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THIS ARTICLE DESCRIBES the recent discovery of Britain’s first certain hoard of gold bracteates, found in a field in Binham (Norfolk). This find is unique in Anglo-Saxon England where bracteates have previously been found either in graves or as single finds. A further two gold bracteates and a possible die have been discovered in the vicinity of Binham suggesting a ‘bracteate cluster’. It is argued here on the basis of analogies with sites in Scandinavia and northern Germany that Binham may have acted as a central place in northern Norfolk in the early Anglo-Saxon period. In light of bracteate distribution across Anglo-Saxon England, the area of Binham is suggested as one of several sites with meaningful clusters of bracteate finds; these may have belonged to a network of central sites distributed across Scandinavia and along North Sea coastal areas in England. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study probes the destruction of material culture to illuminate the introduction of Norman political authority into northern England. A brief overview of Norman destruction of churches provides the background to a review of the potential relationship of Anglo-Saxon monuments with memory and identity, in the context of recent discussions of monument reuse. Durham and York, the Anglo-Saxon monastic sites at Wearmouth/Jarrow, Lindisfarne and Jedburgh, and a selection of local churchyards provide case studies. It argues that some monuments seem to have been deliberately targeted, but a wider range of factors, all ultimately derived from changing political circumstances, can be identified that explain why sculpture was removed and reused. The paper serves as a platform for further debate about the significance of monuments in the Middle Ages, and as a contribution to the broader discourse within archaeology about their social meanings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Number of bracteate finds from early Anglo-Saxon England has increased substantially in recent years. A catalogue draws together for the first time all the finds since 1993 and one, possibly two, dies with bracteate motifs. This leads to a review of their find circumstances, distribution and their stylistic and iconographical links with continental and Scandinavian bracteates. The outcome is a revised picture of the function and meaning of bracteates in Anglo-Saxon society, with the suggestion that the English adopted the idea for these pendants from Sievern in Germany but adapted the concept and iconography for local manufacture. In Kent use links to high-status female burials but outside Kent ritual deposition is also a possibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological Excavations by Field Archaeology Specialists in 2002 outside the walls of York have revealed new evidence for the elusive transition between the Roman and Viking city. At Heslington Hill, in the campus of the present University of York, an early-Anglo-Saxon settlement dates from c AD 550 to AD 650. In the 7th century a new settlement began 2 km westwards on the same glacial moraine. This was the site of Eoforwic at Fishergate on the River Ouse, investigated in the 1980s and here revisited with additional evidence from excavations in 2000–01. The ceramic assemblage suggests that the two communities were connected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]