Sunken Featured Building
An archeological feature sometimes found when excavating sites around the Anglo-Saxon period is a sunken hollow, often with two or six post holes around the edges. These features are thought to be the remnants of a common style of building, named Sunken Featured Buildings (SFB). The current hypothesis is...
Spindlewhorl
Rebecca Lerdau This object is Spindle Whorl 1441, found in West Stow Anglo-Saxon Village in Layer 2. It appears to be made of clay. In the excavation of West Stow, eighty-eight spindle whorls were found, and this is one of forty-five made of clay. Spindle whorls are a widespread...
Annular Brooch
Ashok Khare The annular brooch pictured above is one of several of its type that were found at the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at West Stow. It was found among other burial goods, including other types of brooches, girdle hangers, wrist clasps, a beaded necklace, and a variety of utilitarian items....
Wrist Clasp (Right)
This particular wrist clasp was discovered, along with its counterpart, around 1849 at the West Stow Anglo-Saxon burial site. It was found in a woman’s grave (#28), as most were- these clasps were generally associated with women’s clothing in the fifth and sixth centuries, though there is evidence in...
Burial Urn
This specific burial urn is from the Spong Hill, which is the site of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery. This urn was found in a grave with another smaller urn, and most likely had cremated remains of a human within it. Cremation was a very popular way to bury loved ones...
Small Long Brooch 1
I did my project on a brooch recovered from a graveyard near the current-day civil parish of Eriswell. The graveyard belonged to a village referred to as little Eriswell during the sixth-century and contained thirty-three burials. The brooch and the background of the cemetery in which it was found...
Tablet Woven Band
Tablet or card weaving is an ancient method of creating thin, strong bands of fabric decorated with designs and patterns. In Scandinavia, evidence of tablet weaving dates back to the Iron Age, with tablet woven pieces being used in loom weaving. The tablet piece would be placed at the...
Circle-and-Dot Antler Stamp Recreation
This object is an antler stamp carved circle-and-dot pattern found at the Lakenheath archaeological site in Suffolk. Designed to leave a concentric target-shaped indentation when pressed onto semi-dry (leather-hard) clay, stamps like this allowed Early English potters to create highly decorated cremation urns. These urns, imbued with significant spiritual...
Composite Antler Comb
This dual sided antler comb was discovered in a grave at the West Stow archaeological site. The comb was discovered alongside 105 other combs of similar design at the archaeological site, pointing to them ubiquitous in Anglo-Saxon England. The function of the comb is somewhat self explanatory in its...
Wrist Clasp (Left)
Hannah Rosenberg Known Context The left wrist clasp was found at West Stow in grave 28 of an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman. Discovered in its set with the right clasp, the left wrist clasp was in relatively good condition, with the decorations and hook visible. The wrist clasps were found among...
