Stephen Pollington is well known for his many works popularising scholarship and archaeology on Anglo-Saxon England. Here he turns his attention to probably the most famous aspect of early Anglo-Saxon culture, the spectular burial mounds, of which Sutton Hoo is the best known example. Here Pollington presents a detailed gazetteer of all known barrow burials across England including the latest findings such as the chamber burial at Prittlewell. Information regarding excavation, contents, dating and skeletal remains is accompanied by photographs and plans of the finest sites. The opening half of the book uses this information to outline the evolution of the barrow burial, its Germanic context, the symbolism of the burials and the contents of the tombs, and their physical construction. Old English and Norse literary references to the mounds are contained in appendices.

Examines what the Sutton Hoo ship-burial site reveals about early England, describes the site's treasures and mysteries, and recounts the events surrounding its discovery.

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 48. Chapters: Anglo-Saxon burial mounds, Atlantic roundhouse, Banjo enclosure, Batey (game), Bed burial, Berm, Burnt mound, Cistern, Cut (archaeology), Dark earth, Effigy mound, Enclosure (archaeology), Feature (archaeology), Forecourt, Geoglyph, Grave, Hearth, Jar burial, Land drains, Lynchet, Macula (archaeology), Midden, Naiskos, Petroform, Pit-house, Platform mound, Posthole, Postpipe, Reave, Ring ditch, Roofbox, Shadow marks, Stone box grave, Superburial, Terrace (geology), Traditional water sources of Persian antiquity, Tree throw, Trilithon, Tulasi chaura, Wall, Waterlogging (archeology), Water well.

A self-taught archaeologist, John Robert Mortimer (1825-1911) published this record of his excavations in east Yorkshire in 1905. A corn merchant and brewer by trade, he became fascinated by fossils and flint implements after a visit to the Great Exhibition in 1851, and paid local labourers for any finds they brought to him. From 1863, he began to dig in the Bronze Age barrows near his home in Driffield, as well as an Iron Age cemetery and some Anglo-Saxon burials. The book is notable for its skilful illustrations, by his teenage daughter Agnes. Although his understanding of stratigraphy was limited, Mortimer's recordings are full of detail, providing data on archaeological sites which were already under threat of unsystematic plunder. He was anxious that his collection should stay in the area: it was eventually accepted by the local authority, and remains a valuable archaeological resource.