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Excavations and metal detecting work at the site of a famous ship burial in Suffolk, England, have revealed missing pieces that could help archaeologists better understand an intriguing but incomplete sixth-century artifact.
A team of archaeologists, volunteers and conservators have unearthed additional fragments of a Byzantine bucket at Sutton Hoo, where the discovery of the ship’s burial in the late 1930s changed the way historians understand Anglo-Saxon life.
Made from a thin sheet of copper alloy, the bucket depicts a North African hunting scene that features warriors with a variety of weapons, as well as lions and a hunting dog. A Greek inscription running across the top read“Good health, Master Conde, for many happy years.” The letters helped researchers date the ship to the 6th century.
Experts have meticulously cleaned, refurbished and assembled parts of the Bromeswell bucket previously found in 1986 and 2012, and they are on display in the High Hall exhibition on site to show visitors what the bucket looked like.
Now, new research at Sutton Hoo has not only uncovered more fragments belonging to the bucket, but has also offered new insight into the history of the ship that once traveled from a part of the Byzantine Empire called Antioch, located in present-day Türkiye, on the east coast of Great Britain.
“It’s like a jigsaw puzzle that has been added to over the years,” said Laura Howarth, archeology and engagement manager at the National Trust’s Sutton Hoo site.
Assembling an old puzzle
A tractor harrow first unearthed pieces of the artefact by accident in 1986, when the Tranmer family owned the Sutton Hoo estate before it was part of the National Trust.
Metal detection surveys in 2012 revealed more pieces of the bucket.
Researchers are trying to determine whether modern agricultural practices have disturbed and dispersed pieces of the bucket or whether it was left in pieces on purpose. Other graves yielded parts of other buckets that appear to have been purposely cut into small fragments before being placed in the ground, Howarth said.
The research team also wants to know the purpose of the bucket. Was it buried as a luxury item inside a grave or stored food, drink or cremated remains?
“It was something of a luxury import arriving in (what is today) modern England, but just think of some of the Anglo-Saxons who would have kept it or used it and perhaps never seen a lion before or might not have been able to read Greek and think, ‘Wow, what is that?’” Howarth said.
Analysis remains ongoing for the new pieces found in June in newly dug graves at Garden Field. Careful excavation revealed the pieces, which appeared to show a hand belonging to one of the bucket figures. The team made the decision to lift the pieces and surrounding soil “en bloc.”
The researchers excavated the large block around the bucket pieces, wrapped it carefully and placed it on a tray to conduct an analysis of the soil around the fragments, Howarth said.
Soil analysis could help determine when the bucket was buried and how it was used.
Two other Byzantine buckets have been found in England, including the Breamore Bucket node Rockbourne Roman Villa Archaeological Site and Museum in Hampshire. The Breamore bucket, also with an ancient Greek inscription and armed warriors, was probably made in a workshop in Antioch in the 6th century.
The team used an X-ray fluorescence tool, which resembles a ray gun, to conduct an chemical and elemental analysis in the newly discovered fragments. Analysis confirmed that the pieces were part of the Bromeswell bucket.
The team was also able to confirm that some unidentifiable metal pieces collected during the metal detection survey in 2012 also belonged to the bucket.
Based on the shapes of the Greek letters on top of the artifact, researchers believe the ship was already 100 years old when it arrived at Sutton Hoo, Howarth said. The new analysis contributes to this theory.
“Thanks to closer inspection, we now believe the bucket was previously damaged and then repaired,” Angus Wainwright, regional archaeologist for the National Trust, said in a statement. “In-depth analysis of the metals suggests they may even have been re-welded.”
An archaeological treasure
The new research at Sutton Hoo is part of a two-year project carried out by the National Trust, Field Archeology Specialists, or FAS, Heritage, and the British television-turned-online program “Weather Team.”
The aim of the project is to gain more information about the prehistoric and medieval history of Sutton Hoo. With more than 80 volunteers, the team carried out metal detection at Garden Field, and the recovered items were recorded in 3D. Some volunteers included members of the 1980s excavations at Sutton Hoo, as well as an organization that allows people with mental health problems to use archeology and heritage as part of their wellbeing.
“Many people came together as strangers but left as friends,” Howarth said.
More discoveries from the June excavations and metal detecting work will be shared in a “Time Team” documentary early next year, and the finds will be returned to Sutton Hoo after being processed and catalogued. Eventually, the pieces in the bucket will be reunited with those on display. Currently, some sides are missing and also the base of the bucket.
The project also complements an ongoing “Time Team” documentary that captures the reconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon ship which made Sutton Hoo famous.
The ‘ghost’ ship
The ship burial, one of only three known Anglo-Saxon ship burials, was found between 1938 and 1939, as the Second World War loomed.
The Pretty family moved to the Sutton Hoo estate in 1926, and Edith Pretty arranged for the excavation of graves found 500 yards (457 metres) from their home.
The 27.4 meter long wooden ship was swept 800 meters down the River Deben when a ship Anglo-Saxon warrior king died 1,400 years ago. The burial was probably that of Raedwald of East Anglia, who died about 624, and was placed inside the ship, surrounded by treasures and buried in a mound.
The ship’s wood rotted in the acidic soil, but the precise position of the planks left marks in the sand, as well as rows of iron rivets.
Excavations unearthed Byzantine silverware, jewelry made from precious metals and gemstones, garnets from what is now Sri Lanka, an iron warrior’s helmet and a party set. Pretty donated the treasures to the British Museum and a curator at museum declared it “one of the most important archaeological discoveries of all time”.
Since then, excavations have continued at Sutton Hoo, uncovering a royal cemetery and a folk cemetery dating back to the 6th and 7th centuries. There is also evidence of previous inhabitants at the site, such as Roman conquerors.
Future research at Sutton Hoo could reveal the wider history of the site and what attracted people to inhabit it over time, Howarth said.
“I also think it’s really good that it retains some of its mystery at the same time,” Howarth said.
“Sometimes with these famous archaeological sites, I think people expect everyone to have all the answers. But there are so many questions and answers that we still don’t know. The aim of this project is to look at the landscape and think about who lived there and how this fits into the wider history of Sutton Hoo.”
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