Incredible hoard of 2,000-year-old cauldrons, spears & chariots that change Britain’s history are unearthed near village

A VARIETY of centuries-old artefacts were discovered using a metal detector in a Yorkshire field.

The “once-in-a-lifetime” hoard could lead to a revaluation of the wealth and status of the elite living in northern Britain 2,000 years ago.

The Iron Age items, known as the Melsonby Hoard after the town where they were discovered, lay untouched in two ditches since the middle of the 1st century.

This haul comprises of 800 items, including partial remains of wagons, ceremonial spears, and pony harnesses.

The discovery was made in 2021 by detectorist Peter Heads who reported the location to the proper authorities.

Experts say this could be one of the most important UK findings ever, and will need careful study for years.

It was previously thought by many that power and wealth in pre-Roman times were limited to the south of present-day England.

However, the extent of the hoard which was deliberately thrown away in muck shows that was not true.

Professor Tom Moore, head of archaeology at Durham University, was called to the site and said it quickly became clear to him that this was a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery”.

Vehicle components, for which it is hard to find parallels in Britain, include the partial remains of more than seven four-wheeled wagons or two-wheeled chariots.

There were elaborate harnesses for at least 14 ponies, three ceremonial spears, and two ornate cauldrons or vessels.

One of these cauldrons was lidded and likely used as a wine mixing bowl.

Some harness pieces featured Mediterranean coral and coloured glass, and are larger than ones typically found in the UK.

While some items look like those previously found in Britain, others suggest whoever left them had long-distance connections.

“Whoever originally owned the material in this hoard was probably a part of a network of elites across Britain, into Europe and even the Roman world,” said Prof. Moore.

Melsonby is around a mile from Stanwick, the powerbase of the Brigantes tribe who in pre-Roman times controlled a large part of what is now Yorkshire.

“The Melsonby Hoard is of a scale and size that is exceptional for Britain and probably even Europe,” the expert said.

What was Iron Age Britain like?

Here’s what you need to know...

• The Iron Age was a violent period in British history lasting from 800 BC to the Roman invasion of 43 AD.

• It followed the Bronze Age, and marked a time in which ancient Brits began to make tools and weapons out of iron.

• Little is known about the Iron Age, as Brits left no written history of the period.

• We know that iron tools made farming much easier than before and settlements grew in size.

• Brits lived in clans that belonged to tribes led by warrior kings.

• Tribes frequently fought bloody battles using deadly iron weapons.

• People lived in hill forts to protect themselves from attack.

• The remains of several hill forts survive in Britain today, including at Danebury in Hampshire, Maiden Castle in Dorset, Old Oswestry in Shropshire and Traprain Law in Scotland.

“Unusually it includes lots of pieces of vehicles and items such as the wine mixing bowl which is decorated in both Mediterranean and Iron Age styles.”

Iron tyres fitted to the wooden wheels were found to have been intentionally bent out of shape and a large amount of the material had been “ritualistically burnt or broken”.

“The destruction of so many high-status objects, evident in this hoard, is also of a scale rarely seen in Iron Age Britain,” said Prof. Moore.

He explained that this “demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts”.

“Whoever is doing this is incredibly wealthy and it challenges the idea that northern Britain was a backwater, when it clearly was not,” he added.

“It has connections to continental Europe and the Roman Empire.

“It shows they are of the same status, if not more powerful than the elites in southern Britain.”

Although no human remains have been found, it was possible they could have been buried after being burnt on a funerary pyre, according to experts.

Prof. Moore praised metal detectorist Peter Heads, who has declined publicity, for contacting the authorities after his discovery.

“Quite simply, this is one of the most important and exciting Iron Age period discoveries made in the UK,” said Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England.

“It sheds new light on Iron Age life in the north and Britain, but it also demonstrates connections with Europe.”

“This is the largest single deposit of horse harness and vehicle parts excavated in Britain,” said Dr Sophia Adams, an expert on the era at the British Museum.

“It is significant not just for the quantity of objects buried together 2,000 years ago but also the quality and range of items.”

Heritage minister Sir Chris Bryant described it as “an extraordinary find, made up of a variety of unique and fascinating objects dating back to Iron Age Britain”.

He added that the Melsonby Hoard “will help us to better understand the fabric of our nation's history”.

One ditch was examined on site while the other was extracted as a whole and has been X-rayed using a large scanner at Southampton University.

It will be kept intact, as a block, to preserve what is inside.

The dig was backed by a £120,000 grant from Historic England.

A fundraising campaign is being launched by the Yorkshire Museum to secure the hoard for the nation.

The value of the hoard has been calculated to be £254,000.

A selection of the items is going on show at the museum in York.