Breaking news; A new discovery that the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo treasure includes a lyre from Kazakstan.

/ British Museum/

Remember the Netflix movie “The Dig” ? Well, Sutton Hoo is hitting the headlines again. An article soon to be published in the journal Antiquity by Gjermund Kolltveit, suggests that a lyre found in Dzhetyasar, Kazakhstan, dating from the 4th century AD is very similar to one found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial from the 7th century AD. Norwegian, Gjermund Kolltveit states in the journal that the lyre found in Kazakhstan is “barely distinguishable” from the Sutton Hoo lyre. In 2019, Kollveit attended a conference on music archaeology and came across a photo of the Dzhetyasar lyre and it immediately rang bells suggesting similarities with lyres in Germany and Sutton Hoo. “I recognized from the picture immediately, ‘wow, this is very, very similar to the lyres found in Germany and the UK,’ he said.

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Is "The Dig" true?

/ British Museum/

Is “The Dig” true?Netflix has recently released a brilliant film called “the Dig” where a rather rich English lady hires a self taught amateur archaeologist to excavate some mounds on her land only to discover in a rather short period of time, an Anglo-Saxon ship burial together with 263 items which can only be described as “treasure”. Some archaeologists have described the discovery as Britain’s version of the discovery of Tutanhamon’s tomb! The film is set in the year 1939 just before Nazi Germany invaded Poland and the whole of Europe embarked on World War Two. Questions immediately arise, did such an event happen? How could an amateur discover such an amazing find and was it really on the eve of World War Two. Were the main characters based on real people and did they really act according to the script. The core of the story is just as it is portrayed in the film but to add interest and excitement, the story has been tweaked! How much is under the heading “dramatic license”.

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Sutton Hoo, “One of the most spectacular and important discoveries of British archaeology”', according to the British museum.

/ British Museum/

The Sutton Hoo treasure, one of the greatest hoards of treasure found in Britain. See a window into the Anglo-Saxon world after the Romans had left and before the Vikings arrived. The ship burial of a mighty warrior.

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