Sutton hoo
Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval burial grounds dating to the 6th and VII, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938. In one of the cemeteries there was an intact burial ship with a large number of Anglo-Saxon artifacts. Most of these objects are now in the British Museum. Scholars believe that Redvaldo de Estanglia is the person most likely to have been buried on the ship. The site is important in establishing the history of the Kingdom of East Anglia, as well as illuminating the early Anglo-Saxon period, which lacked historical documentation.
The site was first excavated by Basil Brown under the auspices of landowner Edith Pretty, but when its importance became clear, national experts took over. During the 1960s and 1980s, archaeologists explored the area more extensively and many other individual burials were discovered. The artifacts make up what is considered the greatest treasure ever discovered in the UK. Among those found in the burial chamber were a set of gold and gem metal grave goods, a ceremonial helmet, a shield and sword, a lyre and a silver plate from the Byzantine Empire.
The burial ship has drawn comparisons to the world of the Old English poem Beowulf. The poem is partly set in Götaland in southern Sweden, which features archaeological parallels to some of the Sutton Hoo finds.
The cemeteries are located near the Deben River estuary and other archaeological sites. They appear as a group of about 20 earthen mounds that rise slightly above the horizon of the spur when viewed from the opposite shore. The most recent cemetery is located on a second spur about 500 meters upstream of the first. It was discovered and partially explored in 2000 during preliminary work for the construction of an exhibition hall for tourists. In this place there are also burials, but the tops of their burial mounds have been destroyed by subsequent agricultural activity.
The nearby visitor center contains original artifacts, replica finds, and a reconstruction of the ship's burial chamber. The site is managed by the National Trust.
Toponymy
Sutton Hoo derives its name from Old English. Sut combined with tun means "southern farm" or "settlement" and hoh refers to a "spur-shaped" hill. The same ending survives on other place names, notably Plymouth Hoe and Fingringhoe.
Location
Sutton Hoo, lying along the bank of the River Deben estuary, gives its name to the small Suffolk village of Sutton and its parish. On the opposite shore is the small port town of Woodbridge, which lies about 11 km from the North Sea and just below the lowest convenient fording point. It provided a gateway to East Anglia during the period that followed the end of Roman imperial rule in the 5th century century.
South of Woodbridge are 6th century lowercase cemeteries at Rushmere, Little Bealings and Tuddenham St Martin, and around Brightwell Heath, a site of burial mounds dating to the Bronze Age. There are burial grounds of a similar date at Rendlesham and Ufford. Snape's burial ship is the only one in England that can be compared to the example at Sutton Hoo.
The territory between the Orwell and the Alde and Deben river basins may have been an early center of royal power, originally centered on Rendlesham or Sutton Hoo, and a primary component in the formation of the kingdom of East Anglia. In the 7th century century, Gipeswic (present-day Ipswich) began to grow as a center of foreign trade, Botulfo's monastery in Iken it was founded by royal grant in 654, and Bede identified Rendlesham as the place of Æthelwold's royal dwelling.
Initial settlement
Neolithic and Bronze Age
There is evidence that Sutton Hoo was occupied during the Neolithic period, around 3000 BC. C., when farmers cleared the forests in the area. They dug small pits containing clay vessels tempered with flint. Several pits were found near holes where large trees had been uprooted: Neolithic farmers may have associated the holes with pots.
During the Bronze Age, when Britain's farming communities were embracing the new technology of metalworking, circular timber-framed houses with bahareque walls and thatched roofs were built in Sutton Hoo. The best surviving example contained a ring of upright posts up to 12 inches in diameter, with a pair suggesting a south-eastern entrance. A faience bead had been dropped at the central hearth. The farmers who inhabited this house used pottery decorated in the Beaker style, grew barley, oats, and wheat, and gathered hazelnuts. They dug trenches that marked the surrounding pastures in sections, indicating ownership of the land. The sandy and acidic soil ended up leaching and becoming infertile, and it is likely that for this reason the settlement ended up being abandoned, to be replaced in the Middle Bronze Age (1500-1000 BC) by sheep or cattle, which fenced with wooden posts.
Iron Age and Romano-British Period
During the Iron Age, iron replaced copper and bronze as the dominant form of metal used in the British Isles. In the Middle Iron Age (circa 500 BC), the people of the Sutton Hoo area began farming again, dividing the land into small enclosures now known as Celtic fields. The narrow beds imply the cultivation of grapes, while in other places, small patches of dark soil indicate that cabbages may have been grown. This cultivation continued into the Romano-British period, from AD 43 to about 410. the Britons was not affected by the arrival of the Romans. Various artifacts from the period have been found, including some pottery shards and an abandoned fibula. When the Empire encouraged the peoples of Western Europe to maximize the use of land for crops, the Sutton Hoo area suffered from degradation and soil loss. Over time, it was abandoned and became a brushy area.
Anglo-Saxon Cemetery
Context
Following the withdrawal of the Romans from southern Britain after 410 AD, Germanic tribes such as the Angles and Saxons began to settle the southeastern part of the island. Many scholars consider that East Anglia is a region in which this settlement was especially early and dense; The name of the area derives from that of the Angles. Over time, the remnants of the pre-existing British population adopted the culture of the newcomers.
During this period, southern Great Britain broke up into a series of small independent kingdoms. Several pagan burial grounds from the East Angle kingdom have been found, most notably at Spong Hill and Snape, where a large number of cremations and burials were found. Many of the graves were accompanied by grave goods, including combs, clips, and brooches, as well as weapons. Sacrificial animals had been included in the graves.
At the time when Sutton Hoo Cemetery was in use, the River Deben was part of an extensive network of trade and transportation. A number of settlements grew up along the river, most of which would be small farms, although it seems likely that a larger administrative center also existed, where the local aristocracy held court. Archaeologists have speculated that such a center existed at Rendlesham, Melton, Bromeswell, or Sutton Hoo. It has been suggested that the burial mounds used by the wealthiest families were later appropriated as sites for the first churches. In these cases, the burial mounds would have been destroyed before the churches were built.
Sutton Hoo Cemetery contained about twenty burial mounds; it was reserved for people who were buried individually with objects indicating that they had exceptional wealth or prestige. It was used in this way from about 575 to 625 and contrasts with Snape's Burial Ground, where the burial ship and graves were added to a burial ground of buried vessels containing cremation ashes.
Cremations and burials, mounds 17 and 14
Martin Carver believes that the cremation burials at Sutton Hoo were "among the oldest" in the cemetery. Two were excavated in 1938. Under burial mound 3 were found the ashes of a man and a horse placed in a wooden trough or coffin, an iron-headed Frankish throwing ax and objects imported from the eastern Mediterranean, such as the lid of a bronze jug, part of a miniature carved plaque depicting a winged Victory and decorated bone fragments from a coffin. bone for gambling
In Mounds 5, 6, and 7, Carver found cremations deposited in bronze bowls. In mound 5, game pieces, small iron scissors, a cup and an ivory box were found. Mound 7 also contained game pieces, as well as an iron bucket, sword belt accessory, and drinking vessel, along with remains of horse, cattle, deer, sheep, and pig that had been burned with the deceased in a pyre. Mound 6 contained cremated animals, game pieces, a sword belt accessory, and a comb. The tomb in Mound 18 was badly damaged, but was of a similar type. Two cremations were found during exploration in the 1960s, which served to define the extent of Mound 5, along with two burials and a grave with a skull and fragments of decorative sheeting. In the flat areas between the mounds, Carver found three burials. A small mound contained the remains of a child, along with his buckler and a miniature spear. A man's grave included two belt buckles and a knife, and a woman's contained a leather bag, a pin, and a chatelaine.
The most impressive of the chamberless burials is that of a young man who was buried with his horse, in mound 17. The horse would have been sacrificed for burial, in a ritual standardized enough to indicate a fault sentimental attachment to him. Under the mound there were two undisturbed graves, one next to the other. The man's oak coffin contained his sword to the right and his sword belt, wrapped around the blade, which had a bronze buckle with a garnet lattice, two pyramidal strap mounts, and a scabbard buckle. Next to the man's head was a tinderbox and a leather bag containing rough garnets and a piece of millefiori glass. Around the coffin were two spears, a shield, a small cauldron and a bronze bowl, a pot, an iron bucket, and some animal ribs. In the north-west corner of his grave was a bridle, mounted with circular gilt bronze plaques with interlocking ornamentation, these objects are on display at Sutton Hoo.
Bury tombs of this type are known from both England and Germanic continental Europe, with most dating to the 6th century or early VII. An example was excavated at Witnesham around 1820. There are other examples at Lakenheath, west Suffolk, and in Snape's burial ground. Other examples have been deduced from records of the discovery of horse accessories at Eye and Mildenhall.
Although the tomb under burial mound 14 had been almost completely destroyed, apparently during a severe storm, it contained exceptionally high-quality goods belonging to a woman. Among them were a chatelaine, a kidney-shaped bag lid, a bowl, various buckles, a dress clasp, and coffin hinges, all of silver, as well as a fragment of embroidered cloth.
Cairn 2
This tomb, damaged by looters, was probably the source of the many iron rivets for ships found at Sutton Hoo in 1860. In 1938, when the mound was excavated, iron rivets were found, allowing the tomb to be interpreted as a small boat. Carver's reinvestigation revealed that there was a rectangular boarded-up chamber, 5 meters long by 2 meters wide, sunk below the surface of the ground, with the body and grave goods deposited in it. A small boat had been placed on the chamber in an east-west alignment before raising a large mound of earth.
Chemical analysis of the chamber floor has suggested the presence of a body in the southwest corner. Among the objects found were fragments of a glass vase with stroke decoration, similar to the find in the tomb of Prittlewell, in Essex. There were two gilt bronze discs with interlocking animal motifs, a bronze clasp, a silver buckle, and a gold buckle stud. Four objects were particularly related to the finds from Mound 1: the tip of a sword blade showed elaborate welding; silver-gilt drinking horn mounts (minted with the same dies as those in Mound 1); and the similarity of two fragments of dragon-shaped mounts or plates. Although the rituals were not identical, the association of the tomb contents shows a connection between the two burials.
Burials of the executed
The cemetery contained remains of people who died violently, in some cases by hanging and beheading. Often the bones have not survived, but the flesh had scarred the sandy soil: the earth was laminated as the excavation progressed, exposing the scrawny figures of the dead. Casts of several of them were taken.
Carver led the identification and discussion of these burials. Two main groups were excavated, one around Mound 5 and one located beyond the cemetery limits in the eastern field. Mound 5 is believed to have been a gallows, in a prominent position near a major river crossing point, and that the tombs contained the bodies of criminals, possibly executed from the centuries VIII and IX.
The new field of graves
In 2000, a team from Suffolk County Council excavated the planned site for the new National Trust visitor centre, north of Tranmer House, at a point where the Deben Valley ridge veers to the east. west to form a promontory. When the top layer of soil was removed, early Anglo-Saxon burials were discovered in one corner, some containing objects of great value. The area had first attracted attention with the discovery of part of a 18th century bronze vessel. span style="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">VI, of eastern Mediterranean origin, probably having been part of a burial. The outer surface of the so-called Bromewell Cube was decorated with a frieze in the Syrian or Nubian style, depicting naked warriors in combat with leaping lions, and bearing a Greek inscription translating "Use this in good health, Sir Earl, for many happy years."
In an area close to an old rose garden, a group of moderate-sized burial mounds was identified. They had long since leveled off, but their position is shown by circular trenches each enclosing a small deposit indicating the presence of a single burial, probably cremation. One of the burials was in an irregular oval pit containing two containers, a stamped black clay urn from the turn of the VI and a large, well-preserved bronze hanging bowl, with openwork hook trims and a circular support in the center. In another burial, a man had been laid next to his spear and covered with a full-size shield. The shield bore an ornate stud and two fine metal mounts, ornamented with a predatory bird and a dragon-like creature.
Mound 1
The burial ship discovered under burial mound 1 in 1939 contained one of the most magnificent archaeological finds in England for its size and completeness, its far-reaching connections, the quality and beauty of its contents, and the profound interest it generated.
The Burial
Although virtually none of the original wood was preserved, the shape of the ship was perfectly preserved. Stains from the sand had replaced the wood, but many details of the construction had been preserved. Almost all the rivets on the iron plates were in their original places. The original ship could be inspected, which was 27 meters long, pointed at both ends, with high posts fore and aft, and widened to 4.4 meters wide amidships, with an interior depth of 1.5 meters above the keel line. Starting from the keel, the hull was built in lashing with nine planks on each side, fastened with rivets. Twenty-six wooden ribs reinforced the form. The repairs were visible: she had been a well-made sailing ship, but she had no lowering keel. The deck, benches and mast were removed. In the bow and stern sections, along the gunwales, there were oar supports in the shape of the Anglo-Saxon letter "thorn", indicating that she may have held positions for forty oarsmen. The central chamber had wooden end walls and a roof, probably sloped.
The heavy oak vessel had been dragged from the river up the hill and lowered into a prepared ditch, so that only the fore and stern posts rose above the ground surface. After adding the body and artifacts, an oval mound covering the ship and rising above the horizon was built on the river side of the cemetery. The view down to the river is now obscured by Top Hat Woods, but the mound would have been a symbol of power visible to those who used the waterway. This appears to have been the last time Sutton Hoo Cemetery was used for its original purpose.
Much later, the roof collapsed violently under the weight of the mound, compressing the ship's contents into a vein of earth.
The body in the funeral boat
As no body was found, it was initially speculated that the burial ship was a cenotaph, but soil tests in 1967 found traces of phosphate, supporting the view that a body had disappeared in the acid soil. The presence of a platform (or a large coffin) about 9 feet (2.7 m) long was indicated. Nearby were a wooden bucket bound with iron, an iron lamp with wax of bee and a bottle of northern continental manufacture. Objects surrounding the body indicate that it lay with its head at the west end of the wooden structure.
Artifacts near the body have been identified as regalia, suggesting that it belongs to a king. Most suggestions for the occupant are East Anglian kings due to the proximity of the royal villa of Rendlesham. Since 1940, when Hector Munro Chadwick first ventured that the burial ship was probably Redvaldo's tomb, scholarly opinion has been divided between Redvaldo and his son (or stepson) Sigebert. The man who was buried under the burial mound 1 cannot be identified, but the identification with Redvaldo continues to be widely accepted among scholars. However, other identifications are occasionally suggested, such as that of his son Eorpwald of East Anglia, who succeeded his father around 624. Redvald is the most likely of the candidates due to the high quality of the imported and commissioned materials. and the resources required to collect them, the authority the gold was intended to convey, the community involvement required to carry out the ritual in an elite graveyard, Sutton Hoo's proximity to Rendlesham, and likely date horizons. As of 2019, the site museum claims the body to be Redvaldo, while the British Museum says only that it is a "King of East Anglia". Analysis of Merovingian coins by Gareth Williams, Curator of Early Medieval Coinage at the British Museum, has reduced the date of the burial to 610 to 635. This makes Sigebert, who died in 637, less likely. Redvald is still the favourite, although Eorpwald also fits the time scale, as he died between 627 and 28.
Closer inspection of the sword's hilt suggests that the occupant was left-handed, as the malleable gold pieces on the hilt are worn on the opposite side than would be expected on a right-handed owner. The unorthodox placement of the sword on the right side of the body supports this theory, since other Anglo-Saxon burials placed the sword on the left side of the body.
Objects from the burial chamber
David Mackenzie Wilson has noted that the metal art found in the Sutton Hoo tombs was "work of the highest quality, not only in English but in European terms".
Sutton Hoo was a cornerstone of the study of art in Britain in the 6th to IX. George Henderson has described the ship's treasures as "the first greenhouse tested for the incubation of the island style". The gold and garnet trimmings show a master goldsmith's creative fusion of earlier techniques and motifs. Insular art drew on Irish, Pictish, Anglo-Saxon, British and Mediterranean art sources: the 7th century Book of Durrow7, owes as much to Pictish sculpture, British millefiori and enamel, and Anglo-Saxon cloisonné goldwork, as to Irish art. The Sutton Hoo treasures represent a continuum from the pre-Christian royal accumulation of precious objects from various cultural sources, to the art of the evangelical books, the sanctuaries and the liturgical or dynastic objects.
Head area: helmet, bowls and spoons
On the left side of the head was a crested and masked helm wrapped in cloth. With its tinned bronze panels and assembled saddles, the decoration is directly comparable to that found on helms from Vendel burials and Valsgärde, in eastern Sweden. The Sutton Hoo helmet differs from Swedish examples in having a single-vaulted shell iron skull, and in having a full face mask, a solid neck guard, and some deep cheeks. These features have been used to suggest an English origin for the basic structure of the helmet; the deep cheekpieces parallel the Coppergate helmet, found in York. Although outwardly very similar to Swedish examples, the Sutton Hoo helmet is the product of better craftsmanship. Helms are extremely rare finds. No other such figured plate was known to exist in England, apart from a fragment from a burial at Caenby, Lincolnshire, until the discovery in 2009 of the Staffordshire hoard, which contained many. The helmet rusted in the grave and it broke into hundreds of small fragments when the ceiling of the chamber collapsed. The restoration of the helm therefore involved the meticulous identification, grouping and orientation of the surviving fragments before it could be reconstructed.
To the right of the head was placed inverted a set of ten silver bowls, probably made in the Byzantine Empire during the VI century. . Beneath them were two silver spoons, possibly from Byzantium, of the type bearing the names of the Apostles. One of the spoons bears the name "Paulos", Paul, in original niello-plated Greek letters. The other, matching spoon was modified with a frank stamper's handwriting to read "Saulos," Saulo. One theory suggests that the spoons (and possibly also the bowls) were a baptismal gift for the buried person.
Weapons on the right side of the body
To the right of the body was a set of spears, points up, among which were three barbed angons, their heads stuck into a handle of the bronze bowl. Nearby was a wand with a small Mount depicting a wolf. Closer to the body was the 85-centimetre-long cloisonné garnet and gold pommel sword, with the blade welded to its scabbard, with a superlative domed lattice scabbard and pyramidal mounts. The sword's harness and belt were attached to the scabbard and faced the body, with a set of gold saddles and strap distributors intricately ornamented with garnet.
Upper body area: bag, clasps and large buckle
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Together with the sword harness and scabbard mounts, the gold and garnet items found in the upper body space, forming a coordinated ensemble, are among the true wonders of Sutton Hoo. Its artistic and technical quality is exceptional.
The large gold buckle is made in three parts. The plate is a long ovoid with a serpentine but symmetrical outline with densely intertwined and interpenetrating animals depicted in chip carving on the front. The golden surfaces are stamped to receive niello details. The plate is hollow and hinged at the back, forming a secret chamber, possibly for a relic. Both the reed plate and rim are solid, ornate and masterfully crafted.
Each brooch consists of two matching curved halves, articulated on a long removable chained pin. The surfaces feature panels of interlocking garnets and checkered millefiori insets, surrounded by interlocking motifs of Germanic II style animals. The ends of the semicircular closures contain a garnet work with intertwined wild boars and surrounded by filigree. At the bottom of the frames are the tabs for fixing a rigid leather cuirass. The function of the clasps is to hold the two halves of the cuirass together so that it can be fitted to the torso in the Roman manner. The cuirass itself, possibly worn in the tomb, has not survived. No other Anglo-Saxon breastplate brooch is known.
The bag's ornamental lid, which covered a lost leather pouch, hung from the belt. The lid consists of a kidney-shaped frame enclosing a sheet of horn, on which were mounted pairs of exquisite plaques of garnet work depicting birds, man-eating wolves (or the ancient master of animals motif), geometric motifs, and a double panel showing animals with entwined limbs. The maker drew these images from the ornamentation of Swedish-style helmets and shields. In his work, they are transferred to the work support with a dazzling technical and artistic virtuosity.
They are the work of a master goldsmith who had access to an armory in East Anglia that contained the objects used as pattern sources. Taken together, they allowed the patron to appear imperial. The bag contained thirty-seven gold shillings, or thrymsas, each from a different Frank mint. They were deliberately collected. There were also three blank coins and two small ingots. This has given rise to various explanations: possibly, like the Roman mite, they were left to pay the ghostly forty oarsmen in the afterlife or were a funerary tribute, or an expression of loyalty. They provide the main evidence for the burial date, which was arguably in the third decade of the VII century.
Lower body and mound areas
In the area corresponding to the lower legs of the body, various containers were placed, among them a pair of drinking horns made from the horns of an aurochs, extinct since the early Middle Ages. These have golden supports and matching vandykes, of similar workmanship and design to the shield mounts, and exactly similar to the surviving horn vandykes from cairn 2. In the same area was a set of maplewood goblets with stands and similar vandykes, and a bunch of folded textiles on the left side.
At the east end of the central wooden structure, two folded or packed piles were formed with a large amount of material, such as metal objects and textiles. Among them were the extremely rare survival of a long coat of mail, made up of alternating rows of welded and riveted iron links, two hanging bowls, leather shoes, a feather-filled cushion, folded leather objects, and a wooden tray. To one side of the piles lay an iron hammer-axe with a long iron handle, possibly a weapon.
Atop the folded piles was a fluted silver plate with handles, probably made in Italy, with the relief image of a Late Roman-style female head worked into the bowl. This contained a series of small wooden cups with brackets, antler combs, small metal knives, a small silver bowl, and other small objects (possibly toiletries), including a bone game piece, believed to be the "queen piece" of a game (Bone remains above the position of the head have suggested that a game board was possibly placed, as at Taplow). On top was a silver ladle with gold chevron decorations, also of Mediterranean origin.
On top of the piles, or their container, if there was one, was a large round silver tray with engraved decorations, made in the Byzantine Empire around 500 AD and bearing the seals of control of Emperor Anastasius I. (491-518). An unburnt piece of bone of uncertain origin was placed on this tray. The set of Mediterranean silverware from the Sutton Hoo tomb is unique for this period in Britain and Europe.
West and East Walls
Along the inner western wall (i.e., the chevet), in the northwest corner, was an iron bracket with a grating near the top. Beside it was a large circular shield about 90 centimeters, with a central umbo, decorated with garnets and with plaques stamped with intertwined animal ornaments. The front of the shield featured two large garnet-set emblems, one a predatory bird and the other a flying dragon. He also wore strips of sheet metal with animal ornamentation directly linked to examples from the ancient Vendel burial ground near ancient Uppsala, Sweden. Nearby was a small bell, possibly of an animal.
Along the wall was a long, square-sectioned grindstone, sharpened at both ends and carved with human faces on each side. At the top end was a ring mount, surmounted by a bronze antler stag figure, possibly resembling a late Roman consular scepter. The purpose of the scepter has generated much debate and various theories, some of which point to the possible religious significance of the stag. To the south of the scepter was a wooden bucket ringed with iron, one of several in the tomb.
In the southwest corner was a group of objects that could have been dangling, but when discovered they were compressed. Among them was a Coptic or eastern Mediterranean bronze bowl with handles and animal figures, sitting under a badly misshapen six-stringed Anglo-Saxon lyre in a beaverskin bag, of the Germanic type found in rich Anglo-Saxon and Northern European tombs of this date. On top was a large, exceptionally elaborate, insular-produced, three-hook hanging bowl with Champlevé enamel and millefiori mounts showing fine spiral ornamentation and motifs of red crosses, and with an enameled metal fish mounted to rotate on a pin inside the bowl.
At the east end of the chamber, near the north corner, was an iron-rimmed yew vat containing a smaller bucket. To the south were two small bronze cauldrons, probably hanging against the wall. A large shrouded bronze cauldron, similar to the example from a chamber tomb at Taplow, with iron mounts and two ring handles, was hung by one handle. Near it was an iron chain almost 3.5 meters long. long, with intricate ornamental sections and forged links, to suspend a cauldron from the rafters of a great room. The chain was the product of a British tradition dating back to pre-Roman times. All of these items were of a household nature.
Textiles
The burial chamber was evidently rich in textiles, represented by many preserved fragments or by chemicals formed by corrosion. Among them were quantities of twill, possibly from cloaks, blankets, or hangings, and remains of cloaks with the characteristic long pile fabric. There were apparently more exotically colored draperies or blankets, including some (possibly imported) woven in stepped diamond patterns using a Syrian technique in which the weft is wound around the warp to create a textured surface. Two other fabrics with colored motifs, near the head and feet of the body area, resemble Scandinavian work from the same period.
Comparisons
Similarities to Swedish Burials
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A series of excavations carried out in 1881-83 by Hjalmar Stolpe revealed 14 graves in the town of Vendel in eastern Sweden. Several of the burials were in boats up to 9 meters long and were fitted with swords, shields, helmets and other objects. Beginning in 1928, another grave field with princely burials was excavated at Valsgärde. The pagan custom of furnished burials may have reached a natural culmination as Christianity began to make its mark. The Vendel and Valsgärde tombs also included ships, groups of similar artifacts, and many sacrificed animals. Ship burials from this period are largely confined to eastern Sweden and East Anglia. The earliest burial mounds from ancient Uppsala, in the same region, have a more direct bearing on the Beowulf story, but do not contain burial ships. The famous Gokstad and Oseberg funerary ships in Norway are later.
The inclusion of drinking horns, lyres, swords and shields, bronze and glass vessels is typical of high-status chamber tombs in England. The similar selection and arrangement of goods in these tombs indicates a conformity of household possessions and burial customs among people of this status, the Sutton Hoo burial ship being a uniquely elaborate version, of exceptional quality. Unusually, Sutton Hoo included regalia and instruments of power and had direct connections to Scandinavia. One possible explanation for such connections lies in the well-documented Norse custom whereby the sons of important men were often raised away from home by a distinguished friend or relative. A future king of East Anglia, while being raised in Sweden, might have acquired high-quality objects and made contact with gunsmiths, before returning to East Anglia to govern.
Carver argues that the pagan rulers of East Anglia would have responded to the growing encroachment of Roman Christendom by employing increasingly elaborate cremation rituals, thus expressing their defiance and independence. The victims of the executions, if not sacrificed for the burial ship, may have suffered because of their dissent from the cult of Christian kingship: their executions may date to the period of Mercian hegemony over East Anglia around 760-825.
Beowulf Connections
Beowulf, the Old English epic poem set in Denmark and Sweden (particularly Götaland) during the first half of the century VI, opens with the funeral of the Danish king, Skjöld (also known as Scyld Scefing or Shield Sheafson), on a treasure-laden ship, and has other descriptions of treasure, including his own burial in Beowulf's mound. His picture of the warrior life in the hall of the Danish Skjöldung clan, with the formal drinking of mead, the recitation of minstrels to the tune of the lyre, and the rewarding of valor with gifts, and the description of a helmet, could be illustrated from the Sutton Hoo finds. The connections to eastern Sweden seen in several of the Sutton Hoo artifacts reinforce the link to the world of Beowulf.
Several scholars have explained how interpretations of Sutton Hoo and Beowulf have influenced one another. Roberta Frank has shown that the discovery of Sutton Hoo caused an increase in silver appearances in translations of Beowulf, despite the absence of Old English words connoting silver in the poem.
Sam Newton joins the links of Sutton Hoo and Beowulf with the identification of Redvaldo. Using genealogical data, he argues that the Wuffing dynasty derived from the Geat house of Ylfing, mentioned in both Beowulf and the poem Widsith . It is possible that the oral materials from which Beowulf was assembled belonged to the royal tradition of East Anglia, and that these and the burial ship took shape together as heroic reaffirmations of the origins of the era of the migration.
Christopher Brooke, in The Saxon & Norman Kings (1963), gives copious notes on Beowulf and the Sutton Hoo treasure and relates the lives of the chiefs in the literary work to the discovery of the burial ship in 1939.
Excavations
Before 1938
In medieval times, the western end of the mound was excavated and a boundary ditch was drawn. Thus, when looters dug into the apparent center during the 16th century, they did not see the actual center: they could not have foreseen either. that the deposit was deep in the belly of a buried ship, well below the level of the ground surface.
In the 16th century a grave was dug in burial mound 1, dated by the bottle fragments left in the background, barely affecting the burial. The area was extensively explored during the 19th century, when a small lookout, but no useful records were made. In 1860 it was reported that nearly two bushels of iron screws, presumably ship's rivets, had been found in the recent opening of one burial mound and that others were expected to be opened.
Basil Brown and Charles Phillips: 1938-1939
In 1910 a fifteen-bedroom mansion was built a short distance from the burial mounds and in 1926 the mansion and its farmland were purchased by Colonel Frank Pretty, a recently married retired military man. In 1934, Pretty died, leaving behind a widow, Edith Pretty, and a young son, Robert Dempster Pretty. Following the bereavement, Edith became interested in spiritualism, a popular religious movement that claimed to allow the living to communicate with the dead.
In 1937, Pretty decided to organize an excavation of the burial mounds. Through the Ipswich Museum, he enlisted the services of Basil Brown, a self-taught archaeologist from Suffolk who had devoted himself full-time to investigating Roman sites for the museum. In June 1938, Pretty took him to the site, offered him accommodation and a salary of 30 shillings a week, and suggested that he start excavating Mound 1. As this had been affected by previous looters from graves, Brown, in consultation with the Museum, decided to open three smaller burial mounds (2, 3 and 4). Only fragmentary artifacts were found in them, as the burial mounds had been stripped of valuable objects.In Mound 2 he found iron rivets for ships and a disturbed chamber burial containing unusual fragments of metal and glass artifacts. It was not known at first whether they were Anglo-Saxon or Viking artifacts. Ipswich Museum then became involved in the excavations; the finds became part of the museum's collection.
In May 1939, Brown began work on Mound 1, assisted by Pretty's gardener John (Jack) Jacobs, his ranger William Spooner, and another farm worker, Bert Fuller. They dug a trench from the east end and on the third day they discovered an iron rivet which Brown identified as a ship's rivet. Within a few hours others were found still in place. The colossal size of the find became apparent. After several weeks of patiently removing dirt from the ship's hull, they arrived at the burial chamber.
The following month, Charles Phillips of Cambridge University heard rumors of a ship discovery. Mr. Maynard, curator of the Ipswich Museum, took him to Sutton Hoo and was astounded by what he saw. Before long, following discussions with the Ipswich Museum, the British Museum, the Science Museum and the Office of Works, Phillips assumed responsibility for the excavation of the burial chamber. Phillips and the British Museum initially instructed Brown to stop digging until they could assemble his team, but he kept working, which may have saved the site from looting by treasure hunters. The team The Phillips team included William Francis Grimes and Osbert Guy Stanhope Crawford of the Ordnance Survey, Peggy Piggott (later known as Margaret Guido) and Stuart Piggott, and other friends and colleagues. Mercie Lack and Barbara Wagstaff photographed the dig ship's.
The need for secrecy and various vested interests led to a clash between Phillips and the Ipswich Museum. In 1935-1936, Phillips and his friend Grahame Clark had taken control of The Prehistoric Society. The curator, Mr. Maynard, then dedicated himself to furthering Brown's work for the museum. Phillips, who was hostile to the museum's honorary president, Reid Moir, F.R.S., had now reappeared, deliberately excluding Moir and Maynard from the new discovery at Sutton Hoo. After Ipswich Museum prematurely announced the discovery, the journalists tried to access the place, so Pretty paid two policemen to guard the place 24 hours a day.
The finds, after being packed up and flown to London, were taken back for a treasure inquest held that autumn at Sutton Town Hall, where it was decided that since the treasure had been unintentionally buried upon recovery, it was owned by Pretty as owner of the land. Pretty decided to bequeath the treasure as a gift to the nation, so that the meaning and excitement of its discovery could be shared throughout the world.
When World War II broke out in September 1939, the material from the burial was stored. Sutton Hoo was used as a training ground for military vehicles.Phillips and his colleagues produced important publications in the 1940s, including a dedicated issue in Antiquity.
Rupert Bruce-Mitford: 1965-1971
At the end of the war in 1945, the Sutton Hoo artifacts were removed from storage. A team, led by Rupert Bruce-Mitford, from the British Museum's Department of British and Medieval Antiquities, determined their nature and helped to reconstruct and reproduce the scepter and helm. were seen by the public.
After analyzing data collected in 1938-39, Bruce-Mitford concluded that there were still unanswered questions. Following her interest in excavating hitherto unexplored areas of the Sutton Hoo site, a second archaeological investigation was organized. In 1965, a team from the British Museum began work, continuing until 1971. The ship's footprint was again uncovered and found to have sustained some damage, having not been filled in after the 1939 excavation. However, it was still sufficiently intact enough to take a plaster mold and produce a fiberglass form. So it was decided to destroy the print to excavate underneath. The mound was later restored to its pre-1939 appearance. The team also determined the boundaries of Mound 5 and investigated evidence of prehistoric activity in the original ground surface. They scientifically analyzed and reconstructed some of the finds.
The three volumes of Bruce-Mitford's definitive text, The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, were published in 1975, 1978, and 1983.
Martin Carver: 1983-1992
In 1978 a committee was formed to organize a third and even larger excavation at Sutton Hoo. Backed by the Society of Antiquaries of London, the committee proposed research led by Philip Rahtz of York University and Rupert Bruce-Mitford, but reservations from the British Museum led the committee to collaborate with the Ashmolean Museum. The committee recognized that archeology had changed a lot since the early 1970s. Conservative privatization policies led to a decline in state support for such projects, while the emergence of post-processualism in archaeological theory led many archaeologists to focus on concepts such as social change. The Ashmolean's involvement convinced the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries to help finance the project. In 1982, Martin Carver of York University was appointed to lead the excavation, with a research plan intended to explore "the politics, social organization and ideology" of Sutton Hoo. Despite opposition from those They felt that the available funds could be better used for preventive archaeology, in 1983 the project went ahead.
Carver believed in restoring the site, which was riddled with rabbit burrows. After surveying the site with new techniques, the topsoil was removed in an area that included burial mounds 2, 5, 6, 7, 17 and 18. A new map of soil patterns and intrusions was produced showing that the burial mounds had been located in relation to prehistoric and Roman enclosure patterns. Anglo-Saxon graves of execution victims were found that were determined to be younger than the primary burial mounds. Tumulus 2 was re-explored and later reconstructed. In mound 17, a previously undisturbed burial, a young man, his weapons and goods, and a separate grave for a horse were found. A significant part of the field of graves was left unexcavated for the benefit of future researchers and as yet unknown scientific methods.
Exhibition
The treasure of the burial ship was presented to the nation by its owner, Edith Pretty, and was at the time the largest donation ever made to the British Museum by a living donor. The main objects are now on permanent display in the Museum British. A display of the original finds excavated in 1938 from Mounds 2, 3 and 4, as well as replicas of the most important objects from Mound 1, can be seen at Ipswich Museum.
In the 1990s, the Sutton Hoo site, including Sutton Hoo House, was given to the National Trust by the trustees of the Annie Tranmer Trust. In the Sutton Hoo visitor center and exhibition hall you can see the newly found hanging bowl and bucket from Bromeswell, finds from the equestrian grave and a recreation of the burial chamber and its contents.
The 2001 Visitor Center was designed by van Heyningen and Haward Architects for the National Trust. His work included the general planning of the estate, the design of an exhibition hall and visitor facilities, the car park and the restoration of the Edwardian house to provide additional facilities.
The £5 million visitor center was opened in March 2002 by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney, who had published a translation of Beowulf.
In popular culture
The Wuffings, a 1997 play written by Ivan Cutting and Kevin Crossley-Holland, reimagines the events leading up to the burial of Mound 1. It was performed by the Eastern Angles theater group at Wickham Market, 5 miles north of Sutton Hoo. The Dig is a 2007 historical novel by John Preston, nephew of Margaret Guido, reimagining the events of the 1939 dig. An adaptation was released in January 2021 film of the novel produced by Netflix and starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. Part of the filming took place in and around Sutton Hoo. The landscape of the place also appears in the video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla, released in 2020.
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