| Common name | Updown Girl |
|---|---|
| Species | Homo sapiens |
| Age | 7th century AD |
| Place discovered | Updown early medieval cemetery, Eastry, Kent |
| Date discovered | 1989 |
Updown Girl is the name given to the skeletal remains of a young Anglo-Saxon girl discovered at an early 7th-century burial site close to Updown House in Eastry, Kent, England. Although first found in 1989, the Updown Girl aroused new interest in 2022 when modern analysis of her DNA indicated she had some West African ancestry, with evidence suggesting her paternal grandfather or possibly her great-grandfather came from either the Esan or Yoruba population groups. [1] [2] [3]
Updown early medieval cemetery was discovered in 1973 through the use of aerial photography and first excavated in 1976. The cemetery covers an area roughly 150 by 80 m (490 by 260 ft) and contains an estimated 300 burials; around a quarter of the site has been excavated. Thirty-six graves were excavated in 1976 and another 41 were excavated in 1989 (excluding some graves from the 1976 campaign which were re-opened). [4] Twenty-one of the excavated burials contained children. [5]
Updown Girl was discovered during excavations in 1989 at Updown early medieval cemetery, occupying grave 47. [6] [7] The grave was oriented roughly east to west and measured 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) long, 0.52 m (1 ft 8 in) wide and 0.34 m (1 ft 1 in) deep. [7] Grave 47 was located near the north end of the excavated area close to a number of other burials; graves 37, 38, 41, 42, 45, 50, and 51 were all within 5 m (16 ft) of Updown Girl. Graves 34 and 45 contained relatives, possibly Updown Girl's great aunts. [6] [8]
Updown Girl is estimated to have died in the early 7th century at around the age of ten or eleven. Grave goods accompanying her burial were typical of the local culture of the period. [9]
Grave goods were ubiquitous in early medieval England and are found in graves as early as the 5th century, though they became less common in the 8th century. [10] The possible meanings of grave goods vary greatly, depending on culture and context: they include expressions of identity and status, items for use in the afterlife, and gifts to the deceased. [11]
Updown Girl was buried with a pot, a bone comb, a knife, a spoon, and a strap. The assemblage, like much of the cemetery, can be broadly dated to the 7th century. [12] The knife was too damaged to match to an existing typology. [13] Frankish wheel-thrown pottery was found in five graves at the cemetery, including that of Updown Girl, evidence of Kent's connections to mainland Europe. [14]
Just two bone combs (or possibly made from antler) and iron spoons were found in the cemetery, one comb and spoon in each of grave 47 (Updown Girl) and grave 45, the burial of an individual aged 16–24 who was possibly Updown Girl's great aunt. [6] [15]
Analysis of Updown Girl's remains was carried out as part of a research project which used modern DNA and isotope analysis to shed light on migrations into Britain in the post-Roman period. [16] The results indicated that she had some West African ancestry, with evidence suggesting her paternal grandfather or possibly her great-grandfather came from either the Esan or Yoruba population groups. [1] The study was undertaken jointly by the University of Central Lancashire and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of Leipzig, and for their investigation researchers re-examined 460 skeletons from 37 archaeological sites across Britain and Europe, using recent DNA and isotope techniques to plot shifts in population. DNA analysis showed a high proportion of those living in the South Eastern parts of England in the 7th century – up to 76% – had genetic links with Continental Northern Europe, particularly with regions corresponding to modern Germany and Denmark. [17]
Analysis of the skeletons of two women buried near the girl indicates they were related to her, being probably either her aunts or great-aunts. Both were of predominantly Continental North European ancestry with some Franco-Belgian admixture. There appears to have been no distinction made between them and the Updown Girl, either in the location of the burials or in the type of grave goods accompanying the remains. Carly Hilts, editor of Current Archaeology , observed that: "She was accompanied by very typical grave goods ... and there was nothing to suggest that she had been treated differently, at least in death, even though the new genetic research highlights that her ancestry was very different to that of many of the people buried around her." [2]
Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was discovered. The site is important in establishing the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia as well as illuminating the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation.
The Kingdom of the Kentish, today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed into the Kingdom of Wessex in the late 9th century and later into the Kingdom of England in the early 10th century.
Grave goods, in archaeology and anthropology, are items buried along with a body.
The year 1989 in archaeology involved some significant events.
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Burial in 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.
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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.
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.
Buckland Anglo-Saxon cemetery was a place of burial. It is located on Long Hill in the town of Dover 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.
Fordcroft Anglo-Saxon cemetery was a place of burial. It is located in the town of Orpington in South East London, 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. Fordcroft was a mixed inhumation and cremation ceremony.
Sarre Anglo-Saxon cemetery is a place of burial that was used in the sixth and seventh centuries CE.
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Sonia Chadwick Hawkes was a British archaeologist specialising in early Anglo-Saxon archaeology. She led excavations on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries at Finglesham in Kent and Worthy Park in Hampshire. She was described by fellow medieval archaeologist Paul Ashbee as a "discerning systematiser of the great array of Anglo-Saxon grave furnishings".
Updown early medieval cemetery in Eastry, Kent, United Kingdom, was used as a burial place in the 7th century. Eastry was an important administrative centre in the Kingdom of Kent. Updown was one of four cemeteries in and around Eastry. The cemetery measures roughly 150 by 80 m and may have encompassed around 300 graves.