The buckle (PL. Iva) was found during the latest season of excavation on the site of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Finglesham [I]. It has not yet been sent for laboratory treatment, but though some of its constructional details are obscured by the corrosion of the bronze backplate, all its other surfaces, including the underside of the loop and tongue and the edges of the ornamental plate, have been protected during the long centuries underground by a layer of very good, bright yellow, gilding. As it lay in the grave, indeed, the metal gleamed with very nearly the incorruptible brilliance of gold itself, and the front of the buckle has since needed only the gentlest of washing to be revealed in its present smooth, glossy and almost unflawed state. The ornament of the plate, thus perfectly preserved in its pristine condition, could at once be seen as something out of the common, and something of the greatest interest for students not only of Germanic art and archaeology, but of Germanic religion and mythology too.

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Surveys the pre-Christian beliefs of the Scandinavian and Germanic peoples. Provides an introduction to this subject, giving basic outlines to the sagas and Gods and Myths