RETHINKING HARDOWN HILL: OUR WESTERNMOST EARLY ANGLO-SAXON CEMETERY?. (1st July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Austin, Matthew
• Is Part Of: Antiquaries journal. Volume 94(2014)
• Page Start: 49
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2014-07-01
• Subjects: Archaeology -- Periodicals; Great Britain -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 930.105
• DOI: 10.1017/S0003581514000250
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-5815

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="normal"> <title> <x content-type="archive" xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p> <italic>This paper reassesses the early Anglo-Saxon assemblage from Hardown Hill, Dorset. Wingrave excavated the objects in 1916 but apart from his 1931 report, and Evison's 1968 analysis, there has been little subsequent discussion. Despite a lack of human remains, the assemblage has been interpreted as representing an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery – our westernmost burial site by a considerable distance and one that pre-dates the historically attested seventh-century expansion of Wessex. The following typological reclassification and contextual analysis casts serious doubts on a funerary context. Instead, an alternative interpretation is presented that views the assemblage as a useful collection of metalwork, intended to be reforged and recycled, which was presumably deposited for safekeeping and never retrieved. Such a reinterpretation highlights the need for a critical reappraisal of material from older excavations. It also has implications for our understanding of post-Roman Dorset, and for the distribution of fifth- and sixth-century Anglo-Saxon material culture more broadly</italic>.</p> </abstract>