Sutton Hoo

We spent a few hours yesterday in Sutton Hoo. They have an excellent visitor centre and some fine examples of what was found, shame the really good stuff is at the British Museum in London though. The visit started off with an eight minute video outlining the history of the site and it's fortuitous excavation. After that we toured the exhibits and read the story behind the burial mounds and how they had been investigated.

Belt buckle

Some of the jewellery was truly astounding. Something as simple as a belt buckle was a masterpiece. This may look like just some fancy design work engraved onto the surface but there is a hidden mechanism to unlock and open the buckle. Considering when this was made I was gobsmacked. I'm not sure if we can reproduce this quality today.