The gorgeous jewelry from the mid 7th century CE was on top of an oceanside cliff near Loftus in Redcar and Cleveland.
Previously, Bamburgh and Ad Gefrin, near Wooler, were thought to be the only centers of royal power in the Kingdom of Northumbria, but this unexpected find of royal jewelry suggests that the new site may have been another power center.
Archaeologist Steve Sherlock, who led the dig that found the items, says that only the Lindisfarne Gospels and the pectoral cross found in St. Cuthbert’s tomb in Durham Cathedral are more historically significant to the area.
