An Hoard of Iron Age Vessels discovered in a village in Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, assistant coroner Gwent declared it an official treasure. The vessels were buried together as a group around the time of the Roman conquest in the second half of the 1st century AD.
The hoard was discovered in March 2019 by metal detector John Matthews in a field under a pasture in Llantrisant Fore, Monmouthshire. The finder began to dig, revealing an enameled bucket holder and an elaborately decorated pot. When he realized that the objects were of archaeological value and that there was more in the ground, he stopped digging, alerting the Cymru Portable Antiquities Scheme.
Archaeologists at PAS Cymru quickly arrived to excavate the site. The tips of horns emerged from the ground, then the head of a small brass bull. This was proved by the handle of the Iron Age copper alloy bowl. Further excavation revealed that it was part of a vessel containing a copper-alloy cauldron and sieve, two copper-alloy Roman pans, two copper-plated wooden mugs, and a large Iron Age wooden bucket with copper-alloy fittings. Archaeologists believe that it was a drinking set.
Most of the wood from the copper-clad vessels was preserved, so a large piece of the hoard was removed in its entirety and dug up in a laboratory to prevent the wood from deteriorating. Soil samples were taken from inside the ships and will be analyzed for traces of what they last contained.
