The highlight was walking around the site, the mounds and the wider walks, it’s a very evocative landscape, but even this felt like a missed opportunity, there was little to indicate what the landscape would have looked like at the time, how the people lived, where they lived, where they came from. The exhibition hall was very well laid out and the staff were excellent, but given this is a site that is on the cusp of mythology, has links to Beowulf, is a footstep in the very foundations of a nation, it felt a little lacking. Talking to the excellent staff who were on-hand to answer questions we learned of warriors, and shield-maidens and a baby buried with an already dead wise-woman, most of which was barely mentioned in the exhibition. I was genuinely surprised at the small number of finds in the exhibition hall and at the number of items on display that were reproductions, albeit very good ones.
Some of the finest Anglo Saxon metal work ever found, was found on this site these include the helmet (replica above), shoulder clasps, belt buckle, pots, spoons all buried in a ship, covered in a mound. The site is located near the suffolk coast, on a sandy heath, looking out over the river Deben and is in a ‘field’ surrounded by burial mounds. Initially excavated in 1939, the main burial is thought to be of Rædwald, King of East Anglia and Bretwalda, who died in 624.
![how was the helm of raedwald figured out how was the helm of raedwald figured out](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/27/10/48/271048a3df1fee44de640830024f2b42.png)
Sutton Hoo is an Anglo Saxon necropolis famous for it’s ship burials and outstanding artefacts.