Possible Anglo-Saxon Royal Burial Discovered in England

SUFFOLK, ENGLAND—The Times reports that an Anglo-Saxon cemetery containing at least 11 burial mounds has been found near the coast in the East of England, about 15 miles from the site of Sutton Hoo, where an Anglo-Saxon ship burial was excavated in the 1930s. The site is slated for the construction of a nuclear power plant. In the center of the cemetery, archaeologists have uncovered the poorly preserved remains of two people and horse that had been buried wearing full tack. Artifacts recovered from the burial, which has been dated to the sixth or seventh century A.D., include weaponry and items made of bronze, iron, copper, and amber. “We have two individuals, whereas Sutton Hoo [mound 17] has just the one, but the layout of grave goods and the way they’ve put it in the mound to me seems like they are kinship groups,” said Len Middleton of Oxford Cotswold Archaeology. “It’s almost like the people who went to the burials of these individuals were maybe in attendance at the other. The burials were laid out in such a similar fashion. Sutton Hoo is a day’s ride on a horse and, if important people are being buried, these kinship groups are certainly going to be visiting each other when the ceremonies are taking place,” he commented. For more, go to "The Ongoing Saga of Sutton Hoo."