kenb
Bronze Member
Bus driver unearths huge hoard of Bronze Age axe heads worth £80,000
Last updated at 15:26pm on 21st January 2008
Bus driver and metal detector fanatic Tom Peirce is in for a bumper pay day after unearthing 500 Bronze Age artefacts - one of the largest ever ancient finds.
Amateur treasure hunter Mr Peirce started combing a field after dropping off a school coach party at a farm - and now he could have a haul worth more than £80,000 on his hands.
Within a few minutes, the device began beeping and the 60-year-old dug 10 inches into the ground to find a partial axe head.
Metal-detecting chums Leslie Keith, Bryan Thomas and Tom Peirce have uncovered Britain's biggest ever find of 500 Bronze age axe heads that are baffling the experts
He realised he had struck it lucky when he dug deeper and found dozens more.
Over the next two days, he and colleague Les Keith uncovered nearly 500 bronze artefacts dating back 3,000 years.
The find prompted a Time Team-style search of the area by excited archaeologists.
The hoard, which included 268 complete axe heads, is one of the biggest of its kind found in Britain.
Mr Peirce, 60, will have to split any proceeds with landowner Alfie O'Connell.
Mr Peirce said: "We are extremely thrilled and excited because this was a once-in-a-lifetime find. It's like winning the lottery - you don't think it is going to happen to you.
"If you speak to other detectorists, they will find a nice coin or something in 20 or 30 years of treasure hunting.
"You do it as a hobby - you don't do it for the money but if you strike it lucky then so be it."
Mr Peirce stumbled upon the field after taking a group of schoolchildren for a day out at the farm near Swanage, Dorset.
He asked farmer Mr O'Connell for permission to search the two-acre field and later returned with Mr Keith.
The hoard was found up to 2ft down in three holes spread 50ft apart.
It is believed there was a Bronze Age settlement nearby where the axe heads would have been manufactured.
Archaeologists believe the hoard was buried in the field as some form of ritual offering to the gods.
Grandfather Mr Peirce, from Ringwood, Hants, said: "When we took them out of the ground, some of them were so pristine you would think you had just bought them at B&Q yet they were 3,000 years old."
There were so many of the artefacts that the pair couldn't collect them all so returned the following day with fellow detectorist Brian Thomas,75, to gather the rest.
Mr Peirce, who has been a metal detectorist for five years, added: "We went back and dug in another hotspot and found a load more.
"We were very lucky because there was not much else in the field.
"If we had tried another place or walked in a different direction, we'd never have found them."
Mr O'Connell, 62, who has owned the farm for four years, said: "Within about half an hour of Tom searching, he came rushing over to me looking shocked.
"During the war, a plane had crashed in the same field and for a minute I thought he had found a bomb.
"We went back up there on my tractor and saw the axe heads. I didn't have a clue what they were - I thought it was scrap metal at first.
"I have owned the farm for four years and had no idea they were up there. It is very exciting."
The axe heads are four inches long and two inches wide and are currently being assessed by the British Museum, which may buy them.
The coroner for Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset has been informed of the find and will hold an inquest at which it is expected the axe heads will be declared treasure.
At that point, the landowner and finder will receive a reward to the sum of the market value of the hoard, believed to be about £80,000.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said they were asked to excavate the site by the British Museum to look for signs of a settlement.
He said: "It is one of the largest and most important finds of its kind because of the size of it and the condition they were in.
"The axe heads would have been cast nearby. We have been looking for signs of a settlement in the area but haven't found anything.
"It is likely we are off the edge of it." Dr Fitzpatrick said his team will carry out a ground survey of the area to see where the earth has previously been disturbed in a bid to find the settlement.
He added: "The artefacts could have been used as a form of currency and buried at a time of crisis but many people believe they were buried as an offering to the gods.
"A lot of Bronze Age objects like this were buried in the ground and it is a bit of a coincidence that many people didn't go back for them
kenb
Last updated at 15:26pm on 21st January 2008
Bus driver and metal detector fanatic Tom Peirce is in for a bumper pay day after unearthing 500 Bronze Age artefacts - one of the largest ever ancient finds.
Amateur treasure hunter Mr Peirce started combing a field after dropping off a school coach party at a farm - and now he could have a haul worth more than £80,000 on his hands.
Within a few minutes, the device began beeping and the 60-year-old dug 10 inches into the ground to find a partial axe head.
Metal-detecting chums Leslie Keith, Bryan Thomas and Tom Peirce have uncovered Britain's biggest ever find of 500 Bronze age axe heads that are baffling the experts
He realised he had struck it lucky when he dug deeper and found dozens more.
Over the next two days, he and colleague Les Keith uncovered nearly 500 bronze artefacts dating back 3,000 years.
The find prompted a Time Team-style search of the area by excited archaeologists.
The hoard, which included 268 complete axe heads, is one of the biggest of its kind found in Britain.
Mr Peirce, 60, will have to split any proceeds with landowner Alfie O'Connell.
Mr Peirce said: "We are extremely thrilled and excited because this was a once-in-a-lifetime find. It's like winning the lottery - you don't think it is going to happen to you.
"If you speak to other detectorists, they will find a nice coin or something in 20 or 30 years of treasure hunting.
"You do it as a hobby - you don't do it for the money but if you strike it lucky then so be it."
Mr Peirce stumbled upon the field after taking a group of schoolchildren for a day out at the farm near Swanage, Dorset.
He asked farmer Mr O'Connell for permission to search the two-acre field and later returned with Mr Keith.
The hoard was found up to 2ft down in three holes spread 50ft apart.
It is believed there was a Bronze Age settlement nearby where the axe heads would have been manufactured.
Archaeologists believe the hoard was buried in the field as some form of ritual offering to the gods.
Grandfather Mr Peirce, from Ringwood, Hants, said: "When we took them out of the ground, some of them were so pristine you would think you had just bought them at B&Q yet they were 3,000 years old."
There were so many of the artefacts that the pair couldn't collect them all so returned the following day with fellow detectorist Brian Thomas,75, to gather the rest.
Mr Peirce, who has been a metal detectorist for five years, added: "We went back and dug in another hotspot and found a load more.
"We were very lucky because there was not much else in the field.
"If we had tried another place or walked in a different direction, we'd never have found them."
Mr O'Connell, 62, who has owned the farm for four years, said: "Within about half an hour of Tom searching, he came rushing over to me looking shocked.
"During the war, a plane had crashed in the same field and for a minute I thought he had found a bomb.
"We went back up there on my tractor and saw the axe heads. I didn't have a clue what they were - I thought it was scrap metal at first.
"I have owned the farm for four years and had no idea they were up there. It is very exciting."
The axe heads are four inches long and two inches wide and are currently being assessed by the British Museum, which may buy them.
The coroner for Bournemouth, Poole and East Dorset has been informed of the find and will hold an inquest at which it is expected the axe heads will be declared treasure.
At that point, the landowner and finder will receive a reward to the sum of the market value of the hoard, believed to be about £80,000.
Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said they were asked to excavate the site by the British Museum to look for signs of a settlement.
He said: "It is one of the largest and most important finds of its kind because of the size of it and the condition they were in.
"The axe heads would have been cast nearby. We have been looking for signs of a settlement in the area but haven't found anything.
"It is likely we are off the edge of it." Dr Fitzpatrick said his team will carry out a ground survey of the area to see where the earth has previously been disturbed in a bid to find the settlement.
He added: "The artefacts could have been used as a form of currency and buried at a time of crisis but many people believe they were buried as an offering to the gods.
"A lot of Bronze Age objects like this were buried in the ground and it is a bit of a coincidence that many people didn't go back for them
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