Last July the Yorkshire Museum raised £35,000 to purchase a unique Anglo-Saxon gold and sapphire finger ring. It had been found in April 2009 by a metal detectorist Michael Greenhorn, a railway technician who is also member of the York and District Metal Detecting Club. The find was reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme and declared treasure. [click to continue…]
Bamburgh sword is a rare Anglo-Saxon sword from the seventh century. It once belonged to an Anglo-Saxon king or a member of a royal family. The sword was made up of six individual strands of iron: this technique is known as pattern welding, Babmburgh sword thus being a six pattern-welded sword. Cold weapons of such structure are also called ‘snake patterned’ because of the herring bone appearance created by the forged strands. Six strands or layers of carbon steel forged together made it a perfect weapon: in comparison, Sutton Hoo sword had only four layers. Bamburgh sword is the only one of its kind ever found. [click to continue…]
Sutton Hoo and especially the early medieval helmet discovered there is now the icon of Suffolk. The emblem of the Sutton Hoo helmet will be used in publicity material to highlight what the county is all about. This happened as a result of a poll that had to identify the icon of Suffolk.
The poll was initiated last summer by Choose Suffolk, the body promoting the county as a great place to live and to visit. The Icons Project was inspired by the Cultural Olympiad, which includes a wide range of cultural events anticipating the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. [click to continue…]
