BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND—Fragments of artifacts from the Staffordshire Hoard have been cleaned and are being fitted together in work funded by Historic England and public donations. The seventh-century Anglo-Saxon artifacts include a rare high-status helmet and a unique form of sword pommel that was in 26 pieces when it was uncovered. The pommel “combines multiple different styles of ornament, much in the same way as the earliest seventh-century illuminated manuscripts do, like the Book of Durrow. It suggests the coming together of Anglo-Saxon and British or Irish high cultures,” project archaeologist Chris Fern said in a Birmingham Museums press release. The helmet was discovered in 1,500 thin, fragile sheets and strips of silver that had been stamped with designs depicting warriors, birds, animals, and mythical beasts. And it had a gilded helmet band, a decoration thought to have encircled the helmet. “The Staffordshire Hoard links us with an age of warrior splendor. The gold and silver war-gear was probably made in workshops controlled by some of England’s earliest kings, to reward warriors that served those rulers, when multiple kingdoms fought for supremacy,” Fern explained. The original find of the hoard was one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2009, to read more, go to "Anglo-Saxon Hoard."
