Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2016 - 62

Photo Credits (continued from page 58) as the Bowl Hole cemetery, between 2001 and 2007, eventually recovering 91 skeletons. Durham University bioarchaeologist Charlotte Roberts led the team that studied the remains. They recently published their results: Most of the people buried in the cemetery were likely aristocratic members of the court. "They were mainly wellnourished and of high stature," says Roberts, "though many had severe tooth decay that could have been brought on in part by high consumption of mead." Roberts' team also analyzed strontium isotope levels in the teeth, which can pinpoint where an individual spent his or her childhood. The results showed the people buried at the Bowl Hole cemetery were a surprisingly diverse group. "We found that relatively few locals were buried in the cemetery," says Roberts. "Most of these people came from other regions of the British Isles." Anglo-Saxon kings would often exchange children or close relatives as royal hostages to ensure that the terms of treaties were observed. Some of the individuals could have been staying at Bamburgh as just this kind of hostage. The team also found one man who came from the Outer Hebrides, near to where St. Oswald fled during his exile. Artifacts found with the burial and radiocarbon dating show that the man lived in the seventh century, around the same time as Oswald. Perhaps he accompanied the famous king back to Northumbria as part of his retinue. "That's as close as archaeology can get us to the Oswald story," says Young. A few of the people interred in the cemetery came from even farther afield. "Some of the strontium signatures show childhoods spent in Scandinavian countries, and this is centuries before the Viking era," says Roberts. Others were from the southern Mediterranean or North Africa. 62 "And it wasn't just men," she says, "but women from Scandinavia and southern Europe as well." Whether the people lived permanently at Bamburgh or died there while visiting, possibly while on a pilgrimage or working there temporarily, is impossible to know. But clearly, at its height, Bamburgh was a cosmopolitan place, with people from across Britain and Europe gathering in the great hall where the Northumbrian kings held court. Young has even pinpointed just where those courtiers would have gathered. During a geophysical survey of the castle's inner ward, the team discovered traces of a large royal mead hall. The AngloSaxon poem Beowulf describes a similar royal structure as a "timbered hall, splendid and ornamented with gold. The building in which a powerful At a metalworking area in Bamburgh, archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of Anglo-Saxon styca coins. man held court that was the foremost of halls under heaven." Some scholars have suggested that the poem may have been composed in Northumbria. "It's possible," says Young, "that around 1,200 years ago, a poet recited Beowulf for the king in that great hall." ot all the finds at Bamburgh relate to the royal AngloSaxon court. Just outside the office where he takes his tea breaks, Young and his team have unearthed a large metalworking area, littered with iron slag and cast-off metal artifacts, including some 300 styca, or AngloSaxon coins. "It might have functioned something like a mint," says Young. "They were making so many coins here that they didn't bother to pick up ones that fell on the floor." Walking around the excavation, Young points out sections Hope-Taylor originally explored, as well as subsoil that shows traces of intense burning. It's possible that that burning could N COVER-Igor Kozhevnikov/Courtesy Andrey Belinski; 1-Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Thierry Boyer; 3-Courtesy Jean Clottes, Chauvet Cave Project, Copyright N.J. Saunders, © Zona Arqueológica Caral, © Guillaume Gernez / Mission archéologique française en Oman central; 4-State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia / Bridgeman Images; 6-E. O. / Shutterstock. com; 9-Courtesy David Mearns; 10-Courtesy David Mearns, Courtesy Archaeological Site of Saint-Pierre Cathedral, Shutterstock, Photo: Tejus Shah; 12-Courtesy Jean Clottes, Chauvet Cave Project, Copyright N.J. Saunders, Photo: Ali Baldry; 13-Courtesy Southern Methodist University; 14-U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, NOAA ONMS/Teledyne SeaBotix; 16-Courtesy York Archaeological Trust, Courtesy Jessica Lamont; 17-Courtesy Professor Matthew Bennett, Bournemouth University; 18-© Guillaume Gernez / Mission archéologique française en Oman central (3); 20-© Zona Arqueológica Caral (3); 22-Courtesy Wiltshire Archaeology Service , Courtesy Aerial Filming Services Ltd. Courtesy Ívar Brynjólfsson, National Museum of Iceland; 24-(clockwise from top left) Courtesy Laura Lockau, McMaster University, Photo: James Connolly (PicSell8), Shutterstock, Photo: Roman Babakin, Courtesy Daphne Gallagher, University of Oregon, NOAA; 25-(clockwise from top left) Courtesy Marco Giglio, Courtesy Margarita Gleba, University of Cambridge, Courtesy the University of Hong Kong; Shutterstock, Photo: Pete Burana, Courtesy Mark Beech; 26-27- Courtesy Andrey Belinski; 28-HIP / Art Resource, NY, Igor Kozhevnikov/Courtesy Andrey Belinski; 29-SEF / Art Resource, NY, SEF / Art Resource, NY; 30-Igor Kozhevnikov/Courtesy Andrey Belinski (2), Courtesy Andrey Belinkski; 31-Courtesy Andrey Belinski; 32-Roman Beniaminson / Art Resource, NY; 33-Wikimedia Commons, Photo: hairymuseummatt, Derivative work: DrMikeBaxter (2); 34-Courtesy Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, © Bence Viola (2), © MPI f. Evolutionary Anthropology/ B. Viola; 36-37-Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Marc-André Bernier; 38-Courtesy Parks Canada, Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Thierry Boyer; Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Thierry Boyer; 39-Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Thierry Boyer; 40-Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Marc-André Bernier, Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Charles Dagneau (3); 41-Courtesy Parks Canada, Photo: Thierry Boyer; 42-Photo: Kevin Kaiser, © 2016 by Ancient Egypt Research Associates (amulet), Photo: Jessica Kaiser, © 2016 by Ancient Egypt Research Associates (coffin); 43-© 2016 by Ancient Egypt Research Associates (cemetery, wall, and pyramids), Photo: Kevin Kaiser, © 2016 by Ancient Egypt Research Associates (nut amulet), Yukinori Kawae, © 2016 by Ancient Egypt Research Associates (eye of Horus); 44-© National Portrait Gallery, London; 45-British Library, Add MS 70438; 46-Courtesy Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, SBT_ER1_96, Courtesy Shakespeare Birthplace Trust , SBT_DR1067_3; 47-Courtesy Kevin Colls and William Mitchell (4); 48-49-Courtesy Nam C. Kim; 50-Courtesy Nam C. Kim, Image by DigitalGlobe and ArchaeoTerra; 51-Courtesy Nam C. Kim (2) ; 52-Courtesy Nam C. Kim; 53-Courtesy Nam C. Kim; 55-Colin Carter Photography/GettyImages; 56-Courtesy Bamburgh Research Project (3); 58-Courtesy Bamburgh Research Project; 62-Courtesy Bamburgh Research Project; 64-Horizon AP;68- Courtesy Peter Eeckhout ARCHAEOLOGY * July/August 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - July/August 2016