It’s thought that the items are part of a ritual burial, probably connected to possibly a huge burial ground, probably related to the funeral of the Gath ruler Kotela, one of the fathersin-law of Philip II of Macedon. Like I said, some important people, so only the best workmanship. Told you they’re well connected, didn’t I? You’ll notice that we archaeologists say ‘maybe’ and ‘probably’ a lot. That’s so that we can’t be proved wrong. They are from the late 4th to early 3rd century BC. The find is unique. In charge of this most exciting dig is the prominent Bulgarian Thracian expert Professor Diana Gergova from the National Archaeological Institute, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, who discovered the items when excavating the Omurtag mount. The importance of this find is that it’s only a small part of a much bigger archaeological site that has still to be excavated. There’s no telling what else we’ll be able to learn about the 3rd century BC from this site, possibly showing the connection of the Gath influence on the western tribes like the Celts. Source: novinite.com (Sofia News Agency) 44
Winchester Hoard
To Britain. The Winchester Hoard. I include this one because it was described as the most important discovery of Iron Age gold objects from Britain since 1950 and because there’s a mystery element about it. It’s from the time of Julius Caesar. As gold hoards go it’s not vast, some 1160 grams of very pure gold. It includes two sets of jewellery, two torcs, one smaller than the other, probably for a woman, two brooches and two gold bracelets. The torcs however weren’t made in the usual way for an Iron Age torc from Britain, Ireland or France. This find is also quite new, discovered in 2000 by a metal detectorist named Kevan Halls who fortunately reported his find so that the site could be investigated and recorded. What’s interesting, for a hoard, is that the items weren’t found in a grave or even a settlement, rather they were found simply buried at the top of a hill. Probably covered by