How a Scottish schoolboy stumbled upon a treasure trove of ancient Egyptian artefacts in Fife after being ordered to dig up potatoes as a punishment
- A 4,000-year-old Egyptian relic was discovered by a schoolboy in Fife in 1952
It’s something you’d expect to find beneath the shifting sands of the Old Kingdom.
Instead, this 4,000-year-old Egyptian relic was discovered in 1952 by a Scottish schoolboy in a ‘kingdom’ much closer to home: Fife.
When he was ordered to dig potatoes as a punishment at Dalhousie School, in the grounds of Melville House, near Collessie, he came across a spherical shape. He initially thought it was a hoe, but it turned out to be the first of eighteen antiquities unearthed there over the next thirty years.
Following the discovery of an ancient Egyptian artefact by a Scottish schoolboy in Fife, a further seventeen were discovered over the next thirty years.
National Museums Scotland tells the stories behind the treasures for the first time
Now, for the first time, Edinburgh-based National Museums Scotland is telling the stories behind the treasures.
One idea is that they belonged to a relative of Melville who died a year after a tour of Egypt in 1856. His family, shocked by the “mommy’s curse” stories, may have subsequently buried the “unfortunate” souvenirs.
Former curator Dr Elizabeth Goring played a role in the discoveries and said: ‘This is one of the most extraordinary stories to happen to me in my 26 years at the museum.’