Anglo-Saxon Gold Hoard Found!!!

Recently BBC News has declared a huge discovery of gold that may change history. It is deemed as the U.K.'s largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold and among other treasures, discoved beneath a field in Staffordshire. Experts claim the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, which possibly date all the way back to the 7th century, is unparelled in size and could quite possibly be woth "a seven figure sum." A metal detectorist named Terry Herbert found it on a farmland and claims it "was what metal detectorists dream of." It could possibly take over a years worth of debating to be valued.
The last Anglo-Saxon treasure was in 1939, called the Sutton Hoo discovery when about 1.5kg of gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk; Meanwhile the Stafordshire hoard contains about 5k of gold and 2.5k of silver making the Sutton Hoo discovery look like childsplay in comparison. Anyways BBC correspondent Nick Highham claimed the hoard to be valued by the brittish museum and the money will be passed on to Mr.Herbert and the landowner. Already 1345 items have been examinated by experts and the list includes 56 clots of earth which have been x-rayed and are known to contain other artifacts. Meaning the total number of items are likely to rise to about 1,500.
Preceeding the discovery, Alex Jones, director of Birmingham Archeology and his collegues were invited to excavate the site. Mr. Jones states that it was indeed fantastic news for the region and arose the importance of heritage research, "Bieng a partner in one of the most exciting archeological discoveries in our time is something we can all be proud of," Jones said. Experts have so far discovered the there were at least 650 items of gold in the haul, weighing over 11 lbs. and 530 silver objects weighing over 2.2 lbs. Also copper alloy garnets were found at the site. Duncan Starke, the first professional to see the hoard,claims that it contains mostly warfare paraphanelia including sword pommel caps, and hilt plates inlaid with precious stones.
The collection is currently bieng kept in storage at Birmingham Museum and art gallery, but a section of the items are to be displayed at the museum from friday until october 13th. Dr. Keivin Leahy, who has been catalouging at the discovery for the portable Antiques Scheme, said it had been found in the heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. He exclaims, "Its been actually quite scary working on this material to be in the presence of greatness." He said the most shocking thing about the find was that it was almost totally wepon fittings with no feminine objects such as dress fittings, brooches or pendants. "Swords and sword fittings were very important in the Anglo-Saxon period," He added. "It looks like a collection of trophies, but it was impossible to say if the hoard was spoils from a single battle or a long highly sucessful military career." We also cannot say who the original, or the final owners were, who took it from them, why they burried it or when." Then concludes the article by stating, "It will be debated for decades."




Reference article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm