Pretty is much younger than Basil Brown in the movie, in reality, she was five years older than him. Edith Pretty as a young widow, but in fact, she was about 56-years-old when the 1939 excavation took place. It is then that the museum appointed Basil Brown to begin excavating the site.Īnother significant difference from the historical events is that the film shows Mrs. Redstone wrote to Ipswich Museum, following which the museum’s curator, Guy Maynard, visited the Sutton Hoo estate. In July 1937, Edith met a local historian, Vincent Redstone, and spoke about the mounds on her estate. Edith had a keen interest in history and archaeology and had been curious about the mounds for a long time. The original site at Edith Pretty’s estate comprised eighteen low mounds, located 500 yards from the main house. Image Credit: Trustees of The British Museum Even the dramatic landslide incident is possibly placed in the narrative from a different phase of the excavation. Three mounds were dug up first (June 20- August 9, 1938), which were followed by the discovery of the famous ship burial site between May 8 and September 3 in 1939. The real excavations were carried out in 19. The book and the film merge the excavation – which took place over two seasons – into one.
It describes the social milieu at the time along with the excavation as the team dug up the “remains of a lost civilization,” when civilization itself was on the brink as the world raced towards World War II.Īs far as actual events are concerned, the book takes off from reality, which means that the film does too. Peggy was the first person to find gold at the site and kept a journal, which John Preston finally got from his half-sister, who grew up with Peggy. Preston never knew his aunt, Peggy, because she did not get along with John’s father.
John Preston only became aware of his family’s involvement in the Sutton Hoo excavation in 2004 when a second cousin casually slipped it into their conversation. The book presents the events through the eyes of different people, which means that it is bound to impact the chronology and knowledge about the archaeological site and the people involved in the project. Therefore, it is not an accurate account of the real events. However, John Preston admitted that he employed a certain degree of literary license for dramatic effect in the book. The author of the novel is the nephew of Peggy Piggott, who was one of the people involved in the excavation.
The film is based on the novel of the same name by John Preston.
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