Amateur thought he found foil lid but it was a rich Bronze Age cache
BERWICK-UPON-TWEED, England -- A metal-detecting beginner has spoken of his shock at uncovering a hoard of Bronze Age artefacts.
Among the objects is a Bronze Age razor -- the first to be found in the county -- which suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven. Also found were gold lock rings, believed to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads.
John Minns...uncovered the historic find while on holiday near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, two years ago. Mr Minns, from Arbroath in Scotland, had only just taken up metal detecting when he went on holiday in April 2005. He was given permission by a local farmer to take the detector on to his land.
"At first I made a couple of small finds, a copper coin and a spindle whorl, just odds and ends," Mr Minns said. "The only reason I found the hoard was that I got a nice signal from the detector, but when I dug away the soil, all I found was a yoghurt pot with a foil lid."
But, keen to follow good metal-detecting practice, Mr Minns re-checked the hole, and to his surprise found half an axe head, followed by another axe. When he spotted the gold rings, Mr Minns sensed immediately that he had stumbled across a major find...
"Hoards from the late Bronze Age containing such a variety of objects in such good condition are very rare in the north of England, so this is an extremely important find," said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University.
The "Collette Hoard" will be on display at Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities from now until the end of June. It is intended that it will go on permanent display from 2009 at the forthcoming Great North Museum.
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Among the objects is a Bronze Age razor -- the first to be found in the county -- which suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven. Also found were gold lock rings, believed to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads.
John Minns...uncovered the historic find while on holiday near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, two years ago. Mr Minns, from Arbroath in Scotland, had only just taken up metal detecting when he went on holiday in April 2005. He was given permission by a local farmer to take the detector on to his land.
"At first I made a couple of small finds, a copper coin and a spindle whorl, just odds and ends," Mr Minns said. "The only reason I found the hoard was that I got a nice signal from the detector, but when I dug away the soil, all I found was a yoghurt pot with a foil lid."
But, keen to follow good metal-detecting practice, Mr Minns re-checked the hole, and to his surprise found half an axe head, followed by another axe. When he spotted the gold rings, Mr Minns sensed immediately that he had stumbled across a major find...
"Hoards from the late Bronze Age containing such a variety of objects in such good condition are very rare in the north of England, so this is an extremely important find," said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University.
The "Collette Hoard" will be on display at Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities from now until the end of June. It is intended that it will go on permanent display from 2009 at the forthcoming Great North Museum.