The discovery of an “exquisite” gold pendant by a student metal detectorist is being credited with rewriting the understanding of Anglo-Saxon history.

Thomas Lucking is in line for a £145,000 pay-out after unearthing an aristocratic burial site in a part of Norfolk overlooked by generations of archaeologists because of its poor soil.

The find of the female skeleton wearing a pendant of gold imported from Sri Lanka and coins bearing the marks of a continental king is prompting a fundamental reassessment of the seats of power in Anglo Saxon England.

A gold cross among the treasure counts as one of the earliest “potent” symbols of Christianity ever found.

The Norwich Castle Museum is now raising the £145,000 needed to buy the trove, dubbed the Winfarthing Woman, whose craftsmanship is the “equal” of the famous Staffordshire Hoard, according to Senior Curator Dr Tim Pestell.