Saxon Hoard - Saxon Hoard A Golden Discovery

[The Lawspeaker]

GOLD HOARD PICTURES: Largest Anglo-Saxon Treasure Found

Inlaid with garnets, this ornamental stud once decorated the sword sheath of a high-ranking warrior, or possibly a king, in Dark Ages Britain, experts announced on September 24, 2009.

The stud is part of the largest known Anglo-Saxon gold hoard, mainly ancient war gear, especially sword fittings.

Most of the precious metal items are believed to date to around A.D. 700, when England was divided into rival, almost constantly warring kingdoms, experts said.

September 24, 2009--Buried for centuries in a field in central England, this finely worked, 1,300-year-old fragment of gold plate was revealed today as part of the largest Anglo-Saxon hoard ever found.

Showing two eagles flanking a fish, the Dark Ages treasure was one of more than 1,500 scattered gold and silver artifacts unearthed in July by metal detector enthusiast Terry Herbert on his friend's farm near the town of Burntwood.

"The quantity of gold is amazing but, more importantly, the craftsmanship is consummate," Kevin Leahy of the London-based Portable Antiquities Scheme said in a statement. The group records archaeological objects discovered by amateur treasure hunters in the U.K.

"This was the very best that the Anglo-Saxon metalworkers could do," Leahy said. "And they were very good."

Inlaid with garnets, this ornamental stud once decorated the sword sheath of a high-ranking warrior, or possibly a king, in Dark Ages Britain, experts announced on September 24, 2009.

The stud is part of the largest known Anglo-Saxon gold hoard, mainly ancient war gear, especially sword fittings.

Most of the precious metal items are believed to date to around A.D. 700, when England was divided into rival, almost constantly warring kingdoms, experts said.

"Rise up O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee," reads the Latin inscription on this strip of gold--a fitting bit of Bible verse for a war-torn place and time, Britain in the Dark Ages (roughly A.D. 500 to 1000). The strip is part of a roughly 1,300-year-old Anglo-Saxon gold hoard announced on September 24, 2009.

The Anglo-Saxons were Germanic peoples who colonized England beginning in the 400s; founded the country on the island of Great Britain; and gave rise to the English language.

Paved with garnets, this gold sword-handle fitting was among many combat-related treasures--possibly spoils of war--in the largest known Anglo-Saxon gold hoard, announced September 24, 2009.

"There was absolutely nothing feminine" among the buried hoard, found in rural England, Kevin Leahy of the Portable Antiquities Scheme said in a statement.

"It looks like a collection of trophies," Leahy said. "But it is impossible to say if the hoard was the spoils from a single battle or a long and highly successful military career."

It remains a mystery who buried the treasure--and why and when--experts say.

These gold sword fittings from the newfound Anglo-Saxon hoard represent just a tiny fraction of the hundreds of artifacts found in England and announced on September 24, 2009.

The exact location of the farm where the hoard was found is being kept secret for fear of looters. But experts did say the site once lay at the heart of the old Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, which existed from the sixth to the tenth century, when it became part of the fledgling Kingdom of England.

The total weight of gold recovered amounts to 11 pounds (5 kilograms)--considerably more than the 3.8 pounds (1.7 kilograms) found at the rich Anglo-Saxon burial site of Sutton Hoo in 1939.

This gold horse head was possibly the crest of a helmet--one of many ornate helmet parts discovered in the Anglo-Saxon gold hoard revealed September 24, 2009.

Many of the other treasures in the hoard are decorated in an Anglo-Saxon style known for strange animals, often depicted interlaced or with their jaws intertwined.

"Despite their warlike nature," said Leahy, of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, "the decoration on these objects is delightful."

Source: National Geograpic (24 September 2009)

[The Lawspeaker]

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Saxon Hoard - Saxon Hoard A Golden Discovery

Extract from: BBC News

Marion Blockley, an archaeologist, wonders if there is a clue in a lament written in around the 9th Century that describes a 7th Century battle and raid in the Midlands.

Did warriors ransack a settlement and leave with captured treasure?
"It's possible as they fled that they may have taken the hoard with them and buried it, hoping to come back but sadly they were killed," Ms Blockley said.
"I'm not saying it's true, but you know, it may well be."
'Significant items'

The Staffordshire Hoard is made up of thousands of items, including pieces of weaponry and dozens of ornate sword pommels, so could they have been part of a king's collection that had somehow fallen into the wrong hands?

Ms Blockley said nearby Tamworth had been a royal treasury.
She said kings used to receive gifts of "significant items of weaponry" which they would then redistribute to their favourite warriors.

Some say a key part of solving the mystery of the hoard could lie in where it was found near what was an important route between the Midlands and London, Watling Street.

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Saxon gold: Finding the hoard

This tale of the largest Anglo Saxon treasure hoard ever found is a must-see for the modern day treasure hunter. The unprecedented find mesmerised archaeologists and historians around the world, and made global headlines. In Saxon Gold: Finding the Hoard, we uncover the full story. Nothing like this has ever been found in Britain before -- sixteen hundred pieces of bejewelled gold and silver, buried, lost then forgotten.

Discovered in July 2009 by an amateur metal detecting enthusiast in Litchfield, Staffordshire, this magnificent golden hoard is set to shed light on one of the most mysterious periods of British history. Dating back nearly 1,400 years from the mid-seventh century, everyone wants to know to whom the treasure belonged. Where and how was it made? Why was it buried? And why was it lost for over a millennium? This absorbing show answers these questions and more, as we meet the key players involved in the incredible story; from the original finder with his metal detector and the owner of the land where this superb collection was found, to the experts who realised the hoard was of international significance and the team who speedily excavated the site in secret to prevent nighthawking.

The Hoard was valued at £3.3m by experts in November 2009. The Art Fund successfully led a public appeal to raise the funds and save the Hoard for posterity. The target sum was met on 23 March 2010.

The Hoard will now be co-owned by Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke. For the finder his discovery has been life-changing. For archaeologists, this is just the beginning of a long journey to try and unravel the mysteries generated by the hoard of precious metal. To unlock the secrets of the Saxon hoard a further £1.7 million is needed for vital research and conservation.

[♥ Lily ♥]

It's amazing what people across the British Isles find with their metal detectors each year.... whether they're looking around the coastlines, in the countryside, or in cities and towns.... a lot of sites were the scenes of many ancient battles where treasures were lost and stored, etc.

That unemployed man who found the Staffordshire hoard is now a millionaire as the national treasures were handed over to the national museums.









These coins are from the Iceni tribe

[♥ Lily ♥]

Also, a massive grave of beheaded Vikings was discovered in my original home county of Dorset. The local Pagan folk there were defending themselves, because back then if they didn't, then they would've been raided and slaughtered by the Vikings.

The locals of south-west England aka 'The West Country' have a long history of defensive people.... from the battlescene of Badbury Rings where King Arthur won his greatest battle against the Saxons.... through to King Alfred the Great of Wessex who kept the Viking invaders out of south-west England and Wales when England was divided into two with the Danes ruling over the north-east (the English language was saved by Alfred the Great!).... and the rebellious people of Dorset who opposed Cromwell (who the Irish also loathed!)

And Maiden Castle in Dorset is the largest hill fort in Europe and it was built by the Celts as a defence fortress to keep out the Romans! I love visiting old and ancient castles and their ruins, ancient Pagan stone circles, etc. The region also has a history of pirates.

Europeans used to fight with each other in battles over territory, religion, power, etc.... but it's sad today that Europeans have lost that Pagan warrior fighting spirit, especially given the problems happening in modern Europe through Islamisation. Ancient Pagan wisdom appears to have been lost, and the free wild wolf spirit needs to be reawakened in western men who have become enslaved and docile in modern society.