An “exceptional” hoard of 3,000-year-old objects found by a metal detectorist in 2020 has been saved for the nation.
The Bronze Age Peebles Hoard, which includes a sword and decorated trinkets, was discovered in the Scottish Borders by Mariusz Stępień, now 48 years old.
It dates from the year 1000 to 800 BC. C. and comprises more than 500 unusual organic and bronze objects.
Experts have called it one of the most important treasures ever found in Scotland, and now Britons will be able to enjoy it after National Museums Scotland paid an undisclosed sum to Mr Stępień.
Efforts are now underway to secure funding to continue research and conservation of the treasure.
An “exceptional” hoard of 3,000-year-old objects found by a metal detectorist in 2020 has been saved for the nation. The Bronze Age Peebles Hoard, including a sword and decorated trinkets, was discovered in the Scottish Borders by Mariusz Stępień
Dating from 1000-800 BC, it comprises more than 500 unusual organic and bronze objects.
It includes objects that have no archaeological parallel anywhere in Europe.
Two rattlesnake pendants, the first found in Scotland, are most commonly unearthed in Denmark, northern Germany and northern Poland.
They were created from interlocking bronze rings and hanging plates that hung from a horse or wooden vehicle and rattled as they moved.
The sword found was still in its wooden sheath.
And the remains of complex decorative straps have also survived underground for more than three millennia.
Stępień was searching with friends in a field near Peebles in June 2020 when he found a bronze object buried about a foot and a half underground.
The group camped in the field and built a shelter to protect the find from the elements while archaeologists spent 22 days investigating.
Stępień reported the find to the Treasury Unit, which is part of the National Museums of Scotland.
Archaeologists were called to the site near Peebles before the artefacts were taken to Edinburgh.
The sword found was still in its wooden sheath.
A frame of the CT scan prior to the Peebles Hoard excavation
X-ray of one of the Peebles Hoard rattle pendants
A set bronze object from the Peebles Hoard of the Bronze Age
A bronze button from the Bronze Age Peebles hoard
Peebles treasure seen during painstaking excavation in 2020
Peebles treasure seen during painstaking excavation in 2020
Metal detectorist Mariusz Stępień lies next to the treasure before it was transported to Edinburgh for further examination, 2020.
Experts then removed the treasure from the ground in a single block and continued excavation and analysis under laboratory conditions.
The entire block was then scanned by CT using the µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Facility at the University of Southampton, a partner institution of the National Research Center for laboratory-based X-ray Computed Tomography (NXCT).
This captured crucial details of the internal structure and relationships between materials in their original context.
The CT scan also revealed that some of these objects were produced using “lost wax casting”, a technique uncommon in Bronze Age Britain.
This represents some of the first evidence of its use in Scotland.
A meticulous excavation by archaeologists and conservators at the National Museums Collection Center in Edinburgh followed, finally unearthing the fragile components of the treasure after more than 3,000 years hidden underground.
Dr Matthew Knight, Senior Curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, said: “The Peebles Hoard is exceptional, an absolutely unique discovery that rewrites our understanding of Bronze Age communities in Scotland and our international prehistoric connections. .
“Thanks to the diligence of the finder, the expertise of colleagues at the Treasure Trove Unit and National Museums Scotland, and the generosity of the team at the University of Southampton’s µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, we have made significant progress .
“However, more funding is vital to continue our conservation and research, preserve the treasure for future generations and uncover the stories of Scotland’s ancient past.”
Professor Ian Sinclair, founder of the µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, commented: ‘We are delighted and excited to have worked as part of this multidisciplinary project.
One of the Peebles Hoard objects seen being examined by an expert
“Scanning the treasure using CT scanning was certainly a big challenge due to the scale of the treasure block, but we relished the opportunity to bring our engineering skills to bear to successfully support this research into such an exceptional historical find.”
After the initial discovery in 2020, Stępień said: “I thought I had never seen anything like this before and I felt from the beginning that this could be something spectacular and I have just discovered a huge part of Scotland’s history,” Stepién said.
“I was over the moon, shaking with happiness.
‘We wanted to be part of the excavation from start to finish.
‘I will never forget those 22 days I spent in the field. Every day new objects came out that changed the context of the discovery, every day we learned something new.
‘I am very happy that the Earth has revealed to me something that was hidden for more than 3,000 years. “I still can’t believe it happened.”