Archaeology students from the University of Worcester have been excavating a North Herefordshire site where one of the largest hoards of Bronze Age spearheads ever found in Britain was discovered.
Around 100 weapons were found near Leintwardine in the 1860s when workmen were installing drainage pipes. Most of the finds now in the British Museum’s keeping.
The site has remained largely untouched since the discovery and university students, working with the Leintwardine History Society, have been helping to uncover its history.
Dr Jodie Lewis, course leader in archaeology at the university and an expert in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, said: “Despite this being one of the largest hoards of Bronze Age spearheads found in Britain little work has been carried out since.
“Preliminary investigations were carried out by the Leintwardine History Society last year and its discoveries led it to call on Professor Richard Bradley of the University of Reading, Europe’s leading archaeological expert on Bronze Age metalwork deposition.
“Richard agreed more work was needed and contacted me to see if I wanted to run a joint project with him.”
The group opened several trenches including one in the area where the metalwork was found in the 19th century and another trench over a large mound in an adjacent field.
They uncovered a number of pieces of flint dating back to around 6,000BC. Using specialist mapping equipment the students also discovered what appears to be a Late Bronze Age high status settlement.
Dr Lewis said: “During the Bronze Age it seems that the site where the metalwork hoard was placed was a bog or marsh – at this time deposition in water is known throughout Europe and seems to have been some kind of ritual deposit. The settlement may be contemporary with the metalwork deposition and be related to communal gatherings associated with deposition. This was all happening in the Later Bronze Age, around 800BC.”
The artefacts unearthed will now be analysed by experts and will eventually end up in a local museum.
Dr Lewis added: “We will be analysing all our findings and preparing a report for publication in a peer-reviewed academic journal. We will have to go back to the ‘settlement’ site and monitor things and complete topographical surveys of the location too.”