Yara Souza joined a team excavating the remains of a Roman road in Northumberland, England, and made her first discovery in just 90 minutes.
Newcastle UniversityA newly discovered gold artefact dating back nearly 1,100 years remains a mystery as to its true purpose.
Yara Souza had been waiting a long time to join the dig. The Orlando, Florida, native was unable to take part in the excavation of the Birdoswald Roman fort on Hadrian's Wall in northern England last year due to illness.
However, this year's discovery certainly made up for last year's disappointment. Just an hour and a half into the excavation, Souza found a small gold artifact.
“I couldn’t believe I had found something so quickly on my first dig,” Souza said in a statement from Newcastle University. “It was just incredible. After missing Birdoswald last year, it was amazing to find something that hadn’t been seen for over a thousand years. I was absolutely thrilled!”
The artifact is about four centimeters long and is decorated with a decorative scroll. It has a handle, or pommel, at one end and a bulb at the other. It is estimated to be about 1,100 years old.
The rare find is made of gold, a material that was then used for high-status items. Archaeologists involved in the excavation believe that the artifact may have had a religious or ceremonial purpose.
In 2021, a similar object was found by a metal detectorist at the same location in Northumberland. This object, slightly smaller than Souza's find, was identified as a ball-headed pin dating to around 800-1000 CE.
Uncovering the history of Northumberland's Roman-era Dere Street
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