Burying the Dead

 Welcome to my review for Burying the Dead: An Archaeological History of Burial Grounds, Graveyards and Cemeteries

Deep in the heart of North Yorkshire, at a place called Walkington Wold, there lies a rather unusual burial ground, an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery

My thoughts 

Rating: 4 

Would I recommend it? Yes, in fact some of my friends have already added it to their wishlist.

Would I read more by this author? 

Yes

First off I want to say huge  thank you to the publisher Pen & Sword , the author Lorraine Evans and to NetGalley for letting me request it as well as letting me read and review it, because as soon as I saw it on NetGalley I was like yes please because I love reading anything that deals with Archaeological History. And this book was everything I was hoping it would be , it was well researched and written, it was a gripping read from start to finish, and while it might not be for everyone, its perfect for the ones who love this type of book. It goes into detail of the types of burial as well as the history and the author has a way of bring it to life. 

Deep in the heart of North Yorkshire, at a place called Walkington Wold, there lies a rather unusual burial ground, an Anglo-Saxon execution cemetery. Twelve skeletons were unearthed by archaeologists, ten without skulls, later examination of the skeletons revealed that their owners were all subjected to judicial execution by decapitation, one of which required several blows.

Similar fates have befallen other wretched souls, the undignified burial of suicides - in the Middle Ages, the most profound of sins - and the desecration of their bodies, go largely unrecorded. Whilst plague pits, vast cemeteries where victims of the Black Death were tossed into the ground, their bodies festering one on top of another, are only today betraying their secrets.

Although unpalatable to some, these burial grounds are an important part of our social heritage. They have been fashioned as much by the people who founded and used them, as by the buildings, gravestones and other features which they contain. They are records of social change; the symbols engraved upon individual memorials convey a sense of inherent belief systems, as they were constructed, adapted or abandoned depending on people’s needs.

Burying the Dead explores how these attitudes, practices and beliefs about death have undergone continual change. By studying the development of society’s funerary spaces, the author will reveal how we continue to reinforce our relationships with the dead, in a constant and on-going effort to maintain a bond with them.