Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo , close to Woodbridge (Suffolk, the United Kingdom), is an archaeological site Anglo-Saxon where were put at the day a cemetery and a Bateau falls dating from the beginning the 7th century.

By its age, its size, its richness, its beauty, its scarcity and its historical importance, Sutton Hoo are one of the greatest archaeological discoveries made in England. The site indeed brings a lighting over one period of the Early middle ages English for which the historians do not have any more but rare documents or objects. However, the boat falls discovered in 1939 in Sutton Hoo contains a great number of artefacts.

Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo is located on a headland, in the east of the river Deben and with about fifteen kilometers of the sea. The word hoo means “point of hill”. funerary hillocks were discovered in this place and often plundered since 1601. A first rudimentary excavation, carried out in 1860, was described in the Ipswich Journal of the same year:

ROMAN TUMUMLI - Few people know that one can see not less than five tumuli Roman, close relations from/to each other, about the ground of a farm occupied by Mr. Barritt and located at Sutton, with approximately 450 meters of the river bank Deben, just opposite Woodbridge. One of these tumuli was recently open; nearly two bushels of iron nails were extracted and given to the blacksmith by it to be transformed into horseshoes! Once the authorization to open the other hillocks will have been obtained, others more important discoveries could be made. These hillocks were indexed by the Stanley captain when it proceeded to surveys of ground and surveys of the river for Amirauté.
- Ipswich Journal November 24th, 1860

Modern archaeological excavations started in 1938 when the new owner of the site, Edith May Pretty, opens three others tumuli with the assistance of Basil Brown, a digger of Suffolk. These investigations show whereas the cemetery is Anglo-Saxon and that he was already profaned. Two of these tumuli (indexed 3 and 4) contain remainders of cremation and another (indexed 2) contains iron rivets similar to those used during the first naval constructions with covering joints. The excavations continued in 1939 and a boat falls was discovered in the tumulus 1. Other more thorough investigations were led to the end of the years 1960 like between 1986 and 1992.

The name of Sutton Hoo especially related to is discovered of this boat in the tumulus 1, but the site is composed of twenty hillocks containing various objects or human remainders, and the majority of these tumuli always await an excavation carried out with last technologies available. Moreover, twenty-seven tombs of another kind were discovered on the site, outside the monticules. The circular provision of twelve of them around the tumulus 1 reinforces the theory which would like that these tombs result from a sacrifice held at the time of the burial of the boat fall. The tumulus 2 sheltered the remainders of the cremation of a man and of a horse, while the tumulus 3 contained another boat fall, smaller than that of monticule 1 and in addition plundered, probably during the years 1860.

On the basis of coin going up with the reign of the frank king Théodebert II (595 - 612), one could go back the tumulus 1 in the neighborhoods to 625. The boat was 27 meters long and 4,2 meters broad in its center and could be operation by forty oarsmen. It was placed in such way in the tomb which its prow pointed towards the east. A funerary room was arranged on the intermediate bridge and, according to the provision of the armor, the skin was to be laid out with the feet directed towards the east and the head towards the west. No part of the body remained at the time of the first excavation, but a more recent analysis revealed chemical traces showing that a body was quite present. The name which generally returns when it is a question of allotting this tomb is that of the king Rædwald of East Anglia.

Only the rivets of the boat remain because of the acidity of the ground but the prints in the ground allowed a detailed rebuilding of the boat. This last did not have an operational skittle and probably not of veil either since no mast was found, but was of excellent invoice; that fed the debate which consisted in knowing if this boat had ever sailed. The provision of the rivets however shows that a repair had been carried out on the boat, which leaves think that this last was operational before being used like burial.

Treasury

The Trésor of Sutton Hoo found in monticule 1 is of importance. The artefacts were withdrawn from the site and are now exposed to the British Museum. They are various natures:

Of the decorative personal effects:

Fasteners of shoulder in partitioned, Garnet-red gold and .
a large loop of gold belt 13,2 cm length, weighing 414,62 grams.
a lid of gold purse with garnet plates and Millefiori (mosaic glass).

the leather purse, which disappeared, contained thirty-seven gold coins mérovingiennes weighing each one between 1,06 and 1,38 gram, three not struck white parts, like two small gold bars. Combined, these forty parts were perhaps the token payment for the forty oarsmen. The two gold bars, whose weight is equivalent to that of four gold coins, would have symbolized the payment of the cox.

a stone to be sharpened decorated with rings of iron and a bronze stag, probably a royal Sceptre.

Of the weapons, of which:

a helmet, lucky find rare in the tombs Germanic, of style Spangenhelm and decorated like other helmets dating from the 6th century and found in Sweden. However, the helmet of Sutton Hoo was of only one holding, which lets suppose that it was manufactured in England; and, contrary to the " Coppergate" helmet; found with York and dating from the same time, that of Sutton Hoo is characterized by the absence from any Christian symbolic system. After an unfruitful test in the years 1940, a conservative of British Museum, Nigel Williams, finally succeeded in reconstituting it in 1971 but it took him six months of work to give together the 500 pieces which composed it, including the jaw of the head of dragon which is reproduced on the facial mask and which had been badly arranged at the time of the excavations.
a round shield of wood, which almost entirely rotted but which was equipped with a central iron handle and was decorated with a bronze plate.
an iron sword rusted, whose remainders are 85 cm long, and who had a gold guard.
a coat of mail.
Six lances of various types.
an axe with an iron handle.

Others:

a series of ten being encased money bowls one in another. Eights of them are well preserved.
a pair of baptismal niellées silver spoons and on which are registered in Greek the names Saulos and Paulos.
a broad bronze bowl decorated with enamel and mosaic glass.
a silver dish marked of a plug dating from the reign of the Byzantine emperor Anastase Ier (491 - 518). Other bronze and silver objects also come from the Mediterranean, but are more recent times.
a quadrant of bard out of maple wooden arranged in a bag in skin of beaver (of which there remain only traces).
a pair of horns of Aurochs to drinking decorated with a silver foil.
Some domestic objects, of which a cauldron provided with a lifting chain of more than 3,35 meters length.
Of the remainders of textiles of many kinds.

Analyzes

Even if it were found only of the traces of human remainders, the king Rædwald of East Anglia, fourth Bretwalda of England, were died at the same time that the creation of the burial, is generally quoted as being the person buried in the hillock number 1. The proximity of Sutton Hoo with a place of royal authority to Rendlesham (7 km in the North-East) indicates that Sutton Hoo and the royal house of East Anglia was to have a report/ratio. Within sight of the quantity and the value of the objects found in the tomb, one can deduce that their owner was to have a wide area network of relations; this type of treasure is moreover in conformity with what was deposited in the royal burials.

Sutton Hoo is one of the only sites of boats tombs of this type which is not in Scandinavia. The burial, the helmet and the shield to those are found practically identical on the sites dating from the Âge of Vendel to Valsgärde and Vendel in Sweden, which would indicate close links between Sutton Hoo and the royal dynasty of the Ynglingar (in particular the branch of Scylfingar) of the Beowulf . Another theory suggests that the dynasty of the Wuffinga would go down from the dynasty Wulfinga of the Beowulf and the Widsith , which would also point worms of the Swedish origins, or rather of the Goths of Scandinavia, for the dynasty of East Anglia.

The archeologists knowing the site advance also the theory according to which the Christianisme started to extend its influence, which led the pagan high Caste to retort with rites more elaborate than ever. It is in this context that the Crémation is adopted, in challenge with the Christian practice which was opposed to it, and which the apotheosis is reached with the royal funeral including a boat falls. Even if the late one were accompanied by objects having a Christian significance, it is possible that the funeral was then accompanied by human sacrifices.

The legend of Sutton Hoo

In addition to its great archaeological importance, Sutton Hoo struck the imagination of the public because of the legend surrounding the discovery of the boat fall into the tumulus 1.

In 1938, the grounds on which the site of Sutton Hoo is belonged to Edith May Pretty. Its house below had a splendid sight the hill towards the hillocks, and she often wondered about what these strange and infested rabbit monticules represented. One night, she saw in dream the images of a funerary procession as of large buried treasures in what is known maintaining like hillock 1. She contacted a local archeologist, Basil Brown, and took it along on the site while suggesting to him beginning excavations in the tumulus 1. However, this monticule obviously had already been stirred up, which could make think of a plundering, and Mr. Brown deduced from it that, consequently, nothing interesting would be found inside. During the year 1938, the archeologist thus directed his excavations towards hillocks 3, then 2, and finally the tumulus 4. These excavations revealed interesting lucky finds but no major discovery could be realized because of the fact that these monticules had been plundered.

Mrs. Pretty continued to insist that an excavation of the tumulus 1 is carried out and, in 1939, Mr. Brown began the excavation of it. He quickly discovered the enormous importance of the treasure contained in this monticule and which returned the site of famous Sutton Hoo. It is said that the center of the funerary room would have been found exactly under the point that Mrs. Pretty had indicated to Mr. Brown to begin the excavations.

However, the question remains to know why the plunderers who have " visité" the tumulus 1 had not found the treasure. Just like of other interrogations raised by Sutton Hoo, this question without answer until today contributes to maintain the legend Sutton Hoo. However, in the past, the site of Sutton Hoo had been divided into several pieces and some ditches of separation had been dug. One of these ditches skirted hillock 1, which gave to this last a disproportionate size. However, the plunderers would have dug starting from the center shifted by this agrarian work, which would explain why they missed the funerary room, actually passing just beside one of its ends.

These stories alone would have been enough to register the legend of Sutton Hoo in the books of history. However, Mrs. Pretty made a last decision which ensured to him a special place in the history of British archeology. According to the law of the time, the owner of the found treasure with Sutton Hoo was to be Mrs Edith Pretty. However, in an act of generosity without similar, the latter decided to make gift of this treasure to the kingdom, so that everyone can benefit from its discovery.

Sutton Hoo is perceived by much like a magic place, and the legend related to its discovery does nothing but reinforce this irrefutable fact. Moreover, several versions of this legend exist.

Heritage

In accordance with the decision of Edith Pretty to make gift in the United Kingdom of it, the treasure of Sutton Hoo from now on is preserved at the British Museum.

In addition, the center of the visitors of the National Trust (opened in spring 2002) exposes a complete reconstitution of the funerary room and boat falls; time with other, the National Trust also organizes there temporary exhibitions of original artefacts lent for the occasion by British Museum.

Successive excavations followed intermittently the first drillings. Thus, practically at the time at the time when the National Trust was going to inaugurate its local center of the visitors, an excavation revealed the existence of another cemetery to approximately 500 meters in the north of the principal site.

An interesting aspect of the funerary site of Sutton Hoo is that he contradicts the skepticism expressed by many historians before the excavations about the importance of the treasure describes in works such as Beowulf or the Anglo-Saxon Chronique . On the contrary, the discovery of the tumulus 1 in Sutton Hoo gives an outline of last of England and clarifies a little more its own identity.

That this discovery was made in 1939 the day before the Second world war, while the English nation was threatened, reinforced the attention and the interest carried to the site during the following years. Other Anglo-Saxon objects (such as coins or jewels) are found each year in all the country, but Sutton Hoo remains most important ever discovered made.

Random links: