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Folded, layered textiles from a Bronze Age pit pyre excavated from Over Barrow 2, Cambridgeshire, England.

Abstract

The textiles from Over Barrow, Cambridgeshire, England present the opportunity to examine the burial practices at the end of the Early Bronze Age. They were excavated from a pit pyre cremation along with cremated bone, a bone needle/pin and two small sherds of a collared urn. Preserved in charred clumps of multiple layers, they have the potential to provide clues as to how the textiles were used in the cremation, for example, whether they were used as clothing, shrouds or for other purpose such as binding strips. These possibilities raise a number of questions as to the role of textiles in Bronze Age cremation burials in the early second millennium BC in Britain

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