Context (Field collection)
Excavated from Context 3050.5.
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 northwest 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 visible throughout the underside of the plate, focussed at one end. These wood remains appear to show a vessel structure, suggesting the plate was fixed onto a transversal surface like the suggested configuration of [2017.68.1]. No [mineral-preserved organic remains] could be seen on the uppermost surface of the plate' (pp. 316-317). They concluded that the 'plate [was] nailed over end grain of timber, Fraxinus excelsior L.' (p. 322).
Event Date 2018
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Analysis)
In Evans et al., Penelope Walton-Rogers notes that the mineralised textile found on this fitting was similar to that found on 2017.65.3, which 'had a twill-like appearance and possibly included S-spun as well as Z-spun yarn. The general character of this textile and its position in the grave suggested a wool blanket laid over the body'. The location of the iron fittings with the traces of this thick blanket-like fabric (2017.65.3, 2017.65.6, 2017.65.7, 2017.67.8 and 2017.68.2) 'means that it must have extended through the burial from shoulder level to below the feet' (p. 322).
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. 316-317 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 with four nails in situ, one at each corner. Plate comprised of one piece, slightly curved. Remains of mineralised ash wood (Fraxinus excelsior L.) adhere to the underside of the plate; some loose fragments are separately bagged. On outer face are further mineralised remains, probably the remains of a thick mineralised textile. Part of the iron fittings of the ash bed.
Event Date 11/1/2019
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Context (Found together / assemblage)
Soil from the same context bagged with this object.
Event Date 11/1/2019
Author: Imogen Gunn (admin)

Description (Physical description)
Iron plate; part of the iron fittings of the ash bed. Rectangular plate fitting with four nails in situ, one at each corner. Plate comprised of one piece, slightly curved. Remains of mineralised ash wood (Fraxinus excelsior L.) adhered to the underside of the plate; some loose fragments are separately bagged. On outer face are further mineralised remains, probably the remains of a thick mineralised textile. Heavily corroded surface.
Event Date 18/5/2021
Author: Jazmin Hundal

Conservation (Remedial)
CON.2023.5666 | 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 26/9/2024
Author: Stephanie De Roemer