The common belief of the "Dark Ages" is that it was a period with no interest in the arts or literature. The next time period was even named the Renaissance just to sound much more superior and intellectual than its predecessor.(Garraty, Gay, and McGill 481) The Anglo-Saxons were the barbaric setters of this Middle Age time period. Western England is the part of England that is most often associated with the negative label of having the Dark

In 1939 C.W. Phillips began to dig and eventually unearthed an ancient Anglo-Saxon ship in Woodbridge Suffolk, better known as Sutton Hoo, England. He was the leader of an excavation team, which was formed by the British Museum. In this excavation an actual ship was not unearthed but actually the tracing of a ship along with pieces of the ship. The rotted wood from the ship stained all of the sand and these stains left an elaborate picture of the ship in the ground. The site was excavated so carefully that an actual photograph of the entire ship was taken, even though all of the wood had decayed and all that remained were the stains left in the dirt. The ship had originally been approximately 86 feet long and it took the shape of a rowing boat. At this time the excavation team concluded that the site had never been looted and this was the first knowledge of Sutton Hoo. The area was eventually left because of the start of the second world war and was re-excavated in the 1960's, but it was obvious that some of the materials from the site were stolen by grave robbers. Even with this looting there was still an excess of material found for research purposes and display in museums.(Anderson and Crumlin-Pederson) This site was hypothesized to be a burial site because of its eleven large mounds before excavation. After the site was excavated their beliefs proved to be true and a further conclusion was made: that this was a burial site of the Wuffings, an Anglo-Saxon tribe. Their main concern was a very large mound shaped unlike all of the others. It was a large oval, which had sunken in at the center. After digging the site the shape was explained by a ship which was under the land, the inner cavity of the ship had collapsed from the rotting of wood, leaving a hollow spot at the top of the oval.(Phillips 46)

There are many ideas of why the body is not located at the burial site in addition to who is being honored there. One possibility is the body could have been cremated and the ashes have been lost or spread over time. It is believed by some that the body was most likely lost in battle because this type of burial known as a cenotaph, where the body is in a different location from a monument, was used most often when a body was not located and this was a Christian style of burial. The body could have also been eaten away by the soils at Sutton Hoo, through chemical tests the soil at Sutton Hoo has been confirmed to being highly acidic and this could have eaten the body completely leaving no remains.

There was so much treasure found that archaeologists are fairly certain it was for a very grand king. All of the treasure has been classified into three distinct groups. These groups are: domestic utensils and minor weapons, personal ornaments and personal weapons, and royal regalia. The objects found range from weaponry to eating utensils to jewels.(Phillips 47-52) All of the materials were extremely extravagant and elaborate. This grave is considered the greatest treasure ever to be unearthed in Britain.

They laid then the beloved chieftain, giver of rings, in the ship's bosom, glorious by the mast. There were brought many treasures, ornaments from far-off lands. Never have I heard that a vessel was more fairly fitted-out with war-weapons and battle-raimen

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2226
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)