This observation was driven home to us recently when, in our turn, Chris and I visited my mother and brother in their home in Suffolk, England. We spent a couple of days touring the archaeological site at Sutton Hoo and the Anglo-Saxon boat reconstruction at Woodbridge. Viewers of the movie “The Dig” may recall that, in 1939, an amateur (and proficient) archaeologist uncovered the imprint of an 86-foot boat buried in a mound at Sutton Hoo. 

Let’s take a brief digression. English placenames have their quirks, and Sutton Hoo is perhaps quirkier than most.  It derives from Old English, “hoo” being elevated ground above water, “sut” is south, and “ton“, the word for a settlement, so we have “the south hamlet above the water,” which perfectly describes the site perched above the River Deben. 

The location is significant, as the people, (the entire population for miles around, with the possible help of oxen), would have dragged the boat from the river approximately a mile to the burial ground. You may be excused for thinking our ancestors were a little touched or for searching in your gray matter for distant memories of Viking boat burnings. Exciting as the Vikings may have been, the Sutton Hoo boat burial predates their invasion of mainland Britain by a couple of centuries. I guess we need to cast our minds back, “the longest time” to 624 CE, when King Redwald of East Anglia died and caused all the fuss. This was a time when there were many kingdoms in Britain, and Redwald, as our guide explained, was “top king” or “Bretwalda”, ruling over several of them, having forged alliances and been victorious in battle.  A mighty ruler was worthy of an incredible funeral.  He was buried in his ship surrounded by treasure!  There are accoutrements of war, some ceremonial, some to enable Redwald to fight his way into the afterlife, and other items for feasting so he could entertain on a grand scale once he arrived. 

The workmanship of the grave goods is exquisite; the silver helmet, the most renowned,  is decorated with dragons and birds and is beautifully etched with hunting scenes. Many of the other items are encrusted with gems in fine filigree settings. These times are often referred to as the Dark Ages, and dark and desperate they must have been for the peasantry, whose life expectancy was about 30 years.  But culture, trade, artistry, and craftsmanship thrived in a way that, although I have seen replicas of these marvels is, nonetheless, hard for me to comprehend, looking back over “the longest time.”

And yet, was it “the longest time”?  Further work at Sutton Hoo reveals that the settlement dates to the Bronze and Iron Ages, to 3,300 BCE . 

Whew!

I doubt that my impact, my writings, my beliefs, will last for long, but let’s hope that what does endure from our civilization points to our better selves,  our strengths, our courage, creativity, and compassion.

End Notes

Reading

Listening

Blue Marble
Natalie Claude
Performed by Isata Kenneh- Mason

Poetry

Who Knows What It’s Like
Clare Shaw