London: A royal burial site found between a pub and a supermarket has been hailed as the UK’s equivalent to Egypt’s famous Tutankhamun tomb, said archaeologists. The archaeologists revealed the results of years of research into the burial site of a rich, powerful Anglo-Saxon man found at Prittlewell in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, the Guardian reported. When it was first discovered in 2003, jaws dropped at how intact the chamber was. But it is only now, after years of painstaking investigation by more than 40 specialists, that a fuller picture of the extraordinary nature of the find was emerging.
Sophie Jackson, director of research at Museum of London Archaeology (Mola), said it could be seen as a British equivalent to Tutankhamun’s tomb, although different in a number of ways. “It was essentially a sandpit with stains,” she said. “It was one of the most significant archaeological discoveries we’ve made in this country in the last 50 to 60 years.” The remains of the timber structure, which would have measured about 13ft square and 5ft deep, housed some 40 rare and precious artefacts, the BBC reported. Among them was a lyre – an ancient harp – and a 1,400-year-old box thought to be the only surviving example of painted Anglo-Saxon woodwork in Britain.
