Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T05:47:06.980Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Horse Burial in First Millennium AD Britain: Issues of Interpretation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Pamela J. Cross
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Burial of horses and horse-elements occurred throughout Europe during the first millennium AD. These burials are prevalent in northwest Europe and are perhaps more significant in Britain than previously realised. This article explores the position and value of the horse within Britain during this period and why the burials are likely to represent ritual deposition. Both horse and human-horse burials, are linked to non-Christian burial and sacrificial practices of the Iron Age and Early Medieval period and are particularly associated with Anglo- Saxon and Viking Britain. Some of the traditions appear to reflect the culture described in the Icelandic Sagas, Beowulf, and other legends and chronicles. Archaeologically, the human-horse burials are also linked with high status individuals and ‘warrior graves’, while complete-horse and horse-element burials may represent ritual feasting and/or sacrificial rites which are probably linked with fertility, luck, and the ancestors.

L'inhumation de chevaux et d'éléments de chevaux est attesté a travers l'Europe durant le premier millénaire de notre ère. Ces inhumations, fréquentes en Europe du Nord-Ouest, le sont plus encore que l'on pensait jusqu'à présent en Grande Bretagne. Nous penchons dans cet article sur la position et la valeur du cheval en Grande Bretagne à cette période, sur la possibilité que les inhumations représentent des dépôts rituels, et sur l'information que nous pouvons en tirer sur la culture del'éoque. Tant les dépôts de chevaux que les inhumations homme- cheval sont associés à des sépultures et sacrifices rituels non-chrétiens, durant l'Âge de Fer et le haut Moyen Âge spécifiquement en Grande Bretagne Anglo-Saxonne et Viking. Certaines de ces traditions semblent refléter les coutumes décrites dans les sagas islandaises, et des légendes et chroniques telles Beowulf. D'un point de vue archéologique, les inhumations homme-cheval sont aussi associés à des individus de haut rang et des tombes de guerriers, alors que des inhumations de chevaux complets ou d'éléments de chevaux pourrait représenter des festins rituels et des sacrifices rituels probablement associés à la fertilité, la bonne fortune et les ancêtres. Translation by Nathan Schlanger.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Bestattungen von Pferden oder Pferdeteilen kamen während des ersten Jahrtausends n. Chr. in ganz Europa vor. Diese Bestattungen traten besonders häufig in Nordwesteuropa auf und haben in Großbritannien eine größere Bedeutung als bisher angenommen. Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Stellung und Bedeutung des Pferdes in Großbritannien während dieser Zeit, erklärt warum es sich wahrscheinlich um rituelle Niederlegungen handelt und beschreibt was diese über die damalige Kultur aussagen. Sowohl Pferdeniederlegungen, als auch Pferde-Mensch Bestattungen sind während der Eisenzeit und dem Frühmittelalter, besonders im angelsächsischen und wikingerzeit- lichen England, mit nicht-Christlichen Bestattungen und Opferpraktiken in Ver- bindung gebracht worden. Manche dieser Traditionen entsprechen der Kultur, wie sie in den isländischen Sagen wie Beowulf und einigen anderen Legenden und Chroniken beschrieben wird. Archäologisch sind Pferde-Mensch Bestattungen in Gräbern der Elite und;Kriegergräbern” nachgewiesen, während Bestattungen von ganzen Pferden oder Teilen von Pferden eher rituelle Gelage und Opferriten repräsentieren, die wahrscheinlich mit Fruchtbarkeit, Glück und dem Ahnenkult in Zusammenhang stehen. Translation by Tina Jacob.

Keywords

britainhorsehorse burialritualanimal sacrificeAnglo-saxonIron ageGrande Bretagnechevauxinhumation de chevauxritualsacrifice animalAnglo-saxonÂge du FerGroßbritannienPferdPferdebestattungRitualPferdebestattungAngelsächsischEisenzeit
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 14 , Issue 1-2 , 2011 , pp. 190 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 Maney Publishing 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albarella, U., 1999. ‘The mystery of husbandry’: Medieval animals and the problem of integrating historical and archaeological evidence. Antiquity 73: 867–875.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anthony, D.R. and Brown, D.W., 2000. Eneolithic horse exploitation in the Eurasian steppes: diet, ritual and riding. Antiquity 74: 75–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ayton, A., 1999. Knights and Warhorses: Military Service and the English Aristocracy Under Edward III. Rochester: Boydell and Brewer.Google Scholar
BBC2, 2009. Horse People with Alexandra Tolstoy. Episode 1: Siberia. 7 April 2009.Google Scholar
Bond, J.M. 1994. The cremated animal bone. In McKinley, J., The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Spong Hill, North Elmham. Part VIII: The Cremations: 121–135. Gressenhall: Norfolk Museums Service (East Anglian Archaeology 69).Google Scholar
Bond, J.M., 1996. Burnt offerings: animal bone in Anglo-Saxon cremations. World Archaeology 28 (1): 76–88.Google Scholar
Bond, J.M., 2005. The cremated animal bone from mounds 5, 6, and 7. In Carver, M.O.H. (ed.), Sutton Hoo: A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context: 275–280. London: British Museum Press.Google Scholar
Bond, J.M. and Worley, F.L., 2006. Companions in death: the roles of animals in Anglo-Saxon and Viking cremation rituals in Britain. In Gowland, R. and Knüsel, C. (eds), Social Archaeology of Funerary Remains: 89–98. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Booth, J., 2006. Inquiry launched into mass killing of greyhounds, <http://www.umes-online.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article688883.ece> accessed 10 October 2010.+accessed+10+October+2010.>Google Scholar
Cathers, K., 2002. An examination of the horse in Anglo-Saxon England. s (Department of History, University of Reading).Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, J., 1958. Farm animal and other vertebrate remains. In Jewell, P.A., Wade, K. and Clutton-Brock, J., The Excavation of a Middle Saxon Occupation Site and Burial Ground at Sedgeford, Norfolk: 20–36. Unpublished report, Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) archives.Google Scholar
Clutton-Brock, J., 1976. Chapter 9: the animal resources. In Wilson, D.M. (ed.), The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England: 373–392. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Collins, J., Hanlon, A., More, S.J., and Duggan, V., 2008. The structure and regulation of the Irish equine industries: links to considerations of equine welfare. Irish Veterinary Journal 61 (11): 746–756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crabtree, P.J., 1989a. West Stow, Suffolk: Early Anglo-Saxon Animal Husbandry. Gressenhall: Norfolk Museums Service (East Anglian Archaeology 47).Google Scholar
Crabtree, P.J., 1989b. Sheep, horses, swine, and kine: a zooarchaeological perspective on the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England. Journal of Field Archaeology 16 (2): 205–213.Google Scholar
Crabtree, P.J., 1994. 5: animal exploitation in East Anglian villages. In Rackham, J. (ed.), Environment and Economy in Anglo-Saxon England: 40–51. York: Council for British Archaeology (Research Report 89).Google Scholar
Crabtree, P.J., 1996. Production and consumption in an early complex society: animal use in Middle Saxon East Anglia. World Archaeology 28 (1): 58–75.Google Scholar
Cross, P.J., 2009. Horses amongst the Christians: a biocultural interpretation of the human-horse burial and other horse burials in the 7th–9th century cemetery at Sedgeford, Norfolk, UK. Unpublished MSc dissertation (University of Bradford).Google Scholar
Davies, G. and Dodd, N. (eds), 2006. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project: Annual Report 2006. Hunstanton: Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP).Google Scholar
Dennis, M. and Faulkner, N., 2005. The Sedgeford Hoard. Stroud: NPI Media Group.Google Scholar
Driscoll, S.T., Yeoman, P. and Clark, J., 1997. Excavations within Edinburgh Castle in 1988–91. Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (Monograph Series 12).Google Scholar
Evison, V., 1994. An Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Great Chesterford Essex. York: Council for British Archaeology (Reports 91).Google Scholar
Farming UK, 2009. Ireland - concern over unwanted horses. <http://www.farminguk.com/news/Ireland-Concern-over-unwant-ed-horses._12234.html> accessed 10 October 2010.+accessed+10+October+2010.>Google Scholar
Faulkner, N., 1998. Results and prospects for 1999. Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project: Interim Report: The Report, No. 3, 1998. Hunstanton: Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP).Google Scholar
Fern, C., 2007. Early Anglo-Saxon horse burial of the fifth to seventh centuries AD. Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History 14: 92–109.Google Scholar
Grant, J., 1880. The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions Together With Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales. Leith: Reid and Son.Google Scholar
Greene, J.P., 2004. Norton Priory: The Archaeology of a Medieval Religious House. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Groot, M., 2009. Animals in Ritual and Economy in a Roman Frontier Community: Excavations in Tiel-Passewaaij. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.Google Scholar
Hallam, H.E., 1989. Agrarian History of England & Wales, Volume 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hamerow, H., 2006. ‘Special Deposits’ in Anglo-Saxon settlements. Medieval Archaeology 50: 1–30.Google Scholar
Horsedata, 2009. Equine weight table. <http://www.horsedata.co.uk/weight_table.htm> accessed 10 October 2010.+accessed+10+October+2010.>Google Scholar
Howey, M.O., 2002. The Horse in Magic and Myth. New York: Dover.Google Scholar
Insoll, T., 2004. Archaeology, Ritual, Religion: Themes in Archaeology. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jewell, P.A., Wade, K. and Clutton-Brock, J., 1958. The Excavation of a Middle Saxon Occupation Site and Burial Ground at Sedgeford, Norfolk: 20–36. Unpublished report, Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project (SHARP) archives.Google Scholar
Jones, P. and Pennick, N., 1995. A History of Pagan Europe. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Klenck, J.D., 1995. Bedouin animal sacrifice practices: case study in Israel. In Ryan, K. and Crabtree, P.J. (eds), The Symbolic Role of Animals in Archaeology: 57–72. Philadelphia: Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology (MASCA), University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.Google Scholar
Lapidge, M., Blair, J. and Keynes, S. (eds), 2001. The Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Loumand, U, 2006. The horse and its role in Icelandic burial practices, mythology, and society. In Andrén, A., Jennbert, K. and Raudvere, C. (eds), Old Norse Religion in Long Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes and Interactions. An International Conference in Lund Sweden, June 3–7, 2004: 130–134. Lund: Nordic Academic.Google Scholar
Lovett, J., 1993. Animal bone (AB) report. In Astili, G.G., A Medieval Industrial Complex and its Landscape: The Metalworking Water-mills and Workshops of Bordesley Abbey: 231–235. York: Council for British Archaeology (Research Report 92).Google Scholar
Lucas, G. and McGovern, T., 2007. Bloody slaughter: ritual decapitation and display at the Viking settlement of Hofstadir, Iceland. European Journal of Archaeology 10 (1): 7–30.Google Scholar
MacGregor, A., 1985. Bone, Antler, Ivory and Horn: The Technology of Skeletal Materials since the Roman Period. Beckenham: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Merrifield, R., 1987. Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. London: B.T. Batsford.Google Scholar
Miles, C.A., 1912. Christmas in Ritual and Tradition. London: T. Fisher Unwin.Google Scholar
Morris, J. 2008. Associated bone groups: one archaeologist's rubbish is another's ritual deposition. In Davis, O., Waddington, K. and Sharpies, N. (eds), Changing Perspectives on the First Millennium BC: 83–98. Oxford: Oxbow Books.Google Scholar
Müller-Wille, M., 1970–1. Pferdegrab und Pferdeopfer im frühen Mittelalter (Mit einem Beitrag von H. Vierck: Pferdegräber im angelsächsischen England). Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek (Proceedings of the State Service for Archaeological Investigations in the Netherlands) 20-21: 119–248.Google Scholar
Neville, J., 2008. Hrothgar's horses: feral or thoroughbred? In Godden, M. and Keynes, S. (eds), Anglo-Saxon England: Volume 35. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.Google Scholar
Olofsson, J. and Josefson, E., 2007. The frontier of archaeological reconstruction: horse sacrifice at Eketorp Fort, Sweden. Expedition 49 (1): 28–34.Google Scholar
Pascal, C.B., 1981. October horse. Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 85: 261–291.Google Scholar
Piggott, S., 1981. Agrarian History of England & Wales, Volume 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Riddler, I., 2004. VI. Bone and antler. In Wallis, H., Excavations at Mill Lane, Thetford 1995. Gressenhall: Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service (East Anglian Archaeology Reports 108).Google Scholar
Grammaticus, Saxo, 1905. The Nine Booh of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus, trans. Elton, O., with contributions by Powell, F.R. New York: Norroena Society.Google Scholar
Schmitz, K.L., 1981. Ritual elements in community. Religious Studies 17: 163–177.Google Scholar
Shenk, P., 2002. To Valhalla by horseback? Horse burial in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. Unpublished MA dissertation (Center for Viking and Medieval Studies, University of Oslo).Google Scholar
Simoons, F.J., 1994. Eat Not this Flesh: Food Avoidances from Prehistory to the Present. Madison: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Sturluson, S., 1907. Heimskringla or The Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, trans. Laing, S. London: Norroena Society.Google Scholar
Sturluson, S., 1976. Egil's Saga, trans. Palsson, H. and Edwards, P. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Thomas, R. and Locock, M., 2000. Food for the dogs? The consumption of horseflesh at Dudley Castle in the eighteenth century. Environmental Archaeology 5: 83–92.Google Scholar
Tolkien, J.R.R., 2009. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun. London: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Webster's, 1998. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary. Springfield: C. and G. Merriam Company. <http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org> accessed 26 October 2010.+accessed+26+October+2010.>Google Scholar
Williams, H., 2006. Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, B. and Edwards, P., 1993. Butchery of horse and dog at Witney Palace, Oxfordshire, and the knackering and feeding of meat to hounds during the Post-Medieval period. Post-Medieval Archaeology 27: 43–56.Google Scholar
Yakutia Today, 2009. Yakut culture. <http://www.yakutiatoday.com> accessed 10 October 2010.+accessed+10+October+2010.>Google Scholar