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Lyminge Anglo-Saxon Cemetery - Grave 32

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GRAVE 32. A man; 5 ft. 10 in.; 15-12 years of age; supine, full length, right arm across pelvis; 64 deg.; 2 ft. 9 in. deep.
   Finds. An iron knife at the left arm.


   A silver-plated iron buckle and a bronze kidney-shaped attachment-plate (Pl. IX, No 3) at the waist, tongue pointing left. The buckle and the tongue are plated on their upper surfaces only. The belt was joined to the buckle by being clamped between the ends of a silver plate which was bent round the stem of the buckle with a gap to accommodate the tongue. The attachment-plate consists of a flanged casing of bronze, 3/16 in. deep, to which a bronze plate is attached by three bronze rivets. It had an iron back-plate, the corrosion from which had crept over the whole plate, necessitating the stripping down and re-assembling of the plate and inlays in order to facilitate cleaning. The surface of the plate is cloisonné set with thin slices of ruby coloured glass, which are, on their curved edges, chipped and, on their straight edges, cut. The central oval shaped cell is set with an intaglio, probably of red  jasper. The intaglio is doubtless from a late Roman seal ring. It is cut with the figure of Athene, left hand on shield and bird in the right (the figure would, of course, be reversed on a resulting impression). The intaglio in its present position was quite functionless and merely decorative. We have no means of knowing whether its owner ever understood its real use and the whole find provides a charming commentary upon the two differing civilisations represented.


bronze kidney-shaped attachment-plate


Grave 31         To Lyminge Cemetery Introduction         Grave 33

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