A History of the World in 100 Objects: Sutton Hoo Helmet

Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor retells the history of human development from the first stone axe to the credit card, using 100 selected objects from the Museum. Neil travels to East Anglia to describe the sensational burial discovery that has been hailed as a 'British Tutankhamen'. He tells the story of the Sutton Hoo helmet, the world it inhabited and the imagination it has inspired. The poet Seamus Heaney reflects on the helmet in the context of the great Anglo-Saxon epic poem Beowulf, and the archaeologist Angus Wainwright describes the discovery of the great grave ship where the helmet was found