperton, which was in continuous use by the local community from the late Roman period until the 7th century, and presented two costumed reconstructions based on particular graves; of a high status mid 6th century woman buried with elaborate brooches and textiles (grave 24; "The Woman from Wasperton") and an early 6th century man buried with a limited set of grave-goods including some typical pieces of warrior-gear (grave 91; "Wasperton 'Warrior'"). Compensating for limited survival by drawing on inferences from wider early Anglo-Saxon archaeology, better preserved items of clothing from adjacent periods and cultures, and iconography, these reconstructions provide the opportunity to come 'face-to-face' with individuals who lived in this region over 1400 years ago, and also provide the opportunity to see better preserved finds from these graves presented functioning and in context. These reconstructions have heavily relied upon insights from the thorough modern archaeological analysis of the cemetery of Wasperton, but other cemeteries along the Avon excavated in earlier times -- some yielding far more spectacular finds -- are much less well understood, having been haphazardly excavated and poorly recorded. 

We began this series by revisiting the fascinating site of Bidford-on-Avon; the historically most important crossing of the navigable river Avon, traversed by a Roman road linking the Fosse Way to the south, Watling Street and what would become the Mercian core of the Trent Valley to the north, this 'productive site' (Richards & Naylor, 2010) was perhaps a nexus for trade in the region in late antiquity and supported a prosperous and well-connected community, represented by a large cemetery of cremations and furnished burials on the north bank. This is the largest such cemetery in the region (Tompkins, 2019) but has suffered from piecemeal excavation and patchy reporting, beginning in the early 1920s, resulting in a hitherto incomplete understanding of the site, its national significance, and under-appreciation of the finds, many of which have never been placed on public display and remain obscure even to specialists.

​In 2014 we attempted to raise the profile of this cemetery by re-creating the then-obscure but quite remarkable decorated early 6th century shield from Bidford grave 182, the remains of which are now displayed at the Ad Gefrin centre in Wooler, Northumberland, and have worked with custodians of the 1920s finds from Bidford -- the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust — to make sense of some of the other finds. In the first instalment of this series (here) we discussed the Bidford-on-Avon cemetery and (due to improper record-keeping during the 1920s excavations) the tricky detective-work required to reconstruct the contents of one particular burial; grave 88. 

As the finale of this series, here we present a costume reconstruction of the lady from Bidford-on-Avon grave 88 based on this research, incorporating replicas of her accoutrements presented in context, and drawing on insights from related burials at Wasperton. The results of this project by team member Julia Ward, with contributions by Æd Thompson, early medieval jewellery specialist Andrew Mason, were (together with the previous two reconstructions) unveiled as part of a special event at Sutton Hoo in summer 2023.

In previous chapters we began an exploration of the archaeology representing an early ‘Anglo-Saxon’ or perhaps more accurately ‘Anglo-British’ community which lived along the Warwickshire & Worcestershire Avon valley in the 5-7th centuries, in a chain of settlements along a westward flowing river in an area – the West Midlands – generally regarded as the western frontier of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ activity. This community provides perhaps the perfect case-study for getting to grips with the complexities of late antiquity in Britain, with themes of both continuity and change, and the interplay and transformation of identities after Roman withdrawal, leading ultimately to the emergence of coherent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

In part 2 (here) we explored the cemetery at Wasperton – a rare case of a community cemetery in continuous use from the Roman to early medieval period – and presented a costume reconstruction based on one 6th century woman’s burial, with a particularly diverse array of jewellery and textiles which provide a compelling image of the interaction of different influences and fashions adopted by the folk who lived here at a ‘crossroads’ between cultures.

Although there are many early medieval cemeteries in this zone – some exhibiting a proportionally more impressive array of grave-goods – Wasperton is one of very few to have been excavated relatively recently and subject to modern analysis. Unlike with other cemeteries in the valley (many excavated in the early 20th century) the work at Wasperton sheds light on phases of burial tradition, bioarchaeology, and the invaluable insights into textiles and costume locked within the mineralised remains on the backs of metal items – the ‘mud’ which, in the earlier days of cemetery excavation would’ve been ignored and scrubbed away. Our choice of a high-status woman’s burial as a case-study is partly justified by the fact that it is these burials, with their impressive copper-alloy jewellery on which textile remains can be preserved, which provide the richest seam of information for costume more broadly. Lower-status burials, or burials from phases in which such elaborate grave-goods were not included, unfortunately yield little to no information with which costumes can be reconstructed, and it is for this reason that costume presentations skew towards high status, and towards phases with well-furnished burials.

Information concerning mens costume is also proportionally scarcer within these cemeteries, with mens dress including fewer metal items on which textiles can be preserved (Walton-Rogers, 2007). Setting aside the famous but highly atypical princely burials of the late 6th to 7th centuries, masculine grave-goods assemblages from furnished burials within cemeteries tend to have (and to some extent are defined by) an absence of anything which could be described as jewellery: the only common metal dress-item being a buckle at the waist, which even in putatively ‘high status’ / well-furnished burials can often be small, utilitarian and plain. The extremely limited textile remains tend to come from these buckles, only found at the waist, providing little evidence directly representing the form and construction of garments without reference to more complete examples of clothing from adjacent periods and cultures. Well-furnished male burials instead tend to stand out through the inclusion of non-costume-related objects – particularly weapons and shields – though represented primarily by degraded iron remains, these still typically appear superficially less impressive than the equivalent feminine assemblages. The true impressiveness of such items can only be revealed through deeper analysis (particularly via radiography and metallography) and visualised by reconstruction.
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Complimenting the costume reconstruction already presented based on Wasperton G24, here we present the results of team member Marc Smith’s project to represent another of the 242 burials from the same cemetery: grave 91. 

In the previous chapter we briefly introduced the early ‘Anglo-Saxon’, or perhaps more accurately ‘Anglo-British’ community which lived along the Warwickshire & Worcestershire Avon valley in the 5th-7th centuries, represented by a chain of settlement sites and cemeteries along this westward-flowing river in an area – the West Midlands – which has generally been regarded as the western frontier of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ activity. We discussed how the situation of this community makes them an ideal case-study for getting to grips with the complexities of late antiquity – of continuity and change, the arrival of new people and new fashions, and how identity formed and transformed in lowland Britain in the period between the Roman withdrawal and the emergence of coherent Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.  

Whereas overarching narratives of this period are so often dominated by the archaeology of the south and east coast, it is perhaps these inland places at the crossroads between kingdoms (Tompkins, 2017) where we might get a better glimpse of the themes and processes affecting lowland Britain as a whole. However, with many of its sites excavated prior to modern archaeology, and with their finds not displayed, this region is hugely overlooked, and barely features in public-facing discourse about the Anglo-Saxon period or the processes which led to the formation of the kingdom of England. To address this, we embarked on a three-year project to reconstruct an image of three individuals from this community-chain, based on remains from specific burials and to raise awareness of the archaeology of this region.

​Many cemeteries in this region with fascinating finds were excavated prior to modern archaeology considerably challenging efforts to reconstruct burial assemblages (a problem we have discussed previously and will return to in a later chapter discussing the reconstruction of an assemblage from Bidford-on-Avon) but one cemetery in particular was meticulously excavated in the mid 1980s by some of the UK’s leading early medieval specialists, and after a lengthy delay its archaeology was analysed and finally published in 2009. The themes which emerged from the analysis of the ‘Roman, British and Anglo-Saxon Community’ cemetery at Wasperton challenged many of the existing assumptions and entrenched debates about the arrival of the ’Anglo-Saxons’, changing burial practices, expression of identity, and the emergence of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ kingdoms (Carver et. al., 2009) in ways that have perhaps still not fully had chance to work through.

The archaeology here was, for an early medieval cemetery, almost uniquely long-lived and continuous, diverse, and did not fit with any particular simplistic model of settlement or change. Argued to ‘raise more questions than it answers’ the cemetery at Wasperton represents a local community, in the heart of what is now England – always diverse, highly networked with other regions, continually renegotiating its identity, and adapting or responding to outside change.  

​Seeking to raise awareness of this fascinating archaeology, here we present and discuss work led by Thegns of Mercia member and historic costume expert Lindsey Catlin to reconstruct the appearance of one individual from this late antique Anglo-British community based on remains from one of 242 burials in the Wasperton cemetery. 

Early Anglo-Saxon sword blades are increasingly recognised as magnificent works of historic smithcraft. Usually found in horrendous states of preservation, their artistry can be revealed through x-radiography and metallography, then brought to life by painstaking reconstruction by historic bladesmiths. Handling of such replicas in turn has led to commentary on the handling characteristics of these weapons, providing inferences about the early medieval battlefield. However while we can be confident about the length, width, approximate shape, and construction of such blades, critical data concerning thickness of blades is lacking, in turn casting doubt upon the weight, balance and handling of these weapons.  Precisely how thick - and therefore, heavy, were early Anglo-Saxon swords?