Time Team Special: King of Bling | Classic Special (Full Episode) - 2005 (Prittlewell, Essex)

this investigation. Crosses, for me, are very significant. The Latin form of them, the archaeologically revealed northern Italian parallels, and the connection of Bishop Milletus in northern Italy, who, I understand, may well have been present at the funeral of King Saebert, shortly before he was so ute as chauvin by the three Essex lads who have made it, of course. The vehemently anti-Christian stance of Saebecht's three sons may also explain why Prittelwell's tomb appears to show two burial rituals. The simple gold crosses and belt buckle inside the coffin, respecting his father's beliefs, and a tomb filled with ostentatious displays of wealth, underscore the family's continued power.

The finds discovered at Prittlewell have catapulted Southend into the top league of Anglo-Saxon archaeology, suggesting it was a power base for the

king

s of East Saxony and the burial ground of the man who helped found St Paul's Cathedral. MOLAS archaeologists are pain

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y aware of the impact of their discovery, e

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ly since they could have easily overlooked it. Why did you put the trench where you put it? We couldn't get the loot out of the place. Because of all the traffic? Because of the traffic and the access of the trucks and because the loot had to return to the evaluation trenches once finished.

If we had put it where I had originally planned to put it, which was where we were standing here, we would have missed the chamber tomb entirely. So it was just luck? Yes. One kilometer from the Saebert burial mound, another element of this fascinating archaeological and historical detective story is coming to an end. That's all. That's beautiful, isn't it? In the church, probably founded by Saebert's grandson Sigeberht, the new Prittlewell lyre is ready for her musical debut. What is the science behind this? How does it work? It's designed in such a way that the vibration of the strings when you pluck them is transmitted directly to the resonator, and it's the vibration of this piece of wood, which is very, very thin, that gives you that nice, bright sound.

And by the way, this is the first

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I've heard it and it's a nice, bright sound. Thank you. Have you really not heard this before? No no no. It's the first

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I see this. This church is the perfect location to celebrate King Saebert's place in the history of Essex and Saxony with a

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ly composed elegy performed in the Old English language that he would have spoken and sung. Here is Sabaectus Banhus, resting under Bioria, Sladder's Sunu, Fadda Sawiardis, Saxradis and Saxbald. Here are the bones of Saebaed, they rest beneath the Barrow, the Sun of Sladder, father of Sawad, Saxbald and Saxrad.

All the finds will eventually return to a new purpose-built museum in Southend, but even now archaeologists at the Museum of London are ma

king

new discoveries. One of the last things we found, it was on top of the lyre, we just cleaned it and as you can see, we actually have two spearheads, one here and one here. Prittlewell's burial continues to surprise archaeologists. Do you know what sticks in my mind the most as an Essex man? How cosmopolitan all those finds are. We have Italy, we have Germany, we have Syria and it all happened thanks to a stroke of luck.

Well, yeah, I mean that's what I like about this. I mean it was found by archaeologists who really did a fantastic job on it, so everything was done in a way to get the maximum information of what was available to us. And we ended up finding a new king. Yeah, well, that can't be bad, right? Well, I don't know, for two grumpy old republicans in a London pub it's not the best news. I'll toast to that. Now he sleeps by Prittle's Brook, This world wisely left him in the winters, This solitary life, He chose another light, And his soul traveled quickly to the home of truth.

Now he sleeps by Prittle Creek, this world is forgotten, he leaves this land, Cheos leaves him another leachate, we have this soul to harm a painkiller. Music Join the Time

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