Charcoal burial in early medieval England
Until relatively recently, archaeologists and historians have tended to ignore the burial practice of the late Anglo-Saxon period (<i>c</i>. AD 800-1100) in favour of other aspects of the archaeology of this period, or of the burial practice of earlier periods, assuming that burial in this period is uniform and well-understood. In fact, the late Anglo-Saxon period shows a great deal of diversity in burial practice. One of these diverse forms of burial is so-called âcharcoal burialâ, in which the body or coffin is laid on or under a layer of wood charcoal. This thesis examines the possible symbolic associations of charcoal burial, as well as how those associations might have been used to convey issues of status, identity, group membership or religious belief. Data presented includes the historical context of sites with charcoal burials, as well as their chronology, distribution and demographic characteristics. The manufacture and use of charcoal in the late Anglo-Saxon period is also studied, as are examples of similar burial rites from outside England. In addition to archaeological data, textual sources provide information on the symbolic context in which this burial rite occurred, suggesting that charcoal
Holloway, James Edward
Charcoal burial in early medieval England. Until relatively recently, archaeologists and historians have tended to ignore the burial practice of the late Anglo-Saxon period (<i>c</i>. AD 800-1100) in favour of other aspects of the archaeology of this period, or of the burial practice of earlier periods, assuming that burial in this period is uniform and well-understood. In fact, the late Anglo-Saxon period shows a great deal of diversity in burial practice. One of these diverse forms of burial is so-called âcharcoal burialâ, in which the body or coffin is laid on or under a layer of wood charcoal. This thesis examines the possible symbolic associations of charcoal burial, as well as how those associations might have been used to convey issues of status, identity, group membership or religious belief. Data presented includes the historical context of sites with charcoal burials, as well as their chronology, distribution and demographic characteristics. The manufacture and use of charcoal in the late Anglo-Saxon period is also studied, as are examples of similar burial rites from outside England. In addition to archaeological data, textual sources provide information on the symbolic context in which this burial rite occurred, suggesting that charcoal
charcoal burial early_medieval england relatively_recently archaeologist historian tend ignore burial_practice late_anglo saxon_period favour aspect archaeology period burial_practice earlier_period assume burial period uniform well_understood fact late_anglo saxon_period show great_deal diversity burial_practice diverse form burial so_called charcoal burial body coffin lay layer wood charcoal examines possible symbolic association charcoal burial well association might use convey issue status identity group membership religious_belief data_present include historical_context site charcoal burial well chronology distribution demographic characteristic manufacture_use charcoal late_anglo saxon_period also study examples similar burial_rite outside england addition archaeological_data textual_source provide_information symbolic context burial_rite occur suggest charcoal