The Sutton Hoo Helmet
- Audio guide stop: 465
- Gallery: Room 41
- Culture: Germanic; Early Anglo-Saxon
- Made in: Sweden (possibly); England (possibly)
- Date: late 6thC-early 7thC (original components); 1971 (current reconstruction)
- Object type: helmet
- Materials: iron; copper alloy; gold; tin; garnet; silver; leather (original presence indicated by black staining); jute (modern, part of reconstruction structure); plaster (modern, part of reconstruction structure)
- Museum number: 1939,1010.93
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is "The Sutton Hoo Helmet," a striking and fragmented Iron Age artifact now carefully reconstructed. Originally Germanic in origin, and associated with early Anglo-Saxon culture, this helmet is an incredible example of craftsmanship from the late 6th to early 7th century.
The current display piece combines numerous iron and copper alloy fragments with modern jute and plaster structures. Copper panels are stamped with repoussé animal interlace patterns in what's known as Style II, along with two warrior scenes, "The Dancing Warriors" and "The Fallen Warrior."
Notable features include gilded eyebrows inlaid with silver and rows of cloisonné garnets, which were used to line each brow. An iron crest with silver inlay runs along the top, ending with stylized animal heads. The reconstruction you see today was completed in 1971, following earlier attempts in 1946 that were found to be inaccurate.
See it in person
The Sutton Hoo Helmet is on display in Room 41 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and type its audio guide stop number, 465, from the gallery label, or take a photo of it, to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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