A brief period in medieval English history where pagan and Christian traditions melded together and women held positions of power in the church has been found by archaeologists.
Some of the most significant finds for this period include the artifacts uncovered from a 1400 year-old grave just outside of Northampton.
There was something poking out of the dirt on the second day of the eight week dig in Harpole. The crown of two teeth suggested a burial site.
Balzs said that two gold items appeared out of the earth and glinted at him.
To be the first person to see these artifacts is amazing.
Sometimes archaeologists find gold in the soil and muck. Balzs told CNN that it was the first time in 17 years that he had found an artifact made from precious metal.
The "richest" necklace of its type ever found in Britain was unearthed by his team.
Based on the fact necklaces are almost exclusively found with female bodies, it's likely that the remains were once of an affluent or high-ranking woman.
The woman was buried with a large silver cross and decorated pots.
The shape of the cross remained visible even though it had deteriorated. The silver human faces on the cross had been there for a while.
The mix of objects in the grave suggest that the woman lived in an era when pagan and Christian beliefs were still evolving.
"Burying people with lots and lots of bling is a pagan idea, but this is obviously heavily vested in Christian iconography, so it's that period of rapid change," archaeology consultant Simon Mortimer said.
The objects are rich in symbolism and suggest the woman was a wealthy Christian leader.
She must have been one of the first women to hold a position of power in the church.
According to Balzs, this is the most significant early medieval female burial in Britain. It is a dream of an archeologist to find something like this.
A number of high-status women's graves have been found in England. Most of the sites are from the 7th centuryCE as burials of high-status men were more common.
As Christianity took off, valuable objects like necklaces were less likely to be placed at graves as this was frowned upon by the early Christian church.
The centerpiece of the necklace. (MOLA/Andy Chopping)
She said that the Harpole Treasure has the highest amount of gold and religious symbolism of any treasure in the world.
Vistry Group commissioned the archaeologists to dig up the site to make way for a housing project.
Residents were getting ready to move into the new property as the archaeologists announced their findings. The location of the burial site has not been revealed.
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