8th century AD. A wooden coffin base formed from a split oak-tree trunk with hollowed-out cavity to accept the human remains. Supplied with a copy of the Historic England press release and site plan. Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said: These rare and exceptional well-preserved graves are a significant discovery which will advance our understanding of Middle-Saxon religious beliefs and rural communities. 80+kg, 2.01 x 0.43m (79 x 17 (Available to view at our Harwich head office only)"). Found Great Ryburgh Monastic burial site in 2016. Only one similar item is known to exist in public or private collections anywhere in the world - the example in Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk, England; accompanied by a copy of the initial 63 page Archaeology (MOLA) works report; not available for export. In November 2016, while preparing for construction of a conservation and fishing site at Great Rybergh in Norfolk as part of the flood defence system for the area, workmen discovered a quantity of waterlogged wooden remains. Archaeologists from MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology) were called in to perform controlled excavation and assessment of the items, which proved to be part of a 7th-9th century cemetery, the existence of which was previously unknown. The wooden remains included a number of oak coffins, each a tree trunk split to provide the lid and base, hollowed out to accept the body. Such coffins have never before been found in England in an Anglo-Saxon content, although their use has long been theorised and some antiquarian digs of the 19th century mention similar objects. The find proves that the tradition of dug-out coffins, which dates back to the Bronze Age in northern Europe, continued in use into the early Christian period. The site also held six plank-lined graves with remarkably good preservation of the timber. This construction method was previously deduced from finds at other Anglo-Saxon sites but had never before been sufficiently well-preserved for excavation to be possible. The coffins were buried on an east-west alignment and contained no surviving grave-goods, both strong indications of Christian practice. The fact that such burials took place in what was, even in the 7th century, a rural community indicates that the approved traditions of the church had permeated into the daily life of Anglo-Saxon society. Dendrochronology has indicated a date-range of 7th-9th century for the oak coffins, the trees having begun to grow in the 5th century and being around 300 years old at the time of felling. The 7th-8th centuries were a period of immense social change as small tribal groups coalesced into the kingdom of East Anglia, while Christianity established itself across East Anglian society and new religious buildings (the minster churches) sprang up as foci of spiritual and secular authority. The coffins are unique survivals from this period of social and religious change.