‘Exceptional’ Iron Age hoard unlocks secrets of life in Britain 2,000 years ago

(CNN) — A hoard of Iron Age artifacts discovered by a metal detectorist could alter our understanding of life in Britain 2,000 years ago, researchers have said.

Now known as the Melsonby Hoard, this vast deposit of more than 800 items was first uncovered by metal detectorist Peter Heads in December 2021.

Then, in 2022, a team of archaeologists from Durham University excavated the site near the village of Melsonby in North Yorkshire, advised by the British Museum and with a grant from Historic England.

What they carefully pulled out of the ground amounted to a time capsule that could change historians’ understanding of life in Britain in the Iron Age, experts said.

In a video clip posted on the university’s website, Tom Moore, an archaeology professor who specializes in the British and European Iron Age, said: “It was only really when we went back to excavate the hoard, and we opened up a much larger area that I think Peter and I and all of the team realized that we were on to something really exciting.”

An initial assessment suggests the items were buried around the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain, in the first century AD.

The hoard includes Iron Age metalwork that was made up of a variety of unique objects, including components of wagons or chariots, including 28 iron tires.

Also discovered was a cauldron and a bowl that might have been used to mix wine, as well as ceremonial spears, bridle bits and elaborate horse harnesses for at least 14 ponies.

“Some harness pieces are adorned with red, Mediterranean coral and coloured glass, and are larger than is typical for that time,” said Durham University in a press release Tuesday.

Cutting edge X ray CT scanning technology from the University of Southampton was used to identify the objects and their positions so that they could be excavated without causing damage, Historic England said in a separate release Tuesday.

The best parallels for some of the items found are from continental Europe, Historic England said, suggesting “long-distance connections and shared technology at the time.”

The team at Durham University believe the discovery is “exceptional” for Britain - and probably Europe too. They say research into the material - still in the early stages - could lead to a “major re-evaluation” of the understanding of the period, in particular regarding the use of vehicles and how wealth and status were expressed.

Much of the hoard was found to be either burnt or broken, which the team believes suggests some kind of symbolic process to display wealth and power. It is thought the objects could have been burnt on a funerary pyre before they were buried, but no human remains have been found.

“Whoever originally owned the material in this hoard was probably a part of a network of elites across Britain, into Europe and even the Roman world,” said Moore in the Durham University press release. “The destruction of so many high-status objects, evident in this hoard, is also of a scale rarely seen in Iron Age Britain and demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts.”

“This is the largest single deposit of horse harness and vehicle parts excavated in Britain,” Sophia Adams, curator of the First Millennium European and Roman Conquest period Collections at the British Museum, said in the Historic England release.

“It is significant not just for the quantity of objects buried together 2,000 years ago but also the quality and range of items.”

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