From the editor

Take two kings: Henry i, crowned by the grace of God, and Seaxa (possibly), crowned by the Sun (the newspaper). Both men are in British Archaeology for the interest in their graves: the first because of what excavation might reveal, the second because of what it did.

Henry built one of the country’s most impressive abbeys, in Reading, as a display of piety and a place for his and his family’s burial. It was like a walk-in pyramid, a personal monument that the king oversaw in life, confident its glories would impress future generations.

As with his name, we have to guess more about Seaxa, buried in Essex some 550 years before Henry. In truth his possessions suggest a prince, not a king, and he seems to have been more concerned with the stories his funeral spectacle would engender than with his monument.

Today both sites attract powerful emotions, of curiosity, guardianship and pride, and of pleasure from a sense of a past in the present. Archaeologists have added immense value to Seaxa’s grave, reimagining memories and discovering and restoring artefacts. Reading Abbey awaits excavation. What might a great public project bring to the town?