University of Leicester archaeologists have made a "once-in-a-career" discovery of the decorated bronze remains¹ of an Iron Age chariot. A team from the University's School of Archaeology² and Ancient History has unearthed³ a hoard⁴ of rare bronze fittings from a 2nd or 3rd century BC chariot which appears to have been buried as a religious offering.

 

The archaeologists found the remains during their ongoing⁵ excavation⁶ of the Burrough Hill Iron Age hillfort, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.

 

The School has led a 5-year project there since 2010, giving archaeology students and volunteers valuable experience of archaeological excavations⁷.

 

Burrough Hill is owned by the education charity, the Ernest Cook Trust, which has also funded site tours and school visits to the excavation.

 

While digging a large, deep pit near the remains of a house within the hillfort, a group of four students found a piece of bronze in the ground -- before uncovering a concentration of further parts very nearby.

 

Taken together, the pieces are easily recognisable as a matching set of bronze fittings from a mid⁸ to late Iron Age chariot. As a group of two or more base metal prehistoric⁹ artefacts this assemblage is covered under the Treasure Act.

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