The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial. VIII. Who Was He

I WAS unfortunately not able to be present at the inquest held on 14 August, but I understand that no satisfactory evidence of identity was offered. Indeed the prevalent view now seems to be that the tomb never contained a body—that it was constructed as a cenotaph. For cenotaphs in the Anglo-Saxon period I do not know of any good evidence. But we can hardly say with certainty that any of the cemeteries previously known were royal—apart from St. Augustine’s, Canterbury. It is not impossible therefore that a cenotaph may have been constructed for a king who lost his life at sea or on some distant expedition, from which his body could not be brought home

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Certainty · Epistemology · Genealogy · Identity (music) · Inquest · Period (music) · Historical and Religious Studies of Rome · History · Medieval European History and Architecture · Paleopathology and ancient diseases · Philosophy

• Three men and a boat

  Open Access•Michael Parker Pearson, Michael Pearson et al.•Anglo-Saxon England•1993

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