Man With Metal Detector Finds Roman-Era Grave

LiveScience via Discovery News ^ | April 17, 2015 | Laura Geggel

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A man in England went exploring with a metal detector and made the discovery of a lifetime: an exquisitely preserved Roman-era grave filled with artifacts, including bronze jugs, mosaic glassware, coins and hobnails from a pair of shoes, all dating to about A.D. 200.

The grave likely belonged to a wealthy individual, said Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, the archaeology and outreach officer for the North Hertfordshire District Council. Once Fitzpatrick-Matthews and his colleagues located the grave, they also found evidence of a nearby building, likely a shrine or temple, attached to a villa.

The man with the metal detector, Phil Kirk, found the grave in a field in Kelshall, a small village located between London and Cambridge. He had once found a Roman coin in the same field, and had a hunch that there were more Roman artifacts nearby, Fitzpatrick-Matthews said.

In October 2014, Kirk hit the jackpot. His metal detector led him to a buried bronze jug that stood roughly 10 inches (25 centimeters) tall. Next, he pulled out a bronze patera (a dish used for pouring wine or blood libations) and two other jugs.

Elated with what he had found, Kirk contacted local experts and told them about the findings. They returned to the spot later that month and in November and found even more artifacts: a bronze pin, an iron lamp, glassware and bottles of different shapes, including octagonal, hexagonal, rectangular and square, Fitzpatrick-Matthews said.

The hexagonal bottle held an unusual and macabre surprise.

"It quickly became apparent that the large hexagonal bottle was stuffed full with cremated bone," said Fitzpatrick-Matthews, who hadn't realized they were digging into a grave.

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:') Personally, other than rack of lamb, I don't like meat rare, much less...

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It's a good idea I'm sure. One of the handful of people I've known from the UK went into some detail about his former avocation/occupation, which involved an arsenal of different metal detectors, and some tips on how to analyze a landscape to maximize his detection efforts. He also used to take his holiday at Gibraltar, because people swimming in that British part of the ocean tend to lose stuff, like expensive divers watches, and the water is a bit too deep for most people's tastes to recover what they'd lost.

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