Anglo-Saxon traditions

[mcallen]

How does Beowulfs reflection of Anglo-Saxon traditions?

[joggerjayne]

Is this your homework ?

[Lil O'lady]

It'd help if it made sense as a sentence. If you slipped with the 's' on beowulf, then I'd say:
Little was known or understood about A-S life and traditions of the period from which Beowulf appears to date, until the later 1960's. The seminal work was 'Beowulf and Archaeology' by Rosemary Cramp. This came at a period when advances in the understanding of forensic archaeology allowed better excavation and interpretation of AS sites. Prior to this date, material from 'Dark Age'sites had not been understood or identified in excavation or in town centre redevelopments, and archaeology was skewed to an understanding of masonry-based remains ie Roman stuff. Continuing in a new post....

[Lil O'lady]

The excavation of the Sutton Hoo Ship burial by basil brown also helped to turn the corner for the case that Beowulf had a basis in reality, and its careful forensic recording and approaches was again an important landmark in archaeological technique.
The Sutton Hoo research was disrupted by world war two and the helmet alone took a decade of laboratory reconstruction before it could be widely seen and examined, which helps to explain why Cramp's research was in the 1960's rather than earlier.
The helmet and other artefacts from Sutton Hoo as well as their placement in a ship seemed t reflect on allusions made in Beowulf (next post)

[Lil O'lady]

The most obvious being the sea-burial of the hero - although jury is still out on whether a body actually occupied the buried ship (read the reports).
However, the inclusion of warriors on the helmet panels and the dragon-nose, other dragons eg on the shield, interlocking 'worms' in the garnet-cloisonne fittings an so forth suggest contemporary cultural references, but it must be stressed that we are guessing at what they meant. Later discoveries such as the Prittlewell 'king' from Southend, and objects such as the Valsgarde helmets hint at a range of common traditions and beliefs, but are sparse evidence on which to base larger generalisations about 6th century culture and belief.