FEATURE LENGTH | TIME TEAM Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, Days 1-3 (Winfarthing, Norfolk) 2023

Victory AVGGG backwards, and they are only minted in three places, Arles, Lyon and Trier, between 388 and 395. Well, it's nice and tight. I think one of the last coins on the site. But basically, the coins that come out of the loot from the top of the trench all date back to the late 34th century. So it fits in with the other metal detecting finds that Tom has already had in this field. Very good, yes. Although we have only scratched the surface of this intriguing building, the evidence still pushes us towards the idea that this was a Roman shrine or shrine.

Geophysics suggests it was rebuilt several

time

s and we found evidence of flint foundations supporting a timber structure with a heavy roof. Holes inside the building may have been for beams supporting the roof and some may have been ovens in which offerings were prepared for the gods. There is evidence that it was heated and geophysics suggests that there were gardens surrounding the buildings. And just before we pack our bags, there's the slightest hope that we've found the Winfarthing woman's grave, which Helen excavated in 2015. - It looks like it's sinking. - You've finally found it. - I guess, why not? - Well, it's the right size, it's the right shape.

Now I can see it unnatural. It looks a lot like the back field. The back field of our grave, because our grave fill didn't have any of this white speckled chalk, but everything along with the top layer of soil piled up again like a slurry. So I don't see why this isn't our grave. - Well, this is where it said the GPS point was. We are north of that ditch, which is where the plan said, this is what distracted us the first day. So now we say that at five o'clock on the third day, that's it. - I don't mind running into this right at the end of the third day.

I think it's a victory that we have it. - At least now we can be pretty sure that we haven't missed any other evidence of the Lady of the Wind Room's tomb. - My God, Helen, what a few

days

. It's been an emotional roller coaster. And what do you think we have learned? - Well, we have learned a lot about Mrs. Winfarthing. From her bones we have discovered that she has had a long life and that she has been wearing her jewelry throughout that long life. And we also know from the jewels that she is aware of Christianity and that she is enormously aware of the power structures of her

time

.

She is part of those power structures. -And Stewart, does that match the things you've found in the landscape? -She does it. She echoes it. She was buried in a very special place in a landscape setting that may have been revered for generations before her since prehistory. It is about the water and springs that are present here. And is that feeling of being a special place something you found in Carenza? Well, it's interesting that the test pits in the village have given us the next chapter of the story, where in the stream below perhaps there is some of the previous settlement that could have been the same period that she was alive, but in reality a couple of hundred years ago. years later someone rearranges the landscape, the beliefs, the way they are expressed and builds the church and its immediately adjacent hall and perhaps the memory of our Lady Winfarthing is lost as the church is built and the community takes its next passage through time.

Yes, but what is really remarkable about this place is that the Winfarthing woman was the most important grave in this

cemetery

, so she was probably dug deeper and that is why she survived. All the other people in this

cemetery

and the rest of their community were buried in slightly shallower graves that we have found, but we have only found the bottom of them and modern agriculture has virtually eliminated everything but it, it seems, and this It's not just It's happening in Winfarthing, it's happening in village after village across the country, we are destroying our Anglo-Saxon cemeteries with modern agricultural practices and we have to think about whether we want to do that or we shouldn't value what we have done. got it before it disappears.

Fortunately, Tom discovered the burial of this important woman before she disappeared from the story. Naomi continued her investigations after the excavation and managed to identify the contents of the strange bowl. Foxgloves, horsetail, blush lanterns, ferns and apple or pear stems, plants with healing properties, create an attractive display. They bloom in early summer, revealing the season in which she was buried. The bark was from birch trees, also known for their medicinal properties. And incredibly, enough remains survived to suggest that she was buried in a coffin or a wood-lined tomb. The ceremony would have involved poetry, music and feasting, as our lady's body was placed with precious objects, showing her status as a member of the ruining classes and perhaps as a healer.

And perhaps, at the last moment she was covered with a cloth and her delicate

feature

s were hidden from view, set apart from the other burials in the landscape around her. Join the Time

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