Hoard name: The Staffordshire Hoard

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Broadperiod attributed: EARLY MEDIEVAL

The composition of the hoard is strangely unbalanced, consisting mainly of war-gear, particularly sword hilt fittings, stripped from their iron blades prior to deposition. It was found that 60.1 per cent, of the objects (by weight) could be described as military, 28.4 per cent are, at present, unidentified and may be civilian and 11.5 per cent were fragments too small for classification. It is, however, possible that many of the fragments came from a helmet and some of the unidentified objects may be found to have a martial function. No coins or, with the exception of two small buckles, dress accessories, have been so far recognised.

The catalogue contains 92 pommel caps or pommel cap fragments (73 gold, 14 silver and 5 copper alloy). Of these, 51 were decorated with filigree, 18 with cloisonne and 13 bear incised decoration. Two are plain, and some are heavily worn, indicating different histories of use. There are 73 collars from sword hilts and 141 plates from the upper and lower guards of hilts. Ten sword 'pyramids' with gold and garnet settings were found and two gold and garnet sword 'buttons' (Figure 7). Most of the fittings came from
two-edged swords but some represent single-edged seaxes.

The most distinctive helmet parts are a silver gilt cheek-piece decorated with bands of Style II animals (no. 453), and what appears to be a mount from a helmet crest (no. 678). Cast crest and face mounts as seen on the Sutton Hoo, Vendel and Valsgarde helmets are absent, although the hoard contains fragments of reeded strip and C-sectioned edging of types characteristic of these helmets. Most pieces are short, making reconstruction difficult, but some of the C-shaped edging is angled, suggesting that they came from a helmet. Particularly significant are fragments of pressblech decorated silver depicting warriors and animals. Foils of this type appear on Vendel helmets where the foil panels were secured using reeded strip. These had, prior to deposition, been stripped from the iron cap that formed the body of the helmet.

Of the 28.4 per cent of the hoard that may be non-military only the three Christian crosses can be identified with certainty. These consist of a large processional/altar cross (no. 655), a pendant cross (no. 303) and the inscribed strip (no. 550), which may be part of a third cross. There are two other crosses (nos. 820 and 920) but these are perhaps best seen as cross-shaped mounts rather than religious emblems. The non-military finds contain some magnificent plates, strips and fittings decorated with close-set garnets. Most appear to lack any attachment points and their function is, at present, unknown, but, hopefully, these matters will be resolved as work progresses.

The material deposited in this hoard comes from a restricted range of objects, mainly of a military nature. This careful selection suggests that the hoard was not merely bullion: the large buckles and accoutrements that would have accompanied fine swords are not present. Feminine dress fittings, which are more common in the archaeological record than sword hilts, are also absent. The lack of sword blades is also striking; these were valuable in their own right and had an importance independent of the hilts.

While the number of pieces in the hoard is large it must be recognised that in excess of 45.4 per cent of them weighed less than 1.0g (and the whole consignment could fit in a shoe box). The silver objects tended to be more fragmentary than the gold, as they had been embrittled by excessive cold working. In spite of the damage suffered by many of the objects there does not seem to have been any systematic attempt to spoil them: items appear to have been bent to fit into a small space but were not deliberately broken. Few pieces show evidence of plough damage and it is likely that the hoard entered the topsoil recently, when the field was last ploughed, eight months before the discovery. Cloisonne garnet inlay was employed on 141 pieces in addition to which 57 loose cut garnets were found. Both the damaged garnet work and the loose stones are likely to be informative revealing details hidden on complete objects. Filigree was used on 371 objects and fragments and, again,
damage is likely to be important from a technological point of view.

The Staffordshire (Ogley Hay) hoard makes a massive addition to the corpus of early medieval European fine metalwork, and we now have a formidable array of techniques that can be used in the non-destructive analysis of the material: the scanning electron microscope, digital imaging and computer based technology. I would like to see the database as the point of departure for research on the hoard, growing organically as new images and data are added. One of the successes of the announcement of the find was the large number of images which were immediately made available online. I would like to see this access and openness continue throughout the process of recording and analysis.

View all records on our database attributed to this hoard.