Museum Explorer
Tools & technology in Anglo-Saxon England
Length: 12.700 cm
Width: 5.400 cm
Length: 12.700 cm
Length: 12.700 cm
M&ME 1939,10-10,4;M&ME 1939,10-10,5
Shoulder clasps
From: Mound 1, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk
Date: early 7th century AD
These heavy clasps were found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial. They would have fastened the leather armour of the man who was buried there at the shoulder. These clasps are very strong: when the pin is pushed through the two halves, locking them together, nothing can move them.
The clasps are richly decorated with an Anglo-Saxon technique called garnet cloisonné. Beautiful red garnets have been inserted with great skill into a pattern made from gold wires.
