"it's like doing a jigsaw puzzle where you've got no edges and only middle. AND, crucially, you've got no picture on the box." Sounds like archeology. Sign me up!!!!
Check out "East Anglican crown jewels". The fact that this hoard bears close resemblance to that found at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, it may well be the spoils of a battle that occurred, 'possibly' near Blytheburgh in Suffolk during which the aforementioned "crown jewels" disappeared.
I think there could be several explanations for that hoard. But one that struck me was that someone had looted the recent dead on a battlefield, taking what he could, the sword fittings (leaving the blades behind as too unwieldy) and anything else of value that was small enough to carry. The items would have been pried off in a rush, sometimes broken in the process. And later, the same man while traveling on Watling Street, for some reason sensed danger, went and buried the loot (it must have not only weighed a bit but been a conspicuous bundle to carry around) hoping that without it he would survive whatever waited. Another theory could be that the hoard was to be some sort of payment. That the fittings were removed by a group of warriors from their blades and any other small items of value added for some reason and then sent with some people who waylaid or betrayed along the way. But who did manage to hide it before dying. Either would at least explain the strange composition of the hoard, and the absence of the blades which normally would be just as valuable.
Doesn't is seem that the only reason for taking the blades out of the sword hilts would be to reuse them? And the only reason to take off the gold hilts would be to hide where the blades came from. It seems likely that this was all from a robbery of a royal grave in the 600's. The blades were removed to be sold off and the gold was hidden until it could be melted down so it couldn't be identified. But the perpetrators were caught and executed before they could retrieve the gold. That might also explain why so much of the jewelry was twisted - if it had to be pulled off a body. Just a thought.
the sword and dagger blades of this quality would of been as good as finger prints so the only way to profit would of been the gold and to make it a tiny package to hide on your person . as valuable as the blades were it would of made a massive sack compared to just the fittings alone . and the blades would of been a death sentence anyway to whoever got caught with them. I think they could of been stolen from a church given the early Christian crosses I think they were hidden by a single person and that he saw maybe he was being tracked down and chased a good distance and then he hid the gold but was later caught .he would of gone back for that gold if he had lived. so they more than likely tortured him but it mattered none to him. admit it you die don't you die but he might of hoped he had a 1% chance if he did not admit it and the hoard stayed there till 2009
@@OriginalMudSlinger It only states that the items came from the period 650-710 CE, that doesn't mean that that was the time it was buried in Staffordshire at that time, remember that the "Great Heathen Army" roamed that area just a few short centuries later, loot such as the hoard could have been from that period
Let’s all just appreciate the fact that the man with the mettle detector and the farmer both did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do in that rare situation. They benefited from it in the end, but they couldn’t have known that would be the case when they contacted the archeologists. I take off my hat to those two gentlemen. ❤️✌️
"It's not art for art sake, it's got to mean something" archeologist 1k years from now discussing a Hello Kitty watch. That's what I think of when an archeologist says stuff like that about artifacts.
Without having any record of the everyday culture and, if you like, the philosophical approach towards things, the interpretation will always be aiming for a higher meaning, propelled by a certain awe and respect for the finds. Art just for art needs to be spelled out by contemporary record or by an abundance of finds, such as roman pottery for example. With it we know that it was produced on an industrial level. In a thousand or more years, Archeologists will find our Landfills and will probably have some record of our society, so they will work out that the hello kitty watch has as much meaning as a shard of roman pottery. :)
@@larryzigler6812 @larry zigler Well definitely a LOT of it, certainly not all of it, but a high percentage of the "usual" finds like amphoras and other "every day" containers have been produced in vast quantities and with a standard design, that's why you can use them for preliminary dating, maybe not as accurate as coinage but still...
Just rewatching this from the US and I had a WTF second during the intro. It only took a second between hearing "3,000,000 pounds of gold" and realising that what was said was "3,000,000 pounds worth of gold".
I feel that the hoard was stolen and hidden by the thief- the theif was found, punished (probably imprisoned or killed) and then it couldnt be found. Also- that gold hilt looked like on owl, more than say, a wolf.
I think the thief idea is the most likely, old parts and other paraphernalia in the process of being recycled and stolen. You would flatten and bend over pieces to fit into a crucible to be melted down, the fittings for the swords and knives were forcibly removed from the blades and probably sent to the same person that was going to melt down the other stuff where they would remove the garnets. Someone probably saw it and decided he wanted it to sell in another town.
Of course I really am no expert, WHATSOEVER, just in case someone comes along and reads my comment ....but while they were describing the condition of the pieces (undoubtedly some damage was just from being plowed over etc), as well as the variety of pieces and the fact that they didn't make any kind of cohesive sense (weapons, but bladeless, as well as religious articles), I wondered if it WAS a case of stolen articles. The thing that gave these things any connection was literally that they were made of gold. They didn't seem like a cache in the way one might normally find such a thing. For instance, with all that gold, there is the suggestion of wealth, as if someone very wealthy buried it because it was, as Helen and Sam point out, a time of great turbulence, so the stuff was buried to prevent it's being stolen. But if it was someone burying their wealth, where are the other items of value? Like they said: no jewellery. Also no goblets or other things a wealthy person would have. All of it broken into smaller pieces, all of it the type of thing a thief might steal. And then have to break down to fit into a small container. And if he was being pursued, he might hide it in a place where he could come back when he was safe to do so. Only, of course, he never did.
Further finds have been located in the same field by metal detectorists and archeologists in 2012 and 2013. These finds have are believed to be part of the original hoard. The farmer and the metal detectorists have again benefited from these further finds as it was officially deemed to be part of the original 2009 discovery.
+Russell Ball that's a lie cause the owner prohibits anyone else to dig in his land .. not even the original guy who found it .. it seems greed got to the land owner
Russell Ball Did not the landowner get half of the value of the hoard? Does he currently plow the field? It seems like it would be in his best interest to allow controlled access.
If I didn't make a mistake in my calculations the Byzantium Emporer's 400,000 tons of gold would be roughly valued at S19,098,700,000,000.00 US dollars. That would be enough to pay off the US national debt.
If you like this show, check out "The British History Podcast," as they did several long episodes interviewing archaeologists involved in the dig and the classification work.
THE WAY IT COVERED AN AREA 20 METERS SQUARE IT MUST HAVE BEEN SCATTERED BY PLOWING THE FIELD THROUGH THE CENTURIES AND SOME OF IT MAY HAVE BEEN RECOVERED LONG AGO BY FARMERS IN THE DISTANT PAST !.....////
I don't know but it seems evident to me that these fragments are all the valuable parts of scrap metal probably forcibly taken from objects that were plundered from the leftovers on a battlefield once everyone had stopped fighting and gone off. It is said that most of the pieces are associated with soldiers? These men and possibly even some women could also be carrying some small amount of plundered jewellery or be wearing it. Let us say that the only survivors of the battle, those that were not the Christians perhaps, cared not about the remnants and rather walked or hurried and limped and/or were carried hurriedly away, injured themselves and in need of help, from the numbers of dead and the horrific scene they left behind. A salvager, if alone, coming upon such a completed battle scene littered with dead bodies, would do his best to find all the valuables which would be money and metals, separating the gold parts from everything to keep to sell later as scrap gold, and it didn't matter that the pieces were wrecked to this individual and the gold pried away from whatever it was attached to, what was important was to lighten his load to move his hoard down to the essential pounds of gold and some money; complete swords and other unduly large and heavy objects attached to it would never do so they were separated. It came to a point where it was safer to keep it buried hidden somewhere, well away from this battlefield of course, and a memorable point on an ancient crossroad was chosen so as to again find it in the future, perhaps even retrieving it piecemeal over a period of time so as not to raise suspicion until it's finder came to his own end and never again returned for the remainder which no one else knew about. In the ensuing time there comes a long enough time when the field containing the hoard was repeatedly ploughed over this way and that and the pieces never spotted by the ploughman, perhaps already riding mechanical a ploughing machine by that point such as this farmer must have used, year after year mixing and spreading the pieces about the topsoil, all ending up on or just under the surface to the depth of a ploughing, becoming further bent and damaged as well as spread around over time. Years of this go on and then guess who finds the buried, broken, long ago hidden pieces of primarily gold adornments scattered about a semi-contained area on or just under the surface of this farmers field, the bag that once contained them long gone into the soil before the plough ever came along. Would that not well enough explain the findings?
I'm not an archeologist, but it seems to me that this is loot from a battlefield, hastily buried yes, because you wouldn't want to get caught with it. Then for whatever reason never came back for it. Probably due to unfortunate circumstances.
To me, it would make sense to hire/consult withe jewellers to see if they can identify techniques and craftsmanship that would determine that specific artisans made specific pieces. Given the enormous amount of AngloSaxon jewellery dug up in Britain, it makes sense that there would have been specific, but few craftspeople, women included, who made the stuff.
Even in other countries, this is usually the case. Craftsmanship like this is a skill refined over decades in a family business, and there were most likely very specific families of goldsmiths across England that everyone knew about.
As they said on Time Team, brilliant! Hypothetical connection of the hoard to Penda or subsequent 7th century Mercian rulers is a fascinating possibility.
After watching this I almost wonder if the person might have been a grave robber? Hidding his (or her) finds back then and taking small peases was melting them... but didn't tell anyone and died before they could come back fore all of it... just a thought...(think of all the stories it could tell)
I suspect a Nobleman murdered or assassinated by a rival, the sword could not be kept as it would be recognized. So, the blade separated and disposed of, the gold kept as blood money with the intent that it would be melted down.
They mention that this was the time period in which Mercia was one of the last Anglo Saxon kingdom to hold out against Christianity. Penda was it's last pagan king and was on a campaign of expansion against Northumbria, East Anglia and Kent. The Venerable Bede wrote negative things about him in his chronicle. And talked about his brutal killing of King Oswald during the Battle of Maserfield. So the hoard may have belonged to him which was mostly battle field booty taken from the losers. Hence the crumpled crosses found in the hoard.
Even in the sixties O was taught that we called them the dark ages not because the world was 'dark', or ignorant, but because we knew so little about it. These days it seems to be thought as an insult. Wonder why that changed.
Horde could have been stolen and then buried. Whoever took it may have been smart enough to realize you can't spend compete identifiable pieces and large amounts without raised eyebrows, so you break it apart as needed and spread the spending over the years, but never spent it all before your death and your secret dies with you.
I wonder if the spot was near any known Roman settlements? Could the dispersal of the gold indicate NOT KNOWING the exact spot of the gold as opposed to the whole thing being placed their at on time and disturbed only by the plowing and erosion?
*The English Male History vs Anglo Saxon influence Mystery of History:* Angles/Anglo: Germanics Saxen/Saxon: Germanics Normon: Germanics Roman: Germanics migrated to Italy Etruscans: earliest Italians Italians: (Etruscan, Greek, Sardinia, Phonecians, Basque) English: (early English, Welsh, Irish, were largely Basque and various Hunter Gathers, the Basque were the early Farmers and were Seafaring experts.) *"The English Male/Paternal DNA shows a near complete replacement by the Anglo Saxon, Normans, Vikings, and some Roman influence (Roman at the time was Germanic predominately, with a value of Italian). The Maternal/Female DNA continued to reflect the early English. Although it isn't ever really addressed from the perspective of an "ethnic cleansing", it looks very much like there was such an English Male removal, I'm surprised I've yet to find a "study/research" that goes deeper into the subject. Obviously the eras waves of conflicts and political usurping, that had a huge impact on the male population, disease (but these affect both male and female), it is a most curious scenario, and one that very well may have had an early "ethnic cleansing intent". It is a subject that begs for clarity, and it very well may have gotten blurred or even erased in History through one or more of the various Royals, or "Lineage group of Royals", for some reason that may have been connected to their protecting their continued right to rule, to prevent a family that may have been of direct Male English lineage from overtaking the Monarchy. Its a true Mystery of History, and I have to think that with all the maticulous Record Keeping, including the Art forms, with Records of other European Country's History, and with the Genetic/DNA resource, this subject will eventually gain findings and clarity. This subject just peaks my History Curiosity and when subjects related to Anglo Saxon appear it brings it back to surface. There's just an extra "?" around this because Brits are such detailed and consistent records keepers, how could something this important (related to lives of countless men and boys) escape a recorded or Oral History? Perhaps there's a yet to emerge English vs British History Mystery and it's answers. Beth Tennessee, USA (USA born Irish of Basque Orgin, lineage to Counties Kerry and Cork) Researcher with History as 1 of my degrees.
Simplest answer is usually the right one. think it was stripped off the dead after a battle. The thief was afraid to be caught with it so he buried it, planning to come back later for it.
One of my favorite episodes ... here we are, blown away by the stunning detail and beauty of 11 pounds of imported gold and garnets from Sri Lanka, and we're still being taught that this was "The Dark Ages" - filled with warring stupid people who didn't write anything down or buld anything substantial and lasting - I think the people who wrote our "current record of history" need to go back to school ...
and no -we have only 3 days-...Suppose this will take still many years to sort out everything? or better, since the episode is from 2013, it would be nice to know what is NOW, in 2022. And I wonder what would have happened it Time team ever found such a hoard...
Why is there no mentionof the relationship between the decorations of the Staffordshire hoard and the Sutton Hoo hoard, almost as if they were made by the same person, Raedwald and Penda were both from the same time period. Both monarchs having similar pieces in their possession.
if these pieces wereSaxon battle field find,where are the pieces from whom they were engaged?The detectorist was trully connected to the hoard.Amazing.
The gold could have been buried in order to hide it from those in power. I'd bury it to hide it, but what if those in power happened to force me to show it to them? I'd end up showing all of it. No, I'd bury it like a squirrel buries acorns, a piece here, and a piece there. Then I'd only show them a few small pieces. The pieces themselves were never intended to be worn in combat. They were of gold and garnet. Never to be used in battle.
So what battle against foreigners happened near there? They didn't travel that far with it all damaged for no reason, so who set off all blinged out and disappeared?
This is probably the chiefs gold but only his. There is hardly enough light for me to find north there but follow the road just start to look for the wooden and woven houses close by.
I am no expert but: In a museum, here in Vicenza, Italy, there are two small gold pieces. They were found locally. They are gold and stones, not unlike the Staffordshire hoard. I wonder if the hoard was really Anglo Saxon manufacture, or were they all made in someplace like Constantinople, and then exported to the barbarians. Just wondering.
Meant to be a grave offering to a Saxon king who had died in battle, maybe? Perhaps they kept the swords to continue fighting, but sacrificed the fine gold work.
@@chriswood3370 craftsmen change. Another culture overbore the Wessex culture, and when they left, the former knowledge was lost. Can you castrate a cockrel? Do you know anyone who can? And still, a hundred years ago it was common practice. Some knowledge does get lost with time.
@@retoscheurer5213 And ? Yes craftsmen do change and knowledge is lost. There is no way of dating the metalwork, only the coins. Which culture overbore the Wessex culture and the Silures who bore that knowledge ?? There is very little dna evidence to back up the claim that the saxons wiped out the native populations. More that they integrated and were absorbed into the nation.
After a battle where Kings fall and are taken wounded or dead off the battlefield royal treasure is gathered and stowed away in a safe location for the next successor i..the only one in this instance was a field so it can be imagined how dire their situation was! What if there was is no capable and apparent heir? In war and flight much is left. behind especially if the enemy now controls these lands. Booty is logically buried just in one place not all over a field, thieves have no time to gather odds and ends.........the sword blades were given to and saved perhaps passed on on for the next in line to fight for what was left of Mersia.....the fact religious objects and war artifacts are together means it probably belonged to the family that was in charge of local military and religious affairs,all of their kingdom's movable wealth in gold,.Obviously gold was used not so much for jewelery as much as for decorations of weapons and religious objects no diamonds in the crown jewels here!
32:10 It could have been buried in the early 8th century. All of it would have been consider yesterdays style something their grandpa would have had and just looks ugly to them. So send the swords to the smith and he removes the old tacky hilts and fits the swords with a new and good looking hilts. The smith sends the gold to the smelters where it gets mixed with old religious stuff to be recycled and someone decides to steal it all before the garnets gets removed and the gold melted down to be made into something new. Being a thief and on the run he hides the horde and gets caught before he could return and retrieve it. The torn apart and damaged pieces suggests they were being dismantled to be recycled, blades would be refitted right away and the old parts would be sent to the smelters to be melted down after the garnets were removed. There's plenty of time for a thief to decide to grab the lot of it and run off. You wouldn't flatten or fold over pieces if you were burying them in a time of crisis, you would want to retrieve them in good condition. But you would fold and flatten pieces to fit them into a crucible to be melted down and that would be done where smelting is done.
The hoard was discovered in 2009 and this programme was broadcast in 2012 and seems to have summarised the total amount of research carried out by scientists and archaeologists to that year. Work is still going on to unlock the remaining secrets of the finds.
Why not have been stolen from a ritual spring, etc. and had to hide immediately. Crooks are sometimes chased and caught, with or without the goods. Loved this episode.
the other great and wealthy kingdom was Northumbria. Mercia was expanding, as was Northumbria.I wonder if one side had seriously lost a battle, and had to pay 'danegeld' to the other, ie, so many pounds of gold were levied upon the loser. And in the mess of the times, the chopped up gold was buried, until it could be collected by its new owner, who could have been Penda...
The man this treasure came from first was on horseback. Blond hair about 4 inches long. A spear went right through he fell from his horse. The gold was hastily grabbed. The owner next was a man in this village who was chief.
ho2cultcha I was thinking the same thing. The guy who stole it couldn't be caught with it...so he buried it intending to come back for it later and melt the gold down so he could sell it...but he obviously never made it back to his treasure
What's always intrigued me is how involved the Druids were with Bodica . Seutonius was off in Wales trying to exterminate them, perfect time to sack Colchester and Londinium.
This story reminds me of a chapter from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book .” Mowgli, a wild boy who has been reared by animals, finds signs of violence in a deserted and ruined castle that has been overgrown by the jungle. He follows the tracks of men who have left the ruins carrying something heavy. The object they carry is valuable, and it results in the murders of several people. Eventually, Mowgli finds it and realizes that it is very valuable golden, jewel-encrusted ankh, a pointed device men use cruelly for controlling elephants. Because of its value, the ankh has caused nothing but misery and death to whoever steals it and attempts to keep it because it is the object of men’s envy and greed. Mowgli takes it back to the ruins in the jungle and leaves it there. It’s not good to eat and, being “uncivilized”, he sees no value in it. The moral is that extremely valuable gold and jeweled items like those in the Saxon Hoard were undoubtedly highly coveted and undoubtedly changed hands whenever the opportunity arose. They probably were taken by more than one person over the course of time.
It's war loot stashed by someone who was later killed in battle in the early Anglo Saxon wars between the believers of the old gods and Christians . The recycling of materials is a truly human trait , ya reuse what you have at hand if you're smart . A lesson to think.on .
The bloke who found this, I barely understood what he was rambling about. What kind of language are that? These objects are useless to put on a sword you use for battle. I doubt they were at blades that was much used for war. So in other words, the blades were used better with other fittings. This might have been only for show, probably hiden away in times of destruction. It might also have been stolen by someone, easier to carry or berry with out the blades. The blades might have been sold seperatly but the thief never got back.
My theory, Whoever had the jewelry to begin with was tasked at dismantling the jewelry for scrap. This person took bits and pieces over time. One day he buried the jewelry for safe keeping. But whoever tasked him with dismantling the scrap found out he stole. He was executed, and the jewelry was lost. Had that much gold been laying on top of the soil, Someone would have stumbled upon it hundreds of years prior.
Hmm, lowercase Letters did not emerge until Charlemagne brought them into existence, therefore, since his birth was not until the middle of the eighth century, those words on the piece described by Michelle Brown as the clearly contained lowercase lettering, would it not place the piece beyond or during the time of Charlemagne?
... sweeping for treasure is more than a hobby as this episode proves. Just because he wasn't some body beautiful egghead this makes him a loser Robbie boy?
Obviously Saxon artifacts but obviously not a Saxon hoard. This was obviously stolen from the Saxons and was being transported to a destination deep in or beyond Mercia. I hazard a guess that the thief was being hotly pursued and decided to hide his loot by burying it. Said thief was then caught and killed before he gave up the location of his hide site.
Possibly a Viking hoard they did that to have money in the after life plus would have valued the blades just a thought. Possibly why the cross is bent no Christian would do that
17:15 Or maybe it was stolen gold and jewels, bashed up to stuff into some bags or boxes, and a bunch of fleeing robbers stashed it with the intent of coming back later, but for whatever reason, never did. Sometimes the experts over intellectualise these things.
I am a reconstruction psy person usually at crimes and murders. I go out of body, some seeing abilities. A little blond girl about 7 years old put the gold and jewels into her fabric clothes ran really fast to this spot dropped the gold into the hole covered it up. Then the mistake of her life she ran back to save a baby when she was murdered. She ran from behind the metal detector guys back on the video. There is a large village of over 20 buildings with sight of this gold hole. Where she came running from. Her village was attacked by men on horses. I think they killed all the men most of the women just took some younger girls. She is dead a little closer to the village then the gold drop. The big find is less then a mile from the gold drop. Just go backwards behind him less then a mile. I don't think they burned the village.
Story: The little people hired a Giant to guard the village of the little people. The little beings, people were about three feet tall they did all the Gold work in the area. The Giant was about 12 feet high. He was hired to protect the little beings, people from 5 and 6 feet high. Still less strong then the Giant even when the humans were on horses. So the Gold works was the best in the world even better then in China. So all they had to do was feed the giant every day. The little people now about a foot high only talk now to priests.
My SWAG (Sophisticated Wild A$$ Guess). The artifacts were stolen from an area where the spoils of battle were being processed. The thief made off with the items and hid them for recovery later. But he/she met with misfortune and never recovered his/her booty...
Probably the most popular and interesting informative light educational programmes of television history.
"it's like doing a jigsaw puzzle where you've got no edges and only middle. AND, crucially, you've got no picture on the box."
Sounds like archeology. Sign me up!!!!
My bucket list includes a visit to the museum housing this hoard 🇿🇦 such stunning sophisticated work
This is utterly amazing history. Thank you to whomever made this.
The design and craftsmanship of the Anglo-Saxon Artifacts is breathtaking
YOU'RE BREATHTAKING!
Check out "East Anglican crown jewels". The fact that this hoard bears close resemblance to that found at Sutton Hoo, in Suffolk, it may well be the spoils of a battle that occurred, 'possibly' near Blytheburgh in Suffolk during which the aforementioned "crown jewels" disappeared.
I think there could be several explanations for that hoard. But one that struck me was that someone had looted the recent dead on a battlefield, taking what he could, the sword fittings (leaving the blades behind as too unwieldy) and anything else of value that was small enough to carry. The items would have been pried off in a rush, sometimes broken in the process. And later, the same man while traveling on Watling Street, for some reason sensed danger, went and buried the loot (it must have not only weighed a bit but been a conspicuous bundle to carry around) hoping that without it he would survive whatever waited.
Another theory could be that the hoard was to be some sort of payment. That the fittings were removed by a group of warriors from their blades and any other small items of value added for some reason and then sent with some people who waylaid or betrayed along the way. But who did manage to hide it before dying.
Either would at least explain the strange composition of the hoard, and the absence of the blades which normally would be just as valuable.
I think that sounds very logical.
Doesn't is seem that the only reason for taking the blades out of the sword hilts would be to reuse them? And the only reason to take off the gold hilts would be to hide where the blades came from. It seems likely that this was all from a robbery of a royal grave in the 600's. The blades were removed to be sold off and the gold was hidden until it could be melted down so it couldn't be identified. But the perpetrators were caught and executed before they could retrieve the gold. That might also explain why so much of the jewelry was twisted - if it had to be pulled off a body. Just a thought.
+Nekron99OMG YEH MAYBE A FEW WARIORS COLLECTING IT UP AFTER EACH BATTLE AND DIDNT SURVIVE THE BATTLES THAT LAY AHEAD !....////
Or they could have forgotten where it was buried. Happens a lot more often then one would think.
the sword and dagger blades of this quality would of been as good as finger prints so the only way to profit would of been the gold and to make it a tiny package to hide on your person . as valuable as the blades were it would of made a massive sack compared to just the fittings alone . and the blades would of been a death sentence anyway to whoever got caught with them. I think they could of been stolen from a church given the early Christian crosses I think they were hidden by a single person and that he saw maybe he was being tracked down and chased a good distance and then he hid the gold but was later caught .he would of gone back for that gold if he had lived. so they more than likely tortured him but it mattered none to him. admit it you die don't you die but he might of hoped he had a 1% chance if he did not admit it and the hoard stayed there till 2009
@@OriginalMudSlinger It only states that the items came from the period 650-710 CE, that doesn't mean that that was the time it was buried in Staffordshire at that time, remember that the "Great Heathen Army" roamed that area just a few short centuries later, loot such as the hoard could have been from that period
My thoughts were also that this was looted from a grave, and hidden by a thief, maybe hundreds of years after the Saxon was buried.
Let’s all just appreciate the fact that the man with the mettle detector and the farmer both did EXACTLY what they were supposed to do in that rare situation. They benefited from it in the end, but they couldn’t have known that would be the case when they contacted the archeologists. I take off my hat to those two gentlemen.
❤️✌️
"It's not art for art sake, it's got to mean something" archeologist 1k years from now discussing a Hello Kitty watch. That's what I think of when an archeologist says stuff like that about artifacts.
Without having any record of the everyday culture and, if you like, the philosophical approach towards things, the interpretation will always be aiming for a higher meaning, propelled by a certain awe and respect for the finds. Art just for art needs to be spelled out by contemporary record or by an abundance of finds, such as roman pottery for example. With it we know that it was produced on an industrial level. In a thousand or more years, Archeologists will find our Landfills and will probably have some record of our society, so they will work out that the hello kitty watch has as much meaning as a shard of roman pottery. :)
^_^
@@ErnestoBrausewind So all Roman pottery was produced on a industrial level ?
@@larryzigler6812 @larry zigler Well definitely a LOT of it, certainly not all of it, but a high percentage of the "usual" finds like amphoras and other "every day" containers have been produced in vast quantities and with a standard design, that's why you can use them for preliminary dating, maybe not as accurate as coinage but still...
@@ErnestoBrausewind So is the Kitty Watch comparison rather mute ?
Just rewatching this from the US and I had a WTF second during the intro.
It only took a second between hearing "3,000,000 pounds of gold" and realising that what was said was "3,000,000 pounds worth of gold".
I feel that the hoard was stolen and hidden by the thief- the theif was found, punished (probably imprisoned or killed) and then it couldnt be found. Also- that gold hilt looked like on owl, more than say, a wolf.
I think the thief idea is the most likely, old parts and other paraphernalia in the process of being recycled and stolen. You would flatten and bend over pieces to fit into a crucible to be melted down, the fittings for the swords and knives were forcibly removed from the blades and probably sent to the same person that was going to melt down the other stuff where they would remove the garnets. Someone probably saw it and decided he wanted it to sell in another town.
Of course I really am no expert, WHATSOEVER, just in case someone comes along and reads my comment ....but while they were describing the condition of the pieces (undoubtedly some damage was just from being plowed over etc), as well as the variety of pieces and the fact that they didn't make any kind of cohesive sense (weapons, but bladeless, as well as religious articles), I wondered if it WAS a case of stolen articles. The thing that gave these things any connection was literally that they were made of gold. They didn't seem like a cache in the way one might normally find such a thing. For instance, with all that gold, there is the suggestion of wealth, as if someone very wealthy buried it because it was, as Helen and Sam point out, a time of great turbulence, so the stuff was buried to prevent it's being stolen. But if it was someone burying their wealth, where are the other items of value? Like they said: no jewellery. Also no goblets or other things a wealthy person would have. All of it broken into smaller pieces, all of it the type of thing a thief might steal. And then have to break down to fit into a small container. And if he was being pursued, he might hide it in a place where he could come back when he was safe to do so. Only, of course, he never did.
Further finds have been located in the same field by metal detectorists and archeologists in 2012 and 2013. These finds have are believed to be part of the original hoard. The farmer and the metal detectorists have again benefited from these further finds as it was officially deemed to be part of the original 2009 discovery.
+Russell Ball that's a lie cause the owner prohibits anyone else to dig in his land .. not even the original guy who found it .. it seems greed got to the land owner
Not greed, but privacy. By all accounts he never liked detectorist and now why should he put up with intrusions when he doesn't need to.?
Russell Ball Did not the landowner get half of the value of the hoard? Does he currently plow the field? It seems like it would be in his best interest to allow controlled access.
@@fleetskipper1810 suppose that is why the Time team is here now?
@@benediktmorak4409 you do realise this episode is very old?
Well if they liked riddles they sure have kept one going for over several hundreds of years. Nice going guys.
Thank you for the warning. I will try to find the the correct one.
huh
Wonderful show! Thanks!
Brilliant episode thank you for uploading from The States 😉
That farmers accent is gold, I say....
Thanks for posting
Thanx for the download, HD as well
If I didn't make a mistake in my calculations the Byzantium Emporer's 400,000 tons of gold would be roughly valued at S19,098,700,000,000.00 US dollars. That would be enough to pay off the US national debt.
I get the impression that after all the death some one was picking up the pieces on the battle field and then buried it.
If you like this show, check out "The British History Podcast," as they did several long episodes interviewing archaeologists involved in the dig and the classification work.
THE WAY IT COVERED AN AREA 20 METERS SQUARE IT MUST HAVE BEEN SCATTERED BY PLOWING THE FIELD THROUGH THE CENTURIES AND SOME OF IT MAY HAVE BEEN RECOVERED LONG AGO BY FARMERS IN THE DISTANT PAST !.....////
I don't know but it seems evident to me that these fragments are all the valuable parts of scrap metal probably forcibly taken from objects that were plundered from the leftovers on a battlefield once everyone had stopped fighting and gone off. It is said that most of the pieces are associated with soldiers? These men and possibly even some women could also be carrying some small amount of plundered jewellery or be wearing it. Let us say that the only survivors of the battle, those that were not the Christians perhaps, cared not about the remnants and rather walked or hurried and limped and/or were carried hurriedly away, injured themselves and in need of help, from the numbers of dead and the horrific scene they left behind. A salvager, if alone, coming upon such a completed battle scene littered with dead bodies, would do his best to find all the valuables which would be money and metals, separating the gold parts from everything to keep to sell later as scrap gold, and it didn't matter that the pieces were wrecked to this individual and the gold pried away from whatever it was attached to, what was important was to lighten his load to move his hoard down to the essential pounds of gold and some money; complete swords and other unduly large and heavy objects attached to it would never do so they were separated. It came to a point where it was safer to keep it buried hidden somewhere, well away from this battlefield of course, and a memorable point on an ancient crossroad was chosen so as to again find it in the future, perhaps even retrieving it piecemeal over a period of time so as not to raise suspicion until it's finder came to his own end and never again returned for the remainder which no one else knew about. In the ensuing time there comes a long enough time when the field containing the hoard was repeatedly ploughed over this way and that and the pieces never spotted by the ploughman, perhaps already riding mechanical a ploughing machine by that point such as this farmer must have used, year after year mixing and spreading the pieces about the topsoil, all ending up on or just under the surface to the depth of a ploughing, becoming further bent and damaged as well as spread around over time. Years of this go on and then guess who finds the buried, broken, long ago hidden pieces of primarily gold adornments scattered about a semi-contained area on or just under the surface of this farmers field, the bag that once contained them long gone into the soil before the plough ever came along. Would that not well enough explain the findings?
Archaeology isn't built on assumptions though. Where's the evidence of your evident claim?
I'm not an archeologist, but it seems to me that this is loot from a battlefield, hastily buried yes, because you wouldn't want to get caught with it. Then for whatever reason never came back for it. Probably due to unfortunate circumstances.
To me, it would make sense to hire/consult withe jewellers to see if they can identify techniques and craftsmanship that would determine that specific artisans made specific pieces. Given the enormous amount of AngloSaxon jewellery dug up in Britain, it makes sense that there would have been specific, but few craftspeople, women included, who made the stuff.
Even in other countries, this is usually the case.
Craftsmanship like this is a skill refined over decades in a family business, and there were most likely very specific families of goldsmiths across England that everyone knew about.
Thank you professor !!!
As they said on Time Team, brilliant! Hypothetical connection of the hoard to Penda or subsequent 7th century Mercian rulers is a fascinating possibility.
After watching this I almost wonder if the person might have been a grave robber? Hidding his (or her) finds back then and taking small peases was melting them... but didn't tell anyone and died before they could come back fore all of it... just a thought...(think of all the stories it could tell)
I suspect a Nobleman murdered or assassinated by a rival, the sword could not be kept as it would be recognized. So, the blade separated and disposed of, the gold kept as blood money with the intent that it would be melted down.
They mention that this was the time period in which Mercia was one of the last Anglo Saxon kingdom to hold out against Christianity. Penda was it's last pagan king and was on a campaign of expansion against Northumbria, East Anglia and Kent. The Venerable Bede wrote negative things about him in his chronicle. And talked about his brutal killing of King Oswald during the Battle of Maserfield. So the hoard may have belonged to him which was mostly battle field booty taken from the losers. Hence the crumpled crosses found in the hoard.
Even in the sixties O was taught that we called them the dark ages not because the world was 'dark', or ignorant, but because we knew so little about it. These days it seems to be thought as an insult. Wonder why that changed.
Horde could have been stolen and then buried. Whoever took it may have been smart enough to realize you can't spend compete identifiable pieces and large amounts without raised eyebrows, so you break it apart as needed and spread the spending over the years, but never spent it all before your death and your secret dies with you.
Was sind 11 Jahren…Saxon Gold is for ever…😊
Many thanks, that would be great :-)
I wonder if the spot was near any known Roman settlements? Could the dispersal of the gold indicate NOT KNOWING the exact spot of the gold as opposed to the whole thing being placed their at on time and disturbed only by the plowing and erosion?
*The English Male History vs Anglo Saxon influence Mystery of History:*
Angles/Anglo: Germanics
Saxen/Saxon: Germanics
Normon: Germanics
Roman: Germanics migrated to Italy
Etruscans: earliest Italians
Italians: (Etruscan, Greek, Sardinia, Phonecians, Basque)
English: (early English, Welsh, Irish, were largely Basque and various Hunter Gathers, the Basque were the early Farmers and were Seafaring experts.)
*"The English Male/Paternal DNA shows a near complete replacement by the Anglo Saxon, Normans, Vikings, and some Roman influence (Roman at the time was Germanic predominately, with a value of Italian). The Maternal/Female DNA continued to reflect the early English.
Although it isn't ever really addressed from the perspective of an "ethnic cleansing", it looks very much like there was such an English Male removal, I'm surprised I've yet to find a "study/research" that goes deeper into the subject. Obviously the eras waves of conflicts and political usurping, that had a huge impact on the male population, disease (but these affect both male and female), it is a most curious scenario, and one that very well may have had an early "ethnic cleansing intent".
It is a subject that begs for clarity, and it very well may have gotten blurred or even erased in History through one or more of the various Royals, or "Lineage group of Royals", for some reason that may have been connected to their protecting their continued right to rule, to prevent a family that may have been of direct Male English lineage from overtaking the Monarchy.
Its a true Mystery of History, and I have to think that with all the maticulous Record Keeping, including the Art forms, with Records of other European Country's History, and with the Genetic/DNA resource, this subject will eventually gain findings and clarity.
This subject just peaks my History Curiosity and when subjects related to Anglo Saxon appear it brings it back to surface. There's just an extra "?" around this because Brits are such detailed and consistent records keepers, how could something this important (related to lives of countless men and boys) escape a recorded or Oral History?
Perhaps there's a yet to emerge English vs British History Mystery and it's answers.
Beth
Tennessee, USA
(USA born Irish of Basque Orgin, lineage to Counties Kerry and Cork) Researcher with History as 1 of my degrees.
Simplest answer is usually the right one. think it was stripped off the dead after a battle. The thief was afraid to be caught with it so he buried it, planning to come back later for it.
very possible someone was collecting to recycle to make a new cache of weapons
1000 years of plows did their damage.
One of my favorite episodes ... here we are, blown away by the stunning detail and beauty of 11 pounds of imported gold and garnets from Sri Lanka, and we're still being taught that this was "The Dark Ages" - filled with warring stupid people who didn't write anything down or buld anything substantial and lasting - I think the people who wrote our "current record of history" need to go back to school ...
and no -we have only 3 days-...Suppose this will take still many years to sort out everything? or better, since the episode is from 2013, it would be nice to know what is NOW, in 2022. And I wonder what would have happened it Time team ever found such a hoard...
Why is there no mentionof the relationship between the decorations of the Staffordshire hoard and the Sutton Hoo hoard, almost as if they were made by the same person, Raedwald and Penda were both from the same time period. Both monarchs having similar pieces in their possession.
?
21:55 nice piece of Damascus.
if these pieces wereSaxon battle field find,where are the pieces from whom they were engaged?The detectorist was trully connected to the hoard.Amazing.
The gold could have been buried in order to hide it from those in power. I'd bury it to hide it, but what if those in power happened to force me to show it to them? I'd end up showing all of it. No, I'd bury it like a squirrel buries acorns, a piece here, and a piece there. Then I'd only show them a few small pieces.
The pieces themselves were never intended to be worn in combat. They were of gold and garnet. Never to be used in battle.
So what battle against foreigners happened near there? They didn't travel that far with it all damaged for no reason, so who set off all blinged out and disappeared?
This is probably the chiefs gold but only his. There is hardly enough light for me to find north there but follow the road just start to look for the wooden and woven houses close by.
I am no expert but: In a museum, here in Vicenza, Italy, there are two small gold pieces. They were found locally. They are gold and stones, not unlike the Staffordshire hoard. I wonder if the hoard was really Anglo Saxon manufacture, or were they all made in someplace like Constantinople, and then exported to the barbarians. Just wondering.
How about Vikings? Perhaps it's his share of the torn up booty from a raid.Were they active at the time?
Meant to be a grave offering to a Saxon king who had died in battle, maybe? Perhaps they kept the swords to continue fighting, but sacrificed the fine gold work.
IMHO the horde came from someone who'd stripped the dead.
Why did HE find it? I think the treasure worked it’s way up, just like stones do!
I wish they had added subtitles for the metal detectorist, because I could only get about 25% of what he said.
brummie accent hard to understand if you are not from uk
Must be new castle. Running joke ok?!
Nobody even thinks that it could have been native british ?? The Wessex culture (skilled metalworking) was in Britain way before the Saxons arrived.
because the Wessex culture LOST their knowledge before this hoard was even placed.
@@retoscheurer5213 and how do cultures do that exactly ? they just woke up one day and had forgotten how to do it ??
@@chriswood3370 craftsmen change. Another culture overbore the Wessex culture, and when they left, the former knowledge was lost. Can you castrate a cockrel? Do you know anyone who can? And still, a hundred years ago it was common practice. Some knowledge does get lost with time.
@@retoscheurer5213 And ? Yes craftsmen do change and knowledge is lost. There is no way of dating the metalwork, only the coins. Which culture overbore the Wessex culture and the Silures who bore that knowledge ?? There is very little dna evidence to back up the claim that the saxons wiped out the native populations. More that they integrated and were absorbed into the nation.
After a battle where Kings fall and are taken wounded or dead off the battlefield royal treasure is gathered and stowed away in a safe location for the next successor i..the only one in this instance was a field so it can be imagined how dire their situation was! What if there was is no capable and apparent heir? In war and flight much is left. behind especially if the enemy now controls these lands. Booty is logically buried just in one place not all over a field, thieves have no time to gather odds and ends.........the sword blades were given to and saved perhaps passed on on for the next in line to fight for what was left of Mersia.....the fact religious objects and war artifacts are together means it probably belonged to the family that was in charge of local military and religious affairs,all of their kingdom's movable wealth in gold,.Obviously gold was used not so much for jewelery as much as for decorations of weapons and religious objects no diamonds in the crown jewels here!
32:10 It could have been buried in the early 8th century. All of it would have been consider yesterdays style something their grandpa would have had and just looks ugly to them. So send the swords to the smith and he removes the old tacky hilts and fits the swords with a new and good looking hilts. The smith sends the gold to the smelters where it gets mixed with old religious stuff to be recycled and someone decides to steal it all before the garnets gets removed and the gold melted down to be made into something new. Being a thief and on the run he hides the horde and gets caught before he could return and retrieve it.
The torn apart and damaged pieces suggests they were being dismantled to be recycled, blades would be refitted right away and the old parts would be sent to the smelters to be melted down after the garnets were removed. There's plenty of time for a thief to decide to grab the lot of it and run off. You wouldn't flatten or fold over pieces if you were burying them in a time of crisis, you would want to retrieve them in good condition. But you would fold and flatten pieces to fit them into a crucible to be melted down and that would be done where smelting is done.
Battle loot?
45:46 that's "long-haul lorrie"
Well, it has been a decade since this was filmed. Have they figured this hoard out yet?
The hoard was discovered in 2009 and this programme was broadcast in 2012 and seems to have summarised the total amount of research carried out by scientists and archaeologists to that year. Work is still going on to unlock the remaining secrets of the finds.
Why not have been stolen from a ritual spring, etc. and had to hide immediately. Crooks are sometimes chased and caught, with or without the goods. Loved this episode.
How much did the farmer and original finder get then?
The total value was £3 million split between the two.
@@richardphillips6281 how much was taxed I wonder?
@@vermontvermont9292 I think it depends how much they saved as that's when tax is applied isn't it?
Could the hoard have been a robbery?
I legit seems like someone stole this stuff and hid it for later! Thankfully his criminal mind was cranking away giving us this look into the past
Right there with you. That's why so many pieces were taken apart... easy transport.
It's equally probably that the hoard was a sacrifice of sorts, hence the taking apart of stuff.
the other great and wealthy kingdom was Northumbria. Mercia was expanding, as was Northumbria.I wonder if one side had seriously lost a battle, and had to pay 'danegeld' to the other, ie, so many pounds of gold were levied upon the loser. And in the mess of the times, the chopped up gold was buried, until it could be collected by its new owner, who could have been Penda...
Penda's gold. I bet spoils from Northumbrians.
The man this treasure came from first was on horseback. Blond hair about 4 inches long. A spear went right through he fell from his horse. The gold was hastily grabbed. The owner next was a man in this village who was chief.
42:17, I think it looks like a large cat or panther.
Just not Time Team without the team. They should have changed the name.
Good Lord, is it just me or is Dr David Symons a twin for John Gator??
Looks like an Owl to me
Varangian Guards …
this was stolen loot and someone was hot on their tails!
ho2cultcha I was thinking the same thing. The guy who stole it couldn't be caught with it...so he buried it intending to come back for it later and melt the gold down so he could sell it...but he obviously never made it back to his treasure
Hey the richest entity around???? THE CHURCH!!!!
its all guess work.i think thy think we think.and so must be.
I think it might be a thief's hoard, burred just before he was caught and executed never telling where he hid it. plowing busted and busted it.
What's always intrigued me is how involved the Druids were with Bodica
. Seutonius was off in Wales trying to exterminate them, perfect time to sack Colchester and Londinium.
Grave robbers suck. But look what they gave us
This story reminds me of a chapter from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book .” Mowgli, a wild boy who has been reared by animals, finds signs of violence in a deserted and ruined castle that has been overgrown by the jungle. He follows the tracks of men who have left the ruins carrying something heavy. The object they carry is valuable, and it results in the murders of several people. Eventually, Mowgli finds it and realizes that it is very valuable golden, jewel-encrusted ankh, a pointed device men use cruelly for controlling elephants. Because of its value, the ankh has caused nothing but misery and death to whoever steals it and attempts to keep it because it is the object of men’s envy and greed. Mowgli takes it back to the ruins in the jungle and leaves it there. It’s not good to eat and, being “uncivilized”, he sees no value in it.
The moral is that extremely valuable gold and jeweled items like those in the Saxon Hoard were undoubtedly highly coveted and undoubtedly changed hands whenever the opportunity arose. They probably were taken by more than one person over the course of time.
Except...not. Please stop thinking you’re smarter than the people who devote our lives to solving these mysteries.
Pendas' treasure perhaps?
Let me go help you find anything I love to dig!!!
It's war loot stashed by someone who was later killed in battle in the early Anglo Saxon wars between the believers of the old gods and Christians . The recycling of materials is a truly human trait , ya reuse what you have at hand if you're smart . A lesson to think.on .
The bloke who found this, I barely understood what he was rambling about. What kind of language are that?
These objects are useless to put on a sword you use for battle. I doubt they were at blades that was much used for war.
So in other words, the blades were used better with other fittings.
This might have been only for show, probably hiden away in times of destruction.
It might also have been stolen by someone, easier to carry or berry with out the blades. The blades might have been sold seperatly but the thief never got back.
My theory, Whoever had the jewelry to begin with was tasked at dismantling the jewelry for scrap. This person took bits and pieces over time. One day he buried the jewelry for safe keeping. But whoever tasked him with dismantling the scrap found out he stole. He was executed, and the jewelry was lost. Had that much gold been laying on top of the soil, Someone would have stumbled upon it hundreds of years prior.
If I ever found a hoard of gold, no one would ever hear of it. I'd melt that shit down and be done with it.
So the price goes from millions to thousands, no one will ever be able to view them, not so good......
Hmm, lowercase Letters did not emerge until Charlemagne brought them into existence, therefore, since his birth was not until the middle of the eighth century, those words on the piece described by Michelle Brown as the clearly contained lowercase lettering, would it not place the piece beyond or during the time of Charlemagne?
... sweeping for treasure is more than a hobby as this episode proves. Just because he wasn't some body beautiful egghead this makes him a loser Robbie boy?
Obviously Saxon artifacts but obviously not a Saxon hoard. This was obviously stolen from the Saxons and was being transported to a destination deep in or beyond Mercia. I hazard a guess that the thief was being hotly pursued and decided to hide his loot by burying it. Said thief was then caught and killed before he gave up the location of his hide site.
Possibly a Viking hoard they did that to have money in the after life plus would have valued the blades just a thought. Possibly why the cross is bent no Christian would do that
17:15 Or maybe it was stolen gold and jewels, bashed up to stuff into some bags or boxes, and a bunch of fleeing robbers stashed it with the intent of coming back later, but for whatever reason, never did. Sometimes the experts over intellectualise these things.
Looted booty...
it belong to a knights templar he hid it in a trouble time got killed and never came to get it
Stolen from a shrine, perhaps.
I am a reconstruction psy person usually at crimes and murders. I go out of body, some seeing abilities. A little blond girl about 7 years old put the gold and jewels into her fabric clothes ran really fast to this spot dropped the gold into the hole covered it up. Then the mistake of her life she ran back to save a baby when she was murdered. She ran from behind the metal detector guys back on the video. There is a large village of over 20 buildings with sight of this gold hole. Where she came running from. Her village was attacked by men on horses. I think they killed all the men most of the women just took some younger girls. She is dead a little closer to the village then the gold drop. The big find is less then a mile from the gold drop. Just go backwards behind him less then a mile. I don't think they burned the village.
Grace Serena Christie ...Pleeeaasse share your medications with ME.....
Fucking mental.
It's Prince Harry's crown jewels. He stopped off and smashed them in the field on the way to Canada. ;)
Its booty nothing more
THESE cant be made by modern man
Story: The little people hired a Giant to guard the village of the little people. The little beings, people were about three feet tall they did all the Gold work in the area. The Giant was about 12 feet high. He was hired to protect the little beings, people from 5 and 6 feet high. Still less strong then the Giant even when the humans were on horses. So the Gold works was the best in the world even better then in China. So all they had to do was feed the giant every day. The little people now about a foot high only talk now to priests.
42:24
Translation: They enjoyed a good meme.
My SWAG (Sophisticated Wild A$$ Guess). The artifacts were stolen from an area where the spoils of battle were being processed. The thief made off with the items and hid them for recovery later. But he/she met with misfortune and never recovered his/her booty...
I agree, as I can't see any other explanation that accounts for the lack of remains of buildings or bodies.
Possible random gone wrong?