​The Sites:​

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Ireland:

 

​Owenbristy 

                Owenbristy is an early medieval Irish cemetery located in the rural country side on the West coast of Ireland (Geber 2012). It contains 75 burials dating from between AD 550-1000, though only ten of these burials contain evidence of weapons damage (Geber 2012). The ten skeletons (six men, two women and two children) with weapons damage date to AD 590-980 (Geber 2012) and all of the burials are in stone lined graves in a general East West orientation (Geber 2012). The weapons trauma is mostly limited to the chest, neck and head with some damage to limbs (Geber 2012). There are seven clear decapitations in this cemetery (Geber 2012). Owenbristy shows a larger than average frequency of weapons trauma when compared to other contemporaneous cemeteries, including Mount Gamble (Geber 2012).

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Mount Gamble

                Mount Gamble is a cemetery attached to an early medieval town on the East coast of Ireland, just north of modern day Dublin and is close to the 6th century Christian monastery at Swords (Geber 2012). Christianity was first introduced to Ireland in AD 430 and spread slowly from its original entry points over the subsequent centuries (Geber 2012). It is important to note that all of the burials at Mount Gamble cemetery occurred after Christianity was ensconced in the area (O’Donovan et al. 2009) and are therefore more likely to be influenced by Christian practices. Mount Gamble cemetery was discovered in 2003 (O’Donovan et al. 2009) and is much larger than Owenbristy and contains roughly 281 burials (Geber 2012), though the percentage of burials with obvious damage is much lower. Of the 281 skeletons found, only six show clear evidence of damage (Geber 2012) and only two of these were decapitated. The cemetery at Mount Gamble also spans a longer time period, AD 550-1150 (Geber 2012). Like Owenbristy, the weapons damage is mostly restricted to the neck, head and chest though there are only two cases of clear decapitation and one case of mutilation (Geber 2012).

 

  England: ​

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 Walkington Wold 

​               The site of Walkington Wold consists of two Bronze Age barrows located in East Yorkshire, England. It is located in a prominent, elevated position and affords extensive views north, south, and east (Reynolds 2009:155).  The location is also visible from a routeway linking Beverly with York (Reynolds 2009:150-155) and was located near a boundary between two local Anglo-Saxon administrative units (the hundreds of Welton and Cave) (Buckberry and Hadley 2007:323).​Twelve burials were discovered in the southern part of Barrow 1 (Barlett and Mackey 1973:25, as seen in Buckberry and Hadley 2007:309). The Skeletal remains found consist of two complete burials, 10 burials without crania (pl. of cranium), and 11 disarticulated crania (Buckberry and Hadley 2007:309). Radiocarbon dating from skeletons 8, 11, and the humerus (arm bone) associated with skeleton 13 produced dates of AD 900-1030, AD 775-980 and, AD 640-775 and respectively (Buckberry and Hadley 2007:312). These dates attest to the long-period of use of this cemetery.​​ The site features an unusually high prevalence of decapitation. Between 30.8-84.6% of individuals buried at this site had been decapitated. At other execution cemeteries in England the prevalence of decapitation was much lower: 19% Staines, 23% Ashstead, 4% Guildown (Reynolds 2009:324).

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​Map shows the distribution of excavated Anglo-Saxon execution cemeteries in England (Reynolds 2009). Close-up shows the site of Walkington Wold in relation to Walkington, York, and Hull (Buckberry and Hadley 2007:310).

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