I’d see an earlier exhibit of the artifacts of Sutton Hoo some years ago. But it was the 2021 film The Dig that really peaked my interest.
The Sutton Hoo archaeological site is in Suffolk in southeastern England, northeast from London, due east of Cambridge, and not far from the city of Ipswich. It is a site containing a number of burial mounds, with some more prominent than the others (18 or 19 in all). In 1939, the landowner of the site, a widow named Edith Pretty, invited n amateur archaeological named Basil Brown to explore and excavate it. What Brown discovered was one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in Great Britain – a burial place for an Anglo-Saxon of high rank, with almost all of the items buried with him intact. The ship that had been part of the burial had long since disintegrated, but its outline was clearly visible.
The most probable date for the burial is between 600 and 650 A.D.
The British Museum came to visit, and Brown would find himself acknowledged but somewhat sidelined. The World War II began, and all archaeological work stopped. Sutton Hoo was in a particularly vulnerable area, close to the coast, in the event of a German invasion.
In the movie, Carey Mulligan plays Edith Pretty, Ralph Fiennes is Basil Brown, and Lily James plays a member of the dig team. I enjoyed the movie so much that I vowed to make a special effort to see the exhibition at the British Museum if I ever returned to London. Return I did, and the top photograph here was taken by yours truly. I also found a book in the museum’s book shop.
The Sutton Hoo Story: Encounters with Early England by Martin Carver tells the story of this extraordinary discovery. It explains how Mrs. Pretty came to own the land and make her offer to Brown; what happened (or didn’t) during the war years, how work resumed after the war, and some of the remarkable discoveries that were made there.
But Carver does more than tell the Sutton Hoo story. He puts it in its historical and archaeological contexts, explaining how it was like and unlike other sites in Britain and Sweden. He recounts the long history of the excavations and study, and how the official records were developed and maintained. And he notes the “politics” of the site because politics, too, played a role.
 |
| Martin Carver |
It's a scholarly book, but one that is accessible to general readers. It’s a real treat if you’re interested in Anglo-Saxon history, post-Roman Britain, and archaeology generally. And it’s profusely illustrated with maps, schematics, and photographs, sufficient to satisfy the amateur archaeologist in all of us.
A career Army officer, Carver because one of Britain’s first commercial archaeologists. He was a professor of Archaeology at the University of York for 22 years and editor of Antiquity for 10 years. He is now a full-time professional researcher, writer, public speaker, and broadcaster, and his research includes the Sutton Hoo site as well as other excavations in Britain Scotland, France, Italy, and Algeria. A project he’s involved in is a fundraising effort to rebuild the Sutton Hoo ship.
The Sutton Hoo Story is a delightful resource about a significant historical discovery. Mrs. Pretty would eventually donate the artifacts to the British Museum, and the site itself would become part of the National Trust, with its own visitors’ facility with guided tours, audio guides, a café and book shop. If you can’t make it to the site itself, the exhibition in the British Museum includes some of the most significant artifacts.
Related:
Treasures from Sutton Hoo by Gareth Williams for the British Museum.
The Sutton Hoo Helmet by Sonja Marzinzik for the British Museum.
Some Monday Readings
Waitress – poem and artwork by Sonja Benskin Mesher.
Welcome to the New Campus Normal: A Dispatch from Ohio State – Yeshua Tolle at Jewish Review of Books.
Christopher Wren, London Transport, and St. Mary Aldermanbury – A London Inheritance.
A liberal rabbi’s cry: ‘We’ve lost so damn much. Let us not lose our damn minds…” – Terry Mattingly at GetReligion.
In Old Liverpool St Station – Spitalfields Life.
Every Day Poems: Community Centos + New Poetry Club Invitation -- Tweetspeak Poetry.
No comments:
Post a Comment