A HISTORY OF NORFOLK 



the same in both cases, they do not exhibit the same style of art. The 

 Bacton wreath of garnets bears some analogy to a piece in the Wieuwerd 

 find/ in which the intertwined foliage or plaited cord appears, not carried 

 out in cell-work but in gold filigree. Such applied wire-work is usually 

 characteristic of a later period, but there is every reason to concur in the 

 date assigned, which coincides with that of the East Anglian specimens. 



Such an archaeological survey of the northern part of East Anglia 

 brings into prominence three main features which may to a certain 

 extent be correlated with the written history of the time. These are 

 the practice of cremation, the signs of Kentish influence, and a partial 

 adoption of a different method of burial. 



As already observed, the extensive traces of urn-burial in East 

 Anglia render it necessary to regard this as the primary method of inter- 

 ment among the Anglian peoples. In Norfolk indeed the rite of fire 

 was not exclusively observed, for undoubted unburnt burials have been 

 found, and it is here that the fallacy of observation has to be reckoned 

 with. The farm labourer is not as a rule attracted by bits of bone and 

 crocks the colour of the earth turned up by the ploughshare, but a 

 shower of rain may often lead to a discovery by laying bare a gilded 

 brooch that never passed the fire, but was buried on its owner's breast 

 more than a thousand years ago. Other things being equal the instances 

 of cremation must be considerably added to in order to strike a proper 

 average ; and if this be done, urn-burial will be certainly acknowledged 

 as the rule in early Norfolk. But the two chief rehcs of the Anglo- 

 Saxon period found in this county rather caution us against the opposite 

 error of supposing that even the most attractive relics may readily be 

 traced to the graves in which they were originally deposited. Observa- 

 tion in both these cases was not acute or fortunate enough to discover 

 traces of a cemetery, and it is hard to think that either object had not 

 been buried with an unburnt body somewhere in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood. The circumstances at Wilton and Bacton were alike in one 

 important respect, for in both cases the jewel was picked up at the 

 base of a declivity which in all likelihood had been receding regularly 

 for some space of time. Burials on the higher level such as the early 

 races loved may well have passed unnoticed, for the fragile bones would 

 be shattered by the fall and the relics scattered far and wide. Though 

 nothing further seems to have come to light at either spot a keen and 

 practised eye would perhaps have found enough to prove a burial and 

 possibly a cemetery ; and the Norfolk jewels, with the third at Ixworth, 

 suggest the thought, how many less attractive ornaments have been lost 

 to archaeology. Any one would be struck with the appearance of the 

 precious metal, and its intrinsic value would ensure its preservation as a 

 relic, or at least its acquisition by some one capable of appraising it ; while 

 on the other hand the much more usual brooch of bronze is of little 

 interest or value to the casual finder, and passes out of history. 



1 In Frlesland, not far from the coast. Bonner Jahrbucher, 1867, heft 43, pp. 67, 81. 

 344 



