ABSTRACT
T h e best reward o f the excavator is to be able to make a good contribution to knowledge. Rarely there comes a bonus in the form o f something o f more intrinsic value than the usual assemb-
lage o f potsherds, bones and other fragmentary leavings o f our predecessors. The Sutton Hoo ship-burial provided the greatest pay-ofF o f
this kind in the history o f British archaeology, besides making a massive extension to our view o f aristocratic life among the Anglo-Saxons o f the 7th Century a .d .
