Sutton Hoo

Sutton Hoo is the site of two Anglo-Saxon cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when an undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artifacts was discovered. The site is important in establishing the history of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia as well as illuminating the Anglo-Saxons during a period which lacks historical documentation.

The site was first excavated by Basil Brown, a self-taught archaeologist, under the auspices of the landowner Edith Pretty, but when its importance became apparent, national scholars took over. The artefacts the archaeologists found in the burial chamber include: a suite of metalwork dress fittings in gold and gems, a ceremonial helmet, a shield and sword, a lyre, and silver plate from the Eastern Roman Empire. The ship burial has prompted comparisons with the world of Beowulf. The Old English poem is partly set in Götaland in southern Sweden, which has archaeological parallels to some of the Sutton Hoo finds. Scholars believe Rædwald, king of the East Angles, is the most likely person to have been buried in the ship.

During the 1960s and 1980s, the wider area was explored by archaeologists and other burials were revealed. Another burial ground is situated on a second hill-spur about 500 m (1,600 ft) upstream of the first. It was discovered and partially explored in 2000, during preliminary work for the construction of a new tourist visitor centre. The tops of the mounds had been obliterated by agricultural activity. The cemeteries are located close to the River Deben estuary and other archaeological sites. They appear as a group of approximately 20 earthen mounds that rise slightly above the horizon of the hill-spur when viewed from the opposite bank. The visitor centre contains original artefacts, replicas of finds and a reconstruction of the ship burial chamber. The site is in the care of the National Trust; most of these objects are now held by the British Museum.

Sutton Hoo derives its name from Old English. Sut combined with tun means the "southern farmstead" or "settlement" and hoo refers to a hill "shaped like a heel spur". Hoo was recorded in the Domesday Book as Hoi / Hou.

Sutton Hoo lies along a bank of the tidal estuary of the River Deben. There, large mounds – which were originally much higher and more visible – can still be seen, overlooking the upper estuary of the River Deben. On the opposite bank, the harbour town of Woodbridge stands 7 miles (11 km) from the North Sea and below the lowest convenient fording place. It formed a path of entry into East Anglia during the Sub Roman Britain period that followed the end of Roman imperial rule in the 5th century.

South of Woodbridge, there are 6th-century burial grounds at Rushmere, Little Bealings, and Tuddenham St Martin and circling Brightwell Heath, the site of mounds that date from the Bronze Age. There are cemeteries of a similar date at Rendlesham and Ufford. A ship-burial at Snape is the only one in England that can be compared to the example at Sutton Hoo.

The territory between the Orwell and the watersheds of the Alde and Deben rivers may have been an early centre of royal power, originally centred upon Rendlesham or Sutton Hoo, and a primary component in the formation of the East Anglian kingdom. In the early 7th century, Gipeswic (modern Ipswich) began its growth as a centre for foreign trade, Botolph's monastery at Iken was founded by royal grant in 654, and Bede identified Rendlesham as the site of Æthelwold's royal dwelling.

There is evidence that Sutton Hoo was occupied during the Neolithic period, c. 3000 BC, when woodland in the area was cleared by agriculturalists. They dug small pits that contained flint-tempered earthenware pots. Several pits were near to hollows where large trees had been uprooted: the Neolithic farmers may have associated the hollows with the pots.