Staffordshire Huge Anglo-Saxon gold hoard foundHe said it had been found in the heartland of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.
"All the archaeologists who've worked with it have been awestruck," he added.
"It's been actually quite scary working on this material to be in the presence of greatness."
He said the most striking feature of the find was that it was almost totally weapon fittings with no feminine objects such as dress fittings, brooches or pendants.
"Swords and sword fittings were very important in the Anglo-Saxon period," Dr Leahy added.
"The Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf describes after a battle a sword being stripped of its hilt fittings.
"It looks like a collection of trophies, but it is impossible to say if the hoard was the spoils from a single battle or a long and highly successful military career.
"We also cannot say who the original, or the final, owners were, who took it from them, why they buried it or when.
"It will be debated for decades."
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Terry Herbert at Birmingham Museum, Birmingham, England, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009, with a some of the 1,500 pieces which made up a Anglo-Saxon hoard found by Terry as he searched a field near his home with his metal detector. The 55-year-old metal detectorist unearthed the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found, archaeologists said Thursday. The staggering discovery, on private farmland in Staffordshire, England, will redefine perceptions of Anglo-Saxon England, experts predict.
Huge Anglo-Saxon gold hoard found
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