SUTTON HOO CITHARA

[J T]

I am, therefore I think.

[Mekon]

For those not familiar with Anglo-Saxon history: Just before WWII a Suffolk woman, Mrs Edith Pretty commissioned a local acheologist to see what was inside a strange mound on her land. It turned out to be an amazingly well preserved ship burial probably of the East Anglian King Raedwald. Amongst the finds were many pieces of gold and silver, the most famous being a marvelously worked helmet. When France fell and Britain was threatened with invasion the priceless artifacts were hidden in what was probably as safe a place as any in England, under Mrs Pretty's bed.

I was unaware of the musical instrument but much of what is described in that link must be conjecture as no wood survived being in the ground since

620AD the ship itself is only known by the positions of its rivets and other iron fittings.

Mekon

[J T]

Wed, Dec 6, 2006, 9:12am (EST+5) [e-mail] (Mekon) doth shock us with: This is one place where I never expected to see those words "Sutton Hoo"

And just why would that be, pray tell? This IS possibly the last bastion of culture in the known world after all.

JOAT I am, therefore I think.

[Mekon]

:)

Well, I have been studying/reading Anglo-Saxon history for 25 years and I personally know of only one other person on the planet who I can say "Sutton Hoo" to and be instantly understood.

But you are probably right, these fine upstanding woodworkers, clearly the salt of the earth, are too intelligent and multi talented to be referred to in such a dismissive way. My apologies.

:)

Mekon

[Andy Dingley]

I could say "Sutton Hoo" to at least half my livejournal friends list and have them understand exactly what I meant -- and that's just a semi-random sampling of international people with intaweb access. It's like saying that Roskilde or Oseberg would have no meaning.

[Mekon]

You clearly move in better educated circles than I.

:)

Mekon

[Andy Dingley]

No, just bigger, hairier and more fond of dressing up with shields!

Seriously though, Sutton Hoo is well known even to schoolchildren in the UK. Not quite on a par with Stonehenge or Boudicca, but not far behind.

[Mekon]

That's great to hear. Two decades ago I was horrified to hear that my cousin's children (early high school age) had no idea what the Battle of Hastings was about. So we piled into my rental car and did the drive from Bristol to Hastings, where they got a crash course in early medieval English history. The next day I took them to London to see the Tower and the Imperial War Museum so they could see something of our shared history. It seems funny to think on it now, an Aussie showing English kids something of their cultural heritage.

Mekon

[LRod]

I'm one. I've not been there, but my brother had years earlier when we were in Peterborough for a reunion of my father's bomb group.