Featured: Exploring Avebury: The Essential Guide - New Expanded Edition!

Exploring Avebury: The Essential Guide - New Expanded Edition!

Random Image

Hampi Rock Art

Hampi Rock Art

Circles of Stone - Max Milligan

Circles of Stone - Max Milligan

Login

Register here - as a registered user you get more features and fewer ads.

Who's Online

There are currently, 1012 guests and 8 members online.

Sponsors

<< News >> Iron Age treasure set to return

Submitted by coldrum on Monday, 31 January 2011  Page Views: 4268

Iron Age and Later PrehistoryCountry: England County: Leicestershire and Rutland Type: Museum

Internal Links:

A collection of Iron Age artefacts discovered in Leicestershire has gone on display in the county. More than 5,000 silver and gold coins were discovered on the site of a former religious enclosure near Harborough.

The discovery includes a unique silver guilt Roman helmet and most items date back to just before the Roman conquest around 2,000 years ago.

The county is getting £650,000 from the Heritage Lottery fund to help bring the coins home.

'Incredible' site

The items, currently in the British Museum in London, will go on display at the Harborough Museum.

They will be conserved and fully documented before going on show, and will also feature in travelling exhibitions.

Leicestershire County Council's fieldwork group made the discovery on the site of a former religious enclosure on one of their regular walks.

The coins were subsequently excavated by Leicester University's archaeological services.

The county council's senior archaeologist Peter Liddle said: "The site is incredible - the helmet is of international importance and no-one has ever found so many Iron Age coins on a single site in this country.

"There has also never been a site excavated before which tells us as much about the religion of the time."

He added it would take about five years to discover more about the helmet.

Heritage Lottery Fund regional manager Emma Sale said: "This treasure gives us a really exciting insight into parts of history that were otherwise buried in the mists of time."

bbc.co.uk.

Note: Update - Iron Age guard dog’s skeleton goes on display at Harborough Museum, guarding the treasure
Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

<< Projectile heads reveal contact between ancient humans and Gomphotheres in North

Project to unveil Ochre-based Rock Art with Magnetic Susceptebility >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Cornwall in Prehistory

Cornwall in Prehistory

Sponsors

More News

See all News →

Latest Visit Logs

  • St. Thomas a Becket's Spring (Bapchild)
    “Unbelievably difficult to find the source. You have to access it from a private field currently - bu…”
    by Blobby · 16 Aug 2026
  • Pierre des Rouettes
    “Beside a track near the top of the hill above the stream, a kilometre or so to the south of St Malo-…”
    by TheCaptain · 16 Aug 2026
  • Menhir dit Pierre Bottin
    “Despite being less than 200 metres down a farm track from the road between Dangy and Cerisy-la-Salle…”
    by TheCaptain · 16 Aug 2026
  • Pierre Tournante (Livarot)
    “The path to this stone is just to the left of the barbed wire that is blocking access to a overgrown…”
    by phlebas · 16 Aug 2026
  • Le Cul du Diable
    “I had found out about a possible menhir in the commune of Cosqueville known as Menhir du Grand Manoi…”
    by TheCaptain · 16 Aug 2026

"Iron Age treasure set to return" | Login/Create an Account | 3 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Iron Age guard dog’s skeleton goes on display at Harborough Museum with the treas by Andy B on Wednesday, 01 August 2012
(User Info | Send a Message)
The Museum now has the original Hallaton treasure on display, purchased back from the Crown.

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=31859
[ Reply to This ]

2,000-year-old Roman cavalry helmet sheds new light on conquest of Britain by Andy B on Tuesday, 10 January 2012
(User Info | Send a Message)
Historians have pieced together a 2,000-year-old Roman cavalry helmet 10 years after its discovery in an Iron Age shrine and say it sheds new light on the conquering of Britain.

The helmet and its cheek pieces have been painstakingly restored from 1,000 small fragments over three years by experts at the British Museum.

Constructed of sheet iron, the helmet, once decorated with gold leaf, is the only one to have been found in Britain with its silver gilt plating intact and is also one of the earliest ever found in Britain.

Experts claim there is a 'distinct possibility' that it belonged to a Briton serving in the Roman cavalry before the conquest of Britain. They say it changes our understanding of the relationship between Romans and Britons and what the country was like just before the invasion.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2084686/Historians-piece-2-000-year-old-Roman-cavalry-helmet-shedding-new-light-ancient-Britain.html

Exceptionally early example of Roman helmet to go on display after years of work piecing together thousands of fragments

The helmet will go on display at the end of this month at Harborough Museum, in a specially created new gallery which already holds many objects from the hoard just nine miles from where it was found.

"I can hardly believe my eyes when I look at the helmet today," Wallace said. "I last saw it six months ago, and it was still in a thousand pieces. Gobsmacked, is the only word for it."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jan/10/unique-roman-helmet-pieced-together

Video: Roman helmet unveiled
http://www.harboroughmail.co.uk/news/features/video_roman_helmet_unveiled_1_3404502
[ Reply to This ]

Iron Age guard dog’s skeleton goes on display at Harborough Museum with the treasure by Andy B on Monday, 31 January 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
Iron Age Dog guards Hallaton Treasure
He has lain underground for 2,000 years, loyally doing his duty.

But now, archaeologists have unearthed the skeleton of what is believed to be Britain’s oldest guard dog, which was sacrificed to protect a hoard of buried treasure. The skeleton of the dog, which is about the same size as a retriever or Alsatian, was discovered at the site of one of Britain’s most important Iron Age excavations. It is believed an ancient tribe, the Corieltauvi, who lived in Britain before the Roman conquest, killed then buried the dog between AD1 and AD50 so its spirit could protect the stockpile. The find suggests that man’s best friend has long been regarded as a protector and guardian.

The dog’s skeleton will now go on display at a museum along with the treasure - and will be positioned in a glass case at the entrance of the exhibit so it can continue to stand guard.

The dog was discovered in a pit on the Hallaton Treasure site, near Market Harborough, Leicestershire, which became Britain's largest find of Iron Age coins when it was excavated in 2000. Five thousand gold and silver coins, as well as an ornately-decorated Roman parade helmet, were unearthed in what is regarded as one of the most important Iron Age excavations. The dog’s skeleton was painstakingly pieced together by the University of Leicester's archaeological services, and will go on show at Harborough Museum for the first time this weekend. Vicki Score, the university's project manager, said: ‘The skeleton of the dog was discovered at the entrance to the site, buried in a slot in the ground.

‘We believe it was bound and sacrificed and buried to guard the coin offerings. It would have been considered an honour for the dog, which was probably quite old, to be sacrificed in this way.’ Mrs Score said the skeleton was buried on top of the remains of another dog and there was evidence of a third. She added: ‘Maybe it was felt the previous guard dog had lost its power to protect.’ David Sprason, of Leicestershire County Council, said: ‘It is fitting that the remains of this dog be reunited with the magnificent objects from the Hallaton Treasure and find a new home at the museum.

‘The dog's story is yet another intriguing aspect of this nationally-important find and illustrates the special relationship between humans and dogs that has existed for thousands of years.’ Helen Sharp, the museum's project officer for the Hallaton Treasure, said: ‘The exact way the skeleton was laid out, its location, and the fact it the dog was above average height for an Iron Age canine, suggests it was seen as a guard dog buried to safeguard the shrine. ‘It appears to have been a very old dog, and had a number of marks on its bones, suggesting it was a guard dog in life, as well as death.’

Along with thousands of tribal coins, the Hallaton Treasure also includes the oldest Roman coin ever found in Britain, dating back to 211BC, a silver Roman parade helmet and jewellery from the period.

Visitors to the exhibition will be invited to help choose a name for the guard dog, from a selection of Celtic words. They are Brina, which means protector, Brendt, the word for hill, Cadran, which means mighty, Ardra, which means noble, and Sealgair, which means hunter.

Images here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1350822/Iron-age-dog-2k-years-old-unearthed-guarding-ancient-treasure.html#ixzz19W3Cc8dO

Source:
http://www.leics.gov.uk/index/pressrelease.htm?id=215873

Harborough Museum
http://www.leics.gov.uk/harboroughmuseum
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>
We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.