English Teenager Finds Bronze Age Ax Using a Metal Detector

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English Teenager Finds Bronze Age Ax Using a Metal Detector

On her third day out with a metal detector, Milly Hardwick, 13, found a hoard of items from more than 3,000 years ago. “We were just laughing our heads off,” she said.

Milly Hardwick, 13, discovered a hoard of Bronze Age items in eastern England. Over the last two decades, museums around Britain have acquired more than 5,000 artifacts that were found by members of the public.Credit...James Linsell-Clark/South West News Service

Dec. 3, 2021
LONDON — In the United States, when metal detectors hit it big, it’s usually by finding familiar riches: lost engagement rings, expensive jewelry or coins of untold value. In Britain, the biggest successes often involve discoveries of treasures from ancient eras — like the 3,000-year-old ax that a teenager unearthed in eastern England in September.

The 13-year-old, Milly Hardwick, said that she, her father and her grandfather had been out in a field with metal detectors for several hours on a Sunday in Royston, England, and had not found a single item. Then, just after a lunch of sandwiches and cookies, they tried a different part of the field, where an organized dig was taking place. After about 20 minutes of searching, Milly said she heard the high-pitched beeping noise — “a lovely-sounding signal” — that indicates a possible find.

Her father rushed over and started digging. About 10 minutes later, he pulled out an item that resembled part of an ax, he said.

Items from one of two Bronze Age hoards, totaling around 200 artifacts, that were found near Royston, England

“I was just shocked,” Milly said. “We were just laughing our heads off.”

Milly, her father and her grandfather started dancing out of excitement, she said. They kept digging and found a hoard of other artifacts, including socketed ax heads, winged ax heads, cake ingots and blade fragments made of bronze.

more here if so inclined https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/03/world/europe/metal-detector-axe.html

ricko

Wow... Amazing... England's history goes back for many, many centuries and several cultures. Cheers, RickO

johnny9434

a nice score to smile over