Further researches in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Frilford : with remarks on the northern limit of Anglo-Saxon cremation in England / by George Rolleston.

  • Rolleston, George, 1829-1881.
Date:
[1879?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Further researches in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Frilford : with remarks on the northern limit of Anglo-Saxon cremation in England / by George Rolleston. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    in grave sucli as are described in Arcliseologia, xlii. p. 422, undisturbed 18 inches below skeleton of a young Anglo-Saxon, set. about 17, with umbo, spear, and knife. May 23, 1870, iv. b.; May 23, 1870, iv. a.—Skeleton of old Romano-Briton, buried with cofidn, lying from 4 feet 7 inches below skeleton of old Anglo-Saxon woman, lying in the contracted position without any relics, and, indeed, with disproof of any cojfdn, with two cruciform fibulae, a shroud-pin, an iron ring, and a knife.^ In both cases the long axis of the upper grave formed more or less of a right angle with the long axis of the semi-oriented lower one. This shows that the burials could scarcely have been simultaneous ; Tor the other conclusions which can be based upon the finding of two skeletons, verifiable as Saxon and Bomano-British respectively in the relation specified, see my previous Memoir on Brilford, p. 423. It is worth while noticing that this Anglo-Saxon woman was 5 feet 5 inches in height, an instance of what is said to be usual, but what I have found to be by no means invariable, viz., an equality, or an approach to equality, in the stature of the German women and men;* next, that her skull was found five inches above her sternum, three stones having been placed underneath it; and, lastly, that the knees were at a higher level by several inches than either the ankles or the hips, besides being, as the statement of the body having been in the contracted position implies, out of the line of the long axis of the skeleton. These points are not ordinarily found in Christian burials. The arms were, however, crossed, and the hands folded inwards, as was often done in such interments ; with which, again, on the other hand, this Anglo-Saxon burial appears to have contrasted in the body’s being turned somewhat on to the left side, a point which, from the crushed condition of the skeleton, lying only about 2 feet from the surface of the ground, it was difficult to make out. The question now arises, Were such non-oriented, contracted, shallowly in- terred, but relic-provided, bodies, the bodies of heathen or of Christianized Saxons ? Mr. Kemble’s dictum, “ Horse Berales,” p. 98, to the effect, that, “ if there is any equivocation in the matter, it lies the other way ; a few half-converted Christians may for a while have clung to the rite of burning, but no Pagan Saxon was buried These four skeletons, ■with the relics accompanying them, were presented to the Cornell University, Ithaca, United States. A more detailed account of these objects than that given above may be found in the “ Register” of that University for 1870-1871, pp. 50-54. For figure of a skeleton with skull similarly raised, see Grabfeld von Hallstatt, tab. iii fig. 4.