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Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain Howard Williams (University of Exeter)

Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain By Howard Williams (University of Exeter)

Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain by Howard Williams (University of Exeter)


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Summary

An innovative application of theories of memory and material culture to an early historic society, this 2006 book uses the early medieval cemetery in Britain between 400-1100 AD as a rich and complex data set, addressing the commemorative functions of funerary ritual using archaeological remains as its evidence base.

Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain Summary

Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain by Howard Williams (University of Exeter)

How were the dead remembered in early medieval Britain? Originally published in 2006, this innovative study demonstrates how perceptions of the past and the dead, and hence social identities, were constructed through mortuary practices and commemoration between c. 400-1100 AD. Drawing on archaeological evidence from across Britain, including archaeological discoveries, Howard Williams presents a fresh interpretation of the significance of portable artefacts, the body, structures, monuments and landscapes in early medieval mortuary practices. He argues that materials and spaces were used in ritual performances that served as 'technologies of remembrance', practices that created shared 'social' memories intended to link past, present and future. Through the deployment of material culture, early medieval societies were therefore selectively remembering and forgetting their ancestors and their history. Throwing light on an important aspect of medieval society, this book is essential reading for archaeologists and historians with an interest in the early medieval period.

Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain Reviews

Review of the hardback: 'It is one of the great strengths of his book that it treats the whole of mainland Britain (and the isle of Man) on an even footing and over more than half a millennium bringing out this variation as well as some common themes and perhaps beliefs ... for 50 years prehistorians have, perhaps rightly, deplored the intellectual simplicity of the infant discipline of medieval archaeology. This is one of the books that will make them rethink that.' British Archaeology
Review of the hardback: 'Howard William's book should launch a mature, careful and temperate debate ...' Journal of Medieval Archaeology
Review of the hardback: '... nuanced and insightful ... thought-provoking ...' Archaeological Review from Cambridge
Review of the hardback: 'Howard William's excellent book is thus greatly to be welcomed as the first extended survey of how the dead were remembered in early medieval Britain.' Antiquity

About Howard Williams (University of Exeter)

Howard Williams is Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Exeter. He has published widely on death and memory in past societies and has co-directed archaeological fieldwork at early medieval burial sites in Britain and Sweden.

Table of Contents

List of figures; Preface; 1. Death, memory and material culture; 2. Objects of memory; 3. Remembering through the body; 4. Graves as mnemonic compositions; 5. Monuments and memory; 6. Death and landscape; 7. Remembering, forgetting and the mortuary context; references; Index.

Additional information

NLS9780521142250
9780521142250
0521142253
Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain by Howard Williams (University of Exeter)
New
Paperback
Cambridge University Press
2010-04-01
272
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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