RENDLESHAM, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that traces of a royal hall estimated to be 1,400 years old were discovered in a medieval settlement in eastern England this past summer by a team of researchers and volunteers under the direction of archaeologist Christopher Scull. The structure, which was recorded in the writings of the medieval historian known as the Venerable Bede, measured about 75 feet long and 33 feet wide, and was surrounded by a ditch. “Only at Rendlesham do we have the wider settlement and landscape context of an early English royal center, together with an assemblage of metal work that illuminates the lives and activities of its inhabitants across social range,” Scull said. Bones of cows and pigs, jewelry, pottery, and glass fragments have been recovered from the ditch, he added. For more on archaeology in Rendlesham, go to "The Ongoing Saga of Sutton Hoo."
