DESCRIPTIONS OP CEANIA.
O' iitiiiiiifEiiKijlili!:
The graves had been cut in the chalk, so as to form neat cists, and sometimes were covered
in by a thin sandstone flag laid near to the body. Most of them held one body each, laid at
length, but three were remarkable for double, if not treble interments. The great majority
contahied the remains of men ; one those of a man, a woman, and a child, the latter not without
his smaU iron knife. " As far as we could judge from the disjointed and decomposed state of
the skeletons, the height of the bodies must have averaged from five feet ten inches to six feet;
one we computed to be fi-om six feet four inches to six feet six inches*."
The antiquities discovered comprise aU that variety of objects which is usually met with in
Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Iron, double-edged, broad Saxon swords, about 30 inches long ; ii-on
spear-heads with the split socket, varying from 9 to 21 inches in length, and differing much in
form, with recognizable remains of their ashen shafts—by reason of the traces of the ferule, with
which the shaft used to be shod, the length of one of the spears was recovered, viz. fully 6 feet
Oiinffell Grave, with Skeleton and remains of Shield and Spear in situf.
—iron knives; battle-axes, oi franciscas-, umbones and studs of shields, the circular wooden
discs having perished; personal ornaments of great diversity; among the rest a gold coin of
Justinian, which Mr. Koach Smith considers to he an imitation of the true coins of that emperor,
probably struck in Gaul, and three silver Saxon Soeaticist; earthen vases of different sizes and
* C. R. Smith, op. cit. p. 4.
t Mr. Roach Smith has kindly allowed us to copy Mr.
Fairholt's expressire wood-cut of the tall Saxon in his grave,
which reminds us forcibly of the fine delineation by the hand
of Mr. Douglas. Nenia Britannica, plate 1. Our thanks are
also due to Mr. Jno. Gough Nichols, F.S.A., for politely permitting
us to use the wood-cut at the head of this description,
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which represents the Ozingell cemetery during the excavation.
It appertains to Mr. Wright's " Wanderings of an .\nti(]up.ry."
X The appearance of the dove and the cross, emblems which
savour of Christianity, upon the reverse, is not regarded by
able numismatists as sufiicient to justify the conclusion, that
they belonged to any Christian monarch in Britain.
(2)
ANGLO-SAXON—OZINGELL, KENT.
pleasing forms; a glass tumbler; and a small bronze balance, with a set of weights, or rather a
somewhat miscellaneous assemblage of smaU bronze discs, mostly formed of defaced Roman brass
corns some of them marked with dots, &c., to represent numbers or proportions, which
Mr. Roach Smith with every probability has resolved into the weights of these " gold scales "
that belonged to a period at which a great diversity of gold and silver coins (Saxon, Merovingian,
Byzantme, and old Roman) of different sizes and weights must have formed the " circulating
medium " of this island*. This gentleman refers the cemetery to an early part of the Anglo-Saxon
times. It may with great probabihty be assigned to the very earliest, for in Thanet this people
are said to have gained their first footingf-
During the excavations of Mr. Rolfe, which made a considerable addition to this curious
and interesting coUection of antiquities, our skuU was discovered. It is a fine example of the
Anglo-Saxon series, although the age of the man to whom it belonged has impaii-ed its appearance
by the caries of many of the teeth, and the long previous loss of others. His face has been
we 1-proportioned and upright, with a weU-expressed chin bounding the lower jaw, and a fuU
and moderately lofty forehead above. The nose has been long, straight, or slightly elevated at
the bndge, and narrow. The superciliary ridge of moderate magnitude. The arch of the
ca yarium is even and elevated about the vertex. In the occipital region there has been a dislocation
of the occipital bone, from posthumous influences, which to a trivial extent has unfortunately
misled our artist, who is usually so very accurate in his representations. The upper or
scaly portion of the occipital projects a very little too much, although this probably does not
mcrease that flatness evidently natural to this region. The widest part of the calvarium is
immediately above the mastoids, about an inch from theii- bases; but the diameter at these
points has been mcreased by the deformation we have just alluded to. We believe the lithograph
wi l do more to convey a correct idea of this fine skull than any further description. It
belongs to the platycephalic and ovoidal series, common among Anglo-Saxon crania, althou<.h
not pron^ent l y distinguished by the platycephalic form. So long a residence in the chalk c L
has abraded the sm-face of the bones, as is well depicted in the Plate
A series of skuHs and other bones from the OzingeU cemetery, together with some
antiquities, obtamed during the railway excavations, fell into the hands of the late Mi- B B
Price P S.A. The former are now in our possession. They are in too imperfect a condition to
a t o i t of any lengthened description. Some of them have undergone posthumous deformation
Thi-ee imperfect calvaria of men (A, B and C in the Table of Measurements) closely resemble tlie
SkuU of our Plate. They approximate rather more nearly to the oval form of the modern
English head, and aU present the somewhat acuminate elevation in the vertical region Otlier
wo, in a similar condition, have belonged to women. The femora are those of men, and go far
to confirm Mr. Roach Smith's stateraent regarding the stature of their owners
* The "Inventorium Sepulchrale" may also be referred to
for further illustration of Anglo-Saxon scales and weights of
this small size, by the same able antiquary, p. xliii and 22.
pi. 17. In this plate another series of seventeen similar brass
weights, and the little scales with which they have been employed,
are delineated by Mr. Fairholt. They were derived
from a Saxon grave at Gilton-Towu in Kent, opened by Mr.
Faussett, m 1762 ; and Mr. Roach Smith informs us that these
relics have hitherto been found in the Kentish cemeteries only
—a fact that would appear to point to their application.
t Nennius, cap. xxix. That this spot had been appropriated
to funereal purposes even during Roman times, is shown by the
discovery of a Roman leaden coffin, and of a coin of Lioinius,
in the course of Mr. Rolfe's exploration.
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