Ship Burial In Suffolk Home News FRONM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IPSWVICH, AUG. 14 A jury of 14 men drawn from the neigh- bourhood in which the Anglo-Saxon ship burial was discovered at Sutton Hoo de- cided at an inquest to-day that gold and silver articles found in the tumulus were not treasure trove, and that Mrs. Pretty, the owner of the estate, was the legal iZnder. The jurymen were representative of country life-a sprinkling of retired miti- tary officers, one of whom was chosen foreman, farmers, a bank manager and a publican, a golf club secre- tary, a haulage contractor and a village grocer, a land agent, a black- smith, and a school teacher. The coroner was Mr. L. H. Vulliamy, who acts for the parish of Bromeswell, where the discovery was made. He told the jury of the legal aspect of treasure trove, quoting Chitty and Blackstone and other authori- ties, and laid emphasis on the fact that concealment in secrecy, with intention on the part of the owner to return and re- cover, was an essential point. The first witness was MIrs. E. MI. Pretty, who described how last year three mounds on her estate were opened, and objects of interest were found. Early this year Mr. Guy Maynard, the curator of the Ipswich NMuseum, suggested that the work should be continued. SECRECY IMPOSSIBLE MIr. C. W. Phillips, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge, who has been in charge of the opening of the tumulus since July, con- firmed a list of articles found, including a spoon inscribed " Paul." There were numbers of small coins. alt copies of older coins of the Byzantine Empire. There was no date on any of them. Mlr. Phillips said that the custom of burial in a barrow or tumulus was common in Britain from 2000 B.c. till as late as the seventh century A.D., when the conversion of the in- habitants to Christianity brought it to an end. The fact that the construction of a mound of earth required a considerable physical effort and some degree of organization, especially among primitive people with inefficient digging tools, made it impossible that the act of burying a person in a barrow could have been carried out with anv real secrecy. Everything known about the custom of barrow burial, whether with inhumation or cremation, showed that ceremonies took place, sometimes of an elaborate nature, which must certainly have been generally known in the district. In the case of the Sutton Hoo ship burial there was the preliminary fact that the ship was hauled up from the River Deben, 10Oft. below, and was then drawn into a large trench not less than 10oft. long, 20ft. wide, and 10ft. deep. The digging of this trench must have employed a large labour force as well as the hauling of the ship into it. For the actual burial a full-sized wooden structure was put up amidships, which must have given employ- ment to a number of wood-cutters and car- penters. After the body had been covered over in this trench a large mound was erected over the whole, containing at least 1,000 tons of turf cut from a surrounding heath. The whole operation must have taken many days, and there could have been no concealment of the fact that many rich and valuable objects were being put in the grave. The bulk of some of the objects of itself would secure this. FOR USE IN ANOTHER LIFE The personal following of the dead man must also have been aware of the deliberate placing of precious objects for the man's use and enjoyment in another life. There was contemporary literary evidence that the burial of chieftains among the Northern nations in the Middle Ages was the occasion of celebra- tions and feasting, which lasted for severaldays, and nothing could be more certain than the public character of the Sutton Hoo burial. The objects placed with the dead man were dedicated for his use in a future life, and there was no intention on the part of those carrying out the burial to recover them later. however much it might be the case that in later times grave robbers had nearly always broken in and removed the valuables. Mr. Stuart Piggott, of Rockbourne. Hants, local secretary for Wessex of the Prehistoric Society, described a visit to the site, where there were laid bare the personal trappings and belongings of the buried individual. who had evidently, from the position of the objects. been laid at full length on the bottom planks of the vessel, his head to the west. Owing to the nature of the sand, no visible trace of the skeleton remained. It was clear that personal ornaments, &c., had been placed, if not actually upon the corpse. as the man would have worn them when alive. in their relativelv correct positions when the corpse was already lying in the bottom of the vessel. Mlr. Basil Browne, the foreman working on the excavation, who was the first man to see the gold and silver objects, and Mr. Guy Maynard, also gave evidence. POSITION OF THE CROWN Summing up. the CORONER told the jury that even if they found that the gold and silver was not treasure trove. if the Crown was of opinion that they were wrong the Crown could still take steps to have the articles declared treawure trove and take proceedings in the High Court, where a Judge would decide as between the Crown and the finder. It was clear that the articles were not hidden or con- cealed in secrecy. and it was necessary if they were to find a verdict of " treasure trove " that the articles should have been hidden and concealed. The jury retired, and, after returning to be enlightened further on the question of secrecy, found that the articles were not treasure trove. They signed the long and quaintly worded inquisition accordinglv. The little village hall was crowded with intetested hearers, and a long line of cars stood outside. Some of the silver and gold articles were on view, and when the inquest was over everyone crowded forward to see these beauti- ful specimens'of handiwork 1,300 years old. SHIP BURIAL IN SUFFOLK JURY'S FINDING ON GOLD AND SILVER NOT " TREASURE TROVE "