ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS ground, and their presence was indicated by slight hillocks seldom rising 2 feet from the ground and resembling those to be seen in village churchyards at the present day. In every instance the skeletons were found extended at full length, with the heads placed towards the west and the arms close to the sides. No traces of cremation or of any kind of funeral pottery were met with, and the bones and teeth with very few exceptions were perfectly sound and in their proper positions. In one group were found a grave containing two skeletons placed so close together that the skulls were almost touching, but no traces of weapons or ornaments were found with them. Another burial yielded two small silver pins * placed near the skull and no doubt used for fasten- ing the hair. They have a slight swelling in the middle, the head being formed of a small coil of silver wire through which the pin passed and to which it was fastened by hammering. A knife 1 of the common type and a bronze-mounted bucket devoid of any ornament were also found, the latter placed near the head of what was probably the skeleton of a woman. The southern group was on higher ground, and in the first grave opened a small gold pendant l was found lying near the skull. This had probably been suspended from the neck, and consisted of a thin disc of gold with a ring welded round the edge and a small loop for attachment. On one face is an equal-armed cross inclosed in a circle, both formed by a series of slight indentations, in some of which the remains of some kind of paste or enamel could be seen by the aid of a microscope. The reverse is plain, and the trinket seems to have been much worn by use. A very similar specimen is preserved in the Gibbs collection of antiquities from Faversham, now deposited in the British Museum. The cross is composed of a number of twisted gold threads applied to the surface and coiled into a boss at the centre. The spaces between the arms of the cross are covered with punched holes, but though in excellent preservation the face preserves no traces of enamel or other filling. In the same room is exhibited a simpler specimen found at Wye Down, Kent. Another grave contained objects of remarkable interest, the skeleton being that of a man who was credited with a stature of nearly 6| feet. Lying across the breast and reaching from the right shoulder to the left knee was a sword of iron 38 inches long and 2 inches wide, of con- siderable thickness, though this may be accounted for by supposing the remains of the scabbard to have been fixed to the oxidized blade, and the measure of its length just given no doubt included the tang, which was 5 inches long and passed through the handle which was probably of wood. In the same grave was the iron boss 1 of a shield placed over the right foot of the skeleton. It is 7 inches high with a diameter of 5 inches at the base, and is minutely described by Mr. Flower, who found the grip or the metal part of it immediately below the 1 Figured in the original account of the excavations. 265
