5: Belief
What do changing ideological beliefs, ritual traditions and practices of the past tell us interactions with spiritual or supernatural entities, including their treatment of the dead and concepts of the afterlife? Where are the major spiritual sites on the Wolds and do they show long-term continuity in use between prehistory and the present or more interrupted periods of connection and abandonment? What was the impact of major new ethnic groups on belief systems (e.g. Roman, Anglian, Anglo-Scandinavian)? When and how did Christianity emerge in this landscape and what was the impact of major historic events (such as the Reformation) upon religious communities and their use of the Wolds? What was the impact of non-conformism and new global religions on this landscape?
Below are set out a number of research questions and strategies that are associated with the theme Belief.
Mesolithic c.10000 – 4000BC
5.1 Can the Mesolithic archaeology of the Wolds shed light on aspects of cultural practice such as belief, art and symbolic behaviour, which further enriches recent insights from Star Carr for example? How far can practices identified for this period (e.g. Star Carr antler masks) be traced into later cultural contexts?
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MesolithicWorked bone and stone, the use of ochre pigment, structured deposition and aspects such as selective use of fossiliferous flint help augment the focus on technology and inhabitation which has dominated Mesolithic studies on the Wolds. Any opportunity to consider the artistic and symbolic dimension of hunter-gatherer lifeways should be a priority in future research and developer-funded investigations, as well as archival work on existing material. ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Neolithic c.4000 – 2200BC
5.2 What is the relationship between areas associated with monument construction, ritual activity and burial during the Neolithic and the farmed and settled landscape? Are they mutually exclusive (e.g. ‘ritual landscape’ zones) or is this the product of the relative high visibility of the former and the shifting, more ephemeral character of the latter? Is the Rudston monolith unique or were there other large upstanding monuments of this kind in the region? How significant were riverine and other watery contexts as foci for ritual or ceremonial activities?
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NeolithicA large-scale synthesis of Neolithic settlement and funerary, ritual and monumental archaeology, could be complemented by closer-grained studies of particular areas (such as the Rudston monolith and cursus landscapes and complex Neolithic mortuary platforms and monuments). This question could be tackled through a multi-stranded approach with recommendations for: 1) Reassessing archive and museum collections of excavated material and the private collections of local researchers; 2) Giving greater emphasis to this topic in local government advice and research projects, particularly through focused landscape survey or targeted analysis during post-excavation; 3) Greater use of LiDAR, air photographic, GIS and other geographical/map based studies to assist monument identification, assessment of their landscape settings and the identification of multiperiod ritual landscapes; 4) Further research into folkloric and antiquarian descriptions of the Wolds. ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Bronze Age c.2200 – 800BC
5.3 How can Early Bronze Age mortuary rites, monuments and grave goods help us explore religious beliefs and mortuary customs (cremation and inhumation), the circulation and/or burial of the dead, relations between different groups of people and object types in death, materials and associations (e.g. jewellery, weapons, items of adornment, tools) and relations with animals (wild and domestic)? What happened in the Middle-Late Bronze Age in terms of funerary practice in these regions? How significant were riverine and other watery contexts as foci for ritual or ceremonial activities?
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Bronze ageThis theme will help enrich research use of the exceptional funerary record of the region, as well as some of its most iconic landscape monuments and ritual landscapes. The maximisation of existing datasets in museums and archives, alongside ‘paper’ records, folklore and place-name evidence (e.g. Willy’s Howe, Duggleby Howe), especially through use of new, digitally available datasets (e.g. The Grave Goods Database) provides ample scope for small and large-scale research projects, including new landscape or material-based studies, with plentiful opportunities for community engagement.ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Iron Age c.800BC – AD43
5.4 What can Iron Age monuments, mortuary rites and grave goods tell us about relationships between people, their connections with place and bonds with things in the Iron Age? How significant were riverine and other watery contexts as foci for activities associated with burial? Are there consistent patterns in the organisation of cemeteries, bodily orientation and reiterative associations with objects which shed light on beliefs about the living and concepts of the afterlife? When is the tradition of the chariot burial introduced and how similar/different is it to Continental rites? How far beyond the Wolds may arras traditions have penetrated in Britain (e.g. along lower and middle Trent valleys?). What does the distinctiveness of the Wolds funerary culture mean for people today?
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Iron ageWell-excavated burials with high quality archive records mean that there is a legacy of museum data to be mined in small and large research projects, using new synthesis (for example, the Grave Goods Database). Iconic objects in regional and national museum collections also provide numerous opportunities for further study of particular object classes or materials, technology, craft design, Celtic art etc., situating the Iron Age material culture of the Wolds within its wider insular and Continental counterparts (for example, the chariot). ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 5.5 Beyond the domain of funerary practice, what light can other practices, deposits and objects (such as the chalk figures) shed on Iron Age beliefs? Is there evidence for selective or structured deposition in (for example) storage pits and boundary ditches, and what domains of life might this relate to (for example, themes of fertility, sacrificial offerings, craft ritual)? How significant were riverine and other watery contexts as foci for ritual or ceremonial activities not linked specifically to burial?
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Iron ageResearch and developer funded work should be alert to the possibility of structured deposits at particular junctions of features, terminals or entranceways, crossing points or feature bases. Contextual recording in three dimensions and post-excavation analysis are key to understanding the ‘spectrums of depositional’ practice ranging from middening to cleaning/sweeping and disposal, to meaningful and highly performative deposits (e.g. South Cave weapons hoard/cache). ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Romano-British AD43 – c.410
5.6 What changes in religious practice and belief are evident during the Roman period? Are these expressed in mortuary rites (e.g. cremation), burial customs (e.g. particular kinds of grave goods, cemetery locales), epigraphy (e.g. tombstones and alter dedications), votive offerings (e.g. springs, streams and other watery contexts, shrines such as Millington or West Heslerton), or cultural expressions (such as mosaics, sculptures, amulets etc.)? How did they articulate with native, indigenous beliefs and what evidence do we have for syncretism? What was the role of the ‘past in the past’ in terms of respect for, or re-use of earlier monuments and locales?
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RomanEpigraphy, portable religious material culture, architectural settings (particularly shrines or temples) and deposits should be targeted to understand how religious practice changed during the Roman period. Early Roman sites and finds should be prioritised from excavation and museum collections to investigate whether particular Pagan deities or beings, cults or beliefs were favoured on the Roman Wolds. Further to this, research should focus on whether these were specific to particular communities (e.g. military, rural farmers, slaves, high status citizens) and interrogating their relationship to prior Iron Age beliefs and/or sacred locales (the past in the past). A particular objective should be the understanding of when Christianity emerged in the Wolds, and to what extent it was practiced at this early period, alongside pagan beliefs. Here, the iconography on both fixed and portable art should draw in ancient history and art history, to augment understanding of different cultural influences the origins of such ideas. ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Early Medieval c.410 – 1066
5.7 How can archaeology help explore changing beliefs and religious practices amongst the population of the Wolds, Pagan and Christian, across this period? Can the influence of these ideas be seen in portable material culture (e.g. iconography in brooches, vessels, instruments, talismans), funerary sites such as cemeteries (e.g. Sancton), or monuments (e.g. hog back or cross-slab tombs) or religious infrastructure (e.g. churches, crosses such as Nunburnholme, the great ‘tub’ fonts) or places of worship/depositional practice and burial (e.g. re-use of ancient burial sites and monuments)? How did the traces of earlier periods of inhabitation influence Early Medieval sacred space, particularly in relation to landscape features such as springs, streams and barrows? What is the nature of the relationship between early written sources and these sites (e.g. Goodmanham’s ‘pagan’ temple supposedly destroyed by Coifi?). Can we trace the development of parochial landscapes, from the Anglo-Saxon period onwards?
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Early medievalThe rich museum collections of excavated funerary and settlement data should be mined further to explore evidence for different belief systems and how they were expressed in a range of portable and fixed material culture. Strategic landscape studies which show continuous or discontinuous use of sites such as Early Bronze Age barrows, Iron Age burial sites and prehistoric trackways or linear earthworks will help elucidate the strategies through which old and new communities negotiated their rights of place, constructed sacred space and created appropriate places for different categories of the dead. In the Early Medieval period this is particularly pertinent in relation to so-called execution cemeteries: places of judicial punishment and burial or supernatural control of the dead. Further research should focus on traces of early Christian sites (e.g. inscription, re-used masonry or iconographic elements), the extent to which they draw upon existing sacred spaces (e.g. springs, water courses) or made new ones, and the development of parochial landscapes. Yorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022Active High Medieval c.1066 – 1540
5.8 What architectural, material culture and iconographic traces of Medieval Christianity survive on the Wolds? Where are these located and what is the history of their endurance through periods of change such as the Reformation? How can early dedications (e.g. St Helen) help us detect potential continuity between early and medieval Christian sacred sites (not just churches but potentially springs or wells) and discern particular nuances of favoured saints, on the Wolds? How are these reflected in early funerary monuments and aspects of inscription, symbolism and sentiment? What is the archaeological evidence for other faiths and pagan beliefs during the Medieval period (for example, depositional practice in domestic housing, apotropaic graffiti, portable of hidden objects and collections, non-Christian grave goods or quasi-liturgical ritual practices relating to the dead, or even folk/pagan practices at/around ancient monuments)? Are there particular burials dating to this period found in non-Christian contexts, indicative of exiled, potentially revenant dead and can these be related to violent or unexpected death or other factors?
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MedievalSystematic study of programmes of Church rebuilding and Victorian restoration, as well rural depopulation and abandonment, can build on existing studies of Medieval Church architecture and their associated cemeteries. Other sites survive as ruins which could form strong buildings surveys. Monastic houses and nunneries (e.g. Swyne, Warter, Nunburnholme as well as Bridlington Priory) which were destroyed, ruined or appropriated for secular use, or transformed into parish churches following the Reformation and Dissolution, could also form stand-alone or group research projects, allied to contemporary ecclesiastical or heritage programmes of repair. Buildings and landscape survey, monument recording (e.g. surviving crosses, tombstones and dedications, re-used sculpture, tombstones etc.) and surveys of surviving Church plate can reveal the remnants of Medieval faith on the Wolds. Museum collections of surviving artefacts, metal-detected finds and PAS data related to Christian or possibly early Judaic faith groups, should be used to analyse the ways in which faith was embodied and performed by both sacred and secular people. All research projects, including minor domestic alterations, hydrological works in or around springs and streams, and excavations of earlier monuments should be alert to the possibility of hidden deposits, ritual offerings, apotropaic inscription and folk practice, including unexpected burials, that provide important insights into the folk-Christian practices recorded in Medieval manuscripts (e.g. by the Monk of Byland Abbey). ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Post-Medieval c.1540 – 1901
5.9 What was the long-term impact of the Reformation on belief on the Wolds? Which local figures were caught up in religious and political affairs such as the Pilgrimage of Grace, and what were the consequences for the expression of faith amongst different classes, the fate of different kinds of religious buildings and land-holdings on the Wolds? When did non-conformism emerge, which branches were most popular, who did they attract and where were these located? What traces has non-conformism left not just in places of worship but also in burial sites? How did folklore and supernatural beliefs fit around these changes in religious ideology and practice, and what are the material signatures of this (e.g. hidden garments, objects and offerings, apotropaic graffiti or artefacts such as witch stones)? Who led the Victorian restoration of parish churches and what form did this take (e.g. Sykes’ rebuilding programme in Sledmere and the Great Wold Valley)? To what extent did the Victorian church restoration influence the careers of major architects such as John Loughborough Pearson? How does funerary practice and memorialisation change over this period, and how is status and identity or role reflected in the memorials of the Wolds?
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Post medievalThis period offers strong research opportunities for local parish studies of changes in faith communities, mapped against census records and diaries, letters and personal correspondence, court records (including executions of leading figures in religious disputes), iconography in architecture, memorials and portable material culture (including PAS data). Historical museum collections, estate records of patronage and religious persuasion, as well as buildings surveys of derelict or converted non-Conformist structures, would enrich the documentary-led narratives of changes in belief. Paris-based cemetery or monument recording should be encouraged for its strategic value in enriching community involvement in ecclesiastical heritage, and enhancing and maintaining the value of sacred spaces within the modern landscape. Historic building conversions and church restorations should be advised to look for evidence of both Christian and folkloric practice (hidden deposits, graffiti, wall paintings etc.) that shed light on the reiterative practice of faith on the Wolds. Even road developments or excavations that disturb prehistoric sites have the potential to reveal crossroad burials of Historic date that add to a small but vital record of those excised from consecrated ground: dating of such remains should be a strategic priority. ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022 Modern 1901 – Present
5.10 How have religious beliefs changed over the course of the 20th-21st century, and what impact has this had on local churches, chapels and their communities’ social lives? Which new faiths, religious groups or ideologies have created novel architectural or depositional practices (e.g. Hull Reform Synagogue, Wolds crematorium, green burial grounds, Neo-pagan practices at prehistoric sites)? What is the condition of modern religious architecture and its associated facilities (e.g. cemeteries, church halls) and how many have been deconsecrated? What are the social settings in which other forms of community and village life have been sustained (e.g. schools, pubs, village halls, cinemas, playgrounds, recreation and sports facilities) and how have these changed over the course of the modern era? What forms of sculpture, art or communal facilities have been used to symbolise local identity, memory and ideology (e.g. war memorials, church or market crosses, sundials, water pumps/troughs, benches, playgrounds and sports clubs)? Which local initiatives, cultural resources, artists, galleries and museums etc. are used to represent and promote the identity of the Wolds (e.g. David Hockney’s Wolds paintings, Robert E. Fuller Wildlife Gallery, the Yorkshire Wolds Heritage Centre, Southburn Museum)? What are the non-tangible annual or seasonal events through which the Wolds promotes itself (e.g. Driffield Agricultural Show, Wold Top Brewary Festival, Malton Food Festival)? Which of the off-Wolds institutions hold significant collections that also promote heritage visitor activity to the Wolds (e.g. Malton Museum, Yorkshire Museum, Hull & East Riding Museum, Beverley Treasure House)?
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20th centuryIn the Modern era, this theme could be explored not just through the juxtaposition of formal religious versus pagan/folkloric practice but changing landscapes of belief with expanding ethnic groups and significant secular groups (humanism for example) which have transformed normative funerary rites for example. Many secular institutions now form the important networks and places in which communities create a strong connection to place, through for example, education, sports, food culture, outdoor pursuits, the arts and cultures. This is an understudied subject which can be approached through combined archaeological and ethnographic perspectives, making strong use of oral history, photographic archives, records of exhibitions, artworks and other cultural products such as craftwork, concerts, events and performances. The Yorkshire Wolds Research Strategy used food-based workshops, mini-conferences, heritage mapping, word-art, object handling sessions etc. to capture and reflect contemporary feelings about the important heritage sites and events, cultural traditions and distinctive features of the Wolds – methods which could usefully be deployed by other groups. ActiveYorkshire Wolds Research Framework04/09/2022
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