1,100-year-old brooch find remains a mystery

[Still Waters]

The origins of a 1,100-year-old brooch found in a lorry-load of soil may be "a mystery" that is never solved, say archaeologists.

The late 9th Century silver disc was discovered in a field in Great Dunham, Norfolk, which had recently been landscaped.

It is not known where the soil came from, but experts say the find is similar to the nearby Pentney Hoard.

An inquest - the process by which the find may be officially declared treasure - has been opened in Norwich and will conclude on 9 June.

The brooch was found by an inexperienced detectorist on 9 May 2019, on just his third day detecting.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-52724170

https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/953697

[hetrodoxly]

Nice find, it's not unusual for metal detectorists to find items that are from another location or out of place, we used to detect some fields because we knew the soil there was dredgings from a river.

[the13bats]

Im not getting the mystery part

[Swede]

2 hours ago, the13bats said:

Im not getting the mystery part

In archaeological research, context, soils integrity, and provenience are of prime importance in interpreting an artifact. To simplify: An artifact that has lost its contextual/temporal/cultural association has lost ~95% of its scientific value. The artifact has lost the "story" that the artifact could have added to our understandings of the past.

Without credible documentation, the artifact does become a "mystery", as there is no applicable cultural association. The artifact essentially becomes an interesting trinket.

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[openozy]

I'll give them three fitty for it.