Any theories on the Saxon Hoard?

[Mr.T]

Hi all,

Just in case any of you have been down the mine for the last few months, I'm sure most have heard about
the huge cache of hidden Saxon treasure that was unearthed in Staffordshire last Sept!

If you haven't, it goes something like this. A retired Staffordshire man, Terry Herbert, using a detector he bought at a
flea market, unearthed nearly 1500 pieces of Saxon gold in a freshly plowed field he'd just, after a few trys, been given permission to detect.

For two days he pulled piece after piece from the ground, and the gold just kept coming. With no end in sight he contacted the relevent authorities, who must have thought he was out of his tent! After the finds liaison officer arrived and recovered; that's when the dig began in earnest. There was a marquee erected over the main area and the rest swept with detectors.
Interestingly, the farmer, who is on a fifty fifty deal with Herbert, told inquisitive passerbys that the field was being treated for foot and mouth disease, to deter potential looters!

Here is one of the many links to this story so you can see for yourself:



or Google Saxon Hoard

There is no evidence of habitation nearby, so the loot was basically buried in the middle of nowhere . To me that suggests that a scouting party went ahead and came back with bad news! (The site is on the side of a fairly steep hill.)
The strangest part of this story, and what intrigues me, and everyone else, is that out of the whole hoard there is not one female item! The pieces are all martial in nature.Why?

Any ideas?

Rory

 

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[Dano Sverige]

My own personal guess is that it was all collected from battlesites shortly after the battles, corpse robbing basically. A dagger pommel snapped off here, piece of a scabbard there,etc etc. The guy was probably a peasant so couldn't be found with so much wealth,so buried it in the middle of nowhere,which is the norm. It's possible he went back for more or was caught on another battlesite...and executed!

 

[Mr.T]

My own personal guess is that it was all collected from battlesites shortly after the battles, corpse robbing basically. A dagger pommel snapped off here, piece of a scabbard there,etc etc. The guy was probably a peasant so couldn't be found with so much wealth,so buried it in the middle of nowhere,which is the norm. It's possible he went back for more or was caught on another battlesite...and executed!

I'm trying to find holes in your logic, Dano, but can't! That sounds like a very plausible scenario to me! Interesting.

 

[Old Town]

Dano, maybe the peasant did what I'd probably do - drop dead of a heart attack on finding all that stuff! Poor bugger might have clutched one last piece of gold to his chest and keeled over in that same field to be lost with his loot. Just a thought.

Old Town

 

[hammered]

My own personal guess is that it was all collected from battlesites shortly after the battles, corpse robbing basically. A dagger pommel snapped off here, piece of a scabbard there,etc etc. The guy was probably a peasant so couldn't be found with so much wealth,so buried it in the middle of nowhere,which is the norm. It's possible he went back for more or was caught on another battlesite...and executed!

I have to say, after reading quite a few reports and news articles, I agree with Dano .

 

[cuzcosquirrel]

It could have been a lord's treasure trove, but like others have said, it was more likely taken off of captured weapons and armor just after a battle. There would have been other items and coins with it if it was a lord's treasure.

I have heard it was near to Tattenhoe, and there are a lot of old Roman and Angelo-Saxon ruins and earthworks around there. Several villages just disappeared in that area after enclosure took place. The red and gold reminded a little of the old Stafford family shield. I am making a Roman Fibulae in my metalworking class with the knot on it.

 

[Bum Luck]

I think that it was a quiet, one man, operation. If it were a nobleman's hoard, too many people would know about it and it would have gone the way of all things known to multiple persons.

My 2 cents.