Abstract
The discovery of the early-seventh-century Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939 and the examination and analysis of the ship's contents in the years following have provided archaeologists and historians with a number of fascinating artifacts which remain the subject of great interest and debate. One of these objects in particular has aroused both admiration and puzzlement, namely the whetstone sceptre. In form the sceptre is an ornate, four-sided, stone bar 22.8 ins. long. Though made from the material commonly used to sharpen knives and swords there is no sign that it was ever used for that purpose, the very gentle smoothing of its sharp edges being such as would result from normal handling. And, again, symbolically important as it would have been in its character as a whetstone, it is too elaborate and too cumbersome ever to have been used as one. The stone bar is 2 ins. wide in the middle, narrows slightly towards the ends and terminates in two roughly spherical knobs. Each of these knobs has a stubby conical projection, and the lower and longer knob is tipped with a small bronze saucer secured to it by a cage of thin bronze ribs and several strands of wire. This is the bottom of the sceptre and it is possible to visualize the saucer resting on the thigh or kneecap of a seated king.
Published Version
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