Bryher Woman

The grave was discovered by a farmer working in a potato-field at Hillside Farm on Bryher in March 1999, when his tractor wheel sank into the ground and to free it he moved a large stone which revealed the cist.

[1] In addition to the sword in its bronze scabbard, a bronze mirror was found, and other grave goods included shield fittings, a sword belt ring, a brooch and a spiral ring (all of copper alloy), and a shattered tin object.

"There was also evidence for the grave having contained a sheepskin or fleece and woven textile incorporating goat and other animal hairs.

[1] A 2016 paper said that "Their combined presence within the burial of a single individual represents a touchstone within the ongoing unraveling of a long-held, interconnected set of reified sex and gender assumptions that have permeated discussions of British Iron Age mortuary contexts" and that "Hillside Farm as a starting point highlights the need to keep in mind the potential significance of any aspect of the burial, not to deny that men and women may have existed, or that certain artifacts may have conveyed a gendered meaning, but to refrain from excluding other routes to identity, personhood, or significance before analysis begins.

"[4] In 2023, American scientists used new techniques of analysis of dental peptides, which indicated that, with 96% probability, the person in the grave was female.