ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS south " where cremations were numerous. Whether these areas were continuous cannot now be determined, but the larger cemetery (or portion if it) may be regarded as one of pure inhumation, the admixture of urns being hardly noticeable till its limits were passed. The mixed cemetery is not easy to explain, and there is nothing to prove whether the two rites were practised together or one was superseded by the other. The orientation is hardly conclusive, for nearly all the skeletons lay with their heads at the south-west end of the grave ; and though this and the grave-furniture suffice to show their pagan character, it is impossible in the present state of know- ledge to decide whether inhumation in this direction served as a transition from the essentially pagan practice of cremation to the Christian east-and-west interments without grave-furniture. The mixed cemetery shows that those who practised both rites were not debarred by religious or social laws from using the same burying-ground, but as their relation to each other is not yet clear, it will be advisable to draw conclusions mainly from the larger area where a certain uniformity is observable. The skeletons lay generally between 2 ft. and 4 ft. from the surface in narrow graves, with the arms straight down the sides, the face upwards, and the legs extended. In one case a coffin may possibly have been used, but wood and nails are rarely found in Anglo-Saxon graves outside Kent, and the body is generally unprotected from the filling of the grave, though sometimes a heap of small stones is found or, in stone districts, slabs lining and covering the grave. Many of the men were buried with their spears point up- wards on either side of the head indiffisrently, and their shields over their faces, the iron boss of which survived and was in this cemetery frequently found beside the head. The complete absence of swords was remarkable where so many warriors were interred and may be an ethnological feature. A few single beads were found in the graves of males, but the abundance and excellence of the women's necklaces may be appreciated from the coloured plates already referred to, the materials employed being coloured glass-pastes, crystal and, above all, amber. It was observed that most of the beads occurred in pairs,"* which were apparently divided on either side of a large central bead on the necklace, and one grave contained as many as 108 beads. Ring-brooches were found one above the other on the breast, not as the typical West Saxon brooches, one on each shoulder ; and another point of interest is that at least one of the large square-headed brooches that enrich this collection was worn foot upwards,'" as were the Roman cross-bow brooches of the 4th century ; but it by no means follows that it was the universal custom among the Anglo-Saxons to turn the square-head of their brooches downwards. Several of this type still retain the silver discs applied to the three extremities of the foot (pi. i, figs. 1-3), and the illustrations will render a minute description unnecessary. There are in all eight large square- headed specimens, all decorated by water-gilding and showing minor varia- tions, of which some deserve special mention. The disc attached to the bow of fig. 2 is a feature rarely found in England," but common in the following " Far westward of the main area broken urns alone were found : Proc. Suff. Inst. Arch, xiii, 1 7. "" Compare a necklace from Beeby, Leics. {y.C.H. Le'us. , 237).
- " As at Bifrons, Canterbury ; and Brighthampton, Oxon.
" Pm. Soc. Antiq. xxi, 35-7 ; outside Suffolk, at Tuxford (Notts.), and Brooke (Norf.). 331
