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at Sutton Hoo
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- As well as the rich grave mounds,
there were two cemeteries for criminals at Sutton
Hoo.
- Simple graves were discovered
around Mound 5 and in an area just to the east of the mounds.
- Like the famous ship,
the bodies had rotted; but their outline could still be made out
in the sand. They are sometimes called 'sand people':
- Some had their heads or hands
cut off.
- Some had their hands together
and feet together, as if they'd been tied up.
- Some had dark marks in the soil
round their necks, like a noose from a hanging.
- In the eastern cemetery, the
remains of a gallows was found.
- Some of the bodies were from the
same time as the mounds. Some were buried later.
- People who who did not follow the
laws of the
Kings of East Anglia were executed here. The Kings
liked to show how powerful they were. A good place to do this
was the place were their family was buried.
- In later times, the Christians may
have thought the pagan cemetery was a good place to execute
people who didn't follow Christian teachings.
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