Old Bones

Feb 28 2024 34 ep. 80
Old Bones Podcast artwork

Exploring the past, one skeleton at a time.

www.oldbones.co.uk

  History  Society & Culture  Education
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Wayland's Smithy - Liminal Smiths in Anglo-Saxon England

Feb 28 2024 73 mins  
In this episode, we discuss the evidence for Anglo-Saxon smiths, the people who created the artefacts at Sutton Hoo and other princely burials. To do this we analyse the Neolithic tomb called Wayland's Smithy and the legend associated with its namesake.Buy T-Shirts Join on Patreon (and access transcripts and sources) Support the Substack

Sutton Hoo - Mercury Rivers

Sep 25 2023 80 mins  
Sutton Hoo is the most spectacular archaeology discovery in British history. We explore what this tells us about the Anglo-Saxons' relationship to themselves, their neighbours and their past. Help keep the show going: Buy a t-shirt Subscribe to our newsletter Become a Patron

Yeavering Pt. 2 - Of Gods and Priests, Kings, Queens and Bede

Apr 18 2022 62 mins  
What was it like to be pagan and Christain the next? In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand what the conversion of England must have felt like. We go beyond the historical story and explore the actual day to day "experience" of conversion. Next episode: Sutton Hoo and the Performance of Kingship Support the show at: Patreo

Yeavering Pt 1: The Rise of the Anglo-Saxon Kings

Oct 29 2021 46 mins  
How do we go from the society we met last time, one that is primarily equal and poor to the medieval image of kings, men with wealth and power near unimaginable to the ordinary peasant.In this episode, we visit the site of Yeavering and its many strange burials to try and understand the social dynamics that resulted in kingliness. Sources below. Next episode: Yeavering & The Ri

Growing Up in Early Anglo-Saxon England

Aug 06 2021 31 mins  
What was life like in the 400s and 500s CE? That question is not an easy one. In this episode, we look at the funerary evidence for each stage of life during this period. We understand what identity was developed and how that was closely connected to what individuals did during life as well as the important cultural concerns at the time. Sources below. Next episode: Yeavering &

Spong Hill: The Anglo-Saxons Arrive

Jul 11 2021 45 mins  
All across the East of England, there are small cemeteries with completely new material culture. it looks like it's from North-West Europe and represents the arrival, so well documented, of the Anglo-Saxon people. In this episode, we introduce the main debates about how and why the Anglo-Saxons started coming to England. It's a bit of a throwback to our Birdoswald episode, but with

Chapels in the Sands - Celtic Christianity in the Irish Sea

May 15 2021 54 mins  
All around the Irish sea, small stone chapels still remain. Some are amongst the sand dunes, some are now part of larger monasteries and some of them are on golf courses. All of them share an origin story: the beginnings of the Celtic church. In this episode, we explore the origins of Celtic Christianity, how it remained vibrant and developing while being cut off from other Christi

King Arthur: The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Mar 12 2021 42 mins  
A king who lies beneath a mountain waiting to return when his land needs him most... which apparently wasn't World War 2, the Great Recession or Coronavirus - how much worse could things become? Anyway, King Arthur. The Once and Future King, husband to Guinevere, best friend of Lancelot, student of Merlin has his origins in the 400s CE and what with his close ties to Tintagel, it f

Tintagel: Merchants Come to the Cornish Kings

Feb 07 2021 42 mins  
Join me on the waves around Tintagel as we discuss the kingdom that arose in Cornwall in the 5th century and, rather than becoming German or British decided to adopt a distinctly continental identity. We also uncover the nature of trade in pre-capitalist societies and try and acknowledge some of the biases we bring to our interpretations of the past. Next episode: Who Was King Arth

The 2020 Christmas Special

Dec 24 2020 102 mins  
In this one-off Christmas special, a fellow archaeology student - Grace - and I chat about a few things from the history of Christmas, including the medieval and pagan origins, as well as how it would have felt at a Medieval Christmas. Next episode: The Kings of Tintagel***Other content mentioned in the show: Modern History TV: https://modernhistory.tv/ British History Podcast: htt