Comments on: Staffordshire Hoard: Not a Mercian Mystery but the Treasure of Treachery https://uncoy.com/2009/12/staffordshire-hoard-mercian-mystery.html (many) winters in vienna. theatre, dance, poetry. and some politics. Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:22:30 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 By: alec https://uncoy.com/2009/12/staffordshire-hoard-mercian-mystery.html/comment-page-1#comment-567 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:22:30 +0000 http://uncoy.com/?p=428#comment-567 Hi Patrick,

Thanks for stopping by.

Was there a Saxon tradition of mutilating weapons to make votive offerings?

Given the trouble involved in making such pommels I have trouble believing that a group of warriors would do this.

Moreover if it was an offering to the gods, I expect there would have been the usual foodstuffs and animal carcasses next to the gold. I didn’t read that there were any indications of an offering.

I still think it’s more likely that people wanted to keep the weapons but couldn’t do so with the pommels intact.

The mystery lingers.

]]> By: patrick tryers https://uncoy.com/2009/12/staffordshire-hoard-mercian-mystery.html/comment-page-1#comment-566 Wed, 30 Dec 2009 16:13:08 +0000 http://uncoy.com/?p=428#comment-566 A rather unlikely scenario given that there are about 80 gold sword pommels in the hoard. They were rare luxury items owned exclusively by the social elite and swords themselves were carried by few warriors on the battlefield. The spear was the most common Saxon weapon. For one encounter to yield so many pommels suggests a major battle or series of battles. The way in which the fittings have been prized and hacked off and smashed with no regard to their immense value suggests a votive offering – the god’s portion – offerd in thanks for a successful campaign.

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