The British Museum has reassembled a heavy gold necklace thought to belong to Queen Boudicca, a Celtic warrior of the Iceni tribe who led a revolt against invading Romans in the Iron Age.
The reassembly was made possible after a metal-detecting enthusiast found a 2-inch gold and silver ring while searching an English estate 200 km northeast of London. The ring was part of the original necklace.
Steve Hammond, a retired chemist, unearthed the piece as he surveyed fields in Norfolk with a team from the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeological Research Project, less than half a mile from the site of the original find.
“As soon as I cleaned some of the mud off, I realized it was the end of a torque [a necklace with a twisted narrow band], but I didn’t know the other half was in the British Museum,” says Hammond. “I didn’t realize how significant it was until I showed it to the site manager, who was gobsmacked.”
Experts have matched the ring to the original torque. It is believed to have been buried by the Iceni tribe to keep it from falling into the hands of invading Romans.
Norfolk was home to the Iceni tribe. Since 1948, hoards of treasure containing 180 similar torques and nearly 300 rings, bracelets and coins have been discovered in the area around Sedgeford.
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