Royal Burial at Sutton Hoo
The 17 burial mounds at Sutton Hoo are believed to be the resting place of the early members of the family which ruled the Kingdom of East Anglia. The mounds are clustered on top of a ridge overlooking the Deben estuary. They are within the area delineated by the dashed white line on the photograph to the right. Woodbridge is on the other side of the estuary.
The burial mounds date from the early Anglo-Saxon period, and in two of them the remains of a ship was discovered in 1939. The only other instances of ship burials in Britain are at nearby Snape but these were far less elaborate.
The objects found in one of the ships were of such splendour that they must have belonged to a king of high status, and he is believed to be Rędwald who was King of East Anglia until 625. Rędwald had been converted to Christianity but he had not completely abandoned his pagan roots, and this probably accounts for the choice of a pagan burial.
The 17 burial mounds are clustered within the area delineated by the dashed white line.
The burial mounds can be clearly seen in the photograph on the right and the X marks the mound in which Rędwald was buried. All the objects which were laid out around his body were for his use in his afterlife. The unsurpassed richness of the grave goods, and other factors, such as objects, like an iron stand and ceremonial stone, interpreted as symbols of office, leave no doubt that the burial is that of a royal person.
The ship in which Rędwald was laid was probably beached on the riverside below Sutton Hoo, and was then hauled up the hillside on rollers as depicted by the drawing below. By the time the burial mound was excavated, the timbers which had formed the hull had rotted away, and all that was left was a hard layer of coloured sand and the rusted rivets which held the timbers in place. The rivets can be clearly seen in the photograph below. It was taken after the grave goods had been removed.
Artists impression of the burial boat being hauled up
the hillside on rollers.
One of the line of rivets which run from bow to stern