Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial - footage of 1939 excavation

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Jim Lad said:

I still don't really understand how they managed to meticulously excavate a ship that basically wasn't there!

 

John

The wood decomposed in the dirt and left the earth a darker color where the wood had been. They excavated carefully until they reached the dark dirt and knew that was where the ship had been and were from that able to recreate the lines of the ship.

 

You can see the darkened earth defining the shape of the ship in the photo Louie posted above.

 

[Mark P]

Good Evening gentlemen;

 

Further to Bob's quite correct comment above, I seem to recall that an additional clue to the ship's shape was either the survival of the rivets (very rusted) holding the clinker planks together, or a patch of rust-coloured sand where the rivets had been. 

 

All the best,

 

Mark P