Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Butler’s Field, Lechlade, Gloucestershire, Volume 2 : The Anglo-Saxon Grave Goods. Specialist Report, Phasing and Discussion

The second volume on Butler's Field, Lechlade, presents specialist reports on the Anglo-Saxon grave goods, cemetery chronology and burial practice. The rich assemblage from one of the Thames Valley's most important cemeteries offers major evidence for 5th- to 7th-century society.

In 1985 Oxford Archaeology excavated an Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Butler''s Field, Lechlade, Gloucestershire. The excavations recovered a maximum of 223 inhumation burials in 200 graves, and the remains of at least 45 cremation burials. Butler''s Field is the wealthiest Anglo-Saxon cemetery to have been excavated under modern conditions within the Thames Valley. The finds assemblage comprises thousands of objects, some of which are rare or unique in England. The cemetery was in use from the late 5th century until the late 7th century, and such a long peiod of use makes the cemetery very unusual in England and of considerable value for Anglo-Saxon studies. The grave catalogue and human bone report, along with the prehistoric and Roman archaeology from the site, were published in Volume 1 of this report in 1998. This volume presents the specialist reports on the Anglo-Saxon grave goods, a review of the chronology of the cemetery, and an overview of burial practice and the evidence for the population who were buried there.