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Sutton Hoo

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Archaeology; British
History 1500 and before (including Roman Britain)

   Sutton Hoo parade helmet (British Museum, restored). Although based on
   late Roman helmets of spangenhelm type, the immediate comparisons are
   with contemporary Vendel Age helmets from eastern Sweden.
   Sutton Hoo parade helmet ( British Museum, restored). Although based on
   late Roman helmets of spangenhelm type, the immediate comparisons are
   with contemporary Vendel Age helmets from eastern Sweden.

   Sutton Hoo, ( grid reference TM288487) near Woodbridge, Suffolk, is the
   site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries of the 6th and early 7th centuries,
   one of which contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of
   artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological
   significance.

   Sutton Hoo is of primary importance to early medieval historians
   because it sheds light on a period of English history which is on the
   margin between myth, legend and historical documentation. Use of the
   site culminated at a time when the ruler ( Raedwald) of East Anglia
   held senior power among the English, and played a dynamic (if
   ambiguous) part in the establishment of Christian rulership in England.
   It is central to understanding of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East
   Anglia and of the period in a wider perspective.

   The ship-burial, excavated in 1939, is one of the most magnificent
   archaeological finds in England for its size and completeness, the
   far-reaching connections, quality and beauty of its contents, and for
   the profound interest of the burial ritual.

   Although it is the ship-burial which commands the widest attention from
   tourists, there is also rich historical meaning in the two separate
   cemeteries, their position in relation to the Deben estuary and the
   North Sea, and their relation to other sites in the immediate
   neighbourhood.

Background

   Sutton Hoo from the Deben tideway (Mound 2 visible on the horizon above
   the farm).
   Sutton Hoo from the Deben tideway (Mound 2 visible on the horizon above
   the farm).

   Sutton Hoo is the name of an area spread along the bluffs on the
   eastern bank of the River Deben opposite the harbour of Woodbridge. The
   word "hoo" means "spur of a hill." About 7 miles (15 km) from the sea,
   it overlooks the inland waters of the tidal estuary a little below the
   lowest convenient fording place. Of the two gravefields found here, one
   ('the Sutton Hoo cemetery') has always been known to exist because it
   consists of a group of around 20 earthen burial mounds which rise
   slightly above the horizon of the hill-spur when viewed from the
   opposite bank. The other (called here the 'new' burial ground) is
   situated on a second hill-spur close to the present Exhibition Hall,
   about 500 m upstream of the first, and was discovered and partially
   explored in 2000 during preparations for the construction of the Hall.
   This also had burials under mounds, but was not known because they had
   long since been flattened by agricultural activity.

Discovery

   Sutton Hoo is felt by many to be a magical place, and the legend
   surrounding its discovery and excavation adds to its allure and
   mysterious atmosphere. The find which was so evocative and illuminating
   of the origins of the English nation was made on the very eve of the
   Second World War.

   Mrs Edith May Pretty J.P. lived in Sutton Hoo House and owned the
   estate. She had moved there with her husband in 1926, but he died in
   1934 leaving her with a young son. They had often wondered what the
   strange, rabbit-infested mounds were which they could see from the
   house. In around 1900 an elderly resident of Woodbridge had spoken of
   'untold gold' in the Sutton Hoo mounds, and Mrs Pretty's nephew, a
   dowser, repeatedly identified signals of buried gold from what is now
   known to be the ship-mound. Mrs Pretty became interested in
   Spiritualism, and was encouraged by friends who claimed to see figures
   at the mounds. By popular account she had a vivid dream of the funeral
   procession and treasures.

   Through the Ipswich Museum, in 1938 she obtained the services of Basil
   Brown, a Suffolk man whose smallholding had failed four years earlier,
   and who had taken up full-time archaeology on Roman sites for the
   museum. Mrs Pretty took Mr Brown to the site, and suggested that he
   start digging at Mound 1, one of the largest. The mound had obviously
   been disturbed, and in consultation with Ipswich Museum Brown decided
   instead to open three smaller mounds during 1938 with the help of three
   estate labourers. These did reveal interesting treasures, but only in
   fragments as the mounds had been robbed.
   Mound 11 (front left), Mound 10 (foreground, masking Mound 1), Mound 2
   (middle distance) and Sutton Hoo House, coachhouse and stables: looking
   north.
   Mound 11 (front left), Mound 10 (foreground, masking Mound 1), Mound 2
   (middle distance) and Sutton Hoo House, coachhouse and stables: looking
   north.

   Mrs Pretty still wanted a full excavation of Mound 1 and, in May 1939,
   Brown began work helped by the gamekeeper and the gardener. Driving a
   trench from the east end they soon discovered ship-rivets in position,
   and the colossal size of the find began to dawn on them. After patient
   weeks of clearing out earth from within the ship’s hull they reached
   the burial chamber and realised it was undisturbed. It lay beneath the
   exact spot where Mrs Pretty had told him to dig a year previously.

   In June 1939 Charles Phillips of Cambridge University, hearing rumour
   of a ship discovery (the 1938 find), visited Ipswich Museum and was
   taken by Mr Maynard, the Curator, to the site. Staggered by what he now
   saw, within a short time Phillips, in discussion with the Ipswich
   Museum, the British Museum, the Science Museum and Office of Works
   undertook the excavation of the burial chamber. He assembled a team of
   experts including W.F. Grimes and O.G.S. Crawford ( Ordnance Survey),
   Stuart and Peggy Piggot and others. Basil Brown continued to clear the
   ship. Mrs Pretty sent Brown to a spiritualist meeting in Woodbridge,
   where the medium had an intimation of his discovery.

   The need for secrecy (as the wonderful finds began to appear) and
   various vested interests led to confrontation between Phillips and the
   Ipswich Museum. The museum's Honorary President, Mr Reid Moir F.R.S.,
   had been a founder of the Prehistoric Society of East Anglia in 1908,
   and the Curator, Mr Maynard, was its Secretary and Editor from 1921. In
   1935–6 Charles Phillips and his friend (Sir) Grahame Clark had taken
   control of the Society. Mr Maynard then turned his attention to
   developing Brown’s work for the Museum. Phillips (hostile towards Moir)
   had now reappeared, and he deliberately excluded Moir and Maynard from
   the new discovery.

   The whole excavation was overshadowed by the imminence of war with
   Germany. The finds, having been packed and removed to London, were
   brought back for a Treasure Trove Inquest held in the autumn at Sutton
   village hall. Brown, who remained loyal to his employer Mrs Pretty
   throughout, gave his testimony with the rest, and it was decided that
   since the treasure was buried without the intention to recover it, it
   was the property of Mrs Pretty as landowner.

   These stories alone would have been enough to get the legend of Sutton
   Hoo into the history books. However, Mrs Pretty made one final decision
   which ensured her a special place in Britain's archaeological history.
   In an act of almost unrivalled generosity she decided to bequeath the
   treasure as a gift to the whole nation, so that the meaning and
   excitement of her discovery could be shared by everyone.

   Finally the fact that this burial, among all the others, had escaped
   from being plundered was another of the wonderful coincidences of the
   Sutton Hoo legend. In medieval times the site had been divided by
   boundary ditches to form fields. One of those ditches cut across the
   western side of Mound 1, giving it a lopsided appearance. A robber pit
   dug in the 16th century had been sunk at the apparent centre, missing
   the real centre and the burial deposit by a narrow margin.

Surroundings

   The tidal reaches of the Deben form one of a group of estuaries which
   drain from the south-eastern side of the county of Suffolk into the
   North Sea. From north to south these are the Alde (at its mouth called
   the Ore), the Butley river, the Deben and the Orwell, which at its
   mouth joins with the more southerly River Stour. These rivers formed
   paths of entry to East Anglia during the continental migrations to
   Britain of the 5th and 6th centuries, following the end of Roman
   imperial rule, and their control was important both in Roman and
   Anglo-Saxon times. A Roman stone shore-fort stood on high ground near
   the mouth of the Deben on the south side, at Walton, near Felixstowe,
   and stood as a prominent feature in Anglo-Saxon times: it is one of the
   two claimed sites for the original East Anglian bishopric of Dommoc,
   founded c. 630.
   Sutton Hoo in relation to Gipeswic (Ipswich) and the Wicklaw.
   Sutton Hoo in relation to Gipeswic (Ipswich) and the Wicklaw.

   Fifth century artefacts, including late Roman belt equipment and early
   continental brooches, have been found at Shottisham (south of Sutton
   Hoo). A little way south of Woodbridge the tidal Martlesham Creek
   emerges into the Deben on the west side, fed from valleys with 6th
   century burial grounds at Rushmere, Little Bealings and Tuddenham St
   Martin, and circling Brightwell Heath, the site of several Bronze Age
   and later mounds. Further up the Deben, on bluffs overlooking the
   brackish reaches, were cemeteries of similar date at Rendlesham and
   Ufford. A large cemetery of mixed cremation and inhumation burials
   stood in a similar position to Sutton Hoo at Snape, above the fordable
   headwaters of the river Alde, somewhat further from the river. This
   also contained a large ship-burial, the only other burial in England
   comparable to the famous examples at Sutton Hoo.

   Within thirty years after the use of the Sutton Hoo cemetery culminated
   in the ship-burial, an important early monastery was founded by royal
   grant at Iken beside the Alde in 654 for Saint Botolph. In c 660
   Rendlesham is definitely identified by Bede as the site of a vicus
   regius (royal dwelling) of King Aethelwold of the Wuffinga dynasty of
   the East Angles. A similar use is suggested at an earlier date, though
   Kingston near Woodbridge (nearly opposite Sutton Hoo) is another
   possibility. Rendlesham has a church dedication to Gregory the Great,
   founder of the Roman Christian mission to England which arrived in Kent
   in 597.

   By the early tenth century the entire region between the Orwell and the
   watersheds of the Alde and Deben rivers was known as the 'Wicklaw'. It
   is suggested that this represents an early administrative region or
   regio, originally centred upon Rendlesham or Sutton Hoo as the node of
   estuarine control, and was one of the primary components in the
   formation of the Kingdom of East Anglia. Also in the early 7th century
   Gipeswic (Ipswich), at the fordable headwaters of the Orwell estuary,
   began its growth as the primary centre for maritime trade in East
   Anglia, with Rhineland contacts, so that the instruments and resources
   of royal power were focussed in this immediate neighbourhood. Jon
   Newman has made the archaeological survey of this region a special
   study (the East Anglian Kingdom project), and Keith Wade has
   spearheaded the Ipswich Excavation Project since 1974 for Suffolk
   County Council.

Cemetery

Excavation history

   The burial ground with visible mounds has experienced diggings since at
   least the 16th century and was extensively dug into during the 19th
   century, without any useful records being made. In 1860 it was reported
   that nearly two bushels of iron screw bolts (presumably ship rivets)
   had been found at the recent opening of a mound, and that it was hoped
   to open others. During the 1980s excavations it was shown that some
   burials had been laid open in the 19th century with a small platform at
   one side for viewing.
   Model of the 1939 find (chamber area outlined).
   Model of the 1939 find (chamber area outlined).
     * In 1937 Mrs Pretty sought advice from Ipswich Museum's curator, who
       in 1938 released Basil Brown to work for her. He opened three
       mounds in the first season (2, 3 and 4). He found plundered
       cremation burials with goods in two of them. In Mound 2 (larger) he
       found iron ship-rivets and a disturbed chamber burial with
       fragments of metal and glass artefacts. The rituals and objects
       revealed were unusual, and at first it was undecided if they were
       of Viking age or early Anglo-Saxon date. These finds are held by
       Ipswich Museum.

     * In spring 1939 Brown drove a trench through Mound 1 and discovered
       the replaced wood stain and undisturbed rivets of the ship-burial.
       Through late summer a team led by Charles Phillips for the Office
       of Works elucidated the burial chamber amidships and removed the
       treasure. As the astounding golden and silver treasures emerged it
       became certain this was an early 7th century find of greater
       quality than any hitherto discovered. Afterwards the hollow mound
       was lined with bracken and turf for protection. During the War the
       grave-goods were put in storage and the site was used as a training
       ground for military vehicles. Phillips and colleagues produced
       important publications in 1940.

     * Rupert Bruce-Mitford led the Sutton Hoo research team at the
       British Museum. They completely re-excavated Mound 1 in 1965–1971
       to resolve certain problems posed by the first discovery. The ship
       impression was again exposed and a plaster cast taken, from which a
       fibre-glass shape was produced. The mound was afterwards restored
       to its pre-1939 appearance. The limits of Mound 5 were also
       determined, and evidence of prehistoric activity on the original
       land-surface was investigated by Ian Longworth. Meanwhile the
       British Museum Conservation team under Harold Plenderleith, Herbert
       Maryon and Nigel Williams performed the immense work of scientific
       analysis and reconstruction of the finds. The definitive and
       monumental work The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial was produced in three
       volumes in 1975, 1978, and 1983.

     * The investigation of 1983–1992 was directed by Professor Martin
       Carver ( University of York) for the Sutton Hoo Research Trust, on
       behalf of the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries of
       London. The site was thoroughly surveyed and new techniques were
       developed. Topsoil was stripped across an area of the site around
       (and including) Mounds 2, 5, 6, 7, 17 and 18 to produce a map of
       soil patterns and intrusions. This showed that the mounds had been
       sited in relation to earlier (prehistoric and Roman) enclosure
       patterns. There was also found a series of Anglo-Saxon graves of
       execution victims, later than the primary mounds. Mound 2 was
       re-explored and reconstructed to its supposed Anglo-Saxon form. A
       new undisturbed burial (Mound 17) contained a young man with
       weapons and goods, alongside a separate grave containing his horse.
       The publication of this work came to completion in 2005.

   A substantial part of the gravefield has not been disturbed in modern
   times, but is reserved for the benefit of future investigators and
   future scientific methods.

Contents

   The field contains about 20 barrows. Professor Carver's excavation
   established that this was no general burying-ground, but was reserved
   for a select group of individuals buried with objects denoting unusual
   wealth or prestige. (This was unlike the Snape cemetery, where a
   ship-burial and other furnished graves were added to an older existing
   graveyard of human ashes buried in pots). Most had been cremated, and
   each barrow was raised to commemorate one particular person. It was
   used in this way for about 50–60 years during the last quarter of the
   sixth and the first quarter of the 7th centuries. Almost all of these
   graves had been plundered.
     * Cremation Graves and Minor Inhumations

   Of the two cremations excavated in 1938 Mound 3 contained the ashes of
   a man and a horse placed on a wooden trough or dugout bier, together
   with an iron-headed throwing-axe (a Frankish weapon). The grave also
   contained objects imported from the eastern Mediterranean area,
   including a bronze ewer (lid only), part of a miniature carved plaque
   depicting a winged Victory, and fragments of decorated bone from a
   casket of similar origin. The other, Mound 4, was the cremation of a
   man and a woman with a horse and perhaps also a dog. This included a
   few fragments of bone gaming-pieces.

   In Mounds 5, 6 and 7 Professor Carver found three cremations deposited
   in bronze bowls with a variety of goods. The man in Mound 5 had died
   from weapon blows to the skull. With him some gaming-pieces, small iron
   shears, a cup and an ivory box with sliding lid had escaped the
   looters' attention. Mound 7 was the remains of a grand cremation, in
   which horse, cattle, red deer, sheep and pig had been burnt with the
   deceased on the pyre. His goods had included gaming-pieces, an
   iron-bound bucket, a sword-belt fitting and a drinking vessel. Mound 6,
   similarly, was accompanied by cremated animals, gaming-pieces, a
   sword-belt fitting and a comb. The Mound 18 grave was very damaged, but
   of similar kind.

   One urned and one unurned cremation were found during the 1960s
   exploration to define the extent of Mound 5, together with two
   inhumations and a pit with a skull and fragment of decorative foil. In
   level areas between the mounds Professor Carver found three furnished
   inhumations (not of execution victims). One under a small mound held a
   child's body with a buckle and a miniature spear. The grave of a man
   included two belt-buckles and a knife, and that of a woman contained a
   leather bag, a ring-headed pin and a chatelaine.
     * Mound 17: The Equestrian Grave

   Most impressive of the burials not contained in a chamber is the Mound
   17 grave of a young man and his horse. They were in fact two separate
   grave-hollows side by side under a single mound, and were undisturbed
   (looters had dug over the intervening baulk). The man was buried in an
   oak coffin with his pattern welded sword at his right side. The
   sword-belt was wrapped around the blade, with a bronze buckle with
   garnet cellwork, two pyramidal strapmounts and a scabbard-buckle. By
   his head were a strike-a-light and a leather pouch containing rough
   garnets and a piece of millefiori glass. Around the coffin were two
   spears, a shield, a small cauldron and bronze bowl, a pot and an
   iron-bound bucket. Some animal ribs were probably a food offering. In
   the north-west corner of the man's grave was the bridle for the horse,
   mounted with circular gilt bronze plaques bearing deftly-controlled
   interlace ornament. These are displayed in the Exhibition Hall at
   Sutton Hoo.

   Inhumation graves containing a man and horse together, signifying an
   equestrian role, are known from England and Germanic Europe. Most are
   of the sixth or early seventh century. Two Suffolk examples have been
   excavated at Lakenheath in western Suffolk, and another found in c 1820
   is recorded from Witnesham near Ipswich. There is an example in the
   Snape cemetery. Others are inferred from records of the discovery of
   horse furniture in cemetery contexts at Eye and Mildenhall. Presumably
   the horse was sacrificed for the funeral. The ritual is sufficiently
   standardised to indicate that it reflects formal status rather than
   sentimental attachment.
     * Mound 14: A Woman's Chamber-Grave

   Although this grave had been destroyed almost completely by robbing
   (apparently during a heavy rainstorm), it had contained exceptionally
   high quality goods belonging to a woman. These included a chatelaine, a
   kidney-shaped purse lid, a bowl, several buckles, a dress-fastener and
   the hinges of a casket, all made of silver, and also a fragment of
   embroidered cloth.
   One of the Sutton Hoo burial mounds. This picture, taken during the
   Summer Solstice sunset on 21 June 2006, shows Mound 2 which is the only
   one of the Sutton Hoo mounds to have been reconstructed to its supposed
   original height. Alternate view.
   One of the Sutton Hoo burial mounds. This picture, taken during the
   Summer Solstice sunset on 21 June 2006, shows Mound 2 which is the only
   one of the Sutton Hoo mounds to have been reconstructed to its supposed
   original height. Alternate view.
     * Mound 2: A Man's Chamber-Grave covered with a Ship

   This extremely important grave, very damaged by looters, was excavated
   in 1938 by Basil Brown. It was probably the source of the many iron
   ship-rivets found in 1860. Brown, having found similar rivets dispersed
   in the mound, interpreted the burial as a small boat with square stern
   containing the grave deposit (by comparison with the Snape find).
   Professor Carver's very thorough re-investigation revealed that this
   was essentially a rectangular plank-lined chamber, 5 m long by 2 m
   wide, sunk below the land surface with the body and grave-goods laid
   out in it. A ship (probably a smaller version of the Snape or Sutton
   Hoo Mound 1 type) was then placed over it, aligned east and west,
   before a large earth mound was raised above the whole.

   Chemical analysis of the chamber floor suggested the presence of a body
   in the south-western corner. The goods, although very fragmentary,
   included an English blue glass cup with trailed decoration (like those
   from various English chamber-graves) (including the new find at
   Prittlewell, Essex), two gilt-bronze discs with animal interlace
   ornament, a bronze brooch, a silver buckle, a gold-coated stud from a
   buckle and other items. Four objects (apart from the boat) have a
   special kinship to those from the Mound 1 ship-burial. The tip of a
   swordblade showed elaborate pattern-welding similar to the Mound 1
   sword: silver-gilt drinking horn mounts were struck from the same dies
   as the Mound 1 horn-mounts: and two fragments of dragonlike mounts or
   plaques probably derived from a large shield of Vendel type, similar to
   the Mound 1 shield. Although the rituals were not identical, the
   association of these objects and the ship in this grave shows an
   immediate connection between the two burials.
     * Mound 1: The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial (see below)

     * The Execution Burials (or 'Sandmen')

   In contrast to the high status evident from these finds, the cemetery
   also contained a number of inhumations of a very different character.
   These were of people who had died by violent means, in some cases
   clearly by hanging or beheading. Often the bones had not survived, but
   this important part of the site's history was recovered by a special
   technique during the 1980s excavations. The fleshy parts of the bodies
   had left a stain in the sandy soil: this was laminated as work
   progressed, so that finally the emaciated figures of the dead were
   revealed. Casts were taken of several of these tableaux.

   The identification and discussion of these burials has been led by
   Professor Carver. Two main groups were excavated, one arranged around
   Mound 5, and the other beyond the barrow cemetery limits in the field
   to the east. It is thought that a gallows stood on Mound 5, a
   prominently visible position near a significant river-crossing point,
   and that these were victims of judicial execution. The executions are
   evidently later than Mound 5, and possibly date mostly from the 8th and
   9th centuries.

Ship-burial

   For a full description of the ship-burial, its excavation, contents,
   and analysis of them, the British Museum monograph The Sutton Hoo
   Ship-Burial (Bruce-Mitford 1975, 1978, 1983) remains the primary
   resource.
     * The Ship

   Although practically none of the original timber survived, the
   excavated form of the ship in Mound 1 presented a very perfect image in
   1939. A stain in the sand had replaced the wood but had preserved many
   details of the construction, and nearly all of the iron planking rivets
   remained in their original places. Hence it was possible to survey and
   describe what was merely a ghost of the original ship. She was about
   27 m (c 90 feet) long, pointed at either end with tall rising stem and
   stern posts, widening to about 4.4 m (c 14 feet) in the beam amidships
   with an inboard depth of about 1.5 m (c 4 ft 10 ins) over the keel
   line. From the keel board the hull was constructed clinker-fashion with
   nine planks on either side, the overlaps fastened with rivets.
   Twenty-six wooden frames strengthened the form within, more numerous
   near the stern where a steering-oar might be attached. Repairs were
   visible: this had been a seagoing craft of excellent craftsmanship, but
   there was no descending keel.
   Reconstructed model of the burial-chamber. Alternate view.
   Reconstructed model of the burial-chamber. Alternate view.
     * The Burial-chamber

   This oak vessel of many tons weight had been hauled a considerable
   distance from the river to the brow of the hill, the prow facing inland
   to the east, and lowered into a prepared trench, so that only the tops
   of the stem and stern posts, some 4 m (c 13 feet) above the lowest part
   of the hull, rose above the land surface. The decking, benches and
   whatever mast there may have been were removed. In the fore and aft
   sections, thorn-shaped wooden oar-rests were visible along the
   gunwales. If these were originally continuous along either side there
   would have been positions for forty oarsmen. However they were absent
   (perhaps removed) in the central section, where a chamber for the
   burial was constructed. This occupied a length of about 5.5 m (c
   17 feet) amidships: timber walls were constructed at either end (the
   hull forming the side walls) and a roof (probably pitched like a house)
   was mounted above.
     * The Position of the Body

   The excavators found no trace of a body, and originally suggested that
   the grave was a form of cenotaph. However the arrangement and type of
   the buried goods, and the knowledge that these soils do dissolve bone,
   left little doubt that this was a burial with a body, and that it was
   placed in the centre of the chamber with the feet to the east. A
   phosphorus survey indicated higher levels of phosphorus in the area
   supposed to have been occupied by the body. Some long time (perhaps
   many decades) after burial the roof collapsed violently under the
   weight of the mound, compressing the goods into a seam of earth. The
   body lay on or in a central wooden structure about 9 feet long,
   possibly a platform or a very large coffin (interpretations vary). An
   ironbound wooden bucket stood on the south side of this, and an iron
   lamp containing beeswax and a small wheel-thrown bottle of north
   continental make at its south-east corner.
     * The West Wall

   The shield-fittings reassembled.
   The shield-fittings reassembled.

   Along the inner west wall (i.e. the head end) at the north-west corner
   stood a tall iron stand with a grid near the top. Beside this rested a
   very large circular shield. The central boss was mounted with garnets
   and with die-pressed plaques of interlaced animal ornament. The shield
   front displayed two large emblems with garnet settings, one a composite
   metal predatory bird and the other a long gilt casting of a flying
   dragon. It also bore animal-ornamented sheet strips directly die-linked
   to examples from the early cemetery at Vendel near Old Uppsala in
   Sweden. A small bell, possibly for an animal (?hound), lay nearby.

   At the centre of the wall was a long square-sectioned whetstone tapered
   at either end and carved with human faces on each side. A ring mount
   topped by a bronze stag figurine was fixed to the upper end, so that it
   resembled a late Roman consular sceptre. South of this was an
   iron-bound wooden bucket, one of several in the grave.

   In the south-west corner was a complex containing objects which may
   have hung upon the chamber wall, but were found compressed together.
   Lowest was a Coptic or eastern Mediterranean bronze bowl with drop
   handles and chased with figures of animals. Above this (badly deformed)
   was a six-stringed Anglo-Saxon lyre in a beaver-skin bag, of a Germanic
   type found in wealthy Anglo-Saxon and north European graves of this
   date. Uppermost was a large and exceptionally elaborate three-hooked
   hanging bowl of Insular production, with champleve enamel and
   millefiori mounts showing fine-line spiral ornament and red cross
   motifs, and with an enamelled metal fish mounted to swivel on a pin
   within the bowl.
   Reproduction of the lyre by Messrs Dolmetsch.
   Reproduction of the lyre by Messrs Dolmetsch.
     * The East Wall

   At the east end of the chamber stood (near the north corner) an
   iron-bound tub of yew with a smaller bucket within. To the south were
   two small bronze cauldrons, one globular and one concave-sided,
   probably hanging against the wall. A large carinated bronze cauldron,
   similar to the example from a chamber-grave at Taplow, with iron mounts
   and two ring-handles was hung by one handle at the centre. Nearby lay a
   chain almost 3.5 m long of complex ornamental sections and wrought
   links, for the suspension of such a cauldron from the beams of a large
   hall. All these items were of a domestic character.
     * The Helmet, Silver Bowls and Spoons (head area)

   The objects around the likely position of the body indicate that it lay
   with the head close to the west end of the central wooden structure.

   On the head's left side was placed the 'crested' and masked helmet,
   wrapped in cloths. With its historiated die-struck panels and assembled
   mounts this is directly comparable to the helmets of the Vendel and
   Valsgärde cemeteries of eastern Sweden, although differing in that the
   dome is constructed in a single vaulted shell (and therefore not
   strictly a spangenhelm) and in having a full mask. Although very like
   the Swedish examples it is a superior production. Helmets are extremely
   rare finds, and no other example from England is of this type with
   panels depicting warrior scenes, with the exception of a fragment from
   a burial at Caenby, Lincolnshire. The helmet rusted in the grave and
   was shattered into hundreds of fragments when the chamber roof
   collapsed.

   To the head's right was placed inverted a nested set of ten silver
   bowls, probably made in the Eastern Empire during the sixth century.
   Beneath them were two silver spoons, possibly from Byzantium itself, of
   a type bearing names of the Apostles. One spoon is marked in original
   nielloed Greek lettering with the name of PAVLOC, 'Paul'. The other,
   matching spoon has been modified using lettering conventions of a
   Frankish coin-die cutter, to read CAVLOC, 'Saul'. It is claimed (but
   disputed) that the spoons (and possibly also the bowls) formed a
   baptismal gift for the buried person, alluding to the Damascene
   conversion of Saint Paul ( Acts Ch. 9 & 13.9).
     * The Sword, Sword-harness and Spears (right side)

   Parallel with the body space on the right hand lay a set of spears,
   tips uppermost, including three barbed angons, their heads thrust
   through a handle of the bronze bowl in the northeast corner. Nearby was
   a wand with a small mount depicting a wolf. Closer to the body lay the
   magnificent sword with gold and garnet-cloisonné pommel (85 cm or 34in
   long), its pattern-welded blade within its sheath. Attached to this and
   lying towards the body was the sword harness and belt, fitted with a
   suite of solid gold mounts and strap-distributors of extremely
   intricate garnet cellwork ornament. The scabbard-bosses of domed
   cellwork and pyramidal mounts with faceted stones in the angles are
   also superlative.
     * The Purse, Shoulder-clasps and Great Buckle (upper body area)

   Shoulder-clasps. Alternate view. British Museum.
   Shoulder-clasps. Alternate view. British Museum.

   Together with the sword harness and scabbard mounts, the gold and
   garnet objects found in the upper body space are among the true wonders
   of Sutton Hoo. Their artistic and technical quality is quite
   exceptional. They form a co-ordinated ensemble thought to have been
   produced for this wearer as patron.

   Each shoulder-clasp consists of two matching curved halves, hinged upon
   a long removable chained pin. The surfaces display panels of
   interlocking stepped garnets and chequer millefiori insets, surrounded
   by interlaced ornament of Germanic Style II ribbon animals. The
   half-round clasp ends contain garnet-work of interlocking boars with
   filigree surrounds. On the underside of the mounts are lugs for
   attachment to a stiff leather cuirass. The function of the clasps is to
   hold together the front and back halves of such armour so that it can
   fit the torso closely in the Roman manner. The cuirass itself, possibly
   worn in the grave, did not survive. No other Anglo-Saxon cuirass clasps
   are known.
   Great Buckle.
   Great Buckle.

   The 'great' gold buckle is made in three parts. The plate is a long
   ovoid of meandering but symmetrical outline with densely interwoven and
   interpenetrating Style II ribbon animals rendered in chip-carving on
   the front. The gold surfaces are punched to receive niello detail. The
   plate is hollow and has a hinged back, forming a secret chamber
   possibly for a relic. Both the tongue-plate and hoop are solid,
   ornamented, and expertly engineered. Garnet is not employed in this
   object.

   The purse, with ornamental lid covering a lost leather pouch, hung from
   the waist-belt. The lid consists of a kidney-shaped cellwork frame
   enclosing a sheet of horn, on which were mounted pairs of exquisite
   garnet cellwork plaques depicting predatory birds, wolves devouring
   men, geometric motifs, and a double panel showing horses or animals
   with interlaced extremities. The maker derived these images from the
   ornament of the Swedish-style helmets and shield-mounts. In his work
   they are transferred into the cellwork medium with dazzling technical
   and artistic virtuosity.
   Purse lid. British Museum.
   Purse lid. British Museum.

   These are therefore the work of a master-goldsmith of his age who had
   access to an East Anglian armoury containing the objects used as
   pattern sources. As an ensemble they enabled the patron to appear in an
   imperial persona, and expressed his authority and resources to do so.

   Within the purse were contained 37 gold shillings or tremisses, each
   from a different Frankish mint and therefore deliberately formed as a
   collection. There were also three blank coins and two small ingots.
   This has prompted various explanations. Possibly like the Roman obolus
   they were to pay the forty ghostly oarsmen in the afterworld, or were a
   funeral tribute, or an expression of allegiance. They provide the
   (debated) primary evidence for the date of the burial, probably in the
   third decade of the 7th century.
     * The Drinking-horn complex (lower body area)

   In the area corresponding to the lower legs of the body were laid out
   various drinking vessels. They included a pair of drinking horns of
   heroic distinction, made from the horns of an aurochs (a continental
   species of Wild Ox extinct since early mediaeval times). These have
   matching die-stamped gilt rim mounts and vandykes, of similar
   workmanship and design to the shield mounts, and exactly similar to the
   surviving horn vandykes from Mound 2. These mounts also have decisive
   parallels in metalwork from the Vendel cemetery. In the same area stood
   a set of maplewood cups with similar rim-mounts and vandykes, and a
   heap of folded textiles lay on the left side.
     * The 'Heaps' (beyond the feet, east end)

   A large quantity of material including metal objects and textiles was
   formed into two folded or packed heaps on the foot (east) end of the
   central wooden structure. This included a long hauberk or coat of
   ring-mail (an extremely rare survival) made of alternate rows of welded
   and riveted iron links. There were also two additional hanging bowls,
   leather shoes, a cushion or pillow stuffed with feathers, folded
   objects of leather, a wooden platter, and other items. At one side of
   the heaps lay an iron hammer-axe with a long iron handle, possibly a
   weapon.
     * The Silverware and Contents (above the heaps)

   On top of the folded heaps was set a fluted silver dish with drop
   handles, probably of Italian make, with the relief image of a female
   head in late Roman style worked into the bowl. This contained a series
   of small burr-wood cups with rim-mounts, combs of antler, small metal
   knives, a small silver bowl, and various other small effects (possibly
   toilet equipment), and including a bone gaming-piece, thought to be the
   'king piece' from a set. (Traces of bone above the head position have
   suggested that a gaming-board was possibly set out, as at Taplow.)
   Above these was a silver ladle with gilt chevron ornament, also of
   Mediterranean origin.

   Over the whole of this, perched on top of the heaps (or their
   container, if there was one) lay a very large round silver platter with
   chased ornament, made in the Eastern Empire in around 500 AD and
   bearing the control stamps of Emperor Anastasius (491–518). On this
   plate was deposited a piece of unburnt bone of uncertain derivation.

   The assemblage of Mediterranean silverware in the Sutton Hoo grave is
   unique for this period in Britain and Europe.
     * Textiles (around and on the central structure)

   The burial chamber was evidently rich in textiles, represented by many
   fragments preserved, or replaced by metal corrosion products. They
   included quantities of twill (possibly from cloaks, blankets or
   hangings), and the remains of cloaks with characteristic long-pile
   weaving. There appear to have been more exotic coloured hangings or
   spreads, including some (possibly imported) woven in stepped lozenge
   patterns using a Syrian technique in which the weft is looped around
   the warp to create a textured surface. Two other colour-patterned
   textiles, near the head and foot of the body area, resemble
   Scandinavian work of the same period.
     * The Mound

   Finally the burial was completed by the construction of a long and high
   oval mound which not only completely covered the ship but rose above
   the horizon at the west or riverward side of the Sutton Hoo cemetery.
   Although the view to the river is now obscured by Top Hat Wood, it was
   doubtless originally intended that the mound should brood visibly on
   the bluff above the river as an outward symbol of power to those using
   the waterway. On present evidence, this magnificent funeral appears to
   have been the final occasion upon which the Sutton Hoo cemetery was
   used for its original purpose.

   Long after the mound was raised the westerly end of it was dug away
   when a mediaeval boundary ditch was laid out. Therefore when looters
   dug into the apparent centre during the sixteenth century they missed
   the real centre: nor could they have foreseen that the deposit lay very
   deep in the belly of a buried ship, well below the level of the land
   surface. Great pains had been taken to ensure that it remained
   undisturbed for a very long time.

New gravefield

   During the year 2000 an excavation was made by a Suffolk County Council
   team on the site intended for the National Trust visitor centre. The
   site lies some distance north of Tranmer House, at a point where the
   ridge of the Deben valley veers westwards to form a promontory and a
   south-western prospect across the river is afforded. A large area of
   topsoil was removed, in one corner of which a number of early
   Anglo-Saxon burials were discovered, some being furnished with objects
   of high status. The following discoveries were of particular note.
     * The 'Bromeswell Bucket'

   Attention was first attracted to this area by the chance discovery of a
   rare imported artefact of eastern Mediterranean origin of the 6th
   century. It is part of a vessel of thin beaten bronze with vertical
   sides, made to contain beverage. The outer surface is decorated with a
   frieze of Syrian or 'Nubian' style depicting naked warriors carrying
   swords and shields in combat with leaping lions, executed by
   punch-marking. Above the frieze and below the rim is a zone of
   inscription in Greek lettering which translates 'Use this in good
   health, Master Count, for many happy years.' This is very likely to
   have derived from a furnished burial.
     * Group of Cremation Mounds

   In an area near to Mrs Pretty's former rose garden a group of
   moderate-sized burial mounds was identified. The mounds had long since
   been levelled, but their position was shown by circular surrounding
   ditches. At the centre of each was a small deposit indicating the
   presence of a single burial, probably of unurned human ashes.
     * Cremation Burial with Hanging Bowl

   This burial lay in an irregular ovate pit which contained two vessels.
   One was a stamped black earthenware urn of late 6th century type. The
   other was a large bronze hanging bowl in excellent condition, with
   openwork hook escutcheons (without enamel) and a related circular mount
   at the centre of the bowl. The mounts are very similar to an example
   found at Eastry, Kent (possibly a 7th century royal dwelling).
     * 'Warrior' Inhumation

   In this burial a man was laid out with a spear at his side and a shield
   of normal size over him. The shield bore two fine metal mounts, one
   depicting a predatory bird (not unlike the shield from the ship) and
   the other a thin dragonlike creature, and the boss-stud was also
   ornamented. The Vendel-type connections with Mound 1 were significant.

History

   In 1940 H.M. Chadwick (a pre-eminent Anglo-Saxon historian) gave his
   opinion that the ship-burial was probably the grave of King Raedwald of
   the East Angles, who ruled c 599-c 624 AD. The primary source for
   Raedwald is the Historia Ecclesiastica of the Venerable Bede, completed
   AD 731.

   During the later 6th century (when the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms
   were in process of formation), two great leaders, Ceawlin of Wessex and
   Ethelbert of Kent, in turn held dominion over all the rulers south of
   the River Humber (see Bretwalda). In 597 a mission led by Saint
   Augustine arrived in Kent and began the first formal conversion of the
   English rulers and their people to Roman Christianity. Raedwald was
   baptized in Kent, and (as Ethelbert grew old) he built up the
   leadership for his own nation of East Angles.

   In c 616 he was challenged by the Northumbrian ruler Aethelfrith, and
   defeated and slew him in a great battle. Raedwald then set Edwin, a
   royal exile, to rule in Northumbria, and for the remainder of his life
   Raedwald held supreme rule (imperium) over the English. He was the
   first southern ruler to hold Northumbria under such allegiance.

   Raedwald did not establish unequivocal Christian rule, but at his death
   Edwin acquired even greater dominion than Raedwald (except in Kent),
   and was baptized. Through further conversions with Bishop Paulinus in
   Northumbria, Lindsey and East Anglia under the rule of Eorpwald
   (Raedwald's son), by cementing Christian alliances with Sigebert of
   East Anglia (ruled c 629–636), and by his own marriage to the sister of
   Eadbald of Kent (ruled c 616–640), Edwin (ruled c 616–632) became the
   first English ruler with dominion north and south of the Humber in
   religious obedience to Christian Rome. Edwin is known to have
   cultivated the public behaviour of a Roman leader.

   The question 'Who was in the ship?' is finally unanswerable. But given
   the exceptionally high quality of the materials (imported and
   commissioned) and the resources needed to assemble them, the imperial
   authority which the gold body equipment was intended to convey, the
   community involvement required in this unusual ritual at a cemetery
   reserved for an elite, the nearness of Sutton Hoo to a
   near-contemporary centre of royal power at Rendlesham, and the probable
   date-horizons, the identification with Raedwald still has widespread
   popular acceptance. From time to time other identifications are
   suggested.

Beowulf and Vendel

   Vendel era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
   Vendel era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

   It is debated whether the custom of furnished burial was explicitly
   pagan, or whether it was reaching a natural culmination when
   Christianity began to make its mark.

   Beowulf, the great surviving example of heroic Old English poetry, is
   set in Denmark and Sweden (mostly Götaland) during the first half of
   the 6th century. It opens with the funeral of a king in a ship laden
   with treasure, and has other descriptions of hoards including Beowulf's
   own mound-burial. Its picture of warrior life in the Hall of the Danish
   Scylding clan, with formal mead-drinking, minstrel recitation to the
   lyre and the rewarding of valour with gifts, and the description of a
   helmet, could all be illustrated from the Sutton Hoo finds. The
   interpretation of each has a bearing on the other.

   Beowulf is a work of heroic lore, not a scholarly history. However, the
   real eastern Swedish connections of the Sutton Hoo material reinforce
   this link. The Vendel and Valsgärde graves also include ships (though
   smaller), similar artefact groups, and many sacrificed animals.
   Ship-burial at this date is largely confined to east Sweden and East
   Anglia. The rather earlier mound-burials (without ships) at Old
   Uppsala, in the same region, have a more direct bearing on the Beowulf
   story and date-horizon. The Sutton Hoo and the Swedish burials are
   earlier than the famous Gokstad and Oseberg ship-burials.
   A Swedish shield from Vendel, directly comparable to the Sutton Hoo
   shield.
   A Swedish shield from Vendel, directly comparable to the Sutton Hoo
   shield.

   The inclusion of drinking-horns, lyre, sword and shield, bronze and
   glass vessels is not untypical of high-status 6th or early 7th century
   chamber-graves in England. The selection and arrangement of goods in
   these graves shows a widespread conformity of household possessions and
   funeral custom among these wealthy people. The Sutton Hoo ship-burial
   is a uniquely-elaborated version of the ritual, of exceptional quality,
   with the addition of the regalia and instruments of power, and with
   Scandinavian connections more direct than the general overlap between
   English and north continental art of the period.
   Vendel era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
   Vendel era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.

   A possible explanation for these Swedish connections lies in the
   well-attested northern custom by which the children of leading men were
   often brought up not at home, but by some distinguished friend or
   relative. In this way, at a royal level, a future East Anglian
   potentate fostered in Sweden could have acquired very high quality
   objects of Swedish type, and have made the necessary contacts with
   those armourers, before returning to Britain to assume his inheritance.

   Sam Newton draws together the Sutton Hoo and Beowulf links with the
   Raedwald identification, and using genealogical data argues that the
   Wuffing dynasty derived from the Geatish Wulfing house mentioned in
   Beowulf and the poem Widsith. Possibly the oral materials from which
   Beowulf was assembled belonged to East Anglian royal tradition, and
   they and the ship-burial took shape together as heroic restatements of
   migration-age origins.

   Professor Carver argues that pagan East Anglian rulers responded to the
   encroachment of Roman Christendom by ever more elaborate cremation
   rituals to express defiance and independence. The execution victims, if
   not human sacrifices for the ship-burial, perhaps suffered for dissent
   from the cult of Christian royalty. The executions may coincide in date
   with the period of Mercian dominion in East Anglia (c 760–825).

Art history

   Sutton Hoo is a cornerstone of the study of art in Britain in the
   6th–9th centuries. Professor Henderson, summarising, calls the ship
   treasures 'the first proven hothouse for the incubation of the Insular
   style.' A full assemblage of objects of very varied origins are
   combined among the possessions of a person of the highest social
   degree. The gold and garnet fittings show the creative fusion of
   foregoing techniques and motifs derived from them, by a
   master-goldsmith working for such a patron.

   From the gathering together of such possessions, and the combination or
   transformation of their themes and techniques in new productions, the
   synthesis of Insular art emerges. Drawing on Irish, Pictish,
   Anglo-Saxon, native British and Mediterranean artistic sources, Insular
   art is a fusion more complex than the purely Anglo-Irish expressed by '
   Hiberno-Saxon' art. The 7th century Book of Durrow, first survival of
   the gospel-book series including the Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book
   of Kells, owes as much to Pictish sculpture, to British millefiori and
   enamelwork and Anglo-Saxon cloisonne metalwork, as to Irish art.

   This fusion in the Sutton Hoo treasury and workshop precedes the (often
   royal) religious context of the scriptoria. There is thus a continuum
   from pre-Christian royal accumulation of precious objects from diverse
   cultural sources, through to the art of gospel-books, shrines and
   liturgical or dynastic objects in which those elements were blended. It
   is a parallel expression of the formation of English and Insular
   cultural identity, and the dissemination of royal values. That is part
   of the fascination of Sutton Hoo.

Exhibition

     * The treasure from the ship-burial was presented to the nation by
       the owner, Edith May Pretty, in a bequest of 1942, and is held and
       normally displayed at the British Museum in London.

     * The original finds from Mounds 2, 3 and 4, excavated in 1938, are
       displayed at Ipswich Museum, Suffolk, in an Anglo-Saxon Gallery
       (opened 1996). There are also on display British Museum replicas or
       reproductions of the lyre, the whetstone-sceptre, great buckle,
       sword-belt mounts, silver bowls, spoons and ladle, some sword-belt
       fittings, the coins, a large drinking-cup, and the large cauldron
       from the ship-burial. The display includes other objects of related
       interest from Suffolk.

     * The Sutton Hoo site itself, including Sutton Hoo House (now Tranmer
       House), was given to the English National Trust by the Trustees of
       the Annie Tranmer Trust during the 1990s. A visitor centre and
       exhibition hall were opened in March 2002, at which Seamus Heaney,
       the guest speaker, read from his translation of Beowulf.

     * The National Trust visitor centre is sited near the Sutton Hoo
       cemetery and includes much of the Sutton Hoo estate. The Exhibition
       Hall houses the original finds from the Sutton Hoo equestrian grave
       (Mound 17), the newly-found hanging bowl and the Bromeswell Bucket.
       There are several high-quality reproductions and a life-sized
       recreation of the burial chamber and contents. A temporary
       exhibition room displays original objects on loan in annual themed
       exhibitions. Tranmer House is used for day-schools on related
       themes.

     * Reproductions. View a modern reproduction of the sword made by
       Patrick Bárta of TEMPL Historic Arms at this link . View a
       recreation of the lyre at this link .

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