Dig

 by John Preston

A movie of this name recently came out.  The book is pretty much the same story as the movie/.

The story takes place just as WW II is starting. The story about a woman in England who finds a man with archeological site excavation experience to come to her property and excavate some of the ancient mounds there.  They don't make much progress initially but eventually find an ancient ship and extensive gold and other artifacts.  One of the best finds ever of an English site.  The site is called Sutton Hoo.  The artifacts are incredible and are now at the British Museum.

As soon as officials find out about the potential value of the site the local museum and the British Museum start to 'fight' over who has the right/responsibility to continue on with the dig.  They try to push the original digger out of the picture but the owner fights to keep him involved.

Apparently this man did not get any credit initially for his work but eventually he was acknowledged by the British Museum.

It was an interesting story but not much different from the book.