Sutton Hoo

Sixth and seventh century AD burial mounds in Suffolk, England, the richest treasure found in British soil. It was the royal cemetery of the Wuffingas, early Anglo-Saxon kings of East Anglia. The largest of the burial mounds was found to cover a Saxon boat, its form preserved only by the impression left in the sand by its vanished timbers, with their iron bolts still in their original positions. The boat had been propelled by 38 oars; there was no mast. The grave goods include a decorated helmet, sword, and shield; ceremonial whetstone; gold belt buckle; purse and cloak clasps; Millefiori glass; cloisonné garnets; Merovingian gold coins; and Byzantium silver vessels and spoons. It is likely to have been prepared as a cenotaph in honor of Redwald (d. 625). He was the most important East Anglian king. The treasure shows a higher cultural level and wider commercial contacts than had previously been figured for the early Saxon period in England. This type of funerary ritual is known from Migration Period Europe and is described in the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The ship and artifacts are now housed in the British Museum.

Perhaps the most remarkable archaeological discovery ever made in Britain is the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo, close to the Suffolk coast. The excavations in 1938-9 concentrated on the largest of a group of mounds which was found to contain the remains of an open rowing boat 27 metres long, with impressions of timbers and clamps surviving. The central burial chamber contained a rich collection of outstanding objects from all over Europe of 4th- to 7th-century date. This type of funerary ritual is known from Migration Period Europe (see boat burial) and is described in the AngloSaxon poem Beowulf, but it is nevertheless a fairly rare occurrence until the Viking era. The Sutton Hoo deposit must be regarded as an isolated British example of a pagan burial practice which has survived into the Christian era: many Christian artefacts were among those interred. Although no traces of a body were discovered, the valuable grave goods deposited in the ship suggest that it commemorates a person of prestige and importance, possible King Raedwald of Essex, who died in 625. The most notable objects among the Sutton Hoo treasure are the items of gold jewellery and armour inlaid with enamels, millefiori glass, and cloisonné garnets; there is also the famous gilt-bronze helmet, thought to be an import from Sweden, and the great gold buckle, as well as a fíne collection of silver ware; these spectacular finds are now housed in the British Museum. A new campaign of survey and excavation at Sutton Hoo is planned for the 1980s.