The Staffordshire hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found. Discovered in a field in Staffordshire, Great Britain, on 5 July 2009, the hoard consists of about 5 kg (11 lb) of gold and 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) of silver. The artifacts have tentatively been dated to around 600–800 AD, with some estimating the burial to have taken place as precisely as to within twenty-five years of 700. The purpose of the deposit is unknown.
Terry Herbert of Burntwood in Staffordshire, a 55-year-old who had been practising amateur metal detection for eighteen years, uncovered a few scraps of gold on a friend's farm near Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, in July 2009.[1] The hoard was reported to the local officer of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, and on 24 September 2009 was declared treasure by the South Staffordshire coroner, meaning it belongs to The Crown.[2] The hoard is believed to be worth in excess of £1 million, which will be shared between the landowner and Herbert.[3]
Following the discovery, archaeological recovery of the hoard was completed by Birmingham Archaeology, associated with the University of Birmingham, and Staffordshire County Council, under the direction of Roger Bland, head of portable antiquities and treasure at the British Museum. Due to the importance of the find, the site of the hoard has been kept secret, though no traces of any graves, buildings, or other structures have been found.[3] The discovery was announced publicly on 24 September 2009, after completion of the coroner's inquest, with the site being reported only as "near Burntwood".[4]
The objects are currently conserved in the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, where they are on display until 13 October.[5] Afterward they will be transferred to the British Museum. As of 24 September 2009, 1,381 objects have been recovered, of which 864 have a mass of less than 3 grams, 507 less than 1 gram. 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.[6]
The hoard of about 5 kg (11 lb) of gold and 1.3 kg (2.9 lb) of silver[7] 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.[3]
The contents include finely worked silver and gold sword decorations removed from weaponry, including 66 gold sword hilt collars and many gold hilt plates, some with garnet inlays.[6] 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. 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. 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. On the other hand, the statement notes, "Christians were also quite capable of despoiling each other's shrines."[7]
One of the objects is a small strip of gold inscribed with a version of a Latin quotation from the Old Testament (Book of Numbers 10:35): SURGE DNE DISEPENTUR INIMICI TUI ET FUGENT QUI ODERUNT TE A FACIE TUA ("Surge Domine et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua"), which translates as: "Rise up, Lord; may Your enemies be scattered and those who hate You be driven from Your face."[7]
Michelle Brown, Professor of Medieval Manuscripts Studies in London, believes that, based on the use of uncial letter forms, the style of lettering used implies a date of seventh or early eighth century, whereas Professor Elisabeth Okasha of University College Cork has identified traits such as the use of insular majuscule, which suggest a date of eighth or early ninth century.[7][8]
Most of the other treasures unearthed in the hoard appear to be military-related and the strip may have been fastened originally to a shield or a sword belt.[9] There are no feminine-related finds, which are the more common Anglo-Saxon gold finds, and reportedly, the contents "show every sign of being carefully selected".[6]
Michael Lewis, the Deputy head of Portable Antiquities Scheme at the British Museum, notes that there are two main possibilities for the purpose of the burial of the hoard: either it was a votive deposit (an offering to gods) or "a treasure chest that got lost, or they couldn't come back for it." Lewis comments that "from my 21st-century perspective, I find it bewildering that someone could shove so much metalwork into the ground as an offering. That seems like overkill."[10]
Archaeologist Kevin Leahy, who catalogued the hoard, has opined that it appears to be war loot. He noted that the find includes dozens of pommel caps—decorative attachments to sword handles—and that Beowulf contains a reference to warriors' stripping the pommels of their enemies' swords.[11]
Staffordshire was part of the kingdom of Mercia in the seventh century, an era for which written texts are scant, aside from Bede, whose Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, finished in 731, was written from the Christian perspective of a monk in Northumbria; Bede, however, appears to have had no contacts in Mercia.[12] Archaeology is used to gather information regarding the missing cultural history.
Michael Lewis opines that attempting to identify the hoard to a particular individual isn't realistic. Lewis notes that, during the period that the hoard dates from, some rulers from Mercia are well known, including Penda and Offa. Lewis states that Penda ruled slightly before the period of the hoard, and "Offa is right at the end, so it has to be someone in the middle." Lewis points out that "our historical sources are limited to people like the monk Bede, who wrote from a Christian perspective" and that the Mercians at the time were likely pagans, yet "they could have been overlooked by Bede even though they might have been important, because he wasn't interested in them - for whatever reason." Lewis comments that the hoard will assist in looking back at literary sources and historical figures with more scrutiny.[10]
The hoard has been described by Leslie Webster, former keeper of the department of prehistory at the British Museum, as "absolutely the metalwork equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells" and stated further that "this is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries".[13]
Bland said: "It is a fantastically important discovery. It is assumed that the items were buried by their owners at a time of danger with the intention of later coming back and recovering them." He commented the hoard was thought to date back to between 675 and 725 AD, during the time of the kingdom of Mercia.[4]
