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...

Iron Knife

My object was an iron knife found in the second layer of West Stow. The knife has a straight cutting edge, a curved back, and a flat and wide back. It is one of the longest such knives found in West Stow, 15 centimeters long with the blade making...

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...

Cruciform Brooch

Sophia Heidebrecht Found in the grave of a woman at West Stow, this cruciform brooch is an elaborate example of Anglo-Saxon metalworking. While the particular significance of the brooch and its symbolism is largely lost to us now, it was important enough to the woman’s identity that she was...

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...
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