OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a toe bone of a golden eagle with a hole in it has been recovered from an Iron Age cremation burial of a young child in southeastern England. The hole in the bone suggests that it may have been worn as an ornament. The burial was found during construction work at the site of a farmstead that also includes roundhouses, livestock enclosures, pits, pottery, and loom weights used during the manufacture of textiles. “The choice of an eagle bone is likely to have been significant and it is possible such an object could have been considered talismanic, or was linked perhaps with afterlife beliefs, raising further questions about its use as a pyre good for a child,” said Jo Barker of Cotswold Archaeology. To read about the use of golden eagle talons as jewelry, go to “Neanderthal Fashion Statement.”
