About this objectA very fine example of a pectoral cross found with the remains of a young woman 14 to 18 years old along with a set of matching gold and garnet pins and the remains of a wood and iron bed. This is one of only 5 gold and garnet pectoral crosses from this period of early Christianity in what later became England and is the only one without a suspension loop–it was sewn onto the women's upper chest garment. It is also the only one of the group to have been excavated using modern scientific methods. The grave also contained a set of tools suspended from a belt, an iron knife, probably also suspended from the waist, a bone or antler comb and a leather-lined ash wood box. The body was clothed in fine linen with a bead-edged shawl and was laid out on a carved wooden framed bed made of ash with iron bolts holding it together.
This was one of four burials at this small settlement on the edge of what is now Cambridge.
