Thursday - November 05, 2009

Amateur treasure hunter finds £1m hoard of ancient golden jewellery. AWESOME FIND !

This kind of thing is so mind bending.  IRON AGE and take a look at the workmanship. Look how intricate that tiny chain is.
I would never have thought they could do that in the Iron Age. And that little chain that hooks things together. My gosh, it’s up to date modern.
Be sure and see all the photos at the link provided.

HIS DAY JOB

On first time out with his metal detector, amateur treasure hunter finds £1m hoard of ancient golden jewellery

By SARAH BRUCE
Last updated at 12:27 PM on 05th November 2009

When David Booth bought himself a metal detector, he was looking for a new hobby – and perhaps the occasional old coin.
But on his very first outing with the device, he uncovered a £1million hoard of Iron Age jewellery that is Scotland’s most important find in a century.
Mr Booth, 35, found four gold necklaces – known as ‘torcs’ – buried just six inches beneath the surface in a field near Stirling.

Up until his amazing find, he had only switched the £240 gadget on to ‘detect’ knives and forks in his own kitchen as practice.

But just one hour into his first outdoor foray – and only seven paces from where he had parked the car – he became the country’s most famous finder.

The hoard – dating back as far as 300BC - has excited archaeologists so much, they say it changes the way we look at Scotland’s ancient inhabitants.
And under treasure trove rules in this country, the safari park keeper is set to get a reward equal to the market value of the find.

But a shell-shocked Mr Booth is finding it hard to come to terms with his imminent wealth – the father-to-be can think no further than ‘perhaps’ paying off his Ford Focus car loan with his riches.
He said: ‘I’d always fancied buying a metal detector, just as a hobby, and I decided to do it. It turned out to be a pretty good investment.

‘I was really only there because I had permission from the landowner, although I knew the area had some Iron Age history.
‘I just parked the car in the field, took my metal detector out and started looking – I just had a feeling about it.
‘It flashed to indicate that I had found gold about seven paces away from the car, and I started digging.  ‘I knew I had to be careful, so I dug quite a large circle around the spot with a garden spade.

‘I used a trowel when I got nearer. Six or eight inches down, I saw a glimpse of one of them, then uncovered the rest of the hoard. They were in a wee group. 
‘My first feeling was one of almost disbelief. I knew it was gold, and it did look old, but I couldn’t believe I could be so lucky.’
Mr Booth took the collection of muddy artifacts home on September 28 and rinsed them carefully to uncover a cache of glittering jewellery.
The find was in five pieces – three intact necklets and two fragments of another torc, all gold and silver alloy with a touch of copper.

Two of the pieces are ribbon torcs, twisted carefully from sheet gold with flattened ends. These are Scottish or Irish in origin.
The fragments are from a South-west French style annular torc, which would have been an enclosed circle with a hinge and catch.

But the piece that is really getting experts excited is a looped terminal torc with decorative ends, made from eight golden wires looped together and decorated with thin threads and chains. All the pieces date to between 300 and 100 BC.
The Stirling find appears to reveal links between local tribes — traditionally seen as isolated — and other Iron Age people in Europe.

The treasure spent the night in Mr Booth’s gun safe in the house he shares with girlfriend Carolyn Morrison, 28.  The next day, he took them to work and notified the National Museum of Scotland (NMS), who were at the door within hours of receiving an email and pictures of the find.

The museum’s principal Iron Age and Roman curator Dr Fraser Hunter was one of the first on the scene, and soon a dig was set up at the top secret location where the cache was found.
He said: ‘When I saw the pictures, I nearly fell off my chair.’
As the jewellery was analysed, the site of the find also yielded more information.

MORE ARTICLE AND LOTS MORE PHOTOS HERE

Man oh man LOOK at that thing!  Jeez! IRON AGE?  Good Grief.  What year was that?  1950?  Check out that link above.
LOVE this stuff.

Posted by peiper     on 11/05/2009 at 09:41 AM   
Filed Under: • Archeology / Anthropology • History • UK •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

DISCLAIMER

THE SERVICES AND MATERIALS ON THIS WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE HOSTS OF THIS SITE EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WITH RESPECT TO THE SERVICE OR ANY MATERIALS.

Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

THE INFORMATION AND OTHER CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE ARE DESIGNED TO COMPLY WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. THIS WEBSITE SHALL BE GOVERNED BY AND CONSTRUED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND ALL PARTIES IRREVOCABLY SUBMIT TO THE JURISDICTION OF THE AMERICAN COURTS. IF ANYTHING ON THIS WEBSITE IS CONSTRUED AS BEING CONTRARY TO THE LAWS APPLICABLE IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY, THEN THIS WEBSITE IS NOT INTENDED TO BE ACCESSED BY PERSONS FROM THAT COUNTRY AND ANY PERSONS WHO ARE SUBJECT TO SUCH LAWS SHALL NOT BE ENTITLED TO USE OUR SERVICES UNLESS THEY CAN SATISFY US THAT SUCH USE WOULD BE LAWFUL.

Copyright © 2004-2015 Domain Owner