Ancient Anglo-Saxon gold on display in London
Last Updated: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 12:06 PM ET
CBC News
Part of a hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure named the Staffordshire Hoard is shown Sept. 24 at the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Eddie Keogh/Britain Society/Reuters) The British Museum is displaying a small selection of a gold hoard found last July in a Staffordshire field by an amateur with a metal detector.
The find is believed to be the most important Anglo-Saxon archeological treasure since the discovery of the Sutton Hoo burial site, seventh-century British archeological site that contained the remains of a ship.
Only 18 of the 1,500 gold and silver objects from the Staffordshire Hoard that were found are to go on display in the London museum.
The rest of the objects are being examined by a valuation committee, which will decide the market value so museums can buy the hoard.
The landowner and the finder will split the proceeds when the collection sells.
A syndicate of museums from Staffordshire has said it wants to buy the hoard, so it can be displayed close to where it was buried since the seventh century.
All the objects in the hoard appeared to be associated with war, according to British Museum curator Michael Lewis.
Many are gold objects and silver fittings stripped from swords, helmets and shields, and include a gold band with a Latin inscription from the Bible. The hoard appears to have been the spoils of war and was likely buried to keep it hidden from an enemy, Lewis said.
"What it demonstrates is that the Anglo-Saxons as a people were very able to do amazing things with objects and I reckon people nowadays attempting to make these objects would have great difficulty in doing so," he told BBC.
The objects are believed to be associated with the warlike kingdom of Mercia.
When the find was announced in September, more than 40,000 people lined up to see them at a Birmingham museum.
Meanwhile, another important archaeological find near Stirling, near Edinburgh.
An amateur treasure hunter, again using a metal detector, discovered four gold neckbands in a field believed to date from the first to third century BC, according to Scotland's Daily Record.
