Description
Iron lamp after the find from Sutton Hoo.
This early medieval iron lamp was made after the early medieval lamp from the Sutton Hoo ship grave.
The Sutton Hoo lamp is forged from iron and stands on three feet which give the bowl lamp a good footing so that it stands securely on the table and cannot easily fall over.
The Sutton Hoo lamp is 9 cm high and the bowl measures 11.5 x 4 cm.
In contrast to the historical model, we have made this replica slightly smaller.
The Sutton Hoo lamp dates back to the early 7th century and can be easily lit with leftover wax, to which you simply add a few small pieces of wood that serve as wicks. To extinguish it, it is best to simply place a wooden board on top of the lamp so that the flames go out.
When the ship grave of Sutton Hoo was excavated in East Anglia / England in 1939, besides numerous precious artefacts of an Anglo-Saxon king, two iron lamps were found, one higher and one lower, both consisting of a round bowl on a three-legged base.
The lamps still contained remnants of beeswax that served as fuel, but there was no trace of a wick.
Iron lamps are extremely rare finds. They have so far only been found in the richest tombs such as Bloomfield and Prittlewell in Essex and at Sutton Hoo.
Several forged lamps are also known from Viking Age Scandinavia, which were stuck in the ground on long spikes, for example the iron iron lamp from Oseberg, which dates to the 9th century.
