FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

What does burial evidence tell us about early Saxon society?

Within this essay I shall discuss the evidence of British society between AD 500 – 700. The aim is it

to investigate the historical evidence from this period then to cross-reference and analyse against the

archaeological burial evidence gathered in the recent century.

After the fall of Rome, Britain was left under siege to various ancestries both native and foreign.

The Saxons invaded Britain in AD 410 (Higham, N, 1992) most communities fell under the Anglo-

Saxon control but only occurred two centuries since the fall of Constantine III (Higham, N. 1992).

The Saxons brought with them their own culture, food, religion and way of life. Evidence of their

invasion comes from various historical sources, however there are problems with these sources as

they come from later sources outside Britain, there are not any 5th century writers from Britain.

One illustrator who writes earlier than AD 600 is Gildas, however details are very scarce. He

narrates about the migration of the Saxons without any dates, precise named geographical locations

(Campbell, J. 1982. 23).

Another illustrator is Bede who wrote the Historia Ecclesiastica (Colgrave and Mynors, 1969),

however Bede referenced Gildas quite a lot for this period. (Hills, C. 1999)

The main topics that the historical sources tell us about are kingdoms and rulers, churches and

politics. There is very little information about the social side of the Saxons, evidence of the social

side come from theories and hypothesises drawn from archaeological finds.

The Saxons dominated most the south and the east of Britain as they gradually migrated there

during the 5th and 7th centuries. Britain already had some Saxon settlers before the invasion in AD

410, as the Romans contracted them to aid them with British defences before the fall of Rome.

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

Religion

Christianity became a major part of British society during and after the Roman occupation as it was

introduced to Britain. Saxon religion was different to the Britain's at the time, as the Saxons were

Pagans. There is numerous evidence of Saxon paganism from burial sites in Britain; the majority of

earlier burials were cremations. Spong Hill, Norfolk, is one of the largest cremation cemetery

within Britain, where when excavated, it was discovered that over 2000 cremations and 56

inhumations (Hills, C. 1999). Many grave-goods were recovered from the sites along with clothed

bodies, or cremations, which tells us that this was a Pagan cemetery.

This belt buckle was recovered from an excavation in Finglesham, Kent. It is clearly a pagan Saxon

who was buried due to the symbol of the cult of Woden (Campbell, J. 1982).

Figure 1: A lid top, assumed to be from a cremation urn of the pagan period. The figure is 14.5cm high, is not paralleled and its significance is uncertain. (Campbell, J. 1982)

Figure 2: Gilt belt buckle found in grave 95 at Finglesham, Kent (Campbell, J. 1982)

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

Similar pagan burial discoveries were found in Sutton Hoo, East Anglia where various graves were

found with Pagan paraphernalia. In addition, some bodies were found in the grave mounds with

their hands bound together and had seemed to be either hanged or beheaded. This suggests that the

pagans within this area of Britain practised ritual human sacrifice (Robinson, D. 2009).

However, from burial sites we can also see the conversion of the Pagan kingdoms of Britain at the

time, to Christianity. Prittlewell, Essex, is a prime example of Saxon Christianity. The burial

chamber found was very typical Saxon, however, it contained various Christian artefacts, such as

gold leaf crosses found in the place where the head would have been.

The crosses are strong Christian symbols, however they are a unusual to find in Britain and not so

unusual in burials in Lombardic Italy (Hirst, S. 2004). This suggests a link between Italy and Britain

and strongly verifying Britain's Christianity.

Instead of being cremated of left within a burial chamber, the body was placed in a boxed coffin,

very similar to today's style of burial.

Prittlewell dates to about 600-650 AD, around a the same period, Bede's writings tells of Sabert and

his three pagan sons “to inherit his earthly kingdom” (Hirst, S. 2004). This explains how the grave

of Sabert seems quite pagan to on lookers but contains strong Christian symbols as his sons

Figure 3: Gold foil crosses (Museum of London. 2009)

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

obviously had to bury him. This small example of family indifferences seems to reflect Britain at

the time as 'true' Saxons rejected Christianity and some embraced it.

Class and social status

It is very clear to see the separation between the social classes by looking at the artefacts found

within the mound and how big the mound was. The style of burying the dead within mounds or

barrows goes back thousands of years within Britain. They built barrows to honour the noble men

who had died, and the size of the burial seemed to be directly proportional to how important they

were. Sutton Hoo is, again, another excellent example of this. At the Sutton Hoo burial site, an

extremely large ship, with a burial chamber inside was found with various valuable grave goods

including various gold buckles, gold and garnet fittings, bronze and silver bowls and a purse

containing Merovingian coins (Hills. C 1999). The people who buried the assumed King at this site

must have respected him greatly to move a ship, similar to the ones seen in the Bayeux tapestry,

approximately 8 miles in land (Paine, L. 2000. 169)

Figure 4: Artist interpretation by Alan Sorrell of the moving of the burial ship over to the grave (Evans, A. 1986).

Figure 5: A long boat similar to the one found in Sutton Hoo (Evans, A. 1986).

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

Another example of status reflected within burial is in Morning Thorpe. Greene , 1987, explains

that out of 365 inhumations and 9 cremations, only 4 were surrounded by a ditch and suggested it

was covered by some type of barrow.

From these sites, the grave goods that came from them is also a sign of higher status. For example

the cremation pots found in Spong Hill were grouped together, without their own space . Everyday

artefacts were discovered there, nothing very distinctive. This is a stark contrast to what was found

in the hoard at Sutton Hoo and Prittlewell, where the families of the deceased were willingly to part

with very elaborate treasures, such as gold rimmed drinking horns, silver platters , various other

valuable treasures and place it within the ground.

The stereotypical role of women in the past would have been to stay at home to cook, weave and

look after the children. Even though this was true of most women in Saxon society, some women

fought in battle and ruled over kingdoms. Women have been found in burials with warrior

attributes, such as in South Carlton, Lincolnshire. The remains of an Anglo Saxon woman, circa

500AD, was found along with artefacts of a knife and shield. Contrastingly, the woman who was

buried next to her was buried with the more traditional, vase and a bead necklace (Time Team,

2004).

Trade, skills and craft

All of the items that have been found in the burial mounds in Britain was made in Britain or

imported from other countries. The making of various artefacts shows us that Britain had a structure

of workshops of various different crafts like smithing, wood-working, glass blowing and tailoring.

These skills can be seen clearly in the large Archaeological finds such as Sutton Hoo and

Prittlewell.

The helmet at Sutton Hoo is a spectacular example of Saxon craft. The cap of the helmet was

formed from a size piece of iron. It is divided into decorative zones, each with detailed engraved

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

pattern or picture. It is made from bronze, iron, and tin (Evans, A. 1986. 46) which shows the

versatility of the metalsmith who created it, due to the use of different metals.

The sword found at Sutton Hoo was created with similar skill as it was richly furnished with a gold

and garnet pommel and gold guards. It was buried within a wooden hilt laced with wool and oil, to

keep the blade shiny (Evans, A. 1986. 42)

At Prittlewell, ornate gold-rimmed drinking horns were found. The type horn that was found seem

to suggest that it probably originated from Scandinavia (MoLAS. 2003)

Further than Scandinavia, a bronze Coptic bowl from Egypt was found within the Sutton Hoo

Figure 7: Reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo helmet (Sheshen Eceni. 2008)

Figure 6: Remains of the Sutton Hoo helmet (British Museum. 2009)

Figure 8: Gold rim of the Sutton Hoo drinking horn with ornate designs (MoLAS. 2003)

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

Burial, and also from Egypt, a amethyst necklace found in Faversham, Kent (Campbell, J. 1982).

These examples show that trade and commerce went beyond the Saxon homeland, and even beyond

modern Europe.

Culture and entertainment

The Saxons had a very lively culture that involved drinking, games, songs and literature. As I have

just mentioned, drinking horns were found at Prittlewell, which tells us that the person buried here

entertained a lot. Also due to the extravagance and the fact it was imported of the horn itself,

perhaps suggests that they used to entertain foreign aristocrats or leaders and it was a gift to the

person buried. Bone gaming pieces were found both at Sutton Hoo and Prittlewell (Evans, A. 1986.

Hirst, S. 2004) which again emphasises to us that the Saxons enjoyed entertainment and games.

Another item found at both places was a wooden lyre. The presence of a lyre at both places

emphasises the importance of it with Saxon society and their culture.

Lyres were used to musically accompany stories of heroes and myths, such as Beowulf. The

significance of the lyre within Saxon society can be seen also seen in historical records. In a

Figure 9: Remains of the Sutton Hoo lyre (The British Museum, 2009)

Figure 10: Reconstruction of Sutton Hoo lyre by Messrs. (Plunkett, S. J. 2004)

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

manuscript from the eight-century, it depicts King David sitting on a thrown playing a lyre.

Conclusion

From looking at the burial evidence from the early Saxon period, it is clear that they had an

enriched culture, remarkable workmanship skills, continental and foreign trade links, and strong

religious beliefs. Even so, conclusions from the evidence found in excavations can only be

speculated upon, unless backed up with historical sources. However, historical writings may not be

accurate due to biased accounts or due to interpretations of vague accounts. It is fair to say that we

shall never be exactly sure of what Saxon society was like, but we can get a clear picture of what it

was roughly like for a Saxon settler in Britain in the fifth to seventh centuries.

Figure 11: King David playing the lyre (Evans, A. 1986)

FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

Bibliography

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FZ1201 – Archaeology of Britain

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