Sutton Hoo
The Grandest Anglo-Saxon burial of all
| In the 7th century AD, a King -
it was surely no less - received a magnificent burial at Sutton Hoo,
in East Anglia. A ship was hauled up from the river, a burial
chamber was erected in the middle of it, and a stupendous collection
of magnificent objects - gold and silver brooches and dishes, the
sword of state, drinking horns and a lyre - was set in the burial
chamber.
Fortunately, grave robbers never discovered the tomb, until in
1939 archaeologists stumbled upon what is still the greatest
'treasure' ever discovered in this country.
Sutton Hoo has recently been re-excavated. Martin Carver,
supported by the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries,
returned to Sutton Hoo to uncover the rest of the cemetery: for
the great ship burial was merely the largest mound in a cemetery
of 19 mounds and numerous other burials.
He presented his work as a drama in Three Acts in which we see
the grand Twilight of the Gods of the pagan Saxons in face
of the rising tide of Christianity that was to overwhelm them
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Aerial View
The excavations lie at the centre of this panoramic view. The
Ship burial mound is below and to the left - between the
excavations and the excavators' compound.
In the distance, at the top, is the River Deben, with the town
of Woodbridge beyond it.
The ship that was buried was presumably hauled up the steep
slope from the river. |
Burial of horse and rider
The most spectacular of the recent discoveries was this
double burial under a single mound, of a young man in the pit to the
left, and his horse in the right hand grave. Some of the grave goods
can be seen to the right of the young man, first a bucket, then a
bronze cauldron with a pot inside it beneath. At the top of the
coffin is the horse harness.
The excavator sees this as being the beginning of the cemetery -
Act 1 of the drama. This is indeed a very high caste grave, - but it
is not a royal grave. This rich burial, though unusual, would not be
out of place in a folk cemetery. But the cemetery is beginning to
become a high status cemetery. |
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Plan of Sutton Hoo
The two ship burials are marked by ship signs. The great burial
is centre left, the smaller ship burial -see below - is at the
top.
These graves mark Act II of the drama. Christianity was
beginning to make itself felt, and the pagans, under pressure,
responded by indulging in ever more elaborate ritual. Cremation
was adopted, in defiance of Christianity: two burials were in
bronze bowls, one was placed on an oak tray.
Most sinister of all, there is a hint of human sacrifice. Mound
5, just below the the ship burial mound 2, has several burials -
inhumations - surrounding a central cremation. Most enigmatic of
all is the small group of graves to the right, many of them buried
in distorted positions. Were they sacrifices round a central tree?
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The ship Burials
In the final phase - Act III - the most extravagant burial
method of all was adopted - ship burial. There were two ship
burials at Sutton Hoo - the great ship burial excavated in 1939,
and the smaller one in mound 2, excavated in 1938 and her being
re-excavated in 1985.
Instead of the ship being buried first and a chamber built
inside it, here the chamber was built first, and the ship was then
placed on top of it. Here we see the rectangular chamber at the
bottom, with the outline of the ship above it. Unfortunately it
had already been robbed, probably in 1860, but the excavators
were still able to find a few fragments from which they were able
to suggest the position of the body, and that it was accompanied
by a sword, a shield, drinking horns, and a cauldron and cauldron
chain.
The final Scene - Act III, Scene 2 - was the great ship
burial, excavated in 1939 - but for this you will have to go and
see the actual treasures, now in the British Museum!
After that, the curtain falls. Christianity triumphs, and the
cemetery is abandoned. Paganism suffers the fate of the losers: it
is derided, disparaged - and forgotten.
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Created: 30th March 1999 |