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Harpole jewellery reveals 'breath-taking' medieval burial secrets

MOLA Left of picture shows cross as discovered in the ground. The right shows a clear X-ray image of the cross.MOLA
An X-ray image of the soil section shows up some of the cross detail that had been invisible until now

Experts say minute examination of jewellery found at a burial site could "rewrite our understanding" of a county's history.

Items including a "unique" cross and 30 pendants and beads were discovered at a site near Harpole in south Northamptonshire.

Scientists say they now believe a body buried there 1300 years ago belonged to a young, high-status woman.

Further work will be done to find out more about the woman.

The burial site was discovered last year when archaeological work was being carried out on land near the village of Harpole, where a housing development was due to be built.

Among the finds was a large cross, which first emerged on X-ray images of a block of soil.

The piece bears a central cross, decorated by a smaller gold cross with five garnets - and smaller silver crosses at the end of each arm.

Experts from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) said the cross was similar to the pectoral crosses found in other high-status female burials.

MOLA Gloved hands hold tweezers which are grabbing an item in a basket of soilMOLA
Painstaking work was carried out on the Harpole burial cross

Micro-excavation under laboratory conditions revealed that the cross was made of thin sheets of silver attached to wood. More research will be carried out to identify the wood itself.

RPS Archaeology consultant Simon Mortimer said: "Seeing the central gold and garnet clasp cleaned up is breath-taking.

"We always knew that it stood alongside Sutton Hoo and the Staffordshire Hoard - but this confirms it."

MOLA Part of a necklace made up of coins and a central square pendantMOLA
A necklace found at the Harpole Burial site was buried with the woman

He added: "The key is to understand the full significance of who she was, where she was from and how she came to be here and why. Those answers will rewrite our understanding of early medieval Northamptonshire."

Detailed examination of the block of soil has uncovered more parts of the woman's skeleton, to go with fragments of teeth found earlier.

They include the upper part of a femur, some vertebrae and part of a hand and wrist.

MOLA A square red and gold pendant before and after cleaningMOLA
Cleaning the central pendant from the necklace revealed its rich colours

Many of the 30 pendants and beads which make up a gold, glass and gemstone necklace found at the site have now been cleaned.

The MOLA team said intricate gold work, semi-precious stones and rich coloured glass have been revealed.

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