Detectorists strike gold as British Museum reveals record haul

There were 1,120 treasure finds in 2016, the highest number since the revised Treasure Act came into law 20 years ago

A glorious jewel made from hundreds of tiny pieces of garnet set in gold to form geometric and animal shapes lay for 1,400 years on the breast of an unknown woman until her Norfolk grave was rediscovered by a first-year university student. The item was among a record number of treasure finds reported by the British Museum in the year 2016.

The pendant and other jewels and coins buried with the woman were among the spectacular discoveries mainly made by metal detectorists - including a hoard of 158 bronze age axes and ingots, the largest of its kind to be found in Yorkshire; and more than 2,000 silver Roman coins in Piddletrenthide, Dorset, which the finder and a local archaeologist managed to lift together with the clay pot holding them and the entire block of soil in which it was buried, so it could be studied at the British Museum.