An archaeological excavation in Wales has unearthed magnificent Iron Age artifacts. But it wasn’t archaeologists who found them.
Military personnel and veterans have uncovered 2,000-year-old Celtic artifacts beneath the airfield at Royal Air Force (RAF) Valley station in Wales. The findings, officially declared as treasure, may have been part of a famous archaeological hoard previously excavated in the 1940s. They include horse gear and rare parts of a chariot, as detailed in a statement by the U.K. government from late last month.
“The importance of RAF Valley to UK Defence today is beyond question, but this is a reminder that we are part of a continuum spanning over 2,000 years and we must be responsible stewards of this land,” said Station Commander at RAF Valley Gez Currie in the statement. “We are immensely proud to be part of efforts to discover and conserve these important artefacts from Welsh history and equally delighted that our own service personnel have been so intimately involved in these efforts.”
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) led the excavations ahead of plans to refurbish the airfield. The archaeological work included personnel and veterans from Operation Nightingale, an initiative that supports military personnel and veterans through archaeology.
The findings include a horse bit dating to around 60 CE and a terret ring, used to guide the reins of a horse-drawn Celtic chariot, which is one of only three ever found in Wales featuring a distinctive red inlay.
“The search for the lost hoard was hard work and we had a huge area to cover. It wasn’t until the final day – with just 10 minutes to go – that I discovered the horse bridle-bit,” said Flt Sgt Graham Moore. “At first the team thought I was joking, but quickly realised I’d found something special. Words could not explain how I felt in that moment, but it was a wonderful experience.”
Archaeologists believe that the horse bit and terret ring are part of the important Llyn Cerrig Bach hoard, which came to light in 1943 during wartime construction work on the airfield. Celtic people likely deposited the artifacts in the Llyn Cerrig-bach lake as offerings to their gods. Thousands of years later, workers extracted peat from several lakes in the area to stabilize the foundations of the new runway—along with over 150 bronze and iron artifacts dating to between 300 BCE and 100 CE.
“It is amazing to think that these 2,000 year old artefacts have remained so complete and well-preserved within a shallow peat deposit, previously moved and dragged onto the airfield over 80 years ago from a nearby ancient lake!” said Adam Gwilt, senior curator of prehistory at the Amgueddfa Cymru museum in Wales, which will host the recent findings.
“The bridle-bit and terret are both of styles which are not represented amongst the original collection,” he added. “They add important new information on the religious gifting of prized objects into the lake at the end of the Iron Age, a little before, or at around the time when the Roman Army invaded Anglesey.”
Given this, it feels rather appropriate that these objects first came to light during World War II, as the Allies fended off a completely different kind of invasion.