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Updown Girl

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Updown Girl
Created7th century AD
Period/cultureEarly Middle Ages
Discovered1989
Eastry, Kent

Updown Girl is the name given to the skeletal remains of a young Anglo-Saxon girl discovered at an early 7th century burial site close to Updown Farm, near Eastry in Kent. Although first found in the 1980s the Updown Girl aroused new interest in 2022 when modern aDNA analysis indicated she had some West African ancestry, with evidence suggesting her paternal grandfather, or possibly her great-grandfather, came from either the Esan or Yoruba population groups.[1][2][3]

Background

A tarmac road
The part of the cemetery lying in the path of the planned Eastry Bypass was excavated in 1989.
Main article: Updown early medieval cemetery

The site was discovered in 1973 through the use of aerial photography. Updown early medieval cemetery was discovered in the 1970s, and first excavated in 1976. The cemetery covers an area roughly 150 by 80 m (490 by 260 ft) and contains an estimated 300 burials; around a quarter of the site has been excavated. Thirty-six graves were excavated in 1976, and another 41 were excavated in 1989 (excluding some graves from the 1976 campaign which were re-opened).[4] Twenty-one of the excavated burials were attributed to children.[5]

Discovery

Updown Girl was discovered during excavations in 1989 at the Updown early medieval cemetery, occupying Grave 47.[6][7] The grave was oriented roughly east to west measured 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) long, 0.52 m (1 ft 8 in) wide, and 0.34 m (1 ft 1 in) deep.[7] Grave 47 was located near the north end of the excavated area close to a number of other burials; Graves 37, 38, 41, 42, 45, 50, and 51 were all within 5 m (16 ft) of Updown Girl. That includes two relatives in Graves 34 and 45 – possibly Updown Girl's great aunts.[8][6]

Updown Girl is estimated to have died in the early 7th century at around the age of ten or eleven. Grave goods accompanying her burial were typical of local culture of the period.[9]

Grave goods

Grave goods were ubiquitous in early medieval England, and are found in graves as early as the 5th century and becoming less common in the 8th century.[10] The possible means of grave goods vary greatly, depending on culture and context: they include expressions of identity and status; items for use in the afterlife; and gifts to the deceased.[11]

The grave good buried with Updown Girl were a pot, a bone comb, a knife, a spoon, and a strap. The assemblage, like much of the cemetery, can be broadly dated to the 7th century.[12] The knife found in Updown Girl's grave was too damaged to match to an existing typology.[13] Frankish wheel-thrown pottery was found in five graves at the cemetery, including that of Updown Girl, evidence of Kent's connections to mainland Europe.[14]

Just two bone combs (or possibly made from antler) and iron spoons were found in the cemetery, one comb and spoon in each of Grave 47 (Updown Girl) and Grave 45, the burial of an individual aged 16–24 and possibly Updown Girl's great aunt.[15][6]

DNA analysis

Analysis of her remains was done as part of a research project which used modern DNA and isotope techniques to shed light on migrations into Britain in the post-Roman period[16] The study was undertaken jointly by the University of Central Lancashire and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology of Leipzig, and for their investigation researchers re-examined 460 skeletons from 37 archaeological sites across Britain and Europe, using recent DNA and isotope techniques[17] to plot shifts in population. DNA analysis showed a high proportion of those living in the South Eastern parts of England in the 7th century – up to 76% – had genetic links with Continental Northern Europe, particularly with regions corresponding to modern Germany and Denmark. Updown Girl was unique in the sample in also being of African as well as Continental North European descent.

Analysis of the skeletons of two women buried near the girl indicates they were related to her, being probably either her aunts or great aunts. Both were of predominantly Continental North European ancestry with some Franco-Belgian admixture. There appears to have been no distinction made between them and the Updown Girl however either in the location of the burials or in the type of grave goods accompanying the remains. This has been interpreted by Carly Hilts, editor of Current Archaeology[2] as indicating the girl's part-African ancestry was not seen as of any particular significance at the time.

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "DNA from skeletons 'challenges perceptions and understanding of ancient England'". Cotswold Journal. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Ancient DNA reveals complex life stories from the beginnings of English history". University of Central Lancashire. 6 October 2022. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  3. ^ Sayer, Duncan (3 November 2022). "Updown girl: DNA research shows ancient Britain was more diverse than we imagined". The Conversation. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
  4. ^ Welch 2008, pp. 2–8.
  5. ^ Welch 2008, p. 41.
  6. ^ a b c Sayer, Powlesland & Stewart 2022.
  7. ^ a b Welch 2008, p. 27.
  8. ^ Welch 2008, p. 9.
  9. ^ Blackburn 2022.
  10. ^ Härke 2014, pp. 42–44.
  11. ^ Härke 2014, pp. 44–52.
  12. ^ Welch 2008, p. 27, 48.
  13. ^ Welch 2008, p. 37.
  14. ^ Welch 2008, p. 40.
  15. ^ Welch 2008, pp. 27, 37–38.
  16. ^ From Continental Europe to England
  17. ^ Gretzinger et al. 2022.

Bibliography

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