The Bamburgh Bowl Hole Anglian-period Cemetery cover image

Published:28/11/2025Language:EnglishPages:310, Illustrated throughout in black & white and colour.BAR Number: B700Series: BAR British Series

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The Bamburgh Bowl Hole Anglian-period Cemetery

Name: The Bamburgh Bowl Hole Anglian-period Cemetery
SKU: The Bamburgh Bowl Hole Anglian-period Cemetery
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A bioarchaeological study of a Northumbrian royal site

Edited by Sam Lucy, Charlotte A. Roberts and Graeme Young

£63.00 – £81.00

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Description

Bamburgh is an internationally important Anglian royal centre located on the Northumbrian coast. This volume is the full publication of the sixth- to eighth-century burials excavated between 1999 and 2007 in the Bowl Hole cemetery, which lay in the sand dunes below the present castle site. Containing a detailed and fully illustrated grave catalogue, it sets the excavation results into the context of this royal stronghold. It integrates archaeological, osteological and isotopic data into a comprehensive account that compares and contrasts the Bamburgh data with other Early Medieval cemetery sites in England. This is one of the largest cemeteries with extensive osteological evidence to have been excavated north of the River Tyne, and the comprehensive isotopic analysis adds further detail to the interpretation of the cemetery as one primarily serving the working population of the royal site.

About the Editor

Sam Lucy is a Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge. Her research focuses on the analysis of Early Medieval cemeteries and settlements.

Charlotte A. Roberts is a bioarchaeologist, and Emerita Professor of Archaeology at Durham University. Her research focuses on the origin, evolution and history of disease.

Graeme Young is a founding member of the Bamburgh Research Project. His research focuses on Bamburgh and its environs.

List of Contributors: Jane Evans, Darren R. Gröcke, Sarah Groves, Joanne Kirton, Sam Lucy, Sophie Newman, Geoff Nowell, Ian Riddler, Charlotte A. Roberts, Barbara Yorke, Graeme Young.

Reviews

‘This monograph presents new archaeological evidence for the stronghold of Bamburgh, an iconic site from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria which offers key perspectives on the nature and role of royal residences in Early Medieval (especially northern) Britain. The breadth of and diversity of analytical techniques applied to the interpretation of the cemetery is very original as is the way in which the results of these techniques (scientific and archaeological) is integrated to offer fine-grained interpretations of the burial community.’ Professor Gabor Thomas, University of Reading

‘Medieval archaeologists across Europe will be very interested by this work – it is such an important site, with connections across Britain and Europe in the first millennium AD. It presents a highly detailed analysis of the cemetery population within the context of elite settlement and power in Northumbria. This is a highly anticipated volume about a fascinating group of people buried in Early Medieval Northumberland, not to be missed by scholars in the field.’ Dr Sam Leggett, University of Edinburgh