Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages Week Four Burial Ritual and Religion Tutor Dr Kirsten Jarrett University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education Lydney Glos Classical and RomanoCeltic Temples ID: 231603
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Slide1
From Civilisation To Barbarism? Western Britain in the Early Middle Ages
Week Four:Burial, Ritual, and Religion
Tutor: Dr Kirsten Jarrett
University of Oxford Department for Continuing Education Slide2
Lydney, Glos.
Classical and Romano-Celtic Temples CaerwentSlide3
Prehistoric monument re-use
Uley,
Glos. – re-use of Neolithic barrow for late Roman burial
Votive activity at
prehistoric barrowsSlide4
C4 Christianisation of the State Conversion of Constantine c. AD 312, Edict of Milan 313
Ban of pagan State religious sacrifices AD 341Order of closure for urban State temples AD 356Julian ‘the Apostate’: AD 362 religious tolerance (restoration of paganism)
Theodosius: end to toleration of paganism AD 380
Patrick: ‘...father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late
Potitus
, a priest, of the settlement of
Bannavem
Taburniae
...’ Slide5
C5
Phillack, Corn.
Cemetery C5-6
Inscribed stone: C6
Penmachno
,
Conwy
Chi-Rho
Symbols
Identifying Christian beliefs:
Chi-rho symbols & early crosses
Ceramic sherd,
Tintagel, c. AD 470-520
Lamp: Dinas
Emrys
,
late 5
th
– mid 6
th
century
Cross-inscribed stones: Irish / Welsh missionaries? Slide6
Henley Wood Temple Apostacy and Christianisation?
Final temple construction phase:Demolition and metalworking: AD 367 – before c.600Slide7
Bath: temple of ‘Sulis Minerva’C14: demolition c. AD 450-500
Aquae Sulis Slide8
Maiden Castle, Dorset: Temple to Shrine
Temple built after 367,
Floor replaced: use into C5? Slide9
Villa Churches?
Hinton-St-Mary, Dorset
Frampton, DorsetSlide10
Llandough: (N of St Dochdwy’s church)
No indication of continued villa occupation into C5Burials possibly begin late C4
Religious community: established by Dochdwy, c. 600?
(C9+) Annals of Ulster (re. 473):‘
Quies
Docci
episcopi
sancti
Britonum
abbatis
’
Book of
Llandaff
(C12, re. C7):
Clergy of (Sanctus)
Docguinnus
/
Docunnus
Villa siteSlide11
Romano-Celtic temple demolished c. AD 400
Timber basilica NE-SW with polygonal baptistery, > c. 402?Dismantled late 6-7 C &
Small stone structure built
late C5 - C6
earthwork with towers:
Vallum
monasterium
?
Grass-tempered
pottery from
site
West Hill,
Uley
: 5
th
century church?Slide12
DEB28. ...Constantine... in the habit of a holy abbot amid the sacred altars...34. [
Maglocune] ‘... thou didst ruminate on the Lord's ritual and the ordinances of the monks, and then publish to the world and vow thyself before God a monk with no intention to be unfaithful...’ Slide13
DEB:Burials, Graves, and Cemeteries
[commentary on the 5th century]‘There was no burial to be had except in the ruins of houses or the bellies of beasts and birds’ (ch. 24.4
)
[Like Baasha & Jeroboam] ‘…Descendants who die in the city shall be eaten by dogs, and their dead bodies shall be eaten on the plains by the birds of the sky’
(
ch
. 40.1
)Slide14
Late Roman Burial RitesTraditional ‘Pagan’ Practices
Inhumation and some cremationNS alignment, or alignment upon features or boundaries
‘Aberrant’ rites: prone & decapitationCrouched and flexed
Grave goods & costume: ceramics & animal bones, hob-nail boots, coins, jewelleryExtra-mural and domestic cemeteriesClustered & inter-cutting graves
Few small childrenSlide15
‘Romano-Christian’ practices?Gradual ‘Standardisation’ late C4+:Inhumation
Managed cemeteries: rows of non-intercutting gravesEW alignmentGrave linings: cists and stone slabs
Supine, extended Burial in shrouds, with few or no grave
goods (some possible finds within grave fills)Burial of babies & small children
Sectors of ‘Christian’ burials within cemeteries:
Christian communities?Slide16
Harlyn Bay,Nr.
PadstowFar West: some continuity of cemeteries
from pre- to post-Roman periodSlide17
Bath Gate, CirencesterExtra-mural
Cemetery > 400 Graves,Most late C4 – early C5Slide18
‘Pagan’ ritesPresumed C4 Bishop of Cirencester –
But burials provide no certain evidence for Christian CommunitiesSlide19
PoundburySlide20
Cannington, N. Som.
C2-C82000-5000 burials (523 excavated) C14: AD 220-440
C14: AD 620-1020Slide21
Exeter Basilica:demolished mid C5
2 graves C14: AD 420+/-70 AD 490+/-80
British monasteryPrecedes c. AD 670
Anglo-Saxon Minster?
Changing
Function
Of townsSlide22
Caerwent
Extra-mural burials: 136+, including C6-7> 100 intra-mural burials: C5-11C14: some C5-7 Slide23
Wroxeter12 burials, including crouched elderly man, in hypocaust – possibly next to a church within frigidarium
(building EW)Cut through building platform Adult male c. 26 -7 yearsNo grave goods
? AD 600-790 – after abandonment of town?Slide24
Villa burialsKingswestonSlide25
Winthill, Banwell, Som.Slide26
Frocester CourtGrave 1: male aged 50-55, head aligned NE, wearing hobnail boots
Grave 10: flexed inhumation male aged 30-40, died from cut legGrave 11: prone female, aged over 45 years
Grave 12: dug into the villa garden path; female aged c. 48, head aligned SESlide27
LlandoughGraves contained
Roman coinsLate Roman potteryC14 datesBurials toBefore mid C7 -
Includes burial dating AD 420-590 Slide28
Late 4th century+ rural burials Slide29
Henley WoodTemple precinct burials: AD 375-600
C14: AD 420-540, 415-535, 270-535 and 435-535
Temple
reuseSlide30
Lamyatt Beacon,
Som.Slide31
Brean Down, N. Som.
Oratory orShrine?
Temple demolished c. 390Slide32
Glastonbury TorEarly monastic or secular elite site?
2 disturbed graves: C6? Fragmentary remains - young person, or 2 young people, NS alignedAbbey: monastery probably C7 (Anglo-Saxon), though
possibly earlier monastic site Slide33
C5 Cremation burialsTregony, Corn.
?C5 Cremation: elderly woman; pits containing burnt grain
Tintagel Island: C14 AD 395-460Slide34
Tintagel Cemetery
St MaterianaGraveside fires (‘cena
’) – C14: c. AD 403 (250-530)
= use of timber c.500Slide35
Phase 1
N
Un-inscribed
granite stone
Probably C10-11+
SocketSlide36
CarnsewBoslow
Barrow burials and inscribed stonesSlide37
Kenn, Devon
Stoneage Barton,SomersetSlide38
Beacon Hill, Lundy, Devon
St Nechtan’s,
Hartland, Devon
Hut:C3-early C5
Enclosure:
late C6?
Inscribed
stones:
C5- 6 & C7