Mysterious poo shaped object found in field is actually Viking treasure from more than 1,000 years ago

The discovery was made by a man walking in Pembrokeshire with a metal detector

An item which looks like a large poo is actually treasure believed to date back as far as the Viking Age. William Goronwy was out walking in a field in the village of Burton in Pembrokeshire on April 24, 2020. While there, he discovered the mystery object with the aid of a metal detector.

The item’s diameter measured 59.4mm, with a maximum width of 10.8mm and weighed 13.8g. And after investigation, it turned out that find was far from your bog standard discovery - it was an ingot made up of more than 10% silver. Ingots are generally made of metal, either pure or alloy, which have been cast into a bar or block using a mold chill method. Precious metal ingots were previously used as currency, or as currency reserve, similar to gold bars, thousands of years ago.

A treasure inquest was held at Pembrokeshire County Hall in Haverfordwest on Thursday, where the ancient item was officially declared as treasure by the county’s assistant coroner Gareth Lewis, who read a report at the hearing which outlined the specifications and age of the piece.

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The value of the item is not known, and no estimate was given at the inquest, but given its age, Milford Haven Maritime and Heritage Museum is interested in acquiring it and adding it to their collection. A spokeswoman for Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales said: “On January 26, an early medieval silver ingot was declared treasure by the Coroner for Pembrokeshire.

“The find was made by William Goronwy while metal-detecting in a field under pasture in Burton, Pembrokeshire, on April 24, 2020. The silver ingot is finger-shaped with rounded ends and has two nicks on one surface, probably created when a person was testing the quality of the metal. Comparisons with other known examples from Wales indicate this to be of Viking date, around AD 800-1000.”

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