A senior curator at Yorkshire Museum discusses the discovery of a 150kg tangle of objects that cannot be dismantled without causing permanent damage. The hoard, which comprises more than 800 items, was almost certainly associated with a tribe called the Brigantes, who controlled most of what is now northern Britain. The objects, including fragments of chariots, bridle bits, weapons, a cauldron, a mysterious mirror, and more, were deliberately dismantled and burned before they were buried.
Yorkshire Museum’s senior curator, Glynn Davis, with ‘the block’, a 150kg tangle of objects that cannot be dismantled without causing permanent damage. Iron age objects that tell a dramatic story of female power and that dispel the myth that northern Britain was a left-behind backwater have gone on display for the first time.
The hoard, which comprises more than 800 items, was almost certainly associated with a tribe called the Brigantes, who controlled most of what is now northern Britain. There are fragments of chariots, bridle bits, weapons, a cauldron, a mysterious mirror and much more – all of them deliberately dismantled and burned before they were buried. It was a ‘crazy amount of effort and work’, said everyone associated with the hoard believes it is an unprecedented, once-in-a-generation find.
Five years after its initial discovery by a metal detectorist, the public will now be able to see what all the fuss is about. The big question is why the objects were buried: was it to mark an important feast or festival? Did the Brigantes capture treasures after a fight? Was it for the funeral of one of their most important people?
The exhibition asks the questions rather than answering them, although its lead curator, Emily North, points to one rare object going on display – a large, heavily corroded iron mirror.
‘The mirror is my absolute favourite object’, North said. ‘It is spectacular, and that’s not because of how it looks, because it doesn’t look like an awful lot at the moment. It is the clue that could solve the puzzle of why people buried this hoard. ’ Iron age mirrors are exclusively associated with powerful women and have not been found in the graves of men or children.
North said the timing was not quite right for it to have belonged to Cartimandua, but it could have belonged to her mother or grandmother.
‘It is a magical object associated with female power’, she said. ‘This mirror would have given quite a distorted view of the person who was looking into it. ’ North said the mirror was less likely to have been an object of vanity and more seen as a ‘bridge to a past life’. It suggests a story of a powerful older woman ‘and her connection to a mystical world’.
Just under a fifth of the hoard has gone on display, with more to come in future years. At the centre of the show is a climate-controlled case containing what has become known as ‘the block’ – a 150kg corroded tangle of objects. Among the objects in ‘the block’ are a ‘stylised boar’s head that’s part of an object and also a man’s face’, North said.
‘It is an incredibly tantalising object’, North said. ‘You can peek through the surface at some of the things that are hidden inside. There’s a stylised boar’s head that’s part of an object and also a man’s face … To see the face of an iron age Briton as they depicted themselves is something very, very special.
’ From Roman times onwards, iron age life in northern Britain has been seen as less developed and less connected than in the south, but experts say the Melsonby hoard means we need to rethink that.
‘The sheer wealth, artistry, skill and international connections that are revealed by the objects in the hoard really show that the iron age north of Britain was a vibrant place to be’, North said. ‘It was not left behind in any sense of the word.
Iron Age Female Power Brigantes Hoard Mirror Northern Britain Left-Behind Vibrant Artistry Skill International Connections Left Behind Vibrant Artistry Skill International Connections
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