The original helmet is extremely rare, only one of four known complete helmets from Anglo-Saxon England. Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience. An undisturbed ship burial was discovered at Sutton Hooin Suffolk. The British Museum’s Phillips delivered a short speech about the ship, but was drowned out by the roar of the engine of a Spitfire flying overhead as England prepared for war. After the Allies’ victory in 1945, the trove was returned to the British Museum where conservation and reconstruction work began. The film follows the excavation, including the stories of the main characters, tensions between them, and romantic involvements. Sutton Hoo - Anglo-Saxon England's greatest treasure. Credit: ANL/Shutterstock The vessel had seemingly been used for a … Originating from Scandinavia, the Vikings voyaged overseas to raid, trade and settle in new lands at this time. Continue Buffini, who adapted Jane Eyre for the screen in 2011, conducted extensive research on Sutton Hoo, poring over Brown’s notebooks, inquest reports and photos and drawing inspiration from “each bit of treasure recorded, measured and drawn for posterity.”, “One is struck by the tenderness Brown felt for all of the artifacts,” Buffini says. Privacy Statement Now that her story is more widely known, some are wondering exactly how much the treasure is worth. An introduction to Sutton Hoo In 1939, 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. The pommel is inlaid with garnet cloisonné, the guards are made from gold plates, and the grip has two gold mounts decorated with delicate filigree. The remains of the ship at Sutton Hoo. Garnets line the eyebrows, one of which is backed with gold foil reflectors. Visit the National Trust page about Sutton Hoo to find out more. Vote Now! Inside, he made one of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries of all time. See more ideas about sutton hoo, anglo saxon, saxon. Children developed their language skills by describing the artefacts in as much detail as they could. Advertising Notice Room 41 gives an overview of the period and its peoples. In the summer of 1937, as the specter of World War II loomed over Europe, Edith Pretty, a wealthy widow living near Woodbridge, a small town in Suffolk, England, met with the curator of a local museum to discuss excavating three mounds of land on the far side of her estate, Sutton Hoo. The Roman Empire broke down in the west, but continued as the Byzantine Empire in the east. Breathtaking artistry The iconic Sutton Hoo helmet was wrapped in cloth and laid near the left side of the dead person's head. Dating back to the sixth or seventh century A.D., the 1,400-year-old grave—believed to belong to an Anglo-Saxon king—contained fragments of an 88-foot-long ship (the original wood structure had deteriorated) and a burial chamber filled with hundreds of opulent treasures. Another reason more archaeologists were brought in was because they knew war could break out at any moment and they were in a hurry to finish the excavation and get the items to a safe place. The next phase was discovering the burial chamber within the ship, filled with a treasure trove of almost perfectly-preserved artifacts, made from gold and garnet: a stunning helmet, shoulder clasps, a golden belt buckle. But Buffini professes that in the script, she did omit Pretty’s obsession with “spiritualism” and penchant for speaking to the dead. It was the grave goods within the burial chamber that drew the most attention. Suffolk, England. A few miles from the Suffolk coast, the Sutton Hoo ship burial was one of the most exciting discoveries in British archaeology, and one that profoundly exploded the myth of the 'Dark Ages'. It contained lots of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of great historical interest. The site at Sutton Hoo is managed by the National Trust. Minus a few plot points inserted for the sake of dramatic storytelling (Brown’s relationship with British Museum archaeologist Charles Phillips wasn’t nearly as contentious as portrayed, for instance), the movie mostly adheres to the real story, according to screenwriter Moira Buffini. If the grave’s precise status is in doubt, its uniqueness is not, and the treasure is a much needed feast for the eyes in a period starved of visual aids. Contrary to long-held beliefs that the period was devoid of the arts or cultural richness, the Sutton Hoo artifacts reflected a vibrant, worldly society. Today, the Sutton Hoo artifacts remain on exhibition at the British Museum, where each year, in non-pandemic times, visitors view the extraordinary treasures of an Anglo-Saxon king buried in grandeur 1,400 years ago. The sword is richly furnished with gold hilt (handle) fittings. Pretty donated the artifacts to the British Museum, where they sit to this day, known as the "Sutton Hoo find." A photograph of the real Sutton Hoo location in Suffolk, taken in 1939 upon its discovery. At its height, the Roman Empire extended all around the Mediterranean and into continental Europe and Britain. In the Sutton Hoo excavation, archaeologists found artifacts from other areas of the world, suggesting that there was much more trade and communication between societies. Back in 1939, a really important archaeological find was made! On July 25, 1939, Pretty hosted a reception at the Sutton Hoo site to celebrate the conclusion of the dig. By 1100, the precursors of several modern states had developed. Given the inherent drama of the excavations at Sutton Hoo, it was only a matter of time before Hollywood offered its own take on the events. At its centre was a ruined burial chamber packed with treasures: Byzantine silverware, sumptuous gold jewellery, a lavish feasting set, and, most famously, an ornate iron helmet. National Geographic surmises that “the early medieval society portrayed in epic … Rob Roy via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 2.5, Archaeologists Discover Ruins of Emperor Hadrian's Ornate Breakfast Chamber, Six Skeletons Found in Wreck of 18th-Century Pirate Ship Sunk Off Cape Cod, Creepy or Cool? Here's why it remains so intriguing. Give a Gift. TThe Sutton Hoo treasure is on currently on display in the museum’s Room 41. 19 Top Sutton Hoo Teaching Resources Explore more than 19 'Sutton Hoo' resources for teachers, parents and pupils as well as related resources on 'Anglo Saxons' Thousands of FREE teaching resources to download Pick your own The grave goods were exquisitely crafted out of … Over the course of several excavations in 1938 and 1939, Brown and the archaeological team found 263 objects buried in the central chamber of the enormous Anglo-Saxon ship. The find at Sutton Hoo turned out to be Europe’s largest ship burial, complete with treasure, and it ended Britain’s Dark Ages. A few days later, the Sutton Hoo artifacts were transported to the British Museum, and after some legal wrangling, they officially became part of the collection as a gift from Pretty. The origin of the term 'Viking' is uncertain, perhaps coming from Old Norse words for pirates, seaborne expeditions, or an area in south-eastern Norway called Viken. Over the next year or so, Brown, who was later joined by archaeologists from the British Museum, struck gold, unearthing the richest medieval burial ever found in Europe. In 1983, a third excavation of the site led to the discovery of another mound, which contained a warrior and his horse. Brown found 37 gold coins, which were probably held in a leather pouch, and an ornate purse lid, which would have covered the pouch. Beneath the mound was the imprint of a 27m-long (86ft) ship. The British Museum, which houses the trove today, deemed the find a “spectacular funerary monument on epic scale.”. Built of overlapping planks fixed to a series of curving cross-beams, it had been 27m long and 4m across. Keep up-to-date on: © 2021 Smithsonian Magazine. Its capital was Constantinople. Terms of Use “Every part of the burial site is an important piece of the puzzle, even something as simple as small wooden cups,” says Brunning. The importance of the Sutton Hoo burial cannot be understated. The Anglo-Saxons buried people’s belongings with them, and many things found in the graves have told us about the lives of their owners. Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries from the early 7th century, one of which contains an undisturbed ship burial. In 1939, 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. We use cookies to make our website work more efficiently, to provide you with more personalised services or advertising to you, and to analyse traffic on our website. 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. The most iconic item to come out of Sutton Hoo is a helmet decorated with images of fighting and dancing warriors and fierce creatures, including a dragon whose wings form the headgear’s eyebrows and tail its body and mouth. The people of Ireland and northern and Western Britain spoke Celtic languages and shared ancient traditions and beliefs. In medieval times the westerly end of the mound was dug away and a boundary ditch was laid out. But when we analyze these objects and look at how they are laid out and the type of labor that went into them, they would have taken time to make. Cookie Policy Its unparalleled collections range from the Atlantic Ocean to the Black Sea, and from North Africa to Scandinavia. Not only did the site shed light on life during the early medieval Anglo-Saxon period (roughly 410 to 1066) but it also prompted historians to revise their thinking about the Dark Ages, the era that followed the Roman Empire’s departure from the British Isles in the early fifth century. As the archaeologists dug deeper, they found themselves stunned by the scale, quality and sheer diversity of the trove. Sutton Hoo’s location in East Anglia and the richness of its artifacts hyperlink it to the East Anglian royal dynasty. In addition, her friend Florence Sayce's Egyptologist uncle, Archibald Sayce; and her father excavated a Cistercian abbey adjoining their home at Vale Royal. Sutton Hoo and Beowulf” by SUNE LINDQVIST Professor of Northern Archaeology in Uppsala University (Translator’s note : A number of footnotes have been added by the translator to clarify various points for English readers.English readers. 17th Annual Photo Contest Finalists Announced. Questions addressed in this lesson were:What would you expect archaeologists to find at Sutton Hoo? Another fun tidbit: Although it’s never mentioned in Netflix’s The Dig , the best guess presented by historians as to who was buried in the ship was the Anglo-Saxon King Raedwald of East Anglia, who reigned in the early 600s, according to the British Museum .

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