7th Century Corpse Unearthed In Ornamental Bed With Jeweled Cross
- Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:30pm by
Mytheos Holt
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LONDON (AP/The Blaze) — Archaeologists excavating near Cambridge have stumbled upon a rare and mysterious find: The skeleton of a 7th-century teenager buried in an ornamental bed along with a gold-and-garnet cross, an iron knife and a purse full of glass beads.
Experts say the grave is an example of an unusual Anglo-Saxon funerary practice of which very little is known. Just over a dozen of these “bed burials” have been found in Britain, and it’s one of only two in which a pectoral cross – meant to be worn over the chest – has been discovered.
One archaeologist said the burial opened a window into the transitional period when the pagan Anglo-Saxons were gradually adopting Christianity.
“We are right at the brink of the coming of Christianity back to England,” said Alison Dickens, the manager of Cambridge University’s Archaeological Unit. “What we have here is a very early adopter.”
The grave, dated between 650 and 680 A.D., was discovered about a year ago in a corner of Trumpington Meadows, a rural area just outside Cambridge that is slated for development.
Dickens said the teen’s grave was interesting because it had a mix of traditional grave goods – the knife, as well as a chain thought to hold a purse full of beads – along with a powerful symbol of Christian devotion.
The grave, she said, indicated “the beginning of the end of one belief system, and the beginning of another.”
The teenager’s jewelry – a solid gold cross about 3 1/2 centimeters (1 1/2 inches) wide, set with cut garnets – marks her out as a member of the Anglo-Saxon aristocracy. She was about 15, but her skeleton hasn’t yet been subjected to radiocarbon dating or isotopic analysis. Those techniques might help experts determine where and under what circumstances she grew up.
Howard Williams, a professor of archaeology at the University of Chester who is not connected to the discovery, said bed burials were very rare. He noted that they were an irregular feature of wealthy female graves in England and mainland Europe, suggesting that Anglo-Saxons may have looked across the Channel for inspiration.
“It’s part of a broader pan-European elite identity in life and in death,” he said.
Three sets of Anglo-Saxon remains were also found nearby, but it’s not clear to what degree any of the people buried there were related. As for the bed itself, there’s little left of it other than its iron fittings.
The rationale behind bed burials remains a matter of speculation.
“The word in Old English for ‘bed’ and ‘grave’ is the same because it‘s ’the place where you lie,’” Dickens said. “It is interesting that you have that association. You’re lying there – but just for a much longer time, I suppose.”
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Comments (68)
Mary M. Tebbe
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 6:03pmI wrote about such sites in my book. Just by reading the story and by looking at the artifacts, I can understand several things about this ancient burial already. Archaeologists are still groping for answers to these gravesites, and I have written to some of them. I’m not sure they really want to have answers. It’s more interesting to have fanciful ideas about the past.
Report Post »We can learn a lot about our ancient history if we just get the cobwebs out of our heads, and start believing people like me that say they know the answers to the mysteries before us. God Almighty was way ahead of you on this one, when He told me how to write my book right after 9/11! :) I don‘t think that I’ve mislead any of you on this website yet as I write here.
Eric Matthew Ackerstrom
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:39pmThey will not be able to dig me up, I am donating my body to science.
Report Post »hidden_lion
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:46pmSo, your corpse will be part of that museum display where they show the human insides.
Report Post »XaviorOnassis
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:03pmIf centuries from now there are lingering mysteries about how humans lived and survived the 21st century and my pitiful bones can shed light on things by all means dig them up–it isn‘t as if I’ll be using them. Dig up my mother, my grandmother, my sister, my kids…we hope to be in a better place, but regardless we won’t be in the grave.
I see it as extremely reverent when scientists dig up a body in this manner to study how the person may have lived or who she might have been. It is recognizing that the body once contained a living person and it sort of extends that person’s voice and influence into the present. This is far from grave robbing.
I hope to be treated so well when I am gone.
Report Post »liberalescheisskopf
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:42pmI have left instructions that the fingers of my hand be arranged in a certain manner as a greeting for those future ‘scientists’ that may exhume my body for study.
Report Post »BarackStalin
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:55pmI want a giant fishhook stuck into me and my body tossed into the ocean…
Then I want all my friends to throw a giant feast with whatever tried to feast on me…
How’s that for reverence?
Report Post »BarackStalin
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 4:01pmI want a giant fishhook stuck into me and tossed into the ocean…
Then I want all my friends to enjoy a giant feast on whatever tried to feast on me…
How’s that for reverence?
Report Post »ZABO
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:18amhopefully the dead man that was rudely disturbed in his eternal sleep will haunt those who dug his old A$$ up. or atleast till someone digs their grave up in 2650!!!
Report Post »GrayPanther
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 11:32amIt was a teen age girl. You should read the article with more comprehension.
Report Post »FrederickDouglasRepublican
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:59amCan we just let the dead lay? This is grave robbery! I don’t need to learn anything from a sacred burial place.
Report Post »MOLLYPITCHER
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:42amI think this kind of stuff is so cool. I hope they’ll tell more about it, or that it will be in National Geographic because I would love to see pictures.
Report Post »CROCK-HANDLER
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:05am”Mom, I promise, I’ll find a job when i get up.”
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 5:04pmMost original comment!
Report Post »MyzPhoenyx
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 4:08am“With the kind of shape I’m in you could donate my body to science fiction.”
~ Rodney Dangerfield
People work very hard to preserve these types of remains. The article said that it was found on a site that was set for construction. I would hope that someone would take the time and care to not allow me to be bulldozed aside, as so much mulch. I’m listed as an organ donor. If anything that I have, when I’m gone, can help someone else, let them have it, I no longer need it.
Report Post »In 1500 years, if they find my grave, let them learn what they can from me. Who knows, maybe our old bones will unlock some vital mystery. :)
An American Joe
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:47amA question to those who would desecrate the burial places of the dead. Just how long do your loved ones need to be in the ground before someone can dig them up?
Report Post »BJAlexandria
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 3:30amI was thinking this exact thought as I was reading this.
Report Post »MOLLYPITCHER
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 7:44am@ American Joe
Report Post »While I find this fascinating, I do agree with you. I feel that way about Indian burial grounds, and the Egyptians.
FreedomPurveyor
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 9:45am“Just how long do your loved ones need to be in the ground before someone can dig them up?”
When there is no one left alive to care, then you can dig them up.
Report Post »phoenixrising
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:34amWhen regular people loot the dead, its called ‘grave robbing’. When a university professor does it‘s called an ’excavation’…. lol
Report Post »ZaphodsPlanet
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:08amMytheos…. you’re a freaking Ghoul…. who hired you? Scott? Please take your crap articles on death, or causing death… back to the newspapers you came from.
Report Post »glutamine.sr
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:40amThis is desecration of the dead and equal in egregiousness to president body odor and illegal aliens using the social security numbers of the deceased to commit fraud against the american taxpayer and the american public at the voting polls
Report Post »conservativewoman
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:10amIs this the ITSJUSTTIM story? Just asking!
Report Post »Hmschlmom
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:36amThis is a sickening grave robbery. I don’t care the “intellectual” purpose. The intent behind placing this teen as she was is clear. Let her rest in peace with these final gifts from her family who loved her.
And yes, I feel quite the same when I see a sarcophagus and mummy…
These were PEOPLE, who were loved. Let them rest, not turn them into the new side show…
Report Post »(charging people for a peek? That’s not science, that’s a circus!)
glutamine.sr
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:39amI agree that this is desecration of the dead but no worse than president body odor and illegal aliens using the social security numbers of the deceased to commit fraud against the american taxpayers.
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:04pmWhy are they digging up graves? Isn’t there anything sacred anymore?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:45pmThey are looking for the fossils they burned.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 11:19pmAcc’ding to the BBC
“It was uncovered at Trumpington Meadows by Cambridge Archaeological Unit.”
Report Post »http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-17378845
XaviorOnassis
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:24amIf centuries from now there are lingering mysteries about how humans lived and survived the 21st century and my pitiful bones can shed light on things by all means dig them up–it isn‘t as if I’ll be using them. Dig up my mother, my grandmother, my sister, my kids…we hope to be in a better place, but regardless we won’t be in the grave.
I see it as extremely reverent when scientists dig up a body in this manner to study how the person may have lived or who she might have been. It is recognizing that the body once contained a living person and it sort of extends that person’s voice and influence into the present. This is far from grave robbing.
I hope to be treated so well when I am gone.
Report Post »XaviorOnassis
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 12:35amBy the way, if you had read the article you might have learned that the grave was discovered in the course of developing a piece of property–which is more “sacred”, shoving her aside with a bulldozer or using the opportunity to learn about her and move her to a safer place?
Report Post »nelbert
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 1:19amXAVIORONASSIS:
I want to applaud you. Eloquently said.
Report Post »NewLife56
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:49pmCool
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:48pmInteresting story – I have to wonder if the bed burials, if they are connected to early Christianity taking root in Britian at that time may be connected to the biblical descriptions Lord Jesus gives of death being akin to sleep; as in the tale of Lazarus when he said to the apostles “…I go to awaken Lazarus for he has fallen asleep…’ then he explained that Lazarus had died.
Several parts of the Old and New Testaments speak of death as being asleep; so those doing the research on the excavation may want to look into that connection – assuming they have the true progessional guts to do so.
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:09pmI think that it was a Tender demonstration of Love!
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:37pmPeople haven’t changed a bit, as a matter of fact there are still many people who think they can acquire someone’s spirit by eating the flesh of the corpse. You can not acquire that which isn’t given.
Report Post »408 CheyTac
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:16pmyou are a goofy one, aren’t you?
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:29pmWell I see under which mountain you bury your gold only to come back to it later and it will be worthless, and that be ridicule. You bury your gold in the Ridicule Mountain range.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:35pmOther people bury their gold in small hills in the valleys of hatred. And still other people bury their gold in the NFL Mountains; the stock market hills; the planting flowers in their yard mountains; the mountains of the history of America. All these things are burying gold in the mountains to only go back to it later to find the fruit you invested in that gold to be worthless. It’s been going on for years and years.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:43pmThe Great Earthquake was a long time ago, and it was when people’s earth disappeared, and they became addicted to everything right in front of their face. Heaven had become rolled up like a scroll and people fled to be focused on Sports, money, TV, movies, etc. And many people have truly died in spirit.
Report Post »KangarooJack
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 8:13pmI don’t have a stockpile yet, but sometimes (late at night) I dream of rolls and rolls of toilet paper. Do you think my gold is in TP??? lol
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:34pmJust keep on throwing open them graves. Like it says in the Good Book, and all the graves were opened.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:40pmOh darn, no precepts after precepts in this coffin over here, and neither is there in that one over there or any of them anywhere.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:50pmHow many people missed the Great Earthquake? What you mean you didn’t see it? Why else do you think so many people are suddenly going to church; getting more involved in sports; getting more involved in money; getting more involved in many distractions otherwise called “Mountains” or “Fountains?” Or other fountains for other people is the hate they have for particular people or things? It’s Gog against Magog, and people also begging for those mountains of fountains to fall on them to hide them from the Face of Liberty.
Report Post »Itsjusttim
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:57pmBegging for the fountains to hide them from the Face of Self Sacrifice, from having to sacrifice their wants, their likes, their perceived needs.
Report Post »yeah I got an itch
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 6:35amburied your god under the pompus self- important tree huh?
Report Post »SoupSandwich
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 10:09amDo not poke the Tim. Puhlease do not prod, poke, or make furtive moves when the Tim is about.
Report Post »sdarbro
Posted on March 19, 2012 at 9:48amTim:
Where do you get time to bury gold? Especially during March Madness?
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:32pmI dont like the practice of digging up graves I do not care if we find them interesting. Let the dead sleep they weren’t a foreign odd or different species they were people just like us and deserve the respect we would afford those living or being buried today.
Report Post »kaydeebeau
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:51pmI don’t think the digging up graves in intentinal. And even if it is, the body is only a temporary house for our eternal spirt. I don’t visit graves of any of my departed loved ones. They are not there only their bones. Good grief, how does anyone believe in Heaven and eternity and have an affinity for a graveyard?
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 11:21pmHopefully, they will rebury her when they finish examining her remains. The Egyptian nat‘l museum is full of dead men’s bones, some on display, others in the basement waiting study.
But, no, it would seem nothing is sacred.
Report Post »GeorgiaDawg
Posted on March 20, 2012 at 8:14amI don’t like the idea of doing autopsies either…or human dissections in the medical schools. But medicine learns from that and the advances are passed on to us.
Report Post »Artreri
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:04pmScreenshot or it didn’t happen.
Report Post »spirited
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:17pmThe skull and cross were shown on FOX News.
>The story was not nearly as descriptive as the Blaze.
Report Post »thomas242007
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:55pmhmm interesting, but a photo would be nice
Report Post »JBaer
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:13pmThat was exactly my feeling.
Report Post »I love archeaology, subscribe to three different archeaology magazines, but it’s the photos that help you visualize what they are trying to tell you. This article fell short in that regard.
(Great find regardless!)
RepubliCorp
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:15pmburied in an ornamental bed …. was her last name Fluke?
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:51pmIt would be nice to identify her!
Report Post »suz
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:41pmwe need a photo on this story.
Report Post »TRONINTHEMORNING
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:54pmYes, totally agree! I want pictures!
Report Post »dealer@678
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:01pmWhy is it so hard for you to believe that Christians roamed the earth in the 7th century
Report Post »Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 9:03pmI imagine it probably looks like Lindsey Lohan after a weekend bender.
Report Post »Elena2010
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 11:22pmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-17378845
Report Post »Has the photos and a larger story.
Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 8:38pmIn other news, not too far from the dig site, they did find the remains of a Cow, a small boy, a giant, and a bag of beans. They have no answers for this mystery.
Report Post »Welcome Black Carter
Posted on March 16, 2012 at 10:40pmAbout the same time islam was being conjured up.
Report Post »Netsurfer2
Posted on March 17, 2012 at 2:05amI don’t know beans about beans… or even how they got there…!
Report Post »