The lure of treasure is universal

[Cloud]

the Staffordshire Hoard

Saw a show on this last night--very cool! I'm sure you UK people know about it, but it hadn't impinged on my consciousness yet (hard as that is to do). I can't remember if da Cella has talked about this (and could not find on search) so --

Largest treasure ever in the UK! close to 1400 pieces, most of the gold, from about the 7 century in the middle of England, found not even one year ago, in July 2009.

And this family was just farming on top of the mound for generations. Along comes a metal detectorist, and asks Farmer Fred if he can run his little machine over the field. Farm Fred says, it's a waste of time--6 people have already been on it, but you can try. And behold, the guy starts picking up gold pieces that have been plowed up. He and the farmer get to split the reward -- $5.5 million dollars.

And all the scientists wept with emotion when they saw it! The hoard is strange, too--no buildings or graves, no necklaces or jewelry--just a lot of sword pommels (with the blades removed), bits and pieces of gold armour and stuff, just buried. Quite a puzzle.

And the coolest thing? This middle kingdom had the dialect and style which J.R.R. Tolkien based Rohan on.

The WikiP entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staffordshire_hoard

A Flickr set of pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/finds/s...7622378376316/