Updown early medieval cemetery

A 7th-century cemetery was discovered in Updown, Kent, United Kingdom, in the 1970s. It was excavated by Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and Brian Philp in advance of development. Part of the cemetery is protected as a scheduled monument, and its full extent may encompass around 300 graves.

Updown early medieval cemetery
Updown early medieval cemetery is located in Kent
Updown early medieval cemetery
Location within Kent
LocationEastry, Kent
Coordinates51.23649°N 1.30885°E / 51.23649; 1.30885
OS grid referenceTR3107453792
TypeInhumation cemetery
Site notes
Discovered1973
Excavation dates1976, 1989
Archaeologists
DesignationScheduled monument

Location

Updown early medieval cemetery is located in Sangrado's Wood, a triangular field south of Eastry in Kent. The area used to be covered by woodland.[1]

Cemetery features
A grassy open field
The field known as Sangrado's Wood, south of the excavated area of Updown early medieval cemetery

The cemetery occupies an area roughly 150 by 80 metres (490 by 260 ft) and has an estimated 300 burials. Across two excavation campaigns in 1976 and 1989, 78 graves were investigated.[2] Evidence of wooden coffin-like features were found in 27 graves.[3] Nineteen penannular ditches (circular ditches with a segment missing so the circle does not close) were discovered through excavation, each one surrounding at least one burial.[4] The material from the ditches when they were dug was likely used to create an earthwork feature in the enclosed area, possibly a low mound. Burials marked in this way may have indicated the burials were more important than those without a ditch and earthwork.[5]

The graves are exclusively inhumations and aligned east-west.[3] In the opinion of archaeologist Martin Welch, the "1976 and 1989 cemetery sample represents a community that is comfortably off, though not outstandingly wealthy".[6] With around a quarter of the site excavated, the date range during which the site was used is uncertain, and could extend into the 6th or 8th centuries.[1] No buildings or associated settlement have been found in association with the cemetery.[7]

Discovery and excavation
A tarmac road
The part of the cemetery lying in the path of the planned Eastry Bypass was excavated in 1989.

The site was discovered in 1973 through the use of aerial photography.[8] Kenneth St Joseph suggested that the cluster of rectangular features around 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) long and roughly aligned east to west was likely to be a cemetery.[9] The site was designated a scheduled monument in 1975.[10]

Three years after the cemetery was discovered, part of the site was at risk due to plans to lay a pipeline through the area. The landowners commissioned a rescue excavation to record archaeology that may be affected; the dig was led by archaeologist Sonia Chadwick Hawkes and funded by the Southern Water Board, the Kent Archaeological Society, and the landowners.[11] The work involved excavating 36 graves and established that the cemetery extended further than identified through aerial photographs. The burials were dated to the 7th century.[12]

In 1989, proposals for a new bypass passing through Eastry led to further rescue excavations. Led by Brian Philp, the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit dug in September and October. They excavated along the route of the proposed bypass, partly intersecting with the area excavated by Hawkes in 1976, uncovering 41 new graves.[13]

While no buildings or settlement have been discovered associated with the cemetery, Hawkes hypothesised that Eastry Court may be on the site of a settlement contemporary with Updown cemetery. Excavations by Christopher Arnold in 1980 and Time Team in 2005 in Eastry did not find evidence of a settlement.[7]

Updown girl

The results from a project profiling the genomes from 460 individuals from medieval north-west Europe were published in 2022, including a sample of five individuals from Updown cemetery. The analysis found that "the individuals who we analysed from eastern England derived up to 76% of their ancestry from the continental North Sea zone", and in early medieval England there was "complex, regionally contingent migration with partial integration that was probably dependent on the fortunes of specific families and their individual members".[14]

Grave 47 from the 1989 excavation contained the remains of a girl aged around 10 or 11 years old.[15] The individual has become known as 'Updown girl' in scholarship and media reports after the term was used in a special issue of Current Archaeology.[16] The analysis of her DNA indicated that she had mixed European and West African ancestry. She had a West African male ancestor who lived in 6th century. The investigating team suggested that "the movement of the Updown girl's ancestors was presumably linked to ... Late Antique trading routes".[15] The research also showed that Updown girl was buried close to relatives, possibly great aunts, who had a largely Continental Northern European ancestry. The similarity of burial between Updown girl and her nearby female relatives suggest that Updown girl's ancestry did not impact how society viewed her, and "their funerary parties had intended to highlight a shared regional identity."[15]

See also

References

Footnotes
  1. Welch 2008, p. 2.
  2. Welch 2008, pp. 2, 8.
  3. Welch 2008, p. 10.
  4. Welch 2008, p. 1.
  5. Welch 2008, pp. 11–12.
  6. Welch 2008, p. 49.
  7. Welch 2008, p. 4.
  8. Hawkes 1976, p. 247.
  9. St Joseph 1974, p. 214.
  10. Historic England & 1004211.
  11. Hawkes 1976, pp. 247–248.
  12. Hawkes 1976, p. 248.
  13. Welch 2008, pp. 6–8.
  14. Gretzinger et al. 2022.
  15. Sayer, Powlesland & Stewart 2022.
  16. "Ancient DNA reveals complex life stories from the beginnings of English history". University of Central Lancashire. Retrieved 2023-03-07.

Bibliography
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