How did early medieval people commemorate the dead? Were mortuary practices not just contexts for personal recollection, but contexts in which perceptions of the dead and the past were created and reproduced? Early medieval graves have been studied for many decades by many researchers, but this particular perspective and line of enquiry has yet to be fully explored and developed. In addressing such an approach, this book is intended as an exploration of new ideas and new perspectives in early medieval archaeology. As such it is intended as a building-block towards future research rather than as a final statement.

My research concerning early medieval archaeology and mortuary archaeology has been influenced and inspired from many directions, and I have many people to thank for inspiration and encouragement. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mike Parker Pearson, John Moreland and Alex Woolf for introducing me to the study of early medieval and mortuary archaeology during my undergraduate degree at Sheffield. For the development of my ideas during my postgraduate research at the University of Reading, I particularly appreciate the guidance, discussions and debates provided by Richard Bradley and my doctoral supervisor, Heinrich Härke. I also appreciate the innumerable discussions and feedback upon conference presentations, seminars, lectures and publications by many friends and scholars while I was researching and teaching at the University of Reading, Trinity College Carmarthen and Cardiff University.