Page:VCH Suffolk 1.djvu/395

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ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS mentioned was found bright yellow sand, which contained remains of wood- work forming a kind of floor, much decayed but retaining the original shape and fibre. Next fragments of pale green glass appeared, belonging to two vessels, one being a goblet of well-known Anglo-Saxon form, ornamented with bands of large hol- low claws, like one found at Reculver,^ and close by was a mass of human hair (apparently from one head, though no skull was visi- ble). It was of a dingy red colour, and had evi- dently been wrapped in a coarse cloth (perhaps sail- cloth), of which the texture was here and there discernible. About four feet from it lay a smaller mass of hair, but no vestige of bones could be detected. In clearing away the sand a fine gold finger-ring (fig. 2) was thrown out, and serves to date the erection of the mound within certain limits as the type is otherwise known. It was elaborately decorated with filigree, and set with an onyx intaglio of a rude figure holding ears of corn in one hand, and a bowl in the other and wearing a fillet of corn round the head. Its late Roman origin is obvious, and the nearest parallel in these islands is the gold ring found at New Grange, co. Meath.* All were no doubt imported from Italy, and must be referred to the end of the 4th or the 5th century. The ring, hair, and broken vase, with some fragments described as jasper, lay in the middle of the woodwork, and all round were noticed at equal Fic. 2. — Gold Ring with Roman Intajlio (Front and Side Views, with Impression), Boat-Burial, Snaps (i) Fio. 3. — Longitudinal Section and Plan of Boat in Grave-mound, Snafe ' Akerman, Pagan Saxondom, pi. ii ; cf. F.C.H. Bucks, i, 203, fig. 2 on pi. (Taplow).

  • Arch, m, pi. xii, fig. 5, p. 137 ; there is nothing similar in Deloche, Anneaux Stpllaires, but see

F. H. Marshall, Cat. of Finger-rings in Brit. Mus. nos. 868-9 ^^^ ^7° (Rome) ; Boulanger, Mobilier funlraire, pi. 9, fig. 3 (Sissy, Aisne, 4th century).