Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire: an Early Saxon cemetery with bed burial

Posted Fri, 10/17/2008 - 11:20

By Nick Stoodley with Jörn Schuster

Location map of the site in relation to Collingbourne. The village in Wilts showing the location of the other cemeteries.The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Collingbourne Ducis is one of the largest cemeteries in Wiltshire. Dating to between the 5th and 7th centuries AD, it was investigated in 1974 and, in 2007, by Wessex Archaeology. In all over 120 burials have been found.

The site is also significant because:

  • it spans the first, migration, and final phases of Anglo-Saxon cemeteries
  • a nearby settlement was occupied at the same time
  • the landscape context of the cemetery and settlement can be reconstructed with some accuracy the development of the cemetery can be examined
  • a rare example of a bed burial was discovered

The analysis of the skeletons and the finds and environmental evidence is about to begin so the results presented here are a preliminary summary of the cemetery and an overview of its regional context.

Podcast

Listen to a podcast about the Saxon cemetery at Collingbourne Ducis.