Major Archaeological Discovery Completely Rewrote The History Of England

Some of you might find this story a little familiar, because it’s made its way to the small screen. Even Netflix found the discovery so astonishing that they decided it deserved its own film. You may have watched The Dig, but even that won’t be enough for you to fully appreciate the scale of what happened at Sutton Hoo.

If you’re wondering just how big it is, then consider that Sue Brunning of the British Museum called Sutton Hoo “one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.” So there’s no way one film alone could do it justice. Instead, the movie is “more about the people than it is about the dig,” according to Professor Martin Carver of the University of York.

And those people are definitely important, especially when it comes to Edith Pretty and her lead archaeologist Basil Brown. They were both extraordinary people in their own right, and when they came together it was the beginning of something special. There were a lot of remarkable individuals involved in the dig, actually, including Peggy Piggott.

It was Piggott’s nephew, John Preston, who wrote the novel that inspired the Netflix film. And its publication in 2008 shed new light on an event that originally took place in 1939. The story of what happened then and what has happened since make for quite a tale.

Edith Pretty wasn’t exactly the quiet housewife you might imagine for that time. She didn’t get married until she was 43 and instead spent many years exploring the world. It wasn’t all plain sailing, though, with one trip taking her to the battlefields of WWI, where she worked as a nurse in a Red Cross Hospital.

The Dig shows Pretty being played by Carey Mulligan, and Mulligan probably said it best: “I’d never heard her name before. The character was so compelling, but diving into her real life was extraordinary. She was so beyond her time as a woman at the beginning of the 20th century.” No wonder people are trying to highlight her achievements more today.

The man Pretty eventually married was Major Frank Pretty, who became her husband in 1926. But he was only 56 when he died in 1935. They had a son called Robert, but Pretty couldn’t just dwell on family life. Her moment came in 1937 when she visited the Woodbridge Flower Show. Perhaps not the place you would have expected.

Pretty did have an interest in archaeology already. As well as her adventures in Egypt, she was the daughter of an amateur archaeologist. Her father Robert, you see, had even uncovered a Cistercian Abbey in their family garden in Cheshire (yes, they were rich landowners). So it’s no wonder she decided to investigate the mysterious mounds near her home at Sutton Hoo, but she couldn’t do it alone.

Woodbridge Flower Show was where she met a local historian named Vincent Redstone. He was the man who contacted the nearby Ipswich Museum for advice, and they sent first the curator, Guy Maynard, and then president, James Reid Moore, to view the site. They were also the ones who introduced her to archaeologist Basil Brown.

Basil Brown is a remarkable guy, though he probably wouldn’t have admitted it. He’s played by Ralph Fiennes in The Dig and the actor described him as “an extraordinary figure and a self-effacing man.” Edith Pretty might have been from a wealthy and privileged background, but Brown was a farmer’s son who left school when he was only 12.

Everything Brown knew about archaeology was self-taught, and that meant his farming background actually stood him in good stead. He was a Suffolk native who spent much of his early life learning about local geology whilst working in the dirt. He didn’t just spend his time looking down, though: his second great love was astronomy.

That’s right: when Basil Brown wasn’t digging to find out what was underground, he was staring up at the stars. This is another area where he taught himself, though this time he mostly learned from books. He published his own work in 1932, in fact,  Astronomical Atlases, Maps and Charts: An Historical and General Guide.

But it was in 1935 that his passion for archaeology brought him to Ipswich Museum as a contractor. That meant that by 1938, he was perfectly situated to excavate Edith Pretty’s estate. He was joined by Bert Fuller and Tom Sawyer. No, not the Mark Twain character, but one of two local laborers. They’d later be joined by the estate’s own gardener John Jacobs, and William Spooner, the gamekeeper.

It wasn’t exactly your typical outfit, but Brown knew what they had to do. It started with the digging of a trench across three of the 18 mounds. If the soil changed across them or at different depths, then it might indicate an underground space. Early results were mixed. It did suggest some kind of grave or chamber, but it had clearly been disturbed.

Some of this had been because of the enthusiastically burrowing rabbits that lived in the area, but some of it was due to looters, too. Whatever treasure had been in the mound had been stolen, and all that was left were some iron rivets. These had probably belonged to a ship, but its only remaining cargo were a few iron knives, a tiny piece of a sword, a bronze disc, and some blue glass.

Nothing ground-breaking yet, but there was more work to do. Another mound contained some bits of pottery, including the lid of a jug from the Mediterranean. There was a limestone plaque, or at least what remained of it. There was even an axe head which had become rusty over the years. They all accompanied the human remains of a man who’d... been cremated.

A fourth mound had pieces of bone and bronze as well as what had been high-quality fabrics. It was intriguing enough for Maynard to publish some articles, and for the British Museum to show an interest. But in 1939, the time had come to see if the larger mound could offer something even more exciting. 

There was a sense of anxiousness in the wider world by this point, as the second set of excavations started in May of 1939, just months before Britain declared war on Germany. Work would be drowned out by the roar of fighter jets, and the site could’ve become a legitimate enemy target, too. The British Army, you see, was driving tanks over the area for military exercises.

Digging obviously wouldn’t be able to continue once the war was properly underway, and Brown used bits of bracken to try and protect the precious site. The uncovered artifacts already needed to be kept safe, and a secure home was later found for them in the abandoned tube lines of the London Underground near Aldwych Station.

By this point, though, Brown wasn’t the leading figure on the dig. When he’d gone into mound one, he’d found something far beyond anyone’s imagination. There hadn’t just been rivets, but an entire burial ship. You could see its shape entrenched into the ground — 89 feet long. It was huge enough that the experts had to be called in.

The new head of the Sutton Hoo excavations was Charles Phillips, who was based at Cambridge University. He had the experience and the contacts to put together a pretty professional team, though Basil Brown was still part of it all. Phillips and Brown did respect each other, though Phillips had some tension with the Ipswich Museum.

Phillips’ chosen team included Peggy Piggott, who is played by Lily James in The Dig. Piggott’s career as an archaeologist would last more than 60 years, with part of it alongside her archaeologist first husband, Stuart. “You just have this sense that she had a full life and was brave. She achieved so much against all the odds; she’s an inspiration.” James said.

It would be Piggott who struck gold for the first time at Sutton Hoo — literally. Two gold sword pyramids would be revealed in July 1939, after more than a thousand years in that burial chamber. They were just a small part of a parade of ancient artifacts from the 7th Century that would be discovered in the coming months. More than 200 in total were unearthed, some of them absolutely priceless.

This meant there were some worries on the storage front. It was time for William Spooner to put down his trowel and take out his shotgun, to protect the treasure that would go on to be analyzed at the British Museum. Security concerns grew when the media found out what was going on and pretty much mobbed every member of the dig.

Plus experts were starting to realize the importance of the discovery. It wasn’t a Viking burial ground as first thought, but Anglo-Saxon. That alone made it unique, but there was more. The wealth in the chamber made it clear it wasn’t a common grave, and it’s now believed to be that of King Rædwald of East Anglia. He had a helmet, sword and shield, and wore a golden belt buckle.

Rædwald ruled in the 7th Century, and his burial site gives us unparalleled insight into that time. Historians used to think that 7th-century Anglo-Saxons were fairly uncivilized people, tucked into their separate corners of England, which wasn’t even a unified country. That’s until the experts saw the furs, feathers, and textiles along with gold, silver, garnets, bronze, wood, and iron around Rædwald’s suspected tomb at Sutton Hoo. 

You see, the Saxons hadn’t found all that in the English countryside. The majority of it came from extensive trading links with the rest of the world, such as with the Byzantines in what’s now Turkey and the Egyptians in far-off North Africa. The Saxons of the time were part of a global, more civilized society. And that was news to everyone, thanks to the Suffolk site. 

Plus, Sutton Hoo isn’t just unique in England, but in all Northern Europe. The riches it uncovered remain without equal, not just because of their monetary value but because of what we’ve learnt from them. It’s a window into the culture and religion of the Saxons, who appear to have been making a bold statement about their Pagan society in the face of encroaching Christianity.

Saxon royals like Rædwald built their kingdoms on the ruins of the Roman Empire and wanted to preserve what they now had. Extravagant burials and displays of wealth could have been a loud and unmistakable way to do that. It’s not certain that the king in the chamber was Rædwald. But it was definitely a man who wanted to take a host of riches to the afterlife.

World War II may have dampened the investigative spirit, but it wasn’t the end of excavations at Sutton Hoo. Work would pick up again in the 1960s, then again in the 1980s, to find more human remains and treasures. Researchers also analyzed the sand beneath the king’s chamber and found a body had been there, but had decomposed. Given the passage of time, this was not entirely unexpected. 

Others buried around Sutton Hoo appear to have been of varied classes and professions. One young man was probably a warrior and lay next to his horse. A woman of high rank was found, too, plus some men of a similar standing. Others may have been ancestors of kings and still carried their weapons of war. Women of other ranks had combs and jewelry as well as bowls and small knives.

Not everyone had dignity in death, however, and some of the remains weren’t laid to rest with honor. You see, the corpses had been eaten away by the acid in the soil, but they left behind a discolored crust in the dirt. It means such people had likely been twisted painfully out of shape after what were probably judicial executions. As well as bound limbs, there would’ve been broken necks to leave such imprints behind. 

Originally, the theory was that these men were some form of human sacrifice. But they were dated a little too late for that. They probably died after Christianity had made its surge in England. If the men were executed, then they may have been denied Christian burial rights and instead been left amongst the already old Pagan mounds.

Edith Pretty didn’t live to see the later excavations of Sutton Hoo. She died in 1942 when she was only 59 and left her twelve-year-old son an orphan. Before that, she’d been through a complicated legal inquest that decided that the treasures found on her property did belong to her. She wasn’t greedy, though, and donated them to the British Museum, whilst also turning down the honor of a CBE.

Robert Pretty would go to live at his aunt’s house in Hampshire without ever returning to Sutton Hoo, but he left his mark. He’d been right there with his toy spade when the men dug. And when the archaeologists came back in the 1980s, they found Robert’s roller skates left behind. By that point, Sutton Hoo had passed through several hands, and it would eventually be sold to the National Trust conservation charity.

That meant it was time to open a visitors’ center. In the years since, the National Trust has spent millions to ensure the public can have a fascinating experience following new walks and observing educational displays. This includes first-person accounts and digitized versions of pictures taken back then. 

High levels of interest and public engagement are the kinds of things that allow a film like The Dig to be made. Netflix couldn’t film at the site because it needed its set to look like it had never been touched, but its film crew did visit the area for research. Plus, the cast got the chance to walk around Sutton Hoo, and the staff there took a trip to the film set themselves.

There was even an outdoor showing of The Dig at Sutton Hoo. Meanwhile, experts think there are still new things to learn from this ancient site. There may even be more excavations, though not in quite the same way. Digging up historical structures and artifacts, you see, involves potentially displacing and sometimes destroying them. 

Thankfully, the archaeologists of today have access to equipment that Basil Brown could only have dreamed of. Electrical resistance meters, ground penetrating radar, lidar, and magnetometry mean you can map an underground world without disturbing a single grain of soil. That’s a bit of an improvement from the kettles, coal scuttles, pastry brushes, and household bellows that Edith Pretty lent from her own kitchen to get this astonishing project started.

Britain, it seems, has no shortage of long-lost treasures just waiting to be unearthed. For almost 200 years, the Hertford Union Canal has provided an aquatic passage through East London’s Tower Hamlets, collecting plenty of human detritus along the way. But in January 2021, experts decided to drain its muddy waters in order to carry out a program of repairs. And when they did, a number of startling artifacts were revealed on the bed below.

Strapping on waders and reflective jackets, the dedicated volunteers climbed down into the belly of the canal, keen to take a closer look. As they sifted through beer cans and discarded trash, they realized that there were some much more valuable treasures lurking there too. So what exactly did the team uncover?

Given the long and varied history of the Hertford Union Canal, it should come as no surprise that all manner of artifacts have slipped beneath its waters over the years. First opened back in 1830 the mile-long channel was intended to act as a shortcut between two of London’s busiest waterways.

With the construction of the canal, traffic traveling from the River Lea was able to bypass the challenging Bow Back Rivers area and emerge directly onto the Thames. But despite this convenience, the waterway was not a success. And after just a year of operation, its owners were already considering scrapping the access toll.

Then in the 1850s a dam was constructed across the Hertford Union Canal, making it impossible for boats to navigate its length. Apparently, there was concern that water from the far-busier Regent’s Canal was being lost to its smaller, less significant neighbor. But that wasn’t the end of the story for this historic waterway.

In 1857 the channel was acquired by the Regent’s Canal Company, which removed the dam and incorporated the route into its network. And with that, the Hertford Union Canal became part of a vital lifeline connecting Paddington Basin with the River Thames. Nearly 200 years after the canal first opened, it remains a fixture of London life.

Today, the Hertford Union Canal forms part of the much larger Grand Union Canal. Beginning on Regent’s Canal at Hertford Union Junction, it extends east towards the River Lea – which is also confusingly known as the River Lee along in navigable stretches –pushing through the sedate greenery and shaded picnic benches of Victoria Park. But what treasures has it hidden over the years?

Of course, London has altered drastically in the two centuries since the Hertford Union Canal was built – and the waterway has borne witness to many of these changes. Over the years, it has choked in the smog of industrial activity, played its part in the war effort and, finally, become a place of relaxation and recreation for many city dwellers.

But all this time, the waterway has been hiding a number of secrets beneath its dark and murky waters. And in January 2021 the time came to uncover them. Needing to carry out vital repairs to the infrastructure of the mile-long stretch, the Canal and River Trust decided to drain its depths.

According to a BBC news report, it was the first time in two decades that the Hertford Union Canal had been emptied. And over the years, an overwhelming amount of trash had found its way into the waters. With the bare bed of the structure exposed, it soon became clear exactly how much had accumulated – and how much would need to be removed.

But with waterways covering some 2,000 miles to maintain, the trust has plenty on its plate. So, it enlisted the help of a team of volunteers to assist them with clearing the debris from the bottom of the canal. And although that might seem like unpleasant work, there was one group of Londoners to whom it definitely appealed.

Known as mudlarkers, these hobbyists make a habit of scavenging riverbeds, searching for objects of interest. And in London, they can often be seen scouring the mudbanks of the Thames. Over the years, they have uncovered countless items of trash – but they have stumbled upon some treasures as well.

Mudlarker Anna Borzello, for example, has built up an impressive collection of antique pins, including ones from the Tudor era, simply by scouring the riverbed. In fact, she is so obsessed with the hobby that her home is filled with fascinating artifacts that she has retrieved from the famous river which flows through England’s capital.

As you might expect, the items discovered by mudlarkers are incredibly diverse. Over the years, these hobbyists have spotted everything from Tudor pottery and animal bones to ceramic roof tiles bearing scorch marks from the Great Fire of London. Importantly, if the finds are deemed to be of historical value, they must be turned over to the authorities for proper study.

“You feel like you’re contributing in some way,” Borzello told writer Amelia Clarke in December 2020. “It’s rather exciting to have your find on a list somewhere… it’s thrilling.” And while some discoveries, such as the Tudor gold she once unearthed, are confiscated by the government, others find their way into the mudlarkers’ collections for good.

It should come as no surprise, then, that when the call went out for volunteers to help declutter the bed of the Hertford Union Canal, Borzello and her fellow mudlarkers answered. After all, here was an opportunity to explore a stretch of riverbed that had been concealed for an entire generation.

Arriving at the canal, Borzello soon realized that their task would be a perilous one. In an April 2021 article for the BBC, she wrote, “I [sank] straight in above my knees, and spent the next five minutes trying to dig myself out with a shovel. Canal mud is treacherous, deceptively solid-looking on the surface but giving way to thick sludge beneath.”

Describing the scene, Borzello continued, “Shallow water pooled in the center of the three-quarters-of-a-mile-long trench, but sediment swirled with every step, making it hard to see anything.” Despite the difficult conditions, though, the volunteers could see that the canal bed was strewn with previously-submerged artifacts.

According to reports, much of this was the typical trash that you might expect to find at the bottom of a canal in one of the world’s most populous cities. As they scoured the exposed bed, the team spotted tires, bicycles and even lampposts sunk into the mud. Meanwhile, everyday litter such as tin cans and plastic packaging made their progress arduous and slow.

But even these seemingly worthless objects can give us an insight into the life of the canal. In her article, Borzello attributed much of the trash to fly tippers who illegally dump in the area. Other items, such as traffic cones, were likely tossed in the water by bored teenagers desperate for a moment’s entertainment.

In some cases, the objects found on the canal bed tell us more about those who live on London’s waterways. According to Borzello, items can sometimes fall from passing houseboats and barges, soon disappearing into the murky depths. Many of the tires, for example, probably once hung from boats, providing protection from bumps and scrapes.

Elsewhere, the canal seems to have served as a sort of makeshift graveyard for unwanted technology such as mobile phones. Were these items simply tossed into the water when their usefulness reached an end? Or were they accidentally dropped, causing no small amount of consternation for their unlucky owners?

While some items retrieved from the Hertford Union Canal were commonplace, others were decidedly unusual. One volunteer, for example, stumbled upon an entire birdcage sticking out of the mud. And another mudlarker, Monika Buttling-Smith, unearthed three statuettes depicting Hindu deities. Apparently, objects such as these are sometimes placed in the water as an offering to the gods.

In a terrifying twist Nicola White, another mudlarking enthusiast, discovered the head of a doll with a screw driven through its nose at the bottom of the canal. Was it a relic from some voodoo practitioner, designed to cause harm to its intended victim? Or simply an art project accidentally cast aside?

Bizarrely, it wouldn’t be the first time that White has encountered a voodoo doll in London’s waterways. As a mudlarker who frequently searches the banks of the Thames, she has found the figures, alongside magic spells and religious trinkets, in the city before. But, wisely, she tends to leave these more esoteric artifacts undisturbed.

“I draw the line at voodoo dolls,” White told Clarke. “Those I wouldn’t take for obvious reasons. Like no, thank you. I’ll leave you right there.” But potential curses weren’t the only sinister objects recovered from the Hertford Union Canal. Elsewhere, the mudlarkers also unearthed traces of the criminal world.

In one instance, volunteers found a vehicle license plate that had been cut into small pieces and stashed inside a plastic bag. And although we can never be sure why someone might carry out such a bizarre act, the assumption is that they were up to no good. Similarly, the empty safes retrieved from the depths of the canal may well have been cracked open in an illicit manner.

There were signs of violence, too, including an airsoft gun and even a sword. At the moment, researchers have been unable to date the latter, meaning that it’s just as likely to be an historical artifact as a modern weapon. But there was one find, discovered by mudlarker Mike Walker, that was comparatively easy to place.

According to Borzello, Walker stumbled upon the object submerged in water when he accidentally kicked it with his foot. Reaching down, he pulled out a helmet dating back to World War II. And this wasn’t the only historic artifact that the team retrieved from the mud beneath the Hertford Union Canal.

In one instance, a volunteer discovered a horseshoe – probably a relic from a time when the animals pulled barges along the canal. Elsewhere, White found an old ink reservoir and an ancient ginger beer bottle crafted from stone dating back to the end of the 19th century. And in yet another part of the waterway, a curious cluster of animal figurines was unearthed.

“I don’t know why there was a collection of tiny ceramic polar bears, horses and a gorilla beneath a bridge,” wrote Borzello for the BBC, “but I imagine an angry child hurling in his sibling’s collection.” If true, this wouldn’t be the only case of someone flinging something into the canal out of frustration.

According to Borzello, onlookers often shared their thoughts on the operation while passing the empty expanse of the Hertford Union Canal. One, it seems, questioned whether the volunteers had found a friend’s bicycle, thrown into the muddy waters by a driver experiencing a fit of road rage. Meanwhile, another pair wondered about the provenance of a motorbike found abandoned amid the muddy sludge: they apparently suspected it might have belonged to a friend of theirs.

So what will happen to all the trash and treasure recovered during the operation? Apparently, the general litter will be classed as toxic by the authorities and disposed of via barge. But some of the more interesting items, such as Walker’s World War II helmet, will remain with the Canal and River Trust for further study.

After that, the future of the objects will depend on their historical significance. And while they could be returned to the mudlarkers to take pride of place in a private collection, they may also end up on display in a museum or official facility. For those who spend their time searching for artifacts in London’s rivers, it’s a familiar scenario.

In fact, while mudlarking might seem like a delightfully anarchic pastime, it’s actually subject to some fairly strict regulations. People like Borzello and White, then, have to obtain licenses in order to legally pursue their hobby. And if they discover anything dating back over 300 years, they must hand it over to the Museum of London to be recorded.

In the case of the Hertford Union Canal, the artifacts don’t seem to be quite that old – although as previously mentioned the precise provenance of the sword is yet to be determined. According to Borzello, this could be because dredging has stripped the bed of any earlier objects. Anything left over, such as historic coins or jewels, may have disappeared into the mud without a trace.

Writing for the BBC, Borzello also speculated that hobbyists fishing the canal with magnets could have gotten to any additional artifacts before the mudlarkers arrived. But even so, the volunteers were left with a fascinating haul. Perhaps one of the most memorable London river finds, though, occurred some years earlier in 2014.

That March, another team of volunteers were helping to clean up Salmon Lane Lock on Regent’s Canal, a few miles south of the Hertford Union stretch. But things ground to an abrupt halt when they pulled an unexploded World War II grenade from the water. As a result, the police were called in to cordon off the area and military experts carried out a controlled detonation – quite the dramatic turn of events.

According to reports, the Canal and River Trust were due to refill the Hertford Union Canal in April 2021, likely covering up the bed for another 20 years or more. But work on London’s waterways is always ongoing, and this is far from the last time that a section will be drained. When that next happens, the city’s mudlarkers will be on hand to see what treasures have been revealed.