Editing Sutton Hoo (section)

=== The execution burials ===

[[File:Sutton.Hoo.Body.JorViking.jpg|180px|thumb|"Sand body"<ref name="sand bodies"/> preserved for museum display]]
The cemetery contained remains of people who died violently, in some cases by hanging and decapitation. Often the [[bone]]s have not survived, but the flesh had stained the sandy soil: the soil was [[laminate]]d as digging progressed, so that the [[Emaciation|emaciated]] figures of the dead were revealed. Casts were taken of several of these.

The identification and discussion of these burials was led by Carver.<ref>Carver, ''Sutton Hoo'', pp. 72–75, 137–147.</ref> Two main groups were excavated, with one arranged around Mound 5 and the other situated beyond the barrow cemetery limits in the field to the east. It is thought that a [[gallows]] once stood on Mound 5, in a prominent position near to a significant river-crossing point, and that the graves contained the bodies of criminals, possibly executed from the 8th and 9th centuries onwards.<ref name="sand bodies">{{cite web |title=History of archaeology at Sutton Hoo |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/sutton-hoo/history-of-archaeology-at-sutton-hoo |publisher=[[National Trust]] |access-date=October 23, 2024 |location=1983–93: Widening the search, Ghosts in the sand |quote=the resting place of a warrior and the gruesome ‘sand bodies’. ... when the soil was scraped back, the outlines of more graves appeared. With careful excavation, human forms could be detected as areas of harder, darker sand. These ‘sand bodies’ lay in a variety of distorted positions, indicating that, unlike previous finds, these individuals had not been ceremoniously buried.}}</ref>