ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS the others, while that discovered by the Hon. R. C. Neville shows the original form of the square plate from which projected a number of characteristic heads of animals and birds, the latter being at the angles, with stout curved beaks. It so happens that the more perfect specimen was found at a spot fairly accessible from the continent, while the debased copies were found far inland, in the north and west of Wessex. Till further examples of these large gilt brooches with their square crenellated heads and rude but striking decoration are forthcom- ing, it would be rash to assign their manufacture and use exclusively to any one tribe ; but the objects found with the Hornton specimen closely resemble a large number found in the Thames valley, and the likeness encourages the belief that in the finds at Marston Hill there is an appreciable Saxon element. Attention must also be drawn to a circumstance which is not emphasized in the original account of the discovery. The West-Saxon character of at least the two circular concave or saucer-shaped brooches found in grave No 1 3 is hardly open to question, and it is from the adjoining grave (No. 14) about two feet distant that the remarkable gilt brooch already mentioned was taken. Though it is impossible to prove that these two graves contained a West-Saxon warrior and his wife — and the presence of weapons in the one case favours the suggestion — it is equally open to question whether these are the only two graves in the cemetery which could possibly be attributed to that branch of the Teutonic family. It is true that the area excavated yielded twenty-one brooches, of which three at least may be so assigned ; but this does not necessarily fix the proportion between Angle and Saxon. In the first place the cemetery has in all probability not been entirely excavated, for operations were discontinued when the limits of the unsown ground were reached. Secondly, of the thirty-two graves containing skeletons, only eight yielded brooches of any description ; and two of this number were the pair referred to above. These last, again, did not contain anything characteristically Anglian, and should not therefore be regarded as the graves of two Anglians who had borne to the grave ornaments they had looted or bartered from a neighbouring Saxon tribe. Finally, in con- sidering the excavations as a whole, it must be noted that very few of the graves on this site exhibit any signs of wealth, and the fact that only one sword in the district has been found may be taken to indicate the humble, perhaps peaceful, circumstances of the community.* In most cases the ornaments consisted of a string of beads, with perhaps a buckle for the belt and the usual knife worn at the side. Here are no bronze- mounted buckets, inlaid sword-handles or jewelled brooches such as have been collected in districts enriched by trade or natural resources. Nor is it surprising to find on what was probably the limit of the West-Saxon territory till the expansion of Merciain the middle of the seventh century, the remains of a humble settlement evidently isolated from the main 1 It is conceivable that the paucity of relics and of cinerary urns may be due to the influence of Christianity. 231
