3,000-year-old bronze spearhead found in East Yorkshire by metal detectorist

The spearhead formed part of a small hoard of scrap metal discovered at Skirpenbeck, near Stamford Bridge, in 2018.

Among the pieces of ingots and casting waste, was a fragment of the socketed and ribbed spearhead, thought to date to around 1150 to 800BC.

The hoard was recently acquired by the East Riding Museums Service for £150.

Museums registrar Dr David Marchant said: “You could view it as the work of a jobbing craftsman, who would maybe move round and provide services to different communities.

“It was quite a skilled thing - still is.”

The spearhead may not have come out of its mould well, got broken, and then dumped with the rest of the scraps, possibly for recycling later.

Dr Marchant said: “He may have done a bit of work, dumped what he didn’t want and moved on - we will never know for sure.

“The reason we went for it was that we didn’t have a good example of a Bronze Age spearhead - even though it is only half of it.

“They are not phenomenally rare, but still sufficiently unusual to warrant attention.

“Metalwork is still relatively uncommon.

“By the time you get to the Iron Age lots of people are using and making metal. But in the Bronze Age it is a bit more special - almost magical.”

A silver dress hook, used to fasten a tunic, which was decorated with beads of silver wire, has also gone into museum’s archaeological collection, after being bought for £25 from the

British Museum after being declared Treasure. It was found at Wilberfoss in 2018 by a metal detectorist and dates to about 1500-1650.

A third object - part of an Anglo-Saxon brooch, found at Thwing - has also been donated to the collection.

Dating to around 800-1000, it has a beautiful design of a bird and branch in the centre, with traces of red and blue enamel that once covered the whole surface.

With the Treasure House closed, Dr Marchant said they could now be seen on their online catalogue – East Riding Treasures Online. He said: “We are trying to provide as much of a cultural offer as we can online.”

Visit /www.eastridingmuseums.co.uk/museums-online/treasure-at-the-treasurehouse/