BBC - Raiders of the Lost Past with Janina Ramirez (2019) Part 1 The Sutton Hoo Hoard

The summer of 1939 saw a golden age of exploration and archaeology coming to an end. It had been an era of adventurers setting out to explore the remotest corners of the globe, hoping to unlock clues to our forgotten past.

During that last summer of peace, when the world stood on the precipice of a war that threatened to end civilisation itself, three extraordinary treasures were discovered that would radically change our understanding of the origins and diversity of human culture, bringing us closer to the worlds of our ancestors.

Dr Janina Ramirez goes on the trail of these remarkable pre-war explorer archaeologists, from the English lady who discovered the Sutton Hoo Hoard in her back garden and the German archaeologist who hoped to use his discovery of the Lion Man to further the goals of the Third Reich to the glamorous husband-and-wife team of explorers who headed deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the Olmec Heads.

Each of these discoveries is far more than treasure – they tell us how the societies we live in today were born.

Part 1 The Sutton Hoo Hoard

Janina Ramirez explores the surprise discovery in a Suffolk garden of the Sutton Hoo Hoard – an incredible Anglo-Saxon ship-burial dating from the early 7th century AD and the final resting place of a supremely wealthy warrior-king.

The ship's ruined burial chamber was packed with treasures Byzantine silverware, sumptuous gold jewellery, a lavish feasting set and, most famously, an ornate iron helmet.

Now known as Britain's Tutankhamun, the hoard transformed our understanding of the Dark Ages, revealing that 7th-century Britain was not the primitive place we had imagined, but a world of exquisite craftsmanship, extensive international connections, great halls, glittering treasures and formidable warriors.

The find captured the imagination of a nation on the brink of war, not just as incredible treasure, but as a symbol of pride and identity, and a representation of the Anglo-Saxon culture Britain was about to fight for.

Yet, as Janina discovers, the story of the hoard's survival and discovery is something of a miracle.

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