Staffordshire Hoard

Staffordshire Hoard
A selection of highlight pieces from the Staffordshire Hoard (top) and a gold sword hilt fitting with cloisonné garnet inlay (below), uncleaned by conservators, still showing traces of soil
Material
  • Gold
  • Silver
  • Stone
  • Garnet
Sizeover 3,500 items
WritingLatin
Createdc. 7th to 8th centuries
Discovered2009
Hammerwich near Lichfield, Staffordshire, England
52°39′19″N 1°54′24″W / 52.65528°N 1.90667°W / 52.65528; -1.90667
Discovered byTerry Herbert
Present location

The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork yet found. It consists of almost 4,600 items and metal fragments, 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 jewellery.[1] It is described by the historian Cat Jarman as "possibly the finest collection of early medieval artefacts ever discovered".[2]

The hoard was most likely deposited between 650 and 675 CE, and contains artefacts probably manufactured during the 6th and 7th centuries.[3] 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 "radical" importance in Anglo-Saxon archaeology.[4][5] The artefacts are nearly all martial in character and contain no objects specific to use by women.[6][7]: 9  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 many of the fragments 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.

  1. ^ Alexander, Caroline (November 2011). "Magical mystery treasure". National Geographic Magazine. Vol. 220, no. 5. p. 44. Archived from the original on 25 December 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
  2. ^ Jarman, Cat (2021). River Kings: The Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Roads. London: William Collins. p. 174. ISBN 978-0-00-835311-7.
  3. ^ Cool, Hilary (Winter 2015–2016). "The Staffordshire Hoard". Historic England Research News. No. 2. Historic England.
  4. ^ "The Staffordshire Hoard: Comments sent to us". Archived from the original on 28 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009. absolutely the metalwork equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells ... this is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England as radically, if not more so, than the Sutton Hoo discoveries.
  5. ^ "Anglo-Saxon gold: Largest-ever hoard officially declared treasure". The Daily Telegraph. London. 24 September 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2009. 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.
  6. ^ "The Find". Staffordshire Hoard (staffordshirehoard.org.uk). Archived from the original on 3 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2011.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Leahy-Bland-2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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