Funerary evidence has more to offer than just the study of individual burial rites. While the foundation of missionary stations introduced a new type of site to the Middle Saxon landscape, in contrast the burial of the dead in archaeologically visible cemeteries occurred before, during and after the conversion. As is explored below, the conversion can be seen not just in burial rites but also in the changing landscape context of the cemeteries themselves. The locations chosen for the burial of the dead were not arbitrary and, although it may be difficult for us to identify all of the relevant criteria in the decision-making process, we are able to say something about the reasoning behind the siting of cemeteries. The contrasting types of site used for Early and Middle Saxon cemeteries and the differing relationships between cemeteries and settlements of those periods both suggest that the changes which occurred during the conversion period affected where the dead were placed in the landscape.

Whereas pre-Christian settlements and cemeteries remained separate landscape entities, under the influence of Christianity settlements and cemeteries converged to become a unified whole, providing us with a vivid material indication of the progress of the conversion. This chapter explores the ideological explanations for this convergence and examines the archaeological evidence from the period's execution cemeteries, which provide a material indication that several recognisable tenets of Christian doctrine were being enforced in the seventh century, including the notion of consecrated ground and the exclusion of criminals therefrom.

The integration of settlements and cemeteries was not the only seventhcentury development in the choice of burial location. The central section of this chapter returns to the theme of the ‘Final Phase’ and examines the distinctive class of cemeteries that was established in tandem with the changing approach to the use of grave-goods discussed in the previous chapter. These cemeteries, of which there are a handful of excavated examples in the East Anglian region, were short-lived, and many had fallen out of use by the early eighth century, by which time, it would appear, the vast majority of burials were taking place in cemeteries located within settlements.