Tal como informa la noticia de más abajo (que traduzco libre y resumidamente), un tal David Booth (arriba en la foto), que andaba buscando un nuevo pasatiempo, se compró un detector de metales, y, en su primera salida al campo cerca de la ciudad de Stirling (Escocia), descubrió un tesoro formado por cuatro torques de oro (uno de ellos fragmentado) al que se le calcula una antiguedad entre el S. III y S.I a. d. C., correspondiente a la Edad del Hierro.

El Sr. Booth declaró: "Yo siempre había querido comprar un detector de metales, como un "hobby", y me decidí a hacerlo. Resultó ser una inversión muy buena. Actué realmente solo, con el permiso del propietario del terreno, aunque sabía que en la zona había un poco de historia de la Edad del Hierro. Justo aparqué el coche en el campo, cogí el detector de metales y comencé a buscar. Tenía un presentimiento. El "flash" (del dispositivo) indicaba que había encontrado oro alrededor de siete pasos de distancia del coche, y comencé a cavar. Sabía que tenía que tener cuidado, por lo que cavé un gran círculo alrededor de la mancha con una pala de jardín. Utilicé una paleta cuando me acercaba. Seis u ocho pulgadas hacia abajo vi uno de ellos, luego descubrí el resto del tesoro. Estaban en un grupo. Mi primer sentimiento fue de casi incredulidad. Yo sabía que era oro, y parecía viejo; no podía creer que fuera tan afortunado".

Al día siguiente, por lo visto, notificó el hallazgo con fotografías por correo electrónico al Museo Nacional de Escocia.

El responsable de las secciónes de la Edad del Hierro y de Roma en el museo, el Dr. Fraser Hunter, dijo: "Cuando ví las fotos, casi me caigo de la silla".

Analizado el lugar del hallazgo, los expertos encontraron restos de una casa redonda de madera, y todo sugiere que el tesoro fue enterrado dentro de la misma, o bien como un exvoto a poderes superiores dentro de una especie de santuario.

El Dr. Hunter añadió: "Esto va a revolucionar la forma en que los antiguos habitantes de Escocia eran vistos. Demuestra que estaban mucho menos aislados que lo que se creía anteriormente".

Agregó que "la artesanía del bucle terminal del torque demuestra que fue realizado por alguien que había aprendido su oficio en el Mediterráneo, pero que combinado con el estilo local. Es un eslabón perdido. Es la primera vez que hemos visto que se combinan estos dos estilos".

El hallazgo consta de cinco piezas, tres collares intactos y dos fragmentos de otro torque, todos con aleación de oro y plata con un toque de cobre.

Dos de las piezas son cintas de torques con la hoja de oro retorcida cuidadosamente y los extremos planos. Estos son escoceses o irlandeses en origen.

Los fragmentos son de un torque anular de estilo del sur-oeste francés, el cual que habría sido un círculo cerrado con una bisagra y captura.

Pero la pieza que realmente ha conseguido excitar a los expertos es un torque con bucle terminal de finalidad decorativa, realizado a partir de ocho cables de oro unidos y decorado con hilos finos y cadenas.

Por su parte, Ian Raslton, profesor de arqueología de la Universidad de Edimburgo, declaró:

"Estos hallazgos sugieren que las tribus que conocemos de Escocia tenían vinculos más amplios, tal como arquólogos de hace una generación habían sospechado. Ellos sabían lo que había ocurrido en otros lugares, al valorar cosas similares y prácticas parecidas en entierros y ofrendas votivas. El hallazgo es el más significativo de Escocia desde 1857, cuando dos torques de oro fueron hallados en tierras de cultivo en Elgin".

Algunos arqueólogos creen que los objetos preciosos se ocultaban en tiempo de guerra para recuperarlos más tarde. Sin embargo, el profesor Ralston se inclina hacia la teoría de que los tesoros fueron ofrendas votivas.

"El tesoro probablemente perteneció a los miembros de una tribu de habla celta". dijo el profesor Alston. Las mismas tribus que se unieron para hacer frente a los invasores romanos y que fueron llamados caledonios por Tácito, el historiador, en el siglo 1 dC.

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Hasta aquí el resumen de la noticia, la cual se inscribe dentro de ese fenómeno -que parece que va "in crescendo"- de los buscadores de tesoros con detectores de metales, tal como vimos muy recientemente con otra noticia similar de la que nos informó el Sr. Percha en el post titulado "Hallado el mayor tesoro anglosajón del Reino Unido".

Tal se diría que aquel descubrimiento llevó al Sr. Booth a hacer lo mismo. El efecto contagio en estas cosas debe ser tremendo, sobre todo en estos tiempos de crisis.

En cualquier caso, el Sr. Booth ya espera también su recompensa que se calcula en un millón de libras. Según se informa en la noticia, el tesoro es propiedad de la Corona, pero nada parece obstar (en términos legislativos) para que pueda recibir un pago compensatorio por su hallazgo.

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On first time out with his metal detector, amateur treasure hunter finds £1m hoard of ancient golden jewellery

Vía: Mail online / 05 de noviembre de 2009

By Sarah Bruce

When David Booth bought himself a metal detector, he was looking for a new hobby – and perhaps the occasional old coin.

But on his very first outing with the device, he uncovered a £1million hoard of Iron Age jewellery that is Scotland’s most important find in a century.

Mr Booth, 35, found four gold necklaces – known as ‘torcs’ – buried just six inches beneath the surface in a field near Stirling.

Up until his amazing find, he had only switched the £240 gadget on to ‘detect’ knives and forks in his own kitchen as practice.

But just one hour into his first outdoor foray – and only seven paces from where he had parked the car – he became the country’s most famous finder.

The hoard – dating back as far as 300BC - has excited archaeologists so much, they say it changes the way we look at Scotland’s ancient inhabitants.

And under treasure trove rules in this country, the safari park keeper is set to get a reward equal to the market value of the find.

But a shell-shocked Mr Booth is finding it hard to come to terms with his imminent wealth – the father-to-be can think no further than ‘perhaps’ paying off his Ford Focus car loan with his riches.

He said: ‘I'd always fancied buying a metal detector, just as a hobby, and I decided to do it. It turned out to be a pretty good investment.

‘I was really only there because I had permission from the landowner, although I knew the area had some Iron Age history.

‘I just parked the car in the field, took my metal detector out and started looking – I just had a feeling about it.

‘It flashed to indicate that I had found gold about seven paces away from the car, and I started digging.

‘I knew I had to be careful, so I dug quite a large circle around the spot with a garden spade.

‘I used a trowel when I got nearer. Six or eight inches down, I saw a glimpse of one of them, then uncovered the rest of the hoard. They were in a wee group.

‘My first feeling was one of almost disbelief. I knew it was gold, and it did look old, but I couldn't believe I could be so lucky.’

Mr Booth took the collection of muddy artifacts home on September 28 and rinsed them carefully to uncover a cache of glittering jewellery.

The find was in five pieces – three intact necklets and two fragments of another torc, all gold and silver alloy with a touch of copper.

Two of the pieces are ribbon torcs, twisted carefully from sheet gold with flattened ends. These are Scottish or Irish in origin.

The fragments are from a South-west French style annular torc, which would have been an enclosed circle with a hinge and catch.

But the piece that is really getting experts excited is a looped terminal torc with decorative ends, made from eight golden wires looped together and decorated with thin threads and chains. All the pieces date to between 300 and 100 BC.

The Stirling find appears to reveal links between local tribes — traditionally seen as isolated — and other Iron Age people in Europe.

The treasure spent the night in Mr Booth’s gun safe in the house he shares with girlfriend Carolyn Morrison, 28.

The next day, he took them to work and notified the National Museum of Scotland (NMS), who were at the door within hours of receiving an email and pictures of the find.

The museum’s principal Iron Age and Roman curator Dr Fraser Hunter was one of the first on the scene, and soon a dig was set up at the top secret location where the cache was found.

He said: ‘When I saw the pictures, I nearly fell off my chair.’

As the jewellery was analysed, the site of the find also yielded more information.

Experts found the remnants of a wooden roundhouse, suggesting that the jewellery was either buried for safekeeping under a home, or was perhaps a votive offering to higher powers, within some sort of shrine.

Dr Hunter added: ‘This will revolutionise the way Scotland's ancient inhabitants are viewed – it shows they were much less isolated than previously believed.’

He added that the craftsmanship of the looped terminal torc showed it was made by smith who had learned his craft in the Mediterranean, but had combined it with the local style.

He said: ‘It's a missing link. It's the first time we've seen one that combines these two styles.’

Ian Ralston, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh, said: 'These two finds suggest tribes in what we think of as ‘Scotland’ had rather wider links than archaeologists a generation ago would have expected.

'They knew what was going on elsewhere, valued similar things and emulated practice in burials or votives.'

He added that the find was the most significant in Scotland since 1857, when two gold torcs were found on farmland in Morayshire.

Some archaeologists believe that precious of objects would be hidden in time of war, to be reclaimed later. However, Professor Ralston leans towards the theory that the hoards were votives.

The jewellery probably belonged to members of a Celtic-speaking tribe, Professor Ralston said. The same tribes would bind together to face Roman invaders and would be called Caledonii by Tacitus, the historian, in the 1st century AD.

Dr David Caldwell of the Scottish Treasure Trove Unit, said that the torcs would ‘definitely’ stay in Scotland.

He added: ‘There hasn't been a find like this in Scotland for over 100 years.

‘It is fair to say that this is very much bigger and better in terms of value and appeal than anything we have seen for a very long time.’

The find is said to be the most significant in Scotland since 1857, when two gold torcs were found on farmland in Moray.

Stirling heritage dates back 800 years to the 12th century, when the town first received the burgh title.

It was granted a Royal Charter, becoming one of the most important towns of medieval Scotland.

Between 300BC and AD300, there is evidence of Iron Age settlers building fortifications and defensive works and so Stirling developed into a town of both strategic importance and wealth.

The exact location of the find is being kept secret by the national Treasure Trove Unit, which is based at the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Why finders are not keepers

Since ancient times, the common law of Scotland has been that treasure trove and other property lost or abandoned or with no obviousowner belongs to the Crown.

Such finds do not belong to the owner of the land where they were found, nor to the finder, but are allocated to public museums for research or public exhibition.

The country’s Treasure Trove Unit, based at the National Museum of Scotland, is an independent body that works on behalf of The Queen’s and Lord

Treasurer’s Remembrancer, the administrator of treasure trove in Scotland.

The Treasure Trove Unit investigates any finds on the Crown’s behalf, and arranges for them to be housed in public museums around the country, acting on the advice of the experts at the Scottish Archaeological Finds Advisory Panel.

The remembrancer recognises the contribution of members of the public who make chance finds like Mr Booth and will usually make a reward payment around the market value of the find.