Remembering the dead in Anglo -Saxon England: Memory theory in archaeology and history

Memory has become an increasingly popular subject of study within the humanities and social sciences within recent years and especially so within the disciplines of archaeology and history, where it has been part of studies into more general attitudes to the past. However, the field of 'memory studies' suffers from a lack of both methodological precision and theoretical clarification. Within history and archaeology in particular, there is a danger that the concept of memory has come to be applied too widely to carry any real meaning. This thesis aims to investigate the usefiilness of memory theory within the field of archaeology, with particular reference to Anglo-Saxon England. It examines the theoretical background for such studies by analysing major approaches to memory within psychology and sociology, as well as how these approaches have been applied by historians and archaeologists to date. From this, it argues that metaphors of construction and technology are particularly useful for archaeological studies of memory and applies them to two case studies concerning the remembrance of the dead in Anglo-Saxon England. The first of these centres around the way grave goods acted as a technology that allowed memories of the dead to be shared with the community, enabling mourners to deal with their grief and fashion a lasting identity for the deceased. The second case study examines how the layout of the cemetery and the placing of the dead within it was related to ongoing processes of remembering the dead within the community. Together, these two case studies allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the ways in which memory changed over the period and the influences at work upon it.