Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones
| Author | Audrey Meaney |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | Anglo-Saxon archaeology, archaeology of ritual and magic |
| Publisher | British Archaeological Reports |
|
Publication date
|
1981 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 364 |
| ISBN |
Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones is an archaeological study of amulets, talismans and curing stones in the burial record of Anglo-Saxon England. Written by the Australian archaeologist Audrey Meaney, it was published by the company British Archaeological Reports as the 96th monograph in their BAR British Series. Prior to writing the work, Meaney had published several books dealing with Anglo-Saxon burials.
In the book, Meaney opines that scholars can understand more about Anglo-Saxon beliefs regarding magic by looking at the archaeological evidence for amulets and related magic items found buried in graves. Looking at the literary evidence for magical practices, she goes on to look at a wide variety of items found in Anglo-Saxon inhumation burials which might have had amuletic properties. She categorises such artefacts into a series of overarching categories, including vegetable amulets, mineral amulets, animal amulets, manufactured amulets and found amulets, to each of which she devotes a chapter. Concluding her study, Meaney argues that amulets were primarily worn by women and children in Anglo-Saxon England, and that there were certain females, whom she termed "cunning women", who worked in a specific magical capacity for their local communities.
The book received a mixed review from the academic Hilda Ellis Davidson in the Folklore journal. Meaney herself produced a rebuttal to Ellis Davidson in the following issue. Meaney's ideas regarding Anglo-Saxon cunning women would subsequently be adopted by fellow archaeologist Tania Dickinson.
Prior to the publication of Anglo-Saxon Amulets and Curing Stones, Meaney had written a number of studies on the archaeological burial record from Anglo-Saxon England. 1964 saw the publication of the Gazetteer of Early Anglo-Saxon Burial Sites, brought out by Allen and Unwin. In 1970, Meaney's book, Two Anglo-Saxon Cemeteries at Winnall, Winchester, Hampshire was published by the Society for Medieval Archaeology as the fourth title in their monograph series.
Chapter one, "Introduction" opens with Meaney's discussion of how archaeology can be used to shed light on the cognitive aspects of the past. She explains how she chooses to define terms like "amulet", "talisman", "charm" and "curing stone", before making comparisons with contemporary "good luck charms" to highlight the pervasiveness of amulets in human society. Moving on, she explores the early Christian attitudes to amulets in Europe using documentary sources, before going on to look specifically at the matter in Anglo-Saxon England. Here, she examines several Early Mediaeval manuscripts, such as the Lacnunga and Bald's Leechbook, for evidence of written charms which made reference to amulets, before discussing the three known examples of Anglo-Saxon finger rings which had been engraved with a charm in runic script.
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