Largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure found in UK

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER, Associated Press Writer

LONDON – An amateur treasure hunter prowling English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever discovered, a massive seventh-century hoard of gold and silver sword decorations, crosses and other items, British archaeologists said Thursday.

One expert said the treasure would revolutionize understanding of the Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people who ruled England from the fifth century until the Norman conquest in 1066. Another said the find would rank among Britain's best-known historic treasures.

"This is just a fantastic find completely out of the blue," Roger Bland, who managed the cache's excavation, told The Associated Press. "It will make us rethink the Dark Ages."

Bland said the hoard was unearthed in what was once Mercia, one of five main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, and is thought to date to 675-725 AD.

A total of 1,345 items have been examined by experts and and 56 lumps of earth were found to contain metal artifacts detected by an X-ray machine, meaning the total will likely rise to about 1,500.

"I think wealth of this kind must have belonged to a king but we cannot say that for absolute certain," Bland said.

The Anglo-Saxons were a group of Germanic tribes who gradually invaded England by sea starting in the fifth century in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire. Originally, they came from what is now the coastal region of northwest Germany.

Their artisans made striking objects out of gold and enamel and they also created poetry that still amazes people today. Their best-known literary work is "Beowulf," an anonymous epic poem about a warrior who does battle with monsters and a dragon.

Their language, Old English, is a distant precursor of modern English. It supplies many of the structurally important words such as pronouns and prepositions as well as words for everyday concepts.

Unfortunately, much of their literature and artwork have been lost through warfare, looting, upheavals and the passage of time. Scholars must deduce what their culture was like using often scanty evidence.

Leslie Webster, the former curator of Anglo-Saxon archaeology at the British Museum, said the amount of gold uncovered — about 11 pounds (5 kilograms) — suggested that early medieval England was a far wealthier place than previously believed.

She also said the crosses and other religious artifacts mixed in with the mainly military items, such as sword pommel caps, might shed new light on the relationship between Christianity and warfare among the Anglo-Saxons.

The seventh-century hoard found by 55-year-old Terry Herbert in western England, consists of at least 650 items of gold and 530 silver objects weighing more than 2.2 pounds (1 kilo), along with some copper alloy, garnets and glass.

Most of the objects are ornaments for weapons and other military artifacts, some inlaid with precious stones.

Herbert, from the town of Burntwood, found the gold on a friend's farm on July 5 and spent the next five days scouring the field for the rest of the hoard.

Herbert recovered the first items before professional archaeologists took over the excavation.

"Imagine you're at home and somebody keeps putting money through your letterbox, that was what it was like," Herbert said. "I was going to bed and in my sleep I was seeing gold items."

One of the most intriguing objects is a small strip of gold inscribed with a warlike Latin quotation from the Old Testament, which translates as: "Rise up, O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face."

Most of the other treasures unearthed in the hoard appear to be military-related, and the strip may have been fastened to a shield or a sword belt.

The hoard was officially declared treasure by a coroner, which means it will now be valued by a committee of experts and offered up for sale to a museum. Proceeds would be split 50-50 between Herbert and his farmer friend, who has not been identified. The find's exact location is being kept secret to deter looters.

Bland said he could not give a precise figure for the worth of the hoard, but he said the treasure hunter could be in line for a "seven-figure sum."

Herbert said the experience had been "more fun than winning the lottery," adding that one expert likened his discovery to finding Tutankhamen's tomb.

"I just flushed all over when he said that. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up," Herbert said.

The hoard is in storage at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. Some of the items are due to go on display starting Friday.

"The quantity of gold is amazing but, more importantly, the craftsmanship is consummate," said archaeologist Kevin Leahy, who cataloged the find. "This was the very best that the Anglo-Saxon metalworkers could do, and they were very good."

Leahy said there was still much to learn about the treasure, its purpose, and its origins.

"It looks like a collection of trophies, but it is impossible to say if the hoard was the spoils from a single battle or a long and highly successful military career," he said. "We also cannot say who the original, or the final, owners were, who took it from them, why they buried it or when. It will be debated for decades."

Bland agreed, saying that archaeologists were still baffled by the function of many of the pieces they found.

"There's lots of mystery in it," he said.