A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE
stoup. [1] Halos of the same form are seen on some of the figures and one of the panels containing a cross with Alpha and Omega within a
nimbus; while the subjects are biblical and include representations of Adam and Eve, and a standing figure in the attitude of prayer.
It has been supposed that buckets, bronze bowls, pottery vases, and above all the stoup found at Long Wittenham, were for the reception of holy water, while fragments of charcoal in many of the graves may point to the use of incense at interments. [2] Though several graves at Long Wittenham contained one or more vessels that may have served this purpose, no rule can here be formulated from their occurrence. Eight such graves were those of males, three of the other sex; and there was no
uniformity in the placing of the vessels nor in the direction of the graves containing them. More were found at the right shoulder than at the left, but some had been deposited at the feet even when the upper end
BRONZE BROOCHES, LONG WITTENHAM.
of the grave was not occupied by a second or even a third vessel. Nor, to judge from the orientation, were these supposed receptacles for holy water confined to purely Christian interments, though eight of the twelve in question were dug in accordance with the custom of the Church. On the whole, a review of the results achieved at Long Wittenham shows the futility of applying hard and fast rules to the remains of a population by no means homogeneous, and obviously in a state of transition between the old faith and the new.
There are however some characteristics that may be noted as affording a clue to the affinities of these early settlers in Berkshire. In a minority of the graves of women were discovered flat circular brooches (figs. 5 and 7), the front engraved with circles or other geometrical patterns. This is one of the commonest forms met with in this country, and occurs in most of the districts overrun by the pagan invaders. The
