Bowls, Bobbins and Bones: Resolving the human remains crisis in British archaeology, a response

In 2010 and 2011 a series of articles appeared in British Archaeology describing a crisis surrounding the archaeological investigation of human remains. Behind these articles was a campaign to change the licensing conditions issued by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) for the excavation of human remains. The campaign was covered in local, national and international media and resulted in questions in parliament and letters from select committees addressed to the MoJ. It was chiefly orchestrated by three archaeologists, Mike Parker Pearson, Mike Pitts and Duncan Sayer, but hundreds of others offered their support and time, and many individuals and organisations wrote directly to the minister to explain their dissatisfaction with the situation as it existed. The political, professional and media pressure, alongside the advice of several individuals in a closed meeting organised by the MoJ, resulted in a 'more flexible' interpretation of the licensing conditions from 2011 and a rewriting of the application procedure for permission to excavate. In 'Resolving the Human Remains Crisis in British Archaeology' Mike Parker Pearson, Tim Schadla-Hall and Gabe Moshenska explain the background and the major events of the 2010-11 campaign and consider the situation within the context of two subtle but perceivable juxtapositions – law vs. practice and science vs. religion

Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries

Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are well-known because of their rich grave goods, but this wealth can obscure their importance as local phenomena and the product of pluralistic multi-generational communities. This book explores over one hundred early Anglo-Saxon and some Merovingian cemeteries and aims to understand them using a multi-dimensional methodology. The performance of mortuary drama was a physical communication and so needed syntax and semantics. This local knowledge was used to negotiate the arrangement of cemetery spaces and to construct the stories that were told within them. For some families the emphasis of a mortuary ritual was on reinforcing and reproducing family narratives, but this was only one technique used to arrange cemetery space. This book offers an alternative way to explore the horizontal organisation of cemeteries from a holistic perspective. Each chapter builds on the last, using visual aesthetics, leitmotifs, spatial statistics, grave orientation, density of burial, mortuary ritual, grave goods, grave robbing, barrows, integral structures, skeletal trauma, stature, gender and age to build a detailed picture of complex mortuary spaces. This approach places community at the forefront of interpretation because people used and reused cemetery spaces and these people chose to emphasise different characteristics of the deceased because of their own attitudes, lifeways and lived experiences. This book will appeal to scholars of Anglo-Saxon studies and will also be of value to archaeologists interested in mortuary spaces, communities and social differentiation because it proposes a way to move beyond grave goods in the discussion of complex social identities

Reconsidering obstetric death and female fertility in Anglo-Saxon England

Little has been written about female fertility and maternal mortality from an archaeological perspective. Typically debates focus on the physical aspects of childbirth, ignoring an obvious truth: the biggest single cause of death for women was childbirth. Whether death took place as a result of mechanical malpresentation, infection or blood loss, the root cause was undeniable. In this article we argue that post-mortem extrusion is improbable and that young infants and women found buried together are likely to have died together. However, most deaths would not have been simultaneous and so we build on demographic data to conclude that the early Anglo-Saxons engaged institutions which controlled female sexuality. Late marriage, cultural and legal taboos and an emphasis on mature fertility acted to limit the probability of death; however, the risk to the individual was real and each funerary party was the agent that constructed death ways to manage loss

Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries: Kinship, Community and Identity

Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are known for their grave goods, but this abundance obscures their interest as the creations of pluralistic, multi-generational communities. This book explores over one hundred early Anglo-Saxon and Merovingian cemeteries, using a multi-dimensional methodology to move beyond artefacts. It offers an alternative way to explore the horizontal organisation of cemeteries from a holistically focused perspective. The physical communication of digging a grave and laying out a body was used to negotiate the arrangement of a cemetery and to construct family and community stories. This approach foregrounds community, because people used and reused cemetery spaces to emphasise different characteristics of the deceased, based on their own attitudes, lifeways and live experiences. This book will appeal to scholars of Anglo-Saxon studies and will be of value to archaeologists interested in mortuary spaces, communities and social archaeology

Digging the dead in a digital media age

Archaeology commonly assumes it has the general public’s support. As a field of study archaeology enjoys a high public profile and in its many shapes - metal detecting, museums and public excavation - people can participate should they choose to. This chapter will examine public perceptions of one recently contentious area, the excavation of human remains, by analyzing internet posts responding to news stories initiated, in all but one case, by archaeologists. By examining social media posts, we will analyze both positive and negative attitudes towards archaeology and its treatment of the ancient and historical dead. In doing this we hope to contribute to developing a more reflexive understanding of social attitudes towards death, archaeology and the exclusivity of heritage studies. Our conclusion is that there is no one ‘public opinion’ of burial archaeology; rather, expressed opinions depend on the specific excavation or exhibition, how the media report it, and various contextual factors; this means that archaeologists will benefit by taking a lead in framing media coverage of how they work with the dead

The Anglo-Saxon migration and the formation of the Early English gene pool

The history of the British Isles and Ireland is characterized by multiple periods of major cultural change, including the influential transformation after the end of Roman rule, which precipitated shifts in language, settlement patterns and material culture1. The extent to which migration from continental Europe mediated these transitions is a matter of long-standing debate [2,3,4]. Here we study genome-wide ancient DNA from 460 medieval northwestern Europeans—including 278 individuals from England—alongside archaeological data, to infer contemporary population dynamics. We identify a substantial increase of continental northern European ancestry in early medieval England, which is closely related to the early medieval and present-day inhabitants of Germany and Denmark, implying large-scale substantial migration across the North Sea into Britain during the Early Middle Ages. As a result, the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone, albeit with substantial regional variation and heterogeneity within sites. We show that women with immigrant ancestry were more often furnished with grave goods than women with local ancestry, whereas men with weapons were as likely not to be of immigrant ancestry. A comparison with present-day Britain indicates that subsequent demographic events reduced the fraction of continental northern European ancestry while introducing further ancestry components into the English gene pool, including substantial southwestern European ancestry most closely related to that seen in Iron Age France [5,6]

Women’s agency in living apart together: constraint, strategy and vulnerability

Recent research suggests that women can use living apart together (LAT) for a reflexive and strategic undoing of the gendered norms of cohabitation. In this article we examine this assertion empirically, using a representative survey from Britain in 2011 and follow-up interviews. First, we find little gender differentiation in practices, expectations, or attitudes about LAT, or reasons for LAT. This does not fit in with ideas of undoing gender. Secondly, in examining how women talk about LAT in relation to gender, we distinguish three groups of ‘constrained’, ‘strategic’ and ‘vulnerable’ female interviewees. All valued the extra space and time that LAT could bring, many welcomed some release from traditional divisions of labour, and some were glad to escape unpleasant situations created by partnership with men. However, for the constrained and vulnerable groups LAT was second best, and any relaxation of gendered norms was seen as incidental and inconsequential to their major aim, or ideal, of the ‘proper family’ with cohabitation and marriage. Rather, their agency in achieving this was limited by more powerful agents, or was a reaction to perceived vulnerability. While the strategic group showed more purposeful behaviour in avoiding male authority, agency remained relational and bonded. Overall we find that women, at least in Britain, seldom use LAT to purposefully or reflexively undo gender. Equally, LAT sometimes involves a reaffirmation of gendered norms. LAT is a multi-faceted adaption to circumstances where new autonomies can at the same time incorporate old subordinations, and new arrangements can herald conventional family forms

Furthering the understanding of silicate-substitution in α-tricalcium phosphate : an X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance study

High-purity (SupT) and reagent-grade (ST), stoichiometric and silicate-containing α-tricalcium phosphate (α-TCP: ST0/SupT0 and Si-TCP x = 0.10: ST10/SupT10) were prepared by solid-state reaction based on the substitution mechanism Ca3(PO4)(2-x)(SiO4)x. Samples were determined to be phase pure by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Rietveld analysis performed on the XRD data confirmed inclusion of Si in the α-TCP structure as determined by increases in unit cell parameters; particularly marked increases in the b-axis and β-angle were observed. X-ray fluorescence (XRF) confirmed the presence of expected levels of Si in Si-TCP compositions as well as significant levels of impurities (Mg, Al and Fe) present in all ST samples; SupT samples showed both expected levels of Si and a high degree of purity. Phosphorus (31P) magic-angle-spinning solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS NMR) measurements revealed that the high-purity reagents used in the synthesis of SupT0 can resolve the 12 expected peaks in the 31P spectrum of α-TCP compared to the low-purity ST0 that showed significant spectral line broadening; line broadening was also observed with the inclusion of Si which is indicative of induced structural disorder. Silicon (29Si) MAS NMR was also performed on both Si-TCP samples which revealed Q0 species of Si with additional Si Q1/Q2 species that may indicate a potential charge-balancing mechanism involving the inclusion of disilicate groups; additional Q4 Si species were also observed, but only for ST10. Heating and cooling rates were briefly investigated by 31P MAS NMR which showed no significant line broadening other than that associated with the emergence of β-TCP which was only realised with the reagent-grade sample ST0. This study provides an insight into the structural effects of Si-substitution in α-TCP and could provide a basis for understanding how substitution affects the physicochemical properties of the material

‘Sons of athelings given to the earth’: Infant Mortality within Anglo-Saxon Mortuary Geography

FOR 20 OR MORE YEARS early Anglo-Saxon archaeologists have believed children are underrepresented in the cemetery evidence. They conclude that excavation misses small bones, that previous attitudes to reporting overlook the very young, or that infants and children were buried elsewhere. This is all well and good, but we must be careful of oversimplifying compound social and cultural responses to childhood and infant mortality. Previous approaches have offered methodological quandaries in the face of this under-representation. However, proportionally more infants were placed in large cemeteries and sometimes in specific zones. This trend is statistically significant and is therefore unlikely to result entirely from preservation or excavation problems. Early medieval cemeteries were part of regional mortuary geographies and provided places to stage events that promoted social cohesion across kinship systems extending over tribal territories. This paper argues that patterns in early Anglo-Saxon infant burial were the result of female mobility. Many women probably travelled locally to marry in a union which reinforced existing social networks. For an expectant mother, however, the safest place to give birth was with experience women in her maternal home. Infant identities were affected by personal and legal association with their mother’s parental kindred, so when an infant died in childbirth or months and years later, it was their mother’s identity which dictated burial location. As a result, cemeteries central to tribal identities became places to bury the sons and daughters of a regional tribal aristocracy

Does Fathers’ Involvement in Childcare and Housework Affect Couples’ Relationship Stability?

Objective Building on previous analysis conducted by Schober (2012), we explore how paternal involvement in different childcare and housework tasks affects the probability of relationship breakdown between parents. Methods We use logistic regression on the U.K. Millennium Cohort Study to predict parental relationship breakdown from nine months to seven years post‐childbirth. Paternal involvement in four childcare and three housework tasks during the first year of parenthood, are used as explanatory variables. Results The amount of time the father spends alone, caring for the baby during the first year of parenthood, is associated with the stability of the parental relationship but the effect of involvement in other tasks is moderated by ethnicity and the mother's employment status. Conclusion These nonlinear relationships suggest further research is needed to explore the different associations between paternal involvement in childcare and housework and relationship breakdown, which are complex and variable according to different characteristics