Unprecedented Iron Age Host Discovered in North Yorkshire –

An Iron Age holocaust was found in North Yorkshire, which included more than 800 metal objects, an unprecedented group of metal products including truck accessories, horse nails, spears and two decorative large drinking containers. Its scale, scale and destruction of objects before burial make it a special discovery in the UK and continental Europe.

Holocausts in December 2021, when a metal detector discovered the first object in the field near Melsonby. He reported to the Portable Antiquities Program and in early 2022 the Durham University archaeologists excavated a site of discovery funded by historic England.

The team dug two trenches and unearthed two sediments: one of the largest Iron Age metal engineering deposits ever in the UK, with a much smaller hoard nearby with similar materials. The two were deposited about 2,000 years ago during the Roman conquest of England. The British English tribes then controlled the northern part of England, so so did the owner of this extraordinary group.

At each stage there are careful documentation, not only photography, but also 3D digital recording, which can mine the main deposit. Excavation must be slow because these artifacts are very dense and corrosion makes them stick to each other. The second sediment is more tangled and corrosive. It formed a concrete so archaeologists took it out from a single soil block in the conservation lab at Durham University. Both hoards took two months to discover. The lab excavation took months.

The hoard was found to consist mainly of iron and copper alloy artifacts of wheeled vehicles (cars, vans, chariots), with at least 14 horse seat belts. There are brittle, yoke accessories, terrets (some decorated with stained glass and coral), mezzanine pants and stunning 28 iron tires. Other accessories found with the tires indicate that they are attached to the van (with four wheels), rather than the chariot (with two wheels). There are at least seven trucks in the hoard. This is the first evidence of four-wheeler trucks used by the Iron Age tribe in Britain.

At both ends, two large drinking containers are found to be deliberately upside down. One is a large, open kauldron that has some features in common with examples from central and southern England, but it is larger than comparable examples and has unique fish motifs on the base reminiscent of the swirling decoration on La Tène style metalwork from the first millennium BC The other vessel is a more enclosed kauldron decorated with coral studs and two cast masks of human faces at the Its shape resembles the design of an ancient Greek wine bowl called Leibs.

Other objects found in the hoard include the spearhead of the iron socket, the spine of the shield and the captain, a large iron mirror with forged double ring handles, and a tubular object of unknown purpose still wrapped in the block.

Some of these artifacts have signs of burning before burial. There is melted copper alloy in the sediment and charcoal sticks to some surfaces. The surface of the iron tire has traces of burning. Some objects were also intentionally damaged, with tire buckles and large pots hitting them with stones. There are no graves here, and this huge fortune has been destroyed, burned and buried must have been great, perhaps a ritual or commemorative feast for funerals.

[Head of archaeology at Durham University Prof. Tom] The horse seat belts that pull vans or chariots are decorated with coral and stained glass, while the vehicle is a sight, Moore said. “They will look incredible,” he said. “It just emphasizes that these people have real status and real wealth.

“Some people think the North is poor compared to the Iron Age in the south of England. This shows that the individuals there have the same material, wealth, status and network quality as those of the Southerners.

“They challenged our way of thinking and the way we showed the North was definitely not the post-Iron Age water. It was as interconnected, powerful and affluent as the Iron Age communities in the South.”

The Yorkshire Museum is eager to get this spectacular hoard and plans to launch a fundraiser to raise a valuation of £254,000 ($328,000).