Grave Goods in Early Medieval Europe: regional variability and decline

Abstract

This article analyses the use of grave goods in burials across early medieval Europe and how that use changed over the course of the 6th to 8th centuries CE with the widespread transition to unfurnished burial. It uses data gathered from published cemetery excavation reports from England, France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The grave good use in these cemeteries was analysed using GIS methods to visualise regional differences, as well as statistical methods to analyse how grave good use evolved over time in those regions. This analysis revealed clear regional distinctions in grave good use, with England and Alamannia appearing similar, with relatively high levels of grave good use. Meanwhile, parts of Frankia and of Burgundy had considerably lower levels of grave good use. Distributions of individual artefact types tended to match those of overall numbers, but there were a few key exceptions, such as vessels, which followed a quite different pattern, being found in high numbers along the Frankish coast, but in much lower numbers elsewhere. Despite these overall trends, there was still considerable intra-regional and intra-cemetery variation that suggests communities and individuals had the ability to make highly individual choices about the way to bury their dead, along with the ability to subvert local norms. It also revealed that while there was a general decline in the use of grave goods across this period, and everywhere eventually reached the point of almost completely unfurnished burial, this decline occurred at different rates. In particular, there was a zone around the North Sea, including Kent, western Frankia, and the Low Countries, where there was little change in grave good use until it was suddenly abandoned in the early 8th century. Different types of objects declined at different rates across different regions, with few clear trends, suggesting that only personal accessories held a common significance across Europe; the meanings of all other object types were negotiated on a local basis.

A Radiocarbon-Based Model of Changing Burial Rites in Early Medieval England

“…It is therefore not surprising that the high point of furnishing coincides with the low point for small groups of burials, nor that as one declines, the other rises. After furnished burial was abandoned, so too were the majority of the sites in which furnished burial had been used (Scull 2013:528; Brownlee 2021b). This is reflected by the increase seen in small groups of burials over that period (Boddington 1990:188), although given that this study classed “small groups” as five burials or fewer, it does not capture the full extent of changing cemetery size.…”

“…Although some level of unfurnished burial did continue, the use of these grave goods is a defining feature of burials of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries. Yet in the seventh century, grave good use declined again, until by the end of the eighth century, the majority of burials were unfurnished (Boddington 1990:182;Geake 1997;Brownlee 2021b). Geake (1997:130) suggested that the end of furnished burial occurred around 720-730 AD, having declined from the mid-seventh century onwards.…”

Women of the Conversion Period: a biomolecular investigation of mobility in early medieval England

“…The majority come from cemeteries thought to date to the seventh century (although potentially extending into the eighth); some contained closely datable burial assemblages and 18 have been radiocarbon dated, eight as part of this project (Table S1). Phasing of the burials follows that proposed by Leggett and colleagues (2021), which is based on Bayliss and Hines’ leading artefact types (2013: 460) but also incorporates Brownlee's more recent (2021) re-phasing of cemeteries not included in the 2013 study. Slightly modified date categories unifying both chronological frameworks and incorporating other absolute dating evidence (radiocarbon and numismatic) were therefore used.…”