16th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology

86 16 th International Symposium on Boat & Ship Archaeology Julian Whitewright Centre for Maritime Archaeology, University of Southampton, UK; Sutton Hoo Ship’s Company, Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK The Sutton Hoo Ship Reconstruction: Recording the Reconstruction The early seventh century AD Anglo-Saxon ship burial from Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, is one of the richest and most important ship burials from early-medieval northwest Europe. The imprint of the 27m long ship, left behind in the soil, attests to a large clinker-built vessel fit to contain a royal burial. While the general nature of the ship has been understood since its excavation, the detail of the vessel has not been fully investigated from an experimental archaeological perspective. An ongoing project seeks to undertake the full-scale reconstruction of the ship in order to better understand its use, performance, and deposition. Phase One of this project was concerned with 3D digital reconstruction and hydrostatic testing of the hull, prior to full-scale physical reconstruction. This work was published in early 2020 signalling the completion of the opening phase of the project. Focus has now shifted to the full-scale reconstruction of the ship (Phase Two). But the opportunities for digital methodologies to assist in answering new research questions continues. In particular, the project aims to record and track the individual vessel components as they are created, and the parent logs that they are created from. This, in conjunction with repeat 3D recording of the emerg- ing ship structure, and timber sampling to create a dendrochronological resource, will create an unparalleled record of an experimental ship reconstruction across all stages. This will allow the project to undertake analytical comparison of the Phase One digital reconstruction, with the full-scale built ship from Phase Two, and eventually to identify changes to hull shape as a result of use in the sea-trials that will comprise Phase Three. This paper provides an update on the project so far, explains the methodological detail and choices underpinning the recording system, and summarises the initial results of this process.