The importance of multidisciplinary work within archaeological conservation projects: Assembly of the Staffordshire Hoard die-impressed sheets

Abstract

The Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard contains, alongside the wellpublicised gold and silver objects, a large collection of over 1000 fragments of die-impressed silver sheet or foil. The majority of these fragments probably decorated one high-status helmet, but were removed from it before burial. These fragments constitute a significant element of the collection, and their conservation, analysis and reassembly forms a major strand of the wider Staffordshire Hoard research project. This paper provides a background to the die-impressed sheets as a class of object within the hoard, and examines the multidisciplinary approach taken by the archaeological conservation team to this challenging but interesting body of material. It explores how this approach has contributed significantly to the results that are being delivered, particularly by the recognition of the dies used to create the impressed sheets, and from this, the development of their overall interpretation.