A select class of former Anglo-Saxon women buried in eastern England were buried with hundreds of ivory rings, the origin of which has long remained a mystery. The relevant work of British scientists was published in the scientific journal Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports and posted on the site direct science.
We are talking about tombs discovered by archaeologists during excavations in Lincolnshire in 2017-2019. The tombs date from the end of the 5th century AD to the middle of the 6th century AD. Ivory rings were found in the tombs of the women as part of various grave goods left in the grave with their bodies. Despite the heavy destruction caused by agricultural activities, 49 tombs were well preserved. Scientists have found that the found rings used as part of women’s handbags were made from the bones of elephants living in Africa.
For a long time it was believed that these bones belonged to mammoths or walruses, but in reality they belonged to mammoths that lived in Africa in the 5th or 6th century AD. The study clarifies that the ivory was mined about 6400 km from cemeteries where Anglo-Saxon ivory rings were found. The finds are very mysterious as they are in the form of rings that women wear on their fingers, but they are too large to be worn as such an accessory. This suggests that the rings served as ornaments and were used as an item for bags that women hung on their hips.
“Since most of the rings are located close to the hip, it is believed that the bags were hung from the waist along with other items such as iron knives, copper alloy belt straps and iron ‘snap lifters’.” study authors write.
As part of the study, the scientists studied a purse ring found in an old cemetery near the village of Scrembie in Lincolnshire.
“With a very methodological approach, the ivory used for Scrembie purse rings dates back to 5th-6th AD. This preliminary evidence allows us to consider socio-economic factors that contributed to the spread of ivory from Africa to the British Isles at that time,” say the researchers.
Formerly academics at Cambridge University showedHere’s what one of the first Christian women among the Anglo-Saxon elite looked like.