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Jan 17, 2021 · The extraordinary ship burial was discovered just as World War Two was breaking out in 1939. Widowed landowner Edith Pretty had called in local archaeologist Basil Brown to investigate a series...
- Build a Replica of The Ship
A team aiming to build the first full-size replica of the...
- Build a Replica of The Ship
After a couple of days, Jacobs discovered a bit of iron. Basil immediately recognised it was a ship’s rivet, and went much more carefully. He soon found more rivets, which showed themselves up by an orange discoloration of the soil before he actually reached them.
- The Sutton Hoo Ship
- Basil Brown, The Archaeologist
- Edith Pretty, The Landowner
- Basil Brown and Charles W. Phillips, A Fraught Relationship?
- Striking Gold
- Spectacular Finds
- Recreating The Ship's Rivets
- Sutton Hoo on The Eve of War
In summer 2019 I welcomed Oscar-nominated production designer Maria Djurkovic and art director Karen Wakefield to the British Museum. They were astonished by the number of photographs in the archive and spent hours combing through them over several visits. Their questions were completely different to those I am usually asked, aimed at understanding...
Ralph Fiennes visited the Museum twice to research Basil Brown and kept archivist Francesca Hillier and me on our toes with plenty of questions. He quickly latched onto Brown's distinctive way of expressing himself and his clothing (boots with tucked-in trousers, waistcoat, hat), remarking upon a pocket-watch that he always wears in photos – a deta...
This scene, in which Edith Prettyobserves the excavations from a wicker chair, was being filmed when I visited the set. Several 'archaeologists' were working in the ship, creating a tableau that I recognised immediately with great delight – right down to their costumes, like WF Grimes's boiler suit with white plimsolls. It was as if the archival ph...
The film portrays the relationship between Basil Brown and Charles W Phillips, appointed by the Office of Works to supervise the dig, as quite antagonistic – a clash of class and culture between the self-taught archaeologist and Cambridge academic. While there is naturally some dramatic licence, Brown's writings show that the men did not always see...
One of my favourite scenes in the film is when archaeologist Peggy Piggott uncovers the first piece of gold from the burial – a garnet-encrusted scabbard mount. It's a magical moment that also happens to be completely true. It took place on 21 July 1939 and kicked off days of jaw-dropping discoveries (compressed into hours in the film) as the buria...
The Sutton Hoo finds make only a few cameo appearances in The Dig, but these moments are wonderfully realised. Following archival photographs like this one, top-quality replicas made by David Roper of Ganderwick Creations – ideal stand-ins – were laid out just as they had been found in 1939, ready to be discovered 80 years later by the film's 'arch...
Other finds from the burial were made specifically for the film. Prop-maker Len Wheeler came to view the iron ship rivets in the British Museum's stores and I watched, amazed, as he fashioned a perfect copy from metal rods and putty – the only difference being that it was a strange colour! The resulting prop, produced from Basil Brown's handkerchie...
In The Dig's closing scenes, Basil Brown fills the ship with bracken as Britain enters the Second World War. This was indeed his final act on site and the timing could not have been more dramatic. In his diary for 31 August, he writes 'Continued getting bracken etc. Will fill in the ship and prepare for a long period if possible should war break ou...
Feb 2, 2021 · It was in the summer of 1939, just ahead of the British declaration of war on 3 September, that he, together with William Spooner and John Jacobs, found iron rivets from the hull of a ship,...
Sep 6, 2024 · Archaeologists identified over 3,000 iron rivets, revealing the vessel's construction details. The ship served as both a burial chamber and a symbol of the deceased's status. Inside, excavators discovered a treasure trove of artifacts, including weapons, jewelry, and ceremonial objects.
Mound 2 revealed pieces of iron, which he recognised as ship rivets - although having been previously scattered by grave robbers, they did not immediately suggest a ship burial. He also recovered a piece of blue glass, a gilt bronze disc, iron knives and the tip of a sword blade.
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Jan 19, 2021 · The rivets were the first clue that a ship lay hidden under the mound and Basil, recognising what they were, went carefully from rusty mark to rusty mark with his pastry brush revealing the lines.
