Termed the Melsonby hoard, more than 800 items were discovered by metal detectorist Peter Heads in 2021. The hoard was detected in two ditches near the North Yorkshire village of the same name.
The head of archaeology at Durham University professor Tom Moore was called to the location after Heads reported the finding to the authorities, according to Sky News.
Moore said it was quickly clear that the finding was a “once-in-a-lifetime discovery”.
The archaeologist said the discovery of the Melsonby hoard is of a scale and size that is exceptional for Britain and probably even Europe.
“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.
“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.”
Among the hoard, partial remains of wagons, ceremonial spears and pony harnesses were also found.
Intentionally bent out of shape iron tyres were also found with the material ritualistically burnt or maybe broken.
“The destruction of so many high-status objects, evident in this hoard, is also of a scale rarely seen in Iron Age Britain and demonstrates that the elites of northern Britain were just as powerful as their southern counterparts,” added the professor.
Harnesses of at least 14 peonies, three ceremonial spears and two ornate cauldrons or vessels, one lidded and likely used as a wine mixing bowl, were also found among the hoard.
The harness pieces discovered were decorated with Mediterranean coral and coloured glass and were larger than ones typically found in Britain.
Some of the excavated items look like those previously found in the UK while others appear to match those discovered in Europe.
“It has connections to continental Europe and the Roman Empire,” he said. “It shows they are of the same status, if not more powerful than the elites in southern Britain.”
