The Cultural Significance of the Sutton Hoo Helmet The Sutton Hoo helmet is considered by many to be the most iconic artefact excavated from the Sutton burial field in Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. The helmet was discovered in a fragmentary state in mound 1 at the site. This mound contained an Anglo-Saxon ship burial, which from the coins within, has been dated to the early 7 th century. Also found were other high status grave goods including a sword hilt, a sword, a shield, belt fittings, clasps, a gold buckle, a purse lid, drinking horns, a hanging bowl, a lyre and two Byzantine spoons inscribed with the name of the apostle Paul. The burial site is close to the river Deben and four miles from the former East Anglian royal centre at Rendlesham. It is thought that the occupant of mound was a member of the East Anglian royal dynasty (the Wuffingas), most likely the king Rædwald (although his son Rægenhere is one amongst other possible candidates) (Marzinzik, 2007). King Rædwald was the first king of East Anglia to convert to Christianity but was influenced by his wife to maintain a pagan shrine alongside a Christian altar (Bede, 731). No matter who the occupant of the burial was he was clearly buried at a time when pagan beliefs were being increasingly replaced by those of Christianity. The helmet itself, once reconstructed, revealed that the dome had been constructed from a single sheet of iron surmounted by a crest consisting of hollowed tube of iron inlaid with silver wire. This crest is in the form of snake with a gilt bronze head at either end. The heads have open mouths equipped with jagged teeth and are set with garnets for eyes. The helmet also has a neck guard, two hinged cheek pieces and an ornate face mask. The face mask is adorned with silver inlaid gilt-bronze eyebrows, nose and moustache. At the base of each eyebrow are inlaid a row of garnets, and those on the proper right side only, are backed with gold foil to increase their brilliance. The brows also differ slightly in length and in the colour of their gilding. At the top of the nose is a head similar to the snake head on the crest which it faces. Together these adornments form the impression of a dragon-like creature, with the eyebrows forming the wings, the nose the body and the moustache the tail (Brunning, 2021). At the end of each eyebrow is the figure of a boar’s head with tusks. The entire surface of the helmet (dome, cheek guards and facemask) is coated with tinned bronze and embossed with ornate repoussé work. The surviving reliefs consist of intertwined zoomorphic designs on the face mask and, on the cheek guards and dome four differing designs in square plaques, three of which have been reconstructed. The first is another intertwined zoomorphic pattern, the second consists of human figures with spears and swords wearing horned headdresses with the horns having terminals in the form of serpent’s or bird’s heads. These figures appear to be dancing. The third design shows the figure of a mounted warrior riding down an adversary who is plunging a sword into the horse’s flank whilst another small figure grips the shaft of the mounted warrior’s spear. Each design is repeated over more than one plaque.