The Sutton Hoo burial mounds did not contain items from esteemed royals, according to a bombshell new theory that could finally conclude an 85-year-old mystery.

       The burials are a collection of Anglo-Saxon artefacts found in a ship burial in Sutton. It was discovered in 1939 and originally thought to be the resting place of a king who lived in the early 600s AD and was from the East Anglian kingdom.

       However, a top Anglo-Saxon academic has now claimed that the site was actually for British soldiers fighting in the Byzantine army - which could explain why it contained many items from what is now Syria.

       D？r Helen Gittos of the University of Oxford undertook a decade of research, published in the English Historical Review, that concluded some "princely burials" were instead for the military.

       She told The Times: "We always want these people to be kings. But this is another example of how you might have received considerable honours in your burial, but it doesn’t mean that you’re royal."

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       Gittos' research also looked at the Prittlewell burial site in Essex - another high-status Anglo-Saxon burial mound.

       All the burials she studied shared similar sizes, used military dress and weapons, and contained lots of objects from the Levant, or what is now Syria and Lebanon.

       The objects found at Sutton Hoo appeared to have travelled from Syria to Suffolk in a surprisingly short amount of time, despite trade likely being slow.

       One explanation offered is that they were acquired near their place of origin before being brought home to Britain.

       Gittos added: "I think we have to be really open-minded about the potential connecting routes. People are just very, very reluctant to think that sometimes connections were direct and rapid."

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       The items found at Sutton Hoo include a helmet depicting warriors on horseback, which Gittos says add evidence to the theory it belonged to a soldier.

       She said: "We should be willing to consider that these weren’t men dressed up as Roman soldiers. They were Roman soldiers？."

       It's also plausible that the soldiers joined the Byzantine forces as, in 575, they were desperate for more manpower in their fight against the Sasanian Empire of Persia.

       There was a recruitment drive throughout Europe for cavalry, paying men to join the foederati - non-Roman soldiers who entered into a treaty with the Roman Empire to provide military support in exchange for large rewards.

       Gittos believes some of the British foederati were minor royals or warlords, but the Sutton Hoo burials are more likely to be that of ordinary men.