This book investigates the topic of human imagery and hybrid human imagery rendered on metalwork of early Anglo-Saxon date recovered within eastern England (Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Suffolk and Norfolk), AD 400-680. It presents the first definitive catalogue of its kind for this region and timeframe. Taking inspiration from recent transitions in thinking on early medieval mortuary archaeology and art, the author consider such topics as the interrelationship between image, object and the user, the changing portrayal of human representation and the social implications of such developments and the emergence of new bodily gestures in representational art. These key themes may provide an understanding of how and why human imagery changed as it did, how and by whom it was deployed in life and death and the role that this type of imagery performed in the construction and presentation of social identity.

AUTHOR
Dr Lisa Brundle completed her PhD at Durham University, specialising in early Anglo-Saxon art and mortuary practices. Since then she has been actively working in commercial field archaeology, lecturing at Canterbury Christ Church University, undertaking an internship with the Lincolnshire PAS and writing up an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery report.

REVIEWS
‘…a rich and complex discussion containing much that is stimulating and interesting,…’ Christopher Scull, Medieval Archaeology, Volume 63.2, 2019

‘This is a timely contribution to early medieval studies, and studies of the body and of material culture. … It is a very worthy, exciting, unique and innovative piece of work.’ Dr Ruth Nugent, University of Chester