The Treasure of Sutton Hoo

1. The Treasure of Sutton Hoo Per. 4 Angelica Love, Anastasia Kapetanios, Allison Tjan, Sabrina Van Zuiden

2. So.. What is Sutton Hoo? • Sutton Hoo is a place located in the UK. • It was the site of several Anglo-Saxon burial mounds. • In 1939, the mounds were excavated, revealing many Anglo-Saxon treasures, including a burial ship.

3. What is a ship burial anyways? • A ship burial or boat grave is a burial in which a ship or boat is used either as a container for the dead and grave goods, or as a part of the grave goods itself. • (Yes, the ship itself is buried- along with a LOT of treasure.)

4. Treasure you say? • Yep! Some of the items found at Sutton Hoo include: • Armor • Weapons • Bowls, spoons • 2 silver spoons found were engraved with the names “Saul” and “Paul”, likely referring to the biblical figure. • Purse, shoulder-clasps and a “great buckle” • Jewelry • Pottery • Gold coins The “Great Buckle”, found in the upper body area of the ship.

5. How cool do you have to be for your people to bury you in a ship? • Due to the artifacts and treasure found inside, it’s extremely likely that the burial ship of Sutton Hoo housed the body of a king. • Speculation leads scholars and historians to think it may beRædwald, king of East Anglia, who died in 624/625 A.D.

6. What time period are we working with here? • The burial mounds and their treasures date back to 7th century A.D. • The mounds were not excavated until the late 1930’s. Although the wood of the ship did not survive 13 centuries, the surrounding sand preserved the shape of it- complete with iron rivets.

7. Why did it take so long to dig this stuff up? • In 1910, a mansion was built not far from the burial mounds. • In 1926, the mansion and land were purchased by a Colonel Frank Pretty. • In 1937, Pretty’s widow yielded to her mounting curiosity and organized the start of the excavation. A portrait of Edith Pretty

8. Alright.. How were these mounds laid out? • Each number represents the site of a Sutton Hoo grave. • Site #1 is where the ship was found. • Each site had its own body and artifacts (treasure).

9. B-b-body?? While this body’s flesh and bone had completely decayed, its shape has been preserved by the surrounding sand. The stained areas were caused by the body’s flesh. • Of course! The Sutton Hoo burial mounds are essentially a 1300 year old cemetery. • The bodies found were of presumably wealthy class folk as well as execution victims. • While some bodies were cremated, others were found as bones. • Some had evidence of violent deaths (such as decapitation).

10. Okay.. And why does any of this matter? • Sutton Hoo has provided historians with vital insight to Anglo-Saxon culture. • The variety of artifacts found there evidence the establishment of long-range trade and a mix of Christianity and paganism. • Many artifacts found there give us a visual representation of some of the scenes detailed in Beowulf.

11. Work Cited • http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/britannia/anglo-saxon/suttonhoo/suttonhoo.html • http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/britain/our_top_ten_british_treasures/the_sutton_hoo_ship-burial.aspx • http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/sutton_hoo.html • http://www3.gettysburg.edu/~jpowers/suttonhoo.htm • http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo/ • http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Sutton_Hoo.html