London's Covent Garden district at least 100 years older than thought
7 Jun 2008, 1323 Hrs

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Washington, June 7 (ANI): London's Covent Garden district is at least 100 years older than previously thought, according to an analysis of skeletons and objects found in the region's oldest Anglo Saxon cemetery, which was recently discovered.

Instead of being founded in 650 A.D., as it was earlier believed, archaeologists now think that the formerly Anglo Saxon city of Lundenwic dates back to 550 A.D. or earlier.

Lundenwic also appears to have been relatively wealthy and cosmopolitan from its first days, based on the quality of artifacts found in the graves.

"These were not elite or royal individuals, but they would have been middle to high class, as their objects were quite nice," Discovery News quoted Melissa Melikian, who worked on the project, as saying.

"In the grave of an adult woman, for example, we found a silver disc brooch set with cut garnets," added Melikian, general manager of Britain's AOC Archaeology Group southern region.

She and her colleagues found the cemetery during an excavation underneath the London Transport Museum, which extended its basement in order to put in a new shop and gallery.

The archaeologists unearthed 10 cremation burials, most of which were placed in urns.

The scientists also discovered three adults buried together. Radiocarbon testing dates them to between 410 A.D. and 550 A.D., so the newly established 550 A.D. date for Lundenwic's emergence takes the more conservative number.

The bodies all belonged to Anglo Saxons - a people believed to be descendants of three Germanic tribes who settled in south and east Great Britain during the 5th century A.D.

Based on the recent and prior Lundenwic finds, historians think the Anglo Saxons established the city as an industrial trading center on the north bank of the Thames, between what is now Trafalgar Square and Aldwych.

According to Mike Pitts, an archaeologist and publisher of British Archaeology, the Roman town of Londinium was already based to the east of Lundenwic. Both cities were eventually "swallowed up in the vast metropolis" that is modern London.

The research is published in British Archaeology. (ANI)