Anglo-Saxon "dug-out" coffin burials from Norfolk

[Patrick Waterson]

Note that in the original, the coffin is a hollowed out oak trunk.  The hair in the coffin is actually plausible, given some finds elsewhere.  Personally, I'd always assumed the basis of the story was the monks disturbing prehistoric remains (perhaps Bronze Age) and exploiting it.  The possibility of it being from the earlier Middle Ages has to be there too from these recent finds.  The romantic might even suggest the remains were Arthurian

A few interesting points in Gerald's disinterment account.

1) The inscription: this differs from the one in Camden's Britannica, which has no mention of Guenevere.  Gerald also notes that the cross whose inscription he quotes was placed when the remains were reburied in a marble tomb in the church.  The only hint he gives of a possible original inscription is his reference to 'astonishing tokens' - might the inscribed cross Camden depicts be one of these?
2) The two 'stone pyramids' - a seemingly unique burial feature (I have been unable to find any match).
3) The partitioned double burial in the same coffin - also seemingly a unique feature.

This provides us with some clues.  The oak trunk burial, on analogy with its Saxon counterparts, points to post-Roman British Christianity, as I suspect does the partitioned coffin (perhaps a token of an unfaithful but repentant wife?).  The 'stone pyramids' inside the barrow remain an enigma, but if others turn up anywhere they can provide a cultural and/or chronological hint.

And there was I think Patrick was leading us down the road to Badon being the next Battle Day subject...

Now there is an idea ...