#64 Staffordshire Hoard Helmet

With Pieta Greaves and Dr Jenni Butterworth. The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest collection of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver ever discovered. Heavily damaged before it was buried, the 7th century treasure contains more than 4,000 precious fragments, approximately a third of which are now known to come from a single, very high-status helmet. 

From 2014 to 2017, the helmet was studied as part of the major research project on the treasure funded by Historic England and the museums which care for the collection. This extensive research enabled experts to identify the fragments which belonged to the helmet, believed to have been made around AD 600-650.

Helmets of this period are incredibly rare - there are only five other Anglo-Saxon helmets known. The detail and bold crested design means the Staffordshire Helmet is likely to have had an important owner.

It will never be possible to reassemble the original physically. Instead, the project explored how the original may have been made and what it looked like, enabling archaeologists to understand its construction better and test theories about its structure and assembly.

The reconstructions were created over an 18-month period by a team of specialist makers bringing together ancient craft techniques and cutting-edge technology.

View photos of the Hoard Helmet here.

Producer: Dan Morelle

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