The Prittlewell princely burial: excavations at Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea, Essex 2003
Museum of London Archaeology, 2019. https://doi.org/10.5284/1050095. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Museum of London Archaeology unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Museum of London Archaeology
Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London
N1 7ED
UK
Tel: 020 7410 2285
Fax: 020 7410 2201
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3349
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1050095
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
In 2003 MOLA archaeologists carried out an evaluation of a site in Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, known to be the location of Roman burials and an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery, and discovered an intact Anglo-Saxon princely burial along with up to three further Anglo-Saxon inhumations, and limited evidence of prehistoric and Roman occupation.
The princely burial is a find of international significance – the richest and most important Anglo-Saxon burial found since the 1939 discovery of the great ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, and the best-preserved and only such burial to be excavated to the most exacting modern standards. The lavishly furnished, large wooden chamber beneath a mound contained the coffin of a man, evidently a Christian, who died at the end of the 6th century AD and was buried within or adjacent to an existing cemetery used by people of lesser rank. The manner of his burial suggests that he lived at the apex of a hierarchical society, with a lifestyle supported by a sophisticated farming regime and a productive agricultural population, skilled craftspeople, and a household and retinue, and with access to imported luxuries and prestige items. Analysis of the excavated evidence resulted in a detailed, published account of the burial structures, the burial and the grave goods, and the information they give us about the East Saxon kingdom where the man lived, and its contacts with Kent, Francia and the Christian Mediterranean.
Further Information
This Prittlewell analysis and publication project was funded by Historic England and Southend Borough Council.
- Blackmore, L, Blair, I, Hirst, S, and Scull, C 2019, The Prittlewell princely burial Excavations at Priory Crescent, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 2003, MOLA Monograph Series 73. ISBN 978-1-907586-50-7
- Hirst Sue, and Scull, C, 2019, The Anglo-Saxon princely burial at Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea. ISBN 978-1-907586-47-7
More information on these publications can be obtained on the MOLA webpages. Objects from the Prittlewell princely burial are on permanent display at Southend Central Museum and features some of the chamber’s most impressive items. There is also an interactive online chamber where the extraordinary stories behind the objects discovered can be explored in more detail at the Prittlewell website.
Users of this archive may also be interested in the following articles:
- Barham E, and Hirst, S, 2019, The Prittlewell prince returns home, British Archaeol, 167,34–41
- MOLA, 2019, New secrets from Prittlewell; reconstructing a burial chamber fit for a prince, Current Archaeol, 352, 26–32
- Barham E, 2008 The investigative conservation of a poorly preserved Anglo-Saxon lyre from Prittlewell, Orient-Archaologie Band 22, eds Both et al, Studien zur Musikarchaologie VI, 377–82
- Blackmore, L, 2008 Treasures of an Anglo-Saxon king of Essex – the finds from a princely burial at Prittlewell and their context, in Between the late antique and early medieval periods – archaeology of the 4th to 7th centuries in the West (ed S Brather), Berlin
- Blackmore, L, 2008, Schätze eines angelsächsischen Königs von Essex. Die Funde aus ein Prunkgrab von Prittlewell und ihr Kontext, in Zwischen Spätantike und Frühmittelalter, Freiburg (ed Brather, S), 323–42
- Blair, I, 2007 The Prittlewell Prince: an Anglo-Saxon royal; burial, in Discovery! Unearthing the New Treasures of Archaeology (ed B. M. Fagan) London, 106–9
