Eaves-drip burial

Last updated

Eaves-drip burial refers to the medieval funerary custom in Britain of burying infants and young children next to building foundations in churchyard. Similar practices have begun to be explored in other regions of medieval Europe. [1]

Contents

History

Eaves-drip burials, the medieval custom of interring infants and small children next to churchyard foundations was practiced during the 7th–12th centuries AD throughout Britain. This early Christian custom was first noticed during archaeological excavations (1977–1984) of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Raunds Furnells, Northamptonshire. Archaeologists uncovered a burial space within five feet (1.5 m) of the church foundation which contained several closely packed graves of newborn babies and infants under one year in age. At the Raunds Furnells site and later in several other medieval cemeteries, archaeologists have discovered the clustering of graves of infants and small children next to church walls. [2] [3]

According to archaeologist, Elizabeth Craig-Atkins, "The most consistently favored explanation for eaves-drip burial is that rain falling on the church roof would have become [holy water]] by contact with a holy building, and then have fallen directly onto the zones of neonate and infant burials providing some form of posthumous reinforcement of the baptismal ritual". [2] In Britain, eaves-drip burials suggest concerns that early Christians may have had about the afterlife and the effectiveness of baptism. [2] The custom of placing infant graves under the eaves did not begin with the Anglo-Saxons. Several Roman texts describe the custom of burying infants who had not lived more than forty days under the eaves. Throughout history, differential treatment of infants during burial has been observed in all areas of Western Europe. [4] [5]

Eaves-drip burials were not practiced in all medieval cemeteries in Britain and the eaves-drip burial space in a few Christian cemeteries contained young children and one or two adults. The adults may possibly have been women who had died in childbirth. It has been suggested that some children and adults were buried under the eaves to benefit from the extra protection that the dripping of water off the consecrated roof provided. In the early period of use of the medieval cemetery at Whithorn in Scotland, an area under the eaves was used solely for infant burials. By the end of the eighth century, this exclusive burial ground was being used for children up to twelve years of age. [4] Archaeological research has also uncovered the clustering of infants next to standing structures that were not churches within the cemetery grounds. [2]

List of eaves-drip burial sites

This is a partial list of eaves-drip burial cemeteries.

See also

Related Research Articles

Stoke Mandeville Human settlement in England

Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil parish, the village falls within the Aylesbury Urban Area. According to the Census Report the area of this parish is 1,460 acres (5.9 km2).

The Prittlewell royal Anglo-Saxon burial or Prittlewell princely burial is a high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mound which was excavated at Prittlewell, north of Southend-on-Sea, in the English county of Essex.

Anglo-Saxon paganism Polytheistic religious beliefs and practices of the Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, or Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centuries AD, during the initial period of Early Medieval England. A variant of Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of beliefs and cultic practices, with much regional variation.

Cillín Unconsecrated burial place for unbaptised children

A cillín are historic burial sites in Ireland, primarily used for stillborn and unbaptized infants. These burial areas were also used for the recently deceased who were not allowed in consecrated churchyards, including the mentally disabled, suicides, beggars, executed criminals, and shipwreck victims.

Anglo-Saxon glass

Anglo-Saxon glass has been found across England during archaeological excavations of both settlement and cemetery sites. Glass in the Anglo-Saxon period was used in the manufacture of a range of objects including vessels, beads, windows and was even used in jewellery. In the 5th century AD with the Roman departure from Britain, there were also considerable changes in the usage of glass. Excavation of Romano-British sites have revealed plentiful amounts of glass but, in contrast, the amount recovered from 5th century and later Anglo-Saxon sites is minuscule.

Walkington Wold burials Burial site

The Walkington Wold burials in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, comprise the skeletal remains of 13 individuals from the Anglo-Saxon period which were discovered in the late 1960s, during the excavation of a Bronze Age barrow. Subsequent examinations have concluded that they were decapitated Anglo-Saxon criminals, and that the site is the most northerly of its kind known in England.

The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England is the study of the archaeology of England from the 5th Century AD to the 11th Century, when it was ruled by Germanic tribes known collectively as the Anglo-Saxons.

Taplow Barrow Medieval barrow in England

The Taplow Barrow is an early medieval burial mound in Taplow Court, an estate in the south-eastern English county of Buckinghamshire. Constructed in the seventh century, when the region was part of an Anglo-Saxon kingdom, it contained the remains of a deceased individual and their grave goods, now mostly in the British Museum. It is often referred to in archaeology as the Taplow burial.

Burial in Early Anglo-Saxon England refers to the grave and burial customs followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the mid 5th and 11th centuries CE in Early Mediaeval England. The variation of the practice performed by the Anglo-Saxon peoples during this period, included the use of both cremation and inhumation. There is a commonality in the burial places between the rich and poor - their resting places sit alongside one another in shared cemeteries. Both of these forms of burial were typically accompanied by grave goods, which included food, jewelry, and weaponry. The actual burials themselves, whether of cremated or inhumed remains, were placed in a variety of sites, including in cemeteries, burial mounds or, more rarely, in ship burials.

Anglo-Saxon burial mounds Burial mounds produced during the 6th and 7th centuries CE

An Anglo-Saxon burial mound is an accumulation of earth and stones erected over a grave or crypt during the late sixth and seventh centuries AD in Anglo-Saxon England. These burial mounds are also known as barrows or tumuli.

<i>Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones</i>

Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones is an archaeological study of amulets, talismans and curing stones in the burial record of Anglo-Saxon England. Written by the Australian archaeologist Audrey Meaney, it was published by the company British Archaeological Reports as the 96th monograph in their BAR British Series. Prior to writing the work, Meaney had published several books dealing with Anglo-Saxon burials.

A bed burial is a type of burial in which the deceased person is buried in the ground, lying upon a bed. It is a burial custom that is particularly associated with high-status women during the early Anglo-Saxon period, although excavated examples of bed burials are comparatively rare.

Street House Anglo-Saxon cemetery Cemetery in North Yorkshire, England

The Street House Anglo-Saxon cemetery is an Anglo-Saxon burial ground, dating to the second half of the 7th century AD, that was discovered at Street House Farm near Loftus, in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland, England. Monuments dating back as far as 3300 BC are located in the vicinity of the cemetery, which was discovered after aerial photography revealed the existence of an Iron Age rectangular enclosure. The excavations, carried out between 2005 and 2007, revealed over a hundred graves dating from the 7th century AD and the remains of several buildings. An array of jewellery and other artefacts was found, including the jewels once worn by a young high-status Anglo-Saxon woman who had been buried on a bed and covered by an earth mound.

Polhill Anglo-Saxon cemetery is a place of burial that was used in the seventh and eighth centuries CE. It is located close to the hamlet of Polhill, near Sevenoaks in Kent, South-East England. Belonging to the Middle Anglo-Saxon period, it was part of the much wider tradition of burial in Early Anglo-Saxon England.

Finglesham Anglo-Saxon cemetery is a place of burial that was used from the sixth to the eighth centuries CE. It is located adjacent to the village of Finglesham, near Sandwich in Kent, South East England. Belonging to the Anglo-Saxon period, it was part of the much wider tradition of burial in Early Anglo-Saxon England.

Church of St Mary the Virgin, Masham Church in North Yorkshire, England

The Church of St Mary the Virgin, Masham, is the parish church in the town of Masham, North Yorkshire, England. The church stands on the site of an Anglo-Saxon place of worship with some the original Saxon stones incorporated into the current church. Archaeology has determined that the site has been used as a place of Christian worship for over 1,400 years.

Dawn Marie Hadley is a British historian and archaeologist, who is best known for her research on the Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age periods, the study of childhood, and gender in medieval England. She is a member of the Centre for Medieval Studies and the department of archaeology at the University of York.

Hugh Willmott (archaeologist) British archaeologist (born 1972)

Hugh Benedict Willmott FSA MCIfA is a British archaeologist and academic. He is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Sheffield. His research focuses on medieval England, with a particular interest in monastic archaeology.

References

  1. ↑ Crow, Madison; Zori, Colleen; Zori, Davide (17 December 2020). "Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy." Religions. 11 (12): 14. doi:10.3390/rel11120678.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Craig-Atkins, Elizabeth (2014). "Chapter 6: Eavesdropping on short lives: Eaves-drip burial and the differential treatment of children one year of age and younger in early Christian cemeteries". In Hadley, D.M.; Hemer, K. A. (eds.). Medieval Childhood: Archaeological Approaches. Oxbox Books. pp. 95–113. ISBN   978-1782976981.
  3. ↑ Boddingtion, A.; Cramp, R.; Cadman, G. "Raunds Furnells: The Anglo-Saxon church and churchyard". Archaeology Data Service. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Crawford, Sally (2016). "Chapter 12: Children, Death and the Afterlife in Anglo-Saxon England". In Karkov, Katherine (ed.). The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: Basic Readings. Routledge. pp. 83–91. ISBN   978-1138987494.
  5. ↑ Crow, Madison; Zori, Colleen; Zori, Davide (17 December 2020). "Doctrinal and Physical Marginality in Christian Death: The Burial of Unbaptized Infants in Medieval Italy." Religions. 11 (12). doi:10.3390/rel11120678.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.