The Finglesham Man

Abstract

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.

Three men and a boat: Sutton Hoo and the East Saxon kingdom

“…For example, the warrior on the buckle from Finglesham, in Kent, is attributed to Swedish workmanship. 100 A recent find of a bird ornament on a shield from a burial in Deal suggests similar links. 101 The 'man between monsters' motif on the Sutton Hoo purse is known not only from Scandinavia but also as a motif on a find from Riseley, in Kent.…”

“…101 The 'man between monsters' motif on the Sutton Hoo purse is known not only from Scandinavia but also as a motif on a find from Riseley, in Kent. 102 We could thus postulate that this was a broader southern English-Swedish connection not solely restricted to East Anglia. The loose finds from Bacton, Ixworth, PIcklingham and Wilton come from very uncertain contexts which cannot be compared with the funerary contexts of other material distributions.…”

Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries

“…The remaining cemetery was excavated by Chadwick Hawkes between 1958 and1967, taking the total up to 254 inhumations, ranging in date across the sixth and seventh centuries. The excavated cemetery is shaped like an irregular quadrilateral, with the eastern and southern edges having been identi ed (Chadwick, 1958;Chadwick Hawkes, 1977;Chadwick Hawkes et al, 1965;Chadwick Hawkes and Grainger, 2006;Sayer, 2009). Burials at Finglesham clustered at 4 m and were divided into four plots A, B, C and D (Figure 4.15).…”

The ‘Northwest Essex Anglo-Saxon Ring’, Falconry and Pagan–Christian Discursive Space

“…The anthropomorphic figure is enigmatic but not without comparison. A belted nude also appears on the buckle from Finglesham, Kent (Chadwick Hawkes et al 1965) and the human figurine from Carlton Colville, Suffolk (Webster 2002; see also Brundle 2013). The pointed, beak-like nose and scraped-back hair echo the figures on gold foil objects (guldgubber) from Scandinavia (see Helmbrecht 2013), and more locally the embossed helmet foil ( Fig.…”