KENT ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY  - Studying and sharing Kent's past      Homepage


Kent Archaeological Society's Archaeological Collection - to Collections Introduction

Lyminge Anglo-Saxon Cemetery - Grave 17

To Lyminge Cemetery Introduction

GRAVE 17. Probably a woman; 5 ft. 4 in.; 40-45 years of age; supine, full length, arms straight, left leg crossed over the right at the ankle; 84 deg., 2ft. 6 in. deep.
   Finds. A bronze-gilt buckle and kidney-shaped attachment-plate (Pl. X, No. 2) at the right waist, tongue pointing right. The leather belt was joined to the buckle (Fig. 9, No. 2) by being clamped between the ends of a bronze plate which passed around the stem of the buckle.
   The two fastening rivets show a clearance of 1/16 in. to accommodate the single thickness of leather. The attachment-plate, which in this case merely covered up the junction of the belt and buckle, consists of a bronze casing, 1/5 in. deep, with a thin bronze back-plate. Three rivets travel from the surface of the plate to 1/16 in. beyond the back-plate to fasten the attachment-plate to the belt. The attachment-plate is divided into cells which are set with thin slices of coloured glass, Six of these inlays are missing. The four remaining keystone-shaped ones are of red glass and the elliptical-shaped inlays are of green glass. The glass slices are chipped to shape on their curved edges and cut on their straight edges. They are underlain by a layer of gold foil bearing a decoration of ring and dot within squares of chequer pattern. The attachment-plate was in poor condition when found and to facilitate cleaning, the cells were stripped down and the inlays re-set.

 

 

Grave 16         To Lyminge Cemetery Introduction         Grave 18

To Home Page

For details about the advantages of membership of the Kent Archaeological Society   click here

Kent Archaeological Society is a registered charity number 223382
© Kent Archaeological Society August 2015

This website is constructed by enthusiastic amateurs. Any errors noticed by other researchers will be to gratefully received so that we can amend our pages to give as accurate a record as possible. Please send details too research@kentarchaeology.org.uk