Archaeology student discovers 'outstanding' Anglo-Saxon pendant worth L50K

Daily Mail ^ | February 28, 2015 | Kate Pickles

[SunkenCiv]

• Likely owner had royal connections given quality of jewellery
• Archaeology student had been amateur metal detector since childhood
• Coins and other jewellery found next to female skeleton in field
• Pendant described by experts as of 'national significance'
• Student, landowner and others on dig will get to split proceeds

[SunkenCiv]

full title, "Archaeology student discovers 'outstanding' Anglo-Saxon pendant worth £50,000 in first-year dig - and he gets to keep the profits".

Elaborate: The quality of the pendant means it belonged to someone with considerable wealth, with experts believing the owner would have some royal connection

[Nailbiter]

interesting - some fairly elaborate work

[Nailbiter]

sorry meant to post comment back to myself-

[djf]

It will be very interesting to see when it’s all cleaned off...

[SunkenCiv]

Could have been made in Britain, but probably the talent wasn’t entirely Anglo-Saxon in origin. :’) Not that there’s anything wrong with that (either way). ;’)

[Gaffer]

Looks like mideastern design of some sort. It would be nice to see it cleaned to reveal the center.

[SunkenCiv]

[SunkenCiv]

More about the Diss dig:

Diss archaeology dig to shed light on townspeople “not in the history books”
http://www.dissexpress.co.uk/news/latest-news/diss-archaeology-dig-to-shed-light-on-townspeople-not-in-the-history-books-1-6603287

(also check out “The Story of England”, a recent documentary by Michael Wood)

http://www.google.com/search?q=the+story+of+england+michael+wood&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbo=u&tbm=vid&source=og&sa=N&tab=wv

[madison10]

Have ancestors from there...thanks for finding this. gggggggggggrandma wants her pendant back.

[BenLurkin]

"The necklace is so beautiful, it has to have been made by dwarves."

[Bigg Red]

Beautiful piece. Lucky guy.

[afraidfortherepublic]

I lost that the last time I visited England — 1997. ;^)

[Bernard Marx]

interesting - some fairly elaborate work

You may not realize how elaborate. The piece is typical of Anglo Saxon garnet cloissone jewelry that required amazing craftsmanship and an enormous amount of goldsmithing/lapidary knowledge.

Each little channel was filled with a thin slice of red garnet individually shaped to fit precisely by friction only, no adhesives. The source of the garnet is presently unknown, probably either Bohemia or India, both of which were available to artisans at the time. Because garnet tends to be dark and absorbs light, it's wonderful red color was lighted from below by a tiny piece of gold sheet that was carefully engraved and fitted to serve as a mirror.

There's an awesome display in the British Museum of many regal cloissone objects recovered from the Sutton Hoo ship hoard:

Sutton Hoo>

Objects in the same style were recovered -- badly mangled and probably buried war loot -- from the metal-detector treasure found on a farm near Birmingham just a few years ago. For a general view of Anglo Saxon cloissone check out:

Anglo Saxon Cloissone

[Nailbiter]

Thanks for the information and links.

Long time ago I was involved with jewelry, I still find it interesting.
I am wracking my brain, I have seen similar pieces in a book. I just cannot remember where, all I can rememberit was not anglo saxon origin.

At one time I had access to some old texts, english and french if memory serves. There were some old pictures of cloisonne, at the time I was amazed at detail, I have vague memory that was Indian or Eastern European origin.

You are correct on the level or skill and knowledge required for this type of work.
What I find most amazing is that modern people think that this type of skillis something new.
It also not only in jewelery making, I see it in engineering, mechanical and building trades.

Sometimes we as modern people forget that our ancestors were intelligent and resourceful folks.

Part of the problem, is the lack of written records.
I suppose tradesman would pass knowledge through the family. When the family dies so did the secrets.

I suppose it is enough to appreciate the talent, even if I do not possess the same.

[Bernard Marx]

Thanks for your post. I could not agree more than we moderns grossly underestimate the brainpower, creativity and abilities of the ancients. Take for instance silk. Its manufacture dates back to Neolithic times. But the level of thinking that was able to intuit how the web of an obscure worm could be woven and dyed into a product that helped sustain a great empire astonishes me. That's just one of hundreds upon hundreds of examples.

Cloisonné work is also ancient, with much of it coming from Asian and Islamic cultures. But it's very different from the Anglo Saxon pieces we've been discussing. It normally involves a fretwork pattern usually made of brass that's attached to a metal surface. The individual cells are filled with enamel of various colors, then fired. It can create beautiful pieces and in itself is very difficult to accomplish but it's child's work compared to the A/S garnet cloisonne.

I'm reminded of the lusty Etruscans who occupied Tuscany before Rome was built. They arrived in Italy from an unknown area of Asia Minor and brought with them very advanced knowledge of civil engineering and metalcraft. A particular type of gold work called granulation, found in Etruscan grave goods, continues to puzzle modern gold artisans.

It involved production of almost powder-fine gold granules formed into patterns and soldered onto vases and other gold objects. The soldering process was a mystery until recent years when some Etruscan-style items were produced. But making such incredibly tiny granules as the Etruscans did with their rudimentary equipment still remains beyond the grasp of modern technology.