Artefact photograph: ceramic vessel and glass bead recovered from a grave at Farthing Downs

Description Artefact photograph: ceramic vessel and glass bead recovered from a grave at Farthing Downs

Date c. 1948 to 1949

Collection Papers of Brian Hope-Taylor, archaeologist, Cambridge, England

Catalogue Number G 93757 PO

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 766862

Scope and Content Grave goods, Farthing Down, Surrey This small, decorated, pottery vessel and amber bead were discovered in the grave of a girl of about two years of age. Excavation revealed evidence of 'slots' at the head and foot of the grave, indicating that wooden planks or other grave markers once existed. Not all Anglo-Saxon flat graves were marked in this manner, suggesting that this child was 'special' in some way. Anglo-Saxon cemeteries are the best source of evidence on Anglo-Saxon life, as they often contain a wealth of grave goods. These remains also provide information on what was expected in the afterlife, as valued personal possessions appear to have been indicators of social hierarchies or groups within Anglo-Saxon society. Farthing Down is an Anglo-Saxon cemetery dating to the late 6th/early 7th century. In 1945 Brian Hope-Taylor discovered Romano-British field systems in the same area. This research led to the 1948-9 excavations at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Black and white

Accession Number 2001/164

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/953062