I wish historians and archaeologists, professional and amateur, would step back for a moment and look back at the “trajectory” of findings and research, both physical and genetic, of the last 30 years.
What we see makes us have to constantly raise the bar for our evaluation of what ancient peoples were capable of doing. And yet, most professional archaeologists (especially the academics) throw wet blankets on any sort of speculative theorization or exploration based on those newly- discovered capabilities. It’s almost as if they don’t want to know just how capable ancient people really were, and prefer a more “dumbed down” concept of past human achievements. These days we would call Brown an “amateur archaeologist”. He certainly was NOT an “unprofessional archaeologist", as that would mean that his work was bad. He was not academically trained but had learned much from his father, from whom he inherited an interest in history (and many subjects) and a knowledge of digging up the past, which is why, In the film, he correctly calls himself an “excavator" There are 4000 garnets in the Collection. They were sourced from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan. The shoulder clasps were made from carefully carved garnet and glass made from old Roman glass. There is no glue in the setting. behind the garnet is gold leaf that has been incised to reflect light. The workmanship is so fine that people are amazed it was done without magnification technology.
The helmet is based on a Roman Cavalry parade helmet. It was likely a family heirloom when interred. The garnets over one eye lack the gold backing, therefore would not reflect light. the God Woden (later Odin) famously is one eyed. It was covered in incised decorated plates of dancing warriors and biting beasts. The nose piece is a dragon.
The belt buckle is a pound (454gms) of gold. heavily decorated and incised. It is sprung and hollow so that a relic of some type could be contained. In Anglo Saxon England every person had a life price. If that price was not paid if you killed them, then the family could/would declare a blood feud, putting any member of your family at risk. The life price of a theign (a top noble) was a pound of gold. The owner of that belt could kill anybody who upset him and then just give his family his belt.
The Sword is pattern welded. This involves taking Iron bars and beating them together when red hot. Then folding and twisting them again and again until you had a flexible and strong core. You then welded steel on the cutting edges to hold a blade. The hilt was made of gold and garnets.
The whetstone is carved with 8 heads (four at each end) all are different. The site is supposed to be the possible burial ground of the King Raedwald, he had 8 ancestors.
The quality of the work is breathtaking. The sophistication of the imagery and the quirkiness of some of the subtle asides and clues it gives about their world are what makes ALL of it sublime and surprising.
Before this we thought they were all barbarians living in sheds. Then we thought that they had pockets of this kind of sophistication. Then the Staffordshire Hoard showed that this kind of stuff was, if not commonplace, not unusual. They were not savages, they were sophisticated rich vibrant cultures. It’s a bit more complicated than that. In September 1939, a particular time period that is massively overshadowed by certain other events, a treasure trove inquest ruled that they were not a treasure trove as the treasure was not meant to be retrieved, thus making it her right to deal with as she wished. She could have sold it but instead donated it.
This is no longer a thing because the laws were changed in 96, but prior to that if the treasure was meant to stay in the ground by the people who put it there, it belonged to the owner of the ground.
Sutton Hoo is important because the archeological discovery blew everyone away. Sutton Hoo literally re-wrote history! It was such a phenomenal discovery, they even made a movie about it.
- The Dig 2021
The discovery of Sutton Hoo was a huge surprise to archeologists and historians because it completely changed their perception about the Anglo Saxon’s who were seen as backwards and primitive.
Before Sutton Hoo, the Anglo Saxon world was dismissed as the “dark ages” when in reality, they were a cultured and sophisticated society. The Anglo Saxon’s had bright and colourful art, illluminated manuscripts, architecture and metalwork. They even had their own currency, language and works of art.
The story of Sutton Hoo goes like this: Just before the outbreak of the World War II, a self-trained archeologist was hired by a local woman to excavate the mounds on her land. It was believed to be a Viking burial site and the local museum in the area dismissed the mounds. At the time, they were excavating another site and needed all hands on deck. Needless to say, they were so wrong!
The site turned out to be the English equivalent of King Tut’s tomb. This was an incredible revelation and within a short time, famous archeologists from the British Museum were sent over.
Buried deep in the grounds of Sutton Hoo was actually a buried ship used for a funeral for either a famous warrior or a King. It contained numerous treasures that provided a deeper understanding of the sophistication of the early Anglo-Saxon period.
They had found buried treasure! The treasures include: Byzantine silverwear, sumptuous gold jewerly, a lavish feasting set and most famously, an ornate iron helmet that is has become the face of the Sutton Hoo discovery.[TB]
Here is a picture of some of the treasure found.
Shout out to Basil Brown whose dig on Sutton Hoo was a great archeological discovery and yet he went largely unacknowledged for his work at Sutton Hoo because of his lack of education and lower class status. Instead, all acknowledgement went to his counterparts that were sent from the British Museum.
Also Edith Pretty, who financed the dig on her land, was an exceptional woman who donated all the treasure found to the British Museum, although she could’ve made a fortune selling it.
Picture Source Wikipedia
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