- Museum number
- 1939,1010.93
- Title
- Object: The Sutton Hoo Helmet
- Description
-
Iron helmet with copper alloy fittings, consisting of many individual fragments now built into a reconstruction made using jute textile and plaster.
The reconstruction comprises a domed cap, cheek-pieces, mask and neck-guard, covered with panels of tinned copper alloy sheeting. The panels are stamped with various repousse designs including animal interlace in Salin's Style II, and two different warrior scenes known as "The Dancing Warriors" and "The Fallen Warrior". Three different dies were used for the figural scenes and two for the interlace.
An iron crest inlaid with silver wire runs over the cap of the helmet, terminating at the front and back with animal heads. The animal head at the front has garnet cabochon eyes, now missing but painted in on the animal head at the back. The front animal head meets another animal head extending from the nose of the helmet, cast in copper alloy and gilded. Flanking the nose are a pair of gilt copper alloy eyebrows, inlaid with silver wire and terminating in boar's heads. Each eyebrow is lined along the bottom edge with a row of cloisonné garnets formed of miniature square cells, 23 on the proper right brow and 25 on the proper left. Only the garnets on the proper right brow have backing foils. The nose is cast together with a mouth-piece resembling a moustache and lower lip, made from copper alloy with gilding and partial tinning, enhanced with engraved detail and silver inlay.
On the inside of the iron fragments, black staining indicates the original presence of a leather lining.
- Production date
-
late 6thC-early 7thC (original components)
-
1971 (current reconstruction)
- Dimensions
-
Circumference: 74.60 centimetres (as restored, at eyebrow level)
-
Height: 31.80 centimetres (as restored)
-
Length: 25.50 centimetres (as restored, at rim level)
-
Weight: 2.50 kilograms (of original, estimated)
-
Width: 21.50 centimetres (as restored, at rim level)
- Curator's comments
-
In 2025, it was announced that a metal-detectorist on the island of Tåsinge, Funen, Denmark had found a die bearing a similar motif to the "Fallen Warrior" panel on the Sutton Hoo helmet. Similarities in particular were drawn in small details of the figures' clothing, hairstyles, weaponry, anatomy and the horse's harness and equipment. Differences are also apparent, such as the fallen figure carrying a shield, not seen on the Sutton Hoo image. The new discovery is perhaps likelier to reflect a wider proliferation of this popular motif among the elites of Early Medieval Europe, rather than a strong indication that the Sutton Hoo helmet was made in Denmark.
-
The current reconstruction is the second in the helmet's history. The first, completed by Herbert Maryon in 1946, was felt to be inaccurate. The second and current reconstruction was completed by Nigel Williams in 1971. See bibliographic reference field for published accounts of these works.
-
Published references, in print and online (in reverse chronological order):
Icon, 21 February 2021. Digging Deeper: Nigel Williams and the Sutton Hoo Helmet. Online at https://www.icon.org.uk/resource/digging-deeper-nigel-williams-and-sutton-hoo.html [accessed 11 July 2025]
Price, N. and Mortimer, P., 2014. An Eye for Odin? Divine Role-Playing in the Age of Sutton Hoo. European Journal of Archaeology, 17:3, pp. 517-38
Marzinzik, S., 2007. The Sutton Hoo Helmet. London: British Museum Object in Focus Series
Caple, C., 2000. Conservation Skills: Judgement, Method and Decision Making. London: Routledge, pp. 132-6
Williams, N., 1992. The Sutton Hoo Helmet. In: Oddy, A. (ed.) The Art of the Conservator. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 73-88
Bruce-Mitford, R., 1972. The Sutton Hoo Helmet: A New Reconstruction. The British Museum Quarterly 36, pp. 120-30
Maryon, H., 1947. The Sutton Hoo Helmet. Antiquity XXI (83), pp. 137–44
- Location
- On display (Room 41 - Europe: AD 300-1100, Section 1, Sutton Hoo Ship Burial, Display Case 1, Section A)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2010-2011, London, BM/BBC, 'A History of the World in 100 Objects' (object did not travel - display case in Room 41 marked with AHOW label)
1980 10 Mar-30 Sep, Sweden, Stockholm, Statens Historika Museum, The Vikings are Here
- Acquisition date
- 1939
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1939,1010.93
