| Sutton Hoo helmet | |
|---|---|
 Latest reconstruction (built 1970–1971) of the Sutton Hoo helmet | |
| Material | Iron, bronze, tin, gold, silver, garnets |
| Weight | 2.5 kg (5.5 lb) estimated |
| Discovered | 1939 Sutton Hoo, Suffolk 52°05′21″N 01°20′17″E / 52.08917°N 1.33806°E |
| Discovered by | Charles Phillips |
| Present location | British Museum, London |
| Registration | 1939,1010.93 |
The Sutton Hoo helmet is a decorated Anglo-Saxon helmet found during a 1939 excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial. It was buried around the years c. 620–625 CE and is widely associated with an Anglo-Saxon leader, King Rædwald of East Anglia; its elaborate decoration may have given it a secondary function akin to a crown. The helmet was both a functional piece of armour and a decorative piece of metalwork. An iconic object from an archaeological find hailed as the "British Tutankhamen",[1][2] it has become a symbol of the Early Middle Ages, "of Archaeology in general",[3] and of England.
The visage contains eyebrows, a nose, and moustache, creating the image of a man joined by a dragon's head to become a soaring dragon with outstretched wings. It was excavated as hundreds of rusted fragments; first displayed following an initial reconstruction in 1945–46, it took its present form after a second reconstruction in 1970–71.
The helmet and the other artefacts from the site were determined to be the property of Edith Pretty, owner of the land on which they were found. She donated them to the British Museum, where the helmet is on permanent display in Room 41.[4][5]
- ^ Daily Mail 1939b.
- ^ MacGregor 2011, p. 305.
- ^ Richards 1992, p. 131.
- ^ Bruce-Mitford 1975, pp. xxxvii, 718–731.
- ^ British Museum Sutton Hoo helmet.