Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

13EAST SHEFFORD, Berkshire - David H. KennettFinds were first made from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at East Shefford,Berkshire in 1890; subsequent discoveries were reported in 1893 and someexcavation was carried out in 1912. The material is in four museums: theBritish Museum, London, with the bulk of the 1890 material; Reading Museum,and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford which have small groups of the C19th discoveries;and Newbury Museum for whom the 1912 excavations were conducted.The material was examined and drawn by D.H. Kennett in 1968-72, when Berkshireremained part of CBA Group 9. It is reported here as it raises importantquestions of the siting of cemeteries and their contents. Unfortunately,except for the 1912 finds, few grave associations have been preserved.The range of finds is wide and rich. The pottery indicates the timespancovered by the site. From the C5th there are two small Buckelurnen ofMyres' Group III, so similar as to suggest the same potter, and a smallglobular urn with an everted rim. From the second half of the C6th panelledornament on an accessory vessel is one representative and the long-boss stylestylised as vertical grooves is another.Roman material is not uncommon: two disc brooches, not a pair, a bronzespoon shank, and a variety of coins (originally one assumes part of beadnecklaces). One example of a bronze tubular object, comparable with thewell-known one in grave 13 at Reading, can be matched by a buckle whose circularplate recalls the disc attachments of the military metalwork studiedby Mrs. S.C. Hawkes and Dr. G.C. Dunning. An associated grave group fromthe 1912 excavations included two early cruciform brooches.The site clearly has an early beginning, yet its position is curious.There are few other finds from the Lambourn Valley: a late C6th greatsquare-headed brooch known from its bowl only was given to the AshmoleanMuseum, Oxford in 1955; a grave with weapons - sword, axe, spearheads - wasfound at Ash Grove, Lambourn, before 1856. The site at East Shefford isaway from the Roman road which runs along the top of the downs rather thanthe valley bottom. There is a fragment of Hug Ditch in the vicinity. Itis tempting to suggest that the cemetery at East Shefford represents agroup of people placed on the fringe of the Silchester region early in theC5th which then continued to prosper.Prosperity is difficult to gauge from a mass of three hundred unassociatedobjects but five glass vessels at any site in England beyond Kent isunusual. Islip, Northants. with three pieces is a ready parallel from acomparable quantity of objects. There is a bowl and a cone beaker, bothprobably late Roman in origin, and two Kempston type cone-beakers and a C6thclaw beaker in a distinctive amber metal. Perhaps the Silchester connectionis relevant for the two late Roman pieces. Perhaps glass vessels were usedin richer graves where buckets sufficed in other cemeteries. Only onebucket is known. Here to have the associations would be a great advantage.Due to the lack of recorded associations, more is missing at EastShefford than is always missing in the archaeological mosaic. For distributionalstudies a catalogue of objects is being prepared, with graveassociation where known; the 1912 material is to be republished as integralto the whole site.The most useful question that can be asked remains the reason why itis there. The postulations here made may prove on reflection to be lessthan the complete answer.