Cow and woman found in Cambridgeshire Anglo-Saxon dig Cambridgeshire

Submitted by Jackdaw1 on Tuesday, 26 June 2012 Page Views: 4871

Country: England County: Cambridgeshire
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**Cow and woman found in Cambridgeshire Anglo-Saxon dig** submitted by bat400_photo : Anglo-Saxon Burial - Woman and Cow, reported 25 June 2012. Photo Credit: BBC News. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Archaeologists excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire say the discovery of a woman buried with a cow is a "genuinely bizarre" find.

The grave was uncovered in Oakington by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire.

At first it was thought the animal skeleton was a horse. Student Jake Nuttall said: "Male warriors might be buried with horses, but a woman and a cow is new to us." He added: "We were excited when we thought we had a horse, but realising it was a cow made it even more bizarre."

Co-director of the excavation, Dr Duncan Sayer, from the University of Central Lancashire, said: "Animal burials are extremely rare. There are only 31 horse burials in Britain and they are all with men.
"This is the first animal to be discovered with a woman from this period - the late 5th Century - and it's really interesting that it's a cow, a symbol of economic and domestic wealth and power.
"It's also incredibly early to find any grave of a woman buried with such obvious wealth."

The skeleton was found with grave goods including brooches and hundreds of amber and decorated glass beads.

"She also had a complete chatelaine [keychain] set, which is an iron girdle and a symbol of her high status," Dr Sayer said.

"It indicates she had access to the community's wealth.

"She is almost certainly a regional elite - a matriarchal figure buried with the objects that describe her identity to the people who attended her funeral."

Joint director Dr Faye Simpson, from Manchester Metropolitan, said: "A cow is a big thing to give up.
"It's a source of food and something that would have been very expensive to keep, so to sacrifice it would be a big decision.
"They would have wanted to give her something really important to show respect and they wouldn't have done that for just anybody." she said.

For more, see: www.bbc.co.uk/news

Also thanks to Sunny100 for the link

Note: "The cow burial is unique in Europe which makes this an incredibly exciting and important find. I don't think I'll find anything as significant as this again in my lifetime."

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