The Dig

Abstract

The novel is a fictionalized account of the excavation of the Sutton Hoo Anglo-Saxon ship burial, which led self-taught archeologist Basil Brown (1888-1977) and landowner Edith Pretty (1883-1942), along with several other archeologists, to unearth an Anglo-Saxon ship between 1938 and 1939 in England, against the backdrop of the Second World War. The story is told from the perspective of different people who participated in the dig, such as Peggy Piggott, an archeologist also known as Margaret Guido (1912-1994), who was the aunt of John Preston, the author of the book. The excavation was conducted after Mrs. Pretty, a widowed farmer, become increasingly convinced that the three mounds on her property held some form of treasure, and was proven right when Brown’s brush revealed the richest intact early medieval grave to have ever been found in Europe. A funerary monument of epic proportions in which an Anglo-Saxon king may very well have been buried, the ship also contained feasting vessels, hanging bowls, Byzantine silverware, sumptuous textiles, gold accessories with Sri Lankan garnets, and the well-known Sutton Hoo helmet.