A social and anthropological analysis of conversion period and later Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire.

The thesis will discuss the variety and types of cemeteries and burials used
during the late Anglo-Saxon period. The survey of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries
in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire will reveal that many early Anglo-Saxon burial
sites have been successfully identified archaeologically, but that relatively
few late Anglo-Saxon cemeteries have been identified or excavated. It will
show, contrary to previous interpretations, that many late Anglo-Saxon
cemeteries were not located under medieval cemeteries adjacent to extant
churches and will show that execution cemeteries dating to the late AngloSaxon
period and isolated barrow burials attributed to Scandinavian settlers
have been identified archaeologically. The present research will highlight
the importance of searching for late Anglo-Saxon burial sites in the large
numbers of undated burials recorded at Sites and Monuments Record offices
and in the relevant literature. It will present a series of identification criteria
for late Anglo-Saxon cemeteries and will reveal the results of a radiocarbon
dating project that successfully dated five previously undated burial sites to
the 7th to 11th centuries.
The thesis will highlight the range and variation of burial rites used during
the late Anglo-Saxon period, stressing that this was not, contrary to popular
perception, a period of egalitarian burial practice. Indeed, it will show that
high-status cemeteries contained a much wider variety of grave types and
grave variations than lower-status cemeteries, and will reveal that there was
more variation in the types and numbers of different funerary rites between
cemeteries of different status than between rural and urban cemeteries. The
thesis will stress the importance of comparing osteological and funerary
evidence when investigating cemeteries, and will show that late Anglo-Saxon
burial practice was not solely determined by the age or sex of the deceased.
However, it will show that individuals were increasingly likely to be buried
in more elaborate graves with increasing age, and will suggest that more
elaborate burial practices were used for social display. This differs from the
early Anglo-Saxon period, when sex and probably social status were
considered when choosing burial rites. This reveals a fundamental change in
the way in which social identity influenced the choice of burial practice
throughout the Anglo-Saxon period.