Covering and dressing the dead: situating Viking Age furnished graves at Christian cemeteries in the Irish Sea area

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between Christian clerics and Scandinavian-influenced ‘pagan’ laity in the Irish Sea region through the lens of furnished burials, considered here as an alternative to the traditional unfurnished ‘Christian’ burial in and around churches during the 9th to 11th centuries. It aims to highlight how the processes of Christianisation and settlement were even more complicated and diverse than previously portrayed, and how Viking Age furnished graves had parallels with unfurnished burials around the Irish Sea area, fruitfully complicating the idea of a distinct ‘Christian/Pagan’ divide. An analysis of the materials used to contain and cover the dead at the ecclesiastical sites of the Irish Sea region is conducted, with a case study on St. Peter’s Church and St. Patrick’s Chapel in Heysham, Lancashire. How these materials, graves, and sites embody the idea of glocalisation is then explored, particularly as burial practices were adapted, utilising materials and constructions found in both Irish Sea and Scandinavian cultures.