Sutton Hoo

Rough Draft

From the excavation of the great burial ship at Sutton Hoo, we have learned about the techniques used to dig out the artifacts and establish the makeup of the ship. The excavation of this ship began in 1939 and was completed just a few days before World War II (Grohskopf 31). There were two archaeologists in charge of the excavation: C.W. Phillips and P. Bruce Milford. There were two main areas of the ship that required very meticulous measures of excavation. These areas included the ship as a whole and a burial chamber that possessed many ancient artifacts from the Anglo-Saxon era. It was difficult for the archaeologists to understand all of the ship due to the fact that much of the ship had rotted away. Vast amounts of wood were used to construct ships in earlier days (Illsley n.pag.). Though this excavation was a long tiring process, the world has gained much knowledge from the artifacts and structure of the ship, about the history of the Anglo-Saxon era.

The excavation was brought about thanks to grave robbers who had made the site more readily seen by not covering their remains very well. This robbing decreased the time of the excavation because if not for the robbers then archeologists might have never found the site. The site was easily found because the grave robbers had dug a hole to get into the ship, but the hole was still visible for archeologists to see. The Sutton Hoo barrow is considered a cenotaph because the remains of the person were not found inside the boat (Quennell 151). The archaeologists believed that the person died around 625 AD. Though they are not sure yet, that is about the date they think he was buried. Mrs. Pretty, the lady who owned this land, allowed archaeologists to study and renovate the site after a period of time. She was the owner of all artifacts and decided to donate most of them to the British Museum (Quennell 148). The treasure inside this ship was the greatest single find known to British Archaeology. The artifacts and treasure have changed the outlook on Anglo-Saxon Saxon history in many different ways. Archeologists were fortunate that they were able to find the site and use the material inside to go toward the museum's discoveries.

One of the main parts of the ship was the cabin found in the center of the cabin that contained many priceless artifacts. The archaeologists found most of the treasure from the ship in the wooden cabin. Many of the artifacts found inside the cabin were left in appreciation and respect to the leader who had been buried inside the tomb. Many of the artifacts consisted of weapons and armor that the individual had used to fight in battles. There were splendid trophies found inside the cabin. Even though these were all magnificent findings, the most intriguing artifacts were the jewels and beautiful gold bracelets, rings, and necklaces (Quennell 148). A purse inside a chest contained thirty-seven emasculate gold pieces that had designs on them that dated back to 600 AD. The designs were so sophisticated for their time and confuse the archaeologists. The archeologists had no idea of the brilliance of the people in these times. Some of the arrangements of the writing had the scientists amazed with their splendor. The artists were very creative for their time and displayed their work through jewelry and pieces of great value.

Sutton Hoo was built very carefully and was also excavated very cautiously besides the fact that much of the ship was made of wood and was difficult to dig up. The ways of excavating this ship were very precise and different from earlier excavations. The Sutton Hoo ship excavation has been ranked among the slowest but most careful unearthing ever. Sutton Hoo is an early relative of the Gokstad ship. Sutton Hoo differs from other Viking ships because it did not appear to have a sail when first excavated. Instead of having a sail, it was rowed along by a crew of thirty-eight rowers (Quennell 147). This ship was an open rowing ship eighty feet long and four-teen feet in the maximum beam, with a depth of 4.5 feet. The ship was clinker built without permanent decking but there wasn't any noticeable characteristics that showed a mast step, or other arrangements for rigging the ship. Making this job more difficult was the fact that the wood had rotted totally away. All the archaeologists could go by were the iron-clench nails that held the timbers together. Because much of the wood had rotted away, Sutton Hoo is considered a ghost ship. The hull in the Sutton Hoo ship was preserved by sand. This current hull is very close to the original shape of the boat. The average width of each plank inside the ship has varied between 10.5" amidships to 4.5" in the stem and as small as 2" at the place where middle and upper strakes were nailed by rivets to the stem and stern posts (Illsley n.pag.). It took much time and hard work to produce the frame and materials that were used to make the ship.

The excavation of Sutton Hoo might have taken a long time, but from it the world has learned much more than they had about earlier lifestyles in Anglo-Saxon times. The site had originally been recognized as having a treasure within it. The owner did not want to start digging thought until she knew for sure that it was not a lost cause. The treasure at Sutton Hoo had great importance on not only the British but on the rest of the world. The treasure is priceless and there fore will never leave the British Museum. There is very little chance these pieces will fall apart because they have lasted so long already. It can be found in a British Museum and is very well kept because of its great value. In the earlier days, mostly everything was made of wood because it was readily available for anyone who wanted it. The wood rotted very easily and made it very difficult for the archaeologists to put the pieces together. If it was not for the iron-clench nails, then they might not ever have put the pieces together. The archaeologists were very lucky they had the nails to go by for the structure of the ship. Sutton Hoo was a ship for burying a very great warrior. Even today we do not know who that warrior is but we do know more about what life was like and that has contributed an unbelievable amount of knowledge to our world today.

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