September « 2009 « Central Unit blogs

The Staffordshire Hoard

September 24th, 2009 by daniel pett

As a deliberately late posting to try and save this server from going off line, what follows below has already featured on the hoard’s dedicated website which can be viewed at http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk and the image feed is at http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/

The Staffordshire Hoard is an unparalleled treasure find dating from Anglo-Saxon times. Both the quality and quantity of this unique treasure are remarkable. The story of how it came to be left in the Staffordshire soil is likely to be more remarkable still.

The Hoard was first discovered in July 2009. The find is likely to spark decades of debate among archaeologists, historians and enthusiasts.

Leslie Webster, Former Keeper, Department of Prehistory and Europe,
British Museum, has already said:

This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England… as
radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries.
Absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book
of Kells.

The Hoard

The Hoard comprises in excess 1,500 individual items. Most are gold, although some are silver. Many are decorated with precious stones.
The quality of the craftsmanship displayed on many items is supreme, indicating possible royal ownership.

Stylistically most items appear to date from the seventh century, although there is already debate among experts about when the Hoard first entered the ground.

This was a period of great turmoil. England did not yet exist. A number of kingdoms with tribal loyalties vied with each other in a state of semi-perpetual warfare, with the balance of power constantly ebbing and flowing.

England was also split along religious lines. Christianity, introduced during the Roman occupation then driven to near extinction, was once again the principal religion across most of England

The exact spot where the Hoard lay hidden for a millennium and a half cannot yet be revealed. However we can say that it lay at the heart of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia. There is
approximately 5 kg of gold and 1.3 kg of silver (Sutton Hoo had 1.66kg of gold).

The hoard was reported to Duncan Slarke, Finds Liaison Officer with the Portable Antiquities Scheme. With the assistance of the finder, the find-spot has been excavated by archaeologists from Staffordshire County Council, lead by Ian Wykes and Steven Dean, and a team from Birmingham Archaeology, project managed by Bob Burrows and funded by English Heritage. The hoard has been examined at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery by Dr Kevin Leahy, National Finds Adviser with the Portable Antiquities Scheme.

The Coroner for South Staffordshire, Andrew Haigh, is today (24th September 2009) holding an inquest on the find to decide whether it is treasure under the Treasure Act 1996. If it is declared treasure, the find becomes the property of the Crown, and museums will have the opportunity to acquire it after it has been valued by the Treasure Valuation Committee. The Committee’s remit is to value all treasure finds at their full market value and the finder and landowner will divide the reward between them. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, and Staffordshire County Council wish to preserve the find for the West Midlands.

Sword hilt fittings

The Hoard is remarkable for the extraordinary quantity of pommel caps and hilt plates. There have been 84 pommel caps and 71 sword hilt collars so far identified. These highly decorated items would have adorned a sword or seax – a short sword/knife. Most are of gold and many are beautifully inlaid with garnets. Such elaborate and expensive decoration would have marked out the weapon as the property of the highest echelons of nobility. The discovery of a single sword fitting is a notable event: to find so many together is absolutely unprecedented.

Helmets

Parts from several highly decorated helmets are likely to be among the finds, although piecing these together is likely to take considerable time and effort. Among the most conspicuous is what appears to be a magnificently decorated cheek-piece decorated with a frieze of running, interlaced, animals. Interestingly, this piece has a relatively low gold content. This may be the result of being specially alloyed to make it more functional and able to withstand blows.

A beautiful figure of an animal is also possibly the crest of a helmet. Large numbers of fragments of “C” sectioned silver edging and reeded strips could also be helmet fittings. Similar fragments, made from base metal, formed part of the Sutton Hoo helmet, found in a rich grave in Suffolk, in 1939.

Biblical inscription

A strip of gold bearing a Biblical inscription in Latin is one of the most significant and controversial finds. Michelle Brown, Professor of Medieval Manuscript Studies, has suggested the style of lettering dates from the seventh or early eighth centuries. The relatively crude lettering may have been the work of someone more used to writing on wax tablets.

The suitably warlike inscription, mis-spelt in places, is probably from the Book of Numbers Ch. 10 v 35 and reads:

Surge domine et dissipentur inimici tui et fugiant qui oderunt te a facie tua ~ “Rise up, o Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face”

The folded cross

The only items that are clearly non-martial are two, or possibly three, crosses. The largest may have been an altar or processional cross. Other than the loss of the settings used to decorate it (some of which are present but detached) it is intact. However it has been folded, possibly to make it fit into a small space prior to burial. This lack of apparent respect shown to this Christian symbol may point to the Hoard being buried by pagans, but Christians were also quite capable of despoiling each other’s shrines.

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Recent discovery of a Roman Coin Hoard in the Shrewsbury Area

September 7th, 2009 by daniel pett

A very large and important find of a hoard of Roman coins was recently discovered by a novice metal detector user in the Shrewsbury area. This is probably one of the largest coin hoards ever discovered in Shropshire. The finder, Mr Nic. Davies, bought his first metal detector a month ago and this is his first find made with it. The hoard was discovered close to a public bridleway on land that Mr Davies did not have permission to detect on. All land is owned by someone and it is important that permission to search is obtained in advance. The coins were placed in a very large storage jar which had been buried in the ground around 1700 years ago. They had lain undisturbed since then waiting for someone to find them again.

Mr Davies, excavated the hoard and brought all his finds to Peter Reavill, Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme based with Shropshire Council Museum Service. Hoard’s such as this are covered by the Treasure Act, being more than 10 coins of less than 10% precious metal which have been deliberately hidden. By law all finds which represent Treasure must be reported to HM Coroner. The hoard of coins will be taken to the British Museum for detailed conservation and full identification, a report will be sent to the Coroner and it is hoped that the museum service will acquire them to be displayed in the New Museum planned for the Music Hall, in Shrewsbury.

From a brief look at the hoard there seems to be a minimum of 10,000 coins; the majority of which are corroded together in the pot. The finder did not touch the coins from within the pot and this will mean that staff at the British Museum will be able to excavate the coins carefully. This will enable them to know whether the coins were placed in the pot all at the same time, or were added to piecemeal over time. The coins are all bronze (copper alloy), and some of them have been silver washed. They are known as nummi (which just means coin) and were common during the 4th century AD. From the coins which have been provisionally identified they seem to date from the period 320 – 340 AD, late in the reign of Constantine I and the House of Constantine. Amongst the coins are issues celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Rome and Constantinople. In total the coins and the pot weigh in excess of 70 lbs. The pottery vessel is very large and probably used in the domestic part of a farmhouse as a large storage jar. It does not seem to be locally made. It is very fine being extraordinarily thin.

The finder marked the findspot and subsequently took Peter Reavill and archaeologists from Shropshire Council to the findspot. A small excavation was undertaken with the hope of understanding how the coins were placed in the ground. This was a success and it seems most likely that the pot was buried in the ground probably part full and was subsequently topped up before a large stone was placed on top acting as a marker. The top of the pot had been broken in the ground and a large number of the coins spread in the area. All of these were recovered during the excavation with the help of a metal detector. This added at least another 300 coins to the total. We now know that there are no more coins (or another hoard) in the area. The coins within the hoard represent some of the most commonly found coins from Roman Britain; most metal detectorists will have one or two in their collection. The importance of this find is the sheer number, or material wealth they represent. It is likely that the hoard represents a person or communities wealth, possibly as a payment for a harvest. Why it was not collected by the owner is a mystery – but one that we can share and enjoy 1700 years after the fact.

“This is a very exciting find and probably the largest coin hoard, at least in modern times, to be recovered from the County.” says Emma-Kate Lanyon, Curator for Shropshire Council Museum Service.

“The Treasure Act and Portable Antiquities Scheme is now nearly 12 years old and has vastly increased our understanding of Shropshire’s past by bringing finds like this to the attention of archaeologists. It has also provided the museums with the opportunity to acquire these artefacts for future research and display. The Museum Service will acquire the hoard with the intention to display it in the new Shrewsbury Museum planned for the Music Hall site in Shrewsbury. ”

The coins will be taken to London for detailed study, a report will then be sent to the Coroner and the find will be valued by a Government panel. Thanks are extended to the Coroners Service, Shropshire Council, English Heritage and the British Museum all of who have contributed to this exciting find. For more information on the Treasure Act and the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme either visit the website www.finds.org.uk, contact Peter Reavill on 01584 813641 or visit one of his regular finds days. If anyone has found Roman coins, or other finds I would be happy to see them – I have a finds day at the Guildhall, Newport (Shropshire) on Saturday 12th September between 11-2pm organised by Newport History Society.

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