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Photos Buried at Center
Next to the bed burial is a grave that also contained valuable jewelry, such as a unique gold pendant, a silver brooch and glass beads. The woman buried there might have been a relative or lady-in-waiting, while the researchers believe the other graves could have contained retainers or followers. Iron age coins, pierced to hang as if they were crucifixes, were found in one of the perimeter graves, suggesting that at least one member of the group was interested in Christianity. Archaeologist Mike Pitts, who is the editor of British Archaeology and was the former curator of the Alexander Keiller Museum at Avebury, told Discovery News, "This cemetery dates from that very interesting period in European history when a variety of religions and beliefs were circulating, out of which Christianity eventually rose to be completely dominant in religious thought, society and politics." In 657, at around the time the cemetery was established, an abbey was erected nearby, marking a "turning point in the history of Christianity in Britain," Pitts said. "So the Street House cemetery is particularly interesting," he added. "It seems to revolve, quite literally, around a woman… Her bed burial is stridently pagan, a sort of rare, female equivalent of ship burials, as she is laid out on a vehicle to deliver her to the afterworld." Sherlock and his team plan to further investigate the Yorkshire site later this year. They hope to find an Anglo-Saxon settlement linked to the cemetery.
Jennifer Viegas' blog: Born Animal |
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