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Learn about the rich and mysterious grave of an early medieval person at Sutton Hoo, a 27m long ship with a central chamber full of treasures. Discover how the grave goods reveal about the identity, status and culture of the person buried there, and how the British Museum's experts pieced together the evidence.
Sutton Hoo. / 52.089; 1.338. Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was discovered.
- .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}52°05′20″N 1°20′17″E / 52.089°N 1.338°E
An inquest determined the treasure found at Sutton Hoo belonged to Edith Pretty but she donated it to the British Museum. Mrs Pretty had travelled extensively and seen excavations in the Nile ...
- The Sutton Hoo investigation began with some mysterious mounds. Former World War I nurse Edith Pretty moved with her new husband Frank to Sutton Hoo in Suffolk in 1926.
- An amateur archaeologist used a coal shovel to excavate the Sutton Hoo mounds. Basil Brown had left school at the age of 12 and worked a number of jobs, from gardener to insurance agent.
- The Sutton Hoo ship burial proved that the ‘Dark Ages’ was a misnomer. Around 410 CE, as the Roman Empire broke down, the Roman army left England. Then, Germanic tribes like the Angles and Saxons invaded and settled in eastern England.
- The body was missing from the Sutton Hoo ship burial. During the 1939 excavation, no trace of human bones was found. Some archaeologists proposed that the tomb must have been a cenotaph—a memorial containing no body.
Jan 17, 2021 · Learn about the 1939 discovery of a royal ship burial and other finds at Sutton Hoo, a National Trust site in Suffolk. The film The Dig, starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, is based on the true story of the archaeological excavation.
- 2 min
- Katy Prickett
Learn how a mysterious barrow on a Suffolk estate revealed a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon funerary ship and a cache of royal treasure in 1939. Discover the significance of the Sutton Hoo find for understanding early England and its warrior culture.
Dec 6, 2023 · In 1939 Mrs Edith Pretty, a landowner at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, asked archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate the largest of several Anglo-Saxon burial mounds on her property. Inside, he made one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of all time. Brown started digging under mounds 2, 3 and 4, where he found a few, mostly broken ...
