Traditionally the study of early medieval burial practices in England has focused on the furnished burials of the early Anglo-Saxon period with those of the later centuries perceived as uniform and therefore uninteresting. The last decade has seen the publication of many important cemeteries and synthetic works demonstrating that such a simplistic view of later Anglo-Saxon burial is no longer tenable. The reality is rather more complex, with social and political perspectives influencing both the location and mode of burial in this period. This edited volume is the first that brings together papers by leading researchers in the field and illustrates the diversity of approaches being used to study the burials of this period. The overarching theme of the book is differential treatment in death, which is examined at the site-specific, settlement, regional and national level. More specifically, the symbolism of conversion-period grave good deposition, the impact of the church, and aspects of identity, burial diversity and biocultural approaches to cemetery analysis are discussed.

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Contributors
• Introduction
• 1: Cemetery Diversity in the Mid to Late Anglo-Saxon Period in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire
• 2: Engendered Bodies and Objects of Memory in Final Phase Graves
• 3: Burial Practice in Seventh-Century Hampshire: St Mary’s Stadium in Context
• 4: “Such a resting-place as is necessary for us in God’s sight and fitting in the eyes of the world”: Saxon Southampton and the Development of Churchyard Burial
• 5: An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Worcester Cathedral
• 6: Material Symbolism and Death: Charcoal Burial in Later Anglo-Saxon England
• 7: Differentiation in the Later Anglo-Saxon Burial Ritual on the Basis of Mental or Physical Impairment: a Documentary Perspective
• 8: Burying the Socially and Physically Distinctive in Later Anglo-Saxon England
• 9: The Bowl Hole Burial Ground: A Late Anglian Cemetery in Northumberland
• 10: Investigating Social Status Using Evidence of Biological Status: A Case Study from Raunds Furnells