Sutton Hoo : burial ground of kings? /

In the late 500s and early 600s a newly formed East Anglian kingdom created an extravagant ceremonial center of 18 earthen mounds at Sutton Hoo in an attempt, according to Carver, to provide focus for its pagan resistance to the rising tide of Christianity. The most important mound was excavated in 1939, but WW II postponed exhibit, publication, and study of its contents. More than 50 succeeding interventions--mappings, topographical and resistivity surveys, surface collections, radar tests, and three major excavations--probed the site. The final excavation from 1983 to 1997 was directed by Carver (York Univ.) His theory of pagan independence is surely debatable and surprisingly omits both the Christian evidence from Mound III and the Byzantine silver from Mound I, but otherwise his exceptionally well illustrated, delightfully readable, extremely comprehensive text makes the excavators and their discoveries leap to life. Everything from prehistoric settlement to medieval executions to modern artillery practice fall within his compass. Rupert Bruce-Mitford's The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial (1975, 1978, 1983) is the classic scholarly analysis, but Carver's present book is certainly the most accessible, most attractive synthesis now available. Every library should purchase it straightaway. It will delight and inform all readers. E. J. Kealey; College of the Holy Cross