Monthly Archives: March 2012

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Girl with the Garnet Cross

The grave of a sixteen year old girl was found at Trumpington Meadows near Cambridge. Her 1,400 year old grave contained a knife, glass beads, and a gold and garnet cross, making this one of the earliest Christian burials in England.

Saxon Teenager

Skeleton of the young woman

Dr. Sam Lewsey, an expert on Anglo-Saxon burials, stated that the knife and glass beads were evidence of pagan burial rituals, placing the grave firmly with the transitional period. The girl was given a bed burial, a practice where nobles were laid on a frame of wood and metal, topped with straw. Bed burials disappeared after the 7th century.

Garnet Cross

Garnet cross, front and back

  1.  “Is this Britain’s first Christian burial? Anglo Saxon grave reveals 16-year-old girl laid to rest with a gold cross“, MailOnline, 2012-03-15
  2. Collingbourne Ducis, Wiltshire: an Early Saxon cemetery with bed burial“, N. Stoodley, J. Schuster