Found next to an Aldi, the UK’s answer to Tutankhamun’s tomb
IT is perhaps not the most glamorous location for a royal burial.
But hidden beneath a grass verge between a pub and an Aldi is a treasure trove hailed as the ‘British equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb’.
The burial chamber in Essex, said to belong to the brother of AngloSaxon King Saebert, has been described as one of England’s most significant archaeological finds.
Just like Tutankhamun’s famous tomb in Egypt, it is intact. Looters and 19th century amateur archaeologists were unable to find it as the mound on top of it collapsed.
Inside are 40 artefacts thought to have belonged to the Essex prince Saexa, including gold coins, swords and gold foil crosses placed on his eyes when he died. The Anglo-Saxons were pagans, but the artefacts suggest Christianity was already becoming important 1,400 years ago.
Historians are fascinated by this period as Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were emerging, with separate royal families in different parts of the country. Sophie Jackson of Museum of London Archaeology, which was involved in studying the site, said: ‘It is the British equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb as everything in it is just as it was left 1,400 years ago.’
The chamber, which dates from between 580AD and 605AD and was found in the town of Prittlewell, contains nothing of the prince – except enamel fragments from his teeth showing he was older than six.
But the foil crosses, a gold belt buckle and shoe buckles suggest he was a man or teenager around 5ft 8in tall.
Archaeologists found the site in 2003 but its age is now known for the first time due to radiocarbon dating. It also contains a wooden drinking bottle with a gold neck and the remnants of a lyre.
Some of the artefacts will go on display from Saturday at Central Museum in Southend.