It’s not often that small, independent museums like The Hockey Museum (THM) have an opportunity to change the narrative of national history, but today we share some very exciting news concerning a highly significant archaeological collection – the Anglo-Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo.

Sutton Hoo gained a lot of publicity this year with the release of the Netflix film The Dig, starring Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes, and following this THM unearthed hockey’s links to the excavation in a series of articles. These included Edith Pretty’s links to the founding of the All England Women’s Hockey Association and the revelation that the archaeological dig was recorded by two hockey-playing photographers, Barbara Wagstaff and Mercie Lack – more on those stories here and here. Yet these pale in comparison with this latest discovery, which has seen THM work with the British Museum, custodians of the Sutton Hoo treasure.

A plan of the archaeological discovery shared with THM by the British Museum reveals how the deceased – believed to be an Anglo-Saxon king – was laid out with all his possessions. Whilst there were famously no human remains left at the Sutton Hoo ship burial, there was a void amongst the buried possessions where the body would have been. This is shown as a grey shadow on the plan.

The layout of the Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo. © The Trustees of the British Museum. To more clearly read the labels, either Zoom in on your device or right click the image and open it in a new tab.

The burial layout is unusual because for a right-handed person (i.e. the majority of people), the sword and scabbard would be on the left hip so that the sword could be drawn by the dominant right hand across the body. The British Museum’s Curator of Early Medieval European Collections, Sue Brunning, suggests that this indicates the deceased to be left-handed, hence the scabbard on their right side. Left-handed swordsmen are highly unusual in the Anglo-Saxon period.

Closer examination of the plan shows traces of a stick-shaped object along the left side of the body and it is for this reason that the British Museum reached out to THM.

Originally this stick was believed to be a ceremonial walking stick, but our collaborative research has shown it to be a primitive ‘hockey stick’ of the type widely used in Nordic countries for what later became known as bandy. Bandy is played one-handed and mainly involves striking the ball rather than the close-control dribbling game of modern hockey. A left-handed swing across and behind the body would have generated more striking power and so the game would have suited players with a dominant left hand. Players like the man entombed at Sutton Hoo. In burial, it would be correct for the stick to have been placed by the deceased’s left-hand side.

The stick, being made of wood – actually chestnut – left a distinct impression, much like the ‘rib cage’ of the ship itself which can be seen in Barbara Wagstaff’s photographs and in the film shot by Harold John Phillips. It is likely that at the time of burial a rudimentary ball would have been included, but as these were made from organic animal material it had long since disappeared.

It is only through the emergence of The Hockey Museum that the true interpretation of this amazing piece of history has come to light.

The Sutton Hoo excavation showing the ‘rib cage’ of the ship. Still from the film made by Harold John Phillips. Public domain.