Princess will show her face again

It took two years to reconstruct the face

The reconstructed face of an Anglo-Saxon princess who lived 1,500 years ago is to go on public display.

The woman's body was discovered with 212 others at a dig site in Lechlade, Gloucestershire, in 1985.

Her face was reconstructed using forensic techniques after her crushed skull was recovered from the site.

The wax recreation of the woman, aged between 26 and 30, will go on display at the Corinium Museum in Cirencester, on September 15.

The burial site has been described by archaeologists as one of the most important Anglo-Saxon sites in the Thames Valley.

Mystery

Facial anthropologist Dr Caroline Wilkinson of Manchester University spent two years reconstructing the princess's face.

Archaeologists at the Corinium Museum have named the woman Mrs Getty, after wealthy oil magnate John Paul Getty, because of the amount of trinkets and jewellery she was buried with.

This included gold and silver brooches, an ivory ring, amber beads and a decorated comb for removing head lice in the woman's wooden coffin.

Dr John Paddock, head of Corinium Museum services, said: "It's very unusual for a Saxon to be buried in a coffin at all, and the fact she was surrounded by such wealth points to the fact that she was an extremely important member of the tribe - she was top of the tree."

The woman's grave has also been recreated as have her clothes and hair.

Her death remains a mystery but the lack of physical injuries on the body mean she did not suffer a violent death and could indicate she died of the plague or in childbirth.