How useful is Sutton Hoo as a window into 7th century Anglo Saxon Society and Culture?

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How useful is Sutton Hoo as a window into 7th century Anglo Saxon Society and Culture?

Sutton Hoo can be useful in a number of ways to help us learn about their society and culture. First of all, if you look at the burial site itself, it is very easy to say that it was a pagan burial and not Christian. We can tell this by the fact that Raedwald was buried with his ship, an assortment of weapons, decorative items such as shoulder clasps and a brooch, buckets for ale and a purse containing 40 gold coins, among other things.

Raedwald was buried with his possessions, as it was thought that if you were buried with your possessions you would be able to use them in your next life. The purse containing 40 gold coins has been suggested that its use was to pay the forty oarsmen to row the boat to the land of the dead. This also helps us see that it was a pagan burial. The coins also tell us that they were travelling and trading with other countries, as no two coins are from the same mint. This means that they either came from a larger horde, King’s treasure or profits from a thriving trade with Gaul.

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Also found were two silver spoons. One is inscribed in Greek letters PAULOS and the other is SAULOS. These could be linked with Saint Paul from the New Testament. Saul, a Pagan, was busily brining Christians to justice when he had a blinding vision from Christ and as a result, converted to Christianity and took the Christian name Paul. Subsequently made a saint, Saint Paul was instrumental in building up the early Christian Church in the Roman Empire. This shows us that even though Raedwald was buried in the Pagan fashion, he still had Christian links.

These ...

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