‘Bed burials’ and what they tell us about the ‘network of women’ who helped introduce Christianity to Europe

'Bed Burial'

Aristocratic women in the 7th century converted people to Christianity partly because it was an ‘attractive alternative to marriage’ – eminent Newnham archaeologist Dr Sam Lucy explained in a BBC documentary.

Dr Lucy, who is also Newnham’s Admissions Tutor and Director of Admissions for the University of Cambridge, was one of the featured experts on Digging for Britain which aired on BBC Four this week.

The programme examined some of the striking finds discovered at an Anglo-Saxon burial site which was uncovered at a quarry in North Oxfordshire earlier this year.

Dr Lucy explained an Anglo-Saxon custom known as ‘bed burials’ which is how some high status women in the 7th century were buried. The relatively rare practice is when the deceased person, usually a woman, is buried in the ground placed upon a bed.

Bed burials, an example found in Cambridgeshire is pictured, took place during a pivotal period in British history when Christianity was spreading across Europe, partly thanks to the work of female ‘networks of power’ which stretched across the continent.

Dr Lucy said: “For aristocratic women it offered an attractive alternative to marriage.”

She is featured in the episode of Digging for Britain from 33 minutes in, or read more about her work at a site previously discovered in Trumpington Meadows.

Photo credit: Cambridge Archaeological Unit