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Anglo-Saxonism And Victorian Archaeology: William Wylie’S Fairford Graves, Howard M. R. Williams

Howard M. R. Williams

William Wylie’s Fairford Graves is prominent among a series of publications dating from the mid-nineteenth century reporting the discovery of early medieval cemeteries and defining their national and racial significance for English history. This paper discusses interpretative themes in Wylie’s text and images. It is argued that Fairford Graves was more than a set of descriptive observations upon the excavations and finds. The paper shows how Fairford Graves was a statement about Wylie’s identity as well as the imagined Teutonic origins of the English. Seen in this light, the investigation, interpretation and publication of the early medieval burials from Fairford …