Neighbours and networks: funerary trends among cremation practicing groups in early medieval England and north-western Europe

Our understanding of the cremation rite in early Anglo-Saxon England (5th-mid 6th century A.D.) has become clearer over recent years owing to detailed osteological and artefact studies of large cemetery sites. Typically, these sites are studied in isolation or on a local or national scale. Through an examination of material culture, the recent publication of the final Spong Hill volume by Hills and Lucy (2013) has shown that there is a clear association in terms of cremation practicing communities in early medieval England and north-western Europe, specifically the areas of Schleswig-Holstein and Elbe-Weser. In the light of new and existing demographic and artefactual data from contemporary cremation cemeteries in eastern England, this paper aims to highlight funerary rites that were shared between cemeteries in England and those on the Continent. Four central themes will be explored throughout the course of this chapter: the demographic profile of cemetery populations, the multiple burial rite, the display of identity through grave provisions and the internal organisation of cemeteries, and the cremation process and post-cremation rites. The purpose of this paper is not to provide an in-depth assessment of shared artefacts found in England and on the Continent (as seen in Hills and Lucy, 2013) but instead aims to explore prevailing cremation traditions and newly established customs upon the migration of Germanic groups to Britain in the fifth century A.D.