ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS Besides some pottery and other objects of the Roman period, twelve iron shield-bosses, three swords and the same number of axe- heads, an angon, a glass cup, and several smaller relics were recovered, which may with confidence be assigned to the Anglo-Saxon period. These are described in detail and partly figured in the original account, which may here be briefly summarized. To deal first with the unburnt burials, the direction of which is not recorded, but was prob- ably east and west, the shield-bosses varied in shape, but are not unusual, with the exception perhaps of two tall specimens of conical form with ribs running from point to base. One of this description is preserved at Oxford, and a similar specimen from Farthingdown will be noticed later. The swords and spearheads were in all probability associated with the shields in the graves of warriors, and it is interesting to notice first that the swords occur on this site in more than the usual proportion and may thus have some bearing on the average social position of the inhabitants at the time ; and secondly, that one of the specimens retains the bronze chape of its scabbard, a feature that is by no means confined to any particular district in this country, but is of sufficient rarity to be specially noticed here. The angon 1 has been the subject of much inquiry and even of dispute, but it is commonly thought to be a weapon of the javelin class, distinguished by a barbed point and a long thin shaft of iron, which was no doubt fitted to a wooden handle, the latter being beyond a swordsman's reach. It was used at close quarters for transfixing an opponent's shield, which could then be borne to the ground by the assailant's weight. The classical passage 2 is however somewhat obscure and cannot here be discussed. Though seldom met with, the majority are known to have come from Prankish graves on the Rhine ; a and the weapon, over a yard in length, found at Croydon may be compared with others in the national collection from Strood, Kent, and the Department of the Marne, France. It has been stated that on the continent the angon occurs only in the Alemannic and Burgundian territories and among the Ripuarian Franks. 4 The Abbe Cochet, who has been quoted to show the extreme rarity of this weapon in France, found only one specimen during his extensive excavations in Normandy, and only knew of one or two more in the country. 6 But several have come to light since his time, as in the Department of the Aisne, 6 and they are now said to be specially plentiful in Belgium and the region of the Salian Franks, 7 whence the English specimens were no doubt imported. 1 Though in common use among antiquaries, this term has been objected to on the ground that the Old English anga means a ' goad ' ; and according to Mr. W. H. Stevenson, there is no trace of its use in the sense of a weapon.
- Agathias, bk. ii. ch. v. ; Arcbtfologia, xxxiv. 177 and xxxv. 48 ; Baron de Baye, Industrial Arts of
the Anglo-Saxons, p. 25. 3 Lindenschmit, Handbueh der deutschen Alterthumskunde, p. 180. * Archirobgia, xxxvi. 78, 84 6 La Nonnandie Souterraine, ed. 2, p. 352 ; Sepultures Gaulolses, etc. p. 160. 6 F. Moreau, Album Caranda, iii. pi. 102 (nouvelle serie). 7 Barriere-Flavy, Arts industriels de la Gaule, . 38. 259
