Stonehenge is usually thought to derive from Old English hencgen, ‘gallows’. Incidentally, a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon decapitation burial has been found there: http://dro.dur.ac.uk/5904/ https://twitter.com/irarchaeology/status/957723402315403264 …
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Interesting background to Andrew Reynolds' work.
And Martin Carver's work on Sutton Hoo - an (admittedly more recent) pagan site that became a gallows site in the Christian era
and the increase in the number of known sites through development-led PPG16 excavation and reporting in the south-east of England.
What do you make of isolated heads/skulls in wetland and mossland locations? (IA & Roman)
A throwback to the severed head rites of druidic practice?
That's really interesting in relation to how many saints' lives feature decapitation as the eventual cause of death.
Particularly saints' lives in the Golden Legend, often set in Italy or Mediterranean (Egypt, Syria, etc). Thanks for basically just giving me another really cool footnote, even if I'm not sure what to make of it!
Interesting...any proof of cause?..these battle victims?..sacrifice?..custom of keeping ancestors remains?
What was the purpose of decapitation burials?
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