Sutton Hoo Helmet May Be From Denmark, Not Sweden

The famous helmet was unearthed from an Anglo-Saxon ship burial site in Britain in 1939 and archaeologists have long theorised that it originated in Sweden.

Sutton Hoo helmet | British Museum

However, a new discovery suggests it may actually have come from Denmark - which would significantly alter our understanding of the power dynamics 1,500 years ago in Northern Europe.

This is all thanks to a small piece of metal covered in engravings found by a metal detectorist whilst scanning a field on the Danish island of Tåsinge two years ago.

Researchers say the find has the potential to rewrite the history of one of Britain’s most famous artifacts as the intricate carvings on the small metal stamp, which is known as a “patrice,” are almost identical to those found on the Sutton Hoo helmet.

Scholars believe Sutton Hoo may have been the final resting place of Raedwald, a king of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia who died around 624 C.E. The site drew comparisons to Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, and the hoard became known as “Britain’s Tutankhamun.”

Among the artifacts were the pieces of the now famous helmet which were painstakingly pieced back together. The restored helmet - which is made of iron and tinned copper alloy - is now on display at the British Museum.

The recently discovered patrice | John Fhaer Engedal Nissen / National Museum of Denmark

The recently unearthed metal stamp suggests the helmet could have come from Denmark because of the many similarities between the two artifacts, including the shape of the horse’s harness, the cuff on the warrior’s wrist and the warrior’s hair. The horses also appear to be almost identical.

The motifs are so similar that Peter Pentz, a curator at the National Museum of Denmark, believes they were not only made in the same place, but were also made by the same craftsmen.

If the Suttoo Hoo helmet did come from Denmark, that revelation could “significantly alter our understanding of the power dynamics in Northern Europe during the 7th century,” Pentz tells Arkeonews. It suggests Denmark played a more influential role in Northern Europe than historians previously thought. Denmark may even have been one of the region’s leading central powers, with England and Sweden as peripheral outposts.

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