Squat glass jar

This jar is thought to have come from a Christian burial next to one containing two Roman glass vessels. It is made of translucent blue-green glass with red streaks and has numerous air bubbles. It has a high-shouldered profile with a folded vertical rim. On the base is a conspicuous mark left by a pontil, the rod used in the glass-making process. The Anglo-Saxons, particularly the early Anglo-Saxons, loved glass. While it was initially imported into England, it was not long before Kentish glasshouses began to produce high quality glass for their high status patrons. In the pagan period, glass was buried as an indicator of status and because of this, a variety of Anglo-Saxon glass survives undamaged, even though glass is among the most fragile of possessions.