A Fabulous Treasure!

The other week I was driving up to Scotland – a journey which takes almost six hours from my house – and wanted to have a break halfway to stretch my legs, so I had a great idea.  I remembered that a few years ago, in 2009, there was a lot of talk on the news about a treasure found in a field in Staffordshire by a man with a metal detector.  It became known as the Staffordshire Hoard and consisted of over 1600 items made of gold, silver and garnets.  The main part of this hoard is now in Birmingham, but some of it is in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent, which was on my way so I decided to stop there – I can never resist treasure of any kind.  And I am so glad I did as it was simply amazing!

Displayed in a special room with a time line for the Saxon period, dates of important events, explanations and even a mock-Saxon hall complete with chieftain’s chair and a pretend hearth, it's a very interesting exhibition, although there was only a small percentage of the items from the hoard.  But what there was almost took my breath away as the objects were so beautifully crafted.

Found not far from an old Roman road, the so called Watling Street, the treasure is thought to have been buried in the 7^th century.  The entire hoard was mostly made up of fragments of things – sword hilts, parts of helmets, fittings from horses’ harnesses and the like, but the objects were not haphazard, they'd been collected together on purpose.  Although the metal was twisted or bent out of shape, as if someone had just gathered it as scrap metal, that doesn't seem to have been the case, even if it's what the owner intended to use it for – simply sell the pieces for their value as metal and precious stones.  It was almost exclusively warrior’s gear, so may have been collected from a battle field or taken as loot after a victory in battle.  No one knows and as there is no other find like it to compare it to, perhaps we will never find out why it was buried.

The museum curators have now straightened out some of the items and even the ones that are still twisted were impressive.  The craftsmanship is exquisite, with some of the filigree gold work so tiny and fine you can barely see it with the naked eye.  At the museum there were magnifying glasses to help you see better, but it made me wonder how on earth the goldsmiths had managed to make these items in the first place.  They must have had amazing eyesight!

A lot of the decorations featured animals, which had special meaning to the Saxons:  birds like eagles or Odin’s ravens symbolising victory, boars possibly for protection, horses which were invaluable to them and snakes for healing and magic.  There was a small golden snake which I found absolutely gorgeous and wouldn’t have minded owning myself!

I particularly liked the items that were set with garnets though – the deep, sparkling red a wonderful contrast to the gold around them.  The Saxon goldsmiths had a special technique to make them glitter even more – underneath each stone they put a sort of waffle-patterned foil which reflected the light.  The warriors who owned the swords and other things with this type of decoration must have been very rich indeed and I’m sure they treasured their possessions.  These were weapons meant to impress and they still do.  In one corner of the room stood a warrior figure, complete with Saxon clothing, and I could see him in my mind running into battle with his beautiful sword and seax (knife) or sitting by that hearth polishing them.

The so called Dark Ages were obviously anything but and the people who lived then appreciated the beauty of the things their extremely skilled craftsmen made.  This unique hoard is helping us to understand more about the Saxons and I, for one, am totally in awe.  They were quite simply astonishing and I am now very tempted to write a novel set in this era!  It will have to join the queue though ...

Christina x

www.christinacourtenay.com

The Lure of Buried Treasure

The Regency world was just as much in love with the exotic as we are today. For example, in 1810, The Morning Chronicle proclaimed that, 'dress is daily flying from Greek simplicity to Eastern magnificence.' There was a craze for all things Egyptian; the Prince Regent went wild for Chinoiserie in the Brighton Pavilion. 1820s dress took on a Gothic look. So I make no apology for introducing something exotic this month.

1. Gold from Thracian tombs, Museum of History, Sofia.

I've just returned from Bulgaria, a beautiful country with a wealth of historical treasures, where I was bowled over by its spectacular Thracian tombs. If Catherine Morland had known about them, I'm sure she'd have been bowled over, too! At least, that's my excuse for this post.

The Thracians came from the Russian steppes in about 3000 BC, bringing Bronze Age technology with them. They colonized the country and buried their kings in huge, highly visible, tumuli, called tells which still dot the landscape.

2. The Countryside around the tell at Kazanluk. The slop of the tell is on the left.

Each tell covers a royal tomb, usually constructed of mortared stones. A door from the world of the living leads to a passageway with chambers off for grave goods - those objects that the king would need in the afterlife. The passage itself leads to a round burial chamber with a domed ceiling. There is a raised stone bed for the body and the chamber is often beautifully decorated with friezes.

3. Frieze from the Alexandrovo tomb, c. 4th C BC. Thracian Art Museum of the Eastern Rodopes

The Royal tomb at Sveshtari from 300 BC is slightly different in that the passage was and chambers are vaulted and the burial chamber has a delightful stone bas relief  of caryatids which were once painted. There are still touches of paint of their belts. Unfortunately, the tomb was robbed in antiquity but it still exudes a feeling of peace and serenity.

4. Caryatids from the Royal Tomb at Sveshtari

What really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, however, was the horses and chariot burial at Kartanovo - Catherine Morland would have loved it! It is early Thracian and dates from the 2nd millennium BC. The Municipality of Nova Zagora had the brilliant idea of building a museum round the still ongoing excavations, leaving the burial half-excavated so that visitors can have the thrill of seeing them as they were found. 

5. Horses and chariot burial, Historical Museum, Nova Zagora.

So, what about the treasure? The Museums of History and Archaeology in Sofia have some spectacular examples of Thracian gold (see top photo) and silver. I particularly liked the gold triple-leaf shaped bowls. What were they for? How were they used? The gold cups, too, with their elegant handles are just beautiful and the workmanship is top quality.

Sofia started life as a settlement of the Thracian Serdi tribe from at least the 2nd century BC.. It became part of the Roman Empire in 40 AD as Serdica. It is not surprising, therefore, that later Thracian grave goods show Greek influence, as in the silver rhytons (curved drinking vessels) below. One of the rhytons ends in a helmeted and bearded male torso with wings and the forelegs of a horse. Another ends in a horse, a Thracian symbol of power and prestige.

6. Silver treasure, Museum of History, Sofia.

And who wouldn't want this beautiful jewellery? I spent some time choosing which piece I'd like. I just loved the earrings at the bottom right, though I'd be very happy with any of the items. I wonder what Catherine Morland would have chosen.

7. Jewellery, Museum of Archaeology, Sofia 

I travelled with Andante Travels, a small company which specializes in archaeological and historical tours, often off the beaten track - usually with spectacular scenery and, if you travel in April, you catch the spring flowers, too!

Elizabeth Hawksley