Marion Blockley, an archaeologist, wonders if there is a clue in a lament written in around the 9th Century that describes a 7th Century battle and raid in the Midlands.
Did warriors ransack a settlement and leave with captured treasure?
"It's possible as they fled that they may have taken the hoard with them and buried it, hoping to come back but sadly they were killed," Ms Blockley said.
"I'm not saying it's true, but you know, it may well be."
'Significant items'
The Staffordshire Hoard is made up of thousands of items, including pieces of weaponry and dozens of ornate sword pommels, so could they have been part of a king's collection that had somehow fallen into the wrong hands?
Ms Blockley said nearby Tamworth had been a royal treasury.
She said kings used to receive gifts of "significant items of weaponry" which they would then redistribute to their favourite warriors.
Some say a key part of solving the mystery of the hoard could lie in where it was found near what was an important route between the Midlands and London, Watling Street.