Anglo-Saxon Gold and Garnet Crow’s Head Discovery – History

Metal detectors in southwestern England discovered an extraordinary Anglo-Saxon gold and garnet crow’s head. It dates back to the 7th century and is carefully decorated with inlaid garnet eyes, surrounded by white enamel circles, single feathers outlined with filament, and garnet inlaid on waffle foil lining, a technique found on many Anglo-Saxon objects.

Chris Phillips found the Crow at a rally in January, the group is the ninth metal testing group. Paul Gould, another member of the group, first discovered a flat gold band with triangular garnets set onto the mercerated outline. Phillips then found his discovery nearby. To be consistent with best practices, they did not clean artifacts with soil covering and stopped testing after notifying the landowner and portable antiquities program. Experts believe that Crow Head is a spectacular national, even international importance.

The initial cleaning exposed the right side of the crow’s head, which lacked the garnet eyes and the nostrils cut in the beak. Phillips noted that small pins can be seen when dirt is removed from the inside of the crow’s head. He believes that these people may have put their decorative heads on drinking horns, similar to one example of Sutton Hoo’s Anglo-Saxon ship burial.

The ring Gould found was also cleaned by experts, but it is not clear whether it was a piece of jewellery or decoration, which departed from its original background.

Since its initial discovery, archaeologists and metal detectors have investigated the location of the discovery and discovered two other gold artifacts from the same period. Geophysical investigations have found evidence of underground archaeological materials and are planning a full excavation in the summer of 2026.