Bronze relics found in Monmouthshire declared treasure

Two hoards of Bronze Age tools and weapons found in Monmouthshire have been declared treasure.

Metal detectorists unearthed the collection of axe and spear heads, thought to be around 3,000 years old, in a field in Llantilio Crossenny in January 2015.

The items are thought to date back to around 1000-800 BC - the Ewart Park phase of the late Bronze Age.

The two finds were found around 135 metres away from each other.

Lee Doyle, Liam O'Keefe, David Owen and John Thomas discovered the first hoard containing nine bronze axe heads.

David Hughes found the second smaller collection which contained two bronze axe heads and a bronze spear head.

Abergavenny Museum is looking to buy the items with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Museum curator Rachel Rogers said: "The stories to be told from these objects will really help us get a little closer to the people and communities who made and used them."

Principal Curator of Prehistory at National Museum Wales, Adam Gwilt, said: "Many whole and still usable bronze objects were carefully buried in the ground at this particular time and archaeologists now think that these may have been gifts to the gods and ancestors, buried during ritual ceremonies.

"It is curious that this place in the landscape was chosen for the burial of two hoards of the same date and very close to each other."