What Can A Necklace Tell Us About an Unknown Grave From the Anglo-Saxon Era
Many archeologists think the ornate necklace signifies the owner, presumably a female, had significant religious authority
Hiya!
Archeology is one of my favorite subjects because archeologists are like historical detectives, solving sometimes ancient crime scenes. They’ve made many awe-inspiring discoveries over the centuries, especially with architecture. Such as, well, take your pick — the Eqyptian Pyramids, Machu Picchu, Tikal, plus many others — which paint a picture of past civilizations.
But archeology has also unearthed many burials, with and without human remains, grave goods, and artwork. All of which provide a more… personal story of the past. We long to know who these people were, their social status, and what happened to them. Well, recently, an unexpected burial was discovered in England, and it had an unexpected inhabitant wearing an unexpectedly elaborate necklace.
The Discovery
Earlier this year, a housing developer called Vistry Group had plans to build housing on a plot of land in Northamptonshire, England. But first, they decided to commission an archaeological evaluation of the land. Though they doubted they’d find anything since it wasn’t near any known ruins, ancient landmarks, or churches.
And indeed, for the most part, they found exactly what they expected—nothing. That is, until they were about to wrap up the survey, only for a worker to notice some human teeth in the dirt — and something sparkly too. In a BCC article about the find, the leader of the dig and a site supervisor at the Museum of London (MOLA) Archaeology, Levente-Bence Balázs, said:
“When the first glints of gold started to emerge from the soil we knew this was something significant. However, we didn’t quite realize how special this was going to be.”
The Necklace and Cross
The sparkly object they found was a golden 30-piece necklace with pendants made from garnets, painted glass, semi-precious stones, and, interestingly, Roman coins — and at its center is a large cross pendant. Nearby, archeologists found other “grave goods,” including a shallow dish made of copper and two pots.
However, the necklace is by far the biggest prize of the collection, which has been named the Harpole Treasure in accordance with the local parish. That is until the archeologists x-rayed the blocks of soil that were lifted from the grave and found something almost equally as impressive as the necklace.
A press release by MOLA about the discovery describes it as being a large and “elaborately” ornate cross. But what’s intriguing are the two “highly unusual depictions of human faces cast in silver.” Now they’re having the soil blocks micro-excavated to see what else they can learn.
The necklace, though, remains a source of curiosity and wonderment. Experts date it to being about 1,300 years old or from between about 630 and 670 C.E., which is smack dab in the middle of the Anglo-Saxon era in England — aka around the time when the Roman empire fell.
While this isn’t the first necklace discovered of this style from around the same time, experts clarify that none of them are nearly as ornate or impressive as this one. Every news article and press release I saw about the find hail it as being the most significant and special female burial site discovered in Britain from around that time.
The Owner
Because of the necklace (and only because of the necklace), the archeologists believe the deceased was female. And considering the crosses — on her necklace and the large ornate one in the x-rays — and the fact that Christianity was growing in influence around that time in the British Isles, they also think she was possibly an early Christian leader, or at least played an influential role in developing Christianity in the area.
I said experts assume she was a woman because of the necklace because all they’ve found of her are some teeth — and only some enamel at that. The rest of her has pretty much completely decomposed. However, the archaeologists at MOLA are working to identify and record any remaining traces of her remains.
In an article by MOLA about their find, they say:
“Apart from fragments of tooth enamel, no human remains survived. We currently think that it is almost certainly a female burial because similar necklaces and extravagant burials are almost exclusively found in female burials in this period.”
It appears she may have been laid on a bed that was placed within the grave. If true, it means that aside from being buried, her body wasn’t very protected, making it more difficult to find anything.
Still, any residues they can find can hopefully help show how the artifacts were used for the ritual or use in daily life — for instance, whether the bowls had anything in them at the time of burial or from daily use before she died.
What’s interesting, though, is that while she appears to have been important, there aren’t any other impressive burials in the area. So far, they’ve only found one other grave nearby, but it was entirely unremarkable, without any high-status grave goods or even anything to provide a date of passing.
Perspective Shift
Gotta love a good mystery! I wonder what else they’ll find, either with further testing or perhaps in the surrounding area. I suppose it’s not too odd that her burial was unmarked. I mean, it has been a while, and it’s pretty plausible that any marking deteriorated or was ignorantly destroyed at some point.
But isn’t it a tad strange that she’s alone? Like, what happened? Where is everyone? Is she’s buried on her family or church’s land? Then again, if it were a church, you’d expect other graves besides that one other. The same, I supposed, would be true if she was buried on family land. Speaking of, what is the deal with that one? Did they know each other? I have questions!
Sigh.
I guess we’ll just have to wait to find out. Nature sure is good at leaving us cliffhangers.
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