Huge Iron Age hoard sheds fresh light on ancient Britain

LONDON — Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled the discovery of one of the UK's "biggest and most important" Iron Age hoards, saying the 2000-year-old treasure trove could transform perceptions of ancient Britain.

Experts said the "Melsonby Hoard" unearthed in Yorkshire, northern England, is remarkable for its richness and variety, featuring ceremonial spears, chariots and horse harnesses decorated with coral from the Mediterranean.

It also challenges the idea that northern England was less wealthy than the south, the specialists said, and could lead to a reappraisal of the region's status and ties with Europe.

"It's one of the largest hauls of Iron Age metalwork ever found in Britain," the head of Durham University's archaeology department Tom Moore told AFP.

A metal detector enthusiast found the hoard in a field near the village of Melsonby in 2021, but Moore said the find was only made public on Tuesday following a legal process to work out the treasure's worth.

It has now been valued at £254,000 (around $329,000), according to a joint statement by the British Museum, Historic England and Durham University.

After detectorist Peter Heads reported the location, archaeologists uncovered more than 800 items in two trenches and have been sifting through them using X-ray technology.

"There's so much in the deposit," Moore said.

Standout finds included harness pieces decorated with red coral and coloured glass, and 28 iron wheels from large chariots or wagons, which resemble artefacts found in Europe.

One of Moore's favourite items was a large cauldron, which he believes would have been used for feasting. It has depictions of fish on the base -- an unusual feature, he said.

"You don't get fish in Iron Age art very often, so it's really, really rare. And it's just a beautiful object."

The experts believe the objects were buried in the first century AD, around the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain.

Much of the material was charred or broken, and the specialists said it may have been "burnt on a funerary pyre before being buried".

Moore said it could have been "deposited as a symbolic offering" after a funeral.

'Just as wealthy'

"They had access to considerable amounts of wealth, at least the elite did," Moore said.

"In southern Britain there's a tendency to think that northern Britain wasn't as integrated with the rest of Europe. But that's clearly not the case.

"They were just as wealthy, just as powerful, from just the amount and the quality of the finds," he said.

The artefacts have been taken to Durham University for cataloguing and a museum in York is hoping to acquire them.

A selection of the items will be displayed at the Yorkshire Museum from March 25, 2025.

Now the find has been made public, Moore said he was looking forward to researching parallels with his European colleagues, and trying to unravel some of the hoard's remaining mysteries.

"There's years' worth of research to do on this," he said.