Editing Sutton Hoo (section)

=== The head area: the helmet, bowls and spoons ===
{{main|Sutton Hoo helmet}}
On the head's left side was placed a "crested" and masked [[Combat helmet|helmet]] wrapped in cloths.{{sfnm|Bruce-Mitford|1978|1pp=138–231|Evans|1986|2pp=46–49}} With its panels of tinned bronze and assembled mounts, the decoration is directly comparable to that found on helmets from the [[Vendel]] and [[Valsgärde]] burial sites in eastern Sweden.<ref>Bruce-Mitford 1974, 210–222; Bruce-Mitford 1986; Evans 1986, 111–117; Evans 2001. cf Arwidsson 1934.</ref> The Sutton Hoo helmet differs from the Swedish examples in having an iron skull of a single vaulted shell and has a full face mask, a solid [[neck guard]] and deep cheekpieces. These features have been used to suggest an English origin for the helmet's basic structure; the deep cheekpieces have parallels in the [[Coppergate helmet]], found in [[York]].{{sfn|Evans|1986|p=49}}

Although outwardly very like the Swedish examples, the Sutton Hoo helmet is a product of better craftsmanship. Helmets are extremely rare finds. No other such figural plaques were known in England, apart from a fragment from a burial at [[Caenby]], Lincolnshire,{{sfn|Bruce-Mitford|1978|p=206, Fig. 153}} until the 2009 discovery of the [[Staffordshire hoard]], which contained many.<ref>See, e.g. Leahy and Bland 2009, p. 25.</ref> The helmet rusted in the grave and was shattered into hundreds of tiny fragments when the chamber roof collapsed. These fragments were catalogued and organised so they could be reassembled.{{efn|The fragments were used in 1945–1946{{sfn|Bruce-Mitford|1946|pp=2–4}}{{sfn|Martin-Clarke|1947|p=63 n.19}} by [[Herbert Maryon]] to produce the reconstructed helmet that was displayed at the [[Festival of Britain]] in 1951, and were reinterpreted by [[Nigel Williams (conservator)|Nigel Williams]] in 1970–1971{{sfn|Bruce-Mitford|1972|p=123}}{{sfn|Williams|1992|p=88}} using materials not previously identified as well as newer methods. A replica helmet was created using these findings.{{sfn|Bruce-Mitford|1974|pp=198–209}} }}

To the head's right was placed inverted a nested set of ten silver bowls, probably made in the [[Eastern Empire]] during the sixth century. Beneath them were two silver spoons, possibly of Byzantine origin, of a type bearing names of the [[Apostles in the New Testament|Apostles]].{{sfn|Bruce-Mitford|1983a|pp=69–146}} One spoon is marked in original [[niello]]ed Greek lettering with the name of PAULOS, "Paul". The other, matching spoon had been modified using lettering conventions of a Frankish coin-die cutter, to read SAULOS, "Saul". One theory suggests that the spoons (and possibly also the bowls) were a baptismal gift for the buried person.{{sfnm|Evans|1986|1pp=59–63|Plunkett|2001|2pp=66–71}}