Sonia Chadwick Hawkes & Guy Grainger. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Finglesham, Kent.

Sonia Chadwick Hawkes & Guy Grainger. The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Finglesham, Kent. SONIA CHADWICK HAWKES & GUY GRAINGER. The Anglo-Saxon Cemeteryat Finglesham, Kent (Oxford University School of Archaeology Monograph64). 436 pages, 165 figures, 27 plates, 37 tables. 2006. Oxford: OxfordUniversity School of Archaeology; 0-9549627-1-0 hardback 26 [poundssterling]. Although Kent has been a primary paradigm since Bede'sHistoria Ecclesiastica Historia Ecclesiastica (Latin, meaning "Church History") is the name of many different works, documenting the history of Christianity.These include: Alexander Natalis Bartholomew of Lucca, Historia Ecclesiastica Nova Bede, for the development of early Anglo-Saxonkingdoms, and although the primary evidence for Kent in the fifth toseventh centuries consists overwhelmingly of burials, remarkably fewKentish cemeteries suitable for modern quantitative research Quantitative researchUse of advanced econometric and mathematical valuation models to identify the firms with the best possible prospectives. Antithesis of qualitative research. arepublished. The publication at last of Sonia Hawkes's excavations atFinglesham between 1959 and 1967 is therefore greatly welcome.Finglesham, which sits on low downland A downland is an area of open chalk hills. This term is especially used to describe the chalk countryside in southern England. Areas of downland are often referred to as Downs. overlooking the north-east Kentcoastline, is notable for its group of early- and mid-sixth-century'founder' burials. Mostly excavated in 1928-29 in the wake ofchalk quarrying, these were meticulously published in 1958 by Hawkes(then Chadwick); a further two (graves 203 and 204) from her ownexcavations were given substantial discussion in 1981. She highlightedtheir mixture of local Kentish, Frankish and especially southScandinavian material culture, which so typifies the richest burials atthis time in this burial-rich corner of Kent. Most of Hawkes'sgraves, however, dated from the seventh and early eighth centuries andrepresent a typical Kentish 'Final Phase' cemetery, in whichgrave-goods are fewer but distinctive in type and association, and manygraves were covered by low barrows. It is both sad and salutary sal��u��tar��yadj.Favorable to health; wholesome.salutaryhealthful.salutaryHealthy, beneficial that the volume under review isposthumous post��hu��mous?adj.1. Occurring or continuing after one's death: a posthumous award.2. Published after the writer's death: a posthumous book.3. . Hawkes had planned two volumes, no doubt intended like her1958 paper to leave 'no stones ... unturned' (p. 27), but atthe time of her death in 1999 only this one, reflecting work done in the1980s, was sufficiently complete to warrant funding the necessaryeditorial work, a task undertaken judiciously ju��di��cious?adj.Having or exhibiting sound judgment; prudent.[From French judicieux, from Latin i by Birte Brugmann.Brugmann and Keith Parfitt contribute a short introduction, which coversthe history of work and sets the site in context. The bulk of the volumecomprises Marion Cox's excellent drawings of grave-plans andgrave-goods (180 pages), the grave inventory (130 pages) and a report onthe, mostly poorly preserved, skeletal material (41 pages), the last twolargely collated by Guy Grainger. The remaining chapters present shortspecialist reports on: the remnant textiles; X-ray fluorescence fluorescence(flrĕs`əns), luminescence in which light of a visible color is emitted from a substance under stimulation or excitation by light or other forms of electromagnetic analysesof metal objects and of glass beads; and chemical and physicalexamination of pottery vessels to ascertain the source of the unusualfabric of some wheel-made bottles and bowls. The volume is presented asa product of its time and as a resource for future research, witheditorial intervention, we are told, kept to a minimum; some additionalinformation has been included, however, from specialist reports or fromGrainger's drafts towards analytical chapters planned for thesecond volume (which can be consulted in the Hawkes Archive at Oxford). Ironically, the volume indeed reflects a 1980s approach, that it isbetter to publish basic data on Anglo-Saxon cemeteries than to hold uppublication by a wish to produce a definitive synthesis. The text offersmuch potential data, but will require painstaking work to extract them,for although there is an index, little is ready tabulated. Even basicdata about the cemetery's size are problematic. AlthoughHawkes's estimate of about 260 graves, allowing for pre-excavationlosses, for the complete cemetery is probably not wide of the mark, hercount of 248 knowable burials (p. 30) is not easily reconciled with the216 graves inventoried here and those documented from 1928-29. Some ofthe latter were identified among the former; five were not certainlygraves or were classed as 'unfinished', and not all of thesecould be distinguished from graves, perhaps often of children, in whichpoor preservation conditions had destroyed all bone, or from thoserobbed in antiquity, which were certainly evidenced in several otherinstances. At the same time, 14 graves were double burials. Further,Brugmann notes that few graves are attributable to the late sixth/earlyseventh century (but these include grave 95 with the buckle featuring anaked man with 'horned' helmet and spears) and that otherclusters of burials might exist close by. Readers should also note thatwhilst most of the age and sex attributions depend on the skeletalanalysis, some are inserted on the basis of grave-size or grave-goods. Those who knew Sonia Hawkes, however, will surely also hear in thefulsome inventory her individual voice, concerned not only withdescriptions but also with arguments behind their interpretation. Topicsinclude, for example: grave-structure; the post-excavation history andconservation of objects; their position, reconstruction, identificationand age relative to that of the skeleton; occasionally even qualitativejudgements, or parallels to similar objects at Finglesham or elsewhere;and even speculation on the beliefs behind the burialbehaviours--social, psychological and religious. The volume is finely produced, though the printed quality of mostof the photographs would probably disappoint Hawkes. It will be anessential point of reference for all working with early Anglo-Saxonburial data. TANIA Hayd��e Tamara Bunke Bider, communist revolutionary Tania (queen) Tania was an alias of Patricia Hearst Tania Borealis and Tania Australis, stars in the constellation Ursa Major Tania Emery, actress Tania Lacy, comedian Tania Libertad, singer DICKINSON Department of Archaeology, University of York This article is about the British university. For the Canadian university, see York University. The University of York is a campus university in York, England. , UK