Webinar Q&A
There were many more questions than we had time to answer during our talk for the York Festival of Ideas. But luckily, we have all the questions that were submitted during the webinar and here are the answers!
Warrior: A life of war in Anglo-Saxon Britain – Saturday 7 June 2020, 1.00pm
York Festival of Ideas 2020 Online
Audience Questions, captured from the Zoom Webinar:
Stan Tan 01:25 PM
Hello from Singapore!
What is a “Bowl Hole” / why is the “Bowl Hole” termed as such?
Answer: Because it is a bowl shape: a depression amid the surrounding sand dunes.
Geoff 01:25 PM
Would the bodies buried face down with legs raised maybe infer a disposal rather than a burial?
Answer: we go into this in some detail in the book but in short, there are two explanations advanced for this type of burial: that it’s a sign of the person buried being in some form of disgrace or that, with the bloating that occurs in dead bodies and the corpse being put into the grave simply wrapped in a shroud, that it can be impossible for the burial party to know which way up they were burying the body.
Jack 01:37 PM
Given the classification of “warrior” to the finds and the idea they are elites are there any traces of this in their skeleton? healed broken bones or sign of a violent death etc?
Answer: Yes, there are. We go into this in detail in the book, but some of the skeletons show clear evidence of a very violent death: I am thinking in particular of one body where the skeleton was basically cut diagonally in half, from shoulder to waist.
Beverley Hallam 01:47 PM
What evidence can be gleaned about diet?
Answer: both direct and indirect. Remains of various foods have been excavated at Bamburgh, indicating a protein-rich diet with much meat eaten and various exotic imported foodstuffs, ranging from wild crane to lentils. The bones of the people excavated are uniformly free of the stress marks that indicate periods of starvation, so they were a well-fed and wealthy elite. Among the men, there is more evidence of tooth decay than among the women, which may be the result of drinking lots of sweet, and very alcoholic, mead.
Chris U 01:49 PM
Was there any evidence of cause of death on any of the skeletons?
Answer: there are some skeletons with clear evidence that they died violently, including one unfortunate man who was cut diagonally in half, from shoulder to waist.
Ruth 01:21 PM
Don’t forget the story of Grace Darling too. Women of the North East ….. strong women!
Answer: Indeed! There is an excellent Grace Darling Museum in the village.
Anonymous Attendee 01:25 PM
Why is it called the Bowl Hole?
Answer: because it’s shaped like a bowl!
Raffi Thomas 01:31 PM
Do you know if the broad axe was found in the same context as the sword? I’d be interested if they belonged to the same individual.
Answer from Paul: In the same garage, yes 
