Exploitation In Anglo Saxon Burial
Decapitation in Anglo-Saxon Burials
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Execution Burial Tendencies 2
Physical Struggle 2
Location of Skull 4 Location of Burial……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Non Execution Decapitation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………6 Loveden Hill……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Great Addington………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Chadlington……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Mitcham…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Purpose of Decapitation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Introduction
Decapitation in Anglo-Saxon burials is mainly interpreted as an act of punishment for criminals or defeated foes of war. There are many indications that support this idea in certain burials, including severe blows to the skull, as well as signs along the neck that indicate death by hanging, which can be found in execution cemeteries such as Mound five at Sutton Hoo. Other instances include mass graves (such as the one of Vikings) which have all been decapitated and thrown together. On the other hand, there are also many examples that do not follow the typical …show more content…
protocol of an execution burial. It is difficult to imagine a different reason for decapitation other than execution, but based on the evidence, it is quite possible that specific cases could have been for other reasons such as tradition or ritual. Although the exact determination of decapitation other than execution are quite difficult to prove, due to frail bone remains and large number of possibilities, there is reason to believe that religious rituals, especially ones of pagan origins, might account for many of the isolated instances of disciplined beheading. Anglo-Saxon pagans did have a reputation of sacrificing for their Gods. Almost all proof is of animal sacrifice, but there have been some reports of human sacrifice by the pagans for religious purposes.i
In some instances it is believed that human sacrifice did take place for their war God Woden. Since there is much that is not known about paganism, it is possible that decapitation for purpose of human sacrifice did take place. Specific instances that demonstrate decapitation which might not have been for execution include Loveden Hill in Lincolnshire, where the skull was placed on the stomach of the deceased. Great Addington in Northamptonshire, Chadlington in Oxfordshire, and Mitcham in Survey. None of these examples demonstrate typical execution patterns, and each one of them have similarities between each other that might prove some form of tradition between Anglo-Saxon burials. The differences between executions and sacrifice are fairly difficult to determine.
Execution Burial Tendencies
Physical Struggle
Mound five of Sutton Hoo provides a straight forward example of a proven execution cemetery that will be used as a starting point to compare the decapitations for execution and ones that are not. Mound five is located in the eastern part of Sutton Hoo, next to Mound two. Seventeen bodies were found, which included inhumations as well as cremations.
Several bodies had discolored markings around the neckii which signified rope from a hanging. Others were missing limbs, or appeared to have their hands or feet tied together. Archeologists look for trauma to detect signs of struggle and punishment to determine the cause of death of the deceased. Some cases are much easier to identify than others, as quality of graves varies. The decapitations showed very little signs of discipline to tradition or respect to the deceased. Decapitated bodies were thrown together in distorted positions. But these facts do not rule out the possibility of sacrifice, as any of the mentioned facts are found similarly in execution burials as they are with sacrificial burials as well. The main difference found at Sutton Hoo that ends the possibility of mound five being a sacrificial cemetery is the lack of consistence and diversity of treatment of the bodies. As stated by Andrew Reynolds: “the great variety of treatments exhibited by the Sutton Hoo deviants arguably rules out their role in formulaic religious sacrifice, unless rites associated with different deities are represented, some of which we may no longer have any knowledge of.” It is much more likely that execution burials did not follow any kind of typical traditional laws as people who are sentenced to death do not receive respect anymore from their peers. Therefore, Execution graves might show different patterns and styles as bodies were buried simply to get rid of them. Whereas a sacrifice might still be rather disrespected and unappreciated, there are differences in evidence that show some sense of traditional way of burying sacrifices.
Therefore, even though it is important to look for physical struggle on the bodies as well as distorted positioning, the point that really separates executions from sacrifice is their lack of respect to following a strict formula for every executed body; differences are vast from one person to another. Reynolds goes on to explain how executions become easier to identify as Christian burial customs are well documented where execution burials match written laws or texts that have been written in the same era. Unfortunately, During Pagan times it is much more difficult to distinguish differences between execution, sacrifice, and suicide.
Location of Skull
Another important factor to consider, as stated by Reynolds, is the location of the head in the burial. Reynolds gives three possibilities. First, if the head missing from the grave entirely, it means the person in the grave was a “victim of judicial execution or battle”. Heads were sometimes staked and used to scare off outsiders and to demonstrate the power of their law. If the body was beheaded, but the head was then placed in its normal position, then it signifies the grave of a criminal. Sometimes the head was found on top of the shoulders as it should be, but was laid on its side and completely unattached. If the head is placed somewhere else in the grave, such as by the feet or the hip, it represents a non-execution burial, as it leaves the last possible outcome and suggests that whoever buried the deceased purposely placed the head outside of its normal spot for a reason.
Location of Burial
Another important factor to consider when trying to identify execution burials is their geographical locations. Execution cemeteries were known to have been set as boundary markers,iii meaning that if one knows his geographical surroundings, it may be easier to classify a type of cemetery if it is near a border. Also, it would make it rather rare that two different cemeteries with decapitations existed near each other, because if execution cemeteries were located near borders, it would mean that they were scattered all across the land and would not have been anywhere near each other. Therefore, if remote beheaded burials have been located fairly near each other, it would suggest that they do not follow the typical strategy of execution cemeteries and could have different purposes.
“…these so called execution cemeteries are identifiable on the basis of irregular burial, multiple graves, prone and careless disposal of the body, bound limb, and decapitation.”iv Jacqueline Stodnick and Renee Trilling describe execution burials of a later time during Christianity in which everything is much easier to identify compared to Pagan times. The similarities between all the observations of different authors are evident in their acknowledgement of “carelessness”, multiple graves and overall lack of effort and time put in to making a proper burial site.
Non-Execution Decapitation
Loveden Hill
The example at Loveden Hill in Lincolnshire described a body with the head on the stomach and a urn where the head would be.
v This burial doesn’t demonstrate the usual characteristics of an execution. The head is placed by the stomach, which means it was strategically placed in the grave, as well as the urn which was on the shoulders where the head should be. Whatever pagan tradition was being followed, it is quite clear that the set-up of the body was designed in a way for some sort of representation, possibly religious sacrifice. The position of the head is the main hint as to what the purpose of the decapitation might have
been.
Great Addington
Great Addington in Northamptonshire provides an example of bodies which have been decapitated and their heads have been replaced with stone. The interesting comparison between Loveden Hill and Great Addington is the fact that in place of the decapitated head lies a replacement ornament. The fact that two similar decapitation styles occurred in different cemeteries makes me more unlikely that they were execution burials. Another example of decapitation in Northamptonshire includes one in Nassington, where a woman was buried with the skull of a child by the arm. It is fair to conclude that the child was not beheaded for punishment, but was rather related to the woman. vi
Chadlington
Chadlington in Oxfordshire has cases of the head lying in between the legs.vii E.T. Leeds had excavated the site but did not find many good buried along with the bodies, which is common in decapitation graves. This might indicate that the decapitation tradition was more popular within the less wealthy communities. According to the Ashmolean Museum, the decapitated head by the legs signifies the person was beheaded shortly before or after death,viii which leaves the possibility that the decapitation was not the cause of death; eliminating the assumption that the beheading took place for punishment.
Mitcham
Mitcham at Surrey also had extra heads in certain graves whereas other graves were missing them. Just like in Chadlington, graves possessed two heads, which could also signify some sort of tradition or ritual among the poorer communities.
These four examples depict specific instances that differ greatly from the execution cemetery at Sutton Hoo, and strengthen the argument that not all decapitations are executions.
Purpose of Decapitation
It is much easier to prove that some decapitations are not necessarily executions, than it is to prove what exactly those non-executional decapitations might have been for. Most theories point towards sacrifice, and considering that the time period of the Pagans did prove to have some incidents of human sacrifice, it is plausible to conclude that some societies did in fact behead their dead for religious tradition. In some scenarios, if it wasn’t an entire community that was decapitating their dead, then it might have been isolated family traditions passed down to younger generations. This is more likely as there would have been more example of disciplined beheadings had it been the tradition of entire communities.
Meany and Sonia Chadwick Hawkes also have an idea of why pagans used to decapitate their deceased. They proclaimed that the decapitation occurred to halt the ghost of the dead body from walking. Reynolds goes on to elaborate that both those of execution and sacrifice might have been decapitated after death to stop the dead from haunting the living.ix If bodies were being decapitated post-mortem to stop the spirit from exiting the body, then anyone who died unnaturally could have potentially been decapitated.
Conclusion
Although it is a fair assessment to conclude that a decapitation burial is one of punishment and execution, it is unwise to ignore all the other possible factors that might have caused the beheading to occur based on the vague and underdeveloped religious beliefs of the pagans and their lack of organization and discipline as a religious movement. Based on the fact that a clear conclusion to the purpose of decapitation is somewhat impossible to discover, the best and most likely possibility to unorthodox decapitations is the focus of a family tradition based in certain communities that hold on to certain pagan beliefs that have been passed down through time. It is not something that was popular enough to encompass mass amount of people, based on the small amount of burial evidence. Such isolated instances must not be confused with execution burials or sacrifices in order to continue to develop our understanding of Pagan traditions and their tendencies with burying different types of people, from family members to religious sacrifices to criminals alike.
Endnotes
John Wood
2 Owain Nicholson
3 Council for British Archeology
4 Trilling
5 Meaney
6 Reynolds
7 Leeds
8 Ashmolean Museum
9 Reynolds
Bibliography
1. A History of the Country of Oxford: Bullington hundred. Archibald Constable and Company, 1957. Print
2. Archaeology, Community. "AD 700 – Sutton Hoo." Current Archaeology. N.p., 24 May 2007. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
3. Buckberry, J.L. “An Anglo-Saxon Execution Cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire.” White Rose. (2007): n.page. Web. 25 June 2013. Eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3398/1/Buckberry and Hadley.pdf
4. "CHADLINGTON ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY." Ashlomean Museum. University of Oxford Press, n.d. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
5. Cohen, Tahara. "The Viking death squads who got a taste of their own medicine: Mass grave shows how the Anglo-Saxons hit back at invaders Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2091401/Viking-death-squads-mass-grave-shows-Anglo-Saxons-hit-invaders.html
6. Denison, Simon. "Roads that ramble, and roads that run." British Archaeology. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
7. Green, Charles. Sutton Hoo: the excavation of a royal ship-burial. 2nd. London: Merlin Press, 198. Print.
8. Hines, John. The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century. Boydell Press, 1997. eBook. .
9. Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William, . Grave-mounds and their contents. London: Groombridge & sons, 1870. eBook. .
10. Lucy, Sam. The Anglo-Saxon way of death. Sutton, 2000. eBook. .
11. Mather, Robert. "Mound 5." Sutton Hoo Society. N.p.. Web. 1 Aug 2013.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Execution Burial Tendencies 2
Physical Struggle 2
Location of Skull 4 Location of Burial……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5
Non Execution Decapitation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………6 Loveden Hill……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….6 Great Addington………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Chadlington……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7 Mitcham…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Purpose of Decapitation……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………8
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….9
Introduction
Decapitation in Anglo-Saxon burials is mainly interpreted as an act of punishment for criminals or defeated foes of war. There are many indications that support this idea in certain burials, including severe blows to the skull, as well as signs along the neck that indicate death by hanging, which can be found in execution cemeteries such as Mound five at Sutton Hoo. Other instances include mass graves (such as the one of Vikings) which have all been decapitated and thrown together. On the other hand, there are also many examples that do not follow the typical …show more content…
protocol of an execution burial. It is difficult to imagine a different reason for decapitation other than execution, but based on the evidence, it is quite possible that specific cases could have been for other reasons such as tradition or ritual. Although the exact determination of decapitation other than execution are quite difficult to prove, due to frail bone remains and large number of possibilities, there is reason to believe that religious rituals, especially ones of pagan origins, might account for many of the isolated instances of disciplined beheading. Anglo-Saxon pagans did have a reputation of sacrificing for their Gods. Almost all proof is of animal sacrifice, but there have been some reports of human sacrifice by the pagans for religious purposes.i
In some instances it is believed that human sacrifice did take place for their war God Woden. Since there is much that is not known about paganism, it is possible that decapitation for purpose of human sacrifice did take place. Specific instances that demonstrate decapitation which might not have been for execution include Loveden Hill in Lincolnshire, where the skull was placed on the stomach of the deceased. Great Addington in Northamptonshire, Chadlington in Oxfordshire, and Mitcham in Survey. None of these examples demonstrate typical execution patterns, and each one of them have similarities between each other that might prove some form of tradition between Anglo-Saxon burials. The differences between executions and sacrifice are fairly difficult to determine.
Execution Burial Tendencies
Physical Struggle
Mound five of Sutton Hoo provides a straight forward example of a proven execution cemetery that will be used as a starting point to compare the decapitations for execution and ones that are not. Mound five is located in the eastern part of Sutton Hoo, next to Mound two. Seventeen bodies were found, which included inhumations as well as cremations.
Several bodies had discolored markings around the neckii which signified rope from a hanging. Others were missing limbs, or appeared to have their hands or feet tied together. Archeologists look for trauma to detect signs of struggle and punishment to determine the cause of death of the deceased. Some cases are much easier to identify than others, as quality of graves varies. The decapitations showed very little signs of discipline to tradition or respect to the deceased. Decapitated bodies were thrown together in distorted positions. But these facts do not rule out the possibility of sacrifice, as any of the mentioned facts are found similarly in execution burials as they are with sacrificial burials as well. The main difference found at Sutton Hoo that ends the possibility of mound five being a sacrificial cemetery is the lack of consistence and diversity of treatment of the bodies. As stated by Andrew Reynolds: “the great variety of treatments exhibited by the Sutton Hoo deviants arguably rules out their role in formulaic religious sacrifice, unless rites associated with different deities are represented, some of which we may no longer have any knowledge of.” It is much more likely that execution burials did not follow any kind of typical traditional laws as people who are sentenced to death do not receive respect anymore from their peers. Therefore, Execution graves might show different patterns and styles as bodies were buried simply to get rid of them. Whereas a sacrifice might still be rather disrespected and unappreciated, there are differences in evidence that show some sense of traditional way of burying sacrifices.
Therefore, even though it is important to look for physical struggle on the bodies as well as distorted positioning, the point that really separates executions from sacrifice is their lack of respect to following a strict formula for every executed body; differences are vast from one person to another. Reynolds goes on to explain how executions become easier to identify as Christian burial customs are well documented where execution burials match written laws or texts that have been written in the same era. Unfortunately, During Pagan times it is much more difficult to distinguish differences between execution, sacrifice, and suicide.
Location of Skull
Another important factor to consider, as stated by Reynolds, is the location of the head in the burial. Reynolds gives three possibilities. First, if the head missing from the grave entirely, it means the person in the grave was a “victim of judicial execution or battle”. Heads were sometimes staked and used to scare off outsiders and to demonstrate the power of their law. If the body was beheaded, but the head was then placed in its normal position, then it signifies the grave of a criminal. Sometimes the head was found on top of the shoulders as it should be, but was laid on its side and completely unattached. If the head is placed somewhere else in the grave, such as by the feet or the hip, it represents a non-execution burial, as it leaves the last possible outcome and suggests that whoever buried the deceased purposely placed the head outside of its normal spot for a reason.
Location of Burial
Another important factor to consider when trying to identify execution burials is their geographical locations. Execution cemeteries were known to have been set as boundary markers,iii meaning that if one knows his geographical surroundings, it may be easier to classify a type of cemetery if it is near a border. Also, it would make it rather rare that two different cemeteries with decapitations existed near each other, because if execution cemeteries were located near borders, it would mean that they were scattered all across the land and would not have been anywhere near each other. Therefore, if remote beheaded burials have been located fairly near each other, it would suggest that they do not follow the typical strategy of execution cemeteries and could have different purposes.
“…these so called execution cemeteries are identifiable on the basis of irregular burial, multiple graves, prone and careless disposal of the body, bound limb, and decapitation.”iv Jacqueline Stodnick and Renee Trilling describe execution burials of a later time during Christianity in which everything is much easier to identify compared to Pagan times. The similarities between all the observations of different authors are evident in their acknowledgement of “carelessness”, multiple graves and overall lack of effort and time put in to making a proper burial site.
Non-Execution Decapitation
Loveden Hill
The example at Loveden Hill in Lincolnshire described a body with the head on the stomach and a urn where the head would be.
v This burial doesn’t demonstrate the usual characteristics of an execution. The head is placed by the stomach, which means it was strategically placed in the grave, as well as the urn which was on the shoulders where the head should be. Whatever pagan tradition was being followed, it is quite clear that the set-up of the body was designed in a way for some sort of representation, possibly religious sacrifice. The position of the head is the main hint as to what the purpose of the decapitation might have
been.
Great Addington
Great Addington in Northamptonshire provides an example of bodies which have been decapitated and their heads have been replaced with stone. The interesting comparison between Loveden Hill and Great Addington is the fact that in place of the decapitated head lies a replacement ornament. The fact that two similar decapitation styles occurred in different cemeteries makes me more unlikely that they were execution burials. Another example of decapitation in Northamptonshire includes one in Nassington, where a woman was buried with the skull of a child by the arm. It is fair to conclude that the child was not beheaded for punishment, but was rather related to the woman. vi
Chadlington
Chadlington in Oxfordshire has cases of the head lying in between the legs.vii E.T. Leeds had excavated the site but did not find many good buried along with the bodies, which is common in decapitation graves. This might indicate that the decapitation tradition was more popular within the less wealthy communities. According to the Ashmolean Museum, the decapitated head by the legs signifies the person was beheaded shortly before or after death,viii which leaves the possibility that the decapitation was not the cause of death; eliminating the assumption that the beheading took place for punishment.
Mitcham
Mitcham at Surrey also had extra heads in certain graves whereas other graves were missing them. Just like in Chadlington, graves possessed two heads, which could also signify some sort of tradition or ritual among the poorer communities.
These four examples depict specific instances that differ greatly from the execution cemetery at Sutton Hoo, and strengthen the argument that not all decapitations are executions.
Purpose of Decapitation
It is much easier to prove that some decapitations are not necessarily executions, than it is to prove what exactly those non-executional decapitations might have been for. Most theories point towards sacrifice, and considering that the time period of the Pagans did prove to have some incidents of human sacrifice, it is plausible to conclude that some societies did in fact behead their dead for religious tradition. In some scenarios, if it wasn’t an entire community that was decapitating their dead, then it might have been isolated family traditions passed down to younger generations. This is more likely as there would have been more example of disciplined beheadings had it been the tradition of entire communities.
Meany and Sonia Chadwick Hawkes also have an idea of why pagans used to decapitate their deceased. They proclaimed that the decapitation occurred to halt the ghost of the dead body from walking. Reynolds goes on to elaborate that both those of execution and sacrifice might have been decapitated after death to stop the dead from haunting the living.ix If bodies were being decapitated post-mortem to stop the spirit from exiting the body, then anyone who died unnaturally could have potentially been decapitated.
Conclusion
Although it is a fair assessment to conclude that a decapitation burial is one of punishment and execution, it is unwise to ignore all the other possible factors that might have caused the beheading to occur based on the vague and underdeveloped religious beliefs of the pagans and their lack of organization and discipline as a religious movement. Based on the fact that a clear conclusion to the purpose of decapitation is somewhat impossible to discover, the best and most likely possibility to unorthodox decapitations is the focus of a family tradition based in certain communities that hold on to certain pagan beliefs that have been passed down through time. It is not something that was popular enough to encompass mass amount of people, based on the small amount of burial evidence. Such isolated instances must not be confused with execution burials or sacrifices in order to continue to develop our understanding of Pagan traditions and their tendencies with burying different types of people, from family members to religious sacrifices to criminals alike.
Endnotes
John Wood
2 Owain Nicholson
3 Council for British Archeology
4 Trilling
5 Meaney
6 Reynolds
7 Leeds
8 Ashmolean Museum
9 Reynolds
Bibliography
1. A History of the Country of Oxford: Bullington hundred. Archibald Constable and Company, 1957. Print
2. Archaeology, Community. "AD 700 – Sutton Hoo." Current Archaeology. N.p., 24 May 2007. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
3. Buckberry, J.L. “An Anglo-Saxon Execution Cemetery at Walkington Wold, Yorkshire.” White Rose. (2007): n.page. Web. 25 June 2013. Eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/3398/1/Buckberry and Hadley.pdf
4. "CHADLINGTON ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY." Ashlomean Museum. University of Oxford Press, n.d. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
5. Cohen, Tahara. "The Viking death squads who got a taste of their own medicine: Mass grave shows how the Anglo-Saxons hit back at invaders Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2091401/Viking-death-squads-mass-grave-shows-Anglo-Saxons-hit-invaders.html
6. Denison, Simon. "Roads that ramble, and roads that run." British Archaeology. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Aug 2013. .
7. Green, Charles. Sutton Hoo: the excavation of a royal ship-burial. 2nd. London: Merlin Press, 198. Print.
8. Hines, John. The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century. Boydell Press, 1997. eBook. .
9. Jewitt, Llewellynn Frederick William, . Grave-mounds and their contents. London: Groombridge & sons, 1870. eBook. .
10. Lucy, Sam. The Anglo-Saxon way of death. Sutton, 2000. eBook. .
11. Mather, Robert. "Mound 5." Sutton Hoo Society. N.p.. Web. 1 Aug 2013.