Stirlingshire hoard on display in Edinburg

One of Scotland most important hoard discovery of the century, a hoard of Iron Age jewellery found by a treasure hunter in Stirlingshire has gone on display in Edinburgh. A news by BBC reported, the four gold Iron Age neck ornaments, or torcs, date from between the 1st and 3rd Century BC and are said to be worth an estimated £1m. They were found in a field by safari park manager David Booth, he found the hoard just seven step away from his car and he just bought and using his metal detector for the first time; "a beginners luck". He found the ‘torcs’ buried just six inches beneath the surface in a field near Stirling.

Photo: David Booth with his finds

Booth only buy his £240 gadget and detect knives and forks in his own kitchen as practice. But just one hour into his first outdoor foray and only seven paces from where he had parked the car he became the Scotland most famous finder. The find was in five pieces; three intact necklets and two fragments of another torc, all gold and silver alloy with a touch of copper. Two of the pieces are ribbon torcs, twisted carefully from sheet gold with flattened ends. These are Scottish or Irish in origin. The fragments are from a South-west French style annular torc, which would have been an enclosed circle with a hinge and catch. But the piece that is really getting experts excited is a looped terminal torc with decorative ends, made from eight golden wires looped together and decorated with thin threads and chains. All the pieces date to between 300 and 100 BC. The Stirling find appears to reveal links between local tribes, traditionally seen as isolated and other Iron Age people in Europe.

Photo: the site (Yellow bucket mark Booth found the hoard) with timber-frame building

Further excavations have been carried out in the field where the find was made. No further gold has been discovered but archaeologists have found a timber-frame building, and they believe the site could have been some kind of shrine. Meanwhile, the future of the gold has yet to be decided. It is currently under the care of the Treasure Trove Unit, which has lent it to the museum so the public can get an idea what the find is like. Finders have no ownership rights and must report any objects to the Treasure Trove Unit, but they may receive a reward equal to the value. The items were unveiled at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh until 10 February. The Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel will value the latest discovery.

Source: BBC News, nms.ac.uk, dailymail.co.uk, msnbc.

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