Archaeologists painstakingly brushed away layers of sandy soil to reveal the shape of a ship beneath a mound, and in the centre of the ship they found a burial chamber full of the most extraordinary treasures.
Although it took some time to understand what these finds were, and what they meant, the discovery would prove to be an Anglo-Saxon royal burial of incomparable richness and it would revolutionise our understanding of early England.
The Treasures
The objects in the burial chamber were designed to signal power on earth and in the hereafter. Each object tells a story and reveals something about the person they accompanied into the afterlife.
Weaponry such as a pattern welded sword suggests a great war leader, a lyre evokes a musician and poet, the exquisite gold and garnet craftsmanship on many items represent a patron of the arts whereas objects like the drinking horns speak of a generous host.
Items such as the shield are thought to have been diplomatic gifts from Scandinavia and speak of someone both well respected and highly connected, whereas the shoulder clasps modelled on those worn by Roman emperors tell us of someone who borrowed from different cultures and power bases to assert their own authority. Together they form a potent piece of power poetry, likely the burial of a king
The Helmet
Most iconic among the treasures is undoubtedly the Sutton Hoo helmet. Highly corroded and broken into more than one hundred fragments when the burial chamber collapsed, the helmet took many years work by the British Museum conservation team to reconstruct.
Today, it is arguably the face of the Anglo-Saxon period.