CREMATED ANGLO-SAXON HUMAN BONE FROM SNAPE, SUFFOLK (EXCAVATED 1862-3, 1972, 1985-92)
Author(s): Simon Mays, J Steele
Twenty-three cremations were studied. Sixteen were adults (four male, four female, eight unsexed), four were children, and in three cases ages could not be determined. Bone colour was consistent with firing to temperatures in excess of about 940o C. Sixteen of the cremations were plough-damaged. Bone weights, fragment counts and mean fragment sizes were recorded and are analyzed as indicators of the extent of the bone loss. Of the intact adult cremations, the average collected bone weight was about only 25% of the weight expected from cremation of a corpse. Since cremated bone survives well in the soil this deficiency is probably a reflection of incomplete retrieval of the remains from the pyre in antiquity. A small quantity of animal bone was recovered, occurring in about 35% of the cremations examined.
- Report Number:
- 102/1993
- Series:
- AML Reports (New Series)
- Pages:
- 13
- Keywords:
- Human Bone Human Remains
