ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS 



The actual area of the brickfield examined was about 150 ft. by 96 ft., 

 its length being approximately on an east-and-west line. While excavating 

 for brick-earth the workmen came upon two large earthenware urns, and 

 straightway destroyed them in the vain hope of finding treasure. The frag- 

 ments show their Anglo-Saxon origin, and one, if not both, contained in- 

 cinerated human remains. Near the spot was found an iron javelin head, 

 6 in. long, which may safely be attributed to the same era. Two skeletons 

 laid at full length were next discovered, and others were subsequently un- 

 earthed, but further investigations were entrusted to the society by the pro- 

 prietor, and proved most successful. As many as thirty-one skeletons were 

 noticed, in various conditions, and five cases of cremation are recorded, the 

 ashes having been collected and placed in rudely-made cinerary urns of the 

 ordinary type. In nineteen cases the direction of the interment could be 

 determined, the head in five cases being at the west end of the grave, as was 

 customary in early Christian times. Six more were approximately north- 

 west, and four inclined towards south-west, showing that the western position 

 was by far the most usual here ; and the 

 variations to the north or south may pos- 

 sibly be due to the interments having been 

 made at different seasons, bearings being 

 no doubt taken at sunrise or sunset for the 

 purpose of orientation. The head in one 

 case, however, was at the east end, another 

 lay east-north-east, and two more south- 

 south-east, so that uniformity was not 

 enforced ; and it would in any case be rash 

 to infer that the east-and-west burials were 

 necessarily Christian. Cremation, which 

 appears to have been practised side by side 

 with inhumation on this site, was frankly 

 pagan, and even apart from signs of partial 

 cremation noticed in some cases, the pre- 

 sence of weapons, ornaments, and utensils in several of the graves shows that 

 the Christian rule was not rigidly observed. 



The richest and most interesting grave was that of a woman of middle 

 age, whose height was 5 ft. 10 in. The bones were in excellent preser- 

 vation, and the body had been laid on the back with the head towards 

 the west ; the right arm was by the side, the left across the chest, and the 

 legs straight. Close to the left side of the head was a vase of dark pottery 

 decorated in the usual manner, with groups of incised lines and a band of 

 stamped star pattern (fig. 2). It measured 5^ in. in height, with a maximum 

 diameter of 5 in., being somewhat smaller than the average cinerary urn. 

 On either shoulder was a brooch of bronze-gilt, with trefoil or cruciform 

 head and punched borders (fig. i). It belongs to a type fairly common 

 in this country, and related to the ' long ' brooch of Scandinavia, though the 

 latter terminates at the foot in a conventional horse's head. The spreading 

 foot of the Stapenhill example points rather to Prussia as the centre of dis- 

 persion,' but it is clear that the evolution of the brooch was not uniform in 



5 Haakon Schetelig, Cructfirm Brooches of Norway, 49, 50, 86, 146. 



26 



FIG. 2. VASE FOUND AT STAPENHILL (J) 



2OI 



