Episodes

  • Wayland's Smithy - Liminal Smiths in Anglo-Saxon England

    Wayland's Smithy - Liminal Smiths in Anglo-Saxon England
    Feb 29 2024
    In this episode, we discuss the evidence for Anglo-Saxon smiths, the people who created the artefacts at Sutton Hoo and other princely burials. To do this we analyse the Neolithic tomb called Wayland's Smithy and the legend associated with its namesake.

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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Sutton Hoo - Mercury Rivers

    Sutton Hoo - Mercury Rivers
    Sep 26 2023
    Sutton Hoo is the most spectacular archaeology discovery in British history. We explore what this tells us about the Anglo-Saxons' relationship to themselves, their neighbours and their past.

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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • Yeavering Pt. 2 - Of Gods and Priests, Kings, Queens and Bede

    Yeavering Pt. 2 - Of Gods and Priests, Kings, Queens and Bede
    Apr 18 2022
    What was it like to be pagan and Christain the next?

    In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand what the conversion of England must have felt like. We go beyond the historical story and explore the actual day to day "experience" of conversion.

    Next episode: Sutton Hoo and the Performance of Kingship

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    Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/bonesandstuff
    Paypal: https://paypal.me/bonesandstuff?country.x=GB&locale.x=en_GB
    KoFi: ko-fi.com/oldbones

    ***

    Sources:

    Taylor, Brian Hope. "Yeavering—an Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria." (1977).
    An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Bede

    Women in Bede:
    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZqWvPiCS1iGY6UJWEd21fhj5HM54IEoKb5NAGkf1Lac/edit?usp=sharing



    ***

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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Yeavering Pt 1: The Rise of the Anglo-Saxon Kings

    Yeavering Pt 1: The Rise of the Anglo-Saxon Kings
    Oct 29 2021
    How do we go from the society we met last time, one that is primarily equal and poor to the medieval image of kings, men with wealth and power near unimaginable to the ordinary peasant.

    In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand the social dynamics that resulted in kingliness.

    Sources below.

    Next episode: Yeavering & The Rise of Christianity

    ***

    Sources:

    Taylor, Brian Hope. "Yeavering—an Anglo-British Centre of Early Northumbria." (1977).


    ***

    Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
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    46 mins
  • Growing Up in Early Anglo-Saxon England

    Growing Up in Early Anglo-Saxon England
    Aug 7 2021
    What was life like in the 400s and 500s CE? That question is not an easy one.

    In this episode, we look at the funerary evidence for each stage of life during this period. We understand what identity was developed and how that was closely connected to what individuals did during life as well as the important cultural concerns at the time.

    Sources below.

    Next episode: Yeavering & Early Anglo-Saxon Elites

    ***

    Sources:

    Stoodley, N. (2000). From the cradle to the grave: age organization and the early Anglo-Saxon burial rite. World Archaeology, 38(3), 456-472.

    Gowland, R. (2006). Ageing the past: examining age identity from funerary evidence. In R. Gowland & C. Knüsel (Eds.), Social archaeology of funerary remains (pp. 143-155). Oxford: Oxbow Books.

    Lucy, S. (2020). Gender and gender roles. In H. Hamerow, D. A. Hinton, & S. Crawford (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Squires, K. E. (2013). Piecing together identity: a social investigation of early Anglo-Saxon cremation practices. Archaeological Journal, 170, 154-200.

    Martin, T. F. (2020). "Casting the Net Wider: Network Approaches to Artefact Variation in Post-Roman Europe." Journal of archaeological method and theory 27(4): 861-886.


    ***

    Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
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    32 mins
  • Spong Hill: The Anglo-Saxons Arrive

    Spong Hill: The Anglo-Saxons Arrive
    Jul 12 2021
    All across the East of England, there are small cemeteries with completely new material culture. it looks like it's from North-West Europe and represents the arrival, so well documented, of the Anglo-Saxon people.

    In this episode, we introduce the main debates about how and why the Anglo-Saxons started coming to England. It's a bit of a throwback to our Birdoswald episode, but with more theory, more detail and some new ideas from me!

    Plus, there's a promise of bonus episodes for those that sign up to Patreon!

    Sources below.

    Next episode: The Life of an Anglo-Saxon

    ***

    Sources:

    Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People

    Gildas' On The Ruin of Britain

    Squires, K. E. (2016). Neighbours and networks: funerary trends among cremation practicing groups in early medieval England and north-western Europe. In I. Riddler, J. Soulat, & L. Keys (Eds.), The evidence of material culture: studies in honour of Professor Vera Evison (pp. 119-138). Autun: Editions Mergoil.

    Hills, C., & Lucy, S. (2019). Spong Hill and the Anglo-Saxon migration to England. Neue Studien zur Sachsenforschung, 9, 239-248.

    Hills, C. (1998). Did the people of Spong Hill come from Schleswig-Holstein? In (Vol. 11, pp. 145-154).

    ***

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    45 mins
  • Chapels in the Sands - Celtic Christianity in the Irish Sea

    Chapels in the Sands - Celtic Christianity in the Irish Sea
    May 16 2021
    All around the Irish sea, small stone chapels still remain. Some are amongst the sand dunes, some are now part of larger monasteries and some of them are on golf courses. All of them share an origin story: the beginnings of the Celtic church.

    In this episode, we explore the origins of Celtic Christianity, how it remained vibrant and developing while being cut off from other Christian communities in Europe. We explore the nature of ritual and religion and lay the groundwork for much later in our season when we discuss the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. Oh, and the episode is inspired by a Time Team episode.

    Sources below.

    Next episode: The Germans are coming!

    ***

    Time Team Reports: https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/our-work/time-team

    This episodes report: https://www.wessexarch.co.uk/our-work/speke-keeill-mount-murray-hotel-isle-man

    Magic & Memory: Gilchrist, R. (2008). Magic for the dead? The archaeology of magic in later medieval burials. Medieval Archaeology, 52(1), 119-159.

    ***

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    55 mins
  • King Arthur: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

    King Arthur: The Man, The Myth, The Legend
    Mar 13 2021
    A king who lies beneath a mountain waiting to return when his land needs him most... which apparently wasn't World War 2, the Great Recession or Coronavirus - how much worse could things become?

    Anyway, King Arthur. The Once and Future King, husband to Guinevere, best friend of Lancelot, student of Merlin has his origins in the 400s CE and what with his close ties to Tintagel, it felt right that we take a bit of time to dwell on King Arthur's early medieval origins. More than that though, we ask, why do we keep telling stories of this Dark Age warlord?

    Sources below.

    Next episode: Celtic Holy Men

    ***

    Gildas - De Excidio - http://www.vortigernstudies.org.uk/arthist/vortigernquotesgil.htm
    Nennius - Historia Brittonum - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1972/1972-h/1972-h.htm
    Concepts of Arthur - http://www.arthuriana.co.uk/concepts/

    ***

    Talk to me: oldbonespodcast@gmail.com
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    43 mins