10(> Notes on Object* from a Saxon Interment at Basset Doivn. 



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

 The blade is |in. wide at the handle. 



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

 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 (Archceologia, xxxv., 

 262), and at Fairford, &c. 



No. 7. — Spindle whorl of bone, If in. in diameter, and Jin 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 spoon of metal plated with tin (?), with the 

 stepped attachment to the handle, generally found in late Roman 

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

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

 )•• 2). 



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

 They are formed of a narrow strip of flat 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 irregular 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 globular 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 occur in Saxon 

 interments, and suggests that they were worn as amulets. 



