Sutton Hoo in brief
Sutton Hoo is a group of burial mounds on a ridge above the River Deben, near Woodbridge in Suffolk, in eastern England. It was a royal burial ground of the kingdom of the East Angles in the 6th and 7th centuries AD, when England was ruled by Anglo-Saxon kings. The largest mound, Mound 1, held a buried ship and a rich collection of treasure.
The 1939 excavation
In 1938 the owner of the land, Edith Pretty, who had become interested in the mounds, hired a local self-taught archaeologist, Basil Brown, to dig some of them. Brown dug three mounds, which had been robbed, and in 1939 he started on the biggest. He found iron rivets in lines, which showed there had been a ship.
As the news spread, experts from museums took over, led by Charles Phillips of Cambridge University, with a small team. They uncovered the impression of a ship 27 metres long, which was made of oak, and had been dragged to the site and buried under a mound. The wood itself had decayed in the acid sand, leaving a ghostly shape and the rivets in position. The excavation had to be done in a few weeks, in the summer of 1939, before the outbreak of the Second World War. The finds were taken to the British Museum, and Edith Pretty gave them to the nation.
The treasure
In the ship, in a chamber at the centre, was a wealth of objects:
- The helmet. An iron helmet with a decorated face mask, in pieces which were reconstructed over many years.
- Weapons. A sword with gold and garnet fittings, a shield, spears.
- Gold jewellery. A large gold belt buckle, a purse lid with garnet and glass inlay, and shoulder clasps.
- Imports. Silver bowls and spoons from the eastern Mediterranean, coins from Frankish Gaul, and a Byzantine dish, evidence for connections across Europe.
- Everyday goods. Drinking horns, a lyre, and a cauldron.
No body was found, but chemical traces in the acid soil suggest that a body once lay in the chamber.
Whose grave?
The coins date the burial to the 610s to 630s, most likely about 625 AD. The most likely candidate is Rædwald, king of East Anglia, who died around then, and is mentioned by the historian Bede. This is not proved, and others have been suggested.
Later work
Further excavations, led by Martin Carver in the 1980s and 1990s, found other graves, including of young men, probably executed, and a burial with a horse. The site had been used since the Neolithic. In 2021 the Netflix film The Dig told the story of the 1939 excavation.
Why it matters
Sutton Hoo changed the view of the “Dark Ages” in England. The treasure shows that the early Anglo-Saxon kings had wealth, skill and links with the wider world. It also shows how the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf, which describes a ship burial, may reflect real traditions.
Visiting
The National Trust looks after the site, with a visitor centre, exhibits and a tower overlooking the mounds. The treasure is displayed in the British Museum in London. A replica of the ship burial chamber can be seen at the site.
Sources
- Bruce-Mitford, R. (1975 to 1983). The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, 3 volumes. British Museum Publications.
- Carver, M. (1998). Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings? University of Pennsylvania Press.
- National Trust. Sutton Hoo.