Wasperton : A Roman, British and Anglo-Saxon Community in Central England Hardback
by Martin Carver, Catherine Hills, Jonathan Scheschkewitz
Part of the Anglo-Saxon Studies series
Hardback
Description
The newest research on a major Anglo-Saxon site paints a vivid picture of the beginnings of England. [Edited by Martin Carver] For decades scholars have puzzled over the true story of settlement in Britain between the fifth and eight centuries.
Did the Romans leave? Did the Anglo-Saxons invade? What happened to the British? Newlight on these questions comes unexpectedly from Wasperton, a small village on the Warwickshire Avon, where archaeologists had the good fortune to excavate a complete cemetery and its prehistoric setting.
The community reused an old Romano-British agricultural enclosure, and built burial mounds beside it.
There was a score of cremations in Anglo-Saxon pots; but there were also unfurnished graves lined with stones and planks in the manner of western Britain. In a pioneering analysis, including radiocarbon and stable isotopes, the authors of this book have put this variety of burial practice into a credible sequence, and built up a picture of life at the time.
Here there were people who were culturally Roman, British and Anglo-Saxon, pagan and Christian in continuous use of the same graveyard and drawing on a common inheritance.
Here we can see the beginnings of England and the people who made it happen- not the kings, warriors and preachers, but the ordinary folk obliged to make their own choices: choices about what nation to build and which religion to follow. MARTIN CARVER is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at the University of York; Dr CATHERINE HILLS is Senior Lecturer in Anglo-Saxon Archaeology at the University of Cambridge; Dr JONATHAN SCHESCHKEWITZ is Officer with the Ancient Monuments authority of Stuttgart.
Information
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:384 pages, 2 colour, 20 b/w, 100 line illus.
- Publisher:Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication Date:19/02/2009
- Category:
- ISBN:9781843834274
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:384 pages, 2 colour, 20 b/w, 100 line illus.
- Publisher:Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication Date:19/02/2009
- Category:
- ISBN:9781843834274
