Sunday 7 February 2021

The Dig: Archive shows real-life archaeologist from Netflix film


Archive footage from a 1965 BBC documentary shows the real-life archaeologist who discovered Anglo-Saxon treasures at Sutton Hoo.

Basil Brown found the ship burial in Suffolk in 1939 and the event has been turned into Netflix film The Dig starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes.

Speaking about the moment he made the discovery, Mr Brown said: "I carefully followed it down with bare hands and a trowel, thinking it was a small boat because you wouldn't expected a ship 80 feet long."

Read the rest of this article...

The Dig: Pandemic delays Woodbridge Sutton Hoo replica ship build

The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company wants to build a lifesize replica of the
1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon ship 
The Sutton Hoo Ship's Company 

Volunteers hoping to create a replica of the Anglo-Saxon ship found at Sutton Hoo have had their schedule put back because of the pandemic.

The story of the ship's discovery in 1939 near Woodbridge, Suffolk, is explored in the hit Netflix film The Dig.

Two oak trees intended for the keel were delivered to the Sutton Hoo Ship's Company in January.

It had hoped to launch the seaworthy 90ft (27m) replica next year. 

Archaeologists, historians, shipbuilders and volunteers are behind the Sutton Hoo Ship's Company. In 2019 they launched a £1m campaign to fund a replica of the 1,400-year old ship. 

Read the rest of this article...

Wednesday 3 February 2021

Inside 'The Dig': how the star-studded film squares with reality of Sutton Hoo

Ralph Fiennes as Basil Brown in The Dig. © Netflix 2021

This month sees the release of The Dig, a star-studded Netflix film about the discovery of the Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939. The grave, made in Suffolk in the early seventh century, centred on a 27-metre-long ship beneath a three-metre-high mound. Inside was a vast assemblage of exquisite objects from an incredible geographical range, spanning Britain, Europe, the eastern Mediterranean, the Middle East and South Asia. Nothing like this had ever been encountered before and it transformed our understanding of England’s early medieval past.

Despite their glitzy appeal, The Dig (based on John Preston’s 2007 book) largely eschews these objects to focus upon the discovery itself and the individuals involved: landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), Suffolk archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes), Cambridge academic Charles W Phillips (Ken Stott), and his team, including Peggy Piggott (Lily James), who found the first piece of gold inside. The story of the excavation, overshadowed by impending war, is just as dramatic as the archaeology it uncovered and I am thrilled that The Dig will bring it to a wider audience.

Read the rest of this article...

Monday 1 February 2021

Cambridge Anglo-Saxon graveyard found under King's College halls

Archelogists uncovered the graves after the 1930s halls were demolished
KING'S COLLEGE/DRONESCAPES

An Anglo-Saxon graveyard with "huge potential" has been unearthed beneath former university student housing.

King's College, Cambridge discovered the extensive cemetery, containing more than 60 graves, after demolishing a group of 1930s buildings.

Evidence of Iron Age structures and Roman earthworks was also identified.

Dr Sam Lucy, from the University of Cambridge, said the discovery of graves spanning different periods was "very unusual and really interesting".

Since the 19th century, archaeologists have believed there was an early Medieval/Anglo-Saxon cemetery in west Cambridge.

Read the rest of this article...