Treasure hunt begins in England

Chapter 660 Shoulder Buckle and Helmet

"Indeed, this thing is eye-catching enough." Liang En nodded approvingly after seeing the shiny golden thing that Professor Harry put in the box next to him. "Maybe the whole of Britain will go crazy about it tonight."

What appeared before Liang En's eyes was a gold shoulder buckle. This shoulder buckle consists of two independent hinges, which are fixed with a pin in the middle. There are some circles under the buckle for fixing on fabric or leather.

The front of this shoulder buckle is carefully inlaid with enamel, garnet and thousand-flower glass, interspersed with complex filigree patterns, which fully reflects the superb skill level of the royal jewelers at that time.

Especially in the face of deep red gems such as garnets, artisans cut them into thin slices and backed them with gold foil. In this way, the gems reflect light to achieve a blood-red effect, which looks magnificent against the gold.

To be honest, this piece of jewelry is very fashionable and eye-catching even today, Liang En thinks that if it is tidied up a little and used as a belt buckle on today's dress, it will look very beautiful and suitable.

Of course, this also means that this thing is absolutely perfect for showing those reporters in the online press conference.Compared with the embossed iron piece in Liang En's hand before, these ancient jewelry are more conducive to publicity.

"There is no doubt that this piece of jewelry adopts the craftsmanship of Germanic jewelry from the late fourth century to the seventh century AD." After examining the jewelry, Liang En quickly came to a conclusion.

Jewelry at this stage borrowed from the style of the later period of the ancient Roman Empire in terms of craftsmanship and decorative style, and the strong exploration of light and color contrast also created the strong visual impact of this type of metal products.

In the traditional Germanic jewelry making process, gold and silver are melted and cast on high reliefs, and the plates are decorated with raised lines, showing a very gorgeous effect.

Embossing techniques enhance the surface quality of jewelry, such as filigree and metal granulation, while the decorative effect can be further enhanced by inlaying black silver, stained glass and precious stones.

In addition, the Germans would also use gold-plating or tin-plating techniques on copper alloys to imitate the unique texture of gold and silver. Geometric patterns and sinuous animal shapes combined with changing metal surface textures make jewelry look more dazzling .

For example, I also found a few trinkets on the sword today. Although they were covered with turquoise rust, the gold that was originally covered on the surface can still be vaguely seen.

But now the most dazzling garnet inlay on this shoulder buckle is not a traditional European technique, but comes from India or Afghanistan, where this technique is an ancient and popular scheme.

What's more, the mosaic-like mosaic-like stone mosaic technique on the shoulder buckle is called the Anglo-Saxon carpet pattern, which has been popular in many places from Scandinavia to Lombardy in Italy, from the middle of the Danube to England. pattern.

This type of design, which dates back to the fifth century AD, is characterized by the application of highly artistic animal figures, with simplified components often transformed into illegible decorative elements.

While it may appear confusing at first glance, behind the scenes are all kinds of surprises and surprises created by decorative construction, styling principles and visual games.

This is also the most complex and perfect jewelry in the whole of Europe in the early Middle Ages, and what surprises modern people is that these craftsmen are able to produce such beautiful jewelry under very primitive working conditions.

"By the way, I have already cleaned up the piece of iron I found just now." After a series of discussions on the jewelry he just found, Liang En took out the piece of iron that was in the box before.

"There are reliefs on this piece of iron, but judging from its style, it should be a part of some ironware. I think if we dig at that place at this stage, we should be able to find some interesting things."

"Indeed, your judgment is fine." After carefully looking at the piece of iron, Professor Harry nodded very seriously. "Let me arrange what I have and go with you."

"I thought you would continue to dig that pile of jewels." After hearing what the professor said, Liang En felt a little strange. After all, this piece of iron was inconspicuous compared to jewels.

"This should be part of a helmet." Professor Harry said, looking at the iron plate. "Unlike these jewels, the high-quality armor of this era is often worn by the dead."

"In other words, if this is a helmet, it may also mark the location of the previous owner of the tomb." Liang En said subconsciously.

"That's right, as you saw just now, the tomb in the middle of the ship collapsed long before we excavated it, which created a lot of trouble for us to locate the owner of the tomb." Professor Harry spread his hands helplessly.

"So I think finding the owner of the tomb is a more important thing than digging out and sorting out the boxes where the jewelry was placed."

Professor Harry is a historian rather than an antique dealer, so to him, the history contained in a thing is the most important thing, not the artistic value or economic value.

"That's right, if there are no accidents, I think we should be able to dig out that thing this afternoon." Liang En nodded and said, "If I'm not wrong, it shouldn't be difficult to dig out such a helmet. "

"You are right, but we must be absolutely careful when digging." Professor Harry reminded at this time. "Thinking of the local acidic soil, there shouldn't be much left of this iron head."

"Yes, it shouldn't be too much. Think about the previous ones—" Liang En paused when he said this, because he finally thought of what the iron piece should be at this moment.

If he guessed correctly, this piece of iron should be the most representative thing in the Sutton Hoo ruins: the Sutton Hoo helmet, which is regarded as a national treasure in Britain in another world, and one of the town halls of the British Museum. precious.

"What's the matter? Do you have any ideas?" After hearing the pause in Liang En's speech, Professor Harry turned his head and asked curiously.

In his opinion, Liang En was an inexperienced but very lucky young archaeologist, so he would be happy to hear if Liang En had any new ideas on this matter.

"Uh--what I want to say is that if you can make exquisite carvings on equipment that should be regarded as consumables such as helmets, then the user is likely to be a certain king at that time." Liang looked at Professor Harry's concerned eyes. En said quickly.

"It's just that I don't think the probability of leaving the remains of the dead in the tomb may not be too great. Thinking about the completely rotted wood, I don't think the human body structure will be more corrosion-resistant than those treated with anti-corrosion."

Considering that the wood used for sailing ships can only be left with traces on the soil, Liang En is not very optimistic about finding the owner of the tomb.

"What you said makes sense, so we'd better wear an extra layer of gloves later." Professor Harry raised his eyebrows and said. "Because every handful of soil we dug is likely to be a part of the owner of the tomb."

(End of this chapter)