17th November 2005, 07:07 PM
eggy, I cannot find any specific examples at this moment of females buried with swords, though I have certainly seen published examples and will endeavour to find references for you. However, there is the osteologically male skeleton buried at Catterick with the jet jewellery (published in the Cataractonium monograph), and just to pull one site out of the back of my brain, the report on the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Norton, Cleveland contains info on a number of burials where the skeleton is male but the grave goods imply female.
The osteological/grave goods sexing problem is certainly there, but the issue is much deeper than that. As others have pointed out, the dead do not bury themselves, and any interpretation of the grave goods has to bear in mind that the objects may have carried a specific meaning for those who buried the individual rather than just marking their sex (or gender: a totally different thing) in life. For example, a wedding ring is a piece of jewellery, and therefore on the most basic level would imply that a skeleton was female, however a wedding ring does not have that meaning. It is worn by both males and females, and actually signifies a period in the life course of the individual rather than their sex. Other items may have had similar purposes.For example, a certain piece of jewellery may have acted as a talisman, maybe protecting an individual during a certain period in life. Weaponry is also an interesting one. I have certainly seen females buried with weapons but also very small children. On the basic level a weapon may imply that someone is a warrior, and in this interpretation, there is no need to exclude females from that social category. However, very small children could not have been warriors in life, so what is the weapon implying in death?
and I could go on, this happens to be one of my research interests, and the subject of my masters dissertation...
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++
The osteological/grave goods sexing problem is certainly there, but the issue is much deeper than that. As others have pointed out, the dead do not bury themselves, and any interpretation of the grave goods has to bear in mind that the objects may have carried a specific meaning for those who buried the individual rather than just marking their sex (or gender: a totally different thing) in life. For example, a wedding ring is a piece of jewellery, and therefore on the most basic level would imply that a skeleton was female, however a wedding ring does not have that meaning. It is worn by both males and females, and actually signifies a period in the life course of the individual rather than their sex. Other items may have had similar purposes.For example, a certain piece of jewellery may have acted as a talisman, maybe protecting an individual during a certain period in life. Weaponry is also an interesting one. I have certainly seen females buried with weapons but also very small children. On the basic level a weapon may imply that someone is a warrior, and in this interpretation, there is no need to exclude females from that social category. However, very small children could not have been warriors in life, so what is the weapon implying in death?
and I could go on, this happens to be one of my research interests, and the subject of my masters dissertation...
++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++