Martin Carver (ed.): The Age of Sutton Hoo: The Seventh Century in North-Western Europe (1992)

Boydell & Brewer. Hardcover. 24 papers, including Carver’s interim report, 456 pages, 32 monochrome plates, 72 figures. Carver: “The purpose of the new campaign [i.e. versus the excavations by Basil Brown and Charles Phillips in 1938-39 and by Rupert Bruce-Mitford in 1965–1971] was to explore the formation of early historic kingdoms, using the kingdom of East Anglia as an example, and East Anglia’s strangest cemetery as a beacon for the times. The main item on the agenda was therefore to throw light on the way people behaved, and thought, at that cardinal moment in the formation of European consciousness, the seventh century.” So, “The quarry of our researches … is not in the least marginal; it consists of real people in real communities at the very moment they were forming `kingdoms’, a moment in which political decisions were taken, the consequences of which are still being worked out in the Europe of 1992.”.

Condition: Used – Very Good. Tiny tear to dust jacket. ISBN: 0851153305. Box Arch04