Posted on 09/20/2003 4:51:38 PM PDT by blam
WARRIOR QUEEN IS UNEARTHED
10:30 - 20 September 2003
A 1,500-year-old Anglo-Saxon "warrior queen" has been found buried just two feet under the surface of a county field.
Lincolnshire's own 6ft tall "Boadicea" has been described as one of the best Anglo-Saxon finds of its kind in the county.
She was still holding her shield and had a dagger at her side when she was found. On either side of her at the site just outside Lincoln were the remains of a man and a woman who were possibly her attendants.
The woman was wearing an amber necklace and had her feet bound together with rope. The male companion was buried with his hand over a pot.
The exceptional discovery was originally made by a man with a metal detector.
Mystery surrounds the identity of the 6ft tall warrior queen.
Her ancient Briton predecessor Boadicea led a rebellion against the Romans in 61AD. After the Romans left England in 410AD tribal conflict was rife and the mystery queen might have fallen victim to this.
All the bones and artefacts discovered at the scene are now being examined by independent conservator Wessex Archaeology and at a later date will be brought back to the City and County Museum in Friars Lane.
Lincolnshire County Council archaeologist Adam Daubney said that there was an enormous sense of excitement when the bodies were unearthed.
"Any discovery from Anglo-Saxon times is important for Lincolnshire because this era of history is not as well documented as other periods," he said.
"In other parts of Lincolnshire we have found two large Saxon burial sites at Loveden Hill and Ruskington.
"But one of the interesting things about this is that a total of four shields have been found.
"The shield would have been originally made from wood but the boss - which held the handle in place - was made of iron and this has survived."
The Channel Four television programme Time Team carried out the excavation and the programme is due to be broadcast next spring.
The owner of the land on which the burial site was discovered asked not to be named to avoid the venue's location becoming common knowledge.
He said: "Two years ago a discovery of a brooch was made on the site which was unmistakably Anglo-Saxon. It was incredibly exciting to discover the burial site."
Councillor Marianne Overton, a member of Navenby Archaeology Group which assisted Time Team with the excavation, helped out at the three-day dig which took place between Tuesday and Thursday last week.
"What struck me was that there are possibly a great many more sites like this across the county," she said.
"When you actually see the venue and are able to imagine what life would have been like then you get a strong sense of the history of the county in which we live."
I saw this one myself.
We know very little about the Dark Ages...it was a worldwide event around 540AD. This is about the same time King Arthur is believed to have died.
The research supports the idea that Celtic Britain underwent a form of ethnic cleansing by Anglo-Saxons invaders following the Roman withdrawal in the fifth century.Yeah! If this lady and her unfortunate household staff are Anglo-Saxon, calling her Boadicea is like confusing Custer with Powhatan.Genetic tests show clear differences between the Welsh and English
your tagline is my no 1 favourite album....good grief that means there's 2 of us!
"it is dark...so dark..."
…and secondly the fact that she was buried with weapons that are usually connected with men.
While the Celts didn’t welcome the invasion of the Germanic tribes, the lore of the Germanic tribes – including the Angles and Saxons – were similar to the Celts.
In Celtic lore the female warrior is a popular theme. The greatest Teachers of Arms were women. The Celtic goddess of martial arts was Scatha, who taught the great Irish warrior Cuchulain. Germanic sagas also have the theme of great female warriors with Brünnehilde, and Freya was not only a fertility goddess but also goddess of war.
Do you remember FReeper 'LostTribe' (before he was banned), he believed that the Northern Tribe of Israel were the Celts.
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