Bronze Age axes found in Wiltshire field classed as treasure

The axe heads are several thousands of years old

Two early-Bronze Age axe heads found in a field in Wiltshire have been classed as treasure and will go on display.

The "incredibly rare finds" were made in March by Kay Stevenson, from South Gloucestershire, while metal detecting.

Partner Ade Rice said: "She held up one and my jaw hit the ground and then she said: 'What about this one?' and my jaw hit the ground again."

The 4,000-year-old axe heads have been donated to Chippenham Museum and will go on display from January.

Ms Stevenson said she stumbled across the heads while out walking with friends

Known as the Punk Metal Detectorists, Ms Stevenson said she was just "wandering around" in a Wiltshire field when her detector made a "very distinctive" sound.

"I was knelt down, I dug it up and thought that looks like a tiny little axe head and then I walked on a little bit further and found another one," she said.

"They were in the middle of a field, down about eight or nine inches and they were about 12ft (3.6m) apart."

'Wow moment'

Unsure of what she had unearthed, she showed her finds to her partner.

"As soon as she showed them to me, it was obvious. My jaw hit the ground," said Mr Rice.

"It was a wow moment."

Kurt Adams, finds liaison officer for Gloucestershire and Avon, said the axe heads date back to the "earliest days of metal work" in Britain and were a "fantastic find".

"You're looking at about 4,000 year old artefacts - that were used for cutting down trees and chopping wood," he said.

"With the early Bronze Age, they're really discovering how to use this new metal and forge this new material.

"So as a result, any metal artefacts from the early Bronze Age are incredibly rare finds."