Bifrons Anglo-Saxon Cemetery - Grave 21
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Bifrons Cemetery Introduction
GRAVE 21 -
Finds Near the waist a large bead of brown
glass,
a knife,
a ring,
some bronze studs,
and fragments of iron. ·
At the neck a few beads and two
remarkable brooches of the hammer shape, their lower ends being
semi-circular, but from the circumference of the semi-circle radiate
five outstanding points, set with small circular pieces of red glass;
red glass is also set at the upper end of each brooch ; the pair are
exactly alike.
two
remarkable brooches of the hammer shape
On the top of the skull some fragments of gold
wire or thread, consisting of very narrow strips, cut from a thin
beaten plate of pure gold. By the shape into which they are folded
they have clearly been interwoven into some substance of the nature of
a riband, which has perished. Their gold is so pure that a burial of
some 1300 years had not discoloured it in the least.
At the left side
of the head a circular bronze dish, much broken and decayed,
surrounded by remains of wood, as if it had formed the interior lining
of a wooden vessel.
In sifting the
rubbish was found an iron key.