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An amateur treasure hunter roaming English farmland with a metal detector stumbled upon the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure ever discovered. Experts say the collection of 1,500 gold and silver pieces, found by Terry Herbert in Staffordshire, may date to the 7th century, is unparalleled in size and worth “a seven figure sum”.
 This gold strip carries the Latin inscription: Rise up O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face |
It has been declared treasure by South Staffordshire coroner Andrew Haigh, meaning it belongs to the British Crown. Terry Herbert, who found it on farmland using a metal detector, said it “was what metal detectorists dream of”. It may take more than a year for it to be valued.
 Terry Herbert has been metal detecting for 18 years |
Rewind now all the way back to the Dark Ages for the answer to today’s Geo Quiz. We were looking for the place where a trove of Anglo Saxon gold and silver has been discovered. The World’s David Leveille has details.
Imagine the surprise — when 55 year old Terry Herbert was walking across some fields in western England and all of a sudden his metal detector started to beep like crazy. Herbert says the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He had stumbled upon what’s being called the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure trove ever discovered, a massive hoard of 7th century gold and silver.
Everything from sword decorations and battle armor to a crumpled cross — inlaid with precious gems. Duncan Slark was the first antiquities official to inspect the objects:
“So there were 5 boxes full of gold items of the highest Anglo Saxon workmanship. It was absolutely staggering, each item, you would look at individual items that I’ve never seen the like of before, so I spent four hours just looking through the items and to be totally honest I run out of words because it was so stunning.”
Stunning– both for its sheer beauty, and for its historic value. It’s been officially declared British Crown treasure but its expected Terry Herbert will be rewarded for his discovery. There are more than 1500 artifacts to analyze. Each holds secrets.
Archaeologist Kevin Leahy has had a chance to inspect some of the treasure:
“We’ve got a stunning inscription carved on the arm of what might be a cross. It’s from the book of numbers in the bible, it reads “Rise up, O Lord, and may thy enemies be dispersed and those who hate thee be driven from thy face.”
Powerful stuff to inspire 7th century warriors as they prepared for battle. Archaeologists say this find will shed light on the Dark Ages in Europe, a time of great struggle among Anglo Saxon kingdoms, when the modern English language was taking form, and the earth was flat.
One question that’s already got archaeologists puzzling is who buried this stuff and why? Here’s Leahy’s theory:
“I think they’re trophies probably from a series of battles, I think it represents someone’s collection of material. We know from the Anglo Saxon poem Beowulf that sword hilts, rather than the blades, sword hilts were being taken as trophies and that’s what I suspect we’ve got here. We’ve not seen anything like these object before.”
Another question, the one we asked in our Geo Quiz, namely WHERE was this treasure trove discovered?
Well, it was found on some farmland in Western England in what once was the Kingdom of Mercia, that’s one of those Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. So the Kingdom of Mercia located along the River Trent, now known as the English Midlands, is as close as we can get to an answer.
The exact location of the discovery is being kept secret — to keep looters away.
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