Abstract :
A number of infant burials in Britain, both cremations and inhumations, contained a consistent
deposit of a small jet bear, black mineral jewellery, a coin, and a pottery beaker. Some of the
graves held several examples of these items, and some a wider variety of objects. Comparison
with more obviously amuletic grave deposits from Butt Road, Colchester, and Lankhills,
Winchester, suggests that the coins were selected for their reverse image, and that both they
and the bears are representations of guardians placed in the burials to ensure that the child did
not enter the underworld alone and unprotected. These bears are set in the wider context of the
animal’s iconography and mythology, with particular reference to the Greek cult of Artemis, who
oversaw childbirth and child-rearing. The choice and importance of materials and the positions
of objects within graves are also briefl y explored and the social identity of the dead infants is
examined. In an appendix of other burials containing jet animals, the Chelmsford hoard of jet
jewellery is reinterpreted as grave goods from the inhumation of a young woman.
