The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial: A Handbook

The "Provisional Guide" to the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, published by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1947, has printed ten impressions and sold over 20,000 copies. The fifth impression (1956) incorporated corrections and additions. However, twenty years have elapsed since the "Guide's" first appearance, and a great deal has happened, both in Germanic archaeology and in the definition and assimilation of the Sutton Hoo discoveries. The passage of time has made still more apparent the European pre-eminence and unique import of what Sir Thomas Kendrick called 'the most marvellous find in the archaeological annals of England'. The Museum's definitive publication, in four volumes, is well advanced, and a fresh account is now needed to replace the "Provisional Guide". This "Handbook" has accordingly been prepared for students and the public. It follows the general lines of the old "Provisional Guide", but the text is substantially rewritten and enlarged, and is furnished with notes, concentrated at the end. Almost all the plates and figures are new and their number is substantially increased. Four colour-plates have been introduced. Some illustrations familiar in the "Provisional Guide" have been dropped. The advanced state of preparation of the definitive publication suggested that they could be left out of the "Handbook" in the interests of making this attractive and effective rather than fully comprehensive. I hope that, with such later modifications as may prove necessary, the Handbook will serve as a permanent introduction to the burial, comprehensive enough, and yet perhaps not too expensive for the seriously interested student and visitor.