One hoof in the grave? Animal remains as inhumation grave goods in early medieval eastern England

ABSTRACT

Animal remains placed into inhumation graves in fifth to seventh century England have been recorded for many years, but for reasons related both to the development of the discipline and the sparse nature of the evidence, there has been little systematic study of these remains. The evidence for animal remains in inhumation burials across five eastern UK counties (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire) is reviewed, and results from three cemeteries – Oakington, Cambridgeshire; Lakenheath, Suffolk; and Castledyke South, Lincolnshire – are discussed in detail. A broadly consistent animal cosmology is indicated, which may extend across the UK, but the practices in which animals are incorporated as grave goods are seen to vary between cemeteries and even on an intra-cemetery or family basis. This may have implications for the analysis of animal remains in early Anglo-Saxon cremation cemeteries, where the much larger numbers of burials and animal pyre goods have resisted easy interpretation.

Acknowledgments

This article results from a PhD funded through the AHRC-CDA scheme, with the University of Bradford and Norwich Castle Museum. The author would like to thank Julie Bond, Jo Buckberry and Tim Pestell for supervising the thesis; Jo Caruth and Terry O’Connor for access to unpublished data relating to Lakenheath, and for suggestions and input; David Roberts and Karen Weston for creating the maps; and the two anonymous reviewers for their suggestions and input.