All posts by Archaeology World Team

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

World Oldest DNA Discovered in 1.2 Million Year Old Mammoth Teeth

World Oldest DNA Discovered in 1.2 Million Year Old Mammoth Teeth

As part of a study that uncovers new information about extinct animals, scientists have discovered the oldest DNA on record, extracting it from the molars of mammoths that roamed northeastern Siberia up to 1.2 million years ago 

Scientists announced on Wednesday that they have successfully retrieved and sequenced DNA from three different mammoths— elephant cousins that were among the large mammals that dominated Ice Age landscapes — entombed in permafrost conditions conducive to the preservation of ancient genetic material.

While the remains were discovered starting in the 1970s, new scientific methods were needed to extract the DNA.

An artist’s reconstruction shows the extinct steppe mammoth, an evolutionary predecessor to the woolly mammoth that flourished during the last Ice Age.

The oldest of the three, discovered near the Krestovka river, was approximately 1.2 million years old. Another, from near the Adycha river, was approximately 1 to 1.2 million years old. The third, from near the Chukochya river, was roughly700,000 years old.

“This is by a wide margin the oldest DNA ever recovered,” said evolutionary geneticist Love Dalén of the Centre for Palaeogenetics in Sweden, who led the research published in the journal Nature.

Until now, the oldest DNA came from a horse that lived in Canada’s Yukon territory about 700,000 years ago. By way of comparison, our species, Homo sapiens, first appeared roughly 300,000 years ago.

DNA is the self-replicating material that carries genetic information in living organisms — sort of a blueprint of life. “This DNA was extremely degraded into very small pieces, and so we had to sequence many billions of ultra-short DNA sequences in order to puzzle these genomes together,” Dalén said.

Most knowledge about prehistoric creatures comes from studying skeletal fossils, but there is a limit to what these can tell about an organism, particularly relating to genetic relationships and traits.

Ancient DNA can help fill in the blanks but is highly perishable. Sophisticated new research techniques are enabling scientists to recover ever-older DNA.

“It would be a wild guess, but a maximum of two to three million years should be doable,” Dalén said.

That could shed light on some bygone species but would leave many others unattainable — including the dinosaurs, who went extinct 66 million years ago.

World Oldest DNA Discovered in 1.2 Million Year Old Mammoth Teeth
Palaeontologists Love Dalén and Patricia Pecnerova with a mammoth tusk on Wrangel Island, Arctic Ocean.

“When we can get DNA on a million-year time scale, we can study the process of speciation (formation of new species) in a much more detailed way. Morphological analyses on bones and teeth usually only allow researchers to study a handful of characteristics in the fossils, whereas with genomics we are analysing many tens of thousands of characteristics,” Dalén said.

The researchers gained insights into mammoth evolution and migration by comparing the DNA to that of mammoths that lived more recently. The last mammoths disappeared roughly 4,000 years ago.

The oldest of the three specimens, the Krestovka mammoth, belonged to a previously unknown genetic lineage that more than 2 million years ago diverged from the lineage that led to the well-known woolly mammoth.

Geneticist Tom van der Valk of SciLife Lab in Sweden, the study’s first author, said it appears that members of the Krestovka lineage were the first mammoths to migrate from Siberia into North America over a now-disappeared land bridge about 1.5 million years ago, with woolly mammoths later migrating about 400,000 to 500,000 years ago.

The Adycha mammoth’s lineage apparently was ancestral to the woolly mammoth, they found, and the Chukochya individual is one of the oldest-known woolly mammoth specimens.

DNA analyses showed that genetic variants associated with enduring frigid climes such as hair growth, thermoregulation, fat deposits, cold tolerance and circadian rhythms were present long before the origin of the woolly mammoth.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Scientists may have found one of the oldest Christian churches in the world

Scientists may have found one of the oldest Christian churches in the world

Using a celestial phenomenon, archaeologists are probing a mysterious structure buried deep underground in Russia. The structure could be one of the world’s oldest Christian churches, according to a new study.

The unknown structure sits in the northwestern part of the fortress of Naryn-Kala, a fortification in Derbent that dates to around A.D. 300.

The 36-foot-deep (11 meters) cross-shaped structure is almost completely hidden underground, save for a bit of a half-destroyed dome on top. But because it’s a UNESCO cultural heritage site, the structure is protected and can’t be excavated — and its function remains largely debated. 

Scientists may have found one of the oldest Christian churches in the world
An unknown structure in the northwestern part of the fortress of Naryn-Kala could be one of the world’s oldest churches.

The structure may have served as a reservoir, a Christian church or a Zoroastrian fire temple, according to a statement from the MISIS National University of Science and Technology in Russia.

So, a group of researchers decided to harness a celestial phenomenon called cosmic rays to help them paint a picture of the structure, similar to how a group discovered a possible void in the Great Pyramid of Giza back in 2017. They call this method “muon radiography.”

Cosmic rays are a form of high-energy radiation that comes from an unknown source outside our solar system; they constantly rain down on Earth.

Though most of the rays crash into atoms in our planet’s upper atmosphere and don’t make it to the ground, some, called muon particles, are ejected from this collision and do hit Earth’s surface.

Muons travel through matter at nearly the speed of light. But as they travel through denser objects, they lose energy and decay. So, by calculating the number of muons travelling through various parts underground, researchers can paint a picture of an object’s density.

But for this method to work, the structure and the surrounding soil need to have at least a 5% difference in density, according to the study.

The researchers placed muon detectors about 33 feet (10 m) inside the mysterious structure and took measurements for two months. They found that the structure and surrounding soil do have enough of a density difference such that they could use this method to figure out the structure’s 3D shape.

3D-model of the underground room, obtained from the results of muon detection.
The fortress of Naryn-Kala in Derbent, Russia, dates back to around A.D. 300

The researchers don’t think the structure is an underground water tank, even though many historical sources refer to it as such. Rather, it might have been used for water storage in the 17th and 18th centuries, according to the statement.

“It seems very strange to me to interpret this building as a water tank,” co-author Natalia Polukhina, a physicist at the MISIS National University of Science and Technology, said in the statement. In the same fortress, scientists have identified another underground structure that really is a tank and is rectangular, she said. What’s more, during construction, the structure wasn’t buried but on the surface and was erected on the highest point of the fortress.

“What is the sense to put the tank on the surface, and even on the highest mountain?” she asked. “Currently, there are more questions than answers.”

This study wasn’t about making a new discovery but rather confirming that the method would reveal what the structure looked like. Next, the researchers hope to conduct an even more detailed analysis to create a full 3D image of the building, ultimately helping them to understand its purpose.

“The technique is very nice,” said Christopher Morris, a fellow of the Los Alamos National Laboratory who was not a part of the study. But “the only access [to the structure] seems to be from the void in the centre.” So they can only reconstruct it using data taken from a limited point of view, he added.

“I believe it is possible to reconstruct the buried structure,” if the group implements more detectors and gathers better data, Morris told Live Science. But “I do not know if this can reveal whether the structure is a church.”

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Well-Preserved Burial Cist Discovered on Scottish Island

Well-Preserved Burial Cist Discovered on Scottish Island

The Scotsman reports that a well-preserved skeleton has been discovered in a tightly constructed stone burial cist about a half-mile from the Neolithic site of Skara Brae on the island of Orkney. 

This researcher, a member of the archaeological team, is digging here in an effort to discover more about the skeleton, which is lying in a crouched position on its right-hand side, with the cist some three-metres wide and covered with a heavy stone slab.

It is too early to determine whether the bones are those of a man or a woman or if anything else was buried with them. But the robustness of the cist has left the skeleton virtually intact, with small bones – such as toes – surviving thousands of years.

Well-Preserved Burial Cist Discovered on Scottish Island
The skeleton was discovered on a farm close to the Neolithic settlement of Skara Brae on Orkney but it is not clear if there is a link between the two, with the remains possibly from the later Bronze Age.

Martin Cook, director of AOC Archaeology, said: “The size and scale of the cist would suggest it is a late Neolithic or early Bronze Age burial.

“We think the skeleton is buried by itself and not part of a cemetery. It is obviously very close to Skara Brae.”

Mr Cook said it was too soon to say whether the burial was linked to Skara Brae, the Neolithic settlement that was occupied from around 3180 BC to 2500 BC.

“This could be a later grave,” Mr Cook added.

Evidence of other unexcavated settlements has recently been found on the coast at the Bay of Skaill.

Mr Cook added: “We are currently removing the skeleton and what we are looking for is material goods, things like pottery or animal bones or whether a joint of meat were buried with it.

“The skeleton was laid down in a crouched position and we can see the leg bones, the arms and the toes. Sometimes animals like voles will get in and take the smaller bones but this cist was really well, tightly built. It looks like all the bone is there and well.”

The find was reported to archaeologists after it was discovered during work on the Davidson cattle farm at Skaill. The excavation was carried out by AOC Archaeology on behalf of Historic Environment Scotland.

A spokesperson for Historic Environment Scotland (HES) said “We were approached by the local authority archaeologist in Orkney for assistance after the discovery of a cist burial in the buffer zone of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site. AOC Archaeology, current holders of our excavation call-off contract, is attending the site and will be carrying out an archaeological excavation.”

The find comes shortly after evidence of a possible Neolithic or Bronze Age settlement in the Bay of Skaill area was discovered around half a mile from Skara Brae.

The finds of a badly damaged wall, which had been exposed due to the pounding tides on this stretch of coast, along with deer antlers, a boar tooth, a cattle jawbone and a large decorated stone have led archaeologists to consider whether “another Skara Brae” is waiting to be discovered.

Eroding wall running out from an eroding section on to the beach. The dark material in the foreground is a layer of peat. Sigurd Towrie from the University of the Highlands and Islands discovered a badly damaged wall that had been exposed by pounding tides and pouring rain
Deer antlers, a boar tooth (pictured), a cattle jawbone and a large decorated stone have also been discovered at the site – said to date back nearly 5,000 years

Sigurd Towrie, the spokesman for the Archaeology Institute at the University of Highlands and Islands, said earlier this month that the finds “suggest there is another settlement at the Bay of Skaill – one that, from previous environmental sampling, is likely to be 4,000 to 5,000 years old”.

ASIA, SAUDI ARABIA, WORLD

2,000-Year-Old Rock Carvings of Camels Discovered in Saudi Arabia

2,000-Year-Old Rock Carvings of Camels Discovered in Saudi Arabia

Researchers working in a remote spot in northern Saudi Arabia have found around a dozen reliefs and sculptures of camels and donkeys carved into a rock formation. As Ruth Schuster at Haaretz reports, the works in the “Camel Site” as it’s become known as, have been tentatively dated to around 2,000 years ago, but researchers are not certain which culture produced them.

According to a press release by the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), a CNRS researcher along with members of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage first examined the sculptures in the Al Jawf province of northeastern Saudi Arabia in 2016 and 2017.

The works were carved into three rocky spurs, and though erosion has taken a heavy toll on the pieces, researchers are still able to discern many of the artworks.

The pieces include 11 unharnessed camels and two equids—donkeys, mules or horses—grazing in natural environments. Notably, the carvings are distinct from other rock art found in the region, and they show a level of skill unseen in other carvings seen the Saudi desert.

The site also includes a rare depiction of a camel meeting a donkey, an animal that does not appear very often in rock art in the area. The findings are described in detail in a new paper, published in the journal Antiquity.

Rock relief depicting recumbent dromedary raising head towards an equid, possibly a donkey or mule

Besides the carvings, little is currently known about the site and the people who created it. No tools or artifacts have been found in the area.

According to the press release, the researchers believe the area was likely not a settlement but may have been a stop for travelers on a caravan route passing through the region. It could have also been a site for veneration or some sort of boundary marker.

Bas-relief of dromedary head

While the art itself is worth investigating, George Dvorsky at Gizmodo reports that the archaeologists have another motive for bringing it to the public’s attention.

The site is currently on private property and has been damaged by erosion, looting of blocks of stone and bulldozers in recent years. In the study they write they hope to “generate awareness of endangered cultural heritage and to ensure the rapid preservation of the site by the Saudi state.”

Schuster reports that there is much researchers can still learn from the site. The date, for instance, remains uncertain. Besides the lack of associated artifacts, erosion has removed any tool marks, making it difficult to find what technology was used to make the camels.

Sculpture (probably not completed) of two dromedaries in single file on Spur C at Camel Site

The style of the camels is also unique, making it hard to associate them with any other cultures in the region.

The closest may be the Nabateans, a nomadic desert culture known for its rock reliefs that eventually settled down to found the city of Petra. But it will take more work and a technique known as micro-erosion analysis to gain further insight about the site.

This isn’t the only baffling structure found in the Saudi Desert recently. Last year, archaeologists used Google Maps to find 400 stone “gates” built with rocks on the desert floor. Those structures may date back as far as 7,000 years.

Archaeologists also found artifacts and evidence of 46 lakes that used to exist in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert last year, lending evidence to the “Green Arabia” theory, which suggests the area has swung between periods of desertification and a wetter climate which attracted plant, animals and even early human ancestors.

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

Archaeologists unearth 4,000-year-old chariots in India

Archaeologists unearth 4,000-year-old chariots in India

According to Indian archaeologists, they have discovered the remains of 4,000-year-old horse-drawn chariots, which they say provides the first evidence of a “warrior class” on par with other ancient civilisations.

Although eight burial sites and artefacts, including swords and daggers, were found, the remains were discovered during an excavation undertaken by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) at the village of Sinauli, located about 70 kilometres north of New Delhi.

The researchers said they unearthed three chariots in burial chambers which date to between 2000 and 1800 BC in the Bronze Age, leading to a suggestion of “royal burials”, according to the Times of India.

Archaeologists unearth 4,000-year-old chariots in India
This ancient Indian chariot was found at Baghpat and dates to the Bronze Age (2000-1800 BC).

The area around Sinauli is considered to be a rich archaeological site, with the chariots found 120 metres from a site where graves and artefacts belonging to the Indus Valley civilisation were excavated after a farmer accidentally unearthed ruins in 2005.

The co-director of excavations and ASI’s Institute of Archaeology in Delhi, SK Manjul, claimed the find showed evidence that a warrior class existed that was as technologically advanced as their contemporaries in Mesopotamia and Greece.

“The discovery of a chariot puts us on a par with other ancient civilizations, like Mesopotamia, Greece et-cetera where chariots were extensively used,” Mr Manjul told the Times of India.

“It seems a warrior class thrived in this region in the past.”

Swords and daggers were also found in some of the burials.

The site where the chariots were found is part of a three-month excavation that started in March.

As well as warrior implements like swords, daggers and a helmet, Mr Manjul told the Times of India they had also discovered copper pots, beads and a copper mirror which pointed to sophisticated craftsmanship and lifestyle.

“The swords have copper-covered hilts and a medial ridge making it strong enough for warfare. We have also found shields, a torch and daggers,” he said.

In what he described as a first “in the entire continent”, Mr Manjul said the coffins found at the site were adorned with copper decorations.

Mr Manjul said they were yet to work out which society the chariots and coffins belonged to, but said they did not belong to the Indus Valley civilisation.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Atlit Yam’s: A  9,000-Year-Old Underground Megalithic Settlement

Atlit Yam’s: A  9,000-Year-Old Underground Megalithic Settlement

There really is no limit to the number of archaeological wonders in Israel, virtually anywhere you look there is something wonderful to discover. But, hidden beneath the water, there is also an entire world, which has been overtaken by nature, silently existing next to the observable land sites, that wants to tell us the story of prehistoric Israel.

Invisible by rising sea levels, Israel’s shores are littered with submerged structures and sunken settlements that have been lost underwater over thousands of years. Below the waves, you’ll discover a domain where plants and animals were domesticated and the shift from a hunting and gathering economy to farming was made.

Along Haifa’s coast are the remnants of a Neolithic fishing village that drowned 9,000 years ago by the rising water level. Today, the exceptionally well preserved 40,000 m² site is located approximately 200-400 m offshore on the north bay of Atlit, at a depth of 8-11 m below modern sea level. Atlit Yam is one of the best-preserved submerged prehistoric settlements in the world. It was discovered and studied during the 1980s and 1990s, while excavations and surveys were carried out in the years 1985-2000.

Atlit Yam's: A 9,000-Year-Old Underground Megalithic Settlement
Atlit Yam is an ancient submerged Neolithic village off the coast of Atlit, Israel

A wealth of material culture has been uncovered which gives us insight into how people had to cope with a radically changing world and where new technologies were introduced. Sea- level rise forced the inhabitants of this Pre-Pottery Neolithic village to abandon the settlement and relocate multiple times to higher grounds.

It was here that the earliest known constructed fresh-water wells (with stone walls) were discovered. At the centre of the settlement, seven megaliths are arranged in a semicircle around a freshwater spring.

A diver explores a well at the site of Atlit Yam, an ancient submerged Neolithic village off the coast of Atlit, Israel.

The inhabitants lived on what we now call a traditional Mediterranean diet. Remains of about 100 different plants, which were cultivated and/or collected from the wild, were recovered as well as bones of fish, domestic and wild animals.

The village’s subsistence was based on a mixed economy of agriculture with animal husbandry supplemented by hunting, gathering and fishing. Possibly this well- balanced diet contributed to the relatively good health and longevity of the inhabitants. A substantial part of the population reached the exceptional age of 50 years old.

Sites from this period with published human remains are few, but Atlit Yam yielded a significant number of human burials, which help us in our attempt to understand this vanished society. Through the remains, we have learned that the population had to cope with diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria and some skeletons had a specific ear pathology symptomatic of diving in cold water.

The discovery of the earliest known cases of human tuberculosis (TB) in the bones of a mother and baby, showed that the disease is 3,000 years older than previously thought. This discovery sheds light on how the TB bacterium has evolved over the millennia and increases our understanding of how it may change.

Scientists might be able to develop more effective treatments in the future thanks to this discovery. The examination of this ancient DNA confirms the latest theory that bovine TB evolved later than human TB. In contrast to the original theory that human TB evolved from bovine TB after animal domestication.

The inhabitants were buried, placed in a flexed position on their sides or backs, sometimes in group graves.

Many shore communities face inundation in the coming decades caused by global warming. Sea level rise is usually cast as a doomsday scenario that will play out into the future, but Atlit Yam sends us a strong warning from the past. They were already battling chronic flooding 9,000 years ago.

It’s not that we expect sea levels to rise, they are already rising. Chronic flooding can only be avoided by adaptation measures, like seawalls, levees, dams, flood controls or as in the case of Atlit Yam, by moving away.

Millions of people would be displaced and the costs of protecting modern-day cities from rising sea levels would also likely rise. We are not doing enough to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future.

Climate change is inevitable, and we must establish what might happen and how much financial damage that would cause. Studies indicate that many coastal settlements around the world will be partially submerged by 2070 if nothing is done. We must take it seriously and learn the lessons from the past. The rising sea not only floods the coastal regions but also cause underground water salinization, flooded sewages, accelerated coastal destruction, and other damage.

People have moved throughout history, and for many reasons. Some were forced to move due to conflict, persecution, flooding or disasters such as drought influenced famine.  It is important to understand that not all climate-related hazards can be attributed to climate change and it is here that Atlit Yam can provide important data to make those distinctions.

Traces of long-forgotten human settlements claimed by the sea thousands of years ago are being uncovered by archaeologists along the coastline of Israel. The discoveries are helping to fill in some of the blanks about Israel’s prehistory and are offering insights into how we responded to climate change in the past. Uncovering these stories could offer some clues about what our own future holds too.

Reconstruction drawing of the stone structure found at Atlit Yam.

The research was funded by the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Matla and Feival Coastal and Underwater Archaeological Foundation (MAFCAF), the Irene Levi Sala Care Archaeological Foundation, and the National Geographic Foundation.

Publications by Ehud Galili, University of Haifa; Avi Gopher and Israel Hershkovitz, Tel Aviv University; Vered Eshed, Israel Antiquities Authority. Dr Helen Donoghue and Dr Mark Spigelman, UCL Centre for Infectious Diseases & International Health, and scientists from Tel-Aviv University.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Archaeologists find unexpected iron age settlement in Oxfordshire

Archaeologists find unexpected iron age settlement in Oxfordshire

The findings of a team of archaeologists from DigVentures revealed the ruins of at least 15 roundhouses from the 4th-century B.c. to the early first century CE, along with the remains of a massive Roman villa built over the abandoned homes in the late 3rd to early 4th century CE.

Archaeologists find unexpected iron age settlement in Oxfordshire
Unexpected Iron Age Settlement and Roman Villa Found in Oxfordshire

In the protective shadow of Wittenham Clumps, some 50 miles west of London, the Iron Age settlement and the Roman villa are the site of an Iron Age hillfort on the banks of the River Thames.

Exactly where the people who used the hillfort actually lived had remained uncertain, but the DigVentures archaeologists believe they now have an answer.

Archaeologists find unexpected iron age settlement in Oxfordshire
Aerial view of the hillfort, with a portion of the River Thames visible on the left.

“Given how close we are to the hillfort, it’s not surprising that there’s a settlement here — it’s the sheer scale of it that’s impressive,” said Chris Casswell, head of fieldwork at DigVentures.

“We weren’t expecting to find so many houses within such a small space — the area we’ve excavated is just over a hectare and the settlement itself is clearly much larger.”

“We’ve still only uncovered one corner of it. What’s surprising is that hardly any of it showed up on the initial geophysics survey, probably due to a quirk in the local geology. It was only when we started digging that we were able to reveal the true extent of what is her.”

The Iron Age houses range in size from 8 to 15 m (26-49 feet) in diameter, but the majority are around 10 m (33 feet) in diameter and provide a living area of at least 78 m2.

Among the remains, the researchers unearthed an Iron Age ‘fridge’ or pantry — a collection of ceramic food storage vessels that would have been kept cool and safe within a pit dug into the ground.

A fragment of daub that appears to have been painted was also found, which suggests that rather than simply being mud-coloured, the walls of the roundhouses may have been decorated.

Footprint of the Roman villa outlined in recent snowfall.
Archaeologist India Jago at the excavated corn dryer which would have been used after the harvest.

The team also revealed the footprint of a Roman villa, built on the site of the abandoned roundhouses.

Measuring 30 m (98 feet) long, and with at least 7 column bases, it appears to be a ‘winged corridor villa’ and would have been home to a wealthy family with a working farmstead.

Among the Roman remains, the scientists found cooking utensils like strainers, spoons, knives, a ladle, cooking pots, and tableware, a surgical spatula probe that would have been used for applying ointments and oils to wounds, and well-preserved bone combs. There’s also a corn dryer, used for drying corn after harvest.

“It’s everything you’d expect to find at a busy settlement, but that’s what’s so exciting about it — these are the foods, homes, and artefacts that made up the everyday reality of these people’s lives,” Casswell said.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Viking treasure including gold bangle buried over 1,000 years ago is found on the Isle of Man

Viking treasure including gold bangle buried over 1,000 years ago is found on the Isle of Man

An exceptionally rare Viking artefact is presently being examined on the Isle of Man by Manx Museum authorities and has been declared treasure by the island’s coroner of inquests. The find, which is considered to be internationally significant and believed to be more than 1,000 years old, consists of a gold arm ring, a large silver brooch, at least one silver armband and other associated finds.

Some of the items discovered on the Isle of Man by Kath Giles late last year.

This has prompted some people to suspect that they have been hidden somewhere between AD950 and the present day, and were found by an amateur metal detectorist on private land last year.

Under the terms of the Declaration of Treasure, Manx National Heritage, on behalf of the Isle of Man government will be custodians of the finds.

Kath Giles, left, who found the hoard, and Allison Fox, curator for archaeology at Manx National Heritage, with the Viking age items.

The findings will eventually be part of the permanent collections on display at the Manx National Heritage Museum. Kath Giles, the metal detectorist who discovered the artefacts, said she knew straight away that what she had uncovered was significant.

“I knew I had found something very special when I moved the soil away from one of the terminals of the brooch, but then I found parts of the pin, the hoop and underneath, the gorgeous gold arm ring,” she said. “I’m so thrilled to have found artefacts that are not only so important but so beautiful.”

Allison Fox, curator for archaeology at Manx National Heritage, said the museum received a phone call from Giles late last year, and with her help was able to document the site to ensure there were no further objects remaining in the ground.

“The arm ring is a rare find. Gold items were not very common during the Viking age. Silver was by far the more common metal for trading and displaying wealth. It has been estimated that gold was worth 10 times the value of silver and that this arm ring could have been the equivalent of 900 silver coins,” she said.

The gold arm ring found by the amateur metal detectorist Kath Giles.

“Kath’s hoard can be dated on stylistic and comparative grounds to about AD950, a time when the Isle of Man was right in the middle of an important trading and economic zone. The Viking and Norse influence remained strong on the island for a further 300 years, long after much of the rest of the British Isles.”

Under the Isle of Man Treasure Act 2017, when archaeological artefacts are found there is a legal obligation for the findings to be reported to Manx National Heritage.

If the artefacts fall under the categories of the act, they must also be reported to the coroner of inquests. The coroner decides whether an artefact is a treasure and if it is found to be so, a financial reward is usually paid to the finder and landowner.

The exact value of the findings, as well as the value of the rewards, are yet to be determined. Fox said the reward would be based on a market value for all the artefacts. This will be assessed independently, usually by the treasury valuation committee.

Fox added: “At the moment, we know its historic and cultural value to the history of the Isle of Man, but its financial value will be assessed in the future.”

This month, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport revealed that more than 1,300 pieces of treasure were found in the UK throughout 2019, the largest haul since records began.

That year, two metal detectorists who discovered a Viking hoard estimated to be worth as much as £12m were given lengthy jail terms after failing to report their findings.