The remains of the warlord. Credit: University of Reading
Posted on 10/07/2020 10:19:40 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The burial, on a hilltop site near with commanding views over the surrounding Thames valley, must be of a high-status warlord from the 6th century AD, archaeologists from the University of Reading believe.
The 'Marlow Warlord' was a commanding, six-foot-tall man, buried alongside an array of expensive luxuries and weapons, including a sword in a decorated scabbard, spears, bronze and glass vessels, and other personal accoutrements.
The pagan burial had remained undiscovered and undisturbed for more than 1,400 years until two metal detectorists, Sue and Mick Washington came across the site in 2018...
The PAS Finds Liaison Officer for Buckinghamshire undertook a targeted excavation to recover the very fragile bronze vessels and, in the process, recovered a pair of iron spearheads suggested that the context was likely to be an Anglo-Saxon grave...
The early Anglo-Saxon period was one of great change in England with significant levels of immigration from the continent and the formation of new identities and power structures in the vacuum created by the collapse of the Roman administration around 400 AD. Around a century later - the period in which the Marlow Warlord lived -England was occupied by local tribal groupings, some of which expanded into Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, such as Wessex, Mercia and Kent...
Found buried with the Marlow Warlord were a sword with an exceptionally well-preserved scabbard - making it one of the best-preserved sheathed swords known from the period -made of wood and leather with decorative bronze fittings, spears, bronze and glass vessels, dress-fittings, shears and other implements.
(Excerpt) Read more at eurekalert.org ...
The remains of the warlord. Credit: University of Reading
Will the new map affect the Tory or Labour Party more?
Has his death been attributed to COVID-19 yet?
Just kidding. It’s a really cool find, but I’m not seeing the “redrawing the map” all that much. Borders were inexact and in a constant state of flux. The mid-Thames region could have been vitally important when this guy was alive and a backwater 5 years after he was gone. I’m guessing there will be a few more finds in the area.
He obviously supported the Irish backstop.
Did they find Draco, too?
Kisagen?
Good movie.
“with significant levels of immigration from the continent”
So Saxon raids and invasion were “immigration”?
All part of the “immigrants uber alles” meme being pushed here and in Britain.
I’m a detectorist and history and archeology nerd. I love this stuff when detectorists make amazing discoveries, yet the academia archeologists eschew our hobby.
I wouldn’t ‘sensationalize’ this discovery with that type of headline, but it does provide another bit of knowledge of post-Roman Britain. Hopefully careful study of the find and also the location plotted to other post-Roman Anglo-Saxon settlements in the general region.
Alas, some “wag” will probably start shouting “We’ve found King Arthur.” I wish a couple of the Anglo-Saxon experts from the old Time Team show could provide some comments on this find.
Very cool.
It doesn’t look like Marlow Warlord is capable of drawing any maps. Maybe when he was alive (if he knew what a map was).
Kisagen de LaCruox THE WAR LORD.
A good Knight who went bad, took another man’s wife on her wedding night, started a war, and his burly sidekick then killed the affronted husband.
I am a detectorist too. Mostly American Revolution and Civil War sites. If you do Instagram see me at “History Hoarder63”. Good luck in you explorations !!!
I'm thinking this is an understatement as the average Roman male was between 5'5"-7" and the native Britons of that era seem about the same.
Rome sucked out its military in the early 400s and was gone by 430. England's southeast coast already had fortification identified as "Saxon Shore" from the 200s but there is still a lot of controversy over how 'violent' the Anglo-Saxon incursions were in the period after Rome. Truly a 'dark age' with few records or chroniclers.
One thing noted in the article was how shallow the burial had become over time. After the mentioned 1,400 years, there would have been erosion and then near continuous agriculture. Kind of shows why these metal-detector enthusiasts do have successes, even when someone else has already 'worked' an area.
Thanks for an interesting post, SunkenCiv!
I know the article said the deceased was tall -- but, to me, his "long bones" look extraordinarily long.
Thanks for posting this!
TXnMA
Thanks.
That’s the movie.
Saxon settlement dates back to the Roman Empire’s Crisis of the Third Century. The rebel emperor Carausius ruled northern Gaul and the province of Britain, and had the smarts to evacuate both his troops on the continent and the navy he controlled, moving it to Britain to keep it from being taken in a land attack.
http://www.google.com/search?q=carausius
Some do, some don't. A good many archaeologists appreciate the help they get from detectorists. Only a tiny number are just unscrupulous treasure hunters. Some of the much more numerous good guys have detected some large ancient coin hoards in Britain in recent years.
My pleasure.
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