The authors are to be congratulated for producing this interesting report on an Anglo-Saxon cemetery after the demise of the organisation that excavated the site in 2007/8. Eighty inhumations in seventy-six graves were excavated, together with five empty graves, two cremations and two further possible disturbed cremations. All of the graves, the skeletons and their finds are clearly illustrated and described, together with specialist reports. The grave goods and a series of C14 dates are consistent in dating most of the burials, including the cremations, to the seventh century ad, with the caveat that the combs might indicate a later date. The grave goods are a typical assemblage for cemeteries of this date, originally described as ‘final phase’ (that is, final phase of furnished burial).

The location of the cemetery is consistent with its date, outside the eastern regions where burials of fifth to mid sixth century mostly occur. The C14 dates focus on the first half to mid seventh century, before the official Christian conversion of Mercia, and in the synopsis it is stated that ‘there is no evidence to suggest that any of the burials were Christian’. However, such evidence would not be easy to detect. The remarkable complex of four inhumations arranged around a four-post structure certainly does not look Christian, but two burials, graves 2005 and 2168 (figs 3.1 and 3.38), were each associated with a small copper-alloy container of a type that includes examples with clearly Christian iconography, probably indicating use as a reliquary (Hills Reference Hills, Ruhmann and Brieske2015). The example from 2168 carries a runic inscription, which may contain a personal name. The use of runes in this way need not indicate any specific religious affiliation. The deposition of containers, whether metal, cloth or leather bags or wooden boxes, is known from sixth- as well as seventh-century burials, but seems to gain significance in the latter period when the elaborate necklaces and dress fasteners of the sixth century disappear. The items in the containers have been interpreted as having apotropaic, religious, magical or medical functions, all of which could have been transferred to Christian relics. Wolverton grave 2197 has a collection, probably in a bag, described as ‘objets trouvés’: ‘seven fossils, one piece of amber and thirteen geological specimens’ (page 44).

Grave 2168 has box fittings, a chatelaine, pendants of various types, and two unusual beads (one of them a Roman melon bead). Grave 2005 has several objects identified as parts of a chatelaine: iron fittings including eyelets (fig 3.2). These look like the fittings of a bed, but are rather small and there are only a few fittings, found near the shoulder of the skeleton. These are therefore possibly better interpreted as fittings for a wooden box or casket, which may have contained the workbox.

This is a welcome addition to the literature on seventh-century burials. It raises interesting questions that have only been touched on here.