Naglo Saxson Burial Customs :: essays research papers

Anglo-Saxon Burial TechniquesEarly Anglo-Saxon burials are traditionally ground on cremation on a pyre, with the deposition of corpses in the ground in a pottery container. The Anglo-Saxons were experts at cremations, with their pyres being at least as efficient as todays pyres, reaching temperatures of up to 9000C. Cremation burials were never found with weapons - it is possible, of course, that these were a part of the cremation, but melted in the flames, but many are found with miniature weapons and miniature combs. In the fourth and fifth centuries, burial chamber burials came into common use, where the unburned body is deposited in a rectangular dense. It was probably copied from the belatedly Roman technique, although it is suggested that it was introduced from Denmark. Inhumation burials typically were accompanied by weapons, and grave goods gibe to status. In the seventh century, Anglo-Saxon burials abruptly changed, as a steer result of Christianity. The most obvious indicator is the lack of pagan objects, such(prenominal) as weapons- a practice encouraged by the Church. Many cemeteries were put away that had been used in the fifth and sixth centuries, and the double cemetery excessively became common -that is, a cemetery was aband matchlessd and a new one was setup beside it. There were a number of new types of burial represent after the Church arrived. The first of these is the Final Phase burial, which is basically a transition amongst a pagan inhumation, with the corpse being accompanied typically by clothes, jewelry, weapons and other personal belongings, and a Christian inhumation, where the corpse is unclothed and unfurnished, chuck out for a shroud. On the whole, these burials rush very few grave goods when compared to the old pagan period, and some have no grave goods at all. The sculpt are aligned east-west, after the Christian fashion, and all except a very small number are inhumation - after the sixth century, cremations beco me almost redundant. Another type of burial identified, is that of the Princely burial, normally fixed under a mound, with a high number of quality grave goods. They contain either a cremation or an inhumation. Anglo-Saxon standards is that burial mounds usually cover inhumations, rather than cremations. One such burial is that of Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, on the River Deben. There were a number of burials here, all of them under mounds. An interesting saying of Anglo-Saxon society was the graves surrounding - the so-called sand-men, which appear to have been human sacrifices.