'Everything to play for' in two-year Sutton Hoo dig

Angus Wainwright and Helen Geake hoped the project would lead to interesting discoveries

Archaeologists said they were confident of unearthing some " very interesting" items during a two-year excavation of a site famous for its historical discoveries.

A major research project is under way at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, aiming to learn more about the land.

The National Trust and Time Team crews filming the dig hoped they would find more Anglo-Saxon graves from a cemetery that was previously found back in 2000.

Matt Williams, an archaeologist with Time Team, said there was "everything to play for".

Matt Williams said mounds on the site presented potential opportunities for new discoveries

"You've got to remember people have been living around this area and there has been activity in this field for a good 2,000 years," he said.

"We could find an iron age round house, we've got some old fields, there's a Roman site nearby so we could find anything.

"We've done geophysics in this field and there we've seen blobs, lines, splodges and we can't really tell what they are until we actually excavate them.

"However, given that we're in a very interesting site with mounds nearby, there is everything to play for."

The project is expected to take two years as the area is considered to be "sensitive", Mr Williams said.

The excavation would be taken slowly, according to the teams

Angus Wainwright, an archaeologist with the National Trust, said several graves could be discovered.

"Obviously archaeology always finds the unexpected, and what we're hoping to find is some Anglo-Saxon graves from the cemetery that we found in 2000 under the visitor centre and the car park," he said.

"We also think there might be Roman and prehistoric remains there as well so it's likely to be quite complicated but it will be interesting."

Time Team will produce a documentary style series on the project at Sutton Hoo

Dr Helen Geake, an expert in early Anglo-Saxon metal work with Time Team, said she was excited for what any potential discoveries would mean.

"It will always raise more questions, it will answer a few things and it will raise many more questions," she explained.

"But it moves us on, it moves the story on a bit... there is more to know."

The excavation is taking place in the Garden Field at Sutton Hoo

The area is famous for the discovery of an Anglo Saxon burial ship in 1939 that has been described as one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.

Time Team will film the excavation for a series hosted by Sir Tony Robinson.

The project is expected to take two years to complete

Tim Taylor, creator and series producer, previously said he was "thrilled to expand our relationship with Sutton Hoo".

"The story of Sutton Hoo has captured the world’s imagination, as we can see by the success of the award-winning film The Dig, and we hope to reveal yet another exciting chapter," he added.