106 JVotcs on Objects from a Saxon Interment at Basset Down. 



No. 4. — An iron knife, tlie blade 4Jin., the tang 2Jin., in length. 

 The blade is ^in. Avide at the handle. 



No. 5. — A similar knife measuring 3fin. in the blade, and Ifin. 

 in the tang. The point is gone. 



No. 6. — ^Ear-pick of bronze — now bent out of shape — pierced at 

 the end for suspension to a ring, or chatelaine, with other toilet 

 articles. This has a Roman look, but similar toilet articles have 

 been found in Saxon interments at Harnham {Arc/neologia, xxxv., 

 262), and at Fairford, &c. 



No. 7. — Spindle whorl of bone, Ifin. in diameter, and i^in thick. 

 This is apparently the "ring" mentioned in the MS. account of 

 the find printed above. There are no signs of varnish on it. 



No. 8. — Part of a sjDoon of metal plated with tin (?), with the 

 stepped attachment to the handle, generally found in late Roman 

 or Romano-British work. A sjooon of the same character was 

 found in a Saxon interment at Kemble (Archceologia, xxxvii., 

 p. 2). 



No. 9. — One of a pair of bronze hair (?) pins, 4jin. in length. 

 They are formed of a narrow strip of j&at bronze with the edges 

 turned in and hammered into pin shape, the head left flat, and 

 pierced with an eye for a ring of thick bronze wire. In the other 

 specimen the eye is broken out and the ring gone. 



Nos. 10, 11, and 12. — Pieces of amber of irregular shape, about 

 ^in. thick, pierced for beads. The largest has been ground flat on 

 both surfaces, and the others look more like naturally flat pieces of 

 amber. Four of these were found. 



No. 13. — Amber beads of iiTegular bean shape. Of these about 

 twenty-six were found, varying from the size of a horse bean to 

 that of a very small pea. There were also fragments of one larger 

 piece of rough unshaped amber pierced as a bead. All the amber 

 is very red, and resembles resin. 



No. 14. — ^A bead of rock crystal, roughly globidar in shape, 

 apparently made from a water- worn pebble. The sides rough, the 

 ends ground down and polished. Akerman {Pagan Saxondom, p. 

 10) refers to the frequency with which crystal balls occiu" in Saxon 

 interments, and suggests that they were worn as amulets. 



