Description: "The Staffordshire Hoard" by Kevin Leahy and Roger Bland. NOTE: We have 75,000 books in our library, almost 10,000 different titles. Odds are we have other copies of this same title in varying conditions, some less expensive, some better condition. We might also have different editions as well (some paperback, some hardcover, oftentimes international editions). If you don’t see what you want, please contact us and ask. We’re happy to send you a summary of the differing conditions and prices we may have for the same title. DESCRIPTION: Softcover. Publisher: British Museum (2009). Pages: 48. Size: 7¼ x 7¼ inches. Summary: On 5 July 2009, a metal-detector user started to unearth some gold objects in a Staffordshire field. Thus began the discovery of the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. Consisting of over 1600 items - including fittings from the hilts of swords, fragments from helmets, Christian crosses and magnificent pieces of garnet work - the Staffordshire Hoard is set to rewrite history. This is just the beginning of the story. This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh and early eighth centuries as radically, if not more so, as the 1939 Sutton Hoo discoveries did; it will make historians and literary scholars review what their sources tell us, and archaeologists and art-historians rethink the chronology of metalwork and manuscripts; and it will make us all think again about rising (and failing) kingdoms and the expression of regional identities in this period, the complicated transition from paganism to Christianity, the conduct of battle and the nature of fine metalwork production - to name only a few of the many huge issues it raises. Absolutely the metalwork equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells. Leslie Webster, former Keeper of the Department of Prehistory & Europe, the British Museum. The quantity of gold is amazing but, more importantly, the craftsmanship is consummate; this was the very best that the Anglo-Saxon metalworkers could do, and they were very good. Tiny garnets were cut to shape and set in a mass of cells to give a rich, glowing effect; it is stunning. Its origins are clearly the very highest levels of Anglo-Saxon aristocracy or royalty. It belonged to the elite. CONDITION: NEW. New oversized softcover. British Museum (2009) 48 pages. Unblemished except for extremely faint (almost imperceptible) shelf wear to the covers (covers are photo-finish, high gloss black and so will show faint signs of shelfwear even merely from being shelved between other books). Pages are pristine; clean, crisp, unmarked, unmutilated, tightly bound, unambiguously unread. Condition is entirely consistent with new stock from a bookstore environment wherein new books might show minor signs of shelfwear, consequence of routine handling, and simply being shelved and re-shelved. Satisfaction unconditionally guaranteed. In stock, ready to ship. No disappointments, no excuses. PROMPT SHIPPING! HEAVILY PADDED, DAMAGE-FREE PACKAGING! #8884.1b PLEASE SEE DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGES BELOW FOR DETAILED REVIEWS AND FOR PAGES OF PICTURES FROM INSIDE OF BOOK. PLEASE SEE PUBLISHER, PROFESSIONAL, AND READER REVIEWS BELOW. PUBLISHER REVIEWS: REVIEW: On 5 July 2009 a metal-detectorist started to unearth gold objects in a Staffordshire field. Thus began the discovery of the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found. Consisting of over 1600 items including fittings from the hilts of swords, fragments from helmets, Christian crosses and magnificent pieces of garnet work the Staffordshire Hoard has begun to rewrite history. This new and extended edition of the successful title by Kevin Leahy and Roger Bland delves deeper into the story behind the hoard, using the latest research to fill previous gaps in knowledge and turn some of the original ideas about the discovery on their head. Complete with new photography of the cleaned and conserved objects, showing off the stunning and intricate decoration, this book provides a fascinating account of the history and the discovery of this remarkable hoard. REVIEW: The first pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard were found in early July 2009 by Mr Terry Herbert while he was metal detecting in a field in southern Staffordshire. An archaeological excavation followed, funded by English Heritage and Staffordshire County Council and carried out by Birmingham Archaeology. Over 1,500 complete artifacts and fragments were discovered. Finds included sword fittings, part of a helmet and three gold Christian crosses. Most of the complete objects are made of gold. Some are decorated with pieces of garnet, a deep red semi-precious stone, others with fine filigree work or patterns made up of animals with interlaced bodies. Current thinking dates the hoard to the later 600s or earlier 700s AD. However, there are still many questions yet to be answered about this astonishing find. REVIEW: A new, extended edition that tells the story of The Staffordshire hoard - an important collection of Anglo-Saxon artifacts. On 5 July 2009 a metal-detectorist started to unearth gold objects in a Staffordshire field, only to discover the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found. Consisting of over 1600 items – including fittings from the hilts of swords, fragments from helmets, Christian crosses and magnificent pieces of garnet work – the Staffordshire Hoard has begun to rewrite history. This new and extended edition delves deeper into the story behind the hoard using the latest research to fill previous gaps in knowledge. Complete with new photography of the cleaned and conserved objects, showing off the stunning and intricate decoration, this book provides a fascinating account of the history and the discovery of this remarkable hoard. £1 from the sale of every book will go to the Staffordshire Hoard appeal fund. REVIEW: On 5 July 2009 a metal-detector user started to unearth some gold objects in a Staffordshire field. Thus began the discovery of the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. This title consists of over 1600 items including fittings from the hilts of swords, fragments from helmets, Christian crosses and pieces of garnet work. REVIEW: On 5 July 2009 a metal-detectorist started to unearth gold objects in a Staffordshire field. Thus began the discovery of the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found. This book delves into the story behind the hoard, using the research to fill previous gaps in knowledge and turn some of the original ideas about the discovery on their head. REVIEW: Roger Bland is Head of Portable Antiquities and Treasure at the British Museum. He is the co-author of “The Frome Hoard” (British Museum Press). REVIEW: Kevin Leahy is National Finds Adviser for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, with responsibility for early medieval metalwork. Roger Bland is Keeper of Prehistory and Europe at the British Museum and Head of the Portable Antiquities Scheme. TABLE OF CONTENTS: Discovery. Investigation. Aftermath. Conservation. The Contents of the Hoard. How Were the Objects Made? Dating and Decoration. Why was it Buried? Anglo-Saxon England. The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial. The Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme. The Next Steps. PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS: REVIEW: A book produced by the British Museum on The Staffordshire Hoard is now available and £1 from the sale of every book will go towards The Art Fund’s campaign to save the hoard for the West Midlands. Written by Dr Kevin Leahy and Roger Bland this short introduction to the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever found, tells the remarkable story of the hoard’s discovery, describes the fascinating collection of objects it contains, and offers insight into the significance of the treasure. The Staffordshire Hoard, by Kevin Leahy and Roger Bland, is published by The British Museum Press. The photographs are exquisite, and the prose clear, lucid, and fascinating. READER REVIEWS: REVIEW: [First Edition Review] This is a booklet rushed out by the British Museum after this hoard was discovered, to meet the great needs generated by the discovery, its early display and to profit from the publicity surrounding it. It is a good work and professionally done, but do not expect it to be a definitive coverage - that will come with later publications. The photos are a 'teaser' and many of the golden artifacts have obviously not yet been conserved or cleaned when the photos were taken. Information on this hoard has been updated for the general public such as with the PBS special on the hoard and the excellent National Geographic magazine article dated November, 2011. This hoard will be like Sutton Hoo, with the British Museum and experts involved in the conservation and study of this find in Staffordshire bringing out many future titles for both the layman as well as professional archaeologists and historians. So get a copy of this for your bookshelf while it is still available if, like me, you can't get enough of the wonders that are still turning up in the soils and waters of the British countryside. If you google 'hoards' on Wikipedia, you will also be led to what is known about many other significant treasure hoards going back into antiquity. If you are motivated to start or increase your metal detecting - do so with landowner permission and know a local historian or archaeologist to contact if you are one of the fortunate ones to find a site of historical interest, so that it can be put in context for the enjoyment of future generations. REVIEW: The Staffordshire Hoard book is an excellent overview of the discovery and how it was discovered. It also has an excellent collection of photographs to illustrate what was found and shows close up photos of the early Anglo-Saxon pagan art style. In the discussion it talks about ideas on why this gold/silver and metal art treasure was located at this particular place, and discusses some of the art style and its similarity to the Sutton Hoo find in 1939. This is an excellent book for anyone to have if you are interested in Anglo-Saxon history and pagan art. Hopefully in the next coming years there will be a detailed publication and analysis showing what the items look like when they are fully cleaned, art illustrating showing what the items looked like undamaged, and a detailed comparison of this Anglo-Saxon Pagan Art style with earlier and later Anglo-Saxon art styles. REVIEW: [First Edition Review] A few months back the most incredible hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold was found in a field in Staffordshire. This was on display for a few weeks in Birmingham and is now viewable in Hanly Museum. If you can't get to Hanley Museum, in North Staffordshire, England, to see the Staffordshire Gold then this little book will keep you going until you are able to see the real thing. I heard Kevin Leahy speak the other week and he is the real thing as far as archaeology goes. He was among the first of the professionals to realize that it made sense to reach a rapprochement with the metal detectorists. The logical outcome of that is the discovery of the Staffordshire hoard. And if you want to know where Camelot really is then look also at his book on Lindsey. (That is Lincolnshire for those who are not in the know.) Lindsey: The Archaeology of an Anglo-Saxon Kingdom. REVIEW: This is an interesting book about the discovery and finds in the Staffordshire Hoard. The pictures of the artifacts are very good and their workmanship amazing. Linking this find to the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the burial site finds at Taplow Bucks is interesting as there are a lot of similarities . REVIEW: This book is worth buying as it provides some insights and photos of the Staffordshire Hoard that I've not seen elsewhere. The hoard, for those who don't follow such things, is probably the biggest and most diverse example of preserved original material we have found showing the ancient metalwork techniques of the British Isles. It shows native examples objects made by casting, carving, chasing, repousse, soldering, inlay, hammering and lots more. It demonstrates design motifs which have been largely lost and those which have changed over the centuries. REVIEW: Nice introduction to the Hoard. A nice little book which shows some of the beautiful pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard. Unlike Sutton Hoo, these pieces are presented with little or no context due to the way they were deposited and then excavated. They're not a part of a burial, they don't tell us about an individual but they do tell us a lot about the glorious quality of the work of Anglo-Saxons and show us a lot about what kind of artwork produced then in jaw-dropping amounts, strictly for male adornment. The photos are excellent, and will make you want to know more about this enigmatic find. REVIEW: [First Edition Review]. Magnificent hoard! Great value even though a smallish book as pictures were of high quality and glossy nature. Made a perfect gift starter to the items mentioned, with my dad hoping to now want to see the items in the flesh! Now looking for a bigger hardback with even bigger glossy pictures and detail. REVIEW: [First Edition Review] I was incredibly impressed that they got this little book out in only a couple months after the announcement of the find. It's a lovely little book, and I'm glad I have it. I certainly was panting for it at the time. It's merely introductory material, but at the same time, it gives more context than the average person has, and that helps understand how important this find was. REVIEW: [First Edition Review] This slim volume has appeared very quickly and gives an excellent overview of the Staffordshire Hoard, despite its brevity. Visiting from abroad last autumn, we weren't able to invest the time to queue for the exhibition in Birmingham, so only a family friend's short tour of the actual field the hoard was found in had to suffice and from that point of view, this is a great introduction to what has been going on with this exciting find. Now we look forward to a comprehensive catalogue of the Hoard in this same quality. REVIEW: Bought this book for my mum, who is very interested in archaeology but unfortunately not well enough to visit the treasure in person. She appreciated the background detail, the descriptions of the finds and the photos. Don't let the size or length of the book fool you, this was good value for money. REVIEW: [First Edition Review] Superbly illustrated. All you can reasonably want to know about the Hoard until expert analysis of the artifacts has been completed. Many pages of detailed illustrations and an authoritative overview. Good reference sources for further reading. REVIEW: Fascinating and well produced. Good photos and clear text, this booklet accompanies the museum exhibition, providing an enjoyable read whether or not you have seen it. The one question which will remain is "Why didn't I stumble across it when out for a ramble?" REVIEW: Brilliant. Cracking little book. Dark ages not. Workmanship is exquisite, how did they do it? All by eyesight with automation or optical tools. Brilliant. REVIEW: Buy this book! Totally brilliant explanation of the hoard and its significance to British archaeology. REVIEW: Excellent little book, packed with fantastic images of the hoard finds, highly recommended to anyone with an interest in the Staffordshire hoard or Anglo Saxon Britain. REVIEW: A treasure about treasure! About Celtic gold in England. The usual good work from there. This adds greatly to my knowledge of the Celts and their gold. REVIEW: When ordering I was a little unsure how good or how many photos there would be. It is excellent. Photograph quality and quantity is great and the information is well written and interesting. REVIEW: An excellent synopsis of this discovery produced at very short notice. REVIEW: Usual high-quality work from the British Museum Press. Can't get enough of this stuff! REVIEW: I bought this as a gift, and it is a super little book. Excellent color photos and good information. REVIEW: [First Edition] Rather brief, but I'm sure that further study of the hoard will later result in more detailed publications. REVIEW: I bought this for my dad. He loves history so it was well worth it. REVIEW: Five stars! Lovely little book. Excellent photography. REVIEW: Five stars! Excellent! REVIEW: Five stars! A great read, fabulous photos. REVIEW: Five stars. Good pictures of the Treasure. REVIEW: Five stars! Beautiful illustrations and photographs. ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: REVIEW: One day, or perhaps one night, in the late seventh century an unknown party traveled along an old Roman road that cut across an uninhabited heath fringed by forest in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Possibly they were soldiers, or then again maybe thieves—the remote area would remain notorious for highwaymen for centuries—but at any rate they were not casual travelers. Stepping off the road near the rise of a small ridge, they dug a pit and buried a stash of treasure in the ground. For 1,300 years the treasure lay undisturbed, and eventually the landscape evolved from forest clearing to grazing pasture to working field. Then treasure hunters equipped with metal detectors—ubiquitous in Britain—began to call on farmer Fred Johnson, asking permission to walk the field. "I told one I'd lost a wrench and asked him to find that," Johnson says. Instead, on July 5, 2009, Terry Herbert came to the farmhouse door and announced to Johnson that he had found Anglo-Saxon treasure. The Staffordshire Hoard, as it was quickly dubbed, electrified the general public and Anglo-Saxon scholars alike. Spectacular discoveries, such as the royal finds at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, had been made in Anglo-Saxon burial sites. But the treasure pulled from Fred Johnson's field was novel—a cache of gold, silver, and garnet objects from early Anglo-Saxon times and from one of the most important kingdoms of the era. Moreover, the quality and style of the intricate filigree and cloisonné decorating the objects were extraordinary, inviting heady comparisons to such legendary treasures as the Lindisfarne Gospels or the Book of Kells. Once cataloged, the hoard was found to contain some 3,500 pieces representing hundreds of complete objects. And the items that could be securely identified presented a striking pattern. There were more than 300 sword-hilt fittings, 92 sword-pommel caps, and 10 scabbard pendants. Also noteworthy: There were no coins or women's jewelry, and out of the entire collection, the three religious objects appeared to be the only nonmartial pieces. Intriguingly, many of the items seemed to have been bent or broken. This treasure, then, was a pile of broken, elite, military hardware hidden 13 centuries ago in a politically and militarily turbulent region. The Staffordshire Hoard was thrilling and historic—but above all it was enigmatic. Some pieces of the treasure were twisted or broken as if they had been forced into a small space. Celts, Roman colonizers, Viking marauders, Norman conquerors—all came and went, leaving their mark on Britain's landscape, language, and character. But it is the six centuries of Anglo-Saxon rule, from shortly after the departure of the Roman colonizers, around A.D. 410, to the Norman Conquest in 1066, that most define what we now call England. Barbarian tribes had been moving westward across Europe since the mid-third century and may have made raids on Britain around this time. In the early fifth century the restless tribes menaced Rome, prompting it to withdraw garrisons from Britannia, the province it had governed for 350 years, to fight threats closer to home. As the Romans left, the Scotti and Picts, tribes to the west and north, began to raid across the borders. Lacking Roman defenders, Britons solicited Germanic troops from the continent as mercenaries. The Venerable Bede—whose Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written in the eighth century, is the most valuable source for this era—gives the year of the fateful invitation as around 450 and characterizes the soldiers as coming from "three very powerful Germanic tribes, the Saxons, Angles, and Jutes." Modern scholars locate the homelands of these tribes in Germany, the northern Netherlands, and Denmark. Enticed by reports of the richness of the land and the "slackness of the Britons," the soldiers in the first three ships were followed by more, and soon, Bede noted, "hordes of these peoples eagerly crowded into the island and the number of foreigners began to increase to such an extent that they became a source of terror to the natives." The British monk Gildas, whose sixth-century treatise On the Ruin of Britain is the earliest surviving account of this murky period, describes the ensuing islandwide bloodshed and scorched-earth tactics at the hands of the invaders: "For the fire of vengeance … spread from sea to sea … and did not cease, until, destroying the neighbouring towns and lands, it reached the other side of the island." According to Gildas, many in the "miserable remnant" of surviving native Britons fled or were enslaved. But archaeological evidence suggests that at least some post-Roman settlements adopted Germanic fashions in pottery and clothing and burial practices; in other words, British culture vanished at least in part through cultural assimilation. The extent of the Anglo-Saxons' appropriation of Britain is starkly revealed in their most enduring legacy, the English language. While much of Europe emerged from the post-Roman world speaking Romance languages—Spanish, Italian, and French derived from the Latin of the bygone Romans—the language that would define England was Germanic. On a farm near his home Terry Herbert shows off the metal detector that led him to the gold. “I just couldn’t stop the items from coming out of the ground,” he says. He received half the treasure’s assessed value of almost $5.3 million. The discovery of a treasure hoard in an English field was not in itself remarkable. Such finds surface everywhere in Britain. Coins, silver objects cut up for scrap metal, dumps of weapons, even a magnificent silver dinner service—all from British, Roman, or Viking times—have been found in the soil. In the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf the warrior Sigemund has killed a dragon guarding "dazzling spoils," and the aged hero Beowulf battles a dragon guarding gold and "garnered jewels" laid in the ground. Treasure was buried for many reasons: to keep it out of enemy hands, to "bank" a fortune, to serve as a votive offering. Given the era's scant documentation, the motive behind the burial of the Staffordshire Hoard is best surmised from the hoard itself. The first clue is its military character, which suggests that the assemblage was not a grab bag of loot. The nature of the hoard accords with the militarism of the Germanic tribes, which was impressive even to the military-minded Romans. The historian Tacitus, writing in the late first century, noted that "they conduct no business, public or private, except under arms," and that when a boy came of age, he was presented with a shield and spear—"the equivalent of our toga." Warfare formed England. The consolidation of land gained by warfare and alliances was the likely origin of the tribal kingships of early Anglo-Saxon England. The first Mercians are thought to have been Angles who moved inland along the River Trent, establishing themselves in the valley in the vicinity of the hoard. Mercia was not only one of the most important of the seven principal Anglo-Saxon kingships into which England was roughly divided but also one of the most belligerent. Between A.D. 600 and 850 Mercia waged 14 wars with its neighbor Wessex, 11 with the Welsh, and 18 campaigns with other foes—and these are only the named conflicts. The apex of Teutonic military craft was the long cutting sword. Averaging about three feet, blades were pattern welded, a sophisticated technique by which twisted rods and strips of iron or steel were hammered together. Forged from this intricate folding, the polished blades rippled with chevron or herringbone patterns. As one appreciative recipient recorded in the early sixth century, they appear "to be grained with tiny snakes, and here such varied shadows play that you would believe the shining metal to be interwoven with many colors." Modern studies of wounds on skeletons found in an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Kent show that these beautiful swords also worked: "Male, aged 25-35 years … has a single linear cranial injury 16 cm long," states the clinical report. "The plane of the injury is almost vertically downwards." The number of sword pommels in the Staffordshire Hoard, 92, roughly corresponds with the number of men noted as making up one nobleman's troop of retainers. The hoard, then, could represent the elite military gear that distinguished the retinue of a certain lord. Often a sword was issued by a lord to his retainers along with other equipment and even horses, together known as a heriot, repaid if the retainer died before his lord. In a will written in the tenth century a district official bequeaths "to my royal lord as a heriot four armlets of … gold, and four swords and eight horses, four with trappings and four without, and four helmets and four coats-of-mail and eight spears and eight shields." Swords were also buried with their warrior owners or passed down as family heirlooms. But sometimes swords were buried without warriors. In a practice in northern Europe dating from the Bronze Age through Anglo-Saxon times, swords and other objects, many conspicuously valuable, were deposited in bogs, rivers, and streams as well as in the ground. "We can no longer see hoards only as piggy banks," says Kevin Leahy, an authority on Anglo-Saxon history who was entrusted with the task of cataloging the Staffordshire treasure. Ritual deposits, as opposed to caches buried for safekeeping, are found not only in Britain but also in Scandinavia, homeland of some of England's Germanic tribes. Significantly, many weapons—and sometimes other objects, such as a craftsman's tools—were, like the objects in the hoard, bent or broken before burial. Perhaps "killing" a weapon dispatched it to the land of spirits or rendered it a votive offering to the gods, its destruction representing the donor's irrevocable surrender of the valuable weapon's use. "This is a hoard for male display," says Nicholas Brooks, an emeritus historian at the University of Birmingham, who calls the glittering objects found in Staffordshire "bling for warrior companions of the king." Gold, weighing in at more than 11 pounds, accounts for nearly 75 percent of the metal in the hoard. According to Brooks, "the source is a mystery." The origin of most gold in England was ultimately Rome, whose later imperial currency had been based on the solidus, a solid gold coin. Imperial gold had fallen to the Germanic tribes as plunder following the sack of Rome, and caches found in England may have been recirculated and recycled. By the date of the Staffordshire Hoard, gold supplies were dwindling, and silver and silver alloy were being used instead. Similarly, the source of garnets—like gold, a striking feature of the hoard—had shifted, from India to Bohemia and Portugal. Historian Guy Halsall has estimated the value of the hoard's gold in its day as equivalent to 800 solidi, about 80 horses' worth. Modern valuation of the find has been set at £3,285,000, or just under $5.3 million. In its own time, however, the hoard's worth was surely calibrated by other considerations. The gold dazzles, but from a practical point of view the most valuable part of the weaponry—"the long, sharp, pointy bit you killed people with," as Halsall notes dryly—is not present in the hoard, and it is possible that the sword blades were cannily retained for reuse. Above all, the pieces in the hoard were forged and buried in a world in which mundane events and acts could be suffused with magic; misfortune, for instance, was commonly attributed to tiny darts fired by malicious elves, and many charms against attacks survive. The magic properties an object possessed trumped its material worth. Gold was valued not only for being precious but also because, alluring and indestructible, it was infused with magic, and therefore used in amulets. Germanic myths tell of the gods' great hall of gold, and as Christian churches and monasteries gained wealth, they acquired golden sacramental objects. In many cultures the very art of metallurgy is magical, and Nordic sagas have vivid details of the smith's magic arts, from Odin's spear and gold ring to Thor's hammer. Magic may also account for the only three obviously nonmilitary objects in the Staffordshire Hoard: two gold crosses and a slender strip of gold inscribed with a biblical quotation. Christianity first came to Britain with the Roman occupation, faded as the Romans faded, and was vigorously reintroduced to Anglo-Saxon England by missionaries, most from Ireland and the Continent. There was a "perception of the conversion event as a spiritual battle," writes Karen Jolly, an authority on Anglo-Saxon popular religion. Conversion was a battle for the soul—effectively warfare, something the Germanic pagans understood. And the cross was a militarily useful symbol that had figured dramatically in actual battles. Bede tells the story of the Northumbrian king Oswald, who before the Battle of Heavenfield against the Welsh in 634 "set up the sign of the holy cross and, on bended knees, prayed God to send heavenly aid to His worshippers in their dire need." He and his men then "gained the victory that their faith merited." Remarkably, one of the hoard's two crosses was determinedly bent and folded, like so many of the other pieces in the hoard. Was this to "kill" its military potency, as with the swords? This possibility is made more compelling by the only other apparently nonmartial object: The slender strip of gold, inscribed on two sides with the same biblical quotation is, strikingly, also folded. "[S]urge d[omi]ne disepentur inimici tui et [f]ugent qui oderunt te a facie tua—Rise up, Lord, may your enemies be dispersed and those who hate you flee from your face." The quotation is from the Latin Vulgate text of Numbers 10:35 and the Psalm now numbered 68:1—verses that may have been put to unexpected use.Generally wielded with one hand, the single-edged seax was more versatile than a full sword, serving as a hunting knife as well as a dagger. A blade of finely patterned iron and steel would have been a valued part of such a weapon, but none was included in the treasure. In the Life of Saint Guthlac, written around 740, Guthlac is beset by demons, whereupon he "sang the first verse of the sixty-seventh psalm as if prophetically, 'Let God arise,' etc.: When they had heard this, at the same moment, quicker than words, all the hosts of demons vanished like smoke from his presence." Even the hoard's nonmartial objects, it seems, might have had militarily useful, magical functions. Generally wielded with one hand, the single-edged seax was more versatile than a full sword, serving as a hunting knife as well as a dagger. A blade of finely patterned iron and steel would have been a valued part of such a weapon, but none was included in the treasure.Generally wielded with one hand, the single-edged seax was more versatile than a full sword, serving as a hunting knife as well as a dagger. A blade of finely patterned iron and steel would have been a valued part of such a weapon, but none was included in the treasure. Hadrian’s Wall, named for the second-century Roman emperor who built it, stretches 73 miles across Britain. It separated the civilized realm of Rome from the “barbarians”— restless Picts in the north. As the Romans withdrew, the northern tribes stormed across the border. The Mercians were aggressive border raiders—Mercia takes its name from the Old English mierce, meaning "frontier people"—which may account for the apparent range of regional styles in the hoard. "The hoard was found on a frontier zone, which is always interesting," Kevin Leahy says.Generally wielded with one hand, the single-edged seax was more versatile than a full sword, serving as a hunting knife as well as a dagger. A blade of finely patterned iron and steel would have been a valued part of such a weapon, but none was included in the treasure. "It was on the border between Mercia and Wales." In other words, in contested territory. Around 650, in Staffordshire's Trent Valley near Lichfield, an obscure battle was fought involving the Mercians and their Welsh neighbors. Much plunder was carried away—possibly down the old Roman road Watling Street, which leads past the site where the Staffordshire Hoard was found. Event and place are commemorated in the Welsh poem "Marwnad Cynddylan—The Death Song of Cynddylan": "Grandeur in battle! Extensive spoils; Morial bore off from in front of Lichfield. Fifteen hundred cattle from the front of battle; four twenties of stallions and equal harness. The chief bishop wretched in his four-cornered house; the book-keeping monks did not protect." A retinue of 80 horses and spoils from a "wretched" bishopThe poem offers a tempting explanation for the hoard, an explanation, alas, built from slender, circumstantial evidence that has happened to survive from an era from which most evidence was lost. We can conjure other teasing theories. Our unknown travelers may have chosen the burial spot because it was obscure—or because it was conspicuous. The burial might have had a marker for rediscovery, or it might have been intended as an offering hidden forever to all but their gods. The hoard may have been ransom, or booty, or a votive thanks. It may have been a collection of Anglo-Saxon heirlooms buried at a later time. Today the vanished Mercian landscape is evoked by surviving Anglo-Saxon place-names, such as those ending with "leah" or "ley," meaning "open woodland," like Wyrley, or Lichfield itself, whose name roughly means the "common pasture in or beside the gray wood." The hoard burial site is now a grassy field where Fred Johnson grazes horses. Odds are we will never know the story behind the Staffordshire Hoard, but in a world without magic spells or dragons, would we understand it if we did? [National Geographic Magazine]. REVIEW: For the jobless man living on welfare who made the find in an English farmer’s field two months ago, it was the stuff of dreams: a hoard of early Anglo-Saxon treasure, probably dating from the seventh century and including more than 1,500 pieces of intricately worked gold and silver whose craftsmanship and historical significance left archaeologists awestruck. When the discovery in Staffordshire was announced Thursday, experts described it as one of the most important in British archaeological history. They said it surpassed the greatest previous discovery of its kind, a royal burial chamber unearthed in 1939 at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. That find shaped scholars’ understanding of the warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of 1,300 years ago that ended up as the unified kingdom of England. The new trove includes items that one expert in Anglo-Saxon artifacts said brought tears to her eyes: gold items weighing 11 pounds, and 5.5 pounds of silver. Tentatively identified by some experts as bounty from one of the wars that racked Middle England in the seventh and eighth centuries, they included dagger hilts, pieces of scabbards and swords, helmet cheekpieces, Christian crosses and figures of animals like eagles and fish. Archaeologists tentatively estimated the value of the trove at 1 million pounds — about $1.6 million — but say it could be many times that. And they took a vicarious pleasure in noting that the discovery was not the outcome of a carefully planned archaeological enterprise, but the product of a lone amateur stumbling about with a metal detector. “People laugh at metal detectorists,” Terry Herbert, 55, who made the find, said Thursday at a news conference at the Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, where the objects will go on display on Friday for two weeks. “I’ve had people go past and go, ‘Beep, beep, he’s after pennies.’ Well no, we’re out there to find this kind of stuff, and it is out there.” Mr. Herbert spent 18 years scouring fields and back lots without finding anything more valuable than a piece of an ancient Roman horse harness. Now, under British laws governing the discovery of ancient treasures, he stands to get half the value of the booty. When his discovery was announced on Thursday, he kept his wish list modest, saying he would like to use some of his windfall to buy a bungalow. Since the July day when his detector picked up traces of the hoard beneath a field in Staffordshire, a Midlands county that was at the center of the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, Mr. Herbert said, he has been seeing piles of gold in his sleep. Awake, he has quietly celebrated his triumph over all the people who mocked him in the years when a typical day’s finds amounted to little but scrap. As for his fellow hunters in the Bloxwich Research and Metal Detecting Club, he said, “I dread to think what they’ll say when they hear about this.” He said that on the day of his discovery he reworked a mantra that he regularly used for good luck. “I have this phrase that I say sometimes — ‘Spirits of yesterday, take me where the coins appear’ — but on that day I changed ‘coins’ to ‘gold.’ I don’t know why I said it that day, but I think somebody was listening.” From the Birmingham museum, the Staffordshire treasure, much of it still encrusted with dirt, will go to the British Museum in London, where the artifacts will undergo months, possibly years, of study by archaeologists and historians. A court ruling this week declared the finds to be treasure, meaning that they belong to the British crown, which is expected to offer them for sale. The crown’s practice, established in part by the many shipwrecks recovered off Britain’s shores, is that a reward equal to the value of the items — likely to be set in a bidding war among British museums — will be divided between Mr. Herbert as the finder and the farmer who owns the field where the discovery was made. His name and the location of the farm — beyond the fact that it is around Lichfield, north of Birmingham — have not been disclosed, to allow archaeologists to continue searching the area for more treasure. The artifacts — like a hilt fitting, top, and a piece from a scabbard — are mostly items used in battle. At the news conference, experts said that Mr. Herbert’s initial discovery, which he reported to a Staffordshire County official responsible for archaeological discoveries, was followed by a dig that was strictly supervised by professional archaeologists. They were assisted, the experts said, by a team from Britain’s Home Office that normally works on crime scene forensics. The experts said that a painstaking search of the area had turned up no trace of a grave, a building or anything else that suggested a careful plan to bury the objects for later recovery. They said that information, and the fact that none of the discoveries appeared to be jewelry or other feminine items, added to the likelihood that the treasure was war bounty. It may have been seized by one of the seventh-century Mercian kings — men like Penda, Wulfhere and Aethelred — who pursued an aggressive, plundering policy toward neighboring kingdoms. One of the features that led specialists to suggest the items might have been seized in battle and prized for their value in precious metal and jewels rather than as trophies was that many appeared to have been decorative pieces ripped from other objects. The three Christian crosses in the find had been bent into folds, as had a strip of gold with a biblical inscription in Latin of a kind likely to have been favored by an ancient warrior: “Rise up, O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face.” Archaeologists, anthropologists and historians who participated in the Staffordshire dig, or who have studied the finds at the Birmingham museum, competed in the superlatives they used in describing the treasure. “My first view of the hoard brought tears to my eyes; the Dark Ages in Staffordshire have never looked so bright nor so beautiful,” Deb Klemperer, an expert on Staffordshire artifacts of the Anglo-Saxon period, told the British newspaper The Guardian. Kevin Leahy, an expert on Anglo-Saxon metallic objects who has been helping catalog the items, described their craftsmanship as “consummate” at Thursday’s news conference. He added: “All the archaeologists who have worked with the finds have been awestruck. It’s actually been quite scary working on this material to be in the presence of greatness.” [New York Times]. REVIEW: The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found. It consists of over 3,500 items, amounting to a total of 5.1 kg (11 lb) of gold, 1.4 kg (3 lb) of silver and some 3,500 pieces of garnet cloisonné jewelry. The hoard was most likely deposited in the 7th century, and contains artifacts probably manufactured during the 6th and 7th centuries. It was discovered in 2009 in a field near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England. The location was in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia at the time of the hoard's deposition. The hoard is of considerable importance in Anglo-Saxon archaeology. The artifacts are nearly all martial in character and contains no objects specific to female uses. The average quality of the workmanship is extremely high and especially remarkable in view of the large number of individual objects, such as swords and a helmet, from which the elements in the hoard came. The hoard was purchased jointly by the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery for £3.285 million under the Treasure Act 1996. The hoard consists of approximately 3,500 pieces, comprising up to 5.094 kg (11.23 lb) of gold and 1.442 kg (3.18 lb) of silver, and is the largest treasure of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver objects discovered to date, eclipsing, at least in quantity, the 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) hoard found in the Sutton Hoo ship burial in 1939. Most of the items in the hoard appear to be military, and there are no domestic objects, such as vessels or eating utensils, or feminine jewelry, which are the more common Anglo-Saxon gold finds. Reportedly, the contents "show every sign of being carefully selected". There is broad agreement that the typical object in the hoard was made in the 7th century, with the date of the deposition of the hoard of course post-dating the manufacture of the latest object it includes. Along with other discoveries, examination of the hoard showed Saxon goldsmiths were able to alter the surface of the gold by depletion gilding to give the appearance of a higher gold content, a technique not previously credited to them. A summary of the preliminary contents of the hoard, as of late 2009, is shown in the table below. This excludes items such as the gold horse's head that were in one of the 33 soil blocks that had not been examined at the time of publication of these figures. The contents include many finely worked silver and gold sword decorations removed from weaponry, including 66 gold sword hilt collars and many gold hilt plates, some with inlays of cloisonné garnet in zoomorphic designs. The 86 sword pommels found, constitute the largest ever discovery of pommels in a single context, with many different types (some previously unknown) supporting the idea that the pommels were manufactured over a wide range of time. The Staffordshire Hoard official press statement notes that the only items in the hoard that are obviously non-martial are two (or possibly three) crosses. Sharp (2016) has shown there are possibly many pieces with a Christian connection and the hoard is both a mixture of many Christian and non-martial items. The largest of the three crosses is missing some decorative settings (yet some are present but detached) but otherwise remains intact, and it may have been an altar or processional cross. It could also have been attached to the front of a book, such as a Gospel. Yet the cross is folded; either prior to burial "to make it fit into a small space" or as a sign that the burial deposit was made by pagans. An alternative view is the sacredness was taken out of this cross, and other Christian pieces before burial. A gold and garnet fitting, made for the corner of a flat rectangular object, may be for the corner of a book-cover, which in this context would almost certainly have been a Gospel. One of the most intriguing items in the hoard is a small strip of gold (StH 550), measuring 179 mm × 15.8 mm × 2.1 mm (7.047 in × 0.622 in × 0.083 in) when unfolded, inscribed with a biblical quotation, from Numbers 10:35, in insular majuscule, on both sides. The Nova Vulgata reading of this passage is: Surge Domine et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua (KJV: "Rise up, LORD, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee.") The reading of the additional words on the second version of the text is unclear; they may be practice letters, meaning that the inside face was not supposed to be visible and contains an abandoned attempt of the inscription. The passage is quoted fairly often, notably in the Life of the Mercian Saint Guthlac (died 714), most likely composed in the 730s. The passage occurs in the context of Guthlac's meeting with Æthelbald, the later king of Mercia, in which the saint foretells that the king's enemy would "flee from your face". The parallel verse from Psalm 67 (Hebrew numbering 68), verse 2, occurs when Guthlac is driving away demons who appeared to him in a vision. Sharp (2016) has suggested the inscription shows angst in the face of a great threat and this could only have been the Viking invasion. The incised strip appears to be the stem of a cross and this indicates a Viking threat to a church. Paleographically, the inscription most likely dates to the 8th century, with the late 7th or early 9th not to be ruled out. The closest parallel to the script used is the inscription in the lead plate from Flixborough, dated to the 8th or 9th century. The gold strip may have been originally fastened to a shield or a sword belt, or alternatively, it may have been part of the arm of a cross; a round cabochon jewel would have been fitted to the terminal end, and the other end would have fitted into the central fitting of the cross. The hoard was deposited in a remote area, just south of the Roman Watling Street, some 2 1⁄2 miles (4 km) west of Letocetum, at the time part of the extra-parochial area of Ogley Hay (now part of the Hammerwich parish), in the highland separating the Pencersæte and Tomsæte within the kingdom of Mercia. The quality of the artifacts buried in the hoard is very high. The apparent selection of "martial" artifacts, especially the decoration of swords, does not suggest that the hoard consists simply of loot. Most of the gold and silver items appear to have been intentionally removed from the objects they were previously attached to. Brooks (2010) associates the predominantly warlike character of the artifacts in the hoard with the custom of giving war-gear (heriot) as death duty to the king upon the death of one of his noblemen. The removal of the sword pommel caps finds a parallel in Beowulf which mentions warriors stripping the pommels of their enemies' swords. Wall (2015) postulates a connection to Peada, briefly king of Mercia in 655/6. Sharp (2016) connects the deposition of the Hoard with the Viking attack on Lichfield in 875 and postulates its loss at the same time as the removal of the St Chad's Gospel from Lichfield into the Welsh area of Mercia. Gold artifacts were discovered by Terry Herbert on 5 July 2009, when he was searching an area of recently ploughed farmland near Hammerwich, Staffordshire with a metal detector. Over the next five days, enough gold objects were recovered from the soil to fill 244 bags. At this point Herbert contacted Duncan Slarke, the Finds Liaison Officer for the Staffordshire and West Midlands Portable Antiquities Scheme. The landowner Fred Johnson granted permission for an excavation to search for the rest of the hoard. Excavation work was funded by English Heritage who contracted Birmingham Archaeology to do the fieldwork. Ploughing had scattered the artifacts, so an area 9 by 13 metres (30 by 43 ft) was excavated in the search. Because of the importance of the find, the exact site of the hoard was initially kept secret.A geophysical survey of the field in which the hoard was found discovered what could be a ditch close to the find. Although excavations revealed no dating evidence for the feature, further investigation is planned. In total over 3,500 pieces were recovered. A final geophysical survey using specialist equipment provided by the Home Office did not suggest any further artifacts remained to be found. The discovery was publicly announced on 24 September 2009, attracting worldwide attention. An official website set up to showcase finds from the Hoard received over 10 million views in the first week after the announcement. Whilst Birmingham Archaeology continued to process the find, items from the Hoard were displayed at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery until 13 October 2009, attracting 40,000 people. Andrew Haigh, the coroner for South Staffordshire declared the hoard to be treasure, and therefore property of the Crown. A further selection of pieces from the Hoard was displayed at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent. Key items and numerous smaller pieces were then taken to the British Museum, London, where cataloguing, and some initial cleaning and conservation work commenced. As of 24 September 2009, 1,381 objects had been recovered, of which 864 have a mass of less than 3 grams (0.096 ozt), 507 less than 1 gram (0.032 ozt), leaving just 10 larger items. X-rays of unexamined lumps of earth suggest that there are more to be revealed. Early analysis established that the hoard was not associated with a burial. In late March 2010, a team of archaeologists carried out a follow-up excavation on the site, digging 100 metres (110 yd) of trenches and pits in the field. According to Staffordshire county archaeologist, Stephen Dean, there is no more gold or treasure to recover from the site, and the aim of the new excavation is to look for dating and environmental evidence. Archaeologists hope to be able to use this evidence to determine what the landscape looked like at the time that the hoard was deposited. In December 2012 it was announced that 91 additional items of gold and silver metalwork had been found in the field where the Staffordshire Hoard was discovered in 2009. The finds were made in November 2012 when archaeologists and metal detectorists from Archaeology Warwickshire, working for Staffordshire County Council and English Heritage, visited the field after it had been ploughed. Many of the pieces are less than 1 gram (0.032 ozt) in weight, but there are some larger pieces, including a cross-shaped mount, an eagle-shaped mount, and a helmet cheek piece that matches one from the 2009 discovery. These additional pieces are believed to be part of the original hoard. In January 2013, 81 of the 91 items were declared treasure at a coroner's inquest, and, after they have been valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee, Staffordshire County Council will have an opportunity to purchase the items so that they can be reunited with the rest of the hoard. Although these items were found by archaeologists, the money raised by their sale will be shared between Herbert and Johnson as they were responsible for the original discovery of the hoard. The ten items not declared treasure were identified as modern waste material. Kevin Leahy of the British Museum has stated that the ten items not declared as belonging to the original hoard may represent part of a different Anglo-Saxon period hoard. Two of these ten items are high quality pieces of copper alloy, but they are different in style to the gold and silver items of the original hoard. He concludes that "Anglo Saxons clearly visited the site more than once to bury items". On 25 November 2009 the hoard was valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee at £3.285 million, which, under the provisions of the 1996 Treasure Act, is the sum that must be paid as a reward to the finder and landowner, to be shared equally, by any museum that wishes to acquire the hoard. After the hoard was valued, it was announced that the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery intended to jointly acquire the entire hoard, and a public appeal was launched to raise the £3.285 million needed to purchase the hoard. The Art Fund co-ordinated the appeal. If the sum had not been raised by 17 April 2010, the Hoard might have been sold on the open market and the unique collection permanently broken up. On 23 March 2010 it was announced that the sum had been raised three weeks before the deadline, after a grant of £1.285 million from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF) was added to the money already collected from individuals, councils, and other groups and associations.Although the purchase price has been achieved, the Art Fund appeal is still continuing, in order to raise a further £1.7 million to help fund the conservation, study and display of the hoard. Terry Herbert, the finder of the hoard, and Fred Johnson, the farmer on whose land the hoard was found, each received a half share of the £3.285 million raised by the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. The two men were later reported to have "fallen out" over the division of the money. The hoard was first displayed at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (from 24 September 2009 until 13 October 2009), and subsequently part of the hoard was put on display at the British Museum (from 3 November 2009 until 17 April 2010). Eighty items from the hoard, including a gold horse's head that has not previously been exhibited, went on display at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent from 13 February 2010 until 7 March 2010. Items from the hoard were on display at the National Geographic Museum in Washington, DC, United States, from 29 October 2011 to 4 March 2012. Birmingham Museum has had a permanent gallery dedicated to the hoard since 2014, and the Potteries Museum has a hoard exhibition, and there are regular loans made to historic Mercian sites Tamworth Castle and Lichfield Cathedral, as part of the Mercian Trail. On 26 January 2012 the hoard was featured in the hour-long BBC Two documentary Saxon Hoard: A Golden Discovery presented by TV historian Dan Snow. In 2016, weapon fittings from the hoard went on a national tour of the UK, Warrior Treasures: Saxon Gold from the Staffordshire Hoard, to the Royal Armouries, Leeds (May–October) and Bristol Museum and Art Gallery (October 2016 – April 2017). A major research and conservation project began in 2012 to clean, investigate and research the Staffordshire Hoard objects. The project is funded by Historic England, Birmingham Museums Trust and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, with the support of other patrons. The first phase of the research project ran from 2012–2014 and was mainly focused on cleaning and cataloguing the objects, as well as conducting a programme of scientific analysis at the British Museum. A ‘grouping exercise’ brought all the objects together in 2014 for several weeks’ intensive study and following this, a second phase concentrated on joining together broken objects, further scientific analysis and typological study. Study of the objects was completed in 2016, and work continues on the final publication of the results, which will include an online catalogue as well as research publication. The research project has revealed many new insights into the collection, including a number of new objects and information about the manufacture of the metalwork and construction of the objects. [Wikipedia]. REVIEW: In 2009, a metal detector enthusiast discovered what came to be known as the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of more than 3,000 gold and silver Anglo-Saxon objects dating to the seventh and eighth centuries. In 2012 after the farmer-owned English field was plowed, archaeologists and metal detector enthusiasts returned to search for additional metalwork pieces. They recovered more than 90 of them, some of which fit with parts from the original hoard. The newly found artifacts include a possible helmet cheek piece, a cross-shaped mount, and an eagle-shaped mount. “We think these items were buried at a deeper level which is why we didn’t find them first time around,” said County Council archaeologist, Steve Dean. [Archaeological Institute of America]. REVIEW: In July 2009, the largest-ever hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold was found buried in a farmer's field in Staffordshire, central England. Discovered by Terry Herbert, a metal detectorist, and then excavated by the Birmingham University Archaeology Unit, the hoard consists of more than 1,500 gold and silver items, all dating to the seventh century. The find is far larger than other significant Anglo-Saxon hoards, such as those discovered with the contemporaneous noble burials at Sutton Hoo in southeastern England. Most of the artifacts are associated with warfare, including helmet fragments engraved with a frieze of running animals and elaborate gold sword hilts inlaid with garnets. In some cases, rivets were still attached to the hilt components, suggesting they were ripped off the weapons and hidden quickly. "It looks like war booty, perhaps taken from the troops of an Anglo-Saxon King," says Ian Wykes, head of archaeology at Staffordshire County Council. "By losing these prized objects, the king would have lost his status and authority." The eighth-century poem Beowulf suggests there were frequent battles between kings and nobility during this time, dubbed the Insular Period because of the relative isolation of the British Isles from the rest of the Europe. But some items from the hoard suggest that England may not have been as cut off from developments on the continent as previously believed. "The garnets would have come from Sri Lanka, indicating that there was still some form of long-distance trade during that time," says Wykes. [Archaeological Institute of America]. REVIEW: Scientists, examining Britain’s greatest Anglo-Saxon gold treasure collection, have discovered that it isn’t quite as golden as they thought. Tests on the famous Staffordshire Anglo-Saxon treasure, a vast gold and silver hoard found by a metal detectorist five years ago, have now revealed that the 7th century Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths used sophisticated techniques to make 12-18 karat gold look like 21-23 karat material. Scientific research, carried out over the past two years on behalf of Birmingham City and Stoke-on-Trent City councils, which jointly own the hoard, has revealed that the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths had discovered an ingenious way of, metallurgically, dressing mutton up as a lamb. It appears that they deliberately used a weak acid solution – almost certainly ferric chloride – to remove silver and other non-gold impurities from the top few microns of the surfaces of gold artifacts, thus increasing the surfaces’ percentage gold content and therefore improving its appearance. This piece of Anglo-Saxon high tech deception turned the surfaces of relatively low karat, slightly greenish pale yellow gold/silver alloys into high karat, rich deep yellow, apparently high purity gold. Archaeologists had never previously realized that Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths had developed such technology. “We had no idea they were doing it,” said Dr Eleanor Blakelock, a leading British archaeometalurgist who carried out the tests on the Staffordshire hoard gold. “Previously, we had just done analyses of the surfaces of objects – because we didn’t suspect that the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths were deliberately removing the silver content from the surfaces of gold artifacts,” she said. It’s thought that the Anglo-Saxon goldsmiths probably made their ferric chloride by heating up a mixture of water, salt and iron-rich clay (or potentially dust from crushed up old Roman tiles). Although the goldsmiths often seem to have used the technique to create contrasts between different shades of gold, they also appear to have used it to enhance the apparent purity of gold used by the Anglo-Saxon nobility. For the scientific tests – mainly funded by English Heritage – suggest that gold objects made for Anglo-Saxon royals, rather than mere nobility, were made of high karat material, which did not need to be subjected to the ‘surface enrichment’ trick. The archaeologists have come to that conclusion by carrying out comparative tests on Anglo-Saxon gold objects, from East Anglia’s Sutton Hoo ship burial, which is thought to have been associated with royalty. Significantly, this suggests that six of the 839 gold items in the Staffordshire hoard, including two sword pommels and two unusual tiny snake sculptures, were therefore made for Anglo-Saxon royalty. The Staffordshire Hoard, discovered near the village of Hammerwich in 2009, has, over the past two years, been the subject of one of the largest archaeological studies ever carried out. The hoard consists of almost 3,700 fragments – some 2,800 of silver and 839 of gold. However the silver items (1,500 of which came from just one or two high status helmets) are much more fragmentary than the gold ones. In weight terms therefore the hoard consists of five kilos of gold and 1.5 kilos of silver. The 3,700 fragments probably represent between 300 and 800 original artifacts – mainly from weapons (including sets of gold and silver fittings from more than 100 swords) and at least one spectacular helmet. Work has not yet been completed on reconstructing the latter highly decorated mainly silver object. Most of the artifacts were made by Anglo-Saxon craftsmen in the first half of the 7th century AD – although a dozen heirloom pieces were probably made in the previous century, including a sword pommel, crafted in around 575 AD, probably in eastern Sweden. The entire hoard, almost certainly worth the equivalent of tens of millions of pounds in Anglo-Saxon times, was deliberately buried, probably for safe-keeping sometime between around 650 (or perhaps as late as 670) and around 700. It is likely that the entire treasure was hidden to keep it out of the hands of enemies or political rivals. There are a number of late 7th century scenarios in which the Mercian elite or sections of it might have deliberately hidden their wealth. For instance, in 674/675 AD, the kingdom of Mercia was defeated by its northern neighbour, the kingdom of Northumbria, which then demanded tribute, almost certainly in the form of gold, from the Mercian King Wulfhere, who might then have wanted to bury his or his court goldsmith’s wealth to keep it out of Northumbrian hands. Soon afterwards, Mercia was also challenged militarily by a former vassal, the Kingdom of Wessex. Indeed in 685-688AD, Mercia faced recurrent threats from that latter source. However, internal Mercian unrest could also have forced elite elements to bury their gold and silver. In 695, for instance, there was a dramatic internal political crisis in Mercia, during which a group of Mercian nobles murdered the king’s wife – the Queen of Mercia (almost certainly because she hailed from rival Northumbria). The crisis probably involved a desperate internal struggle between pro and anti-Northumbrian elements within Mercia’s elite. Almost symbolically, the only inscription in the hoard amply reflects the violence, warfare and chronic instability of the period. A strip of gold, possibly from a Christian cross, bears the following words from the Bible’s Book of Numbers: “Rise up, oh Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face”. Many of the newly cleaned, researched and conserved gold and silver treasures are going on permanent display from today onwards at a new Staffordshire Hoard gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Other gold and silver items from the hoard can be seen at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent. [The Independent (UK)]. REVIEW: A special exhibition at the Royal Armouries which will showcase around 100 spectacular items from the remarkable Staffordshire Hoard collection. It is the first time UK visitors will have the opportunity to view such a large number of items from this extraordinary collection outside the West Midlands where it was discovered. Some of the objects have never been on show before. The Warrior Treasures exhibition focuses on fittings from weapons which make up the majority of the collection. It tells the story of their discovery, providing a fascinating glimpse into the warrior culture of a period in Anglo-Saxon history. These fittings were stripped from swords and seaxes (single-edged knives), and are thought to represent the equipment of defeated armies from unknown battles during the first half of the seventh century. The fittings are intricately decorated with gold, silver and semiprecious gems, and represent the finest quality Anglo-Saxon craftsmanship. The Staffordshire Hoard is considered to be one of the most outstanding Anglo-Saxon finds since the excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial in Suffolk in 1939. The hoard was discovered in July 2009 and is made up of around 4,000 fragments weighing over 6 kg. The secrets of the hoard are still being uncovered through painstaking research and on-going conservation, but most of the collection consists of fittings from weaponry. Although fragmented, damaged and distorted, the hoard’s objects represent the possessions of an elite warrior class. Why it was buried, perhaps before c.675 AD is not certain. Significantly it was discovered close to a major routeway (Roman Watling Street), in what was the emerging Kingdom of Mercia. Warfare between England’s many competing regional kingdoms was frequent. The Staffordshire Hoard bears witness to this turbulent time in our history. The exhibition will be complemented by an events program of activities including hands-on archaeology sessions, storytelling, handling sessions, crafts, art and combat demonstrations, which will bring the Saxon world to life during the half term and summer holidays. The Royal Armouries has also developed a range of education materials and sessions aimed at schools to complement the exhibition. Henry Yallop, Royal Armouries lead curator for the exhibition and expert in edged weapons, said: “The Royal Armouries, as the home to the national collection for arms and armour, is delighted to welcome items from this magnificent hoard for the Warrior Treasures exhibition. These parts of weapons are exquisitely crafted and it is no surprise that the story of the Staffordshire Hoard has captured the public’s imagination. Seeing the outstanding quality of these objects really brings to life the important role that high status weapons such as swords played in Anglo-Saxon society. The research and conservation into it continues to provide fascinating glimpses into the warrior culture of the seventh century.” Pieta Greaves, Conservation Coordinator for the Staffordshire Hoard, Birmingham Museums Trust said: “Birmingham Museums Trust is thrilled at this opportunity to take some of the star items of the Staffordshire Hoard ‘on the road’. It is the first time some of these amazing items have been revealed after conservation, a process which has re-joined multiple fragments into never seen before objects.” The treasure is owned by Birmingham City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council and cared for on their behalf by Birmingham Museums Trust and The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery. It is currently undergoing one of the UK’s largest archaeological research projects, conducted by Barbican Research Associates on behalf of the owners and Historic England, who fund the project. REVIEW: Comprising over 1,500 pieces of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver, the Hoard is the most valuable Treasure ever found on British soil. Mostly military in nature, it is by far the largest find of Anglo-Saxon gold ever recorded, with over 5kg of gold and 1.3kg of silver. The craftsmanship and beauty of the pieces indicate possible royal ownership, and promise to transform our understanding of the lives of the Anglo-Saxon people, and the role the region then known as Mercia played in history. The purchase price was raised three weeks ahead of schedule and included an NHMF grant, the Art Fund grant (with assistance from the Wolfson Foundation), £900,000 raised from the public appeal (including £640,000 from Art Fund members and supporters) and £600,000 from trusts and foundations (including £520,000 raised through the Art Fund). 87 items from the Hoard are on loan to the National Geographic Museum, Washington DC from mid-October 2011 to early March 2012. Discovered by a metal detectorist in July 2009 and subsequently excavated by Birmingham University Archaeology Unit and Staffordshire County Council. Declared Treasure in 2009. REVIEW: Archaeologists from Birmingham Archaeology have been participating in the recovery of the UK's largest haul of Anglo Saxon gold, amounting to over 1,500 items. The find, initially discovered by metal detectorist Tony Herbert, was recovered from a field near Lichfield, Staffordshire. The discovery was reported to Duncan Slarke, the Portable Antiquities Scheme finds liaison officer, who in turn informed Ian Wykes, leader of Staffordshire County Council’s Historic Environment Team and the local coroner. Birmingham Archaeology have been working with Staffordshire County Council, English Heritage and Duncan Slarke from the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Following an initial 2m square trial-excavation dug by Staffordshire County Council, Birmingham Archaeology were invited to excavate the site with funding from English Heritage. After complete excavation of the initial 2m square test-pit a detailed strategy for hand-excavation of the hoard was agreed with English Heritage and Staffordshire County Council, and implemented. It was clear from the 2m square test-pit, as well as from subsequent larger-scale investigation that all the finds were strictly confined to the ploughsoil, where they had been scattered by recent deep ploughing. A total area measuring 9m by 13m was carefully hand-excavated in one metre squares, the finds from each square being separated, and also allocated individual small finds numbers. Initially the soil from each 1m square was removed in 10cm spits down to the subsoil, and visually checked for finds, before being wet sieved to collect all finds. Sieving was discontinued in agreement between all parties, because of difficulties in wet sieving the heavy clay soil. All finds continued to be recorded in 1m squares, with hand-excavation continuing in 10 cm spits as before. All spoil was visually sorted for the recovery of finds, before being metal detected. No features associated with the hoard were identified during hand-excavation. A detailed geophysical survey was undertaken using a Ferex magnetometer. Hand-testing of a selection of the anomalies identified a number of features of geological or modern origin. Outside the excavation area the geophysical survey was followed by a metal detector survey was undertaken to identify any items located outside the main artefact concentration. All metal detector signals were tested by hand-excavation, but only items of 19th or 20th century date were recovered. Finally, the site was re-examined using specialist equipment provided by the Home Office with support from Staffordshire Police, again with recovery only of very recent finds. The hoard is by far the largest find of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. It includes approximately 5 kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver. The quality of craftsmanship is supreme, suggesting ownership by the elite. Most of the items may date from the seventh century. The hoard is remarkable for the large number of pommel caps and hilt plates, most of gold, many intricately adorned with garnets. The hoard also contained a number of fragments from decorated helmets, one decorated with a freeze of running, interlaced animals. Perhaps the most significant find is a strip of gold with a Latin inscription, probably from the Book of Numbers (Ch 10, v 35): ‘Rise up, O Lord, and may thine enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face. Overall the hoard may be a collection of trophies from a single battle or a series of military conflicts. The reason for burial is not clear. It could have been an offering to pagan gods, or concealed during a time of threat. What is clear is that the hoard will cause experts to rethink seventh century Mercia. The hoard could have been accumulated by the Mercian kings Penda, Wulfhere and Aethelred, during their wars with Northumbria or East Anglia. [University of Birmingham]. REVIEW: This collection forms part of the outcome of the project Contextualizing Metal-Detected Discoveries: Staffordshire Anglo-Saxon Hoard (Historic England Project 5892). The project has been running since 2011 and is due to be completed in the summer of 2017. The full outcome will be a book (The Staffordshire Hoard: an Anglo-Saxon Treasure edited by C. Fern, T. Dickinson and L. Webster) to be published by the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2018, and further additions to this collection including a full database of all the hoard objects. These will be released to coincide with the book publication. The hoard was first discovered in July 2009 by metal-detecting activity and subsequently more fully recovered through excavation by Birmingham Archaeology. When found it consisted of approximately 7 kilos of primarily gold objects belonging to the later sixth and seventh centuries AD. It attracted world-wide attention when its discovery was announced following the inquest in September 2009 when it was declared to be a Treasure find. The Treasure Valuation Committee put a value of £3,258,000 on it. This sum was successfully reached through fund-raising to keep it in public ownership. Additional fragments were found in 2012 through a planned metal-detecting and field-walking survey by Warwickshire Archaeology following the first ploughing of the field since 2009. These pieces were also declared Treasure and acquired following further fund-raising. The Staffordshire Hoard is now jointly owned by Birmingham City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council and cared for on their behalf by Birmingham Museums Trust and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. The Staffordshire Hoard research project is managed by Barbican Research Associates Ltd and funded by Historic England and the owners. The overarching aim of the research project has been to make details of this unusual find available to both the scholarly community and the general public as promptly as possible within the bounds of good scholarship. The first aim of the project was to establish what the Hoard consisted of. This was not a simple question to answer as the material had been deliberately dismantled and consisted of c. 4,000 fragments. We now know they came from c. 700 objects. Other research aims were to answer the questions of when it was deposited, why it was deposited, what it tells us about seventh-century life and what we can learn from the experience of dealing with such a large and unexpected find. As part of the aim to make details of the research available as promptly as possible, this collection consists of 24 of the specialist studies that have been commissioned during the life of the project to date. [University of York]. REVIEW: Kevin Leahy graduated in 1977 and was one of the first three Leicester students to receive a single subject degree in Archaeology. He stayed on at Leicester for a certificate in Museum Studies before becoming Keeper of Archaeology at Scunthorpe Museum where he spent the next 29 years working on Lindsey, a little known Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the north of Lincolnshire. He excavated some important sites including Cleatham, (England’s third largest Anglo-Saxon cemetery) which formed the basis of his Nottingham PhD. As part of his work on Lindsey he started recording finds made by metal detector users; it was this that led to his second career with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). This is a national scheme, administered by the British Museum, which records archaeological finds made by members of the public and has a network of locally based Finds Liaison Officers covering England and Wales. Kevin became a National Finds Adviser dealing with Anglo-Saxon metalwork. In 1997 Kevin retired from the museum although he continued his work with the PAS. In July 2009 he received an email from Duncan Slarke, the PAS Officer covering Staffordshire and the West Midlands. It was simply headed ‘WOW!!!!!!!!!!!’. One look at the attached images showed that still more exclamation marks would be appropriate. A man who was metal detecting at Ogley Hay, just to the north of Birmingham, had discovered an incredible hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver objects. The following week an emergency meeting was held in Birmingham to decide what to do; the museums at Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent were represented, as were English Heritage and Staffordshire County Council. Dr Roger Bland, the Head of the PAS came up from London. Kevin will never forget that meeting, the feelings of excitement, amazement and sheer terror - this was England’s Tutankhamun and the responsibility was overwhelming. Decisions were quickly made; an excavation started on the site to recover the rest of the hoard; security was vital, no one outside the group was to know about the discovery. As there would have to be an inquest to decide if it was ‘Treasure’, the Coroner would need to know what had been found. Consequently Kevin, assisted by his wife Dianne, were two of the first people to examine the Staffordshire hoard. For the next seven weeks they worked on the catalogue for two days a week, opening bags, weighing, measuring and describing each piece then entering the data on the computer. The finds were incredible: intricate garnet settings, fine filigree objects bearing strange animals, but most impressive was the craftsmanship; the Anglo-Saxons were consummate metalworkers and the hoard represented the best that they could do. It was the stuff of kings. The hoard is odd, consisting mainly of war-gear, particularly sword hilt fittings stripped from the iron blades. These hilts would have been worn with fine buckles and other fittings – where were they? There was no women’s gold jewelry, which is more common elsewhere than sword fittings. There were three Christian crosses and some highly-decorated plates and strips that can’t yet be identified. These objects had been carefully chosen; it wasn’t just bullion. The public response to the hoard was amazing; it received worldwide media coverage and over 90,000 people queued for up to five hours to just see part of it. An unprecedented £900,000 of the £3,285,000 needed by the museums to buy the hoard came directly from the public. Kevin says that the most important and satisfying thing about this find was the response of the public, who showed that they cared about the past. To work on something like this was a great privilege. [University of Leicester]. REVIEW: The most astonishing excavation of the last years is the hoard that was discovered on 5 July 2009 in Staffordshire. The excavation recovered a total of 1662 objects from early medieval England. The hoard is most unusual, because it largely compromises wargear and there are no items of female ornament. The date of the deposit, the reason why it was buried and who might have buried it have caused great puzzlement and speculation. There are only a few fixed points that enable experts to date the objects in the hoard. The Sutton Hoo ship burial which was excavated in 1939 is one of them. This finds signaled a remarkable change in attitude towards early Anglo-Saxon society, as the Staffordshire hoard is going to change the perceptions of Anglo-Saxon society in the seventh and early eight centuries, the likely dates of burial. The discovery of the deposit didn’t cause surprise as this was the heartland of the warlike kingdom of Mercia. The hoard consists mostly of weapons, perhaps battlefield trophies. Helmets, sword hilt fittings, a folded Christian cross, a golden strip bearing a biblical inscription in the vulgate version of Latin, a golden eagle mount, gems, buckles, golden snakes, stones are among the 712 objects made of gold, 707 of silver, 73 of copper alloy and 93 of other materials. One thing is sure. The end of Roman Britain after 410 was not the end of civilization, although towns declined, coins ceased to be used and society fragmented. From 450 there is evidence that lifestyles from in- and newcomers from Germany and Scandinavia intermingled with existing cultures. Burial practices changed, Christianity was adopted at a certain time, the people still had access to jewelry, weapons and artisan products. Kings and aristocracy ruled peoples. The most striking example is the ship burial at Sutton Hoo. Anglo-Saxon Britain, the period after the departure of Roman troops in 410 and medieval England of about 1000, was a period of great change, that ended in the unification with prospering towns, trade and a solid administration. The Staffordshire is the proof of the pudding. [The European Spectator]. REVIEW: [July 2016] The East Lothian Courier reports that the foundations of a large Anglo-Saxon building dated to about 1,200 years ago have been found in a field in Aberlady, a stop on a Christian pilgrimage route located on Scotland’s eastern coast. Archaeologists from AOC Archaeology Group and a team of volunteers began looking for the remains of Anglo-Saxon timber halls after a large concentration of metal artifacts was discovered in the field. “It may have been monastic, or a feast hall or a royal site,” said Ian Malcolm of the Aberlady Conservation and History Society. “There have been other excavations but no evidence of a structure on this scale has been discovered.” The excavation also revealed a paved area with a pit that may have held the original eighth-century Northumbrian Cross. There may have also been a workshop area, where the team discovered pieces of bone, a carved antler, a ninth-century coin, and two bone combs. [Archaeological Institute of America]. REVIEW: In 2012, a pair of veteran metal detectorists on Jersey in the British Channel Islands discovered a gargantuan coin hoard in a field they had been searching off and on for three decades. The hoard was the largest ever to have been found in Britain and appeared to have the potential to transform interpretations of Jersey’s history. But first it had to be moved. Just getting it out of the ground was fraught with tension. “With earth still attached, it weighed over a ton,” says Neil Mahrer, a museum conservator with Jersey Heritage. “We had no idea how strong it was, in that it was only held together by the corrosion between the coins.” Once the hoard was safely in the laboratory in the Jersey Museum in mid-2014, Mahrer and his team faced the next challenge: how to disassemble it. They also had a daunting deadline. Based on their funding, they needed to take it apart within three years. This would mean extricating almost 500 coins per week on average. Early on, their pace lagged as they learned to use a metrology arm that recorded the position of each coin to within one five-hundredth of an inch. A year into the project, though, with the help of a team of volunteers, they were removing up to 800 coins per week. Along the way, Mahrer sought advice from the small club of fellow conservators with experience taking apart large hoards. To remove the corrosion from the coins, which were generally made with an alloy of silver and copper, experts at the British Museum recommended using a dilute solution of formic acid. To clean the gold jewelry embedded along with the coins—including up to 17 partial and complete gold torques—conservators who worked on the Staffordshire Anglo-Saxon hoard advised using thorns from the evergreen barberry shrub. “It turns out that this one particular thorn is soft enough not to scratch the gold surface, but will remove the corrosion and dirt,” says Mahrer. “It’s strange to think that the best way to clean these was a technique that could have been used as far back into the past as one goes.” In late January 2017, months before the three-year deadline, the final pieces were detached. “We had to take this thing apart literally one coin at a time while having no idea what was inside,” says Mahrer. “Right up to the end, we were surprised all the time by finding new things.” The tally of coins now stands at around an astounding 69,000, though this includes an estimate of the number contained in a small cylindrical section set aside intact for future study. The great majority of the coins have been associated with the Coriosolites, a Celtic tribe known to have controlled a small area of mainland France close to Jersey. Originally, the hoard was thought to have been buried for safekeeping around 50 B.C., when the Romans were making their way through France, conquering Celtic tribes as they went. However, Olga Finch, head of archaeology at Jersey Heritage, notes that a smattering of the coins are thought to date to around 40 B.C., suggesting the hoard may have been buried after the conquest. Even given this later dating, it might still represent an attempt to hide wealth from the Romans. It’s also possible that the hoard—and a number of others that have been found on Jersey—was left with no intention of recovery. “Maybe it’s not about hiding your wealth,” says Finch. “Maybe it’s more about ritual and showing that you have so much wealth that you can afford to bury some of it as an offering to the gods.” [Archaeological Institute of America]. REVIEW: BBC News reports (February 2017) that several pieces of Iron Age gold jewelry have been found spread out, just below the surface on farmland in the West Midlands by a pair of metal detectorists. The two men handed the artifacts over to the Portable Antiquities Scheme of Birmingham Museums. Dubbed the “Leekfrith Iron Age Torques,” the hoard consists of three neck torques and a bracelet estimated to be about 2,500 years old. According to Julia Farley of the British Museum, the ornaments may have been crafted in Germany or France, and then carried to England by wealthy and powerful women who married into the local community. [Archaeological Institute of America]. REVIEW: A gold mount dating to the late sixth or early seventh century that was found in a Norfolk field may provide clues to the location of Anglo-Saxon settlements in the area. The piece, found near the town of Fakenham, may be from a sword grip, but experts have been unable to determine its precise function. The BBC reports that, according to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the item is “similar to sword-grip mounts from the Sutton Hoo ship burial and the Staffordshire Hoard.” Several other items, including a brooch and a belt mount, have been found in the area in recent years, but no sign of Anglo-Saxon dwellings has been found in the village so far. [Archaeological Institute of America]. SHIPPING & RETURNS/REFUNDS: We always ship books domestically (within the USA) via USPS INSURED media mail (“book rate”). Most international orders cost an additional $17.99 to $48.99 for an insured shipment in a heavily padded mailer. 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Please note that eBay may not refund payment processing fees on returns beyond a 30-day purchase window. So except for shipping costs, we will refund all proceeds from the sale of a return item, eBay may not always follow suit. Obviously we have no ability to influence, modify or waive eBay policies. ABOUT US: Prior to our retirement we used to travel to Eastern Europe and Central Asia several times a year seeking antique gemstones and jewelry from the globe’s most prolific gemstone producing and cutting centers. Most of the items we offer came from acquisitions we made in Eastern Europe, India, and from the Levant (Eastern Mediterranean/Near East) during these years from various institutions and dealers. Much of what we generate on Etsy, Amazon and Ebay goes to support worthy institutions in Europe and Asia connected with Anthropology and Archaeology. Though we have a collection of ancient coins numbering in the tens of thousands, our primary interests are ancient/antique jewelry and gemstones, a reflection of our academic backgrounds. Though perhaps difficult to find in the USA, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia antique gemstones are commonly dismounted from old, broken settings – the gold reused – the gemstones recut and reset. Before these gorgeous antique gemstones are recut, we try to acquire the best of them in their original, antique, hand-finished state – most of them originally crafted a century or more ago. We believe that the work created by these long-gone master artisans is worth protecting and preserving rather than destroying this heritage of antique gemstones by recutting the original work out of existence. That by preserving their work, in a sense, we are preserving their lives and the legacy they left for modern times. Far better to appreciate their craft than to destroy it with modern cutting. Not everyone agrees – fully 95% or more of the antique gemstones which come into these marketplaces are recut, and the heritage of the past lost. But if you agree with us that the past is worth protecting, and that past lives and the produce of those lives still matters today, consider buying an antique, hand cut, natural gemstone rather than one of the mass-produced machine cut (often synthetic or “lab produced”) gemstones which dominate the market today. We can set most any antique gemstone you purchase from us in your choice of styles and metals ranging from rings to pendants to earrings and bracelets; in sterling silver, 14kt solid gold, and 14kt gold fill. When you purchase from us, you can count on quick shipping and careful, secure packaging. We would be happy to provide you with a certificate/guarantee of authenticity for any item you purchase from us. There is a $3 fee for mailing under separate cover. 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Price: 52.99 USD
Location: Lummi Island, Washington
End Time: 2024-09-17T16:47:07.000Z
Shipping Cost: 4.99 USD
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Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 30 Days
Refund will be given as: Money back or replacement (buyer's choice)
Publisher: British Museum Press (2009)
Format: Oversized illustrated softcover
Length: 48 pages
Dimensions: 7¼ x 7¼ inches
