
The first mounds he excavated in 1938 were somewhat disappointing: They had already been looted and produced only a few minor objects.
HOW WAS THE HELM OF RAEDWALD FIGURED OUT PROFESSIONAL
As a self-taught archaeologist, he did not have professional tools, so he started the excavation using items from the Pretty household, including a coal shovel and a pastry brush.

An amateur archaeologist used a coal shovel to excavate the Sutton Hoo mounds.īasil Brown had left school at the age of 12 and worked a number of jobs, from gardener to insurance agent. She approached a local museum for advice, and the staff suggested Basil Brown for the job. She decided they needed to be fully investigated. When Frank passed away in 1934, she began spending more time around the estate, and her attention was often drawn to an unusual array of 18 low mounds just 500 yards from her house. She came from an affluent family and traveled the world in her youth, and had a life-long interest in history and archaeology. The Sutton Hoo investigation began with some mysterious mounds.įormer World War I nurse Edith Pretty moved with her new husband Frank to Sutton Hoo in Suffolk in 1926. Here are some fascinating facts about the Sutton Hoo hoard.

Now, the story of its discovery is being told in the new Netflix film The Dig, launching January 29 in the U.S. Over the next few years, an incredible array of Anglo-Saxon treasures were uncovered, revealing dozens of gold and jeweled items and transforming our knowledge of early medieval England. One of the richest troves of buried artifacts ever found, the Sutton Hoo ship burial was discovered in Suffolk, England, just as World War II broke out.
