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It was in Suffolk - not Egypt, Turkey or Greece - that one of the most significant archeological discoveries of all time took place. In 1939 amidst the shadow of World War II, a young widow named Edith Pretty contracted a local expert to dig up the mounds in her garden in Sutton Hoo, believing them to be part of a mass ancient graveyard. Yet as Netflix’s brilliant new film
The Dig dramatises, what they actually found was a huge, Anglo-Saxon longship, possibly the burial site of the ancient King Rædwald of East Anglia.
Former milkman Basil Brown found 90ft long ship buried in the seventh century
Author discovered archaeologist Peggy Piggott was his aunt and wrote book
The film based on his book, The Dig, is coming to Netflix on January 29
In the summer of 1939, a former milkman turned self-taught archaeologist called Basil Brown plunged a spade into the side of a large mound at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk. He had been hired by Edith Pretty, the wealthy widow who owned the mound, to see if there was anything inside. Possibly he might find a few ancient bits and pieces, she thought, or maybe even something a little bigger if he was lucky.
| UPDATED: 15:06, Wed, Jan 13, 2021
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The Dig follows the story of a world-famous archaeological dig. Starring Ralph Fiennes, the film shows the events of the 1939 excavation of Sutton Hoo, but based on a novel, meaning there are some diversions from the actual events. Express.co.uk explains everything there is to know about the upcoming movie.
Scraping at the dirt, earth thick under his fingernails, amateur archeologist Basil Brown came across a section of hard earth.
After further excavations, he found other patches stained with rust, and iron nails and rivets spread intermittently across the site.
Over several weeks, after a delicate and painsteaking operation, archologist Basil Brown saw the shape of a ship emerge from the ground in the Suffolk field.
He had discovered an 86ft Anglo-Saxon burial ship filled with a rich cargo of teasures.
The discovery at Sutton Hoo in 1939 went on to become one of the most important archologicals finds in Britain, hailed as Britain s Tutankhamun , and to this day the cache is renowned around the world.
It was the most terrifying moment of my career! the star said. I was responsible for getting the soil away from his face. As the cameras came down, all I could think was: Don t let me kill Ralph Fiennes!
It was just one of several tactics used by director Simon Stone to inject a real sense of urgency and adventure into his screen version of John Preston s historical novel.
The book is a stirring fictionalised account of the famous 1939 excavation at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, where the royal burial ship of an Anglo-Saxon king was discovered by self-taught archaeologist Basil Brown (Fiennes).