Anglo-Saxon Foodways and Faith
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2019-02-25

This paper explores the connections between food, identity (individual and community), and religion during the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon England when the conversion of the Germanic peoples to Christianity was at its zenith. The link between changing burial practices in Anglo-Saxon England during the 7th century and Christianisation is well established, and this research seeks to compliment the changing material culture and practices in death with those during life-diet. What will be presented here is preliminary carbon and nitrogen data from a small subset of individuals in this study, showing what they ate and how this correlates with their burial rites. This study presents data about diet across the 7th century in Anglo-Saxon England, indicating any changes in food practice, which might align with change in religion. The hypothesis being tested is that diet changed in Anglo-Saxon England during the 7th century due to religious conversion, meaning that people adopted the new dietary laws of early Medieval Christianity as well as new burial practices, and reached a fish ‘event-horizon’. What will be shown here is whether or not the stable isotope data agrees with historical research or if it shows another story for 7th-century Anglo-Saxons.  

Samantha Leggett (University of Cambridge)