The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Eccles: A preliminary report

THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT RACHEL SHAW, M.A. INTRODUCTION The Roman villa at Eccles was excavated between 1962 and 1976. 1 In the course of the excavations, a large post-Roman cemetery was discovered adjacent to the south-east wing of the villa. Gullies, pits and post-holes were also noted in this area, and the cemetery is sited over the lines of large pre-villa ditches. The remains of approximately 200 interments were recovered, as well as much unstratified human skeletal material. Most of these burials were found concentrated within an area of about 60 x 50 ft. Others were scattered along the length of the south-east wing, some having been interred in demolition debris (Fig. 1). In addition, up to 11 burials were found elsewhere during the excavation of the villa buildings. It is assumed that these last are Roman and they have not been considered in this study. Most of the burials lay east-west and were without grave goods. Up to three layers of burials were recognised during the excavation at depths varying from 6 to 40 in. (15-100 cm.) below the present ground surface. Grave goods were found with some of the lower and outlying burials (Fig. 2), giving them a likely mid-seventh century date. Some of the skeletons show evidence of having suffered fatal weapon injuries (Fig. 2). The purpose of this preliminary report is to summarise and draw together the work that has been undertaken on this material so far, to publish current work on the stratigraphy and distribution of the burials and to indicate potential areas of further study. 1 Arch. Cant., lxxviii (1963) to xciii (1977), and cvii (1989). 165 RACHEL SHAW PREVIOUS WORK The area in question was excavated between 1970 and 1976 (referred to as Years I, J, K, L, M, N and 0). Most of the human skeletal material was recovered between 1970 and 1974. The area was excavated in discrete 8 x 8 ft. trenches, separated by 2 ft. baulks. The main cemetery area was eventually treated as a single unit, baulks being removed and trenches extended. The skeletal material was recorded as it was recovered, over a period of years. In a few cases, bones from single individuals may have been recovered in separate trenches, or in different years, and given more than one record number. Likewise, some deposits given a single burial number at the time of excavation have proved, on later examination, to consist of the bones of more than one individual. All human bones and bone fragments were kept. The most recently interred skeletons lay very close to the surface and were so badly disturbed by ploughing that it was impossible to recognise individual burials. There is evidence that some plough-disturbed bones were later re-buried by the farmer in one pit. Where, at a slightly greater depth, individual burials began to be discernible, they were given individual record numbers. However, many had clearly also suffered disturbance: often the skeletons were incomplete, or recovered with 'stray' bones from other burials. This problem of disturbance was exacerbated by the fact that, in the central area of the cemetery, later burials were placed over earlier ones, resulting in up to three layers of burials. All these factors have to be borne in mind when considering the results of the bone analysis: an element of doubt has to be retained when attributing particular bones to particular individual burials in those parts of the cemetery where disturbance is a possibility. Also, the total number of individuals buried in the cemetery cannot be established beyond doubt. However, the majority of the burials, lying deep enough to escape plough damage, were clearly separate individuals, and were excavated and recorded as such. Their locations were plotted accurately and are shown on the cemetery plan (Fig. 1). In most instances, the graves were dug into, and filled with, the same grey soil, containing RomanoBritish material from the villa. The burials farthest away from the villa remains were dug straight into dark brown plough soil. It was not possible to discern individual grave cuts. Therefore, only the location and alignment of the skeletons themselves were recorded, and it is these that are shown on the burials plan, and not the grave cuts. Few details are known about the burials recovered from the demolition debris and robber trenches to the south-west of the main cemetery area (burials J25, J27, J28, J29, J31, J32, J33, J43, J45 and J46) other than their approximate location and the evidence of the 166 ECCLES ANGLO-SAXO􀀩Ti􀀪􀀫::DATING FEATURES TO VILLA AND RELATION OF BURIALS + + f7°l LJm + +􀀂 KEY: EXCAVATION TRENCHES. POSITION OF VILLA WALLS. + 􀀃 -,::.$ BURIAL: EXACT LOCATION AND ORIENTATION KNOWN. APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF BURIAL: DETAILS NOT KNOWN. BURIAL LYING PARTLY UNDER BAULK. 0 B ECCLES ROMAN VILLA = ,7􀀅C,􀀆jp,., *E . ________ .... sM. Ifill -¥ I􀀂 mill ... J!;jLJ .;: +llli] + Illil + / (ill] ;J r ,i;"' + 0 + ,}} ,:rJ + f=lt I □ + HBTY Fig. 1. Eccles: General plan of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, with (inset) plan of villa. THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT bones themselves. These outlying burials were excavated before the cemetery had been discovered. The same is true of the bones recovered over the Roman rubbish Ditch VII in grid square L15 (burials 124, 125 and 126), and their relationship to the main cemetery area is not clear. Most of the material was sent to the Department of Archaeological Sciences at Bradford University, where it remains as a teaching collection. A full skeletal report was prepared by Dr Keith Manchester in 1984 (Ref. 8). It is at present under revision, but some of the original data have been used in the preparation of this paper. This report first brought to light that seven of the burials had suffered fatal cranial injuries. These burials were further studied by Wenham (Ref. 1). The Manchester report also identified two distinct groups of people, group A and group B, who were not related to each other, and a third group, C, which is not distinct from either and could be the result of interbreeding between groups A and B. Individual case studies from the Eccles collection have also been published (Refs. 2-7). Twenty-eight of the burials possessed grave goods (Fig. 2), or were found in the vicinity of objects which were probably buried at the same time. Some of these items have already been discussed by Sonia Hawkes (Ref. 5), and the final report on all the material is being prepared at present. In the original report a mid to late seventh-century date was given to the finds under consideration. Analysis of the finds will be of significance in establishing the sequence of events in the cemetery and their dates. The results of these existing studies can now be more fully evaluated in the light of the current work on the stratigraphy and layout of the cemetery. [NOTE. All original measurements were in Imperial rather than metric units, and, unless otherwise stated, are given here in feet and inches, not metres.] AIMS AND METHODS OF CURRENT WORK The excavation records for the cemetery area of the Eccles site are being re-examined as part of the overall post-excavation strategy. All information about contexts, features and finds for the whole site has been summarised on disc to form a comprehensive database, to which other information can be added as work progresses. In addition, a site matrix is being built up trench by trench. This also allows the crossreferencing of stratigraphic information with the finds information on the database. These two elements, the trench matrices and the database, are intended to enable the excavation records, which were originally built up year by year and trench by trench, to be viewed as a whole. 167 Fig. 2. Eccles: Anglo-Saxon cemetery, sex of burials, grave goods and weapon injuries. M.2PI 10 5 NORTH c:Ji? ea::=> c::J,:::? c::::;:::::::J c€P 􀀁 ,r ADULT FEMALE ADULT MALE IMMATURE SEX NOT KNOWN GRAVE GOODS FATAL WEAPON INJURIES HEALED BLADE INJURY THE A NGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT The first objectives for the cemetery area were to create a comprehensive catalogue and plan of all the burials. This was achieved, using all existing information from field plans, together with all references to bones in the finds' records. Not every burial or bones find-spot had been recorded on plan, but every bone reference has now been given an approximate location. Slides and photographs of burials in situ were used, whenever possible, to cross-check the plan (Fig. 1). In some cases burials had to be re-numbered for the sake of consistency. The information in the Eccles Human Skeletal Report (Ref. 8) was also used to provide a check to this catalogue. Because of the amount of unstratified bone material, it has not been possible to assign every single bone to a catalogue entry. However, in most cases this has been achieved. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CEMETERY In trying to establish how the cemetery may have developed over time, a number of factors have been considered. The potential usefulness of these factors is now discussed: (a) Depth of burial. Depth of burial, by itself, is not a very useful guide: it is not possible to say, for example, that the shallowest burials are the latest, or that the deepest are the earliest. Depth of burial appears to be primarily determined by the nature of the soil. Burials inserted in or through building debris tend to be shallower than those buried in the undisturbed plough soil farther away from the villa (Fig. 2). There seem to be groupings of neighbouring burials interred at common depths (Fig. 2) Where no other evidence exists, it seems reasonable to assume that adjacent burials at similar depths were buried during the same phase of cemetery use. (b) Stratigraphy. Where stratigraphic relationships can be demonstrated, such as in area P14/15 where 'layers' of burials were observed, they are the most reliable indicators of burial sequence. (c) Proximity to the ruined villa. Some of the villa walls had already been removed or robbed before the deposition of burials (for example, burial IO is described as having been found in the filling of a robber trench between rooms 117 and 118). However, the remains of most of the walls must have been substantial features in the area, and a deliberate choice must hav􀁏 been made to locate burials amongst the ruins. Perhaps the abandoned and decayed remains seemed an obvious focal point in an otherwise featureless 169 ,. -:i 0 ECCLES ANGLO-SAXON BURIALS: A SUMMARY BASED ON CURRENTLY AVAILABLE DATA Burial Trench Depth Group Sex Small No. (In.) Male Finds Female Immature IOI Pl5/1 14 F I02 " 14 M,I I03 " 14 ? I04 " 14 I I05 " ? ? I06 " ? M I07 " 20 M,M I08 " 12 I I09 " 20 ? 110 " 26 M 112 014/1 12 ? 113 " 12 M 114 " 12 ? 115 " 15 M Disturbed burials " 8 116 014/2 6 I 117 " 6 I,?,? 118 " 6 F 119 " 6 B I 120 " 9 F 122 N14/3 5 M 123 N l5/3 18 ? 124 Ditch VII ? F,F 125 " 11 F Spearhead Additional Information i Wenham III. Fatal cranial injury. Iron knife in backbone (Ref. 1); Manchester (Ref. 2) ...... -.J ...... 126 128 129 IO JOI J02 J03 J04 ]05 J06 J07 J09 no Jll J13 J14 J15 Disturbed burials J09A J17 J18 J19 J20 J21 J22 J23 J24 Disturbed burials J25 J26 J27 J28 J29 Room 121 014/1 Room 121 Rooms 117/118 014/3/4 " " " " " " " " " "" " " P14" /1/2 " " " " "" " " 011/4 010/3 " " "[Hearth] 11 ? 8 ? 8 14 8 8 8 A 8 8 B 8 8 8 8 8 8 12 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 8 11 15 8 I,? ? M ? M F ? ? ? ? ? I F,M ? ? M M ? ? F F ? ? ? ? ? I I I M ? Leprosy, Manchester (Ref. 3) Coin; flint blade Flint scraper 􀀅 􀀆 0 c'n I􀀇 􀀈 􀀉 ► 0 ---:i N Burial No. Disturbed burial 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 J40 J41 Disturbed burials J42 J43 144 J45 J46 J47 J48 Disturbed burials J50 J53 J54 K0l Trench Depth (In.) n 22 n 12 " 18 09/3 " 014/2 Pl5/l 24 " 24 " 14 " 20 " 24 " 20 " " 28 P7/l/4 P8/2/3 ? P8/l/4 17 P9/2/3 12 " 12 Pl5/3/4 22 " 24 " 19-27 Pl4/l/4 7 " 12 " 25 O14/4/Pl4 Layer2 Group Sex Small Additional Male Finds Information Female Immature M Spearhead; knife; Wenham I. Fatal cranial antler-handled tool injury (Ref. 1) ? I Spearhead;copper - alloy ring ? M I Hydrocephalus, Manchester (Ref. 2) A F M Wenham V. Fatal cranial injury (Ref. 1) i A I M,I,F M C? F M B? ? Knife ? I ? ? ? ? ? ? B F ...... --.J w KO2 K03 K04 KOS KO6 K07 KOS KO9 KIO Kll K12 K13 K14 K15 K16 K16A K17 K18 K19 K20 Disturbed burials K21 K22 K23 K24 K25 K26 " " " " " " Pl4/1/2 014/3 " P14/2 P14 P14/l/2 P14 " " " " " " " " 014/3 P/14 P l4/4 " " " " " " " " " " " " " 20 Layer2 Layer3 " " " 31 31 31 31 17-20 25 24 29 29 29+ 29 I ? M B M C M C F A M ? ? ? C I C M ? B F A F M I C M F ? F A M M ? M F Iron knife; antler amulet; iron shears; iron ring; spindle-whorl; copper alloy buckle; copper alloy disc. Hawkes, Grave 23 (Ref. 5) Silver pins; iron knife. Hawkes, Grave 12 (Ref. 5) Iron knife Iron knife; copper alloy buckle. Hawkes, Grave 19 (Ref. 5) Cancer, Manchester (Ref. 2) Weapon injury; tip of weapon in injury 􀀂 􀀃 􀀄 􀀅 􀀆 ► i 􀀇 ij Burial Trench Depth No. (In.) K27 " 29 K28 P l5/3/4 26 K29 " K30 " 32 K31 " Layer3 K32 " 24 K33 " Layer3 K34 " 28+ K35 " 26 K36 " 28 .....􀀂 K37 " 36 K38 " 24 K39 " 24 Disturbed burials " 24 K40 013/4 30 Disturbed burial " 13 K41 P15/4 24 K42 PI0/2 24 Disturbed burials P13/4 19-25 Dist urbed burials 010/3 LOl 014/3/4 L02 " L03 015/3/4 13 L04 " 18 L05 " 18 L06 " 18 L07 " 18 Gro up S ex Male Femal e Immatur e ? M F B F ?, I F M I M F M F C F I F F B F,M F M F M M Small Finds Iron knife. Hawkes, Grave 10 (Ref. 5) P endant co in Iron knife; key Co in Copp er all oy rings; coin Iron knife; iron sh ears Iron knife Iron knife Add itional Informat i on Wenham VI. Fatal cran ial injury (Ref. 1) Gre en sta in ing i en ::i:: 􀀃 ,. --.J Ul LOS L09 LIO Lll Ll2 Ll3 LI4 LIS Ll6 Ll7 LIS Ll9 L20 L21 L22 L23 L24 L25 L26 L27 L28 L29 L30 L30A L31 L32 L33 L34 L35 L36 L37 L38 L39 " " " " " " " " " " " " " " PIS/2 015" /3/4 " " " P15/2 " Pl4/3 PIS/2 P14/3 " " " " " 013/2/3 " 015/1/2 22 18 16 13 18 13 19 18 18 17 18 18 B? 19 24 24 24 24 18 28 28 13 22 18 C 18 18 18 18 24 A 24 32 8 C 8 15 M I ? M ? F M M M I ? M F F ? ? I F Iron knife; complete pot F ? ? M F I M M I M F M F M F Spondylolysis and spondylolisthesis, Manchester (Ref. 7) 􀀃 􀀁 􀀂 􀀄 􀀅 􀀆 > 􀀄 ...... -J 0\ Burial No. L40 L41 L42 L43 L44 L44A L46 L47 L48 L49 L50 L51 L52 L53 L54 L55 L56 L57 L58 L59 L60 L61 L62 Disturbed burials L63 Trench " " 013/3 015/1/2 013/2/3 015/1/2 " Ql4/l/2 015/1/2 " " Q14/l/2 015" /1/2 " Q14/l/4 P13/2/3 015/1/2 " " " Ql4/l/2 " " 015/1/2 Depth Group (In.) 18 26 8 18 13 B 21 21 C 29 21 21 15 29 26 26 26 29 24 28 24 15 28 30 A 33 38 29 A Sex Small Male Finds Female Immature F ? M ? M M Copper alloy buckle M F F F I M M Copper alloy object I Iron knife ? Iron knife M F Iron knife; iron pursemount; copper alloy buckle; two coins M ? I M M F F Iron knife Additional Information Ace tabular dysplasia>limp Green staining Wenham IV. Fatal cranial injury (Ref. 1) Green staining Crippled Crouched burial Crippled i en ::c: 􀀅 L64 013/3 14 L65 015/1/2 24 L66 P13/2/3 28 L67 " 31 L68 " 26 L69 015/1/2 17 L70 " M l N15/3 28 M2 011/3 14 M3 " 14 M4 011/2 14 M5 P12/3 18-24 NI P l6/2 35 ..... N2 Q13/I 22 N3 Q13/2 24 N4 " 28 N5 " 28 N6 " 30 N7 " 35 Disturbed burials " 10-23 01 M M Iron and copper alloy buckle; iron knife M,I F F I I I B F Penannular brooch; copper alloy sheet (RB); copper alloy brooch (RB) I F ? I Composite comb; iron object M F F Copper alloy needle; coin, in pit below burial M F M Penannular brooch M Healed blade injury; well healed tibia fracture. Legs resting on large stone Wenham II. Fatal cranial injury. Post-mortem decapitation. i 􀀁 􀀂 tt1 () > 􀀃 􀀁 RACHEL SHAW landscape. Soon enough the cemetery would become a recognised feature in its own right, particularly if a church of some sort was built there, and its proximity to the villa would no longer be particularly significant. If this suggestion is correct, then the burials deliberately incorporated into the building debris must be some of the earliest on the site. (d) Kinship groups. Manchester (Ref. 8) recognised two distinct groups, A and B, and a further group, C, related to either and possibly the result of interbreeding. This analysis is based on a small proportion of the burials, and so must be treated with great caution. However, when their positions are plotted on the cemetery plan, it can be seen that group B is scattered throughout the area, while most of groups A and C are in the P14/P15 area. There is slight evidence that related people were buried near each other. (e) Grave goods. Only a small proportion of the total number of burials had grave goods. Grave goods are mostly concentrated in the 015 area and with the burials in the angle between rooms 130 and 123 (these burials are not shown on the main distribution plan). Apart from K37 and N4, where the association of the objects with the burials is uncertain, none are found beyond the line of Ditch X. Areas with some grave goods can be considered earlier than areas with none at all. However, an individual burial cannot be placed into a sequence purely on the grounds of presence or absence of associated objects. (f) Weapon injuries. This group of burials is potentially most useful in attempting to phase the cemetery. In Manchester's opinion (Ref. 8), this group probably represents a single hostile incident in the life of the community. If this is so and these burials are all contemporary, they give a point of reference in our understanding of the sequence of burials. However, in Wenham's view (Ref. 1), although 'the material presents what appears to be a clear group of single and multiple sword injuries', 'it is impossible to say whether [they] represent one or several violent incidents.' Therefore, other scenarios are also possible and must not be discounted: the injuries could represent two or more incidents, entirely disconnected, or separated only by days. The battle dead could include members of the enemy group as well. It must also be remembered, as Manchester points out, that 'there may of course have been further victims killed by soft tissue injury which have been unrecognised in the osteoarchaeological record' (Ref. 8). At least two individuals (K25 and N5) received blade injuries 178 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT from which they recovered. If we assume these wounds were sustained in the same violent incident(s) as above, these graves must post-date the burials of those actually killed by weapon injuries. (g) Orientation. By far the majority of burials are oriented east-west, including most of those with grave goods. The exceptions to this can be assumed to be earlier. This is confirmed by stratigraphy. There is one crouched burial, L58, whose temporal relation to the other burials is not known. DISCUSSION OF THE BURIALS, AREA BY AREA A. Burials near the villa, deposited in or through building debris i. Below grid-line 12. (M2,M3,M4,J30,J31,J25,J26,J28,J27,K42,J29,J32,J33,J45,J46, J43) With the exception of K42, which appears to be an isolated burial, these are all buried near the decaying villa remains, in ashy sooty soil. Patches of mortar debris were found outside the villa. Indeed, burial J31 was actually inserted through a layer of compacted mortar at a depth of 18 in. J29, only 8 in. below the surface, lies over a hearth, which was delimited by tiles set into this same mortar layer. The disturbed bones of burials J45 and J46 were found along the line of the north wall of Room 123. They may form part of the same burial. Bones were also found in the brown soil and demolition debris over the hypocaust underfloor of room 124, whose east wall had already been demolished (Burial J43). Burials J30, M2/M3 (a double burial) and M4 were all buried slightly deeper, at 14-19 in., and so have escaped plough damage. The remaining burials in this area are described as 'below the topsoil' and were in a very fragmentary condition. Most of these burials are associated with grave goods: J43 is associated with a knife; J32 with a copper alloy ring and a spearhead; J30 with a knife, antler-handled tool and a spearhead; M2/M3 with a penannular brooch and other copper alloy objects. J30 (male, aged 25-35) was killed by a single sword blow (Ref. 1), M4 was a multiparous female of 25-35, and the double burial was of a female of 18-20 and a child of 10-12; possibly, they were siblings. The cause of death is not apparent from the skeletal material. It seems unusual for two juveniles to die at the same time, so perhaps they were also killed with J30. Burial M4, buried at the same depth and in close proximity may be part of the same family group. 179 RACHELSHAW This group of burials is separated from the main cemetery by a complex area of pits, gullies and post-holes, which must represent some kind of wooden structure, still to be interpreted. It is not yet possible to state whether this structure post-dates or pre-dates these burials. However, its existence probably accounts for the lack of further burials immediately south and east of this group. Unlike elsewhere in the cemetery, these burials were not disturbed by later interments. These burials can be considered as some of the earliest because of their closeness to the villa remains and the high proportion of grave goods. The 'hostile incident', or one of them, can also be tied into this early phase of cemetery use because of J30 who both died from a single sword wound and was buried with grave goods. ii. Above grid-line 12. (I0,I28,I22,I23,Il5,Il3,Il2,Il4,Il8,Il9,I20,Il6,Il7,I21) There are no burials in the rubble-filled soil outside the junction of rooms 118 and 117. The wall between these two rooms had been removed, and a single burial, IO, was found in the backfilling. No further details of this burial are known. If it is contemporary with the others in the cemetery, it gives a terminus ante quern for the robbing of this wall. At least three burials were inserted into the remains of the stokehole wall of room 121 and can be reasonably assumed to be early. One, burial 122, was another victim of hostilities. According to Manchester (Ref. 2), he was first shot in the right side with a bow and arrow, the arrow breaking off in the wound. The fatal blow was to the head with a sword. The remaining burials of this group (all in grid-square 014) lie in very shallow soil, only 6-12 in. deep. The soil here did not contain much building debris, so the shallowness of these burials cannot be accounted for by difficult soil. None of these individuals were buried with grave goods, and none appear to have been victims of the hostile incident. It is difficult to know where to place them sequentially. There is nothing to link them with early 'events'. They could arguably be amongst the latest to be buried in the cemetery, along with the other shallow and plough-disturbed burials described at the time of the excavation as Layer 1. B. Main area, following Ditch X (including burials immediately to its south) and between ditch-line and villa [Grid squares 014/3/4, Pl4/l/2, 015, Pl5/l/2] In area Pl5/1 two victims of fatal sword blows to the head (J36 and J37) lie in adjacent graves. In neither case were the skeletons recovered 180 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINA RY REPORT complete. They were buried at about the same depth (J36 at c. 20 in.; J37 at c. 14 in.) and about 4 ft. apart. They must have been buried at the same time, but in different graves. Buried immediately east of J36 and at exactly the same depth is J38, a child of 8-9 years, whose cause of death is not apparent. Both J36 (a female of 20-25 years) and J38 have been attributed by Manchester to the same genetic group, A. They are, probably, therefore, mother and child. As they both seem to have been buried at the same time, the child must also have been a victim of the same violent incident. None of the other burials in the immediate vicinity show signs of having met a violent death. Burial 110 is the nearest burial to the three described above. It was buried 6 in. deeper and on a different alignment from J36 and J38, and can be assumed to pre-date them. It is described as a muscular male of 25-35 and, although the skeleton was virtually complete, no weapon injuries were observed when the bones were examined. This would suggest that the cemetery was already established (i.e. the community was already settled) before the violent incident that led to the deaths of J36, 37 and 38. Burial K16 is the deepest in this area, at about 30 in. This burial, which is of a mature to elderly woman, suffering from cancer and Paget's disease, has been described in detail (Ref. 6). Her death must be unrelated to and, on stratigraphic grounds, pre-dates, the violent incident described above. She also belongs to group A, suggesting that individuals may have been buried in kinship areas. Burial K34 must also be considered with J36 and J37, as it, too, suffered fatal cranial injuries and is buried only about 7 ft. from J36. K34 was a male aged 20-25. In common with these two victims, he was killed by a right-handed opponent who was facing him to deliver a single, fatal sword-blow to the head. There is no evidence that any of them were able to defend themselves (Ref. 1, p. 138). Immediately over K34 was another burial, K35, a juvenile of less than 14 years. Because the two individuals so completely overlap, it is likely that they represent a single interment, and that K35 was another victim. The skull was not recovered, so it is impossible to know whether this young person had also suffered cranial injuries. The great majority of the burials, including several with grave goods and all the victims of sword attack, are buried with their heads to the west. Therefore, the few exceptions to this must be considered carefully. L56, Kl 9 and J54 are clearly in a north-west/south-east orientation, KOS, J18, J22, 110 and LlO also appear to be at variance with the prevailing orientation of the cemetery. The shallowest burials, in the crowded P14/P15 area, are subject to disturbance and are not all in exactly the same orientation. KOS, J18 and J22 fall within this range of variation. L 10 was only partially 181 RACHELSHAW recovered, which would make it difficult to record its orientation exactly. It is buried at a depth consistent with the nearby burials, which are all recorded as lying east-west. J54 cannot be considered as a single burial. It appears to be a gully or pit, which contained bones from several individuals. Burial Il0 was not recorded in detail, 'but it was recovered almost complete, at a depth of 26 in., deeper than those around it and overlapped by later burials. It can safely be considered amongst the earlier burials. L56 and K19 have been recorded in detail. They both lie in a direction almost at right angles to the later burials. L56 was buried through rubbly, mortar-filled soil between the villa and the line of Ditch X at a depth of 24 in. Some effort must have been made to dig a deep grave for this individual, because the soil could not have been easy to dig. Bodies farther away from the villa were buried as deep or deeper, but this must be because the soil would have been much easier to dig. Likewise, K19 is about' 30 in. deep, inserted into the backfill of Ditch X. They are both stratified under further layers of burials, which lie across them. No attempt to avoid these early graves seems to have been made when the later burials were inserted. Their positions are not typical, either. K19, a mature female, lies extended, with her arms close to her sides. The legs have been constricted in some way, for the feet lie in contact from ankle to toe. Unusually for this site, all the bones of the feet were well preserved and were recovered. One possible explanation is that the body was bound in some way before burial, possibly shrouded, and that whatever was used to bind the feet together also helped to preserve them from decay and other disturbance. This suggests that some care was taken over the funeral rites of this individual. The knee joints, however, were absent, possibly through later disturbance. The head was not recovered when K19 was excavated. However, this area of the site was excavated over two seasons and several separate skulls were recovered in shallow, plough-disturbed soil in the previous year. One of these, J 09, could possibly belong with Kl9. K19 could have been disturbed when K0 l, which lies across K19's chest, was buried, and the head accidentally dug up and redeposited elsewhere. Alternatively, Kl 9 had been decapitated before burial, but it is not possible to say whether this was the cause of death or a post-mortem event. The Eccles 'fish' buckle (Ref. 5, and Arch. Cant., lxxxviii (1973), Pl. IV, opp. 77), an exceptionally fine example of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship, was worn by K19, and a knife was also recovered with this burial (Arch. Cant., lxxxviii (1973), Pl. III ). 182 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT L56, a male of 35, lay with his head to the north-west, looking south. There is no sign that the position of this body was restricted in any way. The left elbow was flexed at 90° so that the left hand would have rested across the abdomen, while the right hand lay over the pelvic area. An iron knife, an iron purse-mount and a copper alloy buckle were recovered with the skeleton. There is a concentration of burials with grave goods in and near gridsquare 015 (L53, L45, L63, L54, L52 and L02, Kl2 and K07. L49 should be included as its left fibula is stained from contact with copper alloy, suggesting that at one stage a copper alloy object was part of the burial). However, unlike the two burials described above, they are all buried in an east-west orientation. The majority of the burials in this general area is buried between 18 and 24 in. (45 and 60 cm.) deep (Fig. 3, 3). The burials with grave goods are at depths of 13-29 in. Most of the objects were knives, buried with females. L65 and L45, both males, were buried with buckles. There are examples of burials at similar depths within this area, with no grave goods. For example, both L41 and L28 are at 26 in. and, stratigraphically, early: they are both overlain by later, shallower graves, but neither contains grave goods. Indeed, L60 is actually slightly overlapped by L52, which does contain grave goods. With the exception of L25 (18 in.) and L3 (13 in.), no burials shallower than 21 in. contain grave goods. It would appear that, when considering the earlier, deeper graves, there is no distinction between burials with and without grave goods: some individuals were buried with objects, some were not. Within this area is one victim of multiple sword injuries to the head. This burial, L46, appears to have been buried midway through the period of use of this part of the cemetery. The last phase of use of this area must be represented by the shallow, plough-disturbed burials concentrated within the P14 area and described by the excavator as Layer 1 (Fig. 1). C. Burials farthest from the villa, south of the line of Ditch XIV [Grid squares P14/3/4, P15/1/2, P13/3/4, Q13/1/2] At this stage, it is not clear whether the ditches within this area influenced the position of the burials. However, the burials in this area share some common characteristics, so they are being considered as a distinct group. They are the deepest and best preserved burials on the site. They have not been, greatly, disturbed by later burials, although there are some examples of overlapping interments. This suggests that this area continued in use for some time. 183 RACHEL SHAW 2 0 BURIALS WITH FATAL WEAPON INJURIES Fig. 3. Eccles: Anglo-Saxon cemetery, depths of burials in main area. 184 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT 185 RACHEL SHAW Apart from N4, where the association is dubious (see above, p. 178), none of this group have grave goods. N5 and K26 had both recovered from edged weapon injuries. Indeed, N5, a male of 35-45, is considered by Manchester (Ref. 10) as having received a high standard of care as, in addition to a healed blade injury to the left occipital bone, he possessed a well-united fracture of the left tibia. He was buried with his feet resting on a large stone. K38, a mature male, had recovered from a severe chest injury, which resulted in a fractured left scapula and four fractured ribs. It is not impossible that this, too, could have been a legacy from the same hostile incident, although other explanations are equally likely. Although these burials are deeper than elsewhere, the lack of grave goods, fatal weapon injuries and different orientations suggest that they represent the latest phase of cemetery use. They also appear to be Christian. Whether the ditches in this area represented some sort of zone demarcation is, unfortunately, as yet unclear, as is the significance of any nearby post-hole structures. D. Outlying burials [NI and 01] These two burials, along the line of the gully adjacent to Ditch X, should probably be considered with group A, above. Nl, a juvenile, was buried with a bone comb and an unidentified iron object. 01 is a male of 20-25 years, powerfully built, who suffered particularly violent injuries. According to Wenham (Ref. 1), 30 bone injuries were catalogued, resulting from blows to the head, the back of the trunk and the arms. This individual attempted to defend himself by raising his arms. Seven blows to the head resulted in partial decapitation but, even after he had fallen, eight blows were delivered to the back. None of the other victims were attacked so ferociously - one wonders whether this was a member of the attacking party, upon whom sweet revenge was being wrought. He is buried at a considerable distance from the other victims. CONCLUSION The Eccles Anglo-Saxon cemetery clearly went through several phases of use. At this stage, taking into account all the factors described above, it is possible to make the following provisional summary of the phases and their relationship to each other. Other interpretations are possible. Further illumination will be provided by additional work on the artefacts, skeletal material and site stratigraphy. 186 THE ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY AT ECCLES: A PRELIMINARY REPORT NEW BURIALS AREA No grave goods MAIN AREA Layer 1 Plough-disturbed No fatal injuries All east-west Christian d􀀅'Q,, MAIN AREA 􀀂-1. f Some grave goods ? ;,􀁖 Some fatal injuries J􀁗 All east-west \ &,t, '---------􀀆, 􀀇􀀈 \ 􀀉􀀊 \ 􀀂G t ' c􀀂 \ 􀀆'l:>"<;j --------􀀉\cl􀀊 \ 􀀋---------􀀌 MAIN AREA Layer 3 \ \ \ IN BUILDING DEBRIS Earliest, not east-west _ Grave goods _______ _ ? _ _ \-Grave goods -􀁘 'Fatal injuries Pagan Pagan / ABANDONMENT OF VILLA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This preliminary report is part of a programme of post-excavation work leading to the publication of the definitive report on the excavations at the site of the Eccles Roman villa. The generous assistance of the Kent Archaeological Society is gratefully recorded. The help provided in the preparation of this paper by Mrs. Sonia Hawkes (Institute of Archaeology, Oxford), Dr Charlotte Roberts and Mr Philip Boocock (Department of Archaeological Sciences, Bradford University) is also gratefully acknowledged, as is the unlimited encouragement and support given by the director of the excavations, Dr Alec Detsicas. 187 RACHELSHAW REF ERENC ES 1. S. Wenham, 'Anatomical interpretations of Anglo-Saxon weapon injuries', in (Ed.) S.C. Hawkes, Weapons and warfare in Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford University Committee for Archaeology Monograph 21, Oxford, 1989. 2. K. Manchester and 0. Elmhirst, 'Forensic aspects of an Anglo-Saxon injury', Ossa, 7 (1980), 179-88. 3. K. Manchester, 'A leprous skeleton of the 7th century from Eccles, Kent', Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 8 (1980), 205-9. 4. K. Manchester, 'Hydrocephalus in an Anglo-Saxon child', Arch. Cant., xcvi (1980), 77-82. 5. S.C. Hawkes, 'Exhibits at ballots', Antiq. Journ., liii (1973), 281-6. 6. K. Manchester, 'Secondary cancer in an Anglo-Saxon female', Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 10 (1983), 475 -82. 7. K. Manchester, 'Spondylolysis and spondylolysthesis in two Anglo-Saxon skeletons', Palaeopathology Newsletter, 37 (1982), 9-12. 8. K. Manchester, 'Eccles human skeletal report' (unpublished). 188