A Scottish metal detectorist unearthed a 4,000-year-old Bronze Age axe head in three pieces, reuniting the fragments after days of searching.
Experts believe the axe head, found in Aberdeenshire, offers a glimpse into the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age in local communities. The historic find is being analyzed by Treasure Trove Scotland, with hopes of displaying it in a museum near the family farm where it was discovered.
“If in Doubt, Dig It Out”
Cameron Anderson follows a well-trod adage from metal detectorists: “If in doubt, dig it out,” he told the BBC. That determination helped the Scot to find three pieces of a Bronze Age metal axe head in his family’s field over the course of multiple days.
“This is by far the oldest and most important thing I have found,” he told the BBC, adding in a Facebook comment that this is “my best find yet.”
The Three-Piece Puzzle
Anderson’s full axe head actually came in three distinct pieces, which he found over the course of a few days. He started by unearthing the largest portion (the blade end), followed that up by finding the butt of the axe, and finished the find off by digging up a small chunk from in between the two main sections.
“Being able to reunite all three pieces is an interesting aspect of this example,” a spokesperson for Treasure Trove Scotland at National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh told the BBC, “and it is possible that axe was deliberately cut into pieces in the Bronze Age before being placed in the ground.”
A Christmas Gift That Changed Everything
Anderson—a 45-year-old who has been using metal detectors for about 20 years—credits his wife’s Christmas gift of a new, better detector with allowing him to uncover this historic piece.
He set out on his hunt in a field at his family’s farm in Aberdeenshire, and started digging when he found a good signal. His initial search didn’t turn anything up, but the reading kept displaying something in the ground, so he kept going. Just over a foot into the soil, he hit his first treasure.
“There was the axe head, I knew immediately what it was,” he said.
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Day Two, and the Jigsaw Continues
With such a wild discovery on day one, Anderson was motivated on day two, and located the second piece at the far end of the field. With two pieces in hand, it became obvious that there was still a third missing piece needed to complete the axe head. And there was an entire field to cover.
“I thought maybe I had missed it,” Anderson said. “It was a needle in a haystack, but I then found that third shard. The jigsaw was complete after 4,000 years.”
“A Fascinating Glimpse Into Life at the Time”
Bruce Mann, senior historic environment officer with the local authority, told the BBC that these metal pieces are “prestigious items” that can shed more light onto local history. Experts believe that the axe is from the early Bronze Age, and is likely between 3,800 and 4,200 years old.
“The change between the old world of stone to the new one of metal would have had a profound impact on communities at the time,” Mann said. “Whether cast locally or traded from elsewhere, it is a fascinating glimpse into life at the time.”
A Legacy Rediscovered
The experts at Treasure Trove Scotland plan to continue analyzing the axe head, and Anderson hopes that the find will eventually be displayed in a museum closer to the family farm, adding that “it’s our own history here.”
