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The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century in North-Western Europe
Comparative studies on the age of Sutton Hoo (5c - 8c) with English and European focus, plus summary of the latest site excavations.
`The Sutton Hoo `princely' burials play a pivotal role in any modern discussion of Germanic kingship.'EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE
The age of Sutton Hoo runs from the fifth to the eighth century AD - a dark and difficult age,where hard evidence is rare, but glittering and richly varied. Myths, king-lists, place-names, sagas, palaces, belt-buckles, middens and graves are all grist to the archaeologist's mill. This book celebrates the anniversary of the discovery of that most famous burial at Sutton Hoo. Fifty years ago this great treasure, now in the British Museum, was unearthed from the centre of a ninety-foot-long ship buried on remote Suffolk heathland. Included in this volume are 23 wide-ranging essays on the Age of Sutton Hoo and director Martin Carver's summary of the latest excavations, which represent the current state of knowledge about this extraordinary site. That it still has secrets to reveal is shown by the last-minute discovery of a striking burial of a young noble with his horse and grave goods.
M.O.H. CARVER is Professor of Archaeology at York University, and Director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project.
`The Sutton Hoo `princely' burials play a pivotal role in any modern discussion of Germanic kingship.'EARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE
The age of Sutton Hoo runs from the fifth to the eighth century AD - a dark and difficult age,where hard evidence is rare, but glittering and richly varied. Myths, king-lists, place-names, sagas, palaces, belt-buckles, middens and graves are all grist to the archaeologist's mill. This book celebrates the anniversary of the discovery of that most famous burial at Sutton Hoo. Fifty years ago this great treasure, now in the British Museum, was unearthed from the centre of a ninety-foot-long ship buried on remote Suffolk heathland. Included in this volume are 23 wide-ranging essays on the Age of Sutton Hoo and director Martin Carver's summary of the latest excavations, which represent the current state of knowledge about this extraordinary site. That it still has secrets to reveal is shown by the last-minute discovery of a striking burial of a young noble with his horse and grave goods.
M.O.H. CARVER is Professor of Archaeology at York University, and Director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project.
456 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1992
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About the author
Martin Carver
34 books6 followersMartin Oswald Hugh Carver, FSA, Hon FSA Scot is Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the University of York, England, director of the Sutton Hoo Research Project and a leading exponent of new methods in excavation and survey. He specialises in the archaeology of early Medieval Europe. He has an international reputation for his excavations at Sutton Hoo, on behalf of the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries and at the Pictish monastery at Portmahomack Tarbat, Easter Ross, Scotland. He has undertaken archaeological research in England, Scotland, France, Italy and Algeria.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 12, 2020
This is a collection of essays. The first few are about East Anglia during the age of Sutton Hoo, the middle few about England during this period and then some about north western Europe during this period. I'm very interested in the first two areas, much less so in the continental information. Some of the essays are great, but some weren't really my cup of tea.
These all stood out to me for being particularly enjoyable:
Royal power and royal symbols in Beowulf (B Raw), Christianity in 6th and 7th century Southumbria (J Stevenson), Frankish Hegemony in England (I Wood)
Before Sutton Hoo – structures of power and society in early East Anglia (C Scull)
This is a bit of a mixed bag. It opens by talking about the lack of literary sources for early East Anglia, before turning to the archaeology. It then discusses the possible rise of kingship with reference to various theoretical models and then returns to talk about hierarchy. The theory side was a bit dry, but the rest was interesting. A simple précis would read archaeologically a flat social structure up to the end of the 6th century when more status differentiation appears in graves. No evidence of kingdom of East Anglia being formed until towards this period, either.
The Late Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement pattern in the Sandlings of Suffolk (J Newman)
This is a nicely written essay detailing the progress made through an organised campaign of field walking and liaising with metal detectorists in a small section of south east Suffolk. It shows that marginal land was taken out of cultivation during the late Roman period, but was recolonised during the 7th century as pressure on land intensified. A number of additional settlements were identified through the discovery of pottery fragments. Newman calls for all of East Anglia to be treated so thoroughly so as to make it a case study that other areas can be compared to.
Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery (W Filmer-Sankey)
This talks about another ship burial, that at Snape (buried in proximity to a bronze age barrow) with barrows (8) and a mix of inhumation and cremation burials (that took place at the same time). This predates Sutton Hoo by perhaps 50 years. It is smaller and in a contrast to the elite burial with possible retainers at Sutton Hoo, the site is larger and contains a more mixed group of people and this may reflect a lord not that far removed from his people, whereas there was greater differentiation by the time of the burial at Sutton Hoo.
A chronology of Suffolk place-names (Gelling)
It's deceptively simple to apparently grasp the rudiments, but once you go into it, you soon realise that place-names are a dark art to master. Here Gelling gives a chronology of Suffolk place-names, putting ingas, ingahams, hams, tuns and so on into order. This is all very interesting and I can only wish I was in a position to be able to query some of it.
Beowulf and the East Anglian royal pedigree (S Newton)
Newton makes some interesting general points about royal pedigrees (the 14 generation structure could be linked to the gospel of St Matthew and the 7th is usually a first for something). The possible links of Beowulf to the East Anglian genealogy are tantalising, but beyond proof, though.
Kings, Gesiths and Thegns (H Loyn)
This is quite a general essay that doesn't really come to any firm conclusions. In long sentences, Loyn contrasts the variety in ranks used by Bede to those recorded by the Alfredian translator of his history. He then scouts the idea that the graves at Sutton Hoo may belong to the kings of East Anglia and their closest retainers who would have been of sufficient wealth and status to be included there.
Burial practice in 7th and 8th Century England (H Geake)
Geake discusses mid Saxon burials. These aren't as easy to detect as early or late period burials, but fit into four categories: final phase, princely, unfurnished and deviant. They talk about a very likely model for change that consists of newly secure elites not needing ostentatious burial rites to reinforce their status and so a move away from the princely burials.
The 7th century cremation burial in Asthall Barrow: a reassessment (Dickinson and Speake)
This burial isn't as iconic as that of Sutton Hoo and is possibly even more enigmatic in what it can tell us. The bare bones are: it probably dates from the first half of the 7th century, it is a high status site that is exclusive and monumental. Contains Anglian style artefacts, gaming pieces and also a Byzantine bowl. It's located in Thames valley Oxfordshire in a prominent site. However, we have very little context as to who and what. It could be West Saxon, Mercian, Feppinga or from another grouping.
Anglo-Saxon symbolism (J Richards)
The early paragraphs of this have a bit of a Postgrad feel to them, but it soon goes deeper into the matter of symbolism. Signs and symbols mattered, especially in a pre-literate society. The meanings may not always be obvious now, but they are there nonetheless.
Changing symbols in a changing society: the A/S weapon burial rite in the 7th century (H Harke)
Harke examines the changing nature of burial with weapons. One point he makes is that there aren't any women buried with functional weapons. He then goes on, through the analysis of statistics, to show that weapon burial symbolism was linked to displaying ethnic affiliation, descent, wealth, status and age groups. This changed in the 7th century, but Christianity probably wasn't a factor, as continental changes occurred at the same time and these areas had been Christian for a lot longer. Instead, symbolism was probably now demonstrated in other ways than weapon burial.
Royal power and royal symbols in Beowulf (B Raw)
This is a very good essay that gets really into the ethos of the relationship between king and warband.
Christianity in 6th and 7th century Southumbria (J Stevenson)
This is another good essay. It examines early Christianity without making much reference to the Augustine mission and teases out a lot of interesting stuff that gets overlooked.
Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary as a reflection of material culture (J Roberts)
You might get on better with this than me. I found it very dry.
Western and Northern Britain in the age of Sutton Hoo (L Alcock)
Alcock discusses the literary and then archaeological evidence of potentates in the north and west of Britain. One good point is about how representative archaeological finds can be – one building at Cadbury contained 53% of the remains of red slip ware amphora sherds and extrapolations from just that one building would be very risky.
The state of Pictland in the age of Sutton Hoo (S Foster)
This essay demonstrates that Pictland was similar in a lot of ways to Anglo-Saxon England. There were timber halls, war bands, hegemons, gift giving barrows and an element of increasing centralisation. Our sources aren't as good and there is a lot that is unknown and probably unknowable, but culturally there were certainly similarities. This includes the difficulty in telling a high status site apart from a monastic one.
Frankish Hegemony in England (I Wood)
This opens by talking about recorded Frankish claims of overlordship and then goes into discussing Frankish relations with their neighbours before returning to England. Here the archaeological finds aren't commented on, but diplomacy and in particular religious links are. Wood shows that there was an intermittent, but tangible interest shown by the Franks in England.
Royal Burials amongst the Franks (E James)
The undiscovered grave of King Clovis (P Perin)
Social change around 600, an Austrasian perspective (G Halsall)
Kingdoms, ethnicity and material culture: Denmark in a European perspective (L Hedeager)
The royal cemetery at Borre (B Myhre)
None of these really grabbed me. They're probably fine, but I'm not that interested in early medieval Europe.
The Scandinavian character of Anglian England: an update (J Hines)
This is heavy on the distribution of Anglian style artefacts, such as wrist clasps. Hines' basic conclusion is that in East Anglia links to Scandinavia were being assertively maintained.
Human sacrifice in the late pagan period in NW Europe (H Ellis Davidson)
There is both literary and archaeological evidence of human sacrifice, but it appears to be tricky to get right to the nub of it. Human sacrifice possibly occurred more during times of crisis, though. However, many deviant burials could just as easily be the result of other things, such as accident, murder, revenge killing, rough justice or fear of the dead, etc. It's nice to see Ibn Fadlan get a mention.
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sutton Hoo: an interim report (M Carver)
I didn't read this, as I've read Carver's later book on this topic, which is much more comprehensive.
These all stood out to me for being particularly enjoyable:
Royal power and royal symbols in Beowulf (B Raw), Christianity in 6th and 7th century Southumbria (J Stevenson), Frankish Hegemony in England (I Wood)
Before Sutton Hoo – structures of power and society in early East Anglia (C Scull)
This is a bit of a mixed bag. It opens by talking about the lack of literary sources for early East Anglia, before turning to the archaeology. It then discusses the possible rise of kingship with reference to various theoretical models and then returns to talk about hierarchy. The theory side was a bit dry, but the rest was interesting. A simple précis would read archaeologically a flat social structure up to the end of the 6th century when more status differentiation appears in graves. No evidence of kingdom of East Anglia being formed until towards this period, either.
The Late Roman and Anglo-Saxon settlement pattern in the Sandlings of Suffolk (J Newman)
This is a nicely written essay detailing the progress made through an organised campaign of field walking and liaising with metal detectorists in a small section of south east Suffolk. It shows that marginal land was taken out of cultivation during the late Roman period, but was recolonised during the 7th century as pressure on land intensified. A number of additional settlements were identified through the discovery of pottery fragments. Newman calls for all of East Anglia to be treated so thoroughly so as to make it a case study that other areas can be compared to.
Snape Anglo-Saxon Cemetery (W Filmer-Sankey)
This talks about another ship burial, that at Snape (buried in proximity to a bronze age barrow) with barrows (8) and a mix of inhumation and cremation burials (that took place at the same time). This predates Sutton Hoo by perhaps 50 years. It is smaller and in a contrast to the elite burial with possible retainers at Sutton Hoo, the site is larger and contains a more mixed group of people and this may reflect a lord not that far removed from his people, whereas there was greater differentiation by the time of the burial at Sutton Hoo.
A chronology of Suffolk place-names (Gelling)
It's deceptively simple to apparently grasp the rudiments, but once you go into it, you soon realise that place-names are a dark art to master. Here Gelling gives a chronology of Suffolk place-names, putting ingas, ingahams, hams, tuns and so on into order. This is all very interesting and I can only wish I was in a position to be able to query some of it.
Beowulf and the East Anglian royal pedigree (S Newton)
Newton makes some interesting general points about royal pedigrees (the 14 generation structure could be linked to the gospel of St Matthew and the 7th is usually a first for something). The possible links of Beowulf to the East Anglian genealogy are tantalising, but beyond proof, though.
Kings, Gesiths and Thegns (H Loyn)
This is quite a general essay that doesn't really come to any firm conclusions. In long sentences, Loyn contrasts the variety in ranks used by Bede to those recorded by the Alfredian translator of his history. He then scouts the idea that the graves at Sutton Hoo may belong to the kings of East Anglia and their closest retainers who would have been of sufficient wealth and status to be included there.
Burial practice in 7th and 8th Century England (H Geake)
Geake discusses mid Saxon burials. These aren't as easy to detect as early or late period burials, but fit into four categories: final phase, princely, unfurnished and deviant. They talk about a very likely model for change that consists of newly secure elites not needing ostentatious burial rites to reinforce their status and so a move away from the princely burials.
The 7th century cremation burial in Asthall Barrow: a reassessment (Dickinson and Speake)
This burial isn't as iconic as that of Sutton Hoo and is possibly even more enigmatic in what it can tell us. The bare bones are: it probably dates from the first half of the 7th century, it is a high status site that is exclusive and monumental. Contains Anglian style artefacts, gaming pieces and also a Byzantine bowl. It's located in Thames valley Oxfordshire in a prominent site. However, we have very little context as to who and what. It could be West Saxon, Mercian, Feppinga or from another grouping.
Anglo-Saxon symbolism (J Richards)
The early paragraphs of this have a bit of a Postgrad feel to them, but it soon goes deeper into the matter of symbolism. Signs and symbols mattered, especially in a pre-literate society. The meanings may not always be obvious now, but they are there nonetheless.
Changing symbols in a changing society: the A/S weapon burial rite in the 7th century (H Harke)
Harke examines the changing nature of burial with weapons. One point he makes is that there aren't any women buried with functional weapons. He then goes on, through the analysis of statistics, to show that weapon burial symbolism was linked to displaying ethnic affiliation, descent, wealth, status and age groups. This changed in the 7th century, but Christianity probably wasn't a factor, as continental changes occurred at the same time and these areas had been Christian for a lot longer. Instead, symbolism was probably now demonstrated in other ways than weapon burial.
Royal power and royal symbols in Beowulf (B Raw)
This is a very good essay that gets really into the ethos of the relationship between king and warband.
Christianity in 6th and 7th century Southumbria (J Stevenson)
This is another good essay. It examines early Christianity without making much reference to the Augustine mission and teases out a lot of interesting stuff that gets overlooked.
Anglo-Saxon Vocabulary as a reflection of material culture (J Roberts)
You might get on better with this than me. I found it very dry.
Western and Northern Britain in the age of Sutton Hoo (L Alcock)
Alcock discusses the literary and then archaeological evidence of potentates in the north and west of Britain. One good point is about how representative archaeological finds can be – one building at Cadbury contained 53% of the remains of red slip ware amphora sherds and extrapolations from just that one building would be very risky.
The state of Pictland in the age of Sutton Hoo (S Foster)
This essay demonstrates that Pictland was similar in a lot of ways to Anglo-Saxon England. There were timber halls, war bands, hegemons, gift giving barrows and an element of increasing centralisation. Our sources aren't as good and there is a lot that is unknown and probably unknowable, but culturally there were certainly similarities. This includes the difficulty in telling a high status site apart from a monastic one.
Frankish Hegemony in England (I Wood)
This opens by talking about recorded Frankish claims of overlordship and then goes into discussing Frankish relations with their neighbours before returning to England. Here the archaeological finds aren't commented on, but diplomacy and in particular religious links are. Wood shows that there was an intermittent, but tangible interest shown by the Franks in England.
Royal Burials amongst the Franks (E James)
The undiscovered grave of King Clovis (P Perin)
Social change around 600, an Austrasian perspective (G Halsall)
Kingdoms, ethnicity and material culture: Denmark in a European perspective (L Hedeager)
The royal cemetery at Borre (B Myhre)
None of these really grabbed me. They're probably fine, but I'm not that interested in early medieval Europe.
The Scandinavian character of Anglian England: an update (J Hines)
This is heavy on the distribution of Anglian style artefacts, such as wrist clasps. Hines' basic conclusion is that in East Anglia links to Scandinavia were being assertively maintained.
Human sacrifice in the late pagan period in NW Europe (H Ellis Davidson)
There is both literary and archaeological evidence of human sacrifice, but it appears to be tricky to get right to the nub of it. Human sacrifice possibly occurred more during times of crisis, though. However, many deviant burials could just as easily be the result of other things, such as accident, murder, revenge killing, rough justice or fear of the dead, etc. It's nice to see Ibn Fadlan get a mention.
The Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Sutton Hoo: an interim report (M Carver)
I didn't read this, as I've read Carver's later book on this topic, which is much more comprehensive.
September 20, 2010
In 1938 an excavation was made at Sutton Hoo by the Ipswich Museum after years of rumors of untold gold having been buried in the area. The site was found to be that of a ship burial, possibly for an East Anglian king known as Redwald. A veritable treasure hoard was found of decayed weaponry, armor, and a variety of everyday use items - as was the norm when burying a person of stature in the early Middle Ages. Most of these items are now in the British Museum, the two most famous being a large, solid gold Celtic knot work belt buckle and a reconstructed warrior's helmet.
In this collection of articles from Boydell & Brewer edited by Martin Carver, new insights are presented about the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the artifacts discovered there. But The Age of Sutton Hoo is much more than a dry and simple book on the burial site. It presents fascinating articles on the specific period in which the burial took place, and explains what England was like at that time, as well as Pictland (then Scotland), and Europe. Articles into the development of Old English, the Anglo-Saxon language, reveal insights into how language varied between England and Europe. Numerous articles document the undeniable similarities between Sutton Hoo and the tale of Beowulf, which, coupled together, help to create a more complete and detailed story of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries of medieval Europe.
A history degree is not required to understand the articles of The Age of Sutton Hoo, which are presented in a clear and concise manner, keeping the reader interested from page to page. The book is a must for any fan of Sutton Hoo, as well as anyone interested in this crucial period of history, when the continent of Europe was recreating and redefining itself.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
In this collection of articles from Boydell & Brewer edited by Martin Carver, new insights are presented about the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the artifacts discovered there. But The Age of Sutton Hoo is much more than a dry and simple book on the burial site. It presents fascinating articles on the specific period in which the burial took place, and explains what England was like at that time, as well as Pictland (then Scotland), and Europe. Articles into the development of Old English, the Anglo-Saxon language, reveal insights into how language varied between England and Europe. Numerous articles document the undeniable similarities between Sutton Hoo and the tale of Beowulf, which, coupled together, help to create a more complete and detailed story of the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries of medieval Europe.
A history degree is not required to understand the articles of The Age of Sutton Hoo, which are presented in a clear and concise manner, keeping the reader interested from page to page. The book is a must for any fan of Sutton Hoo, as well as anyone interested in this crucial period of history, when the continent of Europe was recreating and redefining itself.
For more book reviews and exclusive author interviews, go to BookBanter.
February 23, 2008
Worth every penny.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews