GENDER AND THE POOR: THE UNFURNISHED BURIALS OF EARLY ANGLO-SAXON WORTHY PARK
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-03-22

In the Anglo-Saxon cemetery of Worthy Park, Kingsworthy, Hampshire, eight men and eight women were buried with no surviving grave goods. These poor Anglo-Saxons may have been slaves and/or native British people put to work by the newly-arrived Angles, Jutes or Saxons; an examination of their lives, through their graves and their remains can provide a glimpse of lesser lives in the past - lives often missing in archaeological analyses. Worthy Park men buried without grave goods lived hard lives. Life was even more difficult for the individual buried in grave 38 who was born without his left forequarter – his shoulder and arm were both absent; compensatory changes in the skeleton for the missing limb accrued over the half century or so that he lived, were evident. This individual was given adequate care to ensure survival, but like other men buried without grave goods, his life was one of hard work, violence and possibly prejudice. Women buried without grave goods also display signs hard work and lesser treatment, but not to the degree that men suffered. In addition, their lesser treatment differs from that received by their male counterparts: or example, their work was less physically challenging than that of their brothers, but their teeth were in better condition than any other cemetery cohort. They sufferedless violence. This presentation will explore the similarities and differences in the lives of those buried with goods and those buried without. We will consider possible reasons for these differences and ask whether gendered attitudes helped or hindered the people of early Anglo-Saxon Worthy Park.


Author(s): Cave, Christine (Australian National University)