Background on Sutton Hoo Burial

• The Sutton Hoo burial consists of a wooden long boat covered by a large mound of soil.

• At the centre of the ship was a wooden burial chamber for a dead person.

• The chamber held many things:– weapons, armor, gold coins, gold and

garnet fittings, silver vessels, silver-mounted drinking horns and clothes

– All these objects were chosen to reflect the person's high rank in life and would be considered to play a role in the person’s afterlife

Who Was Buried There?

• The nearly 90-feet-long ship was been buried in the sand, with a rich funeral treasure laid out in the middle

• No body was found, but soil analyses suggest that a body was placed in the burial chamber and totally decayed in the acid soil. The identity of the buried person is not known

• Following excavation in the 1930s, it was believed that the burial belonged to a member of the East Anglian ruling dynasty

Archaeologists in 1939

The ship burial mound was first

excavated in 1939 when the

objects now held by the

British Museum were recovered and presented to the Museum

by the landowner

The ship was 89 feet long. This is the same as 15 tall men lying down!

Artifacts Found at Sutton Hoo(see pages 57 and 60 in text for more)

Golden Armor Clasp Viking Purse Clip

Sword

Sutton Hoo Helmet

• What qualities does this helmet have?

• What was probably it’s purpose?

The ship would have been dragged from the river to where the mounds are – it was quite a distance and would have needed hundreds of men!

Please answer the following:

1.What is Sutton Hoo?

2.What was found there? (give 5 examples)

Please answer the following:

3. What does the treasure tell us about Anglo-Saxon culture?

4. Where do we see something similar about treasure in Beowulf? (cite line #)