They are usually personal possessions, supplies to smooth the deceased's journey into the afterlife or offerings to the gods. Grave goods are a type of votive deposit. Most grave goods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery and stone and metal tools but there is evidence that organic objects were also placed in tombs although they do not survive as well.
Grave 15 (a and b?), in the southwest quadrant, was a burial complex consisting of a dense charcoal concentration (a possible cremation grave?) to the northwest and an apparent inhumation to the southeast.
Grave 12 is the latest in date of the female burials based on its fibulae, and several iron fragments found in the disturbed waist area may be part of an iron belt assemblage that would be consistent with the chronologically later position of this grave within the mound.
Most gravegoods recovered by archaeologists consist of inorganic objects such as pottery and stone and metal tools but there is evidence that organic objects were also placed in tombs although they do not survive as well.
Some of the most famous and well preserved gravegoods are those from ancient Egypt; there, people believed that goods buried in tombs could be used by the deceased in the afterlife.
Even the 'cemeteries', or burials, and gravegoods of a small 'suburb' of a town, may help determine the small society, mix of people and that subgroup's relationship with other countries, or peoples.
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