Two Detectorists Discovered The Oldest Iron Age Gold In Staffordshire

Two detectorists have found intricate jewelry in a Staffordshire field. The discovery will be the earliest example of Iron Age gold ever discovered in Britain.

According to The Guardian, the discovered pieces of jewelry are three collars and a bracelet-sized piece, including two made of twisted gold wire two with trumpet shaped finials and one with beautiful Celtic ornament. The ornaments are all believed to be made in the third or fourth century BC in present-day Germany of France.

The ornaments are some of the oldest examples of Iron Age gold, and of Celtic ornament, ever found in Britain. The discovery of the ornaments is considered as a find that could change everything that many archeologists know about northern Britain before the arrival of the Romans.

Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania are detectorists who got bored and gave up their hobby and turned to fishing for 20 years. But Hambleton's father convinced the pair to return to their hobby, after a year of going back to their hobby still found nothing the two were about to pack up then Kania found their first find and searched further and found the other three pieces.

According to The Telegraph, the pair reported their discovery to the finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, Teresa Gilmore, at Birmingham Museum. The Portable Antiquities Scheme records thousands of archeological finds across Britain every year that has been voluntarily reported by metal detectorists.

Experts believed that the pieces could have arrived through trade or been owned by wealthy powerful women who probably moved from Europe to marry a rich Iron Age Chiefs. The collars were supposedly buried nested carefully together but had been disturbed by being hit by a plow when the pair found them.

The owner of the land gave the permission to search the land for more discoveries and he is amazed that there are gold pieces in his land since long before they started to farm there. If the find is declared treasure then the reward will be split between the pair and the owner of the land.

TagsTwo Detectorists, Staffordshire Field, Britain, The Ornaments, Oldest Iron Age Gold, Celtic Ornament, Archeologists