Iron Age Hoard Discovery Alters Our Understanding of Life in Britain 2,000 Years Ago
Historic England, Durham University and the British Museum announce the discovery of the Melsonby Hoard: one of the UK's largest and most important Iron Age finds.
The Melsonby Hoard, a vast deposit of more than 800 items, provides an archaeological time capsule from the Iron Age around 2,000 years ago. Initial assessment suggests the objects were buried in the first century AD, around the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain.
Discovered and reported in December 2021 by metal detectorist Peter Heads, the Melsonby Hoard was excavated in 2022 by a team of archaeologists from Durham University, with advice from the British Museum and over £120,000 in grant funding from Historic England. The Yorkshire Museum is launching a fundraising campaign to secure the hoard for the nation.
The quantity and variety of objects are unusual for Iron Age Britain and have important implications for reassessing our understanding of the nature and use of vehicles at the time. The findings could lead to a major re-evaluation of how wealth and status were expressed.
Vehicle components, for which it is hard to find parallels in Britain, include the partial remains of more than seven 4-wheeled wagons and/or 2-wheeled chariots.
The Melsonby Hoard is an extraordinary find, made up of a variety of unique and fascinating objects dating back to Iron Age Britain, which will help us to better understand the fabric of our nation’s history.
The Treasure Act exists so that finds like this can be displayed for future generations to learn about our rich history. I wish the Yorkshire Museum luck in its campaign to acquire the hoard for the nation.
The find also includes elaborate harnesses for at least 14 ponies, 3 ceremonial spears and 2 ornate cauldrons or vessels – 1 lidded and likely used as a wine mixing bowl, which had been buried at the bottom of a large ditch. Some harness pieces are adorned with red, Mediterranean coral and coloured glass and are bigger than is typical for the period.
While some of the objects match examples previously found in Britain, for others, the best parallels are found in continental Europe, suggesting long-distance connections and shared technology at the time.
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The Melsonby Hoard is of a scale and size that is exceptional for Britain and probably even Europe.
Unusually it includes lots of pieces of vehicles and items such as the wine mixing bowl which is decorated in both Mediterranean and Iron Age styles. 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.
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 discovery demonstrates how responsible metal detectorists like Peter Heads, by alerting the authorities, have ensured this material could be safeguarded for the future.
More finds, cutting-edge scanning technology, and why items were burnt
Cast copper alloy bridle bits, linchpins, rein rings and harness fittings were found within a cluster of 28 iron tyres from horse-drawn vehicles. Some of the tyres had been intentionally bent out of shape, and the vessels were carefully placed upside down.
Nearby, a deposit of spears and pieces of decorated harness for ponies were wrapped together in a bundle and placed into a second ditch. They were removed from the ground as a large block to be excavated later in the laboratory.
Cutting-edge X-ray CT scanning technology, based at the University of Southampton's μ-VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre, was used to identify the objects and how they were positioned so they could be excavated without causing damage.
Research on the material, currently in its early stages, is expected to help us understand more about how Iron Age people expressed wealth and status, as well as how and where they travelled and traded.
A large amount of the material within the hoard was either burnt or broken, suggesting a symbolic process of people showing how wealthy and powerful they were by being able to destroy the objects. They might have been burnt on a funerary pyre before being buried, but no human remains were found.
Quite simply, this is one of the most important and exciting Iron Age period discoveries made in the UK. It sheds new light on Iron Age life in the north and Britain, but it also demonstrates connections with Europe. Its proximity to the great Iron Age enclosure at Stanwick is an important factor in understanding its significance. Historic England understood the importance of this find from the moment it was reported to us, and we're thrilled we were able to provide grant support to allow its excavation and initial conservation.
Any member of the public viewing these new discoveries will feel a real sense of excitement and wonder.
This is the largest single deposit of horse harness and vehicle parts excavated in Britain. It is significant not just for the quantity of objects buried together 2,000 years ago but also the quality and range of items. These finds shed new light on collections at the British Museum that were discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries.
This Iron Age hoard is an unprecedented find in the north which will help us to understand more about this remarkable period in our history. We have the exciting opportunity to save the hoard for the nation and the people of Yorkshire. By acquiring the hoard, we will be able to make it accessible to everyone and, working in partnership with others, we can learn more about this fascinating period, why the hoard was buried, how the objects may have been used and to cast light on to whom it may have belonged.
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