Artefacts

The deposits at Melsonby included a vast amount of ironwork and copper alloy items, with most of the artefacts being associated with horse harness and Iron Age vehicle parts.

The horse harness included items such as bridle bits, yoke fittings and terrets (the loops for reins to pass through), many richly decorated, with coral and coloured glass.

The vehicle parts included linchpins and no less than 28 iron tyres. They were found with other metalwork pieces suggesting that they may have been parts of four-wheeled wagons, rather than better-known two-wheeled chariots.

The combination and scale of such finds is very unusual in Britain and this deposit appears to represent the pieces of at least seven of these vehicles.

In addition to the horse harness and vehicle parts, the deposits also included two large vessels for drinking and feasting and spearheads. One of the vessels is a large cauldron, the other is decorated in a style which suggests Mediterranean influences on the designs.

Deliberate destruction?

Several objects show signs of having been subjected to intense heat before burial, although there is no indication of them being burnt where they were found.

Several pieces of partially melted copper alloy objects were found at different locations within the deposit and charcoal had stuck to some surfaces.

Initial surface examination of the iron tyres suggested they may have been burnt.

The wooden components of the iron wheels appear to have been broken away before being deposited, and perhaps burnt out. Many of the objects have been bent out of shape and apparently deliberately put out of use.

The tyres, for example, were severely buckled and the cauldron was placed upside down and appears to have been deliberately stoved in with a large boulder.

This may suggest that the material from trench one was placed on a funerary pyre or burnt for some other reason before it was deposited.

While the act of burning and burying these objects may have been related to a funeral, this was not a grave as no human remains were found within the deposit. Instead, these objects represent the deliberate destruction of huge amounts of wealth and perhaps indicate a commemorative feast to mark a significant event.

This consumption and destruction of objects is of a scale rarely seen in the Iron Age in Britain and may change our understanding of how wealth and status were expressed at this time.