Bronze Age Treasure Cache With Sword Found In Scotland

What the Bronze Age treasure hoard looked like when it was first found in the ground. #7 in the center is the sword with scabbard. ( SketchFab)

In fiction, treasure seekers cut through dense jungles, dive down to harmful shipwrecks, and search the Holy Land searching for artifacts that were buried with high market value in a market fueled by rare antiquities. But in the actual world, on June 21, 2020, an amateur metal detectorist discovered an exceptionally rare Bronze Age treasure hoard in a field near the village of Peebles, about 22 miles (36 km ) south of Edinburgh. The Bronze Age treasure cache's prize was a priceless and rare sword that is 3,000-year-old. While the sword wasn't jewel encrusted , it is going to supply gems of historical data pertaining to some time in Scottish history where only a few artifacts have been recovered.  

Reported and Guarded by the Bronze Age Treasure Finder

A PHYS article about the metal detectorist Mariusz Stepien, 44, says he"shook" with joy when he realized that his find might be something"spectacular," and possibly"a huge part of History of Scotland .Stepien and his friends contacted the Scottish government's Treasure Trove and who sent a team of archaeologists to the location.But there was no way Mr Stepien was taking his eyes off the loot and he set up a camp site and slept rough in the treasure area for 22 nights while archaeologists excavated the Bronze Age treasure hoard which comprised"a horse harness, buckles, rings, decorations, a sword still in its scabbard and axle caps by a chariot." These records are now being analyzed in Edinburgh in the National Museums Collection Center.

Key items from the Bronze Age treasure find in Scotland, thought to be pieces of a Bronze Age horse harness, found by amateur metal detectorist, Mariusz Stepien in June 2020. Source: Treasure Trove Scotland

At a Southern Reporter article Mr Stepien said he won't ever forget those 22 days spent at the area where each day"there were new things coming out that changed the context of this find," and he expressed how delighted he was to have helped unearth artifacts dating over 3,000 years old. The archaeologists recovered many items like decorated straps, rings, buckles, ornaments and chariot wheel axle caps, together with proof of a decorative rattle pendant, but the jewel in the crown of the hoard was a sword still in its scabbard. This exceptionally rare sword represents"the first" of its kind ever found in Scotland, and just the third found anywhere in the UK to date.

Since the dirt had preserved the natural elements of this hoard the archaeologists could follow the leather straps that once connected the Bronze rings, discs and buckles together to make a horse's harness. Emily Freeman, the head of the Scottish Treasure Trove unit, said that since so few Bronze Age treasure hoards are excavated in Scotland it was an wonderful chance for her staff not only to regain bronze artifacts, but to study rare organic substance too. That's why she described the collection as "a nationally significant find."

An Early Bronze Age flat axe head found not far from where the recent treasure trove was found in Peeblesshire, Scotland ( Treasure Trove Scotland )