Description
In this issue:
– New insights into Mesolithic life at Star Carr
– Crowning glory: reconstructing the Staffordshire Hoard helmet
– Can a stunning Bronze Age find help solve a 250-year-old Manchester mystery?
– Anglo-Saxon artistry: the examining Winfarthing pendant
– Hidden in plain sight: searching for Hereford’s historic houses
Plus: News, Reviews, Comment, Sherds, Odd Socs, and more!
From the Editor:
Three of our features this month focus on finds recently declared ‘Treasure’ according to the 1996 Treasure Act – legislation that has helped museums acquire many important artefacts for public display. The Heritage Minister has now proposed a number of revisions to the Act, and has launched a public consultation on them. See p.16 of the magazine for more details of the suggested changes and how to contribute to the consultation, or you can read the article online here.
The first such artefact featured is our cover story: a 3,000-year-old pendant discovered last year in the Shropshire Marches. Its Bronze Age artistry is unmistakable – could it also help solve the mystery of a similar artefact that vanished centuries ago?
The Staffordshire Hoard is one of the most celebrated Treasure cases of all time, and analysis of its fragments has revealed that one-third came from an Anglo-Saxon helmet, only the sixth identified to-date. It has now been reconstructed to stunning effect.
That helmet would have been worn by an elite warrior – but our third Treasure object, the subject of this month’s ‘In Focus’, was owned by a high status Anglo-Saxon woman. What can the Winfarthing pendant tell us about early medieval East Anglia?
While the above finds had lain hidden beneath the soil for centuries, historic buildings are heritage gems that are often easier to spot. Hereford boasts many such structures: we explore some highlights, spanning c.AD 1200 to 1700.
Finally, we bring you the latest news from Star Carr, Britain’s most important Mesolithic site. The full findings of over a decade of excavation on the site have recently been published: we bring you some of the key insights.
Carly Hilts
Cover Date: Apr-2019, Volume 30 Issue 1