Normative inhumation in 3rd – 7th century Britain was extended supine burial, but deviant burials are sometimes found. Deviations include decapitation or other bodily mutilations. Occasionally, the severed head or other missing body part is replaced in the grave an object placed at the appropriate anatomical location. This paper reviews this practice and describes some new examples from a cemetery at Stanwick, England. The 3rd -5th century AD Stanwick cemetery contains 35 inhumations; five were decapitated. In two instances, the severed head was placed in the lower part of the grave and a large stone lay atop the vertebral column in place of the head. Another inhumation was found buried prone with a large flat stone wedged in its mouth. In this last case, analogy with other instances where severed body parts are replaced with stones or other objects suggests that the stone was a symbolic replacement for a severed body part, in this case the tongue. This interpretation is supported by osteological study: the mandible shows alterations that may be consistent with amputation of the tongue in life. A number of causes of tongue ablation are possible. One is judicial mutilation. The medical literature suggests further possibilities: although assault or accident are sometimes responsible, more frequently such injuries are self inflicted in patients suffering seizures or mental illness. These possibilities are discussed for the Stanwick burial, and the discussion is framed within the broader context of the evidence for bodily mutilation in Roman and Dark Age Britain.
Author(s): Mays, Simon - Crosby, Vicky (Historic England)
