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A HIGH-STATUS SEVENTH-CENTURY FEMALE BURIAL FROM WEST HANNEY, OXFORDSHIRE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2015

Helena Hamerow ,
Anni Byard ,
Esther Cameron ,
Andreas Düring ,
Paula Levick ,
Nicholas Marquez-Grant  and
Andrew Shortland
Helena Hamerow
Affiliation:
Helena Hamerow, FSA, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK. Email: helena.hamerow@arch.ox.ac.uk
Anni Byard
Affiliation:
Anni Byard, Museums Resource Centre, Cotswold Dene, Standlake, Witney OX29 7QG, UK. Email: Anni.byard@oxfordshire.gov.uk
Esther Cameron
Affiliation:
Esther Cameron, FSA, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK. Email: esther.cameron@arch.ox.ac.uk
Andreas Düring
Affiliation:
Andreas Düring, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK. Email: andreas.duering@arch.ox.ac.uk
Paula Levick
Affiliation:
Paula Levick, Institute of Archaeology, 34–36 Beaumont Street, Oxford OX1 2PG, UK. Email: paula.levick@arch.ox.ac.uk
Nicholas Marquez-Grant
Affiliation:
Nicholas Marquez-Grant, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, Swindon SN6 8LA, UK. Email: n.marquezgrant@cranfield.ac.uk
Andrew Shortland
Affiliation:
Andrew Shortland, FSA, Cranfield Forensic Institute, Cranfield University, Defence Academy of the United Kingdom, Shrivenham, Swindon SN6 8LA, UK. Email: a.shortland@cranfield.ac.uk
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Abstract

In 2009, a metal-detector find of a rare garnet-inlaid composite disc brooch at West Hanney, Oxfordshire, led to the excavation of an apparently isolated female burial sited in a prominent position overlooking the Ock valley. The burial dates to the middle decades of the seventh century, a period of rapid socio-political development in the region, which formed the early heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. The de luxe brooch links the wearer to two other burials furnished with very similar brooches at Milton, some 10km to the east and only c 1km from the Anglo-Saxon great hall complex at Sutton Courtenay / Drayton, just south of Abingdon. All three women must have been members of the region’s politically dominant group, known as the Gewisse. The burial’s grave goods and setting add a new dimension to our understanding of the richly furnished female burials that are such a prominent feature of the funerary record of seventh-century England.

Résumé

En 2009, un rare exemple de fibule circulaire composite incrustée de grenats fut découvert au moyen d’un détecteur de métaux à West Hanney, dans l’Oxfordshire. Cette trouvaille a entraîné la fouille d’une sépulture féminine apparemment isolée, située un endroit proéminent donnant sur la vallée de l’Ock. La sépulture date des décennies du milieu du viie siècle, période d’expansion socio-politique rapide dans la région, qui forma au début le cœur du royaume anglo-saxon de Wessex. Cette fibule somptueuse relie sa propriétaire à deux autres sépultures qui recélaient des fibules très semblables et ont été découvertes à Milton, à environ 10km à l’est et à seulement 1km du « Great Hall » complex (Complexe de la grande salle) de Sutton Courtenay / Drayton, tout de suite au sud d’Abingdon. Ces trois femmes devaient être membres de la classe politique dominante de la région, les Gewissae. Le mobilier funéraire découvert dans la sépulture ainsi que son cadre apportent une dimension nouvelle à ce que nous savons sur les sépultures féminines richement garnies si caractéristiques des vestiges funéraires de l’Angleterre du viie siècle.

Zusammenfassung

Als im Jahr 2009 eine äußerst seltene, mit Granaten eingelegte Scheibenfibel aus Verbundstoff mit einem Metalldetektor in West Hanney, Oxfordshire, gefunden wurde, hatte dies die Ausgrabung einer scheinbar abgesonderten weiblichen Grabanlage in einer dominanten Lage über dem Ock-Tal zur Folge. Die Beisetzung geht auf die mittleren Jahrzehnte des siebten Jahrhunderts zurück, auf eine Zeit rapider gesellschaftspolitischer Entwicklungen in der Region, die das frühe Herzland des angelsächsischen Königreichs von Wessex bildete. Die luxuriöse Fibel stellt eine Beziehung der Trägerin zu zwei anderen Beisetzungen mit sehr ähnlichen Fibeln in Milton her, das rund 10km östlich davon und nur ca. 1km vom angelsächsischen Palaskomplex in Sutton Courtenay / Drayton, südlich von Abingdon liegt. Alle drei Frauen gehörten mit ziemlicher Gewissheit der politisch dominanten Gruppe in der Region, Gewisse genannt, an. Die Grabbeigaben in der Grabstätte und deren Lage verleihen unserem Verständnis von den reich ausgestatteten weiblichen Grabstätten, die für die Bestattungskultur Englands im siebten Jahrhundert ein so vorstehendes Merkmal sind, eine ganz neue Dimension.

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 95 , September 2015 , pp. 91 - 118
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London 2015 

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