OC 011 · Helmet · Europe

The Sutton Hoo helmet

An iron helmet with a full face mask, eyebrows, nose and moustache, in a museum case
Photographed in the British Museum. Photo: Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Geograph.
Number on this site
OC 011
What it is
Helmet
Made
Buried about 625
Material
Iron, rebuilt from more than 100 fragments
Found
In the ship burial under Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo, reached on 14 June 1939. Sutton Hoo
Now held by
The British Museum, London

When the burial chamber collapsed the helmet broke into more than 100 fragments. Conservators at the British Museum spent many years putting it back together: what you see is their reconstruction.1,2

Where it sits in human time

Made about 1,400 years ago. On this strip, each step to the right is ten times closer to today.

300,000 years ago10,0003,0001,000100nowThe Sutton Hoo helmet

Seen in

Filed under

Sources for this page

Every number on this page comes from one of these. How we check.

Last reviewed 12 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

  1. National Trust. History of Sutton Hoo. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/sutton-hoo/history-of-sutton-hooUsed for: The date of the ship burial from its coins, Rædwald as the leading theory, and the helmet in more than 100 fragments. Checked 12 November 2026.
  2. National Trust. History of archaeology at Sutton Hoo. www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/sutton-hoo/history-of-archaeology-at-sutton-hooUsed for: Edith Pretty, Basil Brown, the digs of 1938 and 1939, and the later excavations. Checked 12 November 2026.