Early Anglo-Saxon Runic Pots at Spong Hill, Norfolk, England

Abstract

At Spong Hill, North Elmham, Norfolk a large early Anglo-Saxon cemetery was excavated in its entirety in ten summer seasons, 1972-1981 (Fig. 1). More than 2500 cremations and 57 inhumations were excavated. Three of the pots used as cremation urns, C1224, C1564 and C2167, carried impressions of the same stamp, a rectangle carrying three runic letters (Figs. 2-4). The first pot to be excavated, C1224, was published soon after its discovery (Hills 1974) and all three were included in the relevant cemetery catalogue volumes (Hills 1977, Fig. 58; Hills/Penn 1981, Fig. 69). The pots and their cemetery context were discussed in a paper given at Eichstatt in 1989 (Hills 1991). The inscription has been discussed by Page (1999, 92) and Pieper (1987). The initial interpretation was that the intention was to write the name of the god Tyr or Tiw, but Pieper’s generally accepted reinterpretation suggests instead a mirrored version of alu, a sequence known from other early runic texts. The purpose of this paper is not to revisit the interpretation of the runes but to discuss the runic pots within the context of the Spong Hill cemetery and to outline the recently established chronology of the site, which provides a date for the runic pots in the middle of the 5th century AD, earlier than had previously been suggested.