page_title: Sutton Hoo
section_title: Martin Carver: 1983–1992
hierarchical_section_title: Sutton Hoo / Excavations / Martin Carver: 1983–1992
caption_attribution_description: English: The Sandman Sutton Hoo had been a site for royal burials in the pre-Christian and early-Christian era. By the Middle Ages its status had fallen and it was used for executions of criminals. Recent excavations revealed this figure that had been tumbled unceremoniously into a shallow grave. The legs are to the left, the head is top-right. The timber remains across the body are thought to have been parts of the gallows, thrown on to the body. The corpse has decayed leaving stained sand that archaeologists have treated with a fibreglass type material to preserve them.
context_page_description: Sutton Hoo, at Sutton near Woodbridge, in Suffolk, England, is the site of two early medieval cemeteries, from the 6th to 7th centuries. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since the 1930s. One cemetery had an undisturbed ship burial with a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of art-historical and archaeological significance; most of these objects are now held by the British Museum in London. The site is in the care of the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.
  Historians who specialise in the early middle ages regard Sutton Hoo as important because it illuminates a period that is on the margin between myth, legend, and historical documentation. Use of the site culminated when Rædwald, ruler of the Kingdom of East Anglia, held senior power among the English people and played a dynamic if ambiguous part in the establishment of Christian rulership in England. Scholars believe that Rædwald is most likely the person buried in the ship. Findings at the site have been important in understanding the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia and the early Anglo-Saxon period.
context_section_description: In 1978 a committee was formed in order to mount a third, and even larger excavation at Sutton Hoo. Backed by the Society of Antiquaries of London, the committee proposed an investigation to be led by Philip Rahtz from the University of York and Rupert Bruce-Mitford, but the British Museum's reservations led to the committee deciding to collaborate with the Ashmolean Museum. The committee recognised that much had changed in archaeology since the early 1970s. The Conservatives' privatisation policies signalled a decrease in state support for such projects, whilst the emergence of post-processualism in archaeological theory moved many archaeologists toward focussing on concepts such as social change. The Ashmolean's involvement convinced the British Museum and the Society of Antiquaries to help fund the project. In 1982, Martin Carver from the University of York was appointed to run the excavation, with a research design aimed at exploring "the politics, social organisation and ideology" of Sutton Hoo. Despite opposition by those who considered that funds available could be better used for rescue archaeology, in 1983 the project went ahead.
  Carver believed in restoring the overgrown site, much of which was riddled with rabbit warrens. After the site was surveyed using new techniques, the topsoil was stripped across an area that included Mounds 2, 5, 6, 7, 17 and 18. A new map of soil patterns and intrusions was produced that showed that the mounds had been sited in relation to prehistoric and Roman enclosure patterns. Anglo-Saxon graves of execution victims were found which were determined to be younger than the primary mounds. Mound 2 was re-explored and afterwards rebuilt. Mound 17, a previously undisturbed burial, was found to contain a young man, his weapons and goods, and a separate grave for a horse. A substantial part of the gravefield was left unexcavated for the benefit of future investigators and as yet unknown scientific methods.
caption: Recent excavations revealed a figure that had been rolled into a shallow grave
exif: {}