Came across this entry in famed early medieval historian Guy Halsall's book, Worlds of Arthur, which came out last year, so I'm presuming his research is pretty recent.
In AngloSaxon archaeological discussions this [furnished inhumations] is still more or less universally accepted as an element introduced from northern Germany. Yet, unlike the house-types, this evidence provides no very convincing empirical basis for the assumption. The ancestral burial ritual in the Saxon homelands was cremation, the rite the Saxons definitely brought with them to Britain. By the fifth century, inhumation had long been usual in the Roman Empire. The custom had tended to lack grave-goods but from the late fourth century these began to be reintroduced.
These graves have usually been interpreted as those of incoming Franks or other Germanic barbarians. This reading is still probably the most common one, especially amongst French and German archaeologists. However a strictly archaeological interpretation shows there is nothing un-Roman about these graves. The ritual is essentially Roman and the material deposited almost exclusively originates in the Empire's northern provinces. What changed was the deceased's burial in a more elaborate and archaeologically visible costume than had hitherto been the case.
So, this is very much news to me, and surprised the hell out of me when I read it. But as Halsall said, this isn't the majority view right now, so I'm curious as to the perspectives of other european archaeologists on this subject, if this minority view is also considered an outlandish one.
If I may ask a followup question: On what grounds are furnished inhumations assumed to be northern German? Is it based on assumptions about Roman cremation, assumptions about grave goods in Christian burials, or something else altogether?