Early Medieval

First evidence that Vikings travelled with animals across the North Sea

Previously it had been thought that Vikings probably pillaged such animals from British populations on their arrival.

Riches and ritual uncovered in England

Archaeologists from MOLA were excavating the site in Northamptonshire when they uncovered a group of some 30 pendants, other grave goods, and fragments of tooth enamel in a grave.

Finds tray – a gold bulla

This pendant, known as a bulla, was found by a metal-detectorist in the Melton district of Leicestershire in November 2021. It is hemispherical in shape and formed of two plain gold sheets, one formed into a hollow dome and the…

Mysterious ‘Eadburg’ etched into early medieval manuscript

The name of an early medieval woman has been found among inscriptions recently identified on an 8th-century manuscript held by the Weston Library.

Current Archaeology 395

• The Harpole Treasure: early medieval Britain’s most significant female burial
• 20 years of discoveries at the Ness of Brodgar
• Return to Priors Hall: a Roman villa estate near Corby
• Weeley Barracks: echoes of the Napoleonic wars in Essex
• Penywyrlod: uncovering the Cotswold-Severn long cairn and barrow group

The Book of the Skelligs

Review by Finbar McCormick Skellig Michael, a rocky outcrop off the south-west coast of Ireland, boasts the best-surviving early medieval monastery in Ireland, if not western Europe. Ironically, despite the richness of Ireland’s early medieval documentary sources, mentions of the…

Left This spectacular necklace, found in a female burial in Northamptonshire, is the richest of its kind ever discovered in Britain.

Remarkable early medieval burial found in Northamptonshire

The collection of grave goods – dubbed the ‘Harpole Treasure’ after the name of the local parish – has been dated to AD 630-670.

‘Hand of Wulfstan – Image reproduction by kind permission of the Dean and Chapter of York Minster

The Past

Conference at Worcester Cathedral explores the Anglo-Saxon world of Archbishop Wulfstan

The conference, taking place on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 March 2023 in the cathedral's Old Palace, will feature talks from eight internationally renowned scholars.

CA Letters 395 – January

Your views on some of the latest issues raised in CA.

Picts: scourge of Rome, rulers of the north

Review by Kelly Kilpatrick The Picts first appear in written sources as a cultural entity to the north of the Roman frontier, and disappear from the written record before the turn of the 1st millennium. In combination with their still…

The Past

This week: The Harpole Treasure

It was, according to Levente Bence Balázs, the leader of the Museum of London team that made the discovery, a moment that might most accurately be described as ‘an archaeologist’s dream’. On 11 April 2022, Balázs was overseeing the penultimate…

The Past

Early medieval quiz

Born in c.673, which early monk is remembered as the 'father of English history'?

Opposite Some of the components of the 7th century Harpole Treasure, the richest necklace of its kind ever found.

Harpole’s hidden gem: excavating early medieval Britain’s most significant female burial

Archaeological work just outside Northampton has uncovered an internationally significant burial, furnished with a remarkable 7th-century necklace, as well as a number of other high-status grave goods. With conservation and analysis of the finds under way, Carly Hilts spoke to Paul Thompson and Lyn Blackmore about what these artefacts can tell us about the woman they were buried with, and what they could add to our understanding of early medieval England as research progresses.

Second Pictish stone discovered near Ulbster

It probably dates to between the 5th and 7th centuries AD, before the Picts were converted to Christianity.

Anglo-Saxon assemblage acquired by KAS

The artefacts were found during the 1977-1981 excavations of nearly 200 graves at Ozengell, near Ramsgate in Kent.

Royal hall revealed at Rendlesham

Excavations at Rendlesham in eastern England have unearthed the remains of a high-status early medieval settlement, including a royal hall built for the first kings of East Anglia.

CA Letters 394 – December

Your views on the latest issues raised in CA.

Necklace reconstruction and layout side by side © MOLA (Hugh Gatt)

The Past

Elite early medieval burial uncovered in Northamptonshire

The 7th-century grave of an elite woman who had been laid to rest with stunning grave goods – among them a necklace made of gold, garnets, and Roman coins – has been unearthed in Harpole, Northamptonshire.

Minerva Magazine 198

• Prayer and poetry: Enheduanna and the women of Mesopotamia
• Circles of stone: Japan’s prehistoric monuments
• Vindelev hoard: power and gold before the Vikings
• Classical currents: ancient Greece and Rome in early US history
• Deciphering the Rosetta Stone

Ogham inscription discovered on Pictish cross found near Doune

Such inscriptions are relatively rare in Scotland, with only 35 currently known

RIGHT The latest CA was a special issue, highlighting new evidence of migration in the early medieval period.

Ancient DNA and ‘Anglo-Frisians’

I have a personal dislike of the term ‘Anglo-Saxon’ to describe the people and culture of southern and eastern Britain from the 4th to the 8th centuries because it is anachronistic – it implies homogeneity where I see much more interesting diversity

The Past

A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain: trade networks and the importation of a southern Scandinavian silver bullion economy

This book is the third in Routledge’s ‘Archaeologies of the Viking World’ series, and maintains the high standard of the others in terms of content. The book’s core idea is that groups with connections to southern Scandinavia established an often-loose…

Current Archaeology 392

• Setting the scene: insights into early medieval England
• The migration question: exploring the history of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’
• Archaeogenetics: illuminating the past with DNA
• New evidence from Anglo-Saxon cemeteries
• Uncovering family tales and African ancestry
• What can isotopes add to the picture?
• Revisiting the Adventus Saxonum

ABOVE This summer, excavations at Rendlesham have uncovered the remains of a high status early medieval settlement, including the footprint of a great hall, seen in the rightmost trench.

Revealing royal Rendlesham: luxury living in early medieval Suffolk

A second summer of excavation at Rendlesham, four miles from Sutton Hoo, has uncovered further evidence of a high-status settlement that thrived from the late 5th to the early 8th century. Carly Hilts spoke to Faye Minter and Professor Christopher Scull to find out more.

The Past

This week: Danish treasure

No written records exist to explain why people in early medieval Europe chose to bury collections of their most valuable objects or artefacts – known to archaeologists as ‘hoards’ – though logic suggests that burying your treasures at moments of…

Odin: wisdom, war, and poetry

Odin is a war god, fomenting conflict to see who is worthy of entering his hall, Valhalla, and ultimately fighting at Ragnarök (the events, including a battle, at the end of the world). But he is also a god of magic and wisdom, something he is always seeking

Above A total of 23 pieces of goldwork were discovered in the hoard. There was some damage from the plough, but it also seems that some objects were deliberately bent or ritually destroyed.

The Vindelev Hoard: power and gold before the Vikings

A newly discovered hoard of gold was buried in Vindelev in the 6th century. Why? And what can its regal riches reveal about power and religion in Denmark before the Vikings? Mads Ravn shares what we know so far.

The Past

Royal hall used by kings of East Anglia unearthed in Suffolk

‘The results of this season’s excavation are of international importance. Rendlesham is the most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England.'

Below Archaeogenetics is an increasingly illuminating addition to the arsenal of scientific techniques that are helping to shed light on mobility in the past.

Transformations in early medieval England: the perspective from population genetics

Ancient human DNA is revolutionising our ability to detect human migration that occurred hundreds of years ago. Joscha Gretzinger and Stephan Schiffels explain how these advances have transformed our understanding of the past.

Above This equal armed brooch comes from Grave 122 at West Heslerton the burial of an adolescent male who, due to the presence of this artefact, beads, and a knife, was initially interpreted as a young female. But genetic analysis demonstrated that the juvenile was biologically male, and a migrant from northern Europe who had arrived into East Yorkshire early in the post Roman period.

Setting the scene: early medieval migration into the east of England

Newly published research centred on ancient DNA, which is revolutionising our understanding of early medieval mobility and the genetic changes it brought in its wake, forms the focus of this special issue of Current Archaeology. Duncan Sayer discusses some of the key themes that we will cover this month, and how the project came together.

The migration question: re-grounding Anglo-Saxon archaeology

Was the arrival of the ‘Anglo-Saxons’ in England a limited elite takeover, an invasion force, or a mass movement of migrants? Perceptions of the immediate post-Roman period have shifted and evolved over the centuries. John Hines places the new genetic data explored in this issue in the context of research history.

ABOVE Students and volunteers excavate Grave 112 at Oakington, Cambridgeshire, in 2013. Post excavation analysis, including sampling for aDNA, revealed its occupant to be a mature man aged 45 years or older, who had near 100% CNE ancestry.

Grave affairs: what can ancient DNA tell us about early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries?

By combining excavated evidence from early medieval burials with genetic information, we can gain powerful insights into patterns of population movement, and ideas of identity and integration. Duncan Sayer explains more.

Below At Oakington’s Anglo Saxon cemetery, in Cambridgeshire, two men were found buried with interlinked arms (Grave 88). Ancient DNA analysis has revealed no genetic relationship between the two, suggesting that, although the funeral party may have intended to signal a close personal relationship through this positioning, whatever their relationship had been in life, it was not based on biology.

Individual encounters: capturing personal stories with ancient DNA

The study of ancient DNA is a potent recent addition to the archaeological arsenal, with the power to illuminate (and eliminate) family relationships between excavated individuals. Duncan Sayer, Dominic Powlesland, and Allison Stewart explore some of the most-intriguing recent revelations from the early medieval period.

ABOVE Cleaned teeth (after having been through a sonic bath and dried in the oven) set to undergo isotope analysis.

Isotopes and aDNA: teasing apart ancestry versus migration in early medieval England

The previous articles in this issue have focused primarily on ancient DNA – but what can isotopic analysis add to this picture? Sam Leggett explores how this technique can complement genetic analysis, and how it illuminates the experiences of people living centuries earlier.

Below ’Spong Man’ sits on the lid of a mid fifth century cremation urn from Spong Hill in Norfolk.

Revisiting the Adventus Saxonum, again: exploring the implications of new evidence

Following this issue’s explorations of genetic data, cemetery and skeletal evidence, and isotope analysis, Joanna Story reflects on the significance of the research, and its place within the bigger picture of understanding the early Middle Ages.

Lost Realms: histories of Britain from the Romans to the Vikings

Review by CH As the last vestiges of official Roman administration flickered out in Britain, the resulting power vacuum produced a patchwork of small kingdoms. Some – Mercia, Northumbria, East Anglia, Kent – have come to dominate popular imaginings of…