The first pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard were found in early July 2009 by Mr Terry Herbert while he was metal detecting in a field in southern Staffordshire. In total over 1,500 complete artefacts and fragments were discovered.
Finds included sword fittings, part of a helmet and three gold Christian crosses. The hoard contains approximately 5kgs of gold and 2.5kg of silver. In comparison, Sutton Hoo, the world-famous Anglo-Saxon burial ground in South East Suffolk, had 1.66kg of gold.
Most of the complete objects are made of gold. Some are decorated with pieces of garnet, a deep red semi-precious stone, others with fine filigree work or patterns made up of animals with interlaced bodies. Current thinking dates the hoard to the later 600s or earlier 700s AD.
A stunning selection of around 80 artefacts from the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, including significant items never before seen in public, are now on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, only a small distance away from the field where they were unearthed.
This is the first time that the hoard will be displayed in the county in which it was found.
Leading experts including Dr. Kevin Leahy and Dr. Roger Bland of the Portable Antiquities Scheme will discuss this remarkable Saxon find, giving their current thinking on the dates and origins of the 1600 gold and silver artefacts.
A stunning selection of around 80 artefacts from the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, including significant items never before seen in public, are now on display at the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, only a small distance away from the field where they were unearthed.
This is the first time that the hoard will be displayed in the county in which it was found.
See the Staffordshire Hoard and discover what life was like in Anglo-Saxon Britain as warriors from the Poor Cnights of St Chad patrol the museum.
The recent discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard has turned up over 1,500 pieces of stunning gold and silver artfacts from the 7th century Dark Ages era. The hoard contains approximately 5kgs of gold and 2.5kg of silver. In comparison, Sutton Hoo, the world-famous Anglo-Saxon burial ground in South East Suffolk, had 1.66kg of gold.
The find has been described as "unparalleled" and represents the largest haul of Anglo-Saxon treasure ever to have been discovered, within an area which was the heartland of the Kingdom of Mercia.
At the Potteries and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, you will find an amazing colleciton of Staffordshire ceramics, a sensory oases with plans and fungi to smell and touch and information panels that will lead you to explore the wildlife, landscape and geology of the Potteries. The gallery also holds a unique collectios of artworks, inclucing Picasso, Durer and Degas.
It’s been another fascinating and prolific 12 months in archaeology, with discoveries – ranging from a multi-million pound medieval gold hoard to a lost Roman city, a “missing link” in human evolution and a prehistoric erotic figurine – coming thick and fast from the four corners of the globe.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 12:17
A Polish archaeological team has discovered a decorated clay vessel containing dozens of gold coins at a lost monastery in Egypt. The find was made in a room of the Archangel Gabriel monastery (Deir Malek Gubrail) in Naqlun, in the Fayum Oasis, by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University. SCA chief Zahi Hawass says the hoard's 18 coins and 62 coin fragments are dated to Egypt's Abbasid Period, which ruled northern regions between 750 and 1258 AD.
Team leader Wlodzimierz Godlewski says the monastic complex of Naqlun was built at the beginning of the 6th century AD. Yet the hoard, found beneath a collapsed wall, dates to around a hundred years later. A chandelier and lamp, both bronze, were also found at the site.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Thu, 11/26/2009 - 11:28
The Staffordshire Hoard has been valued today at a whopping £3.285million ($5.438m). The figure is a quarter of a million more than was reported earlier this week, and over three million more than many experts had predicted upon its discovery. The bill is expected to be picked up by Birmingham Museum and Art Galley and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery in Stoke, who are launching a joint bid to keep the collection in the Midlands near its Saxon homeland of Mercia.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Wed, 11/04/2009 - 18:07
As blogged earlier today, the Staffordshire Hoard made its way to London's British Museum this week, to feverish public interest. And not wanting to miss out on the party, Heritage Key took a trip to Bloomsbury today, to give you a first-hand look at how it has been laid out for the capital's history lovers. As you can see, there weren't queues tailed back hundreds of yards outside the building - as was the case at earlier displays in Birmingham - but interest was high, with HK struggling to burst through the crowd for some decent shots.
The first pieces of the Staffordshire Hoard were found in early July 2009 by Mr Terry Herbert while he was metal detecting in a field in southern Staffordshire. In total over 1,500 complete artefacts and fragments were discovered.
A Polish archaeological team has discovered a decorated clay vessel containing dozens of gold coins at a lost monastery in Egypt. The find was made in a room of the Archangel Gabriel monastery (Deir Malek Gubrail) in Naqlun, in the Fayum Oasis, by the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of Warsaw University. SCA chief 
