The Treasure of Sutton Hoo: Ship-Burial for an Anglo-Saxon King [Paperback]

Bernice Grohskopf (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2000

The Treasure of Sutton Hoo is the only book published in the USA about this significant excavation of an Anglo-Saxon king's ship burial. Priceless treasure found in the burial chamber, the finest collection of Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship in gold, silver and garnet, could have come only from a royal treasury.

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

"A lively work of living scholarship."

About the Author

Bernice Grohskopf lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she worked on the editorial staff of the William James Edition for nearly 11 years. Previously she was the writer-in-residence at Sweet Briar College, has been a book reviewer since 1987 presently for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Her essay on William James appears in the fall 1999 issue of the Harvard Library Bulletin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 196 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (November 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595137903
• ISBN-13: 978-0595137909
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,560 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, readable and fun, November 13, 2010

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Red - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Treasure of Sutton Hoo: Ship-Burial for an Anglo-Saxon King (Paperback)

Easy to read and fully documented for the beginning scholar. It is full of information and pictures and even some useful recent findings from the Sutton Hoo sites. I recommend it to all readers age 13 or so and above.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very good short work on the treasure., May 25, 2010

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JAG 2.0 (IN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Treasure of Sutton Hoo: Ship-Burial for an Anglo-Saxon King (Paperback)

I found this to be a very good work on the Sutton Hoo ship burial, its treasures, the culture of Anglo-Saxon England and the archeological dig that brought these things to the light of day.

I found the author's integration of the Sutton Hoo dig with the historical and cultural world of the times to be very informative and enjoyable. The author weaves passages of Beowulf into the narrative in a very effective fashion to give the reader a context into which one can view the finds. The story of Beowulf was roughly contemporary with the ship burial of this Anglian king (whose body was not in the mound) and gives the reader insight into the culture that buried these items as a funeral rite.

There is a lot of good information on the discovery of the find by Mrs. Pretty, the archeological dig itself as well as the items discovered. The book has very good illustrations and photos so the reader can see as well as read about the dig.

The issue of whose burial it had been is discussed at length without a solution. This is reasonable given the difficulty of dating the site as well as the dearth of written documentation of the times.

My only problem with this book is it's length. There are only about 150 pages. There is a preface to the paperback version, a preface, a foreward and acknowledgments as well as a bibliography, glossary etc. There is a lot of good reading in between to be sure, but I would really have liked for the author to have expanded many of the chapters.

Short though it was, it was a very good read about the burial, the artifacts and the culture and times that produced it. I recommend this for those wanting a short read on the subject.