Gold and garnet cross after conservation. Image: Cambridge Archaeological Unit
Posted on 03/16/2012 11:46:01 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
One of the earliest Anglo-Saxon Christian burial sites in Britain has been discovered in a village outside Cambridge. The grave of a teenage girl from the mid 7th century AD has an extraordinary combination of two extremely rare finds: a 'bed burial' and an early Christian artefact in the form of a stunning gold and garnet cross.
The girl, aged around 16, was buried on an ornamental bed -- a very limited Anglo-Saxon practice of the mid to later 7th century -- with a pectoral Christian cross on her chest, that had probably been sewn onto her clothing. Fashioned from gold and intricately set with cut garnets, only the fifth of its kind ever to be found, the artefact dates this grave to the very early years of the English Church, probably between 650 and 680 AD.
In 597 AD, the pope dispatched St Augustine to England on a mission to convert the pagan Anglo-Saxon kings; a process that was not completed for many decades. Using the latest scientific techniques to analyse this exceptional find could result in a greater understanding of this pivotal period in British history, and the spread of Christianity in eastern England in the Anglo-Saxon period.
To be buried in this elaborate way with such a valuable artefact tells us that this girl was undoubtedly high status, probably nobility or even royalty.
Was this teenage girl an early Christian convert, a standard-bearer for the new God? "Christian conversion began at the top and percolated down," says Dr Sam Lucy, a specialist in Anglo-Saxon burial from Newnham College, Cambridge.
(Excerpt) Read more at pasthorizonspr.com ...
Gold and garnet cross after conservation. Image: Cambridge Archaeological Unit
LR’s link:
http://news.yahoo.com/uk-experts-7th-century-teen-buried-her-bed-002203088.html
The fountainhead:
http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/mystery-of-anglo-saxon-teen-buried-in-bed-with-gold-cross/
Stunning. The find and the cross!
Looks like an early version of this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canterbury_cross
They did some fine work, or had the cash to pay for fine work.
Grief fills the room up of my absent child,
Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me,
Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words,
Remembers me of all his gracious parts,
Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form.
Constance in King John (William Shakespeare)
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Thanks Lauren BaRecall. Used a different source, better photos. :') |
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Don’t remove the cross. She might be a vampire.
Other images and details here:
http://hefenfelth.wordpress.com/2012/03/15/7th-century-english-princess-grave-revealed/
A fascinating find.
-—the very early years of the English Church, probably between 650 and 680 AD-—
1360 years was a pretty good run.
It`s a Maltese Cross 500 years before its time.
He put a lot of himself into his work. In Hamlet, I think he is reflected best in Horatio rather than in the Prince himself.
Someday they will dig up your grave and wonder what your life was like.
Thre is a``C`` at the right top of the bottom cross segnment on the back side, & an ``E`` at the left segment of the right part of the cross where it joins the middle circle.
C = Christus?
E = ?
``E`` = Etiam?
\
``The history of the reformation of the Church of England` - Google Books Result
Gilbert Burnet, Edward Nares, Nicholas Pocock - 1679 - 864 pages
``CHRISTUS ETIAM instituendo Sacramentum hoc Corporis & Sanguinis siii,inquir
,Hocquo- tiescunq} facitis, facite in raeam commemorationem``...
Also what looks like a five-pointed star and a crux ansata on the top cross segment, tilted at roughly the same angle as that C.
Yes could be correct-
also
13 x 4 garnets = 52 weeks in a year
10 garnets in circle = 10
62 garnets
gold balls 7 x 4 = 28
7 balls = 7 days in a week
4 weeks in a month?
28 days?
Could be an OMEGA Gk. letter directly opposite the ``E`` on the left side back on the circle joint?
I don’t see the omega, but the numbers are interesting. The seven-day week is essentially religious, being derived from the Genesis account of the Six Days of Creation and the Sabbath day of rest.
You might want a reminder of which day Sunday comes around, if you don’t have printed calendars, computers, or newspapers to tell you what day of the week it is.
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