Erin Sebo
Biographic Data
| ID | 1227012 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Erin Sebo |
| GIVEN NAMES | Erin |
| FAMILY NAME | Sebo |
| SIGNATURE | SEBO E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Flinders University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8845-1882 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 13 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 12 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
West African ancestry in seventh-century England
Archaeogenetics, the study of ancient DNA, can reveal powerful insights into kinship and the movement of individuals in (pre)history. Here, the authors report on the identification of two individuals with genetic profiles consistent with recent sub-Saharan African ancestry, both of whom were buried in early-medieval cemeteries in southern Britain. Focusing primarily on a sub-adult female from Updown in Kent, the authors explore the societal and c…
Saxo Grammaticus’s Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in Gesta Danorum
The Kalvestene (calf stones) are a collection of ship settings,[1][1] dated by cremated grave goods to the seventh to tenth century ([Broholm 1937][2], 16–22), on the southern coast of the small island of Hjarnø, off the eastern coast of Jutland (fig. 1). This site is associated with a legend
Saxo Grammaticus's Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in Gesta Danorum
The Kalvestene (calf stones) are a collection of ship settings,1 dated by cremated grave goods to the seventh to tenth century (Broholm 1937, 16–22), on the southern coast of the small island of Hjarnø, off the eastern coast of Jutland (fig. 1). This site is associated with a legend, first recorded in the twelfth century by Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, concerning a legendary king, Hiarni, his rise and fall, and how he came to be buried …
The Kalvestene
The ship setting site on the island of Hjarnø, known as the Kalvestene (“the calf stones”), is a grave field made up of ten small ship settings dating to the Viking Age. Although it is a comparatively small site, textual evidence suggests that, surprisingly, the Kalvestene were well-known, at least in some parts of medieval Scandinavia. The site is unusual among Danish grave fields in that all the settings are ship shaped, with no surviving circl…
Modthryth and the Problem of Peace-Weavers
Modthryth has been largely understood as an early example of a character archetype common in Western culture, the wicked queen. She is read as a parable warning of the dangers of allowing women to exercise power. Such a reading has anachronistically aligned the cultural attitudes of the audience of Beowulf with those found in the works of later chroniclers, such as Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, John of Worcester, and William of Malmesbury, wh…
Kingship and Maritime Power in 10th‐Century England
Ships and seafaring were intrinsic to early English cultures, identifiable in the origin story of the adventus Saxonum, in the material cultures of 6th- to 10th-century England, and in later portrayals of good kingship. However, effective control of the sea only became critical to Anglo-Saxon kings in the 10th century, serving to legitimate their authority and demonstrate both power and prestige. Using a combination of historical texts and archae…
The (Non-)Reception of Samson’s Riddle in Anglo-Saxon England
Although many of the riddles that survive from Anglo-Saxon England appear to be original, there is also clearly a delight in retelling and reshaping old riddles. The number of riddle collections pr
Modern or medieval? Analysis of an iron anchor from Camuscross, Scotland and direct dating methods for metal artefacts
A Double-edged Sword
In Anglo-Saxon and Viking literature swords form part of a hero's identity. In addition to being weapons, they represent a material agent for the individual's actions, a physical expression of identity. In this article we bring together the evidence from literature and archaeology concerning Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age swords and argue that these strands of evidence converge on the construction of mortuary identities and particular personhoods. Th…
Foreshadowing the End in Beowulf
In this article, I will reconsider the function and meaning of three connected instances of the word fyren, 879a, 915b, and 1744b. Each occurs in a passage in which a character offers Beowulf advice by comparing him to either Sigemund or Heremod. In each case, the passage establishes a highly complex network of allusions which illuminates Beowulf’s present and his future. In each, I argue, it is possible to read fyren as a pun which foreshadows h…
Sex, Politics and Religion
Our earliest version of the Thomas Rymer story is the medieval romance Thomas off Ersseldoune (c.1430). There is a four hundred year lacuna before the ballad “Thomas Rymer”, our next surviving version, is recorded in the early 1800s. In the intervening time the narrative changed very little but the dynamic of the piece, radically. The romance transformed into the highly subversive ballad, “Thomas Rymer”. Central to this transformation is the reco…
Was Symphosius an African? A Contextualizing Note on Two Textual Clues in the Aenigmata Symphosii
IT is ironic that the Late Antique riddle writer Symphosius has left us a collection of one hundred aenigmata complete with solutions but has remained so insolubly enigmatic himself. His work was much imitated and became a school text in Medieval England, so Symphosius is an influential writer in our tradition. Yet we know almost nothing about him. Indeed, with the exception of his Aenigmata Symphosii Scholastici there is virtually no evidence wh…
A Double-edged Sword
In Anglo-Saxon and Viking literature swords form part of a hero's identity. In addition to being weapons, they represent a material agent for the individual's actions, a physical expression of identity. In this article we bring together the evidence from literature and archaeology concerning Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age swords and argue that these strands of evidence converge on the construction of mortuary identities and particular personhoods. Th…
Kingship and Maritime Power in 10th‐Century England
Ships and seafaring were intrinsic to early English cultures, identifiable in the origin story of the adventus Saxonum, in the material cultures of 6th- to 10th-century England, and in later portrayals of good kingship. However, effective control of the sea only became critical to Anglo-Saxon kings in the 10th century, serving to legitimate their authority and demonstrate both power and prestige. Using a combination of historical texts and archae…
Modern or medieval? Analysis of an iron anchor from Camuscross, Scotland and direct dating methods for metal artefacts
Foreshadowing the End in Beowulf
In this article, I will reconsider the function and meaning of three connected instances of the word fyren, 879a, 915b, and 1744b. Each occurs in a passage in which a character offers Beowulf advice by comparing him to either Sigemund or Heremod. In each case, the passage establishes a highly complex network of allusions which illuminates Beowulf’s present and his future. In each, I argue, it is possible to read fyren as a pun which foreshadows h…
Was Symphosius an African? A Contextualizing Note on Two Textual Clues in the Aenigmata Symphosii
IT is ironic that the Late Antique riddle writer Symphosius has left us a collection of one hundred aenigmata complete with solutions but has remained so insolubly enigmatic himself. His work was much imitated and became a school text in Medieval England, so Symphosius is an influential writer in our tradition. Yet we know almost nothing about him. Indeed, with the exception of his Aenigmata Symphosii Scholastici there is virtually no evidence wh…
Sex, Politics and Religion
Our earliest version of the Thomas Rymer story is the medieval romance Thomas off Ersseldoune (c.1430). There is a four hundred year lacuna before the ballad “Thomas Rymer”, our next surviving version, is recorded in the early 1800s. In the intervening time the narrative changed very little but the dynamic of the piece, radically. The romance transformed into the highly subversive ballad, “Thomas Rymer”. Central to this transformation is the reco…
Foreshadowing the End in Beowulf
In this article, I will reconsider the function and meaning of three connected instances of the word fyren, 879a, 915b, and 1744b. Each occurs in a passage in which a character offers Beowulf advice by comparing him to either Sigemund or Heremod. In each case, the passage establishes a highly complex network of allusions which illuminates Beowulf’s present and his future. In each, I argue, it is possible to read fyren as a pun which foreshadows h…
The (Non-)Reception of Samson’s Riddle in Anglo-Saxon England
Although many of the riddles that survive from Anglo-Saxon England appear to be original, there is also clearly a delight in retelling and reshaping old riddles. The number of riddle collections pr
Modern or medieval? Analysis of an iron anchor from Camuscross, Scotland and direct dating methods for metal artefacts
A Double-edged Sword
In Anglo-Saxon and Viking literature swords form part of a hero's identity. In addition to being weapons, they represent a material agent for the individual's actions, a physical expression of identity. In this article we bring together the evidence from literature and archaeology concerning Anglo-Saxon and Viking-age swords and argue that these strands of evidence converge on the construction of mortuary identities and particular personhoods. Th…
Kingship and Maritime Power in 10th‐Century England
Ships and seafaring were intrinsic to early English cultures, identifiable in the origin story of the adventus Saxonum, in the material cultures of 6th- to 10th-century England, and in later portrayals of good kingship. However, effective control of the sea only became critical to Anglo-Saxon kings in the 10th century, serving to legitimate their authority and demonstrate both power and prestige. Using a combination of historical texts and archae…
The Kalvestene
The ship setting site on the island of Hjarnø, known as the Kalvestene (“the calf stones”), is a grave field made up of ten small ship settings dating to the Viking Age. Although it is a comparatively small site, textual evidence suggests that, surprisingly, the Kalvestene were well-known, at least in some parts of medieval Scandinavia. The site is unusual among Danish grave fields in that all the settings are ship shaped, with no surviving circl…
Modthryth and the Problem of Peace-Weavers
Modthryth has been largely understood as an early example of a character archetype common in Western culture, the wicked queen. She is read as a parable warning of the dangers of allowing women to exercise power. Such a reading has anachronistically aligned the cultural attitudes of the audience of Beowulf with those found in the works of later chroniclers, such as Roger of Wendover, Matthew Paris, John of Worcester, and William of Malmesbury, wh…
Saxo Grammaticus’s Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in Gesta Danorum
The Kalvestene (calf stones) are a collection of ship settings,[1][1] dated by cremated grave goods to the seventh to tenth century ([Broholm 1937][2], 16–22), on the southern coast of the small island of Hjarnø, off the eastern coast of Jutland (fig. 1). This site is associated with a legend
Saxo Grammaticus's Account of the Viking Age Site on the Danish Island of Hjarnø in Gesta Danorum
The Kalvestene (calf stones) are a collection of ship settings,1 dated by cremated grave goods to the seventh to tenth century (Broholm 1937, 16–22), on the southern coast of the small island of Hjarnø, off the eastern coast of Jutland (fig. 1). This site is associated with a legend, first recorded in the twelfth century by Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum, concerning a legendary king, Hiarni, his rise and fall, and how he came to be buried …
West African ancestry in seventh-century England
Archaeogenetics, the study of ancient DNA, can reveal powerful insights into kinship and the movement of individuals in (pre)history. Here, the authors report on the identification of two individuals with genetic profiles consistent with recent sub-Saharan African ancestry, both of whom were buried in early-medieval cemeteries in southern Britain. Focusing primarily on a sub-adult female from Updown in Kent, the authors explore the societal and c…
Art (9 works) · History (9 works) · History (9 works) · Literature (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works) · Archaeology (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Medieval Literature and History (5 works) · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies (4 works) · Classics (4 works)