A mound, unceremoniously beside the road, sits atop profound treasure…

“I think the thing that’s so strange about it is that it was such an unpromising looking site,” said Ms Jackson.

Daily Mail, 9 May 2019:

Found next to an Aldi (a German based grocery franchise), the ‘UK’s answer to Tutankhamun’s tomb’: Burial site thought to belong to Anglo-Saxon Prince Saexa is uncovered in Essex in one of Britain’s ‘most significant archaeological finds EVER’

- Thought to be the burial chamber of the brother of Anglo-Saxon King Saebert
- Has been hailed as the ‘British equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb’ by experts
- The tomb is completely intact as looters and archaeologists could never find it
- It was discovered on land on land between a pub and an Aldi supermarket

A royal burial site found beneath a roadside verge in Essex has been dubbed one of the most significant archaeological finds ever made in England.

       

Discovered between a pub and an Aldi supermarket, it is thought to be the burial chamber of the brother of Anglo-Saxon King Saebert. Researchers behind the find have hailed it as the ‘British equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb’ - despite little similarities in appearance. Belying its unglamorous location, inside the chamber are 40 artefacts thought to have belonged to the ancient Essex prince Saexa.

The Anglo-Saxons were Pagans, but the Christian items found in the chamber suggest the religion was still important in England 1,400 years ago.

It is the earliest Christian Anglo-Saxon princely burial found in the UK, according to experts from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).

Royal families emerged in Anglo-Saxon times in Kent, Essex and across south-east England.

Saebert and Seaxa’s mother was from the Kentish royal family, but their maternal aunt, Bertha, was a French princess who married into their royal family and brought her Christian beliefs with her.

That may explain the gold crosses on the prince’s eyes and the coins in the chamber, which are clearly Christian, while the very idea of a burial chamber is Pagan.

The researchers say the site represents a ‘transitional moment’ in this country’s history before Christianity took over.

       
        Princely burial chamber in Southend.

Sophie Jackson, the director of research at the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), which helped study the tomb, told the Daily Mail: “This is one of the most significant archaeological finds ever seen in England.

“It is the British equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb as everything in it is just as it was left 1,400 years ago.

“It was found on an unpromising site, which is just really a grass verge, but this is an aristocratic burial site and the artefacts provide a great insight into religious life at the time.”