A Bronze Age woman in an Anglo-Saxon village

Louise C. D. Schoss, University of Kent at Canterbury - U.K.
Scott S. Legge, Macalester College

Abstract

During the excavation of a late Anglo-Saxon settlement at Bishopstone, Sussex, UK, a crouched burial was unearthed. Carbon dating confirmed that this was a late Bronze Age burial (3260-3000 BP). The burial was found in close proximity to Anglo-Saxon burials that are part of a cemetery. Further, it was located between the trenches of two buildings dating to the Saxo-Norman period. The burial was interred in a crouch position laying on its right side oriented with the head to the north. This orientation clearly distinguishes it from the Saxon burials, which are in a supine position with their heads to the east. Skeletal analysis revealed that these were the remains of a 25-year-old woman. She showed no signs of trauma or disease with the exception of some osteoarthritis in the lower vertebrae. While this particular osteobiography would seem of limited value, this individual raises a variety of questions about not only its possible association with the Anglo-Saxon cemetery, but also with respect to the potential location for an as yet still unknown late Bronze Age settlement and cemetery in the area. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, Vol. 135, Supplement 46: 188 (Abstract).