Old Bones Andy Earnshaw

In this episode, we discuss the evidence for Anglo-Saxon smiths, the people who created the artefacts at Sutton Hoo and other princely burials. To do this we analyse the Neolithic tomb called Wayland's Smithy and the legend associated with its namesake.

Buy T-Shirts

Join on Patreon (and access transcripts and sources)

Support the Substack

Sutton Hoo is the most spectacular archaeology discovery in British history. We explore what this tells us about the Anglo-Saxons' relationship to themselves, their neighbours and their past.

Help keep the show going:

Buy a t-shirt
Subscribe to our newsletter
Become a Patron

What was it like to be pagan and Christain the next?

In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand what the conversion of England must have felt like. We go beyond the historical story and explore the actual day to day "experience" of conversion.

Next episode: Sutton Hoo and the Performance of Kingship

Support the show at:

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bonesandstuff
Paypal: https://paypal.me/bonesandstuff?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB
KoFi: ko-fi.com/oldbones

***

Sources:

Taylor, Brian Hope. "Yeavering—an Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria." (1977).
An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede

Women in Bede:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZqWvPiCS1iGY6UJWEd21fhj5HM54IEoKb5NAGkf1Lac/edit?usp=sharing



***

Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
---
Join the community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldbonespodcast
---
Keep up to date on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldbones_podcast/
---
Andy's personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarnshawAJD
---
oldbones.co.uk

How do we go from the society we met last time, one that is primarily equal and poor to the medieval image of kings, men with wealth and power near unimaginable to the ordinary peasant.

In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand the social dynamics that resulted in kingliness.

Sources below.

Next episode: Yeavering & The Rise of Christianity

***

Sources:

Taylor, Brian Hope. "Yeavering—an Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria." (1977).


***

Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
---
Support me at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bonesandstuff
---
Join the community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldbonespodcast
---
Keep up to date on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldbones_podcast/
---
Andy's personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarnshawAJD
---
oldbones.co.uk

What was life like in the 400s and 500s CE? That question is not an easy one.

In this episode, we look at the funerary evidence for each stage of life during this period. We understand what identity was developed and how that was closely connected to what individuals did during life as well as the important cultural concerns at the time.

Sources below.

Next episode: Yeavering & Early Anglo-Saxon Elites

***

Sources:

Stoodley, N. (2000). From the cradle to the grave: age organization and the early Anglo-Saxon burial rite. World Archaeology, 38(3), 456-472.

Gowland, R. (2006). Ageing the past: examining age identity from funerary evidence. In R. Gowland & C. Knüsel (Eds.), Social archaeology of funerary remains (pp. 143-155). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

Lucy, S. (2020). Gender and gender roles. In H. Hamerow, D. A. Hinton, & S. Crawford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Squires, K. E. (2013). Piecing together identity: a social investigation of early Anglo-Saxon cremation practices. Archaeological Journal, 170, 154-200.

Martin, T. F. (2020). "Casting the Net Wider: Network Approaches to Artefact Variation in Post-Roman Europe." Journal of archaeological method and theory 27(4): 861-886.


***

Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
---
Support me at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bonesandstuff
---
Join the community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldbonespodcast
---
Keep up to date on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldbones_podcast/
---
Andy's personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarnshawAJD
---
oldbones.co.uk

All across the East of England, there are small cemeteries with completely new material culture. it looks like it's from North-West Europe and represents the arrival, so well documented, of the Anglo-Saxon people.

In this episode, we introduce the main debates about how and why the Anglo-Saxons started coming to England. It's a bit of a throwback to our Birdoswald episode, but with more theory, more detail and some new ideas from me!

Plus, there's a promise of bonus episodes for those that sign up to Patreon!

Sources below.

Next episode: The Life of an Anglo-Saxon

***

Sources:

Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Gildas' On The Ruin of Britain

Squires, K. E. (2016). Neighbours and networks: funerary trends among cremation practicing groups in early medieval England and north-western Europe. In I. Riddler, J. Soulat, & L. Keys (Eds.), The evidence of material culture: studies in honour of Professor Vera Evison (pp. 119-138). Autun: Editions Mergoil.

Hills, C., & Lucy, S. (2019). Spong Hill and the Anglo-Saxon migration to England. Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 9, 239-248.

Hills, C. (1998). Did the people of Spong Hill come from Schleswig-Holstein? In (Vol. 11, pp. 145-154).

***

Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
---
Support me at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bonesandstuff
---
Join the community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldbonespodcast
---
Keep up to date on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oldbones_podcast/
---
Andy's personal Twitter: https://twitter.com/EarnshawAJD
---
oldbones.co.uk