A FIRST-YEAR archeology student has unearthed an Anglo-Saxon pendant of “national significance” worth 50,000 pounds (US$77,660).

    Tom Lucking, 23, was stunned when he stumbled across an Anglo-Saxon grave on farmland near Diss, Norfolk, the United Kingdom.

    He had been metal detecting since he was 11 but had only ever found common medieval buckles and coins.

    He enrolled on a landscape history course at the University of East Anglia in September, making the incredible discovery just months later.

    “We knew there was something in that area of the grave, but no one was expecting anything so significant,” said Lucking, from Felixstowe, Suffolk.

    “I have been doing it for 12 years and only found the odd buckle or medieval coin which are all a bit run-of-the-mill.

    This pendant is particularly well made, of real quality and clearly features commissioned garnets.”

    The dig unearthed a number of coins and jewelry alongside the female skeleton who is believed to have royal connections.

    The jewel-encrusted pendant is thought to be the most valuable of the lot with treasure experts describing it as an “outstanding” piece.

    “The whole find is quite impressive and everything from the grave is quite valuable but the pendant is certainly the best find,” said Lucking.

    “It would have been worn on a loop like a piece of jewelry and because it is so elaborate it shows she would have been quite high up. If you look at a piece from the Staffordshire Hoard or Sutton Hoo — this is up there with that level of quality.”

    Coins in the grave have suggested the skeleton and jewelry date from between 630 and 650 A.D.

    Dr. Andrew Rogerson of Norfolk County Council’s Heritage Environment Services, said the pendant is the “most elaborate ever found.”

    It is too early to give the pendant an exact value but it is likely to run into tens of thousands.

    Once the pendant has been subjected to a treasure inquest experts hope it will be acquired by Norwich’s Castle Museum.

    (SD-Agencies)