An ‘exceptional’ 3,000-year-old trove of artefacts found by a metal detectorist in 2020 has been preserved for the country.
The Bronze Age Peebles Hoard, which includes a sword and decorated trinkets, was discovered in the Scottish Borders by Mariusz Stępień, who is now 48.
It dates from the period 1000-800 BC and includes more than 500 special bronze and organic objects.
Experts are calling it one of the most important treasures ever found in Scotland – and now the British will be able to enjoy it after National Museums Scotland paid an undisclosed sum to Mr Stępień.
Efforts are now underway to secure funding for continued research and preservation of the treasure.
An ‘exceptional’ 3,000-year-old trove of artefacts found by a metal detectorist in 2020 has been preserved for the country. The Bronze Age Peebles Hoard, which includes a sword and decorated trinkets, was discovered in the Scottish Borders by Mariusz Stępień
It dates from the period 1000-800 BC and includes more than 500 special bronze and organic objects
It includes objects that have no archaeological parallel anywhere in Europe.
Two rattle pendants, the first ever found in Scotland, are more commonly excavated in Denmark, northern Germany and northern Poland.
They are made of interconnected bronze rings and hanging plates that would have hung from a horse or wooden vehicle and rattled as they moved.
The found sword was still in its wooden sheath.
And the remains of complex decorative bands have also survived in the ground for more than three millennia.
Mr Stępień was searching a field near Peebles with friends in June 2020 when he found a bronze object about one and a half meters underground.
The group camped in the field and built a shelter to protect the find from the elements while archaeologists investigated for 22 days.
Mr Stępień reported the find to the Treasure Trove Unit, which is part of National Museums Scotland.
Archaeologists were called to the site at Peebles before the artefacts were brought to Edinburgh
The found sword was still in its wooden sheath
A frame of the CT scan before the excavation of the Peebles Hoard
X-ray of one of the rattle hangers from the Peebles Hoard
A bronze object from the Bronze Age Peebles Hoard
A bronze knob from the Bronze Age Peebles Hoard
The Peebles Hoard is seen during the painstaking excavation in 2020
The Peebles Hoard is seen during the painstaking excavation in 2020
Metal detector Mariusz Stępień stands next to the treasure before it was transported to Edinburgh for further examination, 2020
Experts then extracted the treasure from the ground in one block and continued excavating and analyzing it under laboratory conditions.
The entire block was then CT scanned by µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, University of Southampton, a partner institution of the National Research Facility for Lab-based X-ray Computed Tomography (NXCT).
This captured crucial details of the internal structure and relationships between materials in their original context.
CT scans also revealed that some of these objects had been produced using ‘lost wax casting’, a rare technique in Bronze Age Britain.
This represents some of the earliest evidence of its use in Scotland.
A painstaking excavation by archaeologists and conservators followed at the National Museums Collection Center in Edinburgh, eventually uncovering the treasure’s fragile parts after being hidden underground for more than 3,000 years.
Dr. Matthew Knight, senior curator of Prehistory at National Museums Scotland, said: ‘The Peebles Hoard is exceptional, a completely unique discovery that rewrites our understanding of both Bronze Age communities in Scotland and our prehistoric international connections.
‘Thanks to the dedication of the finder, the expertise of colleagues at the Treasure Trove Unit and National Museums Scotland, and the generosity of the team at the µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, University of Southampton, we have made significant progress.
‘However, more funding is vital to continue our conservation and research, preserving the treasure for future generations and uncovering the stories of Scotland’s ancient past.’
Professor Ian Sinclair, founder of the µ-VIS X-ray Imaging Centre, commented: ‘We are pleased and excited to have worked together as part of this multidisciplinary project.
One of the objects from the Peebles Hoard is being examined by an expert
‘CT scanning the treasure was certainly a major challenge due to the size of the treasure, but we seized the opportunity to use our technical skills to successfully support this research into such an exceptional historical find.’
After the initial discovery in 2020, Mr Stępień said: ‘I thought I had never seen anything like this before and had the feeling from the start that this could be something spectacular and I have just discovered a huge part of Scottish history,’ Stepien said.
‘I was over the moon and actually shaking with happiness.
‘We wanted to be involved in the excavation from start to finish.
‘I will never forget those 22 days in the field. Every day new objects came out that changed the context of the find, every day we learned something new.
‘I am so 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.’