THE SUTTON HOO ANGLO-SAXON COIN PURSE

 
View of the excavation of the ship burial at Sutton Hoo, 1939.

The interment of a ship at Sutton Hoo represents the most impressive medieval grave to be discovered in Europe.

Inside the burial mound was the imprint of a decayed ship and a central chamber filled with treasures. But who was buried there and what did it reveal about this period in history?

Sue Brunning, Curator of Early Medieval European Collections, says the burial was the final resting place of someone who had died in the early seventh century, during the Anglo-Saxon period – a time before 'England' existed.

She highlights the effort and manpower that would have been necessary to position and bury the ship – it would have involved dragging the ship uphill from the River Deben, digging a large trench, cutting trees to craft the chamber, dressing it with finery and raising the mound.

Ship burials were rare in Anglo-Saxon England – probably reserved for the most important people in society – so it's likely that there was a huge funeral ceremony.

The iconic Sutton Hoo helmet was wrapped in cloth and laid near the left side of the dead person's head. It's a piece of truly breathtaking artistry, functional and beautiful, with a vaulted cap and deep cheek-pieces.

The helmet is covered in complicated imagery, including fighting and dancing warriors, and fierce creatures. The face mask together forms a dragon whose wings make the eyebrows and tail the moustache. Garnets line the eyebrows, but only one is backed with gold foil reflectors – perhaps a reference to the one-eyed god, Woden.

A nested set of ten silver bowls was placed to the right of the body. Their shape and decoration show that they came from the Byzantine Empire in the Eastern Mediterranean, during the sixth century.

Below these were two silver spoons, also probably Byzantine, their handles inscribed in Greek. One inscription is messier than the other, and may have been added later by someone who wasn't familiar with Greek.

There was also a large decorated purse containing 37 gold coins, three blank coins and two small ingots, which caused a reaction among archaeologists. Each coin came from a different mint in Francia, across the English Channel, and they provide key evidence for the date of the burial, in the early seventh century.

  

This purse lid would have been attached to a leather pouch which originally hung from a waist-belt. The Frankish gold coins were found inside. Only the gold frame and catch survive, the leather pouch had decayed.

  

To read the complete article, see:
The Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/death-and-memory/anglo-saxon-ship-burial-sutton-hoo)

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