The dig
The Staffordshire Hoard was found by a metal detectorist on arable land in Hammerwich Parish, just a few miles from the Cathedral city of Lichfield in south Staffordshire in July 2009.
It was recovered by archaeologists from Staffordshire County Council and Birmingham Archaeology.
More than 3,940 pieces were retrieved, mostly of gold or silver alloy and mostly representing what appear to be martial battle goods. The date of the material has yet to be ascertained but the artefacts appear to range from the late sixth to the early eighth centuries AD.
The reasons for burial remain, as yet, largely unknown. The choice of location, on the north-western spur of a prominent ridge, could have been intended to facilitate its rediscovery, unless the locale held a symbolic significance within the wider landscape.
The second stage of fieldwork, in March 2010, identified a number of undated field boundaries and undated palisade trenches perhaps associated with a small farmstead of pre-Roman or post-Roman date, unlikely to be associated with the hoard.
References:
The Antiquaries Journal The ‘Staffordshire Hoard’: The Fieldwork
The Antiquaries Journal (2010), 90: 139-152 Cambridge University Press doi: 10.1017/S0003581510000107 (About doi). Published online by Cambridge University Press 02 Sep 2010.
Fieldwork – The Staffordshire Hoard: fieldwork
A review of the fieldwork conducted after the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard has appeared. The report includes plans showing the location of the discovery and its relationship to the line of Watling Street. S. Dean, D. Hooke, and A. Jones. 2010. “The ‘Staffordshire Hoard’: the fieldwork.” Antiquaries Journal 90: 139-52.
The fieldwork was carried led by Stephen Dean, Della Hooke and Alex Jones
Stephen Dean, Environment and Countryside Unit, Development Services Directorate, Staffordshire County Council, Riverway, Stafford ST16 3TJ, UK. email: stephen.dean@staffordshire.gov.uk
Della Hooke, Institute of Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, 91 Oakfield Road, Selly Park, Birmingham B29 7HL, UK. email: d.hooke.1@bham.ac.uk
Alex Jones, Birmingham Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK. E-mail: a.e.jones.anh@bham.ac.uk