EARLY MEDIEVAL JEWELLERY

Description: A small fragment of sheet gold, roughly rectangular in surviving shape and now distorted and folded, all edges are incomplete due to old breaks apart from one, which has a thickened rim.The outer face of the fragment is decorated immediately below the thickened rim with a transverse row of punched crescent shapes, below these there are four transverse grooves, there is then a row of backwards S-shaped motifs. Finally beneath these there are more transverse grooves, which continue beyond the incomplete edges of the fragment.Discussion: The exact function of this fragment is unclear, as it is so small, however it is obviously decorative and of early Anglo-Saxon style and may be a fragment from an item of jewellery of some kind.