Anglesey treasure: Metal ram's head among artefacts found

Sixteen artefacts from the Iron Age and Roman times have been declared treasure

Sixteen artefacts from the Iron Age and Roman times have been found in a boggy field thought to once have been a sacred spring.

Among the items found were Iron Age chariot fittings, a metal ram's head and a Roman copper ingot.

Metal detectorist Ian Porter found them on 4 March 2020 in a field the community of Llanfair-Mathafarn-Eithaf on Anglesey.

They were declared treasure by the senior coroner for north-west Wales.

They were all discovered near and around where a spring emerges in a boggy area of a modern field, liable to waterlogging.

The find was first reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales (PAS Cymru) and then as treasure by expert archaeological curators based at Amgueddfa Cymru, Museum Wales.

The ram's head fitting is believed to have been a fitting on a vehicle or head for a staff

Mr Porter said: "I was so excited when I found these items. To think that the last person who touched them lived almost two thousand years ago and it shows some of the history of the island".

Adam Gwilt, of Amgueddfa Cymru, Museum Wales, said: "This culturally mixed artefact group, containing both Iron Age chariot fittings and Roman cavalry fittings, is an important new find for the island.

Mr Porter found a complete copper ingot

"It was placed during or in the aftermath of the period of invasion of the island by the Roman army.

"This group of gifted objects illustrates how watery locations, including the sacred lake site at Llyn Cerrig Bach, were seen as significant places for religious ceremony at this time of conflict and change."

• JUNE: VOICE OF A SILENT TWIN: The tragic story of June, her sister and their life in Broadmoor

• DEATH OF A CODEBREAKER: The man found naked & dead inside a bag