ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



mentioned was found bright yellow sand, which contained remains of wood- 

 work forming a kind of floor, much decayed but retaining the original shape 

 and fibre. Next fragments of pale green glass appeared, belonging to two 

 vessels, one being a goblet of well-known Anglo-Saxon form, ornamented 

 with bands of large hol- 

 low claws, like one found 

 at Reculver,^ and close by 

 was a mass of human hair 

 (apparently from one head, 

 though no skull was visi- 

 ble). It was of a dingy 

 red colour, and had evi- 

 dently been wrapped in a 

 coarse cloth (perhaps sail- 

 cloth), of which the texture was here and there discernible. About 

 four feet from it lay a smaller mass of hair, but no vestige of bones 

 could be detected. In clearing away the sand a fine gold finger-ring 

 (fig. 2) was thrown out, and serves to date the erection of the mound 

 within certain limits as the type is otherwise known. It was elaborately 

 decorated with filigree, and set with an onyx intaglio of a rude figure 

 holding ears of corn in one hand, and a bowl in the other and wearing a 

 fillet of corn round the head. Its late Roman origin is obvious, and the 

 nearest parallel in these islands is the gold ring found at New Grange, co. 

 Meath.* All were no doubt imported from Italy, and must be referred to 

 the end of the 4th or the 5th century. 



The ring, hair, and broken vase, with some fragments described as jasper, 

 lay in the middle of the woodwork, and all round were noticed at equal 



Fic. 2. — Gold Ring with Roman Intajlio (Front and Side 

 Views, with Impression), Boat-Burial, Snaps (i) 



Fio. 3. — Longitudinal Section and Plan of Boat in Grave-mound, Snafe 



' Akerman, Pagan Saxondom, pi. ii ; cf. F.C.H. Bucks, i, 203, fig. 2 on pi. (Taplow). 



* Arch, m, pi. xii, fig. 5, p. 137 ; there is nothing similar in Deloche, Anneaux Stpllaires, but see 

 F. H. Marshall, Cat. of Finger-rings in Brit. Mus. nos. 868-9 ^^^ ^7° (Rome) ; Boulanger, Mobilier funlraire, 

 pi. 9, fig. 3 (Sissy, Aisne, 4th century). 



