Lyminge Anglo-Saxon Cemetery - Grave 24
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Lyminge Cemetery Introduction
GRAVE 24. A child, sex unknown; 5
years of age; the skeleton was in poor condition; the body had been
buried on the right hand side with the legs contracted; a
correspondingly small grave, 4 ft. 0 in. by 1ft. 9 in.; 54 deg., 1 ft.
3 in. deep (Pl. III (b)).
Finds. In the top corner of the grave to the left
of the skull, a wheel-turned pot (Fig. 12, No 1) of hard sandy
fabric, varying in colour from dark-grey to, occasionally, buff. The
decoration consists of two double girth lines and a series of slashes,
vertical and angled to the lower of these two lines. The series
of these slashes runs as follows: 5 angled, 7 vertical; 5 angled, 7
vertical; 5 angled, 7 vertical; 3 angled and 3 vertical. The last
anomalies were necessary to ensure the alternation of the pattern.
a wheel-turned pot
Two bronze equal-armed brooches (Pl. VIII, Nos. 4
a and b), one at either shoulder. The pins were of iron, now corroded,
but the hinge and catch-plates of bronze still remain. The decoration
is in chip-carving technique and consists of two lozenge-shaped panels
each of which is flanked on either side by a highly stylized head,
body and fore-legs. Each end of both brooches is surmounted by a small
loop in the form of a hooked beak with eyes.
Two bronze equal-armed brooches
A string of 16 beads round the neck. Fourteen of
these are tiny beads of blue and green glass, 1/8 in. in diameter; one
of a similar size is of bone and the remaining one a larger green
glass bead ½ in. in diameter.
string of 16 beads
A string of 7 beads (Pl. VII b, No. 1) on the
chest. Numbering from left to right, Nos. 1 and 7 are of red vitreous
baked clay; Nos. 2 (missing in the photograph) and 6 of blue glass;
No. 3 of green glass inlaid with red vitreous baked clay.
string of 7 beads
Some fragments of iron, possibly keys, at the left
waist.