Ivan Clowsley

Sutton Hoo 2024

Monday of the last week of the dig.

Can it be true I’m going to be digging at Sutton Hoo! What a responsibility what an honour and a privilege. It’s literally beyond my wildest dreams but let’s get there first.

A cremation urn in situ in trench 1.

It was a long drive to Sutton Hoo the roads in Suffolk are challenging but the return journey to come was to be a lot worse! We got to site mid afternoon, hot and sweaty, our accommodation fortunately was on the Sutton Hoo estate so very convenient. We went down to site to see what was occurring and had a quick scout around. We were intrigued to see cremation burials and a very exciting metal object to be excavated soon! Dani collared us and got us finds processing in Edith Pretties house no less. She then took us down to River View field to see the test pits, what a view over the river estuary. In the evening we were cordially invited to attend a party to celebrate Helen’s birthday, what a lovely evening as we watched the sun set. I took some cracking photographs munched on birthday cake and supped Gin and Tonic a great end to the day.

A beautiful Sutton Hoo sunset.

Tuesday

Today we went down to site about 9 am and helped Naomi unpack her van and set up her Gazebo and her flotation tank under a shady tree a wise move as it turned out it was going to get very warm.

At 10am 20 excited School kids turned up from the local Primary School. They were split up into two groups Penny took charge as she is Time Team’s Schools Liaison Officer. We marched the kids single file through a wild flower meadow so as not to trample on the flowers and down to River View Field to Test Pit 10. Our objective was to see, if this far up the elevated part of the field, there was any knapped flint, as the other Test Pits closer to the river had. It was very hot but fortunately we had a gazebo over the test pit so we had some shade. I explained how test pitting worked to the kids, teachers and helpers and we got to it. I did the mattocking, all the kids had a go at shovelling out the loose soil, trowelling and sieving. We didn’t find much of any great interest to be honest. Then we showed the kids how to record our test pit taking photo’s and filling out context sheets. Keith then turned up and gave them a demonstration on metal detecting which seemed to go down well. We walked back to site to have lunch then we did it all over again in the afternoon with the other group. The kids left at 2.30 I carried on digging but as the test pit was barren we closed it down. Penny, Naomi, myself and Metal Detectorist Paul sat outside our Airbnb that evening having a beer and a catch up.

Keith Westcott lead Time Team metal detectorist in garden view field.

Wednesday

I had no idea what today would bring we got on site at 9am prompt expecting to see the Byzantine Bucket having been lifted but no. The plan had been to start at 7am and get it out quickly I’d assumed. Anyway I was at a loose end so we spoke to Matt and Andy from HAS Heritage and yes I could assist in the big trench. I’ll admit I was quite nervous to be involved in the thick of it on such a prestigious dig. Andy was kind but kept a close eye on me pointing me in the right direction, this was trowelling a huge area, oh so careful, oh so slow and precise not easy on the gravelly areas. It was really hot, gently scraping away the soil that had been watered down on my hands and knees all day long, sweating. At one point I’d got Helen trowelling to my left and Martin Carver on my right wow, this is incredible digging at Sutton Hoo as Tim put it in “Britain’s Valley of the Kings.” I’d never seen Helen in a trench trowelling before but we had a nice chat I can’t remember about what it’s all a bit of a daze really. Sir Tony was on site talking to the fans who watched from a viewing area it was a really friendly atmosphere. On our frequent water breaks I’d seek out some shade over by Naomi’s flotation tank and see what they’d found. Burnt Human bone was coming up which is expected in a burial site but a beautiful carved bone comb was found too, a great find. About 5pm our target trowelling area had been completed, finds none but a huge sense of satisfaction.

On this lovely warm summer evening we found ourselves outside the local pub. About 10 of us sat outside chatting, laughing and having a bite to eat. Another smashing end to the day.

The famous burial mounds.

Thursday

So our last day and the last day of the dig, it’s come around so quickly. Didn’t expect much to be going on today after a 4 week dig a bit of tidying up for recording I thought. But no back on site and there’s quite a bit of activity. Andy says after looking at the photos they don’t think they’ve gone far enough down so we’re going to have go down a bit further. At this point Dani wanted me to say a line for the Sutton Hoo in 60 seconds section of Time Team live. I said the line “A warrior King was buried here” again she said. And once more with feeling so I gave it my all!

So back into big trench I went. Thankfully this morning we had a breeze and some cloud cover and a break from the heat. Today was the live episode so the Dome was a hive of activity and the tension was building for the team on the other side of the camera. Tony was chatting with the ever growing crowd but even he was getting tense psyching himself up and reading through his script.

Meanwhile I was continuing to scrape away keeping my eyes peeled and it paid off not a lot of finds coming up but I found a nice bit of worked flint. I was hoping for an arrow head but Andy said no. Karen one of the Directors thought it was worthy of a piece to Camera so I did that with Matt watched on by lots of pairs of eyes from the viewing area a bit nerve wracking but I think it went well.

By mid afternoon I’d done all that was required of me in the trench and I retired to the gazebo outside the Dome to watch the live episode. One of the re- enactors was there Anglo-Saxon leader, King Rædwald of East Anglia. He had his lyre and staff of office Dani and Naomi were larking about with them.

Last night of the dig meant party night we went back up to Edith Pretties house we ate and drank watching the sun set again. We moved into the house then for a sing song with Tim and Cameraman Steve on guitar a fun way to end this momentous dig. What a huge honour to be allowed to take part, my overwhelming emotion was relief though. I felt a huge sense of responsibility even as a humble digger and I hadn’t messed up, phew, until the next time!

Helen’s birthday party.

Naomi and her new ‘Micked’ floation tank.

Penny taking the school kids through test pit recording.

The trowelling line. Thanks for the photo Matt Foster.

My nice bit of flint.

Discussing finds with Matt Williams.

Jackie excavating a cremation urn.

Tony and Helen in a shady spot.