The Oxford Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology

Since the early 20th century the scholarly study of Anglo-Saxon texts has been augmented by systematic excavation and analysis of physical evidence--settlements, cemeteries, artefacts, environmental data, and standing buildings. This evidence has confirmed some readings of the Anglo-Saxon literary and documentary sources and challenged others. More recently, large-scale excavations both in towns and in the countryside, the application of computer methods to large bodies of data, new techniques for site identification such as remote sensing, and new dating methods have put archaeology at the forefront of Anglo-Saxon studies. The Handbook of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, written by a team of experts and presenting the results of the most up-to-date research, will both stimulate and support further investigation into those aspects of Anglo-Saxon life and culture which archaeology has fundamentally illuminated. It will prove an essential resourse for our understanding of a society poised at the interface between prehistory and history.

1 - Overview: Anglo-Saxon Identity
2 - The Ending(s) of Roman Britain
3 - Migration and Endogenous Change
4 - Anglo-Scandinavian Identity
5 - The Ending of Anglo-Saxon England: Identity, Allegiance, and Nationality
6 - Anglo-Saxon Migration and the Molecular Evidence
7 - Dress and Identity
8 - Overview: Rural Settlement
9 - Timber Buildings and their Social Context
10 - Settlement Hierarchy
11 - Local Churches in the Anglo-Saxon Countryside
12 - Late Saxon Settlements
13 - Overview: Mortuary Ritual
14 - Mortuary Practices in Early Anglo-Saxon England
15 - The Mid Saxon 'Final Phase'
16 - Late Saxon Burial Practice
17 - Overview: Rural Production
18 - Woods and the Wild
19 - Food Plants on Archaeological Sites: The Nature of the Archaeobotanical Record
20 - Animal Husbandry
21 - Anglo-Saxon Fields
22 - Overview: Sources and Limitations of Evidence
23 - Raw Materials: Sources and Demand
24 - Anglo-Saxon Crafts
25 - Style: Influences, Chronology, and Meaning
26 - Overview: Trade, Exchange and Urbanization
27 - The Fate of Late Roman Towns
28 - Britons and Anglo-Saxons
29 - Markets, Emporia, Wics, and 'Productive' Sites: Pre-Viking Trade Centres in Anglo-Saxon England
30 - Coinage in its Archaeological Context
31 - Burhs and Boroughs: Defended Places, Trade, and Towns. Plans, Defences, Civic Features
32 - Overview: The Body and Life Course
33 - Childhood to Old Age
34 - Diet: Recent Evidence from Analytical Chemical Techniques
35 - Gender and Gender Roles
36 - Disease
37 - Overview: The Archaeology of Religion
38 - Sacred Spaces and Places in Pre-Christian and Conversion Period Anglo-Saxon England
39 - The Archaeology of Paganism
40 - The Material Culture of the Church
41 - The Archaeology of the Anglo-Saxon Book
42 - Christian Sacred Spaces and Places
43 - Overview: Signals of Power
44 - Social Transactions, Gift Exchange, and Power in the Archaeology of the Fifth to Seventh Centuries
45 - Image and Power in the Early Anglo-Saxon Period
46 - Crime and Punishment
47 - What Were They Thinking? Intellectual Territories in Anglo-Saxon England
48 - Historical Sources and Archaeology
49 - Literary Sources and Archaeology
50 - Place-Names and Archaeology
51 - Anthropology and Archaeology
52 - Anglo-Saxon Archaeology and the Public

Helena Hamerow is Professor of Early Medieval Archaeology at the University of Oxford. David Hinton is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of Southampton. Sally Crawford is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford.