-1 101 z An Anglo-Saxon cemetery in use from the late 5th century until the 7th century AD. It was rare for graves to overlap, implying that they had visible markers. Unlike many Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, where cremations are common, all the burials here were inhumations (interments of complete bodies). Most were placed in shallow graves cut into the chalk subsoil.
# Edix Hill
1 101 x An Anglo-Saxon cemetery in use from the late 5th century until the 7th century AD. It was rare for graves to overlap, implying that they had visible markers. Unlike many Anglo-Saxon cemeteries, where cremations are common, all the burials here were inhumations (interments of complete bodies). Most were placed in shallow graves cut into the chalk subsoil.
# Edix Hill
32 101 x This 7th century AD burial, of a woman aged about 25, had been laid to rest on a wooden bed. Iron cleats (pieces for fastening) and eyelets around the head and sides of the body defined the outline of the bed which was made of joined planks of wood, probably with a mattress.
# Burial 42B, grave
5 101 x A mature woman whose grave goods - a small bronze pin, a knife, an iron ring and buckle and a latch lifter (a type of doorkey) - indicate she was a person of some importance. Some changes that had taken place on her bones were probably the results of the stresses of child-bearing.
# Burial 161, grave
35 101 x Four burials in adjacent graves may have been members of the same family. Three were adult males, the fourth an elderly woman, and in all the metopic suture, the junction between the bones of the forehead, had failed to fuse. This was probably an inherited characteristic.
# Burials 112, 146, 148, 592, closeup of one of skulls showing unfused metopic suture
2 102 E An early grave, dated to the late 5th century AD, this contained two burials, a woman of about 19 or 20 and a man of about 18. She wore a pair of saucer brooches on her shoulders: these were typical clothes fastenings among the Germanic peoples of south-east England at this time.
# Burial 626A, Saucer brooch
33 102 F A very typical male burial, complete with his shield and spear. The shield had been made mainly of wood covered with leather and the spear of wood: all that remained of these were the iron central boss from the shield and the iron spearhead.
# Burial 11, Spearhead - ask excavators
12 101 x This man was probably an individual of high status. In addition to the usual male military equipment of shield and spear, he had been buried with a wooden bucket bound with copper bands - mineralized fragments of the wood still adhered to the copper.
# Burial 453, 1991 pl 5 - try to get drawing of bucket.
11 101 x This grave contained the burial of a woman, aged between 25 and 35, her head pillowed on the body of a new-born baby. It is probably that the unfortunate woman had died in childbirth, an occurrence all too common in the past, and that her infant had died with her.
# Burial 440, Ask excavators for drawing of skull and infant skeleton
37 103 I The burial of man perhaps of lower status, since instead of the usual weapons of spear and shield he had only a knife. In addition he had been buried with a bone comb and a bronze buckle.
# Burial 551, Comb: ask excavators - possibly use drawing of comb from grave 592
6 101 x This woman was buried wearing a necklace of glass and amber beads, probably imports from the continent. Her grave also contained a pot and a bone comb.
# Burial 29, Part of skull and beads
13 103 L A woman of the 7th century AD buried wearing a valuable necklace. This was made of glass beads and linked silver rings. Two pendants, one of gold with a central garnet, the other a crystal bead held by gold bands, may have been attached to it.
# Burial 459, Reconstruction of part of necklace
34 102 N This woman was probably buried in a wooden coffin, since her grave goods had evidently shifted in the empty space as the body decayed. On her shoulder was a gilded bronze brooch inlaid with garnets and blue glass. Her bones showed that she had suffered from arthritis, a common complaint among the hard-working Anglo-Saxons.
# Burial 126, Garnet and bronze brooch - Colour postcard
3 101 x Many children's burials were concentrated in this part of the cemetery. About a third of the burials at Barrington were of children under 20. Those who survived the hazards of adulthood, such as childbearing and warfare, could live to as old as 60. Children often showed slight signs of dietary stress, suggesting occasional malnutrition.
# Burials 584, 586, 587
7 101 x Several bodies had battle scars: two bore healed sword cuts, while one elderly man had survived a severe blow to the head. Many individuals bore signs of accidents in daily life, well healed showing their generally good health and resistance to infection. Their teeth were often rotten, though, as they never cleaned them.
# Grave, damaged skull -optional
9 102 K The burial of a woman in her thirties. Among her grave goods was an ivory hoop, the rim of an 'amulet' bag in which various personal objects were kept: hers included a copper cosmetic brush holder. She also wore a girdle at her waist from which was suspended a set of latch keys.
