Save the Melsonby Hoard for Yorkshire!
Wednesday, 16th April 2025
The Yorkshire Museum has launched a major fundraising campaign to secure the hoard for the nation. If this campaign is successful, the hoard will become a part of the Museum’s collections and available for research and public enjoyment in the future. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/save-the-melsonby-hoard
Read on for more information on the Melsonby Hoard.
HISTORIC ENGLAND/ DURHAM UNIVERSITY AND BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS RELEASE
IRON AGE HOARD DISCOVERY ALTERS OUR UNDERSTANDING OF LIFE IN BRITAIN 2,000 YEARS AGO
• The discovery near the village of Melsonby, North Yorkshire, is one of the biggest and most important Iron Age hoards ever found in the UK
• Over 800 items dating back 2,000 years have been unearthed and taken to Durham University for stabilisation and recording
• Objects include vehicle components from wagons and/or chariots including 28 iron tyres, two vessels, elaborate horse harnesses, bridle bits and ceremonial spears
• The artefacts are highly significant in telling us about society, technology, wealth, power and travel in Iron Age Britain
• Excavation of the site was funded by Historic England and led by archaeologists at Durham University, with specialist support from the British Museum
• IMAGES AND X-RAY/CT IMAGING SCANS OF FINDS AVAILABLE HERE
• B-ROLL VIDEO FOOTAGE AVAILABLE HERE
• For images of the items at the Yorkshire Museum, please see attached. Please credit Gareth Buddo for York Museums Trust.
Today (Tuesday 25 March,2025), Historic England, Durham University and the British Museum announce the discovery of the Melsonby Hoard: one of the largest and most important Iron Age finds in the UK.
The vast deposit of more than 800 items provides an archaeological time capsule from the Iron Age, around 2,000 years ago. Initial assessment suggests the objects were buried in the first century AD, around the time of the Roman conquest of southern Britain.
Discovered and reported in December 2021 by metal detectorist Peter Heads, it was excavated in 2022 by a team of archaeologists from Durham University, with advice from the British Museum and over £120,000 grant funding from Historic England. The Yorkshire Museum is launching a fundraising campaign to secure the hoard for the nation.
The quantity and variety of objects are unusual for Iron Age Britain and have important implications for reassessing our understanding of the nature and use of vehicles at the time. The find could lead to a major re-evaluation of how wealth and status were expressed.
Vehicle components, for which it is hard to find parallels in Britain, include the partial remains of more than seven four-wheeled wagons and two-wheeled chariots.
The find also includes elaborate harnesses for at least 14 ponies, three ceremonial spears and two ornate cauldrons or vessels - one lidded and likely used as a wine mixing bowl, which had been buried at the bottom of a large ditch. Some harness pieces are adorned with red, Mediterranean coral and coloured glass, and are larger than is typical for the period.
While some of the objects match others found in Britain, for others the best parallels are found in continental Europe, suggesting long distance connections and shared technology at the time.
More finds, cutting edge scanning technology and why items were burnt
Cast copper alloy bridle bits, linchpins, rein rings and harness fittings were found within a cluster of 28 iron tyres from horse drawn vehicles. Some of the tyres had been intentionally bent out of shape and the vessels were carefully placed upside down.
Nearby, a deposit of spears and pieces of decorated harness for ponies were wrapped together in a bundle and placed into a second ditch. They were removed from the ground as a large block to be excavated later in the laboratory.
Cutting-edge X-ray CT scanning technology, based at the University of Southampton’s μ-VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre, was used to identify the objects and how they were positioned so they could be excavated without causing damage.
Research on the material, currently in its early stages, is expected to help us understand more about how Iron Age people expressed wealth and status, as well as how and where they travelled and traded.
A large amount of the material within the hoard was either burnt or broken, suggesting a symbolic process of people showing how wealthy and powerful they were by being able to destroy the objects. They might have been burnt on a funerary pyre before being buried, but no human remains were found.
Professor Tom Moore, Head of the Department of Archaeology, Durham University, said: “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.
“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.”
Professor Moore added: “This discovery demonstrates how responsible metal-detectorists like Peter Heads, by alerting the authorities, have ensured this material could be safeguarded for the future.”
Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England, said: “Quite simply, this is one of the most important and exciting Iron Age period discoveries made in the UK. It sheds new light on Iron Age life in the north and Britain, but it also demonstrates connections with Europe. Its proximity to the great Iron Age enclosure at Stanwick is an important factor in understanding its significance. Historic England understood the importance of this find from the moment it was reported to us, and we’re thrilled we were able to provide grant support to allow its excavation and initial conservation.”
Duncan Wilson added: “Any member of the public viewing these new discoveries will feel a real sense of excitement and wonder.”
Dr Sophia Adams, Curator, First Millennium European and Roman Conquest period Collections, the British Museum, said: “This is the largest single deposit of horse harness and vehicle parts excavated in Britain. It is significant not just for the quantity of objects buried together 2,000 years ago but also the quality and range of items. These finds shed new light on collections at the British Museum that were discovered in the 19th and 20th centuries.”
Dr Andrew Woods, Senior Curator at the Yorkshire Museum said: “This Iron Age hoard is an unprecedented find in the north which will help us to understand more about this remarkable period in our history. We have the exciting opportunity to save the hoard for the nation and the people of Yorkshire. By acquiring the hoard we will be able to make it accessible to everyone and, working in partnership with others, we can learn more about this fascinating period, why the hoard was buried, how the objects may have been used and to cast light on to whom it may have belonged.”
ENDS
For more information and please contact
Kendra Grahame-Clarke, Kendra PR at Kendra@kendrapr.co.uk or +44 (0)7910 214474
Siona Mackelworth, Head of Audience & Programme, York Museums trust, +44 (0) 7483 825647
Please note: The finder, Peter Heads, is happy to be named by media, but does not wish to be interviewed. He will not be available for interview.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
• Images and X-ray CT imaging scans of finds available to download HERE
(Click on each individual image and then “I” for the caption. Click “…” to download).
• To download B-roll footage of the artefacts click HERE. Copyright: Durham University and Historic England
This footage is also available from North News and Pictures on NNP pictures@northnews.co.uk.
More on the discovery
The hoard was discovered in December 2021 by metal detectorist Peter Heads while searching a field in the village of Melsonby, North Yorkshire, northern England, with the landowners’ permission.
Realising the objects appeared to be ancient items that might qualify as Treasure and were potentially of archaeological significance, Peter Heads immediately contacted Professor Tom Moore at the Department of Archaeology, Durham University who had been working on a geophysics project nearby and the local Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).
After inspecting the site, and consulting with the British Museum, it was considered a likely Treasure case.
Given the potential significance of the remains, the archaeologists contacted Historic England who provided a grant of £122,487 to cover the immediate excavation of the material and support the initial assessment and conservation.
To enable the finds to be recovered in an archaeologically sensitive manner a team from Durham University returned in 2022 to conduct an excavation.
Durham University worked with µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre in the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton to carry out the CT scan of the lifted block.
The Treasure valuation
Specialist advice, research and support during the excavation and post-excavation recording has been provided by the British Museum. Dr Sophia Adams, the Museum’s Curator of the First Millennium European and Roman Conquest Period Collections prepared the report on the case for the coroner who declared the Melsonby Hoard as Treasure in 2024 under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996 and Treasure (Designation) Order 2002.
The coroner for Northallerton confirmed the case, number 2022 T245, qualified as being of prehistoric date and consisting of more than two copper alloy items found together. For the purposes of providing a reward for the finder and landowner the hoard has been independently valued and the valuation agreed by the Treasure Valuation Committee.
While the hoard has been valued at £254,000, the finder and the landowner have waived a combined £29,000 of their rewards (£2,000 and £27,000 respectively). Therefore, the revised amount for York Museums Trust to acquire this Treasure Find is now £225,000.
What’s next for the Melsonby Hoard?
The fantastic preservation, quality and quantity of metalwork, as well as the varied nature of the objects, means analysis of the material and understanding of its implications has only just begun.
More research is needed to identify parallels in Britain and across Europe. The hoard has the potential to offer insight into how these items were made and the origins of the material they include, such as the coral.
Durham University and The Yorkshire Museum will work with specialists from across Europe to explore these questions.
The Yorkshire Museum is launching a major fundraising campaign to secure the hoard for the nation. If this campaign is successful, the hoard will become a part of the Museum’s collections and available for research and public enjoyment in the future. A selection of objects from the hoard will be on display at the Yorkshire Museum from 25 March 2025. For more information about fundraising please visit: www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk
About Historic England
We are Historic England, the public body that protects and brings life to the heritage that matters to us all, so it lives on and is loved for longer. From the extraordinary to the everyday, our historic places and spaces matter. From community centres to cathedrals, homes to high streets, markets to mills – there are special places we all choose to hold onto, the legacy we want to pass on and the stories we continue to tell. That’s why we work together with people across England to discover, protect and bring new life to our shared historic environment, providing advice, knowledge, support and services. Follow us on social media @HistoricEngland.
About Durham University
Durham University is a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research based in historic Durham City in the UK.
We are a collegiate university committed to inspiring our people to do outstanding things at Durham and in the world.
We conduct research that improves lives globally and we are ranked as a world top 100 university with an international reputation in research and education (QS World University Rankings 2025).
We are a member of the Russell Group of leading research-intensive UK universities and we are consistently ranked as a top 10 university in national league tables (Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, Guardian University Guide and The Complete University Guide).
For more information about Durham University visit: www.durham.ac.uk/about/
About the British Museum
Founded in 1753, the British Museum was the first national public museum in the world. The collection tells the stories of cultures across the world, from the dawn of human history, over two million years ago, to the present. Objects range from the earliest tools made by humans and remarkable finds from the ancient world to more recent acquisitions from Africa, Oceania and the Americas, the Middle East, Asia and Europe, as well as the national collections of prints and drawings, and coins and medals. For more information about the British Museum visit: https://www.britishmuseum.org
About the μ-VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre at the University of Southampton
The μ-VIS X-Ray Imaging Centre is the University of Southampton’s dedicated centre for CT and founding partner of the National Research Facility for lab-based X-ray CT (NXCT). The centre combines state-of-the-art equipment and 25 years of experience, plus the expertise of 40+ academic staff from across the University, offering a unique integrated resource for advanced 3D imaging. For more information visit: https://nxct.ac.uk/ and https://muvis.org/
About The Yorkshire Museum
The Yorkshire Museum was one of the earliest purpose-built museums in the country, founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. The museum is located in the grounds of York's ruins of St Mary's Abbey.
The museum houses galleries showcasing some of Britain’s finest archaeological treasures from the Yorkshire and the city's Mesolithic, Roman, Viking and medieval past as well as a nationally significant natural science collection, some of which is on show in Yorkshire’s Jurassic World.
Highlights of the archaeological collections include the Roman statue of Mars, the best example of 3D Roman sculpture ever found in Britain, the York Helmet and the stunning Medieval Middleham Jewel.
For more information about the Yorkshire Museum visit: www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk
The Treasure Act 1996
Under the Treasure Act, finders have a legal obligation to report all finds of potential Treasure to the local coroner in the district in which the find was made. The success of the Act is only possible through the work of the Portable Antiquities Scheme, advising finders of their legal obligations, providing advice on the process and writing reports for coroners on Treasure finds.
The Act allows a national or local museum to acquire Treasure finds for public benefit. If this happens a reward is paid, which is (normally) shared equally between the finder and landowner. Interested parties may wish to waive their right to a reward, enabling museums to acquire finds at reduced or no cost. Rewards are fixed at the full market value of the finds, determined by the Secretary of State upon the advice of an independent panel of experts, known as the Treasure Valuation Committee.
The administration of the Treasure process is undertaken at the British Museum. This work involves the preparation of Treasure cases for coroners' inquests, providing the secretariat for the Treasure Valuation Committee, and handling disclaimed cases and the payment of rewards.
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS)
Managed by the British Museum in England, and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museums Wales in Wales, the PAS is a partnership project, working with at least 117 national and local partners to deliver the Scheme's aims. It is funded (in England) through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport's grant-in-aid to the British Museum with local partner contributions. All the Finds Advisors, Finds Liaison Officers and Finds Liaison Assistants (in England) working for the PAS are employed locally but work as a national team directed by the British Museum.
Thousands of archaeological objects are discovered every year, many by members of the public, most by people while metal-detecting. If recorded, these finds have great potential to transform archaeological knowledge, helping archaeologists understand when, where and how people lived in the past. The PAS(Opens in new window) offers the only proactive mechanism for recording such finds, which are made publicly available on its online database.
The PAS has also benefitted from internships funded by the Headley Trust, providing opportunities for people to develop a career in archaeology. Also, the Graham and Joanna Barker Fund, which has enabled extra support for the PAS in areas where resources are low. The PAS welcomes anyone interested in supporting its work locally to contact the British Museum.
Many organisations have also supported the acquisition of Treasure finds, including Art Fund, the Headley Trust, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the V&A Purchase Grant Fund. Without these, as well as public donations, many important archaeological finds would not be in public collections.