buried treasure: archaeological importance more valuable than gold?

On the 26th March, an item was posted on the web-site of The Telegraph titled ‘Sutton Hoo: A new home for Britain’s Tutankhamun’, written by John Preston; a link to this was retweeted late yesterday by the British Museum and the Trust saw the retweet on Twitter (and retweeted it!). John Preston’s aunt Peggy Guido found the first piece of gold treasure during the archaeological excavation of the famous Anglo-Saxon cemetery and ship burial at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge  in Suffolk, in 1939. A new display of the remarkable gold treasure from Sutton Hoo has recently been opened at the British Museum in London and John Preston’s item is about the new display and the story of the cemetery. The archaeological site (and country house and grounds) were given to the National Trust in 1998 and opened to the public with a visitor centre in 2002. The ship burial was made in the 7th century AD and it is thought to have been the grave of a king. The Sutton Hoo treasure is very glamorous and its discovery is a great story. Colchester can also claim some great stories of discovery and also treasure, although not quite so famous – for example, the Lexden tumulus.

The Lexden tumulus is a Late Iron Age burial mound on land which is now off Fitzwalter Road in Lexden, and where the houses of St Clare Road were built in the 1920s. The burial mound was excavated in 1924 by workmen, under the supervision of local surgeon Philip Laver and his brother Edward Laver, and it produced remarkable archaeological finds including treasure… The burial within the mound has been dated to circa 15-10 BC and it is thought to have been the grave of a British king. The burial mound was created near a group of cremation burials which are dated to 25 years or so earlier. It was thought that the king in the burial mound was Addedomaros but Tasciovanus, father of the famous Cunobelin, is a more recent contender. The burial goods from the tumulus included bronze artefacts such as a table, a pedestal, a statuette of Cupid, and figurines of a bull, a boar and a griffin. There was a silver medallion of the head of the Emperor Augustus, made from a Roman denarius, and the iron armour chainmail was decorated with gold and silver. The burial goods included a bed and 17 imported Roman amphoras which were probably buried containing wine for the deceased in the afterlife. Apparently, there was a local legend of a king being buried with a gold table and gold armour, but references to the legend seem to post-date the excavation of 1924. The mound was investigated again in 1973, and the Trust undertook some fieldwork near the mound in 2003 and 2004.

Tasciovanus was king of the tribe of the Catuvellauni at St Albans. He ousted Addedomaros of the Trinovantes tribe of what is now north-east Essex, and he issued coins from Camulodunon. Camulodunon was a fortified British settlement where the Roman town of Colchester was later established. The Lexden tumulus is a remarkable monument and the treasure it produced in objects is equalled by its archaeological value. The burial goods demonstrate local Late Iron Age  culture and wealth and Roman trade and cultural influence. The Lexden tumulus is also crucial in dating the early years of Camulodunon itself.

The Lexden tumulus has not only a remarkable history but also its own fascinating modern story. It was enclosed in the large garden of a house and, later, it was bisected by a hedge when the garden was divided into two and a bungalow built in one half. However, later owners of the house – Diana and Jack Tinson – bought the bungalow and its garden, with the intention of returning the tumulus to its previous condition. The bungalow was demolished and the two gardens became one garden again, with the extraordinary feature of an internationally-important ancient monument preserved by private individuals. The tumulus can be seen from the road and it used to be open to the public every year during the National Heritage Open Days weekend. Sadly, Diana died in 2012, but the tumulus stands as a great memorial to her as well as to Tasciovanus and the native Britons of Camulodunon.

The Lexden tumulus treasure is held by Colchester Castle museum and will form an important part of the new displays there.

Read more about the Lexden tumulus in the Trust’s popular book City of Victory – the story of Colchester, Britain’s first Roman town and in The Lexden tumulus, a re-appraisal of an Iron Age burial from Colchester, Essex by Jennifer Foster (British Archaeological Report 156). Read the item about Sutton Hoo on The Telegraph web-site at www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/10721522/Sutton-Hoo-A-new-home-for-Britains-Tutankhamun.html

The images show the silver medallion, the figurines of the boar and the bull, and the statuette of Cupid, from the Lexden tumulus (images from City of Victory).

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