The graves of 65 British kings from King Arthur's time have been discovered

British archaeologists have found more than sixty tombs belonging to monarchs from the time of King Arthur! Although they’re still in the middle of uncovering these scattered graveyards, their findings have already provided us with several pieces of information.

Discovery of royal tombs

The graves, which were discovered in England and Wales, belong to ancient English kings from around the 5th and 6th centuries, in the early Middle Ages. The final resting place of these royals remains the greatest discovery of the British monarchy of that time. According to The Independent, nearly 20 burial complexes comprising up to five tombs have been discovered in several locations in Wales, Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset. For the moment, identification of who exactly is buried underneath is still underway.

This discovery is not necessarily new, as these tombs have been found over several decades. However, they have only recently been given the status of royalty. Professor Kent Dark, from the University of Reading and the Spanish University of Navarra explained to the publication:

Prior to this work, we were completely unaware of the large number of probable royal tombs that remain in post-Roman Britain. The current investigations have the potential to change our understanding of important aspects of this crucial period in British history.

So, how did the researchers identify that these graves were different from others of the same period? They explained that these graves have unusual patterns that are ‘very different and of a much higher status than the thousands of other British graves’ from the Middle Ages. Some are actually similar to Irish royal tombs.

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A divided Britain

Far from the United Kingdom we know today, in the 5th and 6th centuries the British territory was marked by a particular monarchical division. This post-Antiquity Britain was under the reign of around a dozen royal governments united by a single alliance system.

After the withdrawal of the Roman Empire from the island, local dynasties used marriages, or their talent for conquest, to assert their dominance in the territories. However, in the north and west of the island, it was the rules of Celtic origins who seized power.

This article has been translated fromGentside FR.