This rich Anglo-Saxon burial in Essex was excavated in the winter of 2003-4, in advance of a proposed road. Professor Scull is co-authoring a MoLA monograph which will appear in 2018. Prittlewell is a former fishing village a mile and a half north of Southend; the grave was north of the church, on a locally prominent site (perhaps formerly a territorial focus), looking north towards the river Roach. Finds such as a gold and garnet brooch had previously been recovered in the vicinity. The grave seems part of a 6th century cemetery containing c200 graves: flat graves but with a group of slightly later and more elite barrow graves on a hill (so there may be others still to find). A small number of princely graves are known from Anglo-Saxon England. This sort of investment of wealth can only be undertaken by a powerful elite with political status – at this site the emerging East Saxons? Local tradition has it that it is the burial place of Saebert, the first Anglo-Saxon Christian king. But this is open to challenge, as are the early reconstructions of the grave.

A barrow mound covered a wooden chamber sunk into the ground. The body had been placed in a wooden coffin and on the floor around the coffin and on iron hooks around the walls were various objects dating to c600AD: furnishings, cooking equipment, weapons, a lyre etc. The oak chamber measured 4mx4mx1½m high, its floor perhaps originally covered with rush matting. At some point after the burial material from above the chamber began to fall through, fanning out in one corner; this helped preserve some of the material inside, but the coffin itself was just a void. It had been massive, 2m long, ½ a metre wide, made of ash wood 4cm thick, and weighing 230 stone. It had been covered with textile, perhaps draped with cloaks. An iron lamp may have been placed at its foot. Although the body did not survive, it had had its head to the west – some teeth were found at this end during the final clearing up of the site. The deceased, probably male, had been about 5 feet 8 inches tall. There were buckles at the feet, perhaps for fastening cross garters, and a gold sheet buckle at the waist must have been made for the burial as it was too flimsy for everyday use. Also in the chest area were two gold coins, and some gold braid had perhaps formed an edge to a cloth placed over the face. There were also two foil crosses, unique in England, which had probably been placed on the eyes. Other gold foil crosses found on the Continent are nearly always decorated, the Prittlewell ones are plain, but this does suggest a link. A box, originally painted yellow, red and white, had contained personal items:a silver spoon, combs, a firesteel and some textile: a garment, or wrapping material for these items. The spoon, from the Eastern Mediterranean, had had previous owners: marked on it were a cross – probably not a Christian symbol – and either one name or several names: Fabi, Brit, Rom, perhaps short for Fabius, Britus, Romanus.

There was also a set of weapons: a sword, a shield, two spears and an arrowhead. Unusually for this type of burial, the sword had not been placed close to the body but further away. It had a pattern-welded blade (64 individual iron rods twisted and welded together, the work of a skilled craftsman), a horn handle with two gold collars and a fleece/wood/leather scabbard. The shield was upside down on the floor, so had perhaps been hanging on the wall; with a silver disc on top of the boss, it was a standard item for the time. The two spears and arrow had perhaps been bundled together. The spear shafts were carved – where the shaft joined the head, an animal ornament, and the shaft itself probably carved and painted. The single arrow might be a sign that the deceased was an adolescent. Furniture included an iron folding stool with a leather seat, and an iron stand 1½m high: probably a candelabrum, a sign of status in the Roman and Byzantine world. There was a lot of evidence of soft furnishings and textiles – the latter probably stacks of clothes. Three items, probably gifts, had all been imported from different locations, a ewer the most far-travelled, perhaps from Syria – perhaps for washing hands during a feast; a bowl from the East Mediterranean, probably Egypt; a hanging bowl made in Britain. Other items such as cauldrons, buckets, a tub (containing a scythe blade which probably fell from the wall) are typically found in other princely graves. There were a lot of drinking vessels including coloured glass beakers - another example was found in a burial at Chelmsford. A drinking horn and cups, perhaps made in Essex, had late 6th/early 7th century decorated rims, similar to designs in the Staffordshire horde and at Sutton Hoo. None of the wood forming the lyre (which has been recreated) had survived, but its fittings were still in place. It had been decorated with garnets and had been repaired; it was probably a symbol of the cultural life of a Lord: traditional knowledge was based on song and poetry.  

The deceased was probably a young adult, 15-18 years old. A lot of the burial goods are linked with the obligations of Lordship: consumption of drink, performance and cultural patronage, symbolising a potential not yet attained.

For anyone watching the burial there were a lot of messages and symbols, the chamber perhaps a representation of the feasting Hall and its contents, but perhaps this is too simple, and it represented all the different spheres of activity and the social space the deceased had inhabited, the new with the familiar: Christianity, radically new at this time; the burial also a new practice; legitimisation; control of manpower and portable wealth; ability to reward followers; reminders of the deceased’s wide links.

Jennifer Hunt