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Buried Treasures Unearthed
The Snettisham hoard
These are the crown jewels of Norfolk of over
2000 years ago. They are gold and silver torcs that were worn
around the neck to display the wearer's
importance.
Torcs were
first found at Snettisham in 1948 and 1950, and experts thought no
more were buried there. Then in 1990, metal detectorist Charles
Hodder found 9 kilograms of gold and silver fragments and ingots at
the site. He reported his finds and helped archaeologists excavate
the field. They unearthed seventy-five complete torcs, carefully
buried in small pits.
But
there are stories that another hoard was found at Snettisham. Known
as 'the Bowl hoard', it is thought to consist of a
silver bowl containing large numbers of Iron Age coins. It was
illegally removed from the site and allegedly smuggled out of
Britain and sold. Little more is known - a vital piece of our
history has probably been lost
forever.
From the
collection of the British Museum