Lyminge Anglo-Saxon Cemetery - Grave 32
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Lyminge Cemetery Introduction
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