Grave-mounds and Their Contents / A Manual of Archæology, as Exemplified in the Burials of the Celtic, the Romano-British, and the Anglo-Saxon Periods

by Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt

Fig. 325.

With the females, necklaces, rings, ear-rings, brooches, chatelaines, keys, buckets, caskets, beads, combs, pins, needles, bracelets, thread-boxes, tumblers, and a variety of other articles were found. With the males, swords, spears, knives, shields, buckles, brooches, querns, draught-men, etc., etc., are found. The warrior was usually laid, in his full dress, flat on his back (as already spoken of); his spears lying on his right side, his sword and knife on his left, and his shield laid on the centre of his body. The accompanying engraving ([fig. 325]) of a grave opened by the late Mr. Bateman, on Lapwing Hill, will pretty tolerably illustrate this mode of Anglo-Saxon burial. Beneath the bones of the skeleton were “traces of light-coloured hair, as if from a hide, resting upon a considerable quantity of decayed wood, indicating a plank of some thickness, or the bottom of a coffin. At the left of the body was a long and broad iron sword, enclosed in a sheath made of thin wood covered with ornamental leather. Under or by the hilt of the sword was a short iron knife, and a little way above the right shoulder were two small javelin heads, four and a half inches long, of the same metal, which had lain so near each other as to become united by corrosion. Among the stones which filled the grave, and about a foot from the bottom, were many objects of corroded iron, including nine loops of hoop iron (as shown in the engraving) about an inch broad, which had been fixed to thick wood by long nails; eight staples, or eyes, which had been driven through a plank, and clenched; and one or two other objects of more uncertain application, all which were dispersed at intervals round the corpse throughout the length of the grave, and which may therefore have been attached to a bier or coffin in which the deceased was conveyed to the grave from some distant place. Indications existed of the shield having been placed in its usual position over the centre of the body, but no umbone was in this instance found. The mounds are usually, as in this instance, very low, frequently not being raised more than a foot above the natural surface of the ground. The earth was, as I have stated, usually “puddled” or tempered with water, and thus the body in the grave became closely imbedded in a compact and tenacious mass.”

That the tempering, or puddling, was accompanied with some corrosive preparation, there can be little doubt; for it is a fact, though a very remarkable one, that whilst the skeletons of the Celtic period are found in good condition, and in some instances perfect and sound, those of the Anglo-Saxons have, almost invariably, entirely disappeared. Thus, in a Celtic barrow, the primary interment of that period may be found in perfect condition, while the secondary interment, that of the Anglo-Saxon, although some centuries later in date, and some three or four feet nearer the surface, will have decayed away and completely disappeared. Thus, in a barrow at Wyaston, which had been raised over the body of a Saxon lady, every indication of the body had disappeared, with the exception of the enamel coating of the teeth, while a splendid necklace of beads, a silver ring, silver ear-rings, and a silver brooch or fibula, remained in situ where the flesh and bones had once been. Another instance (to which I shall have occasion again to allude) which may be named, was the barrow at Benty Grange—a mound not more than two feet in elevation, but of considerable dimensions, and surrounded by a small fosse or trench, raised over the remains of a Saxon of high rank. In this mound, although a curious and unique helmet, the silver mountings of a leather drinking-cup, some highly interesting and beautiful enamelled ornaments, and other objects, as well as indications of the garments, remained, not a vestige of the body, with the exception of some of the hair, was to be seen. The lovely and delicate form of the female and the form of the stalwart warrior or noble had alike returned to their parent earth, leaving no trace behind, save the enamel of her teeth and traces of his hair alone, while the ornaments they wore and took pride in, and the surroundings of their stations, remained to tell their tale at this distant date. In a barrow at Tissington, in which the primary (Celtic) interment was perfect, the later Saxon one had entirely disappeared, while the sword and umbone of the shield remained as they had been placed.

The mode of interment with the funeral fire, as well as the raising of the barrow, is curiously illustrated by the opening of two Saxon graves at Winster. A large wood fire had, apparently, been made upon the natural surface of the ground. In this a part of the stones to be used for covering the body, and some of the weapons of the deceased, were burned. After the fire was exhausted the body was laid on the spot where it had been kindled, the spear, sword, or what not, placed about it, and the stones which had been burnt piled over it. The soil was then heaped up to the required height to form the mound.

Usually, of course, the graves contain only one body, but instances occasionally occur in which two or more bodies have been buried at the same time. For instance, at Ozengal a grave has been opened which was found to contain two skeletons. They were those of a man and a woman who were laid close together, side by side, with their faces to each other. In another were three skeletons, those of a man, a woman, and a little girl. The lady lay in the middle, her husband on her right hand, and their little daughter on her left; they lay arm in arm. In other cases two or more interments have been found, usually lying side by side, on their backs.

In many Anglo-Saxon barrows, bones, thrown in indiscriminate heaps or otherwise, are found at the top, over the original interments. These are, very plausibly, conjectured to be the remains of slaves or captives slain at the funeral, and thrown on the graves of their master or mistress.

When the burial has been by cremation, the ashes, after the burning of the body which is so graphically described in the extract I have given from Beowulf, were collected together and placed in urns. These were usually buried in small graves, and their mouths not unfrequently covered with flat stones. Some very extensive cemeteries where the burials have been by this mode, have been discovered in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and other counties. With these it is very unusual to find any remains of personal ornaments or weapons. Two extensive and remarkable cemeteries of this kind have been discovered at Kingston and at King’s Newton, both near Derby. At the first of these places an extensive cemetery was uncovered in 1844, and resulted in the exhumation of a large number of urns—indeed, so large a number that, unfortunately, at least two hundred were totally destroyed by the workmen before the fact of the discovery became known. On the surface no indication of burials existed; but as the ground had, some sixty years before, for a long period been under plough cultivation, and as the mounds would originally have been very low, this is not remarkable. The urns had been placed on the ground in shallow pits or trenches. They were filled with burnt bones, and the mouth of each had been covered with a flat stone. They were, when found, close to the surface, so that the mounds could only have been slightly elevated when first formed. Of the form of the urns I shall have to speak later on. The cemetery at King’s Newton was discovered during the autumn of 1867, and a large number of fragmentary urns were exhumed. The mode of interment was precisely similar to that at Kingston, and the urns were of the same character as those there discovered. There were no traces, in either instance, of mounds having been raised, although most probably they had originally existed. To the pottery found in these cemeteries I shall refer later on. Cremation was the predominating practice among the Angles, including Mercia, and the modes of burning the body, and of interment of the calcined bones in ornamental urns, which I have described in the two cemeteries just spoken of, are characteristic of that kingdom. King’s Newton is within three miles of Repton (Repandune), the capital of the kingdom of Mercia, and the burial place of Mercian kings, and Kingston is also but a few miles distant.

In some cases the burial has been without urns—the ashes being simply gathered together in a small heap in the grave, or on the surface, and the mound raised over it.

I will now, as in the previous divisions, proceed to speak of the more usual descriptions of relics which are found in the grave-mounds of the Anglo-Saxons, and I will, as in those divisions, commence with the fictile remains.