AN ANGLO-SAXON DECAPITATION AND BURIAL AT STONEHENGE 



139 



The lead isotope values obtained are typical of UK 

 lead ores and suggest, as suspected, that this 

 individual's lead exposure was dominated by ore- 

 derived lead, presumably from manufactured 

 products. This is confirmed by the relatively high 

 (although not extreme) enamel lead concentration 

 which is broadly comparable to those of modern 

 people, but an order of magnitude higher than 

 prehistoric people living in the same area (Budd ef 

 al. 2000b). The lead data are therefore not 

 diagnostic with respect to place of origin, but do 

 suggest that the individual had childhood access to 

 lead-bearing metals or products. The oxygen isotope 

 composition of the enamel is typical of meteoric 

 water falling on the UK, but defines specific parts 

 of it. The oxygen isotope composition of rainwater 

 is normally principally related to latitude, but is 

 distorted into a west to east pattern by Britain's 

 maritime climate and prevailing winds. The values 

 obtained map out a broad band of possible locations 

 running down the centre of the country (Figure 6) 

 (Darling er al. 1999). 



The Sr data allow us to refine this picture 

 considerably. The soil strontium isotope 

 measurement is consistent with previously reported 

 data for Cretaceous chalk geology from southern 

 England (Budd et al. in press c; Montgomery er al. 

 2000). The low tooth enamel 87Sr/86Sr ratio is 

 within a range (<0.7085) more-or-less restricted 

 in the UK to areas of Cretaceous chalk geology of 

 which the main outcrops occur in southern England 

 and the Yorkshire Wolds (Figure 6). Combining the 

 oxygen and strontium data, the zone of overlap 

 defines the only area to meet both criteria. Parts of 

 this are local to Stonehenge although it extends 

 primarily to the north and east of the monument. 

 We conclude that this area (dark shaded in Figure 

 6) is the most likely place of early childhood 

 residence for this individual. 



HISTORICAL CONTEXT 



by Andrew Reynolds and Sarah 

 Semple 



Central southern England in the 7th century is 

 characterised by dynamic political activity in terms 

 of the formation of the kingdom of Wessex (Yorke 

 1995, 52-93). Christianity became established 

 during the course of the 7th century and a series of 

 further cultural transformations relating to burial 

 practices, settlement patterns and types, and social 



Fig. 6. Map of the UK with isobaric contours showing 

 the range of oxygen isotope composition for modern 

 meteoric water (after Darling et al. 1999). The broad 

 shaded band shows the area over which present day 

 meteoric water has an O-isotope composition (d' a O SMOW ) 

 in the range -7.8%o and -7.3%o. This is the composition 

 of childhood drinking water for the individual investigated, 

 calculated from the tooth enamel composition. The map 

 also shows (light shading) the approximate extent of 

 surface geology yielding 87 Sr/ 86 5r values of less than 

 0. 7084. This is essentially confined to the Cretaceous 

 chalk of southern England and eastern Yorkshire. The area 

 of overlap, represented by dark shading to the north and 

 east of Stonehenge, is the most likely area of childhood 

 residency for 4.10.4. 



organisation can be observed. Overall, the 

 archaeological and historical records bear witness 

 to the emergence of ruling elites and an increasingly 

 hierarchical ordering of society as a whole. 



The Stonehenge burial makes a further 

 contribution to our understanding of early medieval 

 political and administrative history, particularly the 

 development of liminal burial for the socially 

 excluded. Before the conversion of the Anglo- 

 Saxons to Christianity during the 7th to early 8th 

 centuries AD, peculiar burials, often prone or 



