My reason for asking came from a discussion by Ralph Merrifield on magic in 
 archaeological contexts. He stated that at least some of the "hoards" 
found in  fields in England were actually builder's pits created to appease 
earth deities  before construction of a house. If this were the case, we might 
expect some  evidence of a foundation above the hoard.  
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
 
 
In a message dated 9/25/2009 9:44:45 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I  noticed in one of the news stories that the metal detector hobbyist did 
the  first part, then the archaeologists came in and recovered the rest, so 
maybe  it was not all destroyed.
I have not seen anything yet on the context,  whether it was a homestead or 
not? Since it appears to consist of items  stripped from armor by victors 
after one or more battles, it may just have  been stashed in a hole and they 
never got a chance to collect it.
I'll be  curious too, to see what the archaeologists learn.
Meli 

--- On  Thu, 9/24/09, Ron May <[log in to unmask]> wrote:


From: Ron May  <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Re: FW: [Antiquist] Staffordshire  Anglo-Saxon hoard
To: [log in to unmask]
Date: Thursday, September 24,  2009, 1:34 PM


I don't suppose the site is intact enough for  archaeologists to  
investigate? I fear the metal detector club would  have ripped up all the  
property in 
search for more goodies. But I  eagerly wait to hear something of the  soil 
context of the hoard. Was  this a building site? 

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.


In a  message dated 9/24/2009 12:29:47 A.M. Pacific Daylight Time,   
[log in to unmask]  writes:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/metal-detector-man-finds-mass
ive-anglosaxon-hoard-1792387.html