Exciting new discovery made

Digging a hole, ploughing a field, metal detecting - when we are lucky enough to uncover some relic from the dim and distant past it gives us a window through which we can glimpse into the lives of those who lived in Northern Ireland many years ago. So it is exciting to hear that four miles west of Armagh a collection of objects, believed to date from the Bronze Age, has been unearthed in an area of archaeological importance.

The objects discovered are a bronze sword, 61 cm long, its wooden scabbard and two small bronze bowls. Experts say that the sword is typical of the Irish late Bronze Age, but the two bowls were made in central Europe, probably in Czechoslovakia, around 1000 BC. Apparently, the bowls enable them to date the sword and the hoard more closely than would have hitherto been possible.

So how did the bowls come to be in Ireland? They are unique even for the British Isles. It is possible that they were given as gifts between neighbouring peoples and so made their journey westwards, eventually ending up in the possession of a warrior in Armagh. The burial of these objects in an Armagh bog appears to have been a ritual act, possibly to appease whatever god they believed could alleviate the deteriorating climate.

Bronze Age hoard from near Armagh. Small bronze bowl, bronze sword and wooden scabbard. The objects are shown in their original relative positions.