Settling on the goal of discovery for all to observe over any attainment of possible personal riches is the easiest decision made by Mrs. Basil boils it down to “digging on evidence not feeling,” yet both come into play.

There’s a respectful way of going about such a thing. Exploring this site could mean disturbing final resting places that carried holy wishes.

LESSON #1: TO DIG OR NOT TO DIG- Right from the start, the leading ethical question of archaeology becomes paramount to Mrs. Edith herself is alone on her estate raising her adventuresome son Robert (Archie Barnes) and weathering debilitating stomach issues. It is a feeling soon echoed by the self-trained Brown.

After all, King Henry VIII once dug on the same site. TThe Sutton Hoo treasure is on currently on display in the museum’s Room 41.Īnother fun tidbit: Although it’s never mentioned in Netflix’s The Dig, the best guess presented by historians as to who was buried in the ship was the Anglo-Saxon King Raedwald of East Anglia, who reigned in the early 600s, according to the British Museum.In 1939, widowed landowner Edith Pretty ( Promising Young Woman’s Carey Mulligan, adding 20 years to her age) hired skilled excavator Basil Brown (Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes) to investigate centuries-old burial mounds on her property near the River Deben tidal estuary in Suffolk of eastern England. Though Basil Brown passed away in 1977, today the British Museum credits him with “making the discovery of a lifetime” when he first unearthed the burial mound in 1939. It’s also true, according to the Telegraph, that she discovered the first small piece of hundreds of gold artifacts that would later be found in the main ship’s hull, including a ceremonial helmet, sword, and shield. Preston himself is also the nephew of the real-life Peggy Piggot, who assisted in the excavation and is played by Lily James in the Netflix movie. Although Preston does admit in the book’s author’s note to taking some artistic liberties and dramatizing some elements of the story of Sutton Hoo - for example, it’s unclear whether Brown was really nearly buried alive in the beginning of the movie - he did try to remain true to Brown’s story, and his overlooked position in the treasure’s history.

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