Merlin
09-24-2009, 09:45 AM
Just stumbled across this news on the BBC website, thought it may be of interest to Pendragon players, and might provide something for GMs to work with:
The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold has been discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire.
Experts said the collection of 1,500 pieces, which may date back to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum said the find, which is due to be classed as treasure, was the equivalent of finding a "new Book of Kells".
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 the gold, which is expected to be classed by a coroner as treasure later, to be valued.
(It is) absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells Leslie Webster, British Museum
The collection contains about 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, making it far bigger than the Sutton Hoo discovery in 1939 when 1.5kg of Anglo-Saxon gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Leslie Webster, former keeper at the British Museum's Department of Prehistory and Europe, said: "This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries.
"(It is) absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells."
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm for the rest of the BBC report and http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/ for the website detailing the find in greater detail
The UK's largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold has been discovered buried beneath a field in Staffordshire.
Experts said the collection of 1,500 pieces, which may date back to the 7th Century, is unparalleled in size.
A spokeswoman for the British Museum said the find, which is due to be classed as treasure, was the equivalent of finding a "new Book of Kells".
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 the gold, which is expected to be classed by a coroner as treasure later, to be valued.
(It is) absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells Leslie Webster, British Museum
The collection contains about 5kg of gold and 2.5kg of silver, making it far bigger than the Sutton Hoo discovery in 1939 when 1.5kg of Anglo-Saxon gold was found near Woodbridge in Suffolk.
Leslie Webster, former keeper at the British Museum's Department of Prehistory and Europe, said: "This is going to alter our perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England as radically, if not more so, as the Sutton Hoo discoveries.
"(It is) absolutely the equivalent of finding a new Lindisfarne Gospels or Book of Kells."
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/staffordshire/8272058.stm for the rest of the BBC report and http://www.staffordshirehoard.org.uk/ for the website detailing the find in greater detail