Press Releases

20 Years of Treasure

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the implementation of the Treasure Act 1996 the Sunday Telegraph is highlighting a ‘Top 20’ list of Treasures which the public are invited to vote on. From this ‘Top 20’ list of treasures – Treasure 20 - are two finds from Wales.

The first Welsh item on the list is a hoard of 199 Silver coins found in Abergavenny, dating from 1066-87, during the early days of Norman incursions into Wales under William I (‘the Conqueror’). The coins had been lost or hidden in a cloth bag, after 1080. For most people they would have represented several months’ pay. They form a unique hoard for the period from western Britain.

 

The second Welsh discovery is a site, rather than a single group of objects. The discovery is a prehistoric feasting place and settlement, uncovered in Llanmaes, in the Vale of Glamorgan.

 

In 2003, Steve McGrory and Anton Jones reported a group of rare bronze cauldrons and axes to the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales, discovered near the village of Llanmaes. An initial investigation of the find-spot by the National Museum turned into an important research excavation and community archaeology project. This has revealed an extraordinary prehistoric feasting mound, containing thousands of pig bones, further feasting vessels and axes.

 

The site contains a variety of unexpected items including Bronze Age axe heads from northern France and huge numbers of pig bones. One particularly unusual find has been the tooth of a Great White shark, which has left archaeologists puzzled. Before this, there was no known archaeology here. This ephemeral site and its rich stories have only been revealed through follow-up investigation of a PAS-reported find.

 

The Treasure Act, implemented in September 1997, is the main mechanism by which treasure finds recovered by the public are acquired by museums for public benefit. Non-treasure finds may also be recorded on a voluntary basis through the Portable Antiquities Scheme in England and Wales (PAS Cymru).

 

Treasure 20 is a partnership between the British Museum, The Telegraph and museums across the country. The project celebrates the many Treasure finds made in England and Wales in the last 20 years and their contribution to an understanding of our past.

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/wellbeing/mood-and-mind/treasure-20-vote-favourite/

 

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