Anglo-Saxon Burial Bucket Reveals Cremated Remains and Artifacts

The bucket’s missing base, which had not been seen for decades, was discovered during a summer dig. This recently discovered section of the hull also showed decoration, including paws, shields, and the already absent face of one warrior, rounding out the design of the vessel. The contents were also surprising — cremated human and animal bone along with a remarkably well-preserved comb — and suggest it was the bucket in which a high-status individual was cremated.

Revealing the Burial Secrets
The pail was carefully excavated and then subjected to CT scans and x-rays before a team of experts could give the find a closer look. Inside it, they found cremated human bones, including skull vault and ankle bones, as well as animal remains that may also pertain to a horse, an animal commonly associated with high-status Anglo-Saxon cremation rituals. The bones and fibers appear to have been in a collapsed bag and were then put into the bucket. Some of these fragments were also swirled with copper alloy from the patina of the vessel.

The most distinctive part of the burial is that no other bucket from the period has been discovered with cremated remains. Inside the bucket, the researchers also found a well-preserved comb, which appears to have been made from antler. It was not burnt like the bones. Combs such as these were used by men and women to groom hair, as well as to extract lice. Researchers hoped that DNA from the comb might provide clues about the identity or possible origin of the person buried there because the sex of the individual could not be determined by examination of the bones alone.

Knowing the Bucket’s Journey and Importance
The base of the bucket was found intact with concentric cold hammering rings imprinted on it, a technique of shaping metal by pounding that doesn’t involve heat. No lid has been discovered but the bucket appears to have been old when buried. It may have been a valuable antique, a diplomatic gift, or an accouterment of a widely traveled Saxon soldier. It is used as a mortuary pot for cremation, which suggests the person is the high status and may be involved in foreign affairs, researchers said.

The find is one of many made during a two-year project that began in 2024 and includes multiple archaeological teams. It is part of a long tradition of Sutton Hoo’s shaping our understanding of Anglo-Saxon England. One of these, in the late 1930s, famously disclosed a 90-foot-long ship burial that is thought to have been the grave of King Raedwald of East Anglia, who died around 624. The vessel 0.8 km was towed up the River Deben and buried under a mound with its treasures.

As well as the royal burial, a sixth-century Anglo-Saxon cemetery with 13 cremations and 9 inhumations was found next to the Sutton Hoo visitor center in 2000. The fact that they were ancestors may be why they're called princes (most were men), to distinguish them from the people later buried in the royal mounds and thus give a comprehensive view of early Anglo-Saxon life and customs. The new discoveries shed further light on burial practices and cultural interaction in the era.