Rare Golden Ornament Unearthed in England

NORTHUMBERLAND, ENGLAND—A gold ornament, thought to be one of the earliest pieces of metalwork in the United Kingdom, was unearthed by four school-aged children during a community excavation at Kirkhaugh. The burial mound at the site was first excavated in 1935 by Herbert Maryon, who unearthed a matching ornament. The tresses, which date to 2,300 B.C., were probably worn in the hair, perhaps by someone who traveled to Britain in search of gold and copper. “It can be regarded as marking the very start of mineral exploitation in the North Pennines, leading in due course to Roman exploitation of lead and silver, and eventually to the vast post-medieval lead industry for which the region is internationally famous,” Paul Frodsham of Altogether Archaeology told The Express.