4,000 pieces of stunning handcrafted treasure hint that Beowolf's description of 'golden warriors' is true... the precious artefacts, which range from fragments of helmet to gold sword decorations engraved with animals and encrusted with jewels, are a ‘true archaeological mirror’ to the great Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf.Historian Chris Fern said that the unique discovery has shed new light on the Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. The description of a warrior’s adornment in gold was thought to have been exaggerated, but experts are starting to see that it could have been closer to the truth following the study of the Hoard.‘The great poem Beowulf, once believed to be artistic exaggeration, now has a true mirror in archaeology. We thought it was a piece of exaggeration, or poetic spin,’ he said.‘We did not think that this much gold was carried by the warrior class but the Staffordshire Hoard has revolutionised our understanding of this period.’
The coins, which were produced between around 40 BC and 20-30 AD within Lincolnshire and North Lincolnshire, are three different types of gold staters – South Ferriby types, Domino types and Kite types.
