Context (Other)
This plate was reconstructed post-excavation and prior to entry into MAA's collection in 2017, presumably by the Cambridge Archaeological Unit.
Event Date
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Field collection)
Excavated from Context 3050.2.
Event Date 19/2/2011
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Field collection)
In 2010-2011, the Cambridge Archaeological Unit (CAU) undertook excavations along Trumpington's riverside in advance of the construction of the Trumpington Meadows housing development by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland. During the excavations an Early Anglo-Saxon settlement was found and, within the settlement, four burials. The burials were clustered together in a row, although radiocarbon dates indicate that they all may have been buried at different points in the seventh century. On Saturday, 19 February 2011 Grave 1 was excavated, which revealed a rare bed burial. It contained the remains of a girl, aged between 14 and 18 years, who was buried with a gold and garnet cross, linked gold and garnet pins, a chatelaine, a comb and a knife. She had been dressed in fine linen tabbies and a bead-edged shawl and was laid on a wood-framed bed, with a wool blanket covering a mattress. This grave is almost certainly the last burial of the four.
Event Date 19/2/2011
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Auction / Sale)
The cross and pins, together with the associated burial, were declared Treasure under the terms of the Treasure Act 1996. In December 2017 the landowners, Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, waived their claim on the reward thereby donating the whole burial (2017.58-2017.74) to MAA.
Event Date 12/2017
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Analysis)
Evans et al. note that all three of the iron plates (2017.68.1-3) were positioned at the head end of the grave, and were used to construct the bed head; this plate was found in the southwest corner. See Evans et al. (pp. 322-325) for a full discussion of the evidence regarding the decorative carving on the wooden bed head, which appears to have been zones of hatching. On this plate they found mineralised-preserved organic 'wood remains against the nail elements and throughout surfaces of the largest plate fragment' (p. 316) and concluded that the 'plate [was] nailed over end grain of timber, Fraxinus excelsior L.' (p. 322). A fully mineralised fragment of wood preserving tooled decoration in for of two zones of hatching separated from this plate and is accessioned separately (2017.68.1.4).
Event Date 2018
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Analysis)
The bed, carved from ash (Fraxinus excelsior L.), was plank-built, probably footless, and held together with iron fittings: eight double cleats, 13 eyelets and three plates. Traces of wood preserved on one of the iron plates (2017.68.3) provides evidence of carved decoration on the headboard. A mattress may have been supported by a knotted cord net strung from the iron eyelets (2017.67.1-13) that were attached above the joins between wood planks. This net probably supported a straw mattress covered with a wool blanket, with evidence for both having been preserved on some of the iron fittings. (Evans et al. pp. 321-327)
Event Date 2018
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (References)
Evans, C., Lucy, S. and Patten, R. (2018). 'Anglo-Saxon Burials and Settlement'. In Riversides: Neolithic Barrows, a Beaker Grave, Iron Age and Anglo-Saxon Burials and Settlement at Trumpington, Cambridge. Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. pp. 316 and 321-327, Fig. 5.5, Fig. 5.7, Table 5.5
Event Date 2018
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Description (Physical description)
Iron plate. Rectangular plate fitting, repaired from two fragments; two of the four corner nails still extant on the larger plate fragment. The remaining two are present (2017.68.1.2-3). Remains of mineralised ash wood (Fraxinus excelsior L.) adhere to the plate; a fully mineralised piece is separate (2017.68.1.4). Part of the iron fittings of the ash bed.
Event Date 10/1/2019
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Description (Physical description)
Iron plate, part of the fittings of the ash bed. Rectangular plate fitting, repaired from two fragments; two of the four corner nails still extant on the larger plate fragment. The remaining two are present (2017.68.1.2-3). Remains of mineralised ash wood (Fraxinus excelsior L.) adhere to the plate; a fully mineralised piece is separate (2017.68.1.4). Heavily corroded surface.
Event Date 18/5/2021
Author: Jazmin Hundal

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2023.5662 | Remedial
Event Date 20/4/2023
Author: Kirstie French

Exhibition (Li Ka Shing Gallery)
EXH.2023.12 | Beneath Our Feet: Archaeology of the Cambridge Region
Event Date 21/6/2023
Author: Imogen Gunn

Conservation (Stabilisation)
CON.2024.6027 | Stabilisation
Event Date 23/9/2024
Author: Stephanie De Roemer