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Folk of the Avon Valley (4): Lady of the Ford

31/5/2024

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​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.


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Coronation

24/4/2023

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Special:    Anglo-Saxon Elements of the Coronation

PictureEdward the Confessor on the Bayeux Tapestry
The approaching coronation of King Charles III represents a chain of similar coronation or consecration rites of monarchs in Britain reaching back at least 1000 years. The precise origins of many of these rites have been lost to time. 
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Over all though, with the history of the English monarchy often presented as beginning with William the Conqueror's coronation on Christmas Day 1066 at Westminster Abbey, it's easy to imagine Britain's deeper history is not represented in the ceremony. In fact, although less obvious than later medieval elements, there are significant parts of the  coronation rite which reach back to, or attempt to reach out to (widest sense) Anglo-Saxon history. 
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The Garnet Code

19/4/2023

 
​​This article is part of a series about our increasing understanding of the meanings behind the designs of Anglo-Saxon art. For other chapters click here.

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​Secrets in the Stones: Decoding Anglo-Saxon Art. Part 4
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The Garnet Code

​Early Anglo-Saxon jewellery is renowned for its use of gold and garnet work. Until now, the significance of garnets as a material has not been thoroughly investigated. In this article, and a public lecture at Soulton Hall, Shropshire (delivered simultaneously with this article’s timed release) James D. Wenn draws together the geometry of the garnet crystal with the geometry within Anglo-Saxon art and architecture, signposting to the previous articles in this series. This is then coupled with later examples of this geometry, notably the Cosmati Pavement in Westminster Abbey, to link the philosophical meaning of this geometry to Plato’s book ‘Timaeus’, and both pre-Christian and Christian cosmology and theology.​



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Anglo-Saxon Temple Discovered

2/4/2023

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​This article is part of a series about our increasing understanding of the meanings behind the designs of Anglo-Saxon art. For other chapters click here.

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​Secrets in the Stones: Decoding Anglo-Saxon Art. Part 3
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Early Anglo-Saxon Temple Discovered
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A gold-and-garnet pommel from the Staffordshire Hoard, which once adorned the jewelled hilt of the sword of an early Anglo-Saxon prince or king, shows what appear to be vaults or arches beneath 'triangular pediments', hiding in the patterns of its garnets. 

Once dismissed as an imaginative vision of the architecture of Rome by a culture whose architecture was limited to wooden huts and halls, new analysis we present here supports a radically different interpretation: that the pommel is a precise representation of a sophisticated and uniquely 'Anglo-Saxon' building, made decades or even centuries before such structures were previously thought to exist. 
Could this sword mount provide the earliest glimpses of a lost Anglo-Saxon temple?


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