Episode 198 - Summer Blockbusters: The Dig

Welcome to a month of Summer Blockbusters, where we talk about the archaeology in movies that aren't Indiana Jones! This week, it's the 2021 film The Dig, starring Ralph Fiennes and Carey Mulligan. We'll talk a bit about the film, but mostly about the real site portrayed in it--the Anglo Saxon burial at Sutton Hoo. This site was key to rewriting the understanding of post-Roman Britain, and was especially meaningful as a symbol of English national identity during WWII.

• Here’s the True Tale Behind Netflix’s Buzzy New Carey Mulligan Archaeology Drama, ‘The Dig (Artnet)

• The True History Behind Netflix’s ‘The Dig’ and Sutton Hoo (Smithsonian)

• The Dig: Who was Sutton Hoo archaeologist Basil Brown? (BBC)

• The Dig (CautionSpoilers.com)

• What Netflix ‘The Dig’ Gets Right And ‘Slanderously’ Wrong About The Sutton Hoo Story (Forbes)

• The Anglo-Saxon ship burial at Sutton Hoo (British Museum)

• The Sutton Hoo Ship-Burial, Volume 1: Excavations, Background, the Ship, Dating and Inventory (via WorldCat)

• Whetstone or Sceptre? (medieval.eu)

• An Introduction to Early Medieval England (C.410–1066) (English Heritage)

Image: Sutton Hoo helmet superimposed on photo from 1939 Sutton Hoo excavation; Basil Brown in foreground. Wikimedia Commons, public domain