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In 1815, Mount Tambora erupted, producing one of the largest volcanic eruptions in modern history, and causing extreme weather events for several years. Violent storms in winter 1816-1817 eroded a series of stone lined graves in the sand south of Bamburgh Castle. Initially misidentified by antiquarians as burials of Viking coastal raiders, the ‘Bowl Hole’ site was again lost until the late 20th century. From 1998, a decade-long research project excavated 98 individuals, 6th- to 9th-century in date and associated with a key royal stronghold of the kingdom of Northumbria. Nearly 20 years later, the research team has released a much-anticipated, comprehensive, and detailed volume of findings, one of early medieval bioarchaeology’s most exciting recent publications.
The site is highly unusual. Described as an urbs regia (royal city) by Bede, Bamburgh hosted a fortified royal palace from the 6th century AD, serving several administrative functions within the rising kingdom. In keeping with this status, the Bowl Hole site represents one of the largest early medieval cemeteries in northern England. Furthermore, skeletal preservation at the site was unusually good, offering a welcome northern counterbalance to the abundance of early medieval sites further south in Britain, and enabling new insights into the lives, health, diet, and origins of the people of Northumbria during a socio-political watershed.
The volume is superbly presented, with an extensive historical and archaeological background to complement and contextualise the skeletal data. The skeletal catalogue is delightfully detailed, offering a wealth of social, funerary, and biological context about each individual, alongside a visual feast of full-colour figure and plan-drawing illustrations. Topical sections on pathology, mobility, and diet are similarly detailed and – consistent with such a long-running project and publication – there is rigorous re-evaluation of evidence collected and published earlier in the project, in line with evolving understanding and current methodology. Overall, this volume provides a valuable landmark contribution to illuminating long-forgotten ways of life at a high-status royal site in early medieval Northumbria.
REVIEW BY ELLEN KENDALL
The Bamburgh Bowl Hole Anglian-period Cemetery: a bioarchaeological study of a Northumbrian royal site
Sam Lucy, Charlotte A Roberts, and Graeme Young (eds)
BAR, £81
ISBN 978-1407363271
Review Ellen Kendall
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