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THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 



decapitated, are found almost without exception 

 in communal burial grounds (Reynolds in 

 preparation). A survey of Early Anglo-Saxon burials 

 from Wiltshire reveals only one prone burial, from 

 the Blacknall Field cemetery near Pewsey (B. Eagles 

 pers. comm.), whilst, apart from the Stonehenge 

 example, decapitations are not recorded from the 

 county between the 5th and 7th centuries. 



The rarity of deviant burials in Wiltshire may 

 be partly a function of the limited number of 

 excavated 5th-7th century AD cemeteries. In 

 regions where more Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries 

 are known, the figures rise accordingly. In adjoining 

 counties there are three prone burials from 

 Abingdon (Oxon), one from Frilford (Oxon), four 

 from Lechlade (Gloucestershire), one from 

 Droxford and two from Worthy Park (Hampshire) 

 and three from Camerton (Somerset) (Leeds and 

 Harden 1936, 31, 36, 40-1; Rolleston 1869, 437, 

 477; Boyle el al. 1998, Aldsworth 1979, 114; 

 Hawkes and Wells 1975, 1 18; Home 1933,55,63). 

 Decapitations from adjoining counties are limited 

 to four examples from Hampshire, one each from 

 Alton and Andover (Portway) and two from Winnall 

 (Evison 1988, 29; Cooke and Dacre 1985, 29, 56; 

 Meaney and Hawkes 1970, 12, 14). The scarcity of 

 decapitation relative to prone burial can be seen 

 nationally: eighty-eight prone burials contrast with 

 forty-four examples of decapitation (Reynolds in 

 prep.). Where dateable, both prone and decapitation 

 burials in Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are 

 overwhelmingly of the 6th or 7th centuries AD. The 

 Stonehenge decapitation, then, should be viewed 

 in a context of pre-existing practice, apparently part 

 of an increasing desire to mark deviant status 

 through burial rite leading up to and during the 

 conversion period. 



Throughout the 7th century single burials are 

 mostly rare high-status interments in mounds, as 

 at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, Asthall, Oxfordshire 

 and Roundway Down and Swallowcliffe Down, 

 Wiltshire (Geake 1997, 146; Dickinson and Speake 

 1992; Semple and Williams 2001; Speake 1989). 

 These barrow burials are seen to reflect the 

 emergence of powerful elites and the formation of 

 kingdoms with their geographical isolation 

 emphasising a new social order (Welch 1992, 90). 

 Isolated flat graves of late 6th to 7th century date 

 include those of the smith from Tattershall Thorpe, 

 Lincolnshire and the high-status female from 

 Winthorpe Road, Newark, Nottinghamshire 

 (Hinton 2000; Samuels and Russell 1998). These 

 two burials are unusual in their own right, and serve 



to underline the range and peculiarity encountered 

 in 7th century funerary practice (Geake 1992, 89). 

 The Stonehenge find, however, is one of a very few 

 clearly 'deviant' burials of 7th century date. Other 

 comparable examples vary in character, and include 

 the mutilated skeleton 'Ql' found buried in the 

 Neolithic bank barrow inside Maiden Castle, 

 Dorset, dated by radiocarbon to the first half of the 

 7th century, and the body of a woman found in a 

 well at the Roman town of Mildenhall (Cunetio) 

 in 1949 dated to the 6th century (Broth well 1971; 

 Meaney 1964, 271-2). Spatial 'otherness' was 

 apparently not limited to those at the very top of 

 the social scale, although it should be remembered 

 that two other skeletons found at Stonehenge 

 remain undated. 



Early medieval burial at prehistoric stone 

 settings is unusual but not unprecedented. 

 Cremations and inhumations have been found at 

 Little Rollright, Oxon, (Meaney 1964, 260; 

 Lambrick 1988, figure 9), and a radially-arranged 

 group of inhumations was found at a small stone 

 circle atYeavering, Northumberland (Hope-Taylor 

 1977, 95-1 18). Much more frequent, however, are 

 early medieval burials at prehistoric barrows, 

 hillforts, ring-works and linear ditches (Williams 

 1997; Semple 1998). Burial at Bronze Age round 

 barrows clearly predominates and sites range from 

 large inhumation cemeteries of the 6th century (e.g. 

 Uncleby, East Yorkshire) to isolated single burials 

 of late 7th century date (e.g. Swallowcliffe Down 

 and Roundway Down). 



As well as the stone circles, Stonehenge consists 

 of a circular earthen bank and ditch, single 

 megaliths and mounds. Perhaps the complexity of 

 the monument attracted burial in the 7th century, 

 with the 'barrows' diametrically opposed within the 

 henge providing an additional appeal. It is common 

 for early medieval burial to occur at complexes with 

 a range of prehistoric monuments (e.g. Stanton 

 Harcourt and Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxford- 

 shire). 



The reuse of prehistoric monuments for 

 funerary purposes is found as early as the 5th 

 century, becoming widespread by the 7th century. 

 However, despite 9th or even 10th century AD 

 occurrences (e.g. Ogbourne St. Andrew, Wiltshire), 

 the practice is very rare beyond the late 7th and 

 early 8th centuries, with the exception of the formal 

 execution cemeteries of 8th- 12th century date 

 (Reynolds 1999, 105-10). 



From the 8th century, texts and place-names 

 assist study of changes in funerary practice. Of 



