Anglo Saxon grave reveals 16-year-old girl laid to rest with a gold cross
By Tamara Cohen
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Laid to rest in her best clothes and lying on an ornamental bed, she was probably of noble blood.
Quite how the 16-year-old Anglo Saxon girl died and who she was remain a mystery.
But she was buried wearing a gold cross – suggesting she was one of Britain’s earliest Christians.
The skeleton and Christian cross as they were found in Trumpington Meadows, Cambs – a site which has been confirmed as one of the UK’s earliest Christian burial sites
Scientists have discovered the remains of one of Britain’s first ever Christians after unearthing a rare 1,400 year old Anglo-Saxon burial site
The discovery could force experts to rethink the history of religion in Britain
BRITAIN IN THE DARK AGES
Life was relatively peaceful during the seventh century, historians believe.
Most Anglo-Saxons were farmers, living in wooden shacks, growing wheat and barley, and raising sheep and cows. At this stage, they ignored Roman towns such a London and lived in small settlements of a few families.
The average lifespan was about 45 but while many children were struck down by disease, an adult could live to 60 or even 70, especially if they were nobles or lived quiet lives in monasteries or nunneries.
Although the Vikings were starting to plunder England’s west coast, this would not have worried the people of Cambridge, which was then made up of tribes. In the next century it would alternate between the kings of East Anglia and Mercia.
England was actually being re-converted to Christianity. The Romans had tried 200 years earlier, but it didn’t last long and was largely forgotten.
This time, the seventh century kings and nobles were on board. For a noblewoman who did not want to marry – or had escaped a marriage – the church may have been a good choice.
Dr Sam Lewsey believes the woman was probably struck down young by an illness, such as the plague, which may have taken the lives of the other three bodies at the same time.
She said: ‘This was a peaceful time, people were healthy, they were well-fed and reasonably prosperous, some of them very prosperous. There is a misconception that the Anglo-Saxons were not sophisticated.’
Although there are no written sources from the Dark Ages, archaeology has shown that the Anglo-Saxons produced stunning and intricate jewellery such as this cross, and the amazing hoard from Sutton Hoo in Staffordshire.
They were probably mining silver and gold in England, and trading other commodities across Europe and Asia.
Her well-preserved 1,400-year-old grave has been discovered by Cambridge University scientists, who described the find as ‘astonishing’.
The burial site at Trumpington Meadows, a village near Cambridge, indicates Christianity had already taken root in the area as early as the middle of the 7th century.
It was not long after St Augustine, a monk in Rome, was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to convert the English in the year 595.
Starting in Kent, his team of 40 missionaries slowly worked their way around the country and he became the first Archbishop of Canterbury two years later.
But progress is thought to have been slow and sometimes difficult, and Christians and pagans co-existed for many decades.
The new find gives an insight into this transition period as she was also buried with a knife and glass beads to use in the next life – a pagan tradition of ‘grave goods’ which goes against Christian beliefs. Dr Sam Lewsey, an expert in Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, said: ‘This is an excessively rare discovery. It is the most amazing find I have ever encountered.
‘Christian conversion began at the top and percolated down. To be buried in this elaborate way, with such a valuable artefact, tells us that this girl was probably nobility or even royalty. This cross is the kind of material culture that was in circulation at the highest sphere of society.’
The grave is one of 13 Anglo Saxon ‘bed burials’ to be discovered. Usually reserved for noble women, they involved being laid to rest on a wood and metal frame topped with a straw mattress. Such burials are not found after the 7th century.
The girl’s inch-wide gold cross, studded with cut garnets, has been dated to between 650 and 680AD.
It was probably sewn into her clothing around the neck and may have been worn in her daily life. Four graves were found at the site, the others containing an individual in their 20s whose gender is unknown, and two girls in their late teens, who had no religious signs.
It raises the question of whether the woman buried with the cross had an official role in the fledgling Christian church.
It is believed the girl, from the 7th century AD, was a member of nobility, persuaded to join the Christian faith after the Pope dispatched St Augustine to England in 597AD
The grave, in Trumpington Meadows, Cambs is examined by an expert
Shows: Pulling cross from the ground. The grave of a teenage girl from the 7th century AD has startled archaeologists
Researchers will be doing tests on the bones to establish how the girl died, what her diet may have been and what medical condition she was in. Alison Dickens, who led the excavation for the University’s archaeological unit, said it was a ‘truly astonishing discovery’.
She added: ‘If and how she relates to the other three graves is a key aspect of our investigation – whether they are family, for example, as such a small set of graves is unusual, even before we get to the bed and cross.
‘The mysteries of who she was, why she was here, and why her grave merited such lavish treatment have certainly captured our imagination.’
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Viking death squads found in mass grave shows how Anglo-Saxons hit back at the invaders
- 54 skeletons were discovered decapitated and buried alongside their severed heads
By Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 8:07 PM on 25th January 2012
A mass grave found in Dorset contains the bodies of an elite ‘hit squad’ of invading Viking warriors, experts claim.
All decapitated and buried alongside their severed heads, the 54 skeletons were discovered in 2009 by workmen digging a road.
Archaeologists dated their bones to around the year 1,000 but had few other clues as to the identities of the men who met such a sticky end.
Mass grave: The bodies were found by workmen digging a new road and were thought to have been killed during the reign of Aethelred the Unready who ruled from 968 to 1016
These men, barely into their twenties, were ambushed by the local Anglo-Saxon villagers. Their remains were discovered in 2009
Now a researcher at Cambridge University claims to have pieced the story together in a documentary to be screened tonight.
Dr Britt Baillie’s research suggests they were a fearsome brotherhood of killers who had a strict military code – never to show fear, and never to flee in the face of an enemy unless totally outnumbered.
They either were, or modelled themselves on, the Jomsvikings – a hit squad founded by Harald Bluetooth, the Norse king who died around 970 who masterminded a stream of vicious raids on the south coast of England.
Named after their stronghold at Jomsborg on the Baltic coast, their history is shrouded in myth but at a time the Vikings were feared across Europe, they were regarded as the most terrifying of all.
But on this occasion, the men, barely into their twenties, were ambushed by the local Anglo-Saxon villagers.
Piecing it together: Researcher Dr Britt Baillie claims to have finally solved the riddle of why 54 decapitated Viking bodies were found in a mass grave in Dorset in 2009
Stripped and humiliated, they were rounded up and axes and swords brought down on their necks, before their remains were tossed into a ditch.
Dr Baillie believes the murders, at Ridgeway Hill in Dorset, probably took place during the reign of Aethelred the Unready who ruled from 968 to 1016.
A chronicle, commissioned by his second wife, Queen Emma notes there was a group of Viking killers in England at the time, led by a fearsome warrior called Thorkel the Tall, said to be a Jomsviking.
Research: Dr Baillie says that a chronicle shows that a group of Viking killers were in England at the exact time of the massacre took place
Dr Baillie said: ‘Emma’s record connects Jomsvikings to England at exactly this time.
‘Clearly these men had shown a level of bravery similar to the Jomsviking code. So while we cannot be certain about who they were, there are a number of tie-ins that take us down that route.
‘The legends and stories of the Jomsvikings travelled around the medieval world and would almost certainly have been indicative of some of the practices of other bands of mercenaries or may even have been imitated by other groups.’
Aethelred the Unready was tormented by Vikings and ordered all Danish men living in England to be killed on the November 13, 1002- St Brice’s Day – which became known as the St Brice’s Day massacre.
Remains have been found in Oxford and it is thought that massacres also took place in London, Bristol and Gloucester but the remains found here are unique.
Unlike the frenzied mob attack that took place at Oxford, all these men were murdered methodically and beheaded in an unusual fashion from the front.
This is actually mentioned in Jomsvikings legend which states: ‘I am content to die as are all our comrades. But I will not let myself be slaughtered like a sheep. I would rather face the blow. Strike straight at my face and watch carefully if I pale at all.’
It was discovered last year that the skeletons had stripes filed into their teeth, suggesting this was a way they demonstrated their bravery.
- The discovery of the mass grave in Dorset will feature in Viking Apocalypse, which is being shown on National Geographic UK at 9pm tonight.
Categories: Science&Tech Tags: AngloSaxons, Back, Death, Found, grave, Invaders, Mass, Shows, squads, Viking
Incredible Viking hoard could ‘fill in the blanks’ about a murky period in British history
- The 1,100-year-old find includes a coin thought to refer to a previously unknown Viking ruler in northern England
- There are more than 200 items in the hoard, found by a metal detector
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:52 PM on 14th December 2011
A man who found a hoard of Viking silver that had lain undetected for hundreds of years has described his discovery as ‘lucky’.
Darren Webster got his metal detector out in a field near his home when he had an hour to spare one day, and 20 minutes later was digging up a hoard of hidden silver coins and jewellery.
The 39-year-old stone mason from Lancashire made the discovery in September on land around Silverdale in north Lancashire. The artifacts date back to the ninth century and the rule of Alfred the Great.
Artefacts: Darren Webster holds a Viking arm ring which was part of a hoard of the Viking treasure he found in Silverdale
Webster’s hoard: A Viking coin depicting the name Alwaldus, which has been attributed to the nephew of Alfred the Great
He said: ‘The minute I found it I knew what it was or had a very good idea what it was.
‘The coins, the bracelets, I knew it was possibly Viking, more than likely Viking.’
Mr Webster found the hoard buried in a lead pot about 16 inches underground.
He said it was ‘a very strange feeling’ knowing he had found something that had lain undiscovered for hundreds of years.
He said: ‘Some people search all their life and don’t find anything like that. I was very lucky to find what I found.
‘The first thing I discovered was the lead pot it was contained in.
Valuable: Mr Webster holds a Viking arm ring
Great: A statue of King Alfred in Winchester
‘When I lifted that out of the hole that’s when I noticed silver falling from the pot. That’s when you realise you’ve found something.’
Experts believe the hoard, which includes 27 coins, 10 arm rings, two finger rings, 14 ingots, six brooch fragments and a fine wire braid which may have been worn as a necklace, could have been buried by a Viking warrior before he went into battle.
It dates from a time when the Anglo-Saxons were trying to take control of the north of the country from the Vikings and includes a coin that is thought to refer to a previously unknown Viking ruler in northern England.
It also includes coins from the time of Alfred the Great – who reigned 871 to 899 – and from the Viking kingdom of Northumbria.
A coroner will decide later this week whether it qualifies as treasure. If it does, an independent committee will value it and any money raised will be divided equally between Mr Webster and the landowner.
Mr Webster said he would ‘love’ the collection to go to his local museum in Lancaster.
The hoard was on show today at an event in the British Museum to mark the launch of the Treasure and Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) reports, which show there were 157,188 finds recorded in 2009 and 2010.
Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, said: ‘It is widely recognised that both the Portable Antiquities Scheme and the Treasure Act 1996 have been a great success.
‘They are both helping to enrich museum collections, with the most important archaeological discoveries being acquired for the nation.
‘It is a tremendous achievement that the Staffordshire and Frome hoards are now on display in public collections where they can be enjoyed by all.’
