Burial place of Kings

[mossie]

Some time ago I showed this

s345.photobucket.com/user/navrad/media/P1000283-1.jpg.html

and for a long time I have been meaning to visit this archeological site which had first been seriously excavated in 1939. Here they found what turned out to be the burial place of an Anglo-Saxon king of this region, Raedwald.

The discovery was due to a Mrs Pretty who owned this isolated house and the surrounding land  



which contained a field full of ancient tumuli, or burial mounds of ancient people, which dated from the 6th or 7th century AD.



Doesn't look much but they chose a large one although some old farmer had removed one end. This was very lucky because the people who had dug for treasure in the past knew from previous experience that it would be in the centre, and a rough depth. This meant that in this particular grave they dug in the wrong place and missed.

What was found was remarkable, the remains of an Anglo Saxon ship burial with all the grave goods, this helmet being the main prize



There were many gold and precious metal pieces, plus some exquisite enamel work which modern craftsmen cannot properly replicate.



And the remains of a finely made sword in is wooden scabbard, looks pretty tatty now, but would have been superb when new, together with much else



The remains of this bronze bucket



In the exhibition hall there is a very detailed display which is well worth a visit if you find yourself in this historic part of the world



It explains the whole setup, even showing how we were plagued by illegal immigrants even then



They were able to make copies of the clothing and jewellery etc, how do you fancy opening your door to this character.



There is a mock up of the burial itself, showing how stuff was arranged





The site overlooks the River Deben which is now tidal up to Woodbridge, just visible here, and the route these people would have taken from their German or Scandinavian homeland



The area is poor heathland and so has been little disturbed by agriculture which has aided preservation



Wikipedia can give the full story if you are interested en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo

[bjd]

This is very interesting. The helmet reminds me of work I saw at an exhibition of Viking treasures some years ago. Of course, it was more or less the same historical period.

I wonder whether they will find more of these buried artefacts now that there are special photography methods that can "see" into the ground.

[bixaorellana]

Yes, interesting indeed! The helmet is probably as beautiful and perfect an artifact as could be found anywhere. That bronze bucket is absolutely gorgeous as well.

What does the key on your map say -- is it showing invaders that Raedwald's people had to repel?

[mossie]

Sorry, I omitted the words which should have gone with the first picture which came from my thread about the little town of Woodbridge.

"The town dates back at least to the Saxon period, with King Raedwald having been buried in his longboat at Sutton Hoo a few miles away across the river Deben. The town is asssumed to be the port by which the Saxons entered this area, and from where they traded with the near continent.
Sutton Hoo lays on the hills on the horizon here"

Also Bixa the map is simply to illustrate the routes taken by the various ancient people who colonised this country after the Romans left. It is interesting that now DNA testing is enabling scientists to understand ancestry and shows what a mongrel race we are.

The helmet shown is a replica, the original is in the British Museum along with all the other valuable artifacts from this site. The BM has also a good description of the find.

[bixaorellana]

This thread needs to pop to the top!

For one thing, I failed to acknowledge Mossie's kind & complete answer to my question, so belated thank you, Mossie!

For another thing, upon reading the sentence above the first picture, the penny dropped & I realized this report is on the real dig upon which the book & movie The Dig were based.

You saw it here first, folks!

Mossie included a link at the end of the OP to more facts on this archeological excavation, but here is a breakdown on how the movie stacked up to the facts: theconversation.com/the-dig-on-netflix-a-refreshingly-accurate-portrayal-according-to-an-archaeologist-154442

[lugg]

Bixa - it does indeed . Thank you Mossie and thanks for the link Bixa

[tod2]

Brilliant move Bixa - I missed this when Mossie posted it. I would love to see the artefacts in real life - so beautiful. Makes me wonder how the people burying a chieftain could bring themselves to leave such treasure behind.