The buckle (PL. Iva) was found during the latest season of excavation on the site of the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Finglesham [I]. It has not yet been sent for laboratory treatment, but though some of its constructional details are obscured by the corrosion of the bronze backplate, all its other surfaces, including the underside of the loop and tongue and the edges of the ornamental plate, have been protected during the long centuries underground by a layer of very good, bright yellow, gilding. As it lay in the grave, indeed, the metal gleamed with very nearly the incorruptible brilliance of gold itself, and the front of the buckle has since needed only the gentlest of washing to be revealed in its present smooth, glossy and almost unflawed state. The ornament of the plate, thus perfectly preserved in its pristine condition, could at once be seen as something out of the common, and something of the greatest interest for students not only of Germanic art and archaeology, but of Germanic religion and mythology too.

We published in 1962 an account of the work of the British Schools of Archaeology and History abroad (ANTIQUITY, 1963, 36); and last year (ANTIQUITY, 1964, 7) an account of their work during 1963 together with a report on the work of the Egypt Exploration Society. Here the Directors of the Schools and the Field Director of the Egypt Exploration Society provide a summary account of the work of British official archaeological institutions abroad during 1964, and we are glad this year to be able to illustrate some of the more notable finds. As before the reports of the Schools are printed in the order of their establishment.