Skip to main content

ETHNOS_APP

Home • Search • Journals • List 0

Depicting the Dead

Commemoration Through Cists, Cairns and Symbols in Early Medieval Britain

Bibliographic Data

ID6043876
AuthorsHoward Williams (0000-0003-3510-6852, University of Exeter, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume17
Issue2
Pages145-164
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCambridge Archaeological Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0959-7743 • E-ISSN: 1474-0540
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0959774307000224
OpenAlexW2022393688
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited35

This article develops recent interpretations of mortuary practices as contexts for producing social memory and personhood to argue that early medieval cairns and mounds served to commemorate concepts of gender and genealogy. Commemorative strategies are identified in the composite character, shape and location of cairns and in their relationship with other commemorative monuments, namely Class I symbol-stones. The argument is developed through a consideration of the excavations of early medieval cists and cairns at Lundin Links in Fife

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Epistemology · Excavation · Genealogy · Linguistics · Literature · Personhood · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · Classics · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy

  • What does early Christianity look like? Mortuary archaeology and conversion in Late Iron Age Scotland

    Open Access•Adrián Maldonado•Scottish Archaeological Journal•2011

  • A Viking Boat Grave with Amber Gaming Pieces Excavated at Skamby, Östergötland, Sweden

    Martin Rundkvist, Howard Williams•Medieval Archaeology•2008

  • Burial in Early Medieval Scotland

    Adrián Maldonado•Medieval Archaeology•2013

  • The Monumental Cemeteries of Northern Pictland

    Open Access•Juliette Mitchell, Gordon Noble•Medieval Archaeology•2017

  • The Archaeology of Human Bones

    May, Simon Mays•Archaeology of Human Bones•2010

  • Death and Memory in Early Medieval Britain

    Open Access•Howard Williams•Death and Memory in Early…•2006

  • The Archaeology of Human Bones

    May, Simon Mays•Archaeology of Human Bones•2002

  • Ideology, symbolic power and ritual communication

    Open Access•Michael Shanks, Christopher Tilley•Symbolic and Structural Archaeology•1982

  • Children, grave goods and social status in Early Anglo-Saxon England

    Sally Crawford•Children and Material Culture•2005

  • The Early Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of East Yorkshire

    Sam Lucy•Early Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries of…•1998

  • An Archaeology of the Early Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms

    C J Arnold•Archaeology of the Early…•2005

  • Remembering and Forgetting the Medieval Dead

    Open Access•Howard Williams•Archaeologies of Remembrance•2003

  • Towards a Chronology of Megaliths

    C Holtorf, Cornelius J Holtorf•Journal of European Archaeology•1996

  • The Reinterpretation of the Pictish Symbols

    Ross Samson•Journal of the British…•1992

  • Time Regained

    Richard Bradley•Journal of the British…•1987

  • Female status and power in early Merovingian central Austrasia

    Open Access•Guy Halsall•Early Medieval Europe•1996

  • Prehistoric and Early Medieval Cemeteries at Tandderwen, near Denbigh, Clwyd

    K S Brassil, W G Owen et al.•Archaeological Journal•1991

  • The Interpretation of the Pictish Symbols

    Charles Thomas, C K Thomas•Archaeological Journal•1963

  • Excavations at the long cist cemetery on the Hallow Hill, St Andrews, Fife, 1975-7

    Edwina Proudfoot, Christopher Aliaga-Kelly et al.•Proceedings of the Society of…•1997

  • Excavations in the Dairy Park, Dunrobin, Sutherland, 1977

    Joanna Close-Brooks, Mary Harman et al.•Proceedings of the Society of…•1981

  • Excavation of a cairn cemetery at Lundin Links, Fife, in 1965-6

    Colvin Greig, Moira Greig et al.•Proceedings of the Society of…•2002

  • Norrie's Law, Fife

    James Graham-Campbell, James Graham‐campbell•Proceedings of the Society of…•1992

  • A first millennium AD cemetery, rectangular Bronze Age structure and late prehistoric settlement at Thornybank, Midlothian

    Alastair Rees, Alastair R Rees et al.•Proceedings of the Society of…•2003

  • Low cairns, long cists and symbol stones

    Patrick Ashmore, Patrick J Ashmore•Proceedings of the Society of…•1981

  • A Long Cist Cemetery at Parkburn Sand Pit, Lasswade, Midlothian

    Audrey S Henshall•Proceedings of the Society of…•1958

  • Excavation of a number of Graves in a Mound at Ackergill, Caithness

    Arthur J H Edwards, Thomas H Bryce•Proceedings of the Society of…•1926

  • Excavation of Graves at Ackergill and of an Earth-house at Freswick Links, Caithness, and a Description of the Discovery of a Viking Grave at Reay, Caithness

    Arthur J H Edwards, Thomas H Bryce•Proceedings of the Society of…•1927

  • Ancient Landscapes and the Dead

    Howard Williams•Medieval Archaeology•1997

  • An Iona of the East

    Martin Carver•Medieval Archaeology•2004

  • The spindle and the spear

    Nick Stoodley•The spindle and the spear•1999

  • The Archaeology of Personhood

    Chris Fowler, C M Fowler•Archaeology of Personhood•2004

  • The Powerful Dead

    Open Access•Mike Parker Pearson•Cambridge Archaeological Journal•1993

  • Time in the reproduction of mortuary practices

    Koji Mizoguchi•World Archaeology•1993

  • Picts and prehistory

    Stephen T Driscoll•World Archaeology•1998

  • The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland

    Open Access•C A Ralegh Radford•Antiquity•1942

  • Material metaphors

    Open Access•Joanna Brück•Journal of Social Archaeology•2004

  • Grave-Goods as Gifts in Early Saxon Burials (ca. AD 450-600)

    Open Access•John M King•Journal of Social Archaeology•2004

  • Death Warmed up

    Open Access•Howard Williams•Journal of Material Culture•2004

  • Personhood and Social Relations in the British Neolithic with a Study from the Isle of Man

    Open Access•Chris Fowler•Journal of Material Culture•2001

Unique citing works4
Citations per year0,22
Citation span2008 - 2017 (10)
Citation velocityhistorical
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 4
Ethnos_APP • Open Source Project • MIT License • Frontend v2.0.0 • Privacy and Cookies • API Documentation: api.ethnos.app/docs • API Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17049435 • Frontend Source Code: GitHub • DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17050053 • cruz.rio.br • Expectantes Misericordiae