Join Dan Snow as he explores this stunning set of discoveries in our brand new documentary ‘Digging Up the Dark Ages’ on History Hit TV.
While working on the HS2 high speed railway project in the UK, archaeologists made discoveries of national significance, uncovering a large Anglo-Saxon burial site in Wendover, Buckinghamshire. Almost three quarters of the graves found contain high quality grave goods, suggesting the site was the final resting place of a wealthy Anglo-Saxon community.
History Hit has been at the heart of this discovery, with an exclusive documentary exploring the magnificent finds. Intriguingly, the items uncovered are dated to the 5th and 6th century, a period with significant gaps in the historical and archaeological record. The site contained 138 graves, with 141 inhumation burials and 5 cremation burials – one of the largest Anglo-Saxon burial grounds ever uncovered in Britain.
The discoveries made by HS2 archaeologists will contribute a significant amount to understanding how people in Anglo-Saxon Britain lived their lives, and what culture and society was like at that time.
Up Next in Medieval
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Essex Dogs: Episode 1
Historian Dan Jones sets out on a journey across Northern France, following in the footsteps of Edward III and his English army on their Crécy Campaign - one of the earliest and bloodiest raids of the Hundred Years' War.
On 12th July 1346, a huge English invasion fleet landed on the shores of N...
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Essex Dogs: Episode 2
Historian Dan Jones continues his fascinating journey across Northern France, investigating the 1346 invasion by Edward III and his English army on their Crécy campaign - one of the earliest and bloodiest raids of the Hundred Years War.
In episode one we have seen how, to start with, everything...
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Going Medieval: Those Who Work
In the Medieval period, peasants made up roughly 80% of the European population (70% were serfs). In the first episode of Going Medieval, Dr Eleanor Janega visits Denny Abbey, a former Benedictine monastery in Cambridge to explore the lives of those who devoted their lives to working the land.
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