Anglo-Saxon King's Burial Site Found

Archaeologists have found the grave of an Anglo-Saxon king at Southend in Essex. The king's body is long gone, dissolved by the soil, but an amazing collection of treasures buried with him has survived.

Photo: this is an artist's drawing of the grave, showing how it might have looked when the King was placed inside.
© Faith Vardy at MOLAS.

The king was buried in a wood-lined chamber (a small room) along with over sixty objects. The room was about four metres square and one and a half metres high. The king was buried almost 1,400 years ago, in around 630 AD.

Experts don't know for sure that the person buried in the grave was a man, or even that he was a king, but all of the clues suggest those things.

The value and the number of objects found tell us that the body belonged to someone rich and important. The fact that there was no jewellery found and that there were weapons in the grave make it most likely this was a man.

Photo: these beautiful gold crosses found in the grave are clues that maybe the King was a Christian.
© Andy Chopping at MOLAS.

Among the objects found in the chamber were two gold foil crosses (see above), a gold buckle, some gold braid, gold coins, coloured glass bowls (below) and copper bowls. One decorated bowl was even found hanging on a hook from the wall of the chamber!

Some of the finds tell us that the Anglo-Saxons traded with other countries. A decorated flagon (a kind of jug) and one of the bowls found were imported from the eastern Mediterranean, while a folding stool might have come from Italy.

As well as precious treasures like these, there were some useful objects too. There were buckets, drinking cups, two cauldrons (cooking pots) and the remains of a casket that could have contained material.

Photo: this glass survived 1,400 years underground.
© Andy Chopping at MOLAS.

Ian Blair is one of the archaeologists who worked on the chamber. He said
'To find an intact chamber grave and a moment genuinely frozen in time is a once in a lifetime discovery. The fact that copper-alloy bowls were still hanging from hooks in the walls of the chamber, where they had been placed nearly 1, 400 years ago, is a memory that I'm sure will remain with all of us forever.'

If you would like to see the treasures in London you'll have to be quick. They're on show at The Museum of London this weekend, February 14 and 15 2004.

From 11 to 4 on the Saturday and 12 to 4 on the Sunday you'll be able to meet the experts who have been studying the find. You can quiz them to your heart's content. Ask an adult to call 0870 444 3852 for details of these events.

Photo: what do you think these would have been used for?
© Any Chopping at MOLAS.

On Tuesday February 17 there's a special late night session from 6 to 8.30pm at The Museum of London to cram in as many visitors as possible!

On February 21 2004 the treasures will be on show at Southend Central Museum where they stay until March 21 2004.

If you can't get to London or Southend you can explore the finds online on The Museum of London's Treasures of a Saxon King of Essex website.

Photo: this buckle looks as good as new doesn't it?
© Andy Chopping at MOLAS.

Some of our favourite bits are video clips of the dig and 3D explorations of the artefacts. These links may take some time to download, depending on your Internet connection. Be patient though, they're worth it!