Awkward Angles
Keith Nurse explores the findings of a post excavations studies carried out on an ancestral burial ground in Warwickshire.
A long pattern of peaceful co-existence and two-way contact between the Anglo- Saxons and the indigenous Britons has emerged from post-excavations studies carried out recently on a rich group of finds from an ancestral burial ground in Warwickshire. The finest of the excavated objects from Wasperton, five miles south of Warwick on the east bank of the River Avon, which have been among exhibits in a touring exhibition, 'Offa's Kingdom', are to go on permanent display at the Warwickshire Museum, this autumn.
The findings from Wasperton point to the existence of a Romano- British community that underwent a long and gradual cultural transition into one displaying Anglo- Saxon characteristics. In marked contrast to the more familiar and broader pillage-and-warfare view of relationships between the traditional foes.
Wasperton is now cited as a key example of those cemetery locations yielding archaeological features long sought-after but rarely detected: contact between Briton and Saxon and vice-versa.
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