Posted on 09/25/2009 12:10:39 PM PDT by neverdem
LONDON — For the jobless man living on welfare who made the find in an English farmer’s field two months ago, it was the stuff of dreams: a hoard of early Anglo-Saxon treasure, probably dating from the seventh century and including more than 1,500 pieces of intricately worked gold and silver whose craftsmanship and historical significance left archaeologists awestruck.
When the discovery in Staffordshire was announced Thursday, experts described it as one of the most important in British archaeological history. They said it surpassed the greatest previous discovery of its kind, a royal burial chamber unearthed in 1939 at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk. That find shaped scholars’ understanding of the warring Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of 1,300 years ago that ended up as the unified kingdom of England.
The new trove includes items that one expert in Anglo-Saxon artifacts said brought tears to her eyes: gold items weighing 11 pounds, and 5.5 pounds of silver. Tentatively identified by some experts as bounty from one of the wars that racked Middle England in the seventh and eighth centuries, they included dagger hilts, pieces of scabbards and swords, helmet cheekpieces, Christian crosses and figures of animals like eagles and fish.
Archaeologists tentatively estimated the value of the trove at 1 million pounds — about $1.6 million — but say it could be many times that. And they took a vicarious pleasure in noting that the discovery was not the outcome of a carefully planned archaeological enterprise, but the product of a lone amateur stumbling about with a metal detector...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Beowulf wants his loot back.
GGG Ping
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Anglo-Saxon_hoard
Discovered back in July, NYT is late as usual...
Bigger than Sutton Hoo. That’s truly amazing!
I’m sure that the estimated value of one million pounds is a very low-ball figure.
Quite remarkable.
Not announced until this week. The Wiki page you posted was created on Sept 24 at 10:16.
Not announced until this week. The Wiki page you posted was created on Sept 24 at 10:16.
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But it’s on the internet and Wiki...so it must be doubleplus true...
Wonder if the UK has eminent domain laws like we have?.
Treasure trove
That film version of the story was such a stinker. It barely followed the storyline of the original poem.
I am denied access to the NYSlimes (I refuse to register with them); so I can’t read the whole article.
The more interesting, and important aspect of this find, if that importance exists in this case, is besides different Anglo-Saxon artifacts that were maybe not seen before, what “new” information was learned about the Anglo-Saxons in Britain of that era. That would be my interest.
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Thanks neverdem. |
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It was kept quiet for a couple of months while the excavation went on. It was revealed publicly this week.
tell me you are being sarcastic and don’t actually believe that this was public info or on wikipedia in july.
drats...they found the family treasure first
if this guy and the land owner only get a million pounds then it will be a theft from them. 1500 items, ~12 pounds in gold, etc., this is worth 10 times that, if it is priceable at all. What in eurpoean finds do you compare this to?
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