Sutton Hoo Archaeology

  

Archaeological excavations at Sutton Hoo have occurred over a long period of time. The first people who we know dug into the site came in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century, and it seems likely that they robbed most of the mounds on the site. In the nineteenth century a group of antiquarians came to the site and appear to have excavated a number of the mounds by cutting long trenches across them, and digging down to the likely position of the burial. In most cases they probably found the mounds had already been robbed.

Mound 1 under excavation in 1969 - Photo : Peter Rooley

The 1969 Excavation Team photographed by Derek Thorpe. Copy by Eric Houlder. Are you on this photograph ? If so the society would love to hear from you.

 In the twentieth century the site has been excavated by archaeologists in three separate campaigns. The first, instigated at the request of the then owner Mrs Edith Pretty took place in 1938 and 1939. It was led initially by Basil Brown, a local Suffolk archaeologist, aided by members of Mrs Pretty’s outside staff. Once the significance of the 1939 excavation became apparent, a group of professional archaeologists was brought together under the direction of Charles Phillips to continue and complete the excavation of the mound 1 burial.

A further programme of excavation and investigation was undertaken between 1965 and 1971 by the British Museum specifically to answer a number questions posed by the 1939 excavations, which were then being written up by Rupert Bruce-Mitford. It was at this stage that the shape of the ship was recorded as a fibre-glass mould.

In 1983 the most recent campaign began. This took the form of a long-term research excavation directed for the Sutton Hoo Research Trust by Martin Carver, Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, England.
Excavation of a sample of the site was just part of a wider study of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia and the ultimate presentation of the site to the public. Site evaluation and survey work occupied the period 1983 - 5. The main excavation of the site began in 1986 and continued through to early 1992; since then work has concentrated on analysis and publication. Publication has begun with the book 'Sutton Hoo Burial Ground of Kings?' by Martin Carver and will be followed soon by the Research Report.

The recent excavations at Sutton Hoo - Photo C.Hoppitt
In summer 2000 excavation in advance of the National Trust's new Visitor Centre and Exhibition has revealed the site of another earlier cemetery.  It lies about 500m north of the main mound cemetery.  Click here for details.