Featured: Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Explore Scotland (and everywhere else) with our Megalithic Portal iPhone app

Random Image

Pig Hill (S)

Pig Hill (S)

Temples of Stone: Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland

Temples of Stone: Exploring the Megalithic Tombs of Ireland

Login

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

Who's Online

There are currently, 1084 guests and 14 members online.

Sponsors

<< News >> Novice tells of Bronze Age find

Submitted by coldrum on Thursday, 17 May 2007  Page Views: 2457

Neolithic and Bronze AgeCountry: England County: County Durham Type: Museum

Internal Links:

A metal-detecting novice who unearthed an "extremely important" hoard of Bronze Age artefacts has said his discovery was due to "sheer luck".

John Minns, from Arbroath, Angus, made the find during a holiday near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, in 2005, just after starting his hobby.

The hoard includes gold hair rings, bracelets, weapons and a bronze razor.

It is going on display at Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities until the end of June.

It is intended that it will be exhibited to the public permanently from 2009 at the forthcoming Great North Museum.

A Bronze Age razor - the first to be found in the county - was among the objects discovered.

This suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven.

Gold lock rings, thought to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads were also found after Mr Minns was given permission by a local farmer to take the detector on to his land.

Mr Minns said: "The only reason I found the hoard was that I got a nice signal from the detector, but when I dug away the soil, all I found was a yoghurt pot with a foil lid."

However, his discovery arose after he re-checked the hole and discovered an axe-head.

Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University, said: "Hoards from the late Bronze Age containing such a variety of objects in such good condition are very rare in the north of England, so this is an extremely important find."

And, on the issue of how the objects came to be buried together, she added: "It is hard to know whether it was meant as an offering to a deity, or whether it might have been a Bronze Age founder's hoard, which the owner hid, intending to come back for it later."

bbc.co.uk.
Contributor Bio for coldrum: Based in Milkyway, contributing since 2002. Favourite site: Avebury.

<< Ethiopia: Ancient Phallic Stones Uncovered

Long Man cleaned up >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland

Towers in the North: The Brochs of Scotland

Sponsors

More News

See all News →

Latest Visit Logs

  • Le Breuil
    “Peyre d'Emale is very close to Le Breuil if you take the gravel roads. Has this led to the creation …”
    by Mick_Connor · 24 Aug 2026
  • Eller Edge (426)
    “This stone has an unusual cluster of small cups in a circular arrangement (I'm not sure I buy the id…”
    by bonirex · 24 Aug 2026
  • Skyreholme Wall Stone (413)
    “This is a beast of a stone, with dozens of cups on its upper surface (and in some places down the si…”
    by bonirex · 24 Aug 2026
  • Menhir des Demoiselles (Colombiers-sur-Seulles)
    “As TheCaptain notes, this menhir stands on a grassy bank at a road junction east of the village of C…”
    by brianlavelle · 23 Aug 2026
  • Little Balsmith
    “You're not so small Little Balsmith - are you? A towering beauty.”
    by Smac · 23 Aug 2026

"Novice tells of Bronze Age find" | Login/Create an Account | 1 comment
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Bronze Age hoard discovery 'shock' by coldrum on Thursday, 17 May 2007
(User Info | Send a Message)
Bronze Age hoard discovery 'shock'

A metal-detecting beginner has spoken of his shock at uncovering a hoard of Bronze Age artefacts.

John Minns described finding the collection as "sheer luck" and said he felt he was touching history. Mr Minns uncovered the historic find while on holiday near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, two years ago.

Among the objects is a Bronze Age razor - the first to be found in the county - which suggests men living in the area between about 1000 and 800BC were clean-shaven. Also found were gold lock rings, believed to have been hair decorations, as well as bracelets, rings, pins and axe heads.

Mr Minns, from Arbroath in Scotland, had only just taken up metal detecting when he went on holiday in April 2005. He was given permission by a local farmer to take the detector on to his land.

"At first I made a couple of small finds, a copper coin and a spindle whorl, just odds and ends," Mr Minns said. "The only reason I found the hoard was that I got a nice signal from the detector, but when I dug away the soil, all I found was a yoghurt pot with a foil lid."

But, keen to follow good metal-detecting practice, Mr Minns re-checked the hole, and to his surprise found half an axe head, followed by another axe. When he spotted the gold rings, Mr Minns sensed immediately that he had stumbled across a major find, and quickly contacted Philippa Walton of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, who arranged to visit him to assess the hoard.

Traditionally, hoards are named after the area in which they were found but to avoid giving away the location of the find until the further excavations had been carried out, Mr Minns suggested naming it after his eight-year-old daughter, and so it became known as the Collette Hoard.

The condition of the objects in the hoard has astounded experts, who believe the find has the potential to provide new and valuable information about the late Bronze Age.

"Hoards from the late Bronze Age containing such a variety of objects in such good condition are very rare in the north of England, so this is an extremely important find," said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of Archaeological Museums at Newcastle University.

The Collette Hoard will be on display at Newcastle University's Museum of Antiquities from now until the end of June. It is intended that it will go on permanent display from 2009 at the forthcoming Great North Museum.

channel4.
[ 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.