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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Some pieces of the treasure were twisted or broken as if they had been forced into a small space.
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Art by Daniel Dociu
The treasure's flashy ornaments announced the status of men like this aristocrat riding to war. At the battlefield he would have dismounted and joined the rest of the warriors as they formed a defensive wall with their shields. Combat was gory, conducted at close range with swords, spears, and axes.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
The wall built by Roman emperor Hadrian runs along the top of a cliff at a place known as Peel Crags. From that vantage soldiers could have seen across the countryside for miles.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
On a farm near his home Terry Herbert shows off the metal detector that led him to the gold. "I just couldn't stop the items from coming out of the ground," he says. He received half the treasure's assessed value of almost $5.3 million.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
Hadrian's Wall, named for the second-century Roman emperor who built it, stretches 73 miles across Britain. It separated the civilized realm of Rome from the "barbarians"—restless Picts in the north. As the Romans withdrew, the northern tribes stormed across the border.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
Farmer Fred Johnson owns the land where the Staffordshire treasure was discovered. The money he received according to British law—half of almost $5.3 million—has made him wealthy but hasn't changed his life much. "It has meant that I don't have to stick to a budget," he says. And with no debts "you sleep better, you do."
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Photograph by Robert Clark
The illuminated gospels in this volume were likely commissioned to adorn the shrine of St. Chad in Lichfield Cathedral. Chad served as the first bishop at Lichfield, between 669 and 672, roughly the era of the Staffordshire treasure.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
A figure pocked with nail holes may represent a horse—or a bear, or a boar, or even a wolf. Just 1.6 inches high, it was made by a master goldsmith who knew how to heat the metal almost to melting point to attach the tiny swirls.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
Folklore says this stone was the pillow of St. Columba, who helped bring Christianity to Scotland in the late sixth century. From there monks spread the faith to England.
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Art by Daniel Dociu; Artifact re-creations source: Kevin Leahy, Portable Antiquities Scheme
Crowning Glory
An artist's vision of a helmet from the time of the treasure. Probably padded with horsehair or wool, the helmet cap was made of hammered iron for protection from slashing or thrusting blades. It could have included two pieces found in the hoard: an intricately worked cheek panel and a horse's head, the decorative end of a crest, perhaps of horsehair. -
Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Crowning Glory
The helmet could have included a horse's head, the decorative end of a crest, perhaps of horsehair. -
Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Crowning Glory
A second piece found in the hoard—an intricately worked cheek panel—may also have been part of the helmet. -
Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
"Rise up, Lord, may your enemies be dispersed and those who hate you flee from our face."
A strip of gold once studded with a gem bears the same biblical quotation in Latin on each side: Moses' declaration, translated above, as the Israelites journeyed out of Sinai. The object may have decorated the arm of a cross prized by recent converts to Christianity.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Holy Relic
Inlaid with garnets, and perhaps glass, a gold cross seems to have been crumpled before being buried with the rest of the treasure. -
Art by Daniel Dociu; Artifact re-creations source: Kevin Leahy, Portable Antiquities Scheme
Holy Relic
This illustration depicts the cross as new, ready to adorn an altar or be carried into battle. -
Art by Daniel Dociu; Artifact re-creations source: Kevin Leahy, Portable Antiquities Scheme
Handy Weapon
A jeweled pommel cap and rings brightened a hilt of bone or ivory (artist's rendition above) on a short, light sword known as a seax (SAY-aks). Generally wielded with one hand, the single-edged seax was more versatile than a full sword, serving as a hunting knife as well as a dagger. A blade of finely patterned iron and steel would have been a valued part of such a weapon, but none was included in the treasure. -
Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Handy Weapon
The jeweled pommel cap and rings found in the hoard -
Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
The 3,500 pieces of treasure unearthed on a Staffordshire farm in 2009 were mostly golden adornments for war gear, like this scabbard pendant inlaid with garnets and blue glass. Many of the pieces are tiny, weighing less than a dime.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Helmet crest
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Pendant cross
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Sword pommel
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Whorl of eagle heads
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Experts see the outlines of animals on what is probably the hilt collar of a sword, but they can't make out the species. "It's absolutely fiendish stuff," says Anglo-Saxon expert Kevin Leahy. "We have no idea of the zoology of those things."
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Sword-hilt mount
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Silver foil fragment
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Buttons of gold and garnets probably attached a scabbard to a belt. Precious materials and exquisite craftsmanship may offer a clue to the treasure's significance. "We suspect it's royal loot," says Kevin Leahy. "Who else would have collected such things?"
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
Decorative plate
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
A pyramid-shaped pendant decorated with garnets is encrusted with dirt. Conservators gently clean such pieces with pyracantha thorns so as not to scratch the gold.
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Photograph by Robert Clark
All artifacts owned by: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery; Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
This mysterious piece, almost four inches long, uses the same principle as the brake lights of modern cars: The wafflelike texture of the gold under each garnet increases the gem's reflectivity.
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