ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



south " where cremations were numerous. Whether these areas were 

 continuous cannot now be determined, but the larger cemetery (or portion 

 if it) may be regarded as one of pure inhumation, the admixture of urns 

 being hardly noticeable till its limits were passed. The mixed cemetery is 

 not easy to explain, and there is nothing to prove whether the two rites 

 were practised together or one was superseded by the other. The orientation 

 is hardly conclusive, for nearly all the skeletons lay with their heads at the 

 south-west end of the grave ; and though this and the grave-furniture suffice 

 to show their pagan character, it is impossible in the present state of know- 

 ledge to decide whether inhumation in this direction served as a transition 

 from the essentially pagan practice of cremation to the Christian east-and-west 

 interments without grave-furniture. The mixed cemetery shows that those 

 who practised both rites were not debarred by religious or social laws from 

 using the same burying-ground, but as their relation to each other is not yet 

 clear, it will be advisable to draw conclusions mainly from the larger area 

 where a certain uniformity is observable. 



The skeletons lay generally between 2 ft. and 4 ft. from the surface in 

 narrow graves, with the arms straight down the sides, the face upwards, and 

 the legs extended. In one case a coffin may possibly have been used, but 

 wood and nails are rarely found in Anglo-Saxon graves outside Kent, and the 

 body is generally unprotected from the filling of the grave, though sometimes 

 a heap of small stones is found or, in stone districts, slabs lining and covering 

 the grave. Many of the men were buried with their spears point up- 

 wards on either side of the head indiffisrently, and their shields over their 

 faces, the iron boss of which survived and was in this cemetery frequently 

 found beside the head. The complete absence of swords was remarkable 

 where so many warriors were interred and may be an ethnological feature. 

 A few single beads were found in the graves of males, but the abundance and 

 excellence of the women's necklaces may be appreciated from the coloured 

 plates already referred to, the materials employed being coloured glass-pastes, 

 crystal and, above all, amber. It was observed that most of the beads 

 occurred in pairs,"* which were apparently divided on either side of a large 

 central bead on the necklace, and one grave contained as many as 108 beads. 

 Ring-brooches were found one above the other on the breast, not as the 

 typical West Saxon brooches, one on each shoulder ; and another point of 

 interest is that at least one of the large square-headed brooches that enrich 

 this collection was worn foot upwards,'" as were the Roman cross-bow 

 brooches of the 4th century ; but it by no means follows that it was the 

 universal custom among the Anglo-Saxons to turn the square-head of their 

 brooches downwards. Several of this type still retain the silver discs applied 

 to the three extremities of the foot (pi. i, figs. 1-3), and the illustrations will 

 render a minute description unnecessary. There are in all eight large square- 

 headed specimens, all decorated by water-gilding and showing minor varia- 

 tions, of which some deserve special mention. The disc attached to the bow 

 of fig. 2 is a feature rarely found in England," but common in the following 



" Far westward of the main area broken urns alone were found : Proc. Suff. Inst. Arch, xiii, 1 7. 



"" Compare a necklace from Beeby, Leics. {y.C.H. Le'us. \, 237). 



*" As at Bifrons, Canterbury ; and Brighthampton, Oxon. 



" Pm. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 35-7 ; outside Suffolk, at Tuxford (Notts.), and Brooke (Norf.). 



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