OK, not on topic, but as I'm one of the South West Maritime Archaeological Group (the team that discovered the site) I'm going to blow our trumpet here.

We, that is SWMAG, found a Bronze Age Wreck site last year as we were extending the Salcombe Canon Site where we have been working for the last ten years. We declared the find to the English Heritage and Receiver of Wreck, and the artefacts went to the British Museum for conservation and research by Stuart Needham, the Bronze Age expert at the British Museum

The official press release on the Government News Network is here

As you can imagine, we are very excited about all of this. So how did we find it?

Following a magnetometer survey in 2001 it looked as though the site ran NW - SE, and we were in the middle. Two of us went to have a look in the SE area, as this was the biggest on the survey, about 100m off the main site. I found a couple of bits (a cauldron handle and what turned out to be an adze), and Dave found what turned out to be fragments of rapier blade. But we naturally assumed they were 17th century, i.e. contemporary with the main site. Even a professional marine archaeologist (who shall remain nameless) thought they were; he has since apologised to us for his mistake, and bought us a beer, so now we don't have to kill him, which is nice.

So, we knew we had to try and connect the two areas, and this is what we did last summer. When we had all the lines in place and began the search things started appearing; except that instead of 17th Century artefacts, they were Bronze Age. In total we found three Palstave axe heads, the first one being what put us on to the fact it was 3,000 or so years old, not 400, and looked like it was made yesterday, three amazingly intact rapier blades, various fragments of blades, a gold torc, a chape (where you kept your dagger; its the pointy bit of the sheath), and a few other bits and bobs which may turn out to be raw materials.


Palstave Axe Head

Rapier Blade

Gold Torc

The artefacts have been dated as 3,000 to 3,500 years old, which ties in nicley with the Moor Sand site, which is just in shore from us. Stuart Needham has told us that the artefacts, like those from Moor Sand, come from France. So what we have found is further evidence of trade between France and the UK 3,000 years ago.

We will be meeting with English Heritage, Reciever of Wreck and Stuart on the 22nd of this month to put in place our plans for 2005.