Sutton Hoo helmet may not be from Sweden after all, new discovery suggests

A discovery by a metallic detectorist in Denmark has raised questions concerning the origins of the enduring Sutton Hoo helmet, thought for many years to have hyperlinks to Sweden.

The detectorist discovered a small metallic stamp on an island in southern Denmark, with related markings to these on the well-known helmet.

Peter Pentz, a curator on the Nationwide Museum of Denmark, says the invention raises the likelihood the Sutton Hoo helmet could in truth have originated within the nation.

The archaeologist informed the BBC that if the helmet is certainly proved to have come from Denmark, it may change our understanding of the stability of energy in seventh Century northern Europe.

Sutton Hoo is regarded as the burial website of King Raedwald, an East Anglian ruler who died in 624AD.

First excavated in 1939, greater than 260 artefacts have been uncovered on the Suffolk property, together with an iron and copper clad helmet, thought-about one of many interval’s biggest treasures. Different gadgets, like a defend and consuming horns, additionally present a connection to Scandinavia.

The helmet, now housed within the British Museum, is adorned with varied motifs, together with two small panels depicting warriors on horseback.

It’s believed to have been influenced by earlier Roman type and historians beforehand thought it might have come from Uppland, in japanese Sweden, as related motifs depicting warriors on horseback have additionally been found on helmets there. Historians suppose it might need been an heirloom or diplomatic reward.

However researchers on the Nationwide Museum of Denmark now say the lately unearthed metallic stamp bears a “putting similarity” to the helmet’s motifs.

The green-tinged copper alloy stamp was discovered two years in the past, by native archaeologist Jan Hjort. He says he was scouring a area with a metallic detector on the Danish island of Taasinge, when he unearthed the metallic object.

At first he thought it was a standard “image plate”, however after nearer examination, he realised it was one thing “extraordinary”, he informed the BBC.

“What is exclusive is the motif,” he says. “It is a very highly effective picture.”

“The stylistic similarities are so important,” Mr Pentz, the curator, says. “That is the closest hyperlink we have ever seen.”

Comparable motifs have additionally been present in Germany, however that is the primary unearthed in Denmark.

Mr Hjort’s discover was handed to a neighborhood museum however it has solely lately been studied.

The merchandise measures simply 5cm by 4cm (2in by 1.6in), and is now believed to be a stamp or “die”, also referred to as a “patrice”.

Whereas the sample shouldn’t be an identical to the Sutton Hoo helmet, after shut examine of the 2 fragmented helmet panels, Mr Pentz says there are “many similarities”.

“If we give attention to the horse itself, we see that it is the identical horse,” he says, pointing to its nostril piece, mane, ear and tail.

He thinks the Sutton Hoo and Danish motifs are nearer than their Swedish counterparts, suggesting the helmet could have truly originate from, or round, the Danish island.

The curator believes Taasinge could have been residence to a seventh Century metallic workshop – a skinny sheet of silver, presumably used for producing foils, and different metallic scraps has been discovered within the space.

“I’d say this die comes from the identical workshop, or comes from the atmosphere of the Sutton Hoo helmet,” Mr Pentz says. “Manufacturing most likely happened right here or commerce.”

The Anglo-Saxon ship burial website at Sutton Hoo, close to Woodbridge in Suffolk, is extensively thought-about to be England’s “Valley of the Kings”. Its 1939 discovery was lately dramatised within the 2021 Netflix movie, The Dig.

“It actually did revolutionize our understanding of the Anglo-Saxons,” says Laura Howarth, an archaeology and engagement supervisor at Sutton Hoo, now a Nationwide Belief property.

Anglo-Saxon refers to teams of people that got here to England from Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark. Even 86 years later, there have been recent digs on the website, and new theories rising concerning the burials.

The Sutton Hoo helmet was painstakingly pieced again collectively over a few years after it was first uncovered damaged into tons of of items. And is now on show on the British Museum. Ms Howarth calls the helmet the “face of the Anglo-Saxon interval”.

“It is the artistry and the craftsmanship behind the helmet,” she says. The Danish discovery reveals Sutton Hoo is “not a completed e book”, Ms Howarth provides.

” it, it is undoubtedly a part of this sort of household of designs which can be occurring presently,” she says, declaring that there are different gadgets with robust hyperlinks to Sweden within the Sutton Hoo burial grave and a German motif additionally shares shut similarities.

Mr Pentz believes the brand new discover builds on to a concept that Denmark was extra necessary throughout this period than beforehand thought, probably inserting Sweden and England on the periphery of a central Danish “energy base”.

Nevertheless, the Nationwide Belief’s Ms Howarth is extra sceptical. “It is quite a bit to pinpoint precisely the connection and the ability dynamic that was current between Denmark, Sweden and the neighborhood at Sutton Hoo presently, simply based mostly off-one discover,” she says.

Mr Pentz says there are “some obstacles” to his concept. The Sutton Hoo helmet foils have been fragmented into numerous items and the Danish stamp could be very worn.

As a subsequent step he hopes there shall be detailed 3D scanning of the motifs.

The discover was additionally found in space that has seen little excavation work, and it is potential that the stamp could have been traded or transported from elsewhere.

It’s going to go on show on the nation’s Nationwide Museum in Copenhagen in April.