Sutton Hoo ship-burial helmet
From Mound 1, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England,
Anglo-Saxon, early 7th century AD
This extraordinary helmet is very rare. Only
four helmets dating to the early medieval period have been found so
far in England: at Sutton Hoo, Benty Grange, Wollaston and
York.
The helmet has panels decorated with interlacing Style II animal
ornament and heroic scenes, motifs that were common in the Germanic
world at this time. One scene shows two warriors, wearing horned
helmets, holding short swords and down-turned spears. The other
shows a mounted warrior trampling a fallen enemy, who in turn
is stabbing the horse, a theme handed down from the Roman
Empire.
The face-mask is the most remarkable feature of the helmet: it
has eye-sockets, eyebrows and a nose, which has two small holes cut
in it to allow the wearer to breathe freely. The bronze eyebrows
are inlaid with silver wire and garnets. Each ends in a gilt-bronze
boars-head - perhaps a symbol of strength and courage.
Placed against the top of the nose, between the eyebrows, is a
gilded dragon-head that lies nose to nose with a similar
dragon-head placed at the end of the low crest that runs over the
cap. The nose, eyebrows and dragon make up a great bird with
outstretched wings that flies on the helmet.
The helmet was badly damaged when the burial chamber collapsed.
By precisely locating the remaining fragments as if in a
three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, the helmet has been rebuilt. A
complete reconstruction has also been made.
Restoring the helmet
When found, this magnificent helmet was in hundreds of pieces.
Pieces of rusted iron were mixed up with pieces of tinned bronze,
all so corroded as to be barely recognizable.
The Sutton Hoo ship-burial
In 1938, archaeologist Basil Brown was asked to investigate 18
low grassy mounds in Suffolk by a local land owner.
Anglo-Saxon England
