Oxford historian offers new theory for mysterious artefacts found in Essex burial chamber

WATCH: Full video report by ITV News Meridian's Sarah Saunders


An Anglo-Saxon expert from the University of Oxford may have solved the mystery of why valuable artefacts from across the world were discovered in a royal burial chamber in Essex.

The excavation at Prittlewell, near Southend, has long been hailed as the UK's answer to Tutankhamun's Tomb but more than twenty years after the chamber was first uncovered, some of the artefacts are revealing new secrets. Dr Helen Gittos believes the treasures weren't just traded or gifted, as previously thought.

Instead, their presence could reflect the Anglo-Saxons’ own travels as soldiers in search of adventure and reward following a 6th century recruitment campaign into the Byzantian Army.

Dr Helen Gittos is a Fellow and Tutor in Medieval History at University of Oxford. Credit: ITV News Meridian

The royal burial chamber was discovered in 2003 by a busy road in Prittlewell, between a pub and an Aldi supermarket.

Inside, the ‘Prittlewell Prince’ was buried in a coffin with an array of objects, some of which were still hanging on their hooks on the walls when excavated.

He was buried in the period c.580–605, perhaps in the earlier part of that date range, according to Dr Gittos.

Among the objects that were placed in the chamber were some that were made in the eastern Mediterranean, including a spoon, flagon, and copper-alloy basin.

(a) Reconstruction of the chamber, (b) Spoon, (c) Flagon, (d) Copper-alloy basin, (e) Cylindrical container, (f) Hanging bowl. Credit: Museum of London Archaeology

Dr Gittos said: "We tend to think of early medieval Briton as being reasonably isolated. We tend to think about her history as quite local, not so connected and one of the things this does is show us how connected this world was over large distances."

Robert Sharp from Southend Museum, where the artefacts are on display, said: "It's still someone's life at the end of the day and what Dr Gittos' research has done is add some more colour to this life.

"The idea the Pritlewell Prince may have been fighting with the Byzantine Army in Syria and may have collected some objects like the Pritlewell spoon from those areas and brought them back here to Southend, it's just another lovely layer to this story."

Dr Gittos acknowledges her research remains just a theory at this stage, but it opens up a startlingly new view on how connected the world was in the early middle ages.


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