The Staffordshire Hoard

Helen Geake, Finds Adviser, Portable Antiquities Scheme

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The Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent

Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery

Sutton Hoo Mound 1, c. 625 AD

…France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Syria, Egypt, Byzantium…

…and Britain!

objects from…

peoples and kingdoms, from Bede’s Ecclesiastical

History of the English People (731 AD)

England in the 7th century AD

(hoard site in pink)

Distribution map of Anglo-Saxon burials, c. 430-c. 700 (from Lucy 2000)

(Hoard site in pink)

Penda, ruled c. 630 to 655 – killed 5 kings:

Edwin* of Northumbria 633

Oswald* of Northumbria 642

Sigeberht* and Ecgric of East Anglia 636

Anna* of East Anglia 654

Bede’s information about Mercia in the seventh century

* great Christian king and one of Bede’s heroes

Lots of gold!approximately: 5 kg gold 1.5 kg silver 0.5 kg copper alloy

Spear

Helmet

Sword

Seax

Shield

The usual equipment of the Anglo-Saxon warrior

pommel

hilt plates

hilt collar

Some components of a sword hilt

hilt plates

(this reconstructed sword is from Sutton Hoo in Suffolk)

About 90 pommels

from a sword (large) probably from a seax (small)

Over 350 hilt fittings

hilt plate from a seax

hilt plate from a sword

elaborate hilt collar

simple wire hilt collar

4 rings from sword pommels

Scabbard fittings from the Staffordshire Hoard

(reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo sword)

Helmet from Benty Grange, Derbyshire Peak District (c. 650 AD)

Reconstruction of the Benty Grange helmet

with horn plates in between the iron bands and bristles on the boar

A reconstruction of the Sutton Hoo helmet

hinged cheekpieces

Iron helmet from Wollaston, Northamptonshire

Helmet cheekpiece from the Staffordshire Hoard

compare to the Sutton Hoo helmet

61.3% gold, 36.8% silver, 3.4% copper

Helmet crest from the Staffordshire Hoard

again, compare to the Sutton Hoo helmet

Sutton Hoo helmet showing stamped foil decoration

Someone gripping and stabbingWarriors with round shields

and eagle-crested helmets

People running or kneeling

Silver foils, probably from a helmet

Lots of bits of helmet!

Two small crosses...

…a medium-sized one…

…and an enormous one with huge garnets!

detail of the ornament

detail of the ornament

Byzantinering-cut garnet

One arm from a cross?

[S] U R G E d N E d I S E P E n T U R I N I M I C I T U I Et[F] U G E n T q U I O d E R U N [T] T E α F α C I E T U α

[s]urge domine disepentur inimici tui et [f]ugent 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 (Numbers 10, 35)

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him (Psalm 67/68, 2)

Mystery objects

cloisonné cell-work from a hilt collar

cabochon-cut garnets from part of a sword pyramid

This object is one inch (2½ cm) long

stamped gold foil underneath the garnets

Garnets cut at an angle on a sword pyramid (the sword pyramid is 2 cm square)

Garnets with a ribbed edge (the hilt collar is 3 cm across)

Glass settings from the Staffordshire Hoard

Tiny bits of blue glass on a sword pyramid

‘Millefiori’ glass on a stud

Detail of a millefiori glass settings from one of the sword pyramids

Filigree on hilt collars

animals and birds in cloisonné garnets

Interlacing animals on the helmet cheekpiece

heads with jaws

feet or paws

close-up detail

hip or shoulder joint the complete object

Animal head visible

Possible animal head just visible

No animal elements discernable

What was the hoard for?• Deliberately hidden for safekeeping? • Lost by mistake? • A gift to the gods?

• The contents of a royal treasury• Plunder from a battle (with blades removed)• Tribute from defeated kingdom(s)• A goldsmith’s hoard, awaiting recycling• Theft of one of the above• A sacrificial deposit

Site location

Excavating the findspot of the hoard

The Book of Durrow f. 192v (no precise date)

Seax hilt-plate from the Staffordshire Hoard

http://finds.org.uk/staffshoardsymposium