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Mounds 1-6, showing trench outlines. Drawing: Frances Chaloner, after DAJ 66 66 and unpublished plans in Repton School archive
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The cemetery at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire, is the only known Scandinavian cremation cemetery in the British Isles. It comprises fifty-nine barrows, of which about one-third have been excavated on previous occasions, although earlier excavators concluded that some were empty cenotaph mounds. From 1998 to 2000 three barrows were examined. Our i...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... Excavations by Clarke and Fraser, 1941-9 The site was referred to in VCH Derbyshire in conjunction with pagan Anglo-Saxon cemeteries in the area, but its precise location appears to have been forgotten until rediscovered in 1941 by William Fraser, who also initially ascribed it to the sixth -seventh centuries AD. 19 Under the leadership of Camden Clarke and William Fraser members of the Burton-on-Trent Natural History and Archaeological Society initially excavated six barrows, digging most weekends throughout the summers of 1941 and 1942. 20 The mounds were trenched, usually by a 6ft- (1.8m-) wide trench, although in some cases the central area was widened in search of a burial deposit ( fig 2). The mounds were made up of sand and stone, but all had been heavily disturbed by root and animal action and, together with the amateur nature of the excavation technique, this means that it is now impossible to know whether they possessed any kind of internal structure. ...
Context 2
... the south-east side of the mound this was overlain by a layer of brownish-grey silty sand with a high humic content (219,409,413), perhaps representing a buried soil. In the area around the mound the natural subsoil had been quarried to form a ring-ditch, in some places cutting into bedrock itself ( fig 20). These deposits were overlain by a substantial deposit of orange-red sandy clay subsoil, some 0.3 -0.75m thick, with abundant rounded small and medium pebbles (120,406,414). ...
Context 3
... Area 1 remains of a cow skull were recovered, close to the base of the mound, and lying immediately above the level of the cremation hearth, but offset to one side ( fig 22). A horse tooth was recovered from the mound in Area 4 but carbon dating yielded a calibrated date of AD 1487 -1640 (at 95.4 per cent probability) (OxA -13077), suggesting it was intrusive. ...
Context 4
... the north of Areas 1 and 2 there were a number of layers which appear to have been associated with the excavation of Mound 7 in 1948 ( fig 24). These included a layer of reddish- brown sand and pebbles, up to 0.1m thick (102=212) which sealed a layer of black humic material with matted roots (101). ...
Context 6
... Webster suggests that these finds are likely to represent Norse Viking activity in the north of England, rather than Danes in the south. 63 2. Tiny stud with square cross-section and a small domed head ( fig 27); tip broken and missing; appears to have been plated. Head: D3mm; shank: L5mm. ...
Context 7
... sword hilt grip. Drawing: Frances Chaloner 3. Tiny stud with square cross-section and a small flat head ( fig 27); appears to have been plated with silver; similar to sf168. Head: D3mm; shank: L6mm. ...
Context 8
... and copper-alloy tacks were found in some numbers in Winchester, occasionally in burials and mainly in late Anglo-Saxon contexts. 64 4. Flat folded copper-alloy object which has been bent ( fig 27). A round white shape with a glassy appearance is encrusted in one corner. ...
Context 9
... W14mm. HW99, 308, sf128. 5. Fragment of curled sheet, heavily mineralized and covered in green copper corrosion products with mauve staining (fig 27). L9mm, W6mm. ...
Context 10
... Solidified fragment of molten object ( fig 27). Visual inspection suggests presence of silver chloride, silver sulphide, copper and lead. ...
Context 12
... example is very similar to one from Fishergate, York. 65 2. Small knife ( fig 29). Broken; complete tang and the beginning of the blade covered by organic material, perhaps horn. ...
Context 13
... is interpreted as the remains of a bank, constructed from stones removed when the ditch was dug. The base of the bank indicates both the original ground surface, approximately 0.6m below the present one, and also that there had been little truncation of the top of the ditch, which had been buried under centuries of slippage of sand downslope, followed by agricultural and then forestry activity ( fig 42). The whole bank and ditch feature is regarded as being a land boundary rather than having a defensive role, given that it cuts across, rather than follows, the contours. ...
Similar publications
This is the second interim report for the excavation of an 11th century church and cemetery at the farm Keflavik in Skagafjordur, North Iceland. The excavation is a part of the Skagafjordur Church and Settlement Survey (SCASS) that runs from 2015-2018.
Citations
... At Heath Wood, a total of 59 mounds are separated into four clusters (Fig 2) [7]. Only twenty of the mounds have so far been investigated, and most of this excavation took place in the 1940s and 50s [8,9] (see SI.5 for more detail). ...
... Only twenty of the mounds have so far been investigated, and most of this excavation took place in the 1940s and 50s [8,9] (see SI.5 for more detail). Calcined remains found within three of the mounds were radiocarbon dated to the eighth to tenth centuries AD (Table 1) [7]. All three dates are consistent with the Heath Wood cemetery being contemporaneous with the arrival and presence of the Viking Great Army at Repton in AD 873-4 as reported in the ASC. ...
... Some of the individuals exhibit clear evidence of sharp force trauma (Grave 511) [2,3]. It has been suggested that the adoption of various mortuary rites may reflect the different warbands which made up the army [7]. Indeed, the ASC records that on its departure from Repton in the spring of AD 874, the army split in two. ...
The barrow cemetery at Heath Wood, Derbyshire, is the only known Viking cremation cemetery in the British Isles. It dates to the late ninth century and is associated with the over-wintering of the Viking Great Army at nearby Repton in AD 873–4. Only the cremated remains of three humans and of a few animals are still available for research. Using strontium content and isotope ratios of these three people and three animals–a horse, a dog and a possible pig–this paper investigates the individuals’ residential origins. The results demonstrate that strontium isotope ratios of one of the adults and the non-adult are compatible with a local origin, while the other adult and all three animals are not. In conjunction with the archaeological context, the strontium isotope ratios indicate that these individuals most likely originated from the area of the Baltic Shield–and that they died soon after arrival in Britain. This discovery constitutes the first solid scientific evidence that Scandinavians crossed the North Sea with horses, dogs and other animals as early as the ninth century AD.
... The layout of the Nes site follows a distinctive pattern, with several clusters of burials structuring movement at the site (Figure 4). Similar layouts can be found at other Viking-Age cemeteries, even as far away as Ingleby, Heath Wood, in the north of England (Richards 2004). While such clusters might be indicative of the use of the site by families or other distinct social groupings, these clusters also serve to structure space within the site determining very specific routes and areas of movements and activity and shaping the experience of those encountering the site. ...
Based on mortuary evidence from the Norwegian Viking Age (AD 750–1050), this article seeks to present an argument for cemeteries as key components of social memory and collective experience. Rather than focusing on cemeteries as arenas for ritual and funerary drama, it is proposed that cemeteries can also be seen as lived landscapes that are featured as landmarks in people’s everyday lives. This interpretation does not detract from cemeteries as potent ritual places, but instead recognizes that they can carry multiple levels of meaning. Aspects such as accessibility, opportunities for regular interaction with the sites, and cemeteries as active and regularly used components of a landscape will be addressed.
... There is also good evidence, however, to indicate that children experienced or actively participated in conflict outside of Scandinavia. Some, for example, were born into and lived among the large, migratory viking fleets that were operating in northwestern Europe during the ninth century (e.g., Biddle andKjølbye-Biddle 1992, 2001;Hadley 2016;McLeod 2014;Raffield 2016;Richards 2004;Swanton 2000). These included the so-called viking Great Army, which was active in England during the years 865-878. ...
... It is possible, therefore, that the weapons and horse were included in the burial in an effort to present an idealized image of the mounted warrior that he might one day have become if he had lived to adulthood. Though less clear, a similar interpretation may explain the inclusion of sword and shield fittings in a cremation burial containing a woman and a child at Heath Wood in Derbyshire, United Kingdom, which was lo-cated within a cemetery thought to be associated with the Great Army's occupation of Repton in 873-874 (Richards 2004). Parallels can also be found in the results of Heinrich Härke's (1990) study of over 700 weapon burials from fifthto seventh-century England. ...
Although the Viking Age (ca. 750–1050 CE) is often characterized as a time of violence, significant questions remain regarding how conflict was conducted during the period. For example, there have been few attempts to understand the cultural norms, attitudes, and practices that drove individuals to participate in warfare. This article reports the results of a study that sought to shed light on this issue by considering the process of enculturation during Viking Age childhood. This was achieved by exploring how the influences of militarism and hegemonic masculinity conditioned those living within Scandinavian societies to participate in conflict from a young age. Through examining the archaeological and literary evidence for childhood pastimes, the study found that everyday aspects of Viking Age society reinforced militaristic, hegemonic hierarchies of masculinity. This can be seen, for example, in the form of toy weapons that were modeled on full-sized, functional weapons; strategic board games that conveyed messages regarding the ideological power of kingship; and physical games that provided opportunities for successful individuals to enhance their social status. The evidence therefore suggests that Viking Age societies perpetuated a series of self-reinforcing cultural norms that encouraged participation in martial activities. ©2019 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved. T.
... As a result, the identification of those buried in the charnel as members of the Great Army has been brought into question (e.g. Richards et al. 2004). ...
... This suggested, therefore, that the bones were not all from a single contemporaneous group, making them incompatible with a population derived from the Viking Great Army of AD 873-874. An alternative hypothesis (Richards et al. 2004) suggested that some of the charnel bones may have come from the older cemetery of St Wystan's church, uncovered during the excavation of the ditch for the winter camp in AD 873-874 and reburied beneath the mound in the vicarage garden. ...
... Significantly, our calibrations show that the deposit is fully consistent with a single event dating to the late ninth century AD. Previous suggestions that some of the skeletal remains in the charnel originated from the monastic cemeteries, disinterred during the construction of the D-shaped enclosure, are founded entirely on the earlier dates previously accepted for some of the bones (Richards et al. 2004). The current results show that the radiocarbon dates do not support this line of argument. ...
Archaeological evidence for the Viking Great Army that invaded England in AD 865 is focused particularly on the area around St Wystan's church at Repton in Derbyshire. Large numbers of burials excavated here in the 1980s have been attributed to the overwintering of the Great Army in AD 873-874. Many of the remains were deposited in a charnel, while others were buried in graves with Scandinavian-style grave goods. Although numismatic evidence corroborated the belief that these were the remains of the Great Army, radiocarbon results have tended to disagree. Recent re-dating of the remains, applying the appropriate marine reservoir correction, has clarified the relationship between the interments, and has resolved the previous uncertainty.
... Plan de la nécropole d'Heath Wood. D'après RCHME inRichards 2004 (dessin : NMR, Crown Copyright 1995. ...
A first research work focused on the association of female individuals (exclusively osteologically sexed) with weapons in Europe. This work’s foremost aim was to give historical and geographical contexts to these atypical graves, gathered in a corpus of thirty-nine occurrences among which twenty-six are Scandinavian, eight are Anglo-Saxon, two are Anglo-Scandinavian and three are Alemannic. Combining the study of written sources, iconography, historical contexts and archaeological data, including the general furnishing of the graves and their distribution on different scales, I managed to replace them in historical, cultural and social contexts. I also proposed four possible profiles that could explain the unusual association.
... That said, some of the purported Scandinavian graves in England are sufficiently distinct for Scandinavian identity to be likely. The most convincing contender is the barrow cemetery containing cremated individuals and Scandinavian artefacts at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire (Richards et al. 1995;Richards 2004); at this time, cremation is an intrusive rite in England but was practised in Sweden, Norway and northern Jutland. Other contenders for Scandinavian identity include isolated accompanied burials such as that of a woman buried with Scandinavian artefacts at Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire (Speed and Walton Rogers 2004), barrow burials with Scandinavian grave goods, e.g. ...
Summary. Historical, artefactual and place-name evidence indicates that
Scandinavian migrants moved to eastern England in the ninth century
AD, settling in the Danelaw. However, only a handful of characteristically
Scandinavian burials have been found in the region. One, widely held,
explanation is that most of these Scandinavian settlers quickly adopted local
Christian burial customs, thus leaving Scandinavians indistinguishable from
the Anglo-Saxon population. We undertook osteological and isotopic analysis
to investigate the presence of first-generation Scandinavian migrants. Burials
from Masham were typical of the later Anglo-Saxon period and included men,
women and children. The location and positioning of the four adult burials
from Coppergate, however, are unusual for Anglo-Scandinavian York. None of
the skeletons revealed interpersonal violence. Isotopic evidence did not suggest
a marine component in the diet of either group, but revealed migration on a
regional, and possibly an international, scale. Combined strontium and oxygen
isotope analysis should be used to investigate further both regional and
Scandinavian migration in the later Anglo-Saxon period.
... It is clear that the number of characteristically Scandinavian graves is unlikely to represent a migrating population that had such a large cultural and (in some places) genetic legacy. Clearly some burial groups in Britain and Ireland , such as those with predominantly or completely male interments at the grave-field in South Great Georges Street, Dublin (O'Donovan 2008, Simpson 2005), Heath Wood, Ingleby (Richards et al. 2004), Repton (Biddle and Kjølbye-Biddle 1992), Oxford (Pollard et al. 2012), and Weymouth (Chenery et al. 2014 [this volume] ), are not cemeteries normally associated with settlement. The presence and cultural impact of these individuals on the surrounding populations may have been fleeting. ...
Identifying people of exotic origins with isotopes depends upon finding isotopic attributes that are inconsistent with the indigenous population. This task is seldom straightforward and may vary with physical geography, through time, and with cultural practices. Isotopes and trace elements were measured in four Viking Age (8th to 10th centuries A.D.) skeletons from Dublin, Ireland, and three from Westness, Orkney. These were compared with other data from these locations and contemporaneous skeletons from Britain. We conclude that the male skeletons from Dublin have disparate origins, two originating beyond the shores of Ireland, and that the female and two male skeletons from Westness are not indigenous to Orkney. However, the homeland of the female, in contrast to the males, is unlikely to be in Scandinavia.
... The Viking occupation of Repton therefore represents a clear attempt to assert a militaristic pagan identity within a Christian setting, legitimizing the new elite through domination. The contemporaneous barrow burials at Ingleby, 4 kilometres to the east (Richards, 2003(Richards, , 2004b, similarly demonstrate that at least some elements of the Great Army continued to express an overtly pagan identity within the Christianized landscape. ...
This paper discusses the deposition of weapons in English rivers and wetlands during the Viking Age. Such finds have been extensively studied in Scandinavia but have rarely been academically discussed in Britain. It can be argued that the arrival of the Scandinavians in ninth-to eleventh-century Britain precipitated a marked increase in depositions of a 'pagan' nature. Despite deep-rooted, institutionalized Christianity having dominated England for some time, it is possible that pagan beliefs were dormant but not forgotten, with the Scandinavian arrival triggering their resurgence. Weapons form a large number of ritual depositions, with seventy deposits being mapped geographically to identify distributional patterns across the landscape. It is suggested here that 'liminal' depositions in Viking Age Scandinavia provide an interpretative model for these finds. Given the context of endemic conflict and territorial consolidation within which they may have been deposited in England, this material can shed new light on attitudes to landscapes subject to conflict and consolidation.
... Despite the remains of three swords being recovered from the site, all three burials that could be sexed osteologically were thought to be female, including one with a sword and shield. 111 This female was accompanied by an unsexed infant or juvenile, so the sword and shield could have belonged to the latter. 112 However it is of course possible that these unsexed remains were also female. ...
Various types of evidence have been used in the search for Norse migrants to eastern England in the latter ninth century. Most of the data gives the impression that Norse females were far outnumbered by males. But using burials that are most certainly Norse and that have also been sexed osteologically provides very different results for the ratio of male to female Norse migrants. Indeed, it suggests that female migration may have been as significant as male, and that Norse women were in England from the earliest stages of the migration, including during the campaigning period from 865.
... That said, some of the purported Scandinavian graves in England are sufficiently distinct for Scandinavian identity to be likely. The most convincing contender is the barrow cemetery containing cremated individuals and Scandinavian artefacts at Heath Wood, Ingleby, Derbyshire (Richards et al. 1995;Richards 2004); at this time, cremation is an intrusive rite in England but was practised in Sweden, Norway and northern Jutland. Other contenders for Scandinavian identity include isolated accompanied burials such as that of a woman buried with Scandinavian artefacts at Adwick-le-Street, South Yorkshire (Speed and Walton Rogers 2004), barrow burials with Scandinavian grave goods, e.g. ...
