A fascinating archeological find

[kenny]

http://news.yahoo.com/uk-experts-7th-century-teen-buried-her-bed-002203088.html

 

[chemgirl]

I was reading about this before work this morning. I can't find the article now though....

The other article didn't mention the bed part. They referred to her as an anglo-saxon princess, but who really knows. There were other women buried near her, but their burials weren't as elaborate. There was a type of pitcher most often found in monasteries near the bodies. The article also said that there was evidence of a large building nearby.

They speculate that the girl was minor royalty and was placed in a nunnery of sorts by her parents as a way for them to prove that they embraced Christianity. Apparently there was a competition between royal families to see who truly embraced the new religion. At the time, England was split in to territories (or smaller countries, my history isn't great) of different sizes and they each had ruling families.

Since there were several bodies, the theory is that they died of a plague, which there is record of during the later part of 7th century.

Very interesting.

 

[kenny]

I love historical/archeological stuff from the time limit of what we feel we understand - especially when a new find demonstrates what we "knew" was incorrect.

 

[movie zombie]

fascinating!

 

[JewelFreak]

I love that stuff too. Wanted to be an Egyptologist when I was in high school, except I HATE bugs & have claustrophobia, not exactly made for the field. There was nothing left of the bed except the iron parts -- so it was a real bed, not a pallet. Wish they could reconstruct what it might have looked like.

The garnet & gold cross is lovely. Always amazing, the delicacy they managed with rudimentary tools.