The Melsonby hoard is a remarkable collection of more than 800 iron-age metal artefacts, which was found in a field near Melsonby, North Yorkshire, in December 2021.
Its discovery represents a triumph of cross-sector collaboration in British archaeology. This extraordinary find excavated from Yorkshire soil is not just a collection of ancient objects, but signals a need for a significant revision of how we understand iron-age Britain.
The presence of materials imported from the Mediterranean, and a type of continental European wagon new to Britain, challenges the idea that iron-age Britons were isolated. Instead, it tell us that “wealthy” iron-age people in northern England had contacts extending out across Europe.
