The Jutish (Saxon) Cemetery at Lyminge, Kent

and bowl is situated beneath the triangular garnet cell. In addition to the suspension loop, the handle and the underside of the bowl show signs of considerable wear. A crystal ball mounted in a silver-gilt sling (Pl. XIII) was found beneath the bowl of the spoon. It has an adjustable suspension loop of silver wire, passing through the collar which houses the end of the strap-work. The cap to this collar has a beaded edge and during its long sojourn with the spoon in the grave had marked the bowl of the spoon at the point of contact. The strapwork was cast in one piece of cruciform shape with five ribs, two of which are beaded by inclusions at intervals of 1/32 in. The polished rock crystal shows a number of internal flaws. Seventeen fragments of gold "braid" at the side of and underneath the skull. The fragments vary in length from ½ in. to 1 ½ in. Although many of them were found in isolation it seems possible that originally they did, in fact, form a continuous line which, upon the collapse of the perishable parts of the cloth into which they were woven, was broken. Such a collapse may also have caused the congestion of five pieces of the "braid" in one particular place. A typical fragment is represented in Fig. 11, No. 4, and it is possible to trace from the indentations on the gold "braid" the pattern which it made on the surface of the cloth. It seems likely		that the gold thread was interwoven, as a portion of the weft, with seven strands of the warp. If the gold "braid" had formed a continuous line of separate fragments, it would have conveniently formed a decorated border or section of a head-band reaching from ear to ear across the upper forehead. The position of the "braid", as it was found in the grave, in relation to the skull supports this suggestion. SUMMARY OF FINDS. Weapons The Lyminge cemetery has not yielded, so far, a large number of weapons. Five spearheads (graves 1, 4, 5, 6, and 31), three shield-bosses (graves 1, 4 and 31), two axe-heads (graves 1 and 7) and 15 knives were found; all the knives are of the small domestic type and all had handles of wood or other perishable material. The only unusual feature presented by these weapons is the inlay on the junction of blade and haft of the spearhead from grave 4. On the technical side the analysis of the inlaid metal is worthy of comment for it has been shown to be brass not bronze (see p. 9). Here is yet further evidence that much so-called Anglo-Saxon bronze is in fact a brass, with a zinc content not dissimilar to that of Roman brass coin. ¹ ¹ See R. F. Jessup, Anglo-Saxon Jewellery, p. 46.
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