The best surviving example contained a ring of upright posts, up to 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter, with one pair suggesting an entrance to the south-east. ĭuring the Bronze Age, when agricultural communities living in Britain were adopting the newly introduced technology of metalworking, timber-framed roundhouses were built at Sutton Hoo, with wattle and daub walling and thatched roofs. Several pits were near to hollows where large trees had been uprooted: the Neolithic farmers may have associated the hollows with the pots. They dug small pits that contained flint-tempered earthenware pots. 3000 BCE, when woodland in the area was cleared by agriculturalists. There is evidence that Sutton Hoo was occupied during the Neolithic period, c. Early settlement Neolithic and Bronze Age 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. 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. A ship-burial at Snape is the only one in England that can be compared to the example at Sutton Hoo. There are cemeteries of a similar date at Rendlesham and Ufford. 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. It formed a path of entry into East Anglia during the period that followed the end of Roman imperial rule in the 5th century. 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. Sutton Hoo lies along a bank of the tidal estuary of the River Deben. Hoo was recorded in the Domesday Book as Hoi/ Hou. The same ending survives in a few other placenames, notably Plymouth Hoe and Fingringhoe. Sut combined with tun means the "southern farmstead" or "settlement" and hoh refers to a hill "shaped like a heel spur". Sutton Hoo derives its name from Old English. The site is in the care of the National Trust most of these objects are now held by the British Museum. The visitor centre contains original artefacts, replicas of finds and a reconstruction of the ship burial chamber. 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 cemeteries are located close to the River Deben estuary and other archaeological sites. The tops of the mounds had been obliterated by agricultural activity. It was discovered and partially explored in 2000 during preliminary work for the construction of a new tourist visitor centre. Another burial ground is situated on a second hill-spur about 500 metres (1,600 ft) upstream of the first. Scholars believe Rædwald, king of the East Angles, is the most likely person to have been buried in the ship.ĭuring the 1960s and 1980s, the wider area was explored by archaeologists and other individual burials were revealed. The Old English poem is partly set in Götaland in southern Sweden, which has archaeological parallels to some of the Sutton Hoo finds. The ship burial has prompted comparisons with the world of Beowulf. 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 Byzantine Empire. 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 experts took over. 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. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts was discovered. Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Anglo-Saxon Sword Belt End Ornament from Sutton Hoo Burial, 625-630 CE
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